Wet Weekend Marked Memorial Day 2009 in Colorado Springs

I'd say we are finally drying out from all the rain this weekend, but it just wouldn't be true. May has been a funny month this year, with wet cool weather on the weekends, and drier, sunnier weather during the week. It rained a lot yesterday, but they say today will be wetter still. Fortunately, drier weather is forecast for graduation day on Wednesday at the Academy, so all is not lost.

The wet has everything very green, and wildflowers are starting to bloom as well. I'll get some fresh photos when the sun comes back out and time allows. Summer is such a great time of year in Colorado, and a little rain notwithstanding, it is such a great time to be out of doors taking in the fresh air, enjoying the majestic mountains and the natural beauty around us.

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Memorial Day Weekend Kicks Off the Summer in the Springs

Like the rest of the country, Memorial Day weekend tends to signal the beginning of summer in Colorado Springs. The grass is now green, the leaves are on the trees, time to get together with friends and family and celebrate! That will hopefully be easier on Monday than today, as a cold front came through and dropped the temperature into 50's and 60's from the 80's yesterday! It was cool and rainy today, good for the grass and flowers to be sure.

Next week is Air Force Academy graduation, and VP Joe Biden will be speaking. The Thunderbirds always put on a good show for this, and we get a preview of the show as they practice in the days leading up to the graduation, especially in the Briargate and Northgate areas that sit immediately across I25 from Falcon Stadium, where the flyover and graduation occur. Today's picture was taken last spring of the Chapel and surrounding areas as seen from Briargate.

May is also the kickoff of allergy season, at least for me. My allergies are usually a lot better here than they were in prior places I have lived (Michigan and California), but in May I can get it pretty good sometimes, and this year has been extra bad for a couple of weeks. It usually passes fairly quickly, but the doctor thinks I picked up some kind of bronchitis along with them this year, so I have been sick for a few days this week (I hate it when that happens!). Hopefully I'll be good as new shortly.

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Wildlife Still Thrives in Colorado Springs City Limits

This past week I had a couple of vivid reminders that wildlife is very abundant inside the city limits of Colorado Springs. Friday I took this picture while I was waiting for some clients, to show them a house. It was on the west side, but probably less than a mile from the heart of downtown. I spooked her buddies while trying to get this photo, there were a half dozen or so grazing together. Yesterday it was really foggy, and I was heading out to Falcon to pick up a client, when a couple of pronghorn came up to fence along Woodmen road in such a way I was afraid they were going to jump right in front of my car!

Wildlife tends to do well here for several reasons. To the west of the city, we back up to the Pike National Forest and the Air Force Academy, so there is an incredible amount of unspoiled land very near. Within the city, we have a lot of open space and parkland, so there is plenty of area for wildlife to live, even if the National Forest or Air Force Academy (which is like a big national park in it's own right) are not a factor. Also, we have a fair number of creek beds that traverse the area, making it easy for wildlife to move around, in many cases without ever hardly crossing a road.

When we decided to come to live in Colorado Springs, one factor was that we wanted to be "where the wild things still grow', and it is nice almost 20 years later to see that they still do!

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Another Blue Sky Day in Colorado Springs

It got warm here yesterday, in the low 80's, but today will be a little more normal, around 70, and not a cloud in the sky at the moment. I like the spring. The flowers and trees are blooming, the grass is turning green, the birds are singing, it's like nature is 'all happy' out there. We even had a fox in our back yard this weekend. Given that we have 6 foot privacy fencing, it was a little surprising when he jumped over it (or maybe crawled is a better word, he did not clear it in a single bound!). Our lawn even got it's first mowing of the season. Today's photo was actually taken last May in our back yard, but you get the idea.

Spring is also when a lot of out of town visitors begin to show up. Air Force Academy graduation is just around the corner, and then there is a rush of weddings before the new graduates get shipped out to their assignments. But many people like to come because Colorado Springs is a great place for a summer vacation. There are lots of things to see and do, the weather (especially in the mornings) is very pleasant, it's affordable, and there aren't a lot of places quite like it. And it is exceptionally pretty, with our mountain views that dominate the horizon from almost every angle.

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Access to the Eastern Plains Gets Much Better

Yesterday I drove out to Woodmen Hills in Falcon for an inspection on a new home, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the new widened portion of Woodmen Road was finally open. The drive out was quick, smooth, and pleasant. The pronghorns were out in force, and while this photo is not from yesterday, it gives an idea of what you see almost every day when you drive from the northeastern section of Colorado Springs to Falcon and Peyton, or visa versa. This new section of 4 lane road will significantly improve access for residents of Falcon, Banning Lewis Ranch, Forest Meadows, Black Forest and other eastern communities here.

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

April 2009 Housing Numbers Improve For Colorado Springs

As of today, May 6 2009, the Colorado Springs home sales statistics are not yet final for April, but preliminary results show sales only 8.3% behind last April, the smallest year to year decline we seen in some time. Prices were still soft at a mean of $210,141, down 12.3% on average, driven by a stubborn presence of foreclosure and short sale properties. These 'distressed' properties still comprised at least 26.3% of sales for April, and while that is the lowest percentage since last September, the average price for these transactions is very low. There is a permanent link on this blog on right side called Colorado Springs Home Sales Data Trends that you can click on for more details.

This is article #301 on this blog. When I started writing it, I wasn't sure how often I could write. Given that there is always SOMETHING going on in Colorado Springs, I guess I should not have been worried! Today we will see temperatures approaching 80 degrees, and the leaves are out on almost every tree, so Spring has finally sprung. Today's photo was actually taken last May in Monument Valley Park.

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Back Home In The Springs

We just returned from a most amazing trip to the Western Cape region of South Africa. Since this blog is really about living in Colorado Springs, I won't post a bunch of travel stuff here. However, I thought there were a few things I should share.

1. Travel to anywhere in the world really connects well with Colorado Springs. It is amazing to me still that jet airliners can take you anywhere, with a plane change here and there.

2. Cape Town, Stellenbosch and the whole Western Cape region of South Africa is a fantastic trip. If you want more information about our own trip, I may post to a different blog at some point on it, or can email me and I will share some things. The rand exchange rate is very favorable still, and I enthusiastically recommend a visit to this truly fantastic place.

3. As fun as any trip can be, and as beautiful as South Africa is, it is so good to be home and see the grass turning green here, the days getting longer and more spring like, and see our own mountain, still covered in snow, majestically overlooking the city.

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Forest Gump Would Like the Black Forest

Actually, a lot of us like the Black Forest, but it is like the proverbial box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. As one of the best areas of Colorado Springs to find acreage and trees, it also has lots of sub areas that vary widely in terms of covenants, style and age of home, and condition. Not to mention road access. Generally prices start in the upper 300's, even for fixer uppers. The house that I took these photos at showed pretty rough, had a bad driveway, and bad road in, and was still priced around $425,000.

I took these photos Monday (4-20-09) while previewing homes for some clients. The house was really 2 houses (it had a guest house), and when I was leaving, the goats and llamas starting bleating at me. After I snapped their picture, I turned to leave and saw some more animals out of the corner of my, which turned out to be deer. You can see all the snow still left over from the Friday / Saturday storm, but it has been 60's and 70's since, and the trees and bushes are just ready pop with new leaves and flowers.

We will be on vacation until 5-4-09, so if you have real estate needs that need to be addressed between now and then, please my associate Bill Van Tol at 719-229-9100 and mention you saw it in my blog!

