With the year half over, I like to look at numbers. The official statistics reports for the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors (the board of Realtors for Colorado Springs and surrouding areas) won't be ready until next week, but the preliminary data looks a little grim. There are over 6923 active listings of single family / patio homes today, another record high for available inventory. Sold data is not complete (today being the last closing day of the month, and admittedly a popular one), but it is unlikely we will see 1,000 sold units for the month (only 750 or so have been recorded so far), meaning sales will be down more than 20% again over last year.
This is the kind of the thing buyers should be all over. With interest rates in the 6.5 to 6.75%, and such amazing selection, I would expect far more buyers than sellers entering the Colorado Springs real estate market. The truth is more sobering, in that during June, we continued to see new listings that exceeded the sales rate.

Tornadoes are something that my Midwestern clients ask about often, and yesterday we actually had one in the area. This one was most unusual, because it hit in the Woodland Park area (great video at Channel 11 News Coverage), most of our tornado stories tend to be out on the eastern plains. Anyway, it was a somewhat typical story, in that no one got hurt, no property was damaged, and it just made for some extra excitement for the news.

I have discovered the US Census Bureau all over again! For all the taxes we pay, I was pleasantly surprised to discover how well some of them are being spent. During a phone call today, I had a question in my mind about how large another city was relative to Colorado Springs. I discovered they have ranking data on every major city in the country on a number of things (this is almost better than the Money Magazine list!). Here is the link: Census Bureau Ranking Data

The data is not perfect (4 years old at this point), but I discovered, among other things, that Colorado Springs is #13 on the education ranking, with 38% of the population over 25 having at least a bachelors degree. We are #2 for the percentage of the population over 18 who are veterans (21.5%). We are #65 out of 68 for percentage of people below poverty (at 8.3% this seemed high, til I saw poor #1 Cleveland at 31%!). #55 out of 68 for average time spent commuting to work (19.5 minutes) wasn't too bad either. I wonder how much time we average blogging... Fun stuff. Anyway, from my original question, I determined that Colorado Springs is about 2/3 the size of Tuscon.

Tuesday was our Luxury Homes Professionals tour. Our company, RE/MAX Properties, is the largest real estate company in the Springs, and we are the leaders in most segments, luxury homes (those over $600,000) being among them. As a part of our Luxury Home Professional certification (which I have), we have special tours arranged every month that include some of our more interesting luxury homes. This time it included Pine Creek and Kings Deer subdivisions, both of which are of a particular interest to me. I was surprised, and even a little disappointed, in the Pine Creek offerings. For the money ($840k and $950k), I was not as "wowed" as I had hoped I would be, especially with all the homes in the this segment I have seen in the last 6 months. I guess the close proximity, views and golf course are getting a bigger premium than I remembered. The Kings Deer offerings ($820k and $700k) seemed a lot closer to what I had expected. The Kings Deer home at $820k in particular was a "grabber", with a nice 2.5 acre lot, great view, over 6,000 finished square feet, and a "livable regal" feeling to it.
See What I Mean

One of the many things that brought us to Colorado Springs from the Bay Area of California (San Jose) 16 years ago was the affordable housing. Luxury homes probably don't fall into that bracket, until you look at how much house and land you get for the money. There are only 702 homes here in the category of $600k +, which makes this segment approximately the top 10% of the available inventory. $820,000 is almost 4 times the median price here, but it is hardly even above the median for places like Marin County, San Jose, or even Washington DC, and certainly doesn't get you 2.5 acres and a really nicely appointed 6,000 sf home! Just for grins I did a little search on realtor.com for single family homes in San Jose under $600k. There were only 423, less than 20% of the entire inventory of single family homes! The first house on the list made me laugh, it was $495k for an 864 sf cottage, and that is not even one of the more expensive surrounding areas like Saratoga, Cupertino or Los Gatos! No diss to Silicon Valley intended, but really...


All of this is to say, I am thankful we live in such a great place, and that our kids (and now grandkids), as they are beginning to set out on their own, can afford to live here too.

It doesn't have to be the 4th of July to get a good fireworks show in Colorado Springs. Last night's thunderstorms produced some amazing lightening, sometimes so much you could see the shadows from it. One of the things that really attracted us to the Springs from California was how the summers are so green from the afternoon and evening thunderstorms (compared to no rain from May to October). Anyway, last night's storm was right up there. I wish there was a good way to photograph such things!

The weather in Colorado Springs tends to make news at least a couple of times a year, usually for something weird like high winds, hail, or a good snowstorm. We joke about our 4 season climate as being one where can experience all 4 seasons in a single day, but today is all summer. Thankfully it will be back in the 70's and low 80's for a while again starting tomorrow, we all whine when it gets over 90 like today. After spending a few days up in the mountains, it really feels hot, even when it is a "dry heat". Pikes Peak has finally lost it's last visible snow until fall.

Aspen is considered a magical place by some. My son who lives in Snowmass calls it the place where the billionaires are chasing out the millionaires. At any rate, we were fortunate enough to spend the weekend in the Aspen / Snowmass area to celebrate his recent wedding, and I thought I would share a few things.

