Colorado Springs got some good news on the economic front in this morning's Gazette. The 1st was kind of expected, the US Olympic Committee is expected to accept the city's proposal to keep them here for another 25 years. The USOC, the Olympic Training Center, and the associated National Governing Bodies are kind of a big deal, and it is a relief to get this negotiation out of the way.
The 2nd piece of good news was a little surprising, and was tempered by some offsetting news. Job growth was surprisingly strong, and they said we have added 7000 jobs in the last year, or 1.9%. The offsetting news was that unemployment was actually up, to 5.5%. Who knows how good these figures could have been if we were back on a decent pace of home sales and bulding?
This may be a result of "trailing spouses" (my own theory) adding jobhunters to the pool. Many of the military families who come here (although this is not a "military only" issue), and a higher percentage of the less senior ranks, are 2 income families. When a soldier is transferred to Ft Carson (or Peterson AFB, Shriever SFB, Cheyenne Mtn or the Air Force Academy), their spouse often has to seek employment in the local economy, enlarging the potential work force. Ft Carson is in a growth spurt for a while, so employment and unemployment may both continue to grow.

While March is not the prettiest month of the year in Colorado Springs, it does offer some of the greatest variety in the weather, and Pikes Peak is always a bright white against the blue skies. The grass will be brown for a little while yet, although it has been above freezing overnight for at least a few nights, so maybe it will start to green up a little? The weather has taken a decidedly springtime turn, and we have been enjoying the 60+ degree days. I even hit a bucket of golf balls this week, in hopes of actually getting some time to golf this year. Pine Creek Golf course seemed fairly busy.

This shot was taken a block or 2 from the golf course, about a month ago, at the park in front of Mt View Elementary in Pine Creek.

Easter usually marks the beginning of Spring in my mind. Since Daylight Savings, Easter, and the Vernal Equinox all came in the same week this year, I guess we have to believe it is really here, but the yesterday the weather was a little confusing, although a bit typical of Colorado Springs this time of year. We headed to church with a fresh blanket of snow, and a coating of ice on the roads, but today is supposed to back into the 60's. It is so much easier to look at houses, and even to list them, when the snow is gone!
We sometimes joke about "For Sale" signs sprouting with the crocuses, or daffodils, or tulips, depending on the year. This year, I can't say I've seen any flowers sprouting up yet, but the inventory of unsold homes is starting to grow. At 5882 homes for sale as of today, 3-24-08, I am guessing we will break the 6,000 homes mark this week. Nationally, the National Association of REALTORS says that sales of existing homes actually increased in February, and while that did not happen here, I believe it will. With these great interest rates and increasing rents, people have to live somewhere!

While I was skiing yesterday, the Federal Reserve dropped interest rates again. This sure can't hurt. I'd like to think that we are finally where we need to be on such things, but I kind of doubt it. What would help OUR industry is a stable period of mortgage rates in the mid 5's, but they never ask me :-)

The snow was great at Breckenridge. Spring break is starting across the country, and it was busy, with people from about everywhere you can think of. Here in Colorado Springs, spring breaks are staggered a bit, and while CSU is out this week, D20 and Pikes Peak Community College have theirs next week. There was almost 2 feet of new snow in the last week, including 5 inches the night before, so it was great. I really needed the break, I think I had not had a real day off in 2 or 3 weeks. The season only has 1 month left, and this is often my favorite month to ski. We get the most snow in March and April usually, and the temperatures are more comfortable, which makes it twice as good. Spring skiing in the sunshine is a beautiful thing! This week the Colorado legislature decided to make skiing and snowboarding the official sports of the state of Colorado (as if they weren't already without them talking about it), so what better excuse to go could I have?

The photo above was taken last year at Copper Mountain when my brother (on the right) and his family came out for ski vacation.

There are a surprising number of good options for new construction on the eastern plains of Colorado Springs these days. Yesterday we wrote on a spec home in Banning Lewis Ranch, after a survey of neighborhoods that included Forest Meadows, The Gables, Meridian Ranch and Woodmen Hills. We looked at models from Legendary Homes, Capitol Pacific, John Laing, Todays Homes, Richmond Homes, Oakwood Homes and resales by Lennar, Richmond, and others. The decision to go with the Banning Lewis location was based on the location itself, the great lot, and good value of the home. While we won't know if the seller will go for the deal yet, I thought it would be worth noting a few things:
1. Banning Lewis is going to have a lot of pull for many different lifestyles. From those just starting out in home ownership all the way to empty nesters and active retirees, and everyone in between, this place is really going to have it all. The high speed internet access with 10Mbit upload and download speeds on fiber optic is really a great thing for the work at home technology worker, and the clubhouse and pool, tennis courts, trails, parks and school situation is really hard to beat, and is not pie in the sky, they are already in place.
2. The "active lifestyle" communities are really increasing in popularity. Woodmen Hills and Meridian Ranch were on the early side of that movement, and Banning Lewis has just taken it to the next level.
3. The Gables, on the eastern edge of Banning Lewis, has some interesting larger lots, and is very convenient for commuting and shopping.
4. There were fewer spec homes than I have seen in past builder visits, a clue that the builders are not sticking their necks out too far in these challenging business conditions.
5. The foreclosures / short sale homes did not come across as great bargains, although we saw 3 on the Antlers Creek Golf Course in Falcon at Meridian Ranch / Woodmen Hills that looked intriguing.

