Denver Facts

As winter approaches, here are some interesting facts about Denver’s climate:

 

  • It’s considered “Semi-Arid” averaging 16 inches of precipitation yearly
  • Average high during the winter months – 38 degrees
  • Average low during the winter months – 22 degrees
  • Average high during the summer months – 84 degrees
  • Average low during the summer months – 55 degrees

 

At least email is free


As of January 8, 2006, a First Class stamp from the Post Office will be .39 cents, an increase of .02 cents.

Worth

Found this the other day:


My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?

Basketball by the Numbers

When I was a kid I was an avid baseball card collector. I wasted my money on pieces of cardboard that were branded with Topps, Fleer, or Donruss logos. After opening up each pack I poured over the statistics on the back like a child on Christmas day. I was enamored with numbers. I still am.

Apparently Billy Bean, the Oakland A’s General Manager is enamored with numbers as well. He wrote a book called “Money Ball.” The premise of Bean’s philosophy is to determine what statistics are truly important in fielding a sports team. Bean must be doing something right – he’s jettisoned his top players yet somehow the A’s have remained competitive. In comparison the Rockies have jettisoned their top notch players yet are bottom feeders.

I came across an article on the Freakonomics blog about Dean Oliver – a statistician for the Seattle Supersonics. He’s a statistics guy who’s trying to formulate a philosophy similar to Billy Bean regarding the stats are truly important for basketball players. The article itself appeared in wired.com

The Patriot’s GM (Scott Pioli) and Head Coach (Bill Bellichick) should co-author a book since they truly know who to jettison and how to win championships. The book would be titled “How We Screwed the Jets and Created a Dynasty in New England!”

I am Batman

I am a sucker for sites like this: http://www.matthewbarr.co.uk/superhero

8.5% or 6.6% in Two Years

Here’s an article from the Rocky Mountain News discussing Rates, Home Sales and Housing Bubbles.

Rising rates won’t stunt home sales, builder says

By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News
November 10, 2005

Mortgage rates will rise to 8.5 percent in two years but won’t trigger a massive slowdown in Denver-area home sales or a housing bubble, Pat Hamill, CEO and president of Oakwood Homes, said Wednesday.

Hamill said rates were that high in 1995 and 1998, which were good years for home sales in the Denver area. But Hamill also pointed out that rates actually were falling during those years. Thirty-year, fixed- rate mortgages now are hovering around 6.5 percent.

Economic growth and job creation are far more important than higher rates, Hamill said.

Hamill was among the speakers at the 2005 Rocky Mountain Commercial Real Estate Expo Fall Forecast, held by the University of Denver’s Franklin L. Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management.

Other speakers gave mostly rosy outlooks for the office, industrial, apartment, retail and land markets.

“We’re finally clawing our way out of the trough,” said Natasha Felten, president of Colorado Commercial Cos.

Hamill said one reason there won’t be a housing bubble is that homes aren’t as liquid as stocks. Even if home values fall, most people won’t be forced to sell, which is what often happens when stock prices drop, he said.

Also, speculators – who are artificially driving up home prices in other markets, such as California and Las Vegas – no longer are a factor in Denver, he said.

And home buyers in the U.S., on average, pay a smaller portion of their salaries to buy homes than do homeowners in other parts of the world, making them less vulnerable to falling values, Hamill said.

In the U.S., a typical buyer spends the equivalent of 3 1/2 times their annual income to buy a home, while in England, an average buyer spends seven times their income, he said.

People stretching to buy homes in hot markets such as California and Las Vegas, though, may be getting close to what U.K. homeowners pay, he said.

“We’re going to see that in our lifetime,” Hamill said.

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5207

Copyright 2005, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.

However, according to the National Association of Home Builder’s website, they predict rates to be 6.6% in 2007.

If I was on Southpark


This is what I’d look like if I was a Southpark character.

Create your own image here

My side projects

The one thing I do best is get sidetracked. After years of being a software developer I actually found my calling as a mortgage broker/banker. It’s a career that allows me to dabble in other pursuits:

  • I blog
  • Post to a mortgage forum
  • Create other mortgage sites
  • Try to improve website rankings through SEO
  • Promote my friend’s site

Fed raised interest rates yesterday

Yesterday, Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve raised the short term interest rate to 4%

According to an article in the Denver Post (it’s actually written by a Washington Post writer) the Feds will raise it to 4.5 percent by Jan. 31.

So if you have a Home Equity Line, the Prime Rate will be 7% on your next payment and 7.5% by early next year.

Referendum C passed

Referendum C won by about 45,000 votes out of more than 1.1 million cast.
Referendum D lost by about 14,000 votes.