1. If you go from the Springs, and Independence Pass is open, take it! The drive is a little shorter than the I70 through Glenwood Springs route, and other than the hairpin turns and steep dropoffs on Hwy 82, it is really great. Figure on 4 hours, 3 1/2 if you push it.

2. Don't miss the Maroon Bells while you are in Aspen. It is the most photographed spot in the state, with good reason. Get there before 9 or after 5 if you want to drive in, otherwise you take a bus in from Aspen Highlands (which we have done before, not a bad approach either).

3. Don't miss the gondola ride to the top of Aspen Mountain. Although Aspen is famous for the people watching, personally I think the mountains are even better.

4. The wildflowers are fantastic this year. There are acres of them in the meadows, especially along Highway 24 between Florissant and Wilkerson Pass, but we saw fields of gorgeous ones along the Rim Trail in Snowmass as well.

5. Bring lots of money :-) Food and lodging are pricey here, although deals can be had. One of our kids found a very nice room for $85 a night on Travelocity. $150 is more typical, and it can go up from there.

6. The Hickory House in Aspen really does have the best ribs, at least that I have ever had. They catered our event in the Maroon Bells, and it was sooo good!

Today is the street breakfast that kicks of the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo season. http://www.coloradospringsrodeo.com/

This is a very unique tradition, because the street breakfast really kicks off a "range ride", that precedes the actual event. The slogan "Pikes Peak or Bust" of course goes back to the gold rush era in the late 1800's. The rodeo event has a 60+ year tradition in the Springs, and is a nice tie to our cowboy heritage here.

It looks like we are in for some real summer now, with highs around 90 for a few days. In the mountain ski towns they say people "come for the winters, but stay for the summers" and that is a bit true here as well. Even with nice hot sunny days, our nights are cool, and with our whole house fan running overnight, we were in the 60's when we woke up this morning. Summer in the Springs is great, with sunny cool mornings, often an afternoon thunderstorm, and a cool down at night back into the 50's.

Foreclosure is never a pleasant subject. This weekend's Gazette (The Gazette) had a pretty interesting article about the Colorado Springs foreclosure situation. There were lots of things in the article, but the ones that I thought were the most interesting were these:

1. We are heading for an all time numeric record for the number of foreclosures, but relative to the number of homes we now have, it really is not that high
2. Subprime loans seem to account for a high percentage of the foreclosure filings
3. The South end of the Springs seems to have the biggest problem
4. Roughly 40% of the foreclosure proceedings are not ending up at sale, as a result of the homeowner redeeming the property, successfully negotiating a short sale etc

Most of this is intuitively obvious, ie sub prime loans are usually made to people who have a less than stellar track record with their finances to begin with. The extended and repeated deployment of troops from Ft Carson will undoubtedly have the largest impact nearest the post. I was surprised at the high percentage of filings that do not end up going to sale, it confirms my suspicion that PRE-FORECLOSURE properties tend to be better deals sometimes than those that have gone the entire process.

Golfing in Colorado is sort of a unique experience. Today we got a late start on the season, with a little warmup on the par 3 course at Cherokee Ridge Golf Course (http://www.cherokeeridgegolfcourse.com/), and it reminded me of a couple of things. For starters, there is a reason many golf courses offer afternoon specials (although not this one). The thunderstorms were brewing by 3pm today to the west, though we were never in any real hurry because of it. The second thing is, that although the ball flies further at altitude, I think the golfer tends to tire out a bit quicker, especially when walking. At least I do, although I will readily confess to being less than 100% fit. The third thing is, no matter how bad you golf, being outside with a great view of the mountains and some blue sky and fresh air in your face is always a good thing. Holly and I had lots of fun, and after a few shots that I liked out of the afternoon, I'll want to get back out sooner as opposed to later!

Fathers Day weekend is looking to be fine here in the Springs. The annual SpringSpree street festival is downtown this weekend, and with temps in the 80's and sunny, a good time will be had by all.
With all this warm weather in the forecast, it was funny to see a picture in the this mornings paper of snow clearing operations still happening up on Pikes Peak. The 4th of July is when the Race to Clouds is run up there, hopefully it will be dry and and ready by then!

Fallish is the word I would use to describe today. Definitely NOT one of our 250 - 300 days of sunshine we normally get. Our morning walk was breezy (ok, downright windy), and the with temps in the 50's an overcast, it did not feel like a typical Colorado Springs summer day. Still, the flowers were very pretty, and a light jacket still did the job, and after all, we all need some exercise!
Tried a new place to eat last night, the Cubanican (Cuban cuisine), really enjoyed my meal (Ropa Vieja), and especially the plantains (fried bananas basically). It is nice to have the ethnic diversity we now have in our restaurants.

I like to go to our monthly sales meetings - usually. I have to admit it was a little bit of a downer reviewing the current real estate market statistics, and realizing it really is affecting everyone in the industry. It was more fun finding out about the new features that Realtor.com is rolling out for us to better provide information for our clients, including much more mapping and neighborhood information.
I've also had a chance to play a bit more with creating tours of Colorado Springs using Google Earth. This is great stuff! Test versions are available now on this web site:
http://www.relocatetothesprings.com/
It looks like over time I will be able to offer aerial tours of the different areas of the Springs to relocating clients before they ever arrive!