What an odd week this has been in the financial markets. While everyone who is anyone in Washington says they want lower mortgage rates, whatever they seem to do about it, keeps pushing them up instead of down. While low 6's is not bad by historical standards, we were in the mid 5's only last week, and it makes a difference. Since most people are payment constrained, the difference between 5.5% and 6.5% is the difference between a $300,000 loan and a $269,000 loan, when budgeting roughly $1700 for a PI house payment. At 7.5%, it drops all the way down to $244,000. In our market, that can make a huge difference in the choices a buyer has. I for one am in favor of low interest rates :-)
Tuesday we had our monthly sales meeting, and this month was hosted by the Colorado Springs Country Club. They have a membership drive underway, and I was impressed at how affordable the packages seem to be. They have a family full golf membership (they have an 18 hole golf course, tennis, pool, restaurant, etc) for $9500 initiation plus monthly dues, which by local standards is very cheap (Flying Horse for instance is $38,000 for initiation). We also have a special program whereby we can take our clients for an orientation, and they can receive a voucher for a round of golf! If this sounds good, give me a call (719-590-4768) and we'll set it up.
The other guest presentation was by the Banning Lewis Ranch, and although I have covered this topic before, it once again hit home how important this new development will be in this city. Please give me a call if you'd like a tour of this fantastic new concept community, it is going to be big, really big!

The new FHA loan limits have been announced for the Colorado Springs area, we are now looking at a loan limit of $325,000. This considerably expands purchasing power for those who are down payment constrained, because FHA only requires 3% down. FHA underwriting guidelines have historically been a bit easier to work with as well, the only downside being that that FHA appraisals have been a little pickier on things like pealing paint and other cosmetics. Many bank owned properties will probably NOT be eligible for FHA because of this. I happen to have a couple of listings at that $325,000 mark, as well as one at the $230,000 mark (the old limit was actually $250,000 I believe), so if you visit my web site, you can see the difference in the kind of home that can be financed with FHA.
Don't forget to set you clocks ahead this weekend. It has been pretty light out in the morning these days, and with the time change it will make it a bit easier to show property after people get off work in the afternoon.

Views are kind of important in Colorado Springs. For one thing, you get kind of spoiled when you see what great views are available. It is also sort of mesmerizing to see how the weather, light and angles all come into play into making a great view. View can add value to a home, it for sure adds a lot of pleasure when you have it from your back deck, or through a large picture window
This shot of Pikes Peak was taken from the back deck of one of my new listings in the very north part of Briargate. This is a particularly interesting little section, actually called Kittyhawk, that really predates the rest of Briargate. The lots are a bit bigger, and the trees more mature. It is also affordable. The home this one was taken at is only $325,000, and was pretty heavily updated, while the newer homes surrounding this neighborhood are typically in the upper 300's to low 400's for the same finished square footage. Check out more information here:
http://www.ricksellscolorado.com/Listings/antietam_2621/antietam_2621.htm.
For a virtual tour, try this link:
http://www.visualtour.com/shownp.asp?T=1415025

Normally this is the time of month we report statistics. The Pikes Peak Association of Realtors seems to be a little behind this month, but I'll take a crack at it anyway, even though I have to disclaim this by saying these are not the official numbers. It looks like our inventory of 5571 unsold homes on the MLS is up 7.1% over last February, not so bad. Sales were down 16.9% at 556 homes. The average price of $226,692 was off considerably (11.1%), and was even down from last month. Part of the problem continues to be the volume of foreclosure properties in the mix, with over 26% of the February sales coming from the bank owned / foreclosure / short sale segment. The average price of these homes is considerably less than the overall averages for the city, coming in at only $159,065.
Oh yeah, "Based on information from the Pikes Peak REALTOR Services Corp. ("RSC"), for the period 2-1-08 through 2-29-08. RSC does not guarantee or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by RSC may not reflect all real estate activity in the market."

Schizophrenic is the word our pastor used to describe our weather this weekend. As a Texan who now calls the Springs home, he had not yet experienced Rocky Mountain springtime, "when summer and winter collide". It was a record 73 degrees here a yesterday, but it is 25 and snowing at the moment.

I showed a lot of property in the 600's this week, and I thought I would share a couple of observations. While there are a lot of nice homes out there, the truth is that they vary tremendously in terms of the combined package of lot, location, size and quality. Some of the nicest settings have a little drive to offset that. Some of the nicest amenities with the most convenient locations, come without a decent lot. Some of the largest floor plans came without quality in some key areas.

One of the homes I showed is pictured above. At $659,900, it happens to have an exceptional 5 acre treed lot that is zoned for horses, has 3 good sized outbuildings, is located in the close in portion of school district 20, and at around 5,000 square feet is quite large, with lots of rooms for just about everything. Click Here for MLS Details and more Photos or Click here for a virtual tour