Colorado Ski Resorts Close With Lots of Snow

I used up my last ski day from my pass yesterday at Copper Mountain, where the last day of the season had the best snow I saw all season. I think they had 18 inches or so within 48 hours, it was great, and especially for end of season conditions. The weather was perfect too, not a cloud in the sky. At home in the Springs is was close to 60, and almost no evidence of our storm remained when I got home. Technically, there are still a couple of ski areas that remain open. Arapahoe Basin is famous for staying open as long as possible, and Loveland also stays open a little longer. These are small ski areas, the main areas are all closed now.
The moisture of the last week has got some green starting to peak through on the lawns. It won't be long and the trees and bushes will start leafing out, and it will start looking like spring for real. Golf season got it's start interrupted by the weather this week, but the area courses should be filling up again shortly. Hiking, biking, tennis, catching a baseball game, a whole new season awaits! With temps in the upper 60's and mid 70's, should be a perfect outdoor week.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Colorado Springs Sees 2nd Major Snowstorm in 1 Week

After the Easter Sunday snowstorm this week, it kind of had me thinking Colorado Springs was done with snow for the season (at least with major storms), but this one was even bigger. Schools were closed yesterday, and for good reason, as the snow just kept coming back after it would quit for while. There were even some periods of thunder and lightening in the middle, kind of a rare occurrence. This was a classic 'Albuquerque low', with low pressure moving slowly through New Mexico, sucking moist air from the Gulf of Mexico up to mix with cold air over the Rockies, and just keep snowing. It was still snowing this morning, but is starting to let up, and I won't be surprised if the sun is out by noon, and at least the streets melted off by dinner. I think we had 8 - 10 inches maybe at our house? The temperature is already close to 40, so the worst is over. March and April are traditionally our snowiest months, and this year was certainly no exception to that pattern. The good news is that this should pretty much get us back up to snuff with the water supply. Lots of wet snow should result in the mountain reservoirs filling up pretty nicely.

The ski resorts are pretty much all scheduled to close this weekend, with well over a foot of fresh on top of a 6 foot base! I had really hoped to get one more day in yet this year, maybe tomorrow? I 70 was closed for a chunk of the day yesterday, so even with good snow, you couldn't get there!

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Tax Day and Shopping in Colorado Springs

Many cities in the country had Tax Day tea parties yesterday, and Colorado Springs was no exception. Friends who attended the festivities in Acacia Park were impressed with how smooth it all went. Conservatives protesting in the public square isn't something you see every day, if they had been rowdy about it I guess it would really have been news! I was surprised the Gazette reported only 1500 people were there, friends had guessed double that. For as fiscally conservative as Colorado Springs tends to be, I would have thought more would attend, but then again, some of us were working!
The news of the General Growth Corporation Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing is pretty sad here in Colorado Springs. The Chapel Hills Mall, across the street from my office in Briargate, is a General Growth Property, and while this is anticipated to go rather smoothly and not force any major closings, it still reflects on how difficult the business climate has become nationally. The mall is where my youngest son works, and while we are not big shoppers as a family, it is where we go when mall shopping is required, not to mention the food court is a pretty convenient quick bite for lunch, and the theaters are also very close and convenient. The other major mall in the city is The Citadel, which is quite a bit further south. The Promenade Shops at Briargate is a newer outdoor shopping and dining center that has competed somewhat with Chapel Hills in recent years, though it is really a different experience altogether.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Living Like a Tourist in Colorado Springs

I don't know where the expression 'live like a tourist' really comes from, but I like it. It has the connotation to me that every day we should take a little vacation, experience some of the joys that we all tend to get a lot more of while we are not at work, and that are unique to our locale. Yesterday morning I had a couple of extra minutes while I was out running some errands, and stopped by the Garden of the Gods and took a couple of pictures. Our summer visitors don't tend to get to see Pikes Peak with a fresh mantle of white, and in a month or 2 neither will we until next fall, so I thought I'd try to catch it after our slushy snow on Easter Sunday. This shot was taken at the Garden of the Gods Visitors Center, and is probably one of the most commonly taken photos of Pikes Peak. This free city park is a great place to come for a short (or long) walk, bring a sandwich for lunch (or coffee for breakfast, you name it). In short, it' really a great place to live like a tourist!

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Iraq Casualties Hit Home in the Springs

This morning we learned that the 5 troops killed in Mosul, Iraq last week were based right here at Fort Carson. As the whole conflict winds down, these kinds of things are very sobering, and our hearts are saddened for the families affected. Our own family is particularly sensitive to developments in Iraq this week, as our oldest son is leaving in the next day or so for Iraq as a civilian contractor. He spent 5 years on the Army previously, and has been doing some work with a company stateside doing logistics support. With the economy the way it is, this looked like a good opportunity, although I have to say I did not expect he'd be heading over to Iraq as a part of the job. We are proud of his willingness to 'do what it takes', and like the families of all of our armed forces, are going to be praying for his safe return.
The Easter snow quit in the later part of the afternoon, and this morning bright sunshine looks like it will be melting off kind of fast. My wife the school teacher was a little disappointed they didn't at least get a late start out of it, but this time of year, it is a little unusual to cancel school for snow, as it melts pretty quick.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Snowy Happy Easter in Colorado Springs

Not a great day for an outdoor Easter Egg hunt in Colorado Springs today. I don't know the exact statistic on this one, but the odds of snow on Easter in Colorado Springs are much better than Christmas (March and April are our snowiest months), and the weather certainly lived up to it's reputation today! We went to the 8am service at New Life, and it was well attended, though not packed (the later services are more crowded historically, sometimes standing room only). I took today's photo after we got back though, as it had snowed the whole time we were in service. The streets were pretty good overall, one thing about spring snow storms is that the snow tends to be pretty wet and slushy on the roads as opposed to any kind of icy mess. It usually isn't cold enough to become a bigger problem, though sometimes a lot of wet heavy snow can break tree branches.

This year all of our kids seemed tied up with things so we are not hosting an annual Easter feast at our house. In 27 years of marriage I don't think we've ever gone out for an Easter meal, so I think we'll try it this year and see how it goes!

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Easter In Colorado Springs Is A Big Deal

Today is Good Friday, the day that Christians all over the world remember the crucifixion of Christ, followed of course by Easter, the day that celebrates the Resurrection. In Colorado Springs, there have always been plenty of Easter traditions. One of the more 'famous' was the annual Easter Sunrise service at Garden of the Gods (this sunrise shot was taken last summer). It was thought to the longest running Easter sunrise service, but became somewhat a victim of it's own success when thousands would overrun the park on Easter morning. At one point they had shuttle buses taking people from satellite parking areas and everything. Our unpredictable spring weather was often not even a deterrent, people would still come out, even if it snowed. There are a few that still gather informally at the park, but nowadays the churches all pretty much do their own things. With as many 'mega churches' as we have, there is no location in the city (other than perhaps Memorial Park) that could come close to holding everyone at once.
New Life Church, where we attend, has had an Easter production call The Thorn that they've done for years. It is somewhat of an 'R' rated passion play (they have a children's production that is a lot less graphic), and quite an experience. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 people attend this (spread over many performances), we are going to this year's production tomorrow. Satellite Map View of New Life
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Colorado Springs / El Paso County Health Department is GREAT!

We are going on a relatively short overseas trip before long to South Africa. It is a special family event for my daughter-in-law, who is from there, and in doing our research, discovered there may be some immunizations needed. Further research indicated that some of these may not be readily available at your doctors office, so this morning I went to the El Paso County Health Department for a briefing and immunizations. Their facility is antiquated, but directly across from Memorial Park, and the staff was so helpful and courteous, it made me forget I had gone to get a shot! They were also quick, almost to the minute of when they said they would see me, and for how long it would take. This is a public service that really works!

