This years Colorado Springs Balloon Classic was the best I've been to. My grandson Tyler and I headed to Memorial Park, arriving really too early, but getting good parking as a result. The lift off at 7am was really great, the air was still and cool, and it was just perfect! If you have never gone to one these events, it is a "must see". I've included a few more photos than normal, it was hard to pick my favorites with so many colorful images to shoot.

Colorado Springs was not the showcase of the Democratic National Convention, but our near neighbor to the north, Denver, got some nice coverage out of the deal. Mile High is about 1 hour from here, and it is nice knowing that the Denver Broncos NFL football, Avalanche NHL Hockey, Colorado Rockies MLB baseball, and Nuggets NBA teams are all so close, and play in some really world class venues. Whatever your politics, it is fun to have some sports teams to root for.

Speaking of sports, the quintessential Colorado sport, skiing / snowboarding, celebrates a major pre-season milestone this weekend, with the major equipment and pass sales beginning. Lift tickets at most resorts are in the $85 range for one off visits, and season passes or 4 packs are the best way for Colorado residents to beat the high cost of riding. We'll probably go with 4 packs to Copper Mountain this year ($119 for 4 visits), as gas prices and slow real estate sales will be putting a crimp on our families style. Normally a season pass for unlimited riding is $399.

We got a chance to check out the new emergency at Memorial Hospital North last night. My wife apparently hurt herself at the YMCA in a workout, and it flaired up badly on her late last night, so we drove the 1/2 mile to the ER (we could have walked, but she really was not feeling too good :-) It is a beautiful place, and before I even got the car parked in the nearby lot, she was already being treated. If you have to spend the night at the ER, this is the place to do it!

We finally got a foreclosure property under contract yesterday. It took a full week, 3 or 4 rounds of back and forth negotiating, but I think the house will be a good one for this client, and it is by the cleanest foreclosure I've ever shown, with very little that needs doing.

We also had a closing delayed for a day as a result of miscommunication between lender and buyer (not my buyer or a lender I would normally use :-) This could get interesting for the buyer, as he is scheduled to deploy to Iraq next week, and needs to be moving in this weekend. The processing department of your lender can make all the difference between a good purchase experience and a bad one, hopefully this will end up as just a minor inconvenience for the buyer and seller, but it is was another object lesson in using the best lender possible for your loan. I use Dana Hines at Adams Bank for this very reason, she never has these kinds of glitches.

Today's photo is from the top of Copper Mountain this spring, we really enjoy taking the lift up and hiking down, and was the view looking back toward Frisco from Copper.

Apparently the Colorado Springs real estate market is in a little better shape than the rest of the country right now. The housing reports are showing the rest of the country with considerably higher inventory and price cutting, whereas our most recent month indicates falling inventory and firming prices (see the link on the right for trend data). The most interesting figure to me is that Colorado Springs single family homes have just over a 7 month supply, while the rest of the country appears to be over 11.
Magpies are so common here that I sometimes chuckle when visitors ask what they are. These 2 were enjoying the sunrise at Garden of the Gods last week.

Saturday I showed around 20 homes in the Falcon Hills and Woodmen Hills subdivisions near Falcon. The 1/2 - 1 acre lots make this area east of Colorado Springs proper very popular for people have needs for more room, such as dogs, motor homes, or just like space, and are trying to keep the budget under control. In 300'ish range, we saw some very nice homes (and a couple not so nice!). This morning's Gazette had a pretty good article about the commercial growth plans for the Woodmen Road corridor all the way out to Falcon, here is the link: http://www.gazette.com/articles/woodmen_39658___article.html/colorado_property.html

Today's photo was from a couple of weeks back, Cheyenne Mountain at sunrise. Because of NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain has been almost as famous a symbol of Colorado Springs as Pikes Peak.

