Its been a while since my last blog post.  I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about a grass roots GREEN event that was I was very excited about.  Two Knolls families in Centennial Colorado bought homes we had listed and shortly after moving in, installed solar systems.  They decided to organize a home tour to show off their systems.  I naturally volunteered to help sponsor and promote it because I am an EcoBroker and I have special training in GREEN issues in real estate. Last Saturday, April 11th the Solar Home Tour began and both providers were present with representatives explaining their techniques and benefits.  There was plenty of interest from the neighbors and a steady stream of traffic through each home.  The two companies were Standard Renewable Energy and Simple Solar.... 04/15/2009

THANK YOU GREENFIELD! The Bibeau Group hosted the 2nd Annual Greenfield Food Drive Sunday, March 22nd, 2009.  In just four hours, we were able to collect 481 pounds of food for Food Bank of the Rockies. That's 159 pounds more than last year! Additionally, the event co-sponsors, The Bibeau Group and Oxford Mortgage, matched the community donations for a grand total of almost 1000 pounds of food. We would like to extend our sincere thanks and congratulations to the entire Greenfield community. This wonderful, caring neighborhood just made a huge difference in the lives of many Colorado families in need. We can't wait to see how we do at the 3nd Annual Food Drive next year! 04/06/2009

Take your family and enjoy many of the upcoming summer events that the City of Centennial has to offer!Saturday, May 30, 2009 - Centennial Youth Battle of the Bands1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Best Buy at The Streets at SouthglennEight  to Twelve bands will compete and a winnerwill be  selected by popular vote and a judges vote as well. Saturday, June 6, 2009 - Spring Fling Centennial10 a.m. to 4 p.m.deKoevend Park6315 S University BoulevardDesigned as a hands-on interactive festval for children of all ages. Enjoy lots of children's activities, entertainment, stage show, balloon sculptors, caricarture artists, game zone with life size games, face painters, play pavillion and more! Attendance near 5,000 expected.Friday to Saturday, June 12-13th, 2009 - Relay for Life - American Cancer Society6 p.m. ... 04/04/2009

During the past 3 months (December 6, 2008 - March 6, 2009):  3 homes Sold in Greenfield  2 more homes are currently Under Contract  Average net sold price was $345,800 (ranged from $311,000 to $389,000)  The average Total Days on Market was 50  These 3 homes sold for an average of 95.2% of their list price and 94.4% of their original asking price  The average net price per square foot was $115 NOTE: Last year during this same period (12/5/07 - 3/5/08), 6 homes sold in Greenfield at an average net sold price of $347,583 - with the average net price per square foot of $140. Sold date Address Sold Price (after any concessions) Asking Price Fin. Sq. Ft. Days on Market 12-22-08 6551 S. Lisbon Ct. $337,400 $359,900 2648 35 1-23-09 6545 S. Killarney Ct. $311,000 $329,900 2648 72 2-6-09 20252 ... 04/01/2009

Investing in Real Estate 9 - Scrapes, Pops and New Construction This blog will discuss a type of real estate investment, scrapes, pops and new construction, in the Cherry Hills Village area in Denver.   What this investment is:  Purchasing a small home in an expensive neighborhood that may or may not need work.  The home is bulldozed and a new home or duplex is put on the lot.  Alternatively, the existing home is renovated and more square footage is added on.  A pop-top is adding a second story to an existing home to add more square footage (commonly, a master bedroom suite).   Equity needed:  Being able to document your income and your assets will be critical.  For a commercial loan, your net worth should generally be at least as much as the loan you are seeking.  The good news is that... 12/29/2008

Investing in Real Estate 7 - Fix and Flips This blog will discuss a type of real estate investment, fix and flips, in the Cherry Hills Village area in Denver.   What this investment is:  Purchasing a home that needs work.  The scope can range from the basic "paint and carpet" to extensive overhauls to scraping a decrepit property and completely starting over.  Usually does not involve tenants, and the objective is to get in and out of the property as quickly as possible.  Great for beginners with the right skill sets or the willingness to learn.   Equity needed:  With hard money loans (defined in next paragraph), potentially 0% and they'll finance the construction costs, too.  Expect a LOT of strings to be attached.  A small local lender might give you 75% of the purchase price and the ... 12/29/2008