It turned cool, cloudy and windy today after a couple of really nice days, but so far no rain or snow.

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Colorado Springs City Election No Surprise

In 'off years', Colorado Springs has gone to mail in elections. It saves a bunch of money and time, but also drops the participation rate. Yesterday was the ballot deadline, and the results were not really very surprising. Only 1/3 or so voted. The biggest controversy was the proposition called 1a, which was to allow the city to use an expiring mill levy to recruit and retain employers to the city. For $10 / year or so, it sounded good to me, but this is a pretty tax resistant bunch here, and so even this went down to defeat. We need more jobs here, the local unemployment rate is over 8% at this point, but they won't be coming from this measure.
We got a touch of summer yesterday, with the temps around 70, and more of that today before another cold front hits. I need to get one more ski day in before they close the resorts for the season! I did manage to get my hot tub refilled and cleaned.

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Google's Street View of Colorado Springs Is Pretty Good

There was an Internet article floating around this week about a town in the UK that objected to Google using their Street View camera to record the town. What a shame! It is very handy to see the street view of what an area of town looks like. Take for example the link below. It starts you out looking at a traditional map view of downtown. The Antlers Hotel is right at the center of downtown, the corner of Cascade and Pikes Peak. If you drag the icon of the little man onto the street, you can see an amazing amount of detail, and it allows you to essentially travel up and down the downtown streets. While it isn't exactly post card quality photos in many instances, it is very clear imagery as such things go. You can jump to almost any address or section of town and get a street view, call or email if you need help using this!
Google Maps View of Downtown Colorado Springs
Today's 'blizzard' turned out to be a lot of very windy cold air, but almost no snow. Apparently other areas nearby got hammered, and we just had all of our lawn furniture blow off our deck, but only some flurries.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Colorado Springs March Real Estate Sales Better, But Still Weak

It will be interesting to see which spin The Gazette will pick when they report March of 2009 Colorado Springs real estate statistics. Will it be 'Real Estate Sales Up 12.3%', or will be it 'Local Home Sales Plummet 21.6%'? We won't know for another week or so, but either one could be right, because sales are up 12.3% over last month, but down significantly from last March. The link below gives some detailed analysis of the situation, but the positive trends are that inventory seems to be under control, down 13.2% from last year, the median price has begun to rise again, up 4.3% from last month at $185,000, and the average price has begun to rise, up 2.9% from last month at $212,549. As with any set of numbers, you can see things as either 1/2 full or 1/2 empty. I'll take the 1/2 full version on this one! Colorado Springs Real Estate Sales Trends
I took another ski yesterday (I need to use up my 4 pack, and had out of town buyers scheduled for the weekend) and was very happy with the snow conditions, although the weather was pretty wintery. While it was sunny and in the 50's here in the Springs, it was about 15 degrees and blowing hard up in the high country, in advance of another winter storm scheduled to arrive here today. Such a huge disparity in weather conditions is pretty normal between the plains and the mountains (especially in the spring), it is part of the package that makes living here so great!
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Blizzard's Effects Melt Off Fast

We went up to Fort Collins to see our daughter up at Colorado State University on Saturday, and I took the this photo from in front of the Starbucks at Union and Briargate (my favorite). You can see that although the Peak is nice and white, the storm we had Thursday was already melting off pretty good. We saw lots of cars still in the ditches along I25, so we know the roads got pretty bad, but they were clear and dry for us. Ft Collins seemed to have a little less snow than we did, and it was also melting fast. It was almost 60 on Sunday, but it started snowing again this morning around breakfast. Springtime in the Rockies!
When we filled up before our little trip (it is only 2 hours each way), I was somewhat shocked by how fast gas has risen in the last week or so. My last fillup at this particular station was a full $.20 / gallon cheaper. Some of the issue here in the Springs is that every Spring and Fall, they switch the formulations around, and the winter blend gas is different (more ethanol I think?). While I don't know if that was the problem, it was annoying to be paying close to $2.00 a gallon again :-( I know, it isn't $4.00, but considering that the $4.00 gasoline was probably caused by our now government owned banks speculating on oil futures, I'm not sure that is a good comparison either.
I showed one of my listings yesterday to a couple who has moved here from San Diego, and it reminded me of how many of our residents come from elsewhere, and how happy they are to be here. Recently I got an email from one the families that has moved here from the mid west recently, and their comment was 'We've been in Colorado Springs for just over five months now and we love it even more each day. It is everything you said it would be and more.'
I have other clients from new Hampshire that when I see them, they just can't stop grinning with delight that they live here now. Whether it be from Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia, Nevada, Washington, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or elsewhere, people love coming here.

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Spring Blizzard Is Over

After a dry spring, winter came back with a vengeance yesterday. It isn't really that deep out there (6-8 inches?), but the temperature dropped so fast and snow came on so heavy initially, it has left the streets an icy mess, and there are a lot of drifts.
The morning was very pleasant, though cool, and I went for a short walk downtown while waiting for my brother to have some minor surgery. We were out for lunch when the storm really started, and the temperature dropped 12 degrees in the 15 minutes it took to drive home! Even the mall was closed with this one. Hopefully the warming trend over the weekend will help melt most of it off pretty quick, though not today. We sure needed the moisture, this should green up some lawns too!
When it snows like this, most people just stay home. Some like to test their 4 wheel drive vehicles, and others just have to report to their jobs (police and fire for instance) and they can't stay home, but many books get read, many movies watched, and a lot of work that can be handled on the Internet happens. This was one of those storms that will not have as many people out sightseeing, as it wasn't as dramatic when it was done as bigger storms that drop several feet of snow. We are still a good month away from the last threat of serious snow, and it was good to finally get some.
The ski resorts got pounded again with the storm, most have increased their base levels by more than 2 feet since Sunday! Copper Mountain lists 32 inches of fresh in the last 7 days.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Certified Distressed Property Expert Course Was Well Worth It!

We always have opportunities to get smarter in our business, and sometimes I am so busy working IN my business, I don't have enough time to work ON it. This week however, I finished the the CDPE Course (Certified Distressed Propery Expert), and I have to say it was one of the best classes I have taken in a while. Alex Charfen is an excellent instructor, and his knowledgeable presentation on the ins and outs of short sales and foreclosures will be very useful in helping my clients and their friends and families.
One of the many important points that was brought out, was how important it is to NOT let your house go into foreclosure if at all possible. Realistically, for this to be an issue, homeowners are often behind on their payments to begin with. But there really can be time to come up with a better solution, and while it doesn't necessarily mean they can keep their current house, it does mean that they may be able to replace it again at some point, not always an option when foreclosure happens. Also, sometimes the homeowner can see hardships coming, and the consequences of foreclosure are far more devastating than people think. Doing something about it before it is too late can make a huge difference in how the future will look. Sometimes there really are MUCH better options, and it was good to hear more details about how it can work.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Winter Is Back!

