Blow Off Top There is a stock market term referred to as a "Blow Off Top." It is defined by Investopedia as: A blow-off top is a chart pattern that shows a steep and rapid increase in a security’s price and trading volume, followed by a steep and rapid drop in price—usually on significant or high volume as well. The rapid changes indicated by a blow-off top, also called a blow-off Continue Reading
Rising Mortgage Rates Will Deflate the Market
Rising Mortgage Rates Will delate the Market, if rates are allowed to follow their natural trajectory (Up). This is really a fact that is impossible to dispute if you understand macroeconomics, credit, and markets. Let's begin by looking at how mortgage rates come to be at a given moment in time: How are interest rates set and why are they going up? Mortgage Rates Continue Reading
Peak FOMO
We may have reached "Peak FOMO" this month in Denver Real Estate. If you haven't heard the term before, FOMO is the Fear of Missing Out. FOMO is a very real thing, it's a byproduct of the human psyche and the human condition to want to fit in, to want to feel successful, to want to have as much or more than the next person. What I did not realize is that this term is a relatively Continue Reading
Is It a Giant Ponzi Scheme?
You may be familiar with the term Ponzi scheme, which admittedly I wasn't familiar with until the Great Financial Crisis in 2008/2009. A high profile case of Bernie Madoff made headlines for the level of scam and fraud that bilked investors out of millions or billions of dollars. Put simply, a Ponzi scheme is an investment scheme that pays "profits" to "investors" out of funds Continue Reading
Monopoly Money
With everything getting more expensive, it might be time to reintroduce the $500 bill like the original monopoly game. Virtually everything has gotten more expensive over the last 18 months, especially necessities of life and things with intrinsic value like housing or shelter. In Denver in November, according to DMAR, the median home price was $542,000. The Denver Post Continue Reading
Many Buyers Suffer From Buyer’s Remorse
There are a plethora of articles out there in the past few years indicating that a majority of younger buyers polled suffer from buyer's remorse: that is to say, they REGRET their purchases. CNBC: 63% of millennials who bought homes have regrets—usually because they missed this one crucial step At best, a bad decision on a purchase can mean years of living in an abode you do not like, Continue Reading
Where’s the Inventory?
It seems like there's nothing for sale The inventory in the Denver Metro Real Estate market has been so tight, there has been such as shortage of homes for sale it seems, that many are questioning where all the houses are that should be for sale? In fact, in our last blog post, we mentioned that inventory year over year for December is down an incredible 65.9%. It's very Continue Reading
Real Estate Market Out of Gas?
Is the Real Estate market out of gas? Is the party over in 2021? In a recent article from this past week in the Denver Post entitled Metro Denver housing market running out of gas, economists tell agents, the Post quotes several local economists who say that rising sales and double-digit price increases have reached their limits. It goes on to say that the Denver Real Estate market Continue Reading
Denver | Top 10 Housing Market in 2021
In a recent post on this site, I wrote how cities in America are undergoing immense changes in the near and long term. With less emphasis on office work, in-person meetings, etc. migration, population movements, and living arrangements are already adjusting. It's hard to dispute these changes, but there is reason to believe that mid-size or smaller cities, especially if they are less Continue Reading
The Future of Denver and the American City
The American City was doing so well, then Covid happened. With 2020 drawing to a close and Covid-19 still at the forefront of American life, many changes have happened and are still happening quickly in the arrangement of American life, namely how and where people choose to live. The period immediately following the Great Financial Crisis, the entire decade from 2010-2020, was a great Continue Reading
Add Character to Your Abode- Vintage Furniture
Incorporate Vintage or High-Quality Used Pieces A great way to add character to your interior decor in your abode is to sprinkle in some vintage/used furniture. This can work with literally any style. Even if you don't want a full Boho/Flea Market vibe, a piece here or there can really give the space dimension and character. Vintage furniture in general is made much better Continue Reading
House Hacking 101
House Hacking has become a popular term lately in the Real Estate Investing Community and also another community known as FIRE, Financial Independence and Early Retirement. In fact, as it comes to FIRE, developing and utilizing hacks for just about everything is a must and is one of the key tenets to reaching FIRE. This post will focus on the hacking aspect of Real Estate, and in Continue Reading
Can You Time the Market?