There really are signs that the Colorado Springs real estate market is on it's way back to normal. I've mentioned that I really am not fond of foreclosures, and today discovered we have fewer than 700 homes, or 10.9% of our active inventory, in the "distressed" category. This is down from closer to 13% at one point, and reflects both the lenders being a bit easier to work with when someone is in trouble, as well as fewer people getting into trouble.
The Danish company Vestas is in the news again, this time announcing they are building a production facility for the towers that go into wind power in Pueblo. They are rapidly becoming a player in the Colorado economy, and in the "new energy" economy as a whole, and I am excited to see our state involved in both the manufacture of these systems as well as the use of them. Many wind towers are expected to be installed in eastern Colorado to create electricity from wind energy (see the Pickens Plan for more details on this idea and what it might mean), where the wind blows pretty steady.
What a great thing to build them in Pueblo, once known as the Steel City, where unemployment has been somewhat high, and many workers who are skilled in working with metal still live. Pueblo is less than an hour south of the Springs, and is where the Colorado State Fair is held every year (it starts today!), also home to one of the largest lakes in the state, Pueblo Reservoir. Many of our TV and radio stations service both the Pueblo and Colorado Springs markets, as Cheyenne Mountain towers can reach both markets.
Today's photo is of the interior of the Garden of the Gods park, with a little foggy haze earlier in the week.

The "kissing camels" is one of the more recognized rock formations at Garden of the Gods. It is also the name of an exclusive gated golf course neighborhood on the top of the Mesa, one of the few you can spend a million dollars in. There are lots of rock formations that look like "something" in the park, and people have all kinds of names for them. I'll never pass the Rorschach tests these present, some named formations are literally color patterns in the rocks that from a certain perspective look like something to somebody.
We found out yesterday that we did NOT get the short sale / foreclosure home we had waited 45 days for. This is par for the course. When banks are involved they tend to make up their own rules, sense of right and wrong and fairness are not in their vocabulary, and heaven forbid they would ever tell you what is really going on. The normal offer protocol (when institutions are NOT involved) is that you submit a written offer with a reasonable deadline (usually 1-3 business days) for acceptance. Within that reasonable deadline, the seller either accepts, counters, or rejects your offer. Thankfully, foreclosures are becoming a smaller percentage of the business again, and while they will be with us for a while, I'm hoping they eventually fade as an old memory.
The Parade of Homes winds down this weekend, along with the Olympics. The most popular homes tend to be the most expensive ones, and I am often asked how many million dollar plus homes actually sell in Colorado Springs. The answer so far this year is 23. Over 1/3 of those were in the southwest area (Broadmoor), but almost an equal number were in the Trilakes / Black Forest areas (neighborhoods such as Cathedral Pines and High Forest Ranch), a change that has take place over the last several years as the northern areas of town have grown in popularity. In the middle of town, University Park has seen more of these, and on the west side, Cedar Heights and Kissing Camels. Afraid they all got away? Don't worry, we have 275 others in that price range :-)

Even at a place as beautiful as the Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak dominates the scenery in Colorado Springs. We've had a big chunk of our cloudy day budget for the year in the last week, and this shot was one of those weird days when the south side of town was sunny, and the north was foggy / cloudy. I got this shot of the peak right at the break point. I don't remember snow showing up in August (and of course it is gone now), so this was also some evidence it really happened.
The news is talking about dates and schedules for our withdrawal from Iraq, but at Fort Carson, we still have more deployments happening, including the 2nd BCT of the 4th ID (approximately 3800 troops?) beginning to ship out as early as next week. I know it is selfish of me, but I'd really like to see this thing wind down. Yesterday I wrote an offer for a client whose son is being deployed. He is so close in age to that of my own kids, and I'm sure it will all be fine, but I know he'll be missed by his new wife and extended family while he is gone.

Garden of the Gods is probably the most popular tourist destination in Colorado Springs. For one, it is a free city park, which really helps. For another, it is amazingly beautiful, and while it can't be seen from 100 miles away like Pikes Peak, it is pretty spectacular. This morning after the 5:30 dialysis run with my mother-in-law, I went over and took some morning shots. The sunrise did not quite cooperate like I had hoped, but I got some nice shots I'll share over the next few weeks. The one above is from the Mesa overlook, not inside the park, but gives a nice teaser of what is inside.