After a very dry early spring, the central mountains are getting a good dose of winter again, with 1 1/2 feet already, and more coming. We skied last week (and weekend) up at Copper Mountain, and although the weather was fantastic, the snow could really use some freshening up, so this is a good thing both for the resorts and the water supply. Here in the Springs we woke up to just a dusting this morning, but the temps are definitely cooler than the weekend was, and we also have more on the way. Thankfully I turned the sprinklers off again before this latest cold snap!
After all the hooplah about the Federal government 'saving the housing industry' by printing more money and buying up bad investments from the banks, mortgage rates are right where they started, around 5%. So much for using tax money to help. Sales are picking up, nationally as well as locally. Progress on the national front helps us locally, in that relocating buyers who have houses to sell can buy more easily if their existing home is sold.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Ski Season Isn't Over Quite Yet

I just got back from Copper Mountain from a couple of days of skiing, and am excited to go back again tomorrow. While the extremely warm early spring is good golf weather down here in the Springs, we still had a blast skiing, and the scenery was amazing as always. It is starting to melt, but the slopes are still well covered, and sometimes some spring slush can be just the ticket to soften up some of the moguls for those of us who aren't pro bump skiers.

The new programs coming out of Washington for the housing industry sound positive, but I am skeptical they will have the affect that the press has been touting. While some are gleefully assuring us that rates will hit 4%, we should be happy if they just hang around 5%. Not that I wouldn't like to see 4% interest, but there are too many factors pushing against that happening, not the least of which is the multi -trillion dollar borrowing the government itself is doing!
It was a gorgeous sunny day today, with a little summery looking clouds once in a while. I spent most of it working, but it was still great!

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Sun and Fun

One of my brothers is here from Michigan on a visit (the other ones already live here:-), and while I was working yesterday (another closing, yeah!), they all went out golfing for the day at Fort Carson. The course at Fort Carson is open to the public, and the only one to my knowledge that has a GPS system in the golf carts to help you plan a perfect approach shot with the right club. Golf in March is not the same as golf in June. The ball rolls further, and grass is brown. But it was in the mid 60's (not any one's score from what I heard), bright sunshine (they got burnt a little), and all in all, a great way to spend an unseasonably warm spring day. It was so warm I decided to turn the sprinkler system on, there is no rain in sight, overnight lows are above freezing, and the little bit of snow that fell on Friday did not do much.
St Patrick's Day today is going to be another beauty, over 70, and then tomorrow we go up and do some spring skiing. Time for serious sun screen and lighter jackets for sure!
The market seems to be picking up, my closing yesterday was on a townhome in Monument that only lasted a week on the market, and I had another listing go under contract last week that was less than 2 weeks on market. property that is in good shape and priced well is definitely selling!
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Colorado Ranked 4th For Well Being

I love all these surveys and studies that rank places to live. Trying to quantify such subjective stuff is really hard. But I thought this one (http://www.ahiphiwire.org/WellBeing/) by Gallup, Healthways and America's Health Insurance Plans was an interesting one, not only because it makes Colorado look good, but it also shows our neighboring states of Utah and Wyoming as pretty good as well (Utah was actually ranked 1st, though in my visits there I can't really see why!). The mountain west has really always had a great reputation as a place to live, especially if you are lucky enough to be able to make a living and live here at the same time, not always as easy as it sounds, especially in the current economy. The sunny skies, majestic scenery, and lack of real congestion has a kind of universal appeal. Anyway, this was just another example of the fact that sometimes, there is even data to back up the reputation!
What an interesting cold snap hit the night before last. With virtually no warning, we woke up to some very slippery roads. Thankfully the sun came out (as usual) and completely melted (and dried) the little bit of snow and ice on the roads, but it was a brisk 14 degrees this morning!
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Time Change Not All Bad

I am a creature of habit, and the daylight savings shuffle can be a little annoying sometimes. The flip side of it for me, is that I've got a little more daylight for showing property to people when they get out of work in the afternoon. With so many of the homes for sale also being vacant, and in some cases without utilities on, it has been kind of tough to see much past 5, so this will be a nice improvement, at least for some of my local clients who can't look at property until then.
The little dusting of snow we had on Saturday was nice, and while it doesn't exactly offset the dryness we've experienced, it does add a little moisture. We could use some more! The ski areas are getting some fresh this week, that will be good for our plans next week to get some skiing in.
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Colorado Springs Mild Winter Continues

They say that you talk about the weather when there is nothing else to talk about, but the fact is, we are having an incredibly mild winter here. There is virtually no snow in the 10 day forecast, and we are in our normally snowiest months in March and April. That is good news for golfers, but not so much for skiers.
It also isn't great for firefighters, as the warm (60's and even low 70's) temps usually come with wind this time of year, making for some interesting fire danger conditions. Fort Carson had a big grass fire break out early in the week, although they seem to have it under control now. These are fairly common when they are doing live fire exercises, all those explosions mixing with dry brush tends to be a bad combination, and dry windy weather doesn't help.
I've seen many people running their sprinklers already to take some of the "crunch" out of the grass. The city is planning on watering a lot less this year for budget reasons, so I'm hoping the more normal pattern of rain in the afternoon in the summer kicks in to keep the parks from getting too dry.
I'm looking forward to things greening up with the spring. It sure is nice not having to wear a coat when out showing property so early in the season!

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

February Home Sales A Little Better

The board (Pikes Peak Association of Realtors) doesn't release the final numbers for another week yet, but preliminary data for February Colorado Springs home sales show sales up from January, at 504 units, but still down 9.4% from last February. Prices also firmed up from January, with the average at $206,608, and the median at $177,500, down 8.9% and 10.1% respectively from February of 08, but both up from January. You can see more details by clicking this link: Colorado Springs Home Sales Trends
It was a beautiful day today, almost 60 degrees, and it is hard to remember that spring is a way off still, even though the time change is happening next Sunday already! March and April tend to be our snowiest months, and March is one of my favorite ski months. My brother is coming out for a ski vacation in a couple of weeks, I feel like I haven't skied hardly at all this winter, so this will be a great excuse! Tomorrow they say almost 70, what kind of winter is this? Even Pikes Peak is looking a little bare!

FHA Loan Limits Finally Back To Reality

Colorado Springs has never been a town whose real estate prices were blown way up with speculation. Many of the sales here tend to be owner occupied, and either FHA or VA, which is the last real "low down" financing options out there. The trouble has been that FHA loan limits were reduced to only $271,000 late last year, really putting a damper on the low down (3.5%) financing option. The limits are now back up to $325,000 in El Paso County effective late this week, enabling thousands of buyers to look at homes that their down payments otherwise would not have provided for. Many areas of town don't really have too many homes under $271,000, so this should be a big help for areas such as Briargate, where the average inventory is at $354,000.

Speaking of Briargate, I listed a nice home this week in the Wedgewood area of Briargate. Priced at $309,900, it has excellent views nicely updated, good sized at 4 bed 4 bath 3100+ sf finished, and very close the mall, Rampart HS, Parliament Park, Focus on the Family, etc. It has brand new Corian counter tops with molded sink, many new Pella windows, nice hardwood floors throughout the main level, and a huge master with a 5 piece bath. Here is a link to more information: 8330 Sutterfield Dr Please call me at 719-331-7675 if you'd like to see it!

Water Supply Key to Growth

One of the ongoing local political struggles is something called the Southern Delivery System, an ambitious project to pipe water from the Arkansas River up to Colorado Springs. The city has the water rights, but the not the means to deliver it - yet. A backup route was approved yesterday by Fremont County that makes it more likely than ever that it will happen, effectively keeping the city of Pueblo from having a veto over the project.
In a climate that yields less than 16 inches a year of precipitation, water is important. Our water supply is primarily melting snow from the mountains west of here, and the Arkansas River happens to drain some very high snow producing terrain. Battles over water rights have waged for decades all over the west, and the competing interests of growing population centers, recreational users and agriculture all have merit. My hope is that this settles out with a good balance that preserves something for everyone, and does not end up as a big "win - lose".
The dry warm weather we are having this winter here in the Springs (it was 65 yesterday, and will be over 60 again today) is not helping the water supply. People are going to be watering their lawns if we don't get some snow!

