Garfield County boasts Glenwood Springs, a quaint and historic town that also offers one of the largest pools filled with natural hot springs. It also includes towns like Rifle, current popular for oil drilling.
January through August of 2008 showed an increase in the average price of homes, from Read more »
Lower prices and better interest rates are beginning to appeal to home buyers nationwide.
On Oct. 8, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales contracts in August increased by 7.4% from July, to 93.4%. The surge in sales nationwide is even greater than last August (2007), when it was at 85.8%. This marks the highest Pending Home Sales Index since June 2007.
(The index represents approximately 20% of signed contracts on homes that haven’t yet closed. When the index measures 100, it equals the average activity throughout 2001, which was when the index began.)
In the Western United States, the home sales index jumped 18.4% in August, and it is 37.8% higher than it was a year ago.
The West saw the largest growth in the Pending Home Sales Index, compared to an 8.4% increase in the Northeast, 3.6% in the Midwest and 2.3 % increase in the South.
This indicates that investing in the Western portion of the United States is a smart move, and since Summit County has not seen a decrease in sales price (but rather an increase), it’s wise to look into real estate in the area.
Forecasters predict that sales will grow by 2-3% in 2009, following the national slump in 2008 or 5-8%. They also predict a 30-year mortgage will have about a 6.1% interest rate at the end of the year and increase slowly to 6.6%.
Summit County realty
Some Denver investors are buying homes for $100,000 or less on the Front Range, and then renting them for up to $450 more than their mortgage and taxes. Many are located in Aurora, Green Valley Ranch, Montbello, southwest Denver and Commerce City. Homes selling for less than $100,000 on the Front Range have increased substantially since 2005. That year, 355 properties sold for under $100,000, but in the first nine months of 2008, 2,015 homes have sold in that price range — nearly 90% were foreclosures. Foreclosures in 2007 in the Denver metro area jumped 41% since 2006. And so far this year, foreclosures are up 9% over the same time frame last year. However, investors may not be able to find as many good deals in the very near future. Colorado’s Division of Housing is spending about $88 million to purchase foreclosures, which will help about 15% of endangered homeowners.
Due to the nationwide home price decrease, home sales increased in 13 states from the first three months in 2008. Most were in states where property values quickly dropped, such as California, Nevada, Arizona, Virginia, Florida and Idaho (the latter of which saw the largest gain in sales, at 51.7%).
Nationwide, the average second homeowner is 59 years old, married and makes $120,600 annually. According to the National Association of Realtors, many of these buyers acquire Read more »
It’s always hard to say for certain when the best time to buy or sell real estate is, but right now people who want to purchase real estate in Summit County have a lot of strong incentives. First of all, interest rates are great; the already low rates have decreased by about a half percent since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now is the time to lock in a favorable interest rate on your property. Read more »
