Oct
12
We’re 8th!
Filed Under foreclosure, real estate | Leave a Comment
State foreclosures slip to 8th
In the past couple of years Colorado has ranked at or near the top in foreclosures, but other states are now encountering their own crises.
Keep in mind that every state identifies foreclosures differently. In this race, 8th place is better than 1st.
Feb
1
What’s the next Wash Park?
Filed Under denver, real estate | Leave a Comment
A few months ago a couple of search terms “What’s the next Wash Park” and “Up and Coming neighborhoods in Denver” led people to my site. However, I’m not a real estate agent nor do I have any plans to become an agent in the near future. If I had to venture a guess, Riverfront, Highlands, or Eisenhower Park would be the next hot neighborhood. However, they will never be Wash Park because Wash Park is one of Denver’s best known landmarks.
The Denver Business Journal touts Eisenhower Park as the next hot area. Their article Eisenhower Park becoming a popular market:
Looking for an undiscovered neighborhood with great charm, easy access to transportation, a range of public amenities and lower prices than comparable areas?
Realtors and custom home builders are touting the Eisenhower Park neighborhood northeast of the intersection of South Colorado Boulevard and East Hampden Avenue.
Note: To access this article online you may need a subscription to the Denver Business Journal.
From the denver.gov site:
Eisenhower Park is a fully developed 22-acre truf grass park located at S. Colorado Blvd. & E. Dartmouth Ave.. The park features Eisenhower Recreation Center, two skinned softball fields, one un-skinned softball field, one soccer field, two football fields, four tennis courts, horseshoe pits, four flower beds, four picnic sites (one with a shelter). Restrooms are provided during the summer months and are located on the East Side of the Recreation Center.
Dec
1
Musings on my search results
Filed Under blog | Leave a Comment
I’d like to think that my blog is unique, I don’t just blog about mortgages cause quite frankly mortgages isn’t the most exiting subject on the planet. Most mortgage brokers don’t blog (do they even know what a blog is?) so I thought blogging would separate me from the pack. Most of my traffic is derived via Google searches. When I started blogging I sent my url to my past clients, friends, etc. and over the past couple of months I’ve received links from other blogs and sites, but I still get more traffic from google than any other medium. It’s not even close.
Here are some of the search terms (in UPPER CASE) that were used to find my site:
- NY PIZZA in DENVER: If there’s something I know, it’s NY Pizza. The site for Original New York Pizza is www.originalpizza.us and it’s located here: 1300 W Midway Blvd in Broomfield, CO 80020 to order a pie call (303) 469-9117. Pantaleone’s is another good NY Pizza joint despite the owners being from Soprano country (NJ) here’s their address: 2120 S Holly St # 6 Denver, CO 80222 and number (303) 757-3456.
- My DENVER BLOG covers Denver real estate, Denver trends, Denver mortgages, and just about anything the gooey substance above my medulla oblongata comes up with.
- TEDY BRUSCHI of the New England Patriots is one of my favorite NFL players because he plays the way the game should be played and yes, he’s HALF-FILIPINO and HALF-ITALIAN. DEAN CAIN and WILL FERRELL are not Filipino.
- You can buy STARBURY SNEAKERS in DENVER, Colorado, you can go to Steve and Barry’s located at 8501 West Bowles Avenue in Littleton, CO 80123 call them at 303-904-7513 for directions.
- FORECLOSURE is a hot topic in COLORADO and DENVER. Fellow Colorado bloggers have tried to minimize the problem. When 90% of the leads that I get from my websites is from Colorado Home Owners facing foreclosure, I’d say foreclosure is a problem. Any way you cut it, people don’t want to lose their homes and saying “sorry, I can’t help you” really sucks!
- KOSI 101 plays CHRISTMAS MUSIC. Tune to 101.1 on your FM dial.
- DENVER is not going through a HOUSING BUBBLE BURST. Denver may have flat lined in terms of property value over the past 4 to 5 years but Denver’s real estate hasn’t popped. Who in their right mind would want to move to a booming city that features 300 days of sunshine a year, skiing in our backyard, hiking, biking, great sports, light rail, international airport, great restaurants, and affordable housing? (sarcasm)
- THE NEXT WASHINGTON PARK could very well be Stapleton, Lowry, Riverfront or anywhere near the Pedestrian Bridge. A realtor would probably be a better person to ask (now there’s an idea for a blog post) so if you need a realtor, just ask. I only work with realtors that won’t waste your time or mine.
- The DIFFERENCE between a MORTGAGE PLANNER and a MORTGAGE BROKER: a mortgage planner actually gives a rats ass about you as a human being and your long term future. For the record, I consider myself a MORTGAGE PLANNER.
- HGTV is scouting for new home buyers in the DENVER metro area for their show, MY FIRST PLACE. However, I think this train came and left.
- REAL WORLD DENVER takes place in LoDo (Lower Downtown) and no I won’t be making any cameos on the show. I believe they filmed the show on Market Street a stone throw away from Coors Field. I’d actually like to see MTV show music videos like they did when I was a kid.
- CASEY SERIN is facing FORECLOSURE and blogging (www.iamfacingforeclosure.com) about it. The guy is going through hell.
- DENVER FIX and FLIP and FLIPPING HOUSES in DENVER, please refer to Casey Serin’s blog before you call me about a loan.
- Yes, there are NY JETS FANS IN DENVER. I’m a die hard NY Jets fan but I don’t know what bar the NY Jets fans congregate. A few years ago it was the Sports Column but when I showed up in my Vinny Testaverde Jersey, there were more Pats fans in the house. Old Chicago on 14th and Market is always a good bet, they show all the games.
- ALTUS HOME LOANS is not the most reputable mortgage company in Colorado. Their DECEIVING ADS are what they are that’s why they’re in trouble. What’s more concerning is that we want politicians to clean up the mortgage mess. What’s the difference between politicians and a mortgage company? They too make just about any promise necessary to get the deal (elected), then fall short of expectations time and time again.
- You really need TITLE INSURANCE in Colorado it’s necessary and not a JUNK FEE.
- WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE DENVER BRONCOS? I don’t have that line anywhere on any of my posts but here’s my answer is “Jake the Snake is not John Elway and neither is Jay Cutler!”
Nov
14
Life comes at you quick
Filed Under mortgage, personal finance | Leave a Comment
The past couple of months, I’ve been saving a few dollars here and there for my daughter’s college education. Saving should be a habit and it should never be painful. If saving is painful, chances are you won’t save. So I just go about my daily life and skip some of the daily pleasures. For example, I never hit Starbucks for coffee on the way to the office and instead of going out to lunch, I eat leftovers. The savings isn’t monumental, but over time it adds up. According to Albert Einstein, compound interest is “the greatest mathematical discovery of all time”.
The power of compound interest is simple: save early and let time and interest work for you. If I save $3,000 for my daughter’s college education in the first year and add $3,000 to the account yearly, assuming 6% interest, by the time she’s 18, she should have $98,000.
YR $
1 3,180
2 6,551
3 10,124
4 13,911
5 17,926
6 22,182
7 26,692
8 31,474
9 36,542
10 41,915
11 47,610
12 53,646
13 60,045
14 66,828
15 74,018
16 81,639
17 89,717
18 98,280
To learn more about Colorado’s college savings plan, go to CollegeInvest.org. If you want to skip the fluff, here’s the prospectus. FYI, page 16 has the fund rate of return.
Aug
15
gas prices = less urban sprawl?
Filed Under denver, mortgage, real estate | Leave a Comment
Could rising gas prices kill the suburbs? MSN explores the effect soaring gasoline prices will have on people moving to the suburbs. The article uses a Colorado couple choosing a nearby suburb of Denver to further illustrate their point:
Matt Loose, 28, and Dana Loose, 29, chose their first home — in the close-in Denver suburb of Centennial — with an eye to keeping their commutes as short as possible while fulfilling their dreams of owning a brand-new home. They recently closed the sale of their $250,000, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home in a KB Home development called Village at Centennial.
“The main driving force behind our move was the convenience of the commute, as opposed to moving to a location that is farther outside of the metro area,” said Matt. The new home is near a park-and-ride lot and a soon-to-be-built light-rail line, which will give him a 30-minute commute to his job as a civil engineer in nearby Englewood. Dana, a meeting and hospitality specialist, will be able to get to her job at a downtown Denver law firm in about 30 minutes.
While they won’t be able to walk to work, many of their contemporaries are driving 45 minutes to an hour, to new subdivisions being built on farmland. “We really liked the surrounding neighborhood,” Matt says of Centennial, “and we liked the fact that it wasn’t way, way out in the middle of nowhere.”
Jul
14
Top Five Fridays - Cartoons
Filed Under humor, top five | Leave a Comment
Cartoons were a staple of my Saturday morning diet when I was a youngster. I recall getting up early to catch a couple of hours of cartoon. These days the only time I get up early on Saturday morning is to play golf. These are my favorite cartoons of yesterday and today.
- The Family Guy - I’m addicted to Peter, Stewie and Brian Griffin. By far the best thing on television these days.
- The Simpsons - They changed cartoons forever. Probably the best cartoon ever if not the best animated show ever.
- South Park - takes place in Colorado, need I say more.
- Superfriends - “Wonder Twins power activate”
- Spiderman and Friends - the final Saturday cartoon before the television went off.
Oct
4
Stampede tramples bankruptcy records
Filed Under mortgage | Leave a Comment
Here’s an article from the Rocky Mountain News regarding the onslaught of bankruptcy filings.
As new rules loom, debtors in single day file 433 fresh cases
By John Accola, Rocky Mountain News
October 4, 2005
Record day, record month, record year.
A stampede of debt-laden consumers on the last day of the month broke the charts Friday in Denver’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Bankruptcy Clerk Brad Bolton said Sept. 30 marked the court’s largest number of filers in a single day - 433 fresh cases - and also exceeded previous record highs for the month and year.
“It’s the No. 1 day of all time here, and I bet it won’t last a week,” Bolton said.
Bolton said he expects the figures to keep climbing as debtors rush to file before a new and stricter bankruptcy law takes effect Oct. 17.
This year, with three months remaining, Colorado filings totaled 28,093 on Friday. That compares with 27,993 filings for all of 2004.
For the month, September showed 5,432 filings, a 131 percent jump over September 2004.
Overall, bankruptcies are up 31.2 percent from a year earlier.
To declare bankruptcy, consumers whose debts total more than their net worth must also show that living expenses and monthly bills exceed their income.
The new bankruptcy law, however, will make it more difficult - and expensive - to go through the bankruptcy process, with higher bankruptcy filing fees and added requirements, such as mandatory credit counseling and debt education.
The extra legal hoops are designed in part to steer people away from Chapter 7 bankruptcy, where most debts can be wiped out entirely, to a less forgiving Chapter 13. In a Chapter 13, the bankruptcy court requires debtors to set up a plan to repay a percentage of their debts over five years.
An income “means test” presumably will prevent debtors with above-average incomes from filing a Chapter 7. In Colorado, a couple whose income exceeds $54,187 would likely have to file Chapter 13, according to the new rules.
Josh Stritecky, an attorney at Methner & Associates in Denver, was in bankruptcy court recently lugging a bag overloaded with bankruptcy files. Stritecky said he and his colleagues have been working seven days a week to keep up with the flurry of cases.
“It’s been crazy,” he said.
He said credit-card debt is just part of the picture. A lot of the cases involve job loss, huge unforeseen medical bills and divorce.
One woman, a legal assistant in Denver who makes about $50,000 a year, said she wouldn’t qualify for Chapter 7 after mid-October. She declined to provide her name for this story because she feared her career would be affected by the stigma associated with bankruptcy. She was faced with repaying about $15,000 in credit-card debt, $10,000 for a student loan and two mortgages totaling roughly $125,000, according to her filing. She only had $50 in her checking account and $50 cash, according to the filing, made in August. She said she believed she would never fully pay off her debts.
“I just couldn’t cut it,” she said. “I’ll never take out a loan for anything again in my life.”
The law also takes aim at business bankruptcies. Denver attorney Brent Cohen, a commercial bankruptcy specialist, said retailers filing for bankruptcy - either to reorganize or to liquidate - could have a harder time keeping store leases.
Cohen said the new law favors commercial landlords, in some cases allowing them to break their rental agreements with a bankrupt tenant. Current law allows bankrupt businesses to sell those leases as an asset and even remain on the premises for years until a reorganization plan is approved.
Tighter deadlines will give business tenants fewer breaks.
“If you have a landlord resisting the debtor’s efforts . . . and the debtor needs additional time to organize, that can be a very difficult deadline to live with,” Cohen said.
accolaj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2666.
Copyright 2005, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.