It's Good to Be Home

We went to Lake Tahoe this weekend for a wedding. It was gorgeous (always has been, always will be), and it was great to see our California based extended family. We stayed on the north shore on the Nevada side, and I missed the non-smoking environment we have gotten used to here. Our kids commented on how similar they felt the scenery was to our own mountains, although Colorado does not have a lake the size of Tahoe.
In getting home last night, I really appreciated how good the airline connection was (less than 2 hours in the air from Reno to Denver, nonstop on United), and how well traffic flowed.
We have had a REALLY dry and mild winter here so far, and it continues with a 60 degree day again today.

First Time Homebuyers Can Use the Help

Ever since they did away with down payment assistance last fall, we've had an issue for 1st time homebuyers. While many here in the Springs are eligible for zero down VA financing, there is a substantial group that is not. FHA financing requires 3.5% down, which is not awful. Sellers have always been able to help with closing costs, and that has not changed either. Still, the new stimulus package makes it nice for buyers to be able to tap their tax payments for up to $8000 to make it happen, and the new provisions make it so that this does not have to be paid back. For people who have plenty of equity, this won't be any help, but it does help some younger buyers 'get into the game' and may free up some 'move up' buyers who needed to sell their homes before they could buy something. We'll see how much real impact it has, but I know I am working with some first time homebuyers who will definitely like the help!

Qualifiying For A Loan Is Not Always Easy

These days there are lots of misconceptions about how hard it is to get a loan to buy a house in Colorado Springs. But not all of rumors are UNtrue either. Yesterday we got burned by an issue that has hurt many a loan before - what will a lender consider as income.
It is commonly known that self employed borrowers have the toughest time getting a loan, because after all, small businesses are sometimes risky, and subject to lots of ups and downs. But some employees are being treated as if they were self employed these days, and that is where the 'sucker punch' comes from.
The test that the lenders use is simple. Is your income reported on a 1099, or is it on a W-2? If you get a W-2 that documents your income, congratulations, you win major bonus points for the It's Easy To Get a Loan game. Assuming your credit scores are good, you don't have a lot of debt, and the income that is documented is sufficient, you are a likely winner. But no matter how good your credit score, how high your income, how low your debt, if you are a 1099 person, you need 2 years of tax returns from the 'business' you are deriving your livelihood from before they will consider it real. Even if it is guaranteed by contract. Even if it is in a field of expertise you've been in for a long time. No exceptions. This can really hurt someone who is in any number of fields where in fact the employer simply does it that way to avoid some payroll taxes and insurance, like some truckers, some construction workers, some technology workers, etc.
What is the answer? In general, it is best to qualify and purchase before setting out in a new direction, even if it means taking a little less pay for a while in exchange for the security of the W-2. Once you have the house, it is far easier to make major changes in your compensation structure or even line of work. Otherwise, a co-signer is likely your only fall back. If you are considering going to work in a 1099 environment that should really be a W-2 (there are surprisingly many of these), consider negotiating a slightly altered deal, where the employer can recover some of the payroll processing costs in exchange for you getting paid with a "real" paycheck. It might make the difference between owning a home or not.

Fun Isn't Always Expensive

While my favorite sport, golf and skiing, are not exactly cheap, one of our other pastimes is watching movies (yes I'm a big Netflix fan), and Saturday night we learned a good inexpensive way to do that at the theater. The Picture Show at Citadel Crossing in southern Colorado Springs is a theater that specializes in taking movies that have finished in the mainstream theaters, and making them available on the big screen for a small price - $1.50 to be exact. No, the seats aren't as nice as Cinemark, and the pop corn is just as pricey, but we saw Australia, which was gone from the theaters too quick to be able to catch it for us.
The other thing we discovered this weekend was Borriello Brothers Pizza, a New York style local operation that has been expanding. Their new store at Research and Powers makes a good replacement for Rotelli's (who used to occupy their space), a nice little Italian place still functioning at some other locations, but no longer so close. I really enjoyed the 5 Boroughs combination, the thin crust and unique cut to the fresh Italian sausage was really good. We are normally Papa Murphy's fans (the take and bake thing works for us), but this was a nice alternative, I'll do it again.

Colorado Springs Real Estate Market Is Heating Up

Despite a miserable showing in January, the local market here in the Springs really is heating up. It is especially obvious when you work with buyers in the more popular price ranges ($200k plus or minus). Here is an example. Early this week one of my clients sent me a list of 10 homes they wanted to see this weekend. By the time Friday had arrived, 6 of them were under contract. They sent me 4 more on Saturday evening, and by Sunday one of those was also under contract. They found a house they really liked, and while we were still discussing writing an offer, the listing agent called to let me know they had an offer coming in. These sorts of things were not happening in the prior 6 months. The good news is that we got our offer in quickly, and were able to come to terms on the house.
While the real estate market is improving, there are still clouds on the local economic horizon. Our favorite Chilis at Powers and Union has announced they are closing on February 18. This is such a bummer for us, as it was one of the first restaurants to open in the northern section of Powers, and was a super convenient place to stop for lunch after church, a quick and easy meal on a week night, and with clients, especially when working in the Cordera area. My personal opinion is that is is a mistake, as there is a new very large apartment complex opening soon within walking distance, and if they only had given it more time, they would be doing fine. There is no shortage of restaurants in town, or even Chilis, but it is disappointing to have such a convenient family favorite close.

Ground Hog's Day

No, Ground Hog's day is not really a big deal here in Colorado Springs. Generally, he would always see his shadow here, because we get so much sunny weather. January and February are our driest months, with plenty of sun. This week is no exception, and we are now looking at some warm temps as well, with highs around 60 for a chunk of the week. While we could use some more snow, you won't find me complaining, this is so much better for showing property! Our snowiest months are March and April, I'm sure we'll see some more by then.
While it feels very busy, and the model home sites seem to be seeing an uptick in traffic, January statistics are likely going to show home sales down another 20+% from last January, and prices will take another hit, down 12-15%. Part of the problem seems to be the nature of the closing cycle, some of our higher end sales are under contract but not yet closed, and many January closings were written in December. February should be much better. We've had some very low interest rates for the last few weeks (although heading up a little), and the lending system has had a bit of rush to keep up.
That was quite a Super Bowl yesterday. I managed to see most of it after showing property all day and writing a contract, and unlike some years, this one was a great game no matter who you were rooting for.

The troops are coming home! Another group of a couple hundred arrived again this week. Fort Carson is scheduled to grow over the next few years, but even more importantly, many of the troops who have been deployed over the last 6 years will get a chance to be home again. Colorado Springs has a huge military presence, but of our 5 bases (Fort Carson, Cheyenne Mountain, Shriever Air Force Base, Peterson Air Force Base and the US Air Force Academy), the largest by far is Ft Carson, with over 30,000 troops scheduled to be based there by 2011.
We've got a couple of nice days again (50's) before it gets cold for Super Bowl Sunday. I thought I'd get a shot with a dusting of fresh snow on the Peak before it warms up too much and melts whatever we have. This shot was from a couple of days ago, from the front porch of a new listing of mine in Cordera. At $393,000, it is a very nice rancher that is only a few months old, over 3,000 sf finished, with a nice view from the front porch.