I'm a little ashamed to admit I have not been there this early in the morning before. It was so peaceful, hardly any people, just the sounds of the birds (the pigeons cooing among the rocks is a little eerie), and lots of little rabbits running around. I saw some deer, a couple of nice bucks actually, but not from too close up. I guess we all forget to be tourists in our home towns sometimes.

I've been working on a pre-foreclosure / short sale purchase for a while now for some folks, and thought it would be worth sharing a couple of things.

#1, it is SUCH a slow process, no wonder there are still so many out there. We've been in "hurry up and wait" mode for almost 45 days, only to find out yesterday that another offer had just come in (and this only was discovered after more followup phone calls). #2 There is ZERO communication. The un-answered phone calls and un-replied to emails make you crazy. While some of this could be unique to the property itself (I have had some better luck with true bank owned property), all the fingers in the pot really make this an agonizing process. We'll see how we do, the clock has almost run out finally.

The rain has stopped here in Colorado Springs, but you still can't see the Peak, so I thought I'd throw in another sunrise shot from earlier this past week.
I watched the Olympics women's Marathon yesterday, and it reminded me that the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon was supposed to be this weekend. I say supposed to be, because they had to call the Ascent off half way through it, after a combination of lightening and snow made it too unsafe. To run 26 miles on a pancake flat course is amazing. To run it up and down a 14,110 ft mountain is almost incomprehensible, especially in bad weather!

It has been a dry summer in Colorado, but that has all changed this week. I hope the August rain we are having extends the wildflower season a bit, and keeps us green longer into the fall. The Columbine (shown above) like it a bit wetter. It was downright gloomy out this yesterday and again this morning. It was raining nicely though, and that feels good after the dry we have had.
The new unemployment reports are out, and are showing the economy, while weak, is not completely tanked, with unemployment for the state of Colorado at 5.2%, but locally in Colorado Springs up to 6.1%. There have been a couple of bright spots, and ironically they center around energy. The western slope (Grand Junction being the landmark) is gearing up for more oil drilling and oil shale extraction. A Danish company (Vestas) has announced a new facility north of Denver to make wind generators, hopefully to be installed on the eastern plains. I'm sure at least some of the "Pickens Plan" gets done here, it makes a lot of sense, and doesn't really affect the wheat farmers on the eastern plains very much.
As the Iraq war winds down and housing picks back, I think we'll be fine here in the Springs. We have a lot of people still deployed from here, and Fort Carson and the City of Colorado Springs is ready for them to come home!
This will be an interesting next couple of weeks in the Denver area. The Democratic National Convention is a pretty big deal, and they've already decided to close I25 through downtown on the 28th of August, during Obama's acceptance speech. While logistically it makes some sense, that will be a frustrating experience for those who did not get the word. We use that road a lot getting to Ft Collins and back to see our daughter, and it is always pretty packed.

Tonight the snow level is supposed to drop to 10,000 feet, and the rain and clouds we have here today make me believe it. We were up in Summit County on Monday, and it turns out we also got a dusting in the high country last Sunday night. This shot is from the top of Mount Royal, above Frisco, and is of Grays and Torreys peaks, both 14ers on the Continental Divide.
We try and get away just before school starts every year for my wife's birthday, and it is usually Breckenridge, with activities spread around Summit County. We aren't "hard core" hikers, but thought we'd try the Mount Royal trail, which you can pick up in downtown Frisco. The views were well worth it, and I'll try and mix in a smattering of photos over the next week or so. More hardcore hikers consider this a tourist hike, at only 3 hours round trip, but it is quite steep, and different sources call this either 1350 or 1600 ft of vertical and frankly I can still feel it today, so maybe I'm really just a tourist anyway? We really enjoyed it, and after all, what is wrong with being a tourist, even in your own back yard? For me, this is part of why we live here.
One of my favorite sayings is this: When you buy a house in Colorado Springs, you get the rest of the state of Colorado as your back yard!