Can you Time the Market? A common question heard on so many news outlets, websites, etc. is if a buyer can time the Real Estate market, like you might when you are buying a stock. Some people say "No" you cannot time the market. They claim that you buy when the time is right for you, and it's a long term investment. They say timing doesn't matter, not to think about it. Continue Reading
First Time Homebuyer FAQ
We have a special Video Blog today from Caroline and lender partner Michelle Oddo at Nova Homeloans. It can be daunting for a first time homebuyer to know where to start in the process of buying a property. Caroline covers some of the most common questions in this video blog including: How to get started? What is the first step? Do I need 20% down for a mortgage? Continue Reading
The E-Scooter Craze
Happy Friday, y'all! Topic for today is E-scooters. Love 'em or Hate 'em they sure do seem to be popular and here to stay. This is becoming a pretty common scene around town (maybe not today since it's snowing!): First off let me say that they seem really fun and cool! They seem so popular especially with young people <30 let's say (my own observations) Continue Reading
The Gov’t Shutdown and Real Estate
Don't worry, this isn't a political post, at least not overtly :-) It's been hard to miss the news of the on-going Government Shutdown the past few weeks. While I believe a deal will be struck soon, or at least a stop-gap measure to re-open the government for a period of time, kicking the can down the road a bit further, one thing has really struck me with all the reporting: The Continue Reading
A Soft(ish) Landing
What is Different in 2019 Well this year is off to an inauspicious start already in the Financial World, lots of pessimism. See my 2019 predictions from earlier this week. It's safe to say I'm cautiously neutral. Not pessimistic but not optimistic. I'm hoping for a "soft landing." What we are seeing quite simply is the winding down of years of massive stimulus, the Continue Reading
Denver Real Estate Predictions: 2019
It’s that time of year again as we turn calendar over to 2019 where Americans are looking into the near future to conjecture what the next year may bring. We focus on Real Estate here at Abode, with a focus on Denver in particular, so that is where this blog post will focus. Good predictions should be rooted in facts and data, trends, extrapolated out, and that leads me to my first Continue Reading
No, Your Home Doesn’t Make a Good Rental
No, You're Home Doesn't Make a Good Rental Property Real Estate in Denver and in Colorado is booming, and it's been that way for a while now, probably going on 7-8 years. Many people who have bought homes during the past 7-8 years who have seen their home go up in value (on paper) may be thinking to themselves, well, maybe I should buy another home and rent out my current Continue Reading
Inexpensive Wall Art
Wall Art If you're like me you're always looking for cool art for your walls, and you may not have the budget for original art in each room! You don't want to look like a college dorm room with movie posters, or maybe you don't want a mass-produced wall hanging from Crate and Barrel, American Furniture Warehouse, or Ikea. Or, you're looking to create a vignette of Continue Reading
Denver Tiny House
Platt Park Tiny Home I recently had the great pleasure of helping a buyer client search for a very unique property. He was looking for a tiny home or unusual building site within the city, preferably in an A+ location, the bigger the project, the better. This client had previously done a medium-sized cosmetic renovation of his last home and wanted to take the next step to a big Continue Reading
Making Offers Without Touring Homes
Blind Offering According to a new study by Redfin, nearly 33% of Denver homebuyers who purchased their homes during the time period of the study (Nov+Dec 2017) made "Blind Offers" without seeing or touring the home. With all due respect, I'm calling Bullsh*t on this one. First off, 33% is literally 1 in every 3 buyers in their survey of over 1,500 respondents, and Redfin puts the Continue Reading
Will Mortgage Rates Disrupt Market?
Mortgage Rates at 4 year Highs Mortgage Interest Rates hit 4 Year highs this week, and the feeling is that they will continue to trend higher. Today, 2/14/18, according to Mortgage News Daily, the average execution for a 30 year fixed rate, conforming mortgage (<$529,000 in the 5 county metro area) for a top tier credit scenario is 4.57%. With the federal reserve expected Continue Reading
Is Buying A Home a Good Investment?
Real Estate is a fantastic investment, but you may be surprised to hear a realtor say that your home, i.e. your primary residence typically does not make for a good investment. What do I mean by that? Well, first let's define investment. investment: the outlay of money usually for income or profit. Real estate makes for a great investment when it is an income-producing Continue Reading
Colorado #2 For Retirees
WalletHub recently published its 2018 rankings for best states for Retirees, and Colorado came in at #2, behind only Florida. Wallethub's methodology compared the states across 3 main categories: 1) affordability 2) Quality of Life and 3) Health Care With the staggering statistic that almost 30% of non-retirmenet adults have not saved any money for retirement, affordability is Continue Reading