Short Sales - Not All They're Cracked Up to Be

This past weekend I showed a LOT of short sale properties. In the lower price ranges for Colorado Springs, the percentage of properties that are in some level of distress is much higher than in more expensive price ranges, (under $150k it is 1/3 of the homes in our MLS). The problems with short sales are multiple.
1. You don't know if you get the house for quite a while, even if the seller likes your offer. You can wait for weeks to find out that even though the seller likes it, their bank doesn't, and you are back to square 1
2. Many sellers in short sale situations have no real intention of trying to make things work, and so they make it intentionally difficult to show their homes (must be present, short showing window, 24 hour notice, no showings during the week, etc)
3. Some of the agents listing short sale properties are playing games with pricing, using listing prices that they know will not work in hopes of generating calls and showings and multiple offers, with no expectation that the house will sell at the price in the listing. This is pretty hard on first time home buyers or someone who is buying the house to live in, because it really means the house is not in their price range. This happened to my own buyers twice this weekend (separate buyers), where a house was such a good deal they wanted to write, only to find out the property had been bid up 10-20% higher than the list price anyway. The irony is that the sellers lender may still not approve the transaction at the higher amount. In both cases the properties were listed at less than 2/3 what the seller owed to the bank.
4. The house is almost always "as is". For VA and FHA financing, even something as small as peeling paint can blow up a deal, and with short sales, the deferred maintenance can go WAY beyond peeling paint
If you are buying for investment only, have some cash on the side to do repairs, have patience and time to deal with the vagaries of short sales, they can be a great opportunity. If not, they can be the source of a lot of headaches.
The sun is out again today, and the temps should be back into the 40's, about average for this time of year.

New Life Church - When Can We NOT Be In The News?

This week's new revelations about former pastor Ted Haggard from New Life Church saddened me from a couple of perspectives. Besides the obvious sorrow over a fallen leader, selfishly, as a New Life member for the last 10 years or so, I would like our church to be OUT of the news. First it was Ted's grandstanding antics as pastor, and then it was his "indiscretions", then it was the shootings, now it's more revelations of Ted's bad behavior. Personally, I am so ready for people to be able to come to church and just worship learn more about God, and not be dealing with this junk. Brady Boyd has done a stellar job so far, and his sermon on forgiveness this week was spot on (you can hear it at www.newlifechurch.org). I am sure this season will pass completely some day.
The weather took a nasty turn to cold this weekend. It was in the teens all day yesterday, and last night's snow was not in the forecast at all. It is a sunny, sparkly day today, and maybe I'll get some photos to share of how pretty Pikes Peak is with a new mantle of white!

A New Record for Colorado Springs?

Yesterday we set a new weather record here, with a 70 degree high temperature that made it feel like June instead of January. It won't last of course, but this week of incredible warm, pleasant sunny days has been a nice little break in what can be a cold month. The ski areas are ready for some more fresh powder, it is due this weekend from what they are saying. After seeing the record COLD temperatures in the eastern half of the country, it is nice to be on the other end of that.
The warm temperatures have made it very pleasant for showing property as well, which I have been doing quite a bit of. There are some great "spec" homes available at the moment in Cordera, as well as Indigo Ranch / Ridgeview at Stetson Hills. In uncertain times, builders that have some completed inventory take all the risk out of the new construction process, because the house is done, you don't have possible delays, and (heaven forbid) if the builder fails or pulls out of town, the house is already done so you aren't left hanging. Builders also make their best deals on completed homes, since they now have a sizable investment already made in them, and they tie up lines of credit.

Another One Bites the Dust

The big news nationally is the inauguration, but locally in the Colorado Springs real estate community, the buzz is about John Laing homes closing up shop here in Colorado. New construction is obviously hurting all over the country, and it is no different here. John Laing has had 4 communities they were building in here of late, and they join Lennar, Beazer Homes, Pulte Homes (single family), Reflection Home Building, Anthony Homes and a few others in leaving the area or going under. I have personally never sold one of their homes, not because they aren't good, but because the price point and amenities offered never seemed to match up for my clients. Fortunately their competitors can easily pick up the slack.

Colorado Skiing Can Still Be Affordable

Martin Luther King's birthday is an important event on the Colorado ski calendar. With thousands of kids getting a day off school just after the snow really starts to get good, it's no wonder. This weekend we ventured up to Ski Cooper, a small, family friendly resort where the ticket window price is still only $42 ($33.25 at King Soopers!), and ski rentals only $15. Less than 3 hours from the Springs, it is one of the only resorts that are on the Arkansas River watershed side of the Continental Divide, and also one of the only resorts that does not make any snow. Not a problem for us yesterday, the snow was great, and despite being a Sunday on a holiday weekend, it was not very crowded. I liked this a lot better than Monarch, a similar sized resort to the south, mainly because the lift setup seemed much more efficient, the runs seemed longer, and the scenery was amazing for the relatively small size of the resort.
We chose this smaller resort of mostly green and blue runs mainly because my wife had just decided she wanted to try skiing again after taking almost 15 years away from it. With equipment advances, she had been hearing how much easier it is now, and she was not disappointed. She was "cruisin the blues" with confidence by the days end, and we can now enjoy MY favorite sport together again! I'm sure we'll visit this little gem of a resort again, especially if we've got any newbies with us, or if it is another holiday weekend.
We came back to some really warm weather, and it looks like we are in for a few days in the 60's this week. January is not normally a big golf month here (it can be hard to spot your ball in the snow... :-), but I'm guessing the courses will be busy, especially today, the official MLK holiday.

Back To "Normal"

The holidays are officially over - our last house guests left yesterday morning. It has been a busy beginning to the new year, and it was kind of nice to just "chill" a little yesterday after church, including a nice Indian lunch with our daughter before her going to back to college for the new semester.
The NFL playoffs were kind of weird, only 1 in 4 home teams won despite generally being heavily favored. It shows once again that on any given Sunday... Our big news of course is that the Broncos signed Josh McDaniels as their new head coach. I am still not 100% convinced that firing Mike Shanahan was the answer to their problems to begin with (they never asked me:-), so we'll see. Any one of either a decent kicker, some healthy running backs, or some healthy and fired up players on defense would probably have gotten the job done this year (to at least have made the playoffs), but I guess you could fairly lay all of that on the coach.
The Golden Globes were kind of lame last night, and I have decided that I just won't watch such things again. They add an hour of commercials into what is really 30 minutes of content plus another 30 minutes of bad humor and other filler, I would have enjoyed playing with our new Wii a lot more.
We woke up to 2 or 3 inches of fresh snow this morning. It was sunny and cold yesterday, and we had not really expected either the snow, or the fact that they did not delay school for it. They (correctly) assumed it would clear out quickly and quit snowing, and it did, although I suspect my wife will be going nuts with her classroom full of kindergartners all stuck inside for recess.

A Better Year in Colorado Springs

Low interest rates promise to make this a better year for Colorado Springs real estate. While we don't know how low or for how long, the current rates are around 5%, which is unbelievably great. Add that to the great selection and prices we currently have, this will definitely be a better year. Yesterday we were out at the model homes in Cordera, and I was blown away by the price reductions the builders have done to make things move.

I usually have a camera in the car, and yesterday on the way back to my office, I saw a fox run across the road in front of me into a vacant field next to the Focus on the Family campus in Briargate. He (or she?) was going too fast to get anything very close up, but I kind of liked this shot with the Garden of the Gods in the very distant background. It was such a beautiful warm day (sunny and 60), I'm sure he was out jogging with everyone else in town!