Wow is GoogleEarth is a cool program! I have some clients who have been very concerned about what altitude houses are at. Up to this point, we really have been guessing (and not far off I might add), but when I was checking out the terrain of one of the houses they were interested in, I discovered that GoogleEarth gives an exact reading of altitude of whatever you are looking at. I always knew that although the "official" altitude of Colorado Springs was 6035 ft, there is lots of variation to that. After a little browsing, I determined that our RE/MAX Properties office in Briargate is at 6500 ft, and my own home is 6932 ft. New Life Church, a prominent landmark in Northgate is 6756 ft. Fox Run Park? 7200 to 7400 ft. It is also really fun to "fly around" and change the angle of view, zoom levels, view different highlighted features, etc. The maps are not 100% current, but it is the closest thing to helicopter tour of the area on a computer I've ever seen! Download a free copy at http://earth.google.com/, it's really fun!

What a wind! I think this was the windiest couple of days of summer I've ever seen. The local TV news had some interesting coverage (http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/7890022.html), it was amazing more damage wasn't done. This morning's paper (www.gazette.com) had a pretty dramatic photo of the damage from high winds we had as well. It was downright cold this morning after that storm, I'll be glad when more summery weather returns tomorrow!
An even bigger storm seems to have hit the financial markets, as mortgage interest rates took a real jump yesterday. It's starting to look like to 6.5 - 6.75% is going to be the new norm unless something happens to send them back down. It does NOT appear the Fed will be doing anything to lower rates at this point. Check http://www.coloradoonlinemortgage.com/rates.html for a current local rate quote.

Sometimes the questions I get from my clients trigger longer chains of thought, and today was one of those days. The client is coming from out of state, and they had just a received a pretty low offer on their current home. They wanted to know how low offers were working here. I pulled some statistics to see how they were effectively working, (since I knew several of my own listings had recently received low offers recently that did NOT work out). I was very surprised to discover that in their segment, from May 1 through today, the average selling price was 99.3% of the list price. This was despite the relative softness of prices in our market. My conclusion is this: always look at a complete list of comparable sales before evaluating what to offer. While low offers are receiving a lot of press these days, the fact is, a low offer seldom actually gets the job done, and usually results in a lot of wasted time and energy. That is not to say that low offers are never accepted, but at least here, in general they are not winning the day. The most effective low offers tend to be where the seller has the equity, really wants or needs to get on with their life, and has little ego tied up in the process. As the statistics seem to show, that tends to be rare.

Everywhere I've lived there has been a special getaway spot for us that we go to recharge our batteries. In California it was Monterey, in Michigan it was the beach, but here, it is Breckenridge (www.gobreck.com).

We decided to celebrate the end of the school year for Holly with a last minute trip, since it is only 2 hours or so from home. Now "mud season" (end of ski season to the beginning of true summer in the mountains) is not the very best time to go. The weather tends to be a little cool and wet, and there are lots of restaurants and shops that close for a month or 2 during this time. Still, we were not sorry we went.
Due to all the snow this year, the Blue River ran very full, and we enjoyed a nice time along the river when we weren't browsing shops and galleries. We saw lots of antelope on the way (we took Hwy 24 through South Park), and a fox with a bird in it's mouth ran right in front of our car, across the road practically in the downtown of Breckenridge! We dodged the rain some (it came and went, mixed with some sunshine) and really had a nice time.

Busy weekend! This morning we did the annual Walk For Life for the Colorado Springs Crisis Pregnancy Center and Life Network (http://www.elifenetwork.com/ and http://www.walkforlife.com/). They split the event between 2 sites this year, and one was at New Life Church (our home church http://www.newlifechurch.org/). It was fun, and we saw friends and clients there as well. The weather was great, low 60's and sunny with a light breeze, my kind of Colorado day!

Last night we attended the graduation for the Classical Academy. It was just a year ago we saw our twins walk down the aisle, and it brought back so many memories. Seeing the children of so many clients and long term friends we have made at TCA was really special. For those who do not know, TCA (www.tcad20.org) is a charter school in school district 20. Our youngest attended and graduated from there, and Holly has worked there since it opened in 1997 (we were on the organizing committee briefly in 1996 before accepting a board position at another school). It has been such a great experience, it is hard to believe they are over 2,600 students and 6,000 waiting list. It makes this charter school larger than several local school districts!

Got our annual zoo passes today in the mail. Taking the grandkids to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo last Friday was sooo much fun! They loved the giraffes the best, but how can you compete with an animal that has a foot long tongue it will grab food out of your hands with? The passes were a great value, (http://www.cmzoo.org/) I think it was $73 for the season for the whole family for the year.
This morning's real estate stats were a real bummer, sales down 18.4% over last May, inventory up 24.8%. Oh well, this too will pass, and the buyers really like it!