Not every day is gorgeous here in Colorado Springs, but almost every day is. Today's photo is of Pikes Peak, taken again from Palmer Park a couple of mornings ago. The forecast is for cooler, wet weather, and maybe even snow above 10,000 feet (Pikes Peak is 14,110). It will be nice to have that coat of white on the top again. Generally it is gone from June 1 to September 1, but it varies year by year, and some years we have had snow visible in July. With changing weather and lighting, it is easy to see why most of us like to soak in this view more than once a day, it is captivating!

Yesterday was primary election voting day. In Colorado Springs, that is usually most important for the Republican Party, but is very important for everyone, because in many cases, the Republican candidate runs unopposed in November. This year was no exception, with several key races being decided. I was particularly pleased to Douglas Bruce voted out. His "cut spending until you bleed" approach to public funding and his "in your face" style of politics is not conducive to keeping Colorado growing and a great place to live, and his replacement I think will do a much better job without being wasteful. It was also interesting to see a 3 way race for the congressional seat when the incumbent in running, but I was a little relieved to see Doug Lamborn re-elected, as it seemed like he had done a credible job in his first term, and was not quite deserving of being tossed out on his ear "just because". The DA race was also interesting, because the winner, Dan May, made his last minute decision to run based on an expose' piece on TV, that showed the incumbent drinking heavily at a local pub in the middle of the day, and then getting into a county vehicle and driving away. Not exactly what you expect from the guy who prosecutes drunk drivers.
Todays photo was taken yesterday from Palmer Park, and is a view of Garden of the Gods at sunrise. The red rocks pick up the sun nicely in the morning. It is getting cooler in the mornings (low 50's), the annual cool down toward fall is beginning. I can't believe they are already closing the city outdoor swimming pools, school hasn't even started yet! Whatever your politics, fall is a great time to enjoy Colorado. The cool air, warm sun and blue sky mornings are just glorious!

Downtown Colorado Springs is not huge, but I thought it was extra pretty this morning from the overlook at Palmer Park, so I thought I would share the experience. Now I am not a big "get up with the sunrise" kind of guy, but my mother-in-law needed a ride to dialysis this morning, so I thought I would make the most of it. I'll share more of these over the next couple of weeks. The air was cool (52!) and clear, so I got a bunch of shots.
Palmer Park is a very popular mountain biking, hiking and overall "enjoy the outdoors" kind of park, right in the middle of town. For dog lovers, there is an off leash area too, and there are several more traditional park "developed areas". It includes a large area of bluffs (known as "Austin's Bluffs" at one time, hence the name for one of our major streets), canyons, and great views. Because of the high ground and central location, it makes an ideal overlook to the whole region, and there are enough trails to wear you out. I stuck to taking pictures today!

Today is one of the 65 cloudy days a year we get in Colorado Springs, as opposed to the 300 days of sun. I think we only just broke 70 degrees for a few minutes before the cloud cover and some rain dropped us back into the 60's. After all the hot and dry weather this summer, it is a wonderful break, and we have had some really nice evening rain to boot.
In about a month, we'll start to see the leaves start turning in the high country. It is hard to accept that summer is almost over, but my wife the teacher will be back in her classroom in 1 week (who am I kidding, she is there right now, even though she doesn't have to be!). This is when we usually take a couple of days for our last summer getaway, and try to get one more group gathering on the back deck for a "farewell to summer" party, either here or at friends houses. This fall should be a little different, with Holly only teaching mornings, hopefully it will be busier business wise as well.
I thought I'd mention a little snooping I've done on the foreclosure front. This past month's new filings were substantially lower than last month (down 22.3%), and there are some questions in my mind as to what is happening. Our foreclosure laws changed at the first of the year, in that the owners "redemption period" was eliminated, and instead the time before sale was increased. In December, many foreclosures were filed, followed by a slower January. This months foreclosures was the lowest number we have seen since January, and leads me to believe we have bottomed out here. This follows the trend we've been observing of foreclosure and short sales as a percentage of our sales dropping from the mid 20's to under 20% for the last couple of months.