December Colorado Springs Real Estate Sales Statistics

The preliminary numbers are in, and it was another brutal month on the statistics front, at least for sellers. In summary:
Unit Sales - down 23.1% from last December
Average Price - down 10.5% from last December
Median Price - down 16.2% from last December
The inventory of unsold units has dropped to its lowest level in 2 years, giving some hope that once we sell through the backlog of foreclosure properties, things should bounce back fairly well. Interest rates are great, prices are great, selection is great, so this is a great time to buy a house in Colorado Springs! Even the weather is great, it was almost 60 again yesterday!
For more complete statistics, click here.

End of the Year 2008

Today was too nice a day not to get some outdoor stuff done, so I got my hot tub drained and cleaned this morning. Mid 50's, sunny, you can't beat it! I'd take down my Christmas lights too, but I have a thing about taking them down too early, it just does not seem right. I hate for Christmas to be over, when you get right down to it!
This was not a great year by some measures. Colorado Springs real estate sales, which is how I make my living, were down significantly. The line between making a living and not making a living can get a little blurry in these times! My mother in law's health problems have been an interesting new season for us. And I lost my own dad at New Years last year, so the year started with a pretty major funeral in our family history. And the Broncos and the Rockies both missed the playoffs (ok, not that big a deal).
But even a tough year had some nice silver linings. My 2 oldest sons completed some important educational milestones this year. Our newest granddaughter, Ashley was born. We have all been pretty healthy. We have survived the toughest year economically that I can remember. Heck, I even got a Wii for Christmas! Life is good in Colorado Springs :-)

Christmastime in Colorado Springs

We had a wonderful Christmas at the Van Wieren home this year, we hope yours was as well. We spent Christmas Eve at a candlelight service at New Life Church, and then a low key meal and a sampler of gifts with part of the family.

Christmas Day itself started with coffee and cinnamon rolls at home, and then a visit to my mother in law at the Life Care rehabilitation facility, where she is getting stronger and healthier by the day. We took today's photo there. She opened some gifts, and then we headed home to put on a beef roast and open gifts with everyone.

My kids were amazing, in that they decided, despite the tough economy and their own thin resources, to all chip in on a Nintendo Wii for me! I am a little famous for not giving very reasonable ideas for Christmas gifts, and I'm afraid they took me literally on this one. It is SOO much fun though, we are all enjoying it immensely, and it was such a complete surprise!

The weather here was dry, sunny and mild for Christmas day, and continues to be sunny, though not even 30 here today. We'll see 50 again for the next several days, so despite the mountains getting hammered with snow, we probably will lose what little had hung around from the last storm. The days are already getting longer, and the sun stronger.

Like in most places in the country, the malls were packed the day before and after Christmas. One of my sons works at Chick Fil A at Chapel Hills, and he has been very busy over the holidays.

Happy New Year!

WOW!

I have never seen an interest rate drop flow into the mortgage market as fast as this one has. The 3/4% rate cut by the Fed almost immediately flowed in to the mortgage market. My daily quote on 12-17 that I get from Dana Hines at Adams Bank was 4.75% with .25 discount point, and no origination fee.

I talked to someone who had been on an ARM for quite a while, and he told me that he had refinanced earlier in the year into a fixed, but the lender had stuck him with a 3 year prepayment penalty. These should be outlawed if you ask me, (which the congress never does). I have seen some pretty ugly scenes where unscrupulous loan officers have stuck unsuspecting clients with these things, locking them into situations that are just not right. A 2 or 3% penalty for moving or refinancing is just not neighborly!

Today's photo is of my grandson, Tyler, at his preschool's Christmas program last week. Some of our favorite memories of Christmas when the kids were growing up, were these kinds of programs. While his sheep outfit isn't going to win any Academy Awards for Costume Design, it was really fun to see the next generation repeating a great tradition!

Free Money?

The Fed's surprise decision to lower rates by 3/4 instead of 1/2 a point yesterday makes the cost of money for banks darn near free. So how do I get me some of that action? :-) It shows how serious they think the economic problems are, and that is good, because they are serious. Unemployment here in Colorado Springs is close to the national average at the moment, but may be rising with the newly announced layoffs at Atmel.
The ski season technically started over a month ago, but the mountains are finally getting a good series of storms, just in time for the holidays. The weather in the mountains is very different than it is here on the plains, despite the fact that Pikes Peak (at 14,110 ft) is so close. We often have sunny, breezy weather here when it it is dumping at the resorts 2 hours drive away (they expect 1-2 feet in the next 48 hours). It makes for a nice thing, in that we don't drive around in a lot of snow, but we can get to it fairly quickly when the mood strikes. Christmas Day looks like it will not be white, currently forecast for a high of 48 degrees and partly sunny. These things change quite a bit, so I'm not banking on THAT one yet, but since we hardly EVER have snow on Christmas, it isn't too far fetched.

The Big Chill

It was really cold here in Colorado Springs this weekend. Well, at least on Sunday and Monday. The weather was a fairly balmy and clear 50 degrees or so on Saturday (that was good, since I was out showing property most of the day :-), and then a cold front came through that dropped us into negative temps (it was -10 on our way to Denver airport on Sunday night!). Sometimes when it gets so cold, even with little snow, they will cancel or delay school, but not this time. The very cold temps with 3 inches of fresh snow had reasonable good traction to it. Although it was clear and sunny yesterday, it was still single digits most of the day. Thankfully it was already 25 degrees this morning, and warmer is expected, so like most weather here, whether you like it or not, it does not last long!
The Denver Broncos playoff prospects took a little hit on Sunday, with their loss to Carolina and San Diego's amazing comeback against Kansas City. If the Broncos don't win the division, it will be the most spectacular late season swoon in my memory anyway. They went into the game on Sunday with a 3 game lead with 3 games left, we'll see how it plays out.

Colorado School Report Cards Are Out

This week the state released the annual School Accountability Report. The Colorado Department of Education keeps some pretty good information on their web site (www.cde.state.co.us). They have tons of stats on every school (not just district) in the state, and this report kind of sums things up. One of the first criteria (after price range!) we recommend to buyers when looking for a home, is the school district. Everyone has to decide for themselves what is the most important aspect of that, and raw test scores are certainly not the whole picture. But the summary report in the Gazette on Tuesday (when this report was released) had some interesting tidbits.
1. On scale from Low to Excellent, some school districts came in with every school either High or Excellent, while others did not have a single school at that level. Academy D20 had all High and Excellent except for their alternative high school, Aspen Valley. Cheyenne Mountain D12 had all Excellent, except for Pinon Valley and Skyway were "only" rated High. The same for Lewis Palmer D38, only Grace Best and Palmer Lake Elementary were rated High, all their other schools were rated Excellent. Falcon district 49 had quite a few schools rate High, but no schools achieved Excellent. Harrison D2 had only one school that even rated High (James Irwin Charter School), and no schools that were rated Excellent. D11 has a huge number of schools, and only 6 were rated excellent. Of their 5 high schools, 3 were rated High (Palmer, Coronado and Doherty), and 2 were rated Average (Mitchel and Wasson)
2. Charter Schools (which we have been involved with for 13 years, my wife teaches at the Classical Academy) continued overall to do quite well, but it depended on the theme. The "academically rigorous" schools that include (for example) Cheyenne Mountain Charter, The Classical Academy, Monument Academy, Rocky Mountain Classical Academy, Colorado Springs Academy, Colorado Springs Early Colleges, etc all were rated High or Excellent. The more experimental and / or alternative schools did not do quite as well.
3. While there is not a really great set of statistics to back this up, the average home prices in these areas correlates pretty well with the school achievement levels. Cheyenne Mountain Schools District D12 has the highest home prices (avg $518k this year), Lewis Palmer D38 the 2nd highest ($411k), and Academy School District 20 the 3rd highest ($339). D49 was $233k, while D11 was only $203k. Which came first, home prices or school performance? Conventional wisdom and some national statistical analysis shows socioeconomic levels play a huge part in educational achievement. Where the parents are wealthier and better educated, the kids usually follow suit with better test scores.

Snow Day

Today was a snow day for Academy D20 schools in Colorado Springs. Because a portion of the district is in Black Forest, where the snow is typically deeper, more windblown, and in general not school bus friendly on snowy days, they tend to close or have late starts a little more often than for example, Colorado Springs School District 11, where it snows less, melts quicker, and is almost entirely city maintained streets. My wife loves these kinds of days, because as a school teacher at the Classical Academy in D20, she gets a day to catch up on other things, like wrapping Christmas presents, etc. Best of all, because we live more in town, the roads are usually not bad enough to really stay home, so she can even do some shopping! In the case of today, we probably had 3 or 4 inches in Briargate, and the sun is shining now, though it is only 23 degrees by noon! I usually work from home on these kinds of days anyway. Unless someone needs to sign something that requires an original signature, email phone and fax work just fine.
We have all wheel drive on both of our cars. For years I drove only front wheel drive, and occasionally got studded tires, but often a dry winter would just wear out the studs, and the extra traction was seldom an issue. The bigger problem with cars and winter driving in Colorado Springs is more stopping than going, and while the AWD tends to make the car handle better on snow and ice, my son managed to hit a curb last week with my wife's because he had not slowed enough for turn. Realignment is often required with these sort of mishaps, and in this case a new wheel as well, because the old one was bent. Yet another good reason to stay home until the roads melt a bit, often just an hour or 2 is all it takes!
Interest rates are holding in the mid 5's at the moment, exciting since usually these kinds of dips only last a day or 2 in this volatile market.

Yesterday's service at New Life Church in Colorado Springs was pretty somber, and yet hopeful and healing, as we commemorated the anniversary of the shooting death of 2 of our young members 1 year ago. It was an amazing service really, and Pastor Brady Boyd did a great job covering the subject of Good Grief (available for online listening at the New Life link above). David Works, who lost 2 of his daughters and was himself wounded, spoke for a few minutes, and then Pastor Brady delivered his sermon. The church is dedicating a memorial to Rachael and Stephanie Works tomorrow afternoon. Because the church is so large, this tragedy affected many people, and listening to a father share about the loss of his daughters a year ago, just before Christmas, drew tears from many of us, myself included.
You can see from today's photo (taken yesterday) that the meltoff from our last storm is pretty complete in all but the north facing yards. It is pretty common for the sunny areas to get melted and dried up fast, one of the better arguments for a south facing driveway. Today we are under a winter storm watch, we'll see what this one does.

Colorado Springs is having an "up and down" winter so far. We've had a couple snow events since Thanksgiving, but we are in our 2nd day above 50 this weekend, before another snow event tomorrow night. It makes some interesting observations as your drive around town as well. I was driving by Patty Jewett golf course yesterday with my windows down, and noticed a number of people playing. When I got back to the house in Briargate, 15 minutes north, there is still snow hanging around on the ground almost everywhere except the streets and south facing driveways. I think I better get my lights up while the getting is good, I'm guessing the opportunities are diminishing as time goes along :-)

The Christmas gift of dropping gas prices every week seems to have run its course. After hitting a low of $1.429, we are up to $1.499 at our favorite station.

Today's photo is another from several years ago of the foxes that hand out at Patty Jewett. While I took this quite a while ago, my recollection was that there is a golf ball in his mouth.

Colorado Springs foreclosure and distressed properties are not as prevalent as in some areas of the country, but we have our share. Last month the bank owned and distressed properties made up 34.5% of our sales, which is why prices appear to be down so far. When digging behind the numbers, I discovered something interesting (at least to me!). Homes with more than 2500 finished square feet were only 14.5% of the "distressed" sales, and when looking for more than 3000 finished square feet, it was only 9.3% of the mix. What that means to me is that our averages are being drawn down a lot by homes that are both distressed and on the smaller side. Larger homes are not as big a part of either the distressed "pool", or of the kinds of homes being sought by investors or bargain hunters. Homes that have larger areas for living space are much more likely to be a normal sale, and likely to be owner occupied after sale.

The El Paso County Trustee's office does a nice graph of foreclosure trends for Colorado Springs, here is the link to the current report: El Paso County Foreclosure Report

We got a dusting of snow overnight, but it is expected to pick up a bit during the day, with another couple of inches supposedly coming. Given how cold it is (it was 18 degrees this morning), it is very light and more "broom" type than shovel type snow.

Today's photo was taken from Highway 9 south of Hoosier Pass in June. I thought of it as ski season is finally getting underway, with over 30 inches of base at many resorts. I like it closer to 40 myself, as the rocks are still showing some at 30, but with it being all nice and fresh, I am getting the itch to go! Vail reportedly got 24 inches this week, there should be some nice stashes of powder for while now. I love the web cams they have at many resorts, here is Copper Mountain's.

Preliminary data on Colorado Springs real estate sales in November indicate unit sales for single family homes are down 25.2% from last year, and the average price of $215,470 was 14.5% below last November. These are not good numbers, but keep in mind that the election was pretty much on every one's mind during the October period when most of these sales were put together (or should have been putting together:-). Also, interest rates have improved quite a bit, to 5.5% in the last week, so there is at least some reason to be optimistic about the future! For more details about Colorado Springs Homes Sales Data Trends, click in the link on menu on the right side of this screen.
The weather has turned cold and gray, with snow in the forecast. Quite a bit melted off yesterday in the 60 degree sunny breezy weather, but not all of it. Once again, they are not predicting a lot of snow, but we'll see....
Yesterday we did the inspection on a bank owned property that is only 2 years old, scheduled to close this month. With the house being so new, we were kind of surprised to find a problem with a tankless water heater the prior homeowner had installed. In El Paso County, you are supposed to get a building permit and inspections for this sort of thing, and they did not do either. The new buyer is extra handy and knowledgeable of such things, so it was not a show stopper, but it goes to show how even newer construction can have quirks. This could have been a major safety issue for a buyer, as the venting for both water heaters was partially disconnected, allowing exhaust gases into the living areas.
I could not decide on a photo for today, so I left it off. I'd love to hear suggestions of things you may want to see photos of!

Over a foot of snow in Black Forest! The Colorado Springs weather forecasters even admit they really missed this one, they were predicting 1 inch originally. Living in Colorado Springs means living with snow and uncertain weather forecasts sometimes. There are a few easy coping mechanisms.

1. Don't sweat it. If you have to postpone something because of weather, try to enjoy it and don't fret, it's part of the "spice of life".

2. Be prepared for it. Even when the weather man gets it wrong, they usually have a clue something is going on. During the winter season, bring an extra layer of clothes, never leave without coat, hat and gloves, throw boots and a shovel in when going out in questionable weather. It all improves your odds of not being as impacted even if you do get stuck. Stock up the cupboards. There is no point in getting stuck in the snow during a storm just because you need an extra cup of sugar or gallon of milk.

3. Remember that "this too shall pass". After a foot of snow on Sunday, it is a beautiful blue sky day today, and we are expecting 60 degrees by tomorrow. Although it won't all melt off this late in the year, it will definitely be less of an issue, and the roads will be cleaned off pretty well.

Today's photos are of some trees in our back yard this morning that caught some nice snow. What a great way to begin December and the Christmas season!