Investing in Real Estate 5 - Large (5+ unit) Apartment Building This blog will discuss a type of real estate investment, large apartment buildings, in the Cherry Hills Village area in Denver.   What this investment is:  Still targeting tenants for 6-12 months at a time, buildings with more than five units are considered "commercial" property.  The loans are more difficult to qualify for, and usually a larger down payment is needed.  Uncommon for the new investor; this is usually what landlords with several years of experience "trade up" to.  Cash flows on larger buildings are more stable than for smaller buildings, and the economies of scale make it practical (and desirable) to hire a property manager to take over most the work for you.  This takes reduces the hassle factor of the landl... 12/29/2008

Investing in Real Estate 4 - Small (2-4 units) Apartment Building This blog will discuss a type of real estate investment, small apartment buildings, in the Cherry Hills Village area in Denver.   What this investment is:  Purchase of duplex, triplex or quadplex to be rented to tenants, usually for 6-12 month terms.  Usually what the rental home / condo landlords graduate to.  In most markets they cost a little more than a rental home, but are much more likely to cash flow on the average month.  Less cash flow risk; if one unit is empty you have other tenants that still help you with the mortgage payment so it doesn't all come out of your pocket.  Many owners will start to delegate some of the property management tasks to an on-site assistant (typically the most responsible tenant), such... 12/29/2008

  Home appreciation near T-Rex light rail line stations have out-performed the marketOther cities such as Portland found that homes near light rail lines have out-performed the market in terms of price appreciation. The newest light rail line on the south east corridor (it was built during the T-REX I-25 expansion) bears this out. In the last two years, the average home within two miles has appreciated 4% while the metro Denver average is off 8%. We've shared this with our clients, and many decide to try to purchase homes near future light rail stops in anticipation of future appreciation. 12/29/2008

Take a look at the first page, for AUN (Aurora North).  Note these positive market trends this year:-          number of active listings steadily declining-          average list price pretty stable (finally!)-          U/C up dramatically-          Number of sales / month up (partially seasonality)-          DOM dropping-          Stability in average sold prices and sold price as % of list-          Sold price as % original price UP a lot - banks are getting better at pricing-          Number of expired listings down Every indicator is improving this year in AUN.  You will see the same trends in DSW (southwest Denver  County), but not as marked an improvement as AUN. By contrast look at DSE (southeast Denver County).  -          listings are up (they should be - seasonality)-         ... 12/29/2008

Colorado Mortgage Broker Licensing In response to the troubled national real estate market and Colorado's high volume of home foreclosures, efforts have increased to make higher caliber professionals involved in real estate. Licensing, rules and regulations have become more stringent for agents, appraisers, title companies and mortgage brokers.  In regards to mortgage brokers, the below items are mandatory.  No longer can someone open up the Yellow Pages, claim to be a mortgage broker and then be compensated for placing a loan --- what a novel concept.  Before committing to a mortgage broker, please make sure that they are licensed in Colorado by searching for them on the following link:  http://eservices.psiexams.com/crec/search.jsp LicensingAll mortgage brokers conducting business in ... 12/29/2008

 Topic:  Special considerations for Investor loans The talk around the water cooler these days is all about LOANS. Who can get them? At what price? What if I already have a few loans, do I still qualify?  A year or two ago the question was at what price do I get a loan (those were the days!).  Today it is "am I still in the game?"       Here's the deal:  if you have an owner occupied loan and 3 investor loans you cannot buy any more properties and get Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac financing, meaning you can't get a conventional 30-year fixed loan. Now, my hope is that someone reads this and tells me I'm wrong. That would be great!  But as far as I know that is the case.      Where does this leave you?  You can pursue loans that are warehoused by lenders, meaning they are not sold on the back... 12/29/2008

Topic:  Investor Series:  Why sewer scopes are important A LOT of agents don't advise their clients to get sