Feb
10
File under small victory: Colorado cracks down on mortgage brokers
File under mortgage + home equity loan + checking account : Aussie ARM can pay off
File under conforming loan limits: It’s still $417,000 in Denver and Colorado. California is a different story.
File under money from the Feds: Rebates, What you need to know
File under 16th & Court makeover: Adam’s Mark sale done
File under not a lopsided trade after all: Manning for Rivers
File under an interesting experiment: Due to Top Five Fridays I rank well for Mailman Newman
Feb
4
Monday Morning Quarterback
Filed Under colorado, rates, sports | Leave a Comment
Microsoft may be buying Yahoo. They also might be buying the Sun complex in Broomfield. Despite Google’s meteoric rise, Microsoft is/are still the Joneses and Google knows it!
The caucus in Colorado is Tuesday. Isn’t twenty years of Bush (4) + Clinton (8) + Bush (8) enough? For the record, I’m a huge fan of Barry. If you read his bio, you might become one too. He’s half African, half Caucasian. Raised in Hawaii. Lived in Indonesia. Schooled in California and NY. Senator for Illinois. He’s got the whole country and a lot of ethnicities covered plus according to the NY times he’s a MAC.
Rate cuts, rate cuts, and more rate cuts.
I’ll be the first to admit that I really didn’t think the Giants had a shot at winning the Superbowl. I grew up watching both the Jets and the Giants but since my brother liked the Giants, I adopted the Jets as my team just to spite him. Boy do I regret that move big time!
Despite being a Jets fan, it’s hard for me to hate the Patriots. New England line backer Tedy Bruschi is the same ethnic chop suey as I am.
Why do we love sports? My brother said it best, it’s unscripted drama.
My brother is now a Broncos fan.
Suck it Peter King!
Jan
25
Keeping up with…
Filed Under blog | Leave a Comment
Keeping up with the low interest rates: . I haven’t seen rates on a 30 year fixed this low in years. Yet for some strange reason people are playing the “wait and see” game. Personally I hate this game mainly because people don’t know jack about the mortgage market. The rate cut means nothing to the mortgage market. Nothing. My advice is simple, if rates are low enough for you to act, then act.
Keeping up with the Joneses: . I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine in California who said “It’s hard to keep up with the Joneses especially when the Joneses are totally out of control.” Foreclosures are rampant in California and it’s getting worse. Maybe now people will try to keep up with their other neighbors, the ones with the older model cars.
Keeping up with Tom Brady. I have a lot of respect for Tom Brady, however, I seriously question why he’s in NY the week before the big game. Shouldn’t he be in Mexico where the weather is much warmer.
Keeping up with the weather: Being an avid skier it pains me to say that I hate snow and i’m looking forward to the 50 degree weather in Denver this weekend.
Keeping up with a 20 month old: Having a child means reliving your childhood. Except my childhood didn’t include visits to the stockshow.
Keeping up with DirecTV: I dropped satellite television the first week of the year. I was sick all week and instead of watching Rome is Burning and SportsCenter I had to endure Dr. Phil and Oprah. I must say that watching daytime television is more painful than watching Fox News.
Keeping up with the Rebate: The feds are implementing a rebate to invigorate the economy. Some people weigh in on what they’d do with the money. The Federal Government is giving us money to spend it elsewhere. Give a man a fish and they’ll keep up with the Joneses….
Jan
11
Pavilions, Argonaut, and more
Filed Under denver | Leave a Comment
Interesting articles from the Denver newspaper conglomerate Post/News :
Denver Pavilions goes on market: The developers of the Denver Pavilions are putting the downtown retail development on the market.
Argonaut Liquor moves: The storied Argonaut, one of the oldest and most successful liquor stores in the Denver area, is getting a new home after about a half-century at its current site on East Colfax Avenue in Capitol Hill.
57-acre Evergreen estate on market for $24 million: Denver entrepreneur Richard Bard is selling a mansion on a 57-acre estate in Evergreen.
Treasury secretary: No simple fix for housing: The Bush administration is working to combat the country’s severe housing crisis but there is no simple solution, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday, adding that a correction in the housing market is “inevitable and necessary.”
Efforts to spark economy may be too little, too late: As leaders in Washington turn their attention to efforts to avert a looming downturn, many economists suggest that it may already be too late to change the course of the economy over the first half of the year, if not longer.
Jan
3
Spanning the web
Filed Under blog, mortgage, real estate | Leave a Comment
Interesting stuff from around the web:
Rocky Mountain News: File under nice hotel but will it give me Marriott Reward points? Ritz puts on finishing touches: It’s the home stretch for the $75 million Ritz-Carlton Denver, which opens its doors a week from today.
Paul Kedrosky: File under the misery gets worse or how California Dreaming is turning into a real nightmare Option ARM Misery
Calculated Risk: File under what happens when corporations don’t pay their debt Analysts: Corporate Defaults to Rise “Drastically”
Zillow: File under 2007 ends 2007 - It’s a wrap
Trulia: File under 2008 begins New Year’s Resolutions for Online Real Estate and Trulia
Alex King: File under now this is what I call a year end review 2007 in Review
4Realz: File this under A trip down the memory super-highway
AMG: File under Chop Suey Subprime Woes Gives the Chinese Politburo 10% Stake in Major US Bank
PhotoMatt: File under Misery is the key to happiness.
If you have an interesting link that you’d like to share, just post in the comments. I’m always on the lookout for interesting readz!
Dec
20
Just don’t get rid of the lunch boxes
Filed Under denver | Leave a Comment
First thought upon reading this article: Annie’s Cafe may join hotel
Developer Charlie Biederman plans to incorporate the beloved Annie’s Cafe restaurant into a hotel he intends to build at Colorado Boulevard and East Eighth Avenue.
Just don’t get rid of the lunch boxes!
If you’ve never been to Annie’s Cafe give it a go. They have the BEST breakfast in Denver when it comes to price, ambiance, and service.
Dec
19
Buying a Denver Home online
Filed Under colorado, real estate | Leave a Comment
If you know what Redfin is all about, this article, Buying or selling a home? Forget the traditional realtor may intrigue you:
The Internet is increasingly taking on the duties once performed by real estate agents. And while no one - yet - is suggesting that it’s a good idea to buy a house over the Internet sight unseen, a new business model is emerging that takes advantage of the convenience of Internet shopping.
80% of all home searches start on the internet. So it’s no surprise that companies are using the internet to transform the way they buy and sell real estate.
More on online home buying:
Buyers and sellers can save thousands on sales commissions and through rebates using online real estate agencies, such as Real-a-Save:
FOR A BUYER
- Home sales price: $300,000
- Traditional 2.8% buyer’s agent commission: $8,400
- 66% Rebate Real-a-Save clients would receive: $5,400
FOR A SELLER
- Home sales price: $300,000
- Typical 3.2% sales commission: $9,600
- Real-a-Save’s standard sales commission: $2,500
- Savings: $7,100.
It’s really too soon to tell whether or not online real estate brokerages will be around or just another passing fad. If you talk to most people they love the idea but would prefer to stick to using a real estate agent no matter how much they despise agents. Why do people despise agents? Same reason people despise the government - a lot of upfront promises, not much after that. The internet won’t solve that problem.
Dec
17
Colorado and Prepayment Fees
Filed Under mortgage, rates | Leave a Comment
From the Rocky Mountain News:
With foreclosures at record levels, a Colorado regulator has tackled prepayment penalties that can trap borrowers in costly mortgages.
The measure, which took effect Friday and was announced Monday, prohibits fees that extend past the dates loans are adjusted to higher interest rates.
Read the full story: Prepayment fees limited
Dec
7
Gates Project or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Urban Redevelopments
Filed Under business, denver, economy, real estate | 3 Comments
I have never been a big fan of the new Denver urban redevelopments: Lowry and Stapleton. When I first moved to Denver, Lowry was an aging military base and Stapleton was an airport. Things changed when friends of mine moved into these urban redevelopments. They’re vibrant neighborhoods. They’re near the airport, city, zoo, museums, restaurants, and more importantly for my friends they’re family friendly.
Enter the Gates Project:
From fan belts to greenbelts - at long last the urban revival of the former Gates Rubber plant is taking shape.
Read the full story: Long-awaited Gates project gathers steam
It’s going to be a while before the Gates Project will be complete. I’ve learned to embrace these urban redevelopments and I’m looking forward to having another Linens and Things, Office Depot, Chili’s, et. al. fill our landscape. Who knows they may even add a Chipotle or a Qdoba or both.
Nov
28
Links: Million Dollar Deals
Filed Under colorado, real estate | Leave a Comment
Million Dollar Deals in Colorado:
Steve Forbes got rid off his:
Trinchera Ranch in the San Luis Valley has changed hands - from a man worth almost $500 million to billionaire hedge fund manager Louis Moore Bacon. Read the full story: Forbes sells Colo. ranch
Bandar bin Sultan decided to keep his:
A Saudi prince who put a $135 million price tag on his Aspen-area estate has taken the property off the market because he got no suitable offers, his attorney and agent said. Read the full story: Saudi prince’s Aspen estate off the market