The Colorado Springs home rental market made for an interesting conversation with the property manager for our north office today. We have separate property managers for each office, and our north office is just restarting the program, but he manages about 150 units, including 75 single family homes at present, and so I thought he would be a good data point.
Lots of my prospective clients ask about rentals, in case they can't find the right house, or want to build, and so the topic is pretty current. I was very surpised when he told me he does not have a single vacancy at the moment, and that all of his rentals are gone within 2-3 weeks of getting them. He also indicated that rental prices and terms have firmed up considerably. 0% vacancy?!
Being the numbers guy that I am, I did a quick check of our MLS bulletin board of single family rentals, and found there were only 593 "For Rent" properties posted, with an average rent of just over $1300 per month. That is approximately 8.9% of the total active listing inventory. I thought I would check a couple of the more popular areas (Briargate and Northgate) just to see what the numbers looked like there. There were 81 single family properties, with an average rent of just over $1600/mo. This was 10.2% of the active listing inventory. In fairness, we have a lot of new construction available in those areas right now, so the ratios are probably a bit skewed, but that did not seem like very many to me. There were 42 properties reported as being leased during July in that area, compared with 315 for the whole area.
Of course the rental inventory is very different from the listing inventory, in that a much larger piece of it is not listed or managed by an agent, but is offered by the owner, but I thought it was an interesting thing that the ones our north office property manager had were all rented right now. Another sign the market is turning here?

Colorado Springs July 08 real estate sale data is not official yet, but here is the preliminary data:

Single Family Home Sales 887 units, down 14% from last July

Median Price, $223,900, down 1.4% from last July, but up for the 6th month in a row

Average Price, $252,644, down 7.9% from last July, and down slightly from last month

Inventory 6600 units for sale, down 6.6% from last July

These figures show a mixed bag, with some recovery trends beginning to show, but the overall picture has not improved quite yet. Is it the eye of the storm, with more bad news yet to come, or is it a "flat spot" at the bottom of the curve, about to trend back up? Time will tell, but my hunch is with the flat spot theory. Foreclosure filings dropped last month, and it appears that new building permits are about to turn around as well.

Like numbers? The Sales Data Trends link on the right side of this blog has up to date data on sales trends and interesting ratios and graphs, updated regularly as data is released.

The heat wave is finally over after a week in the 90's (though we never really got there in Briargate some days)! What a gorgeous day today is. While even the hottest days have started off nice, I'm ready for more normal weather, and maybe some real afternoon thunderstorms again!

It's been a long hot week here in Colorado Springs. For those of you who read this regularly, you've probably noticed I'm not a fan of hot weather, and I think we set some records, yesterday they were talking 96 or something. It actually was bearable if you weren't directly in the sun, and we had some breeze and clouds off and on to break it up a little. The break starts tomorrow, and we really should already be past the peak of the heat of summer now. We need some more rain!
The senior open winds up today. I don't how they are going to top having a black bear on the golf course on Friday. We (my wife and I) saw a bear on the course once at Patty Jewett, downtown. The Broadmoor is so up against the foothills, frankly it is less of a surprise, but with such large crowd, it made an impression. Bears are very common in the national forest, and they come down to vary their diets sometimes. With the hot dry weather, they are probably noticing the green grass on the course, and figure there must be some berries around!
Real estate sales statistics aren't out yet for July, but preliminary figures are encouraging, with prices up slightly, and unsold inventory down. Sales were also down, but the percentage difference from the prior year was less. I spent a lot of time in model homes this week, and the models seems pretty busy. It was a productive week, with a closing, another under contract yesterday, and maybe an offer coming in today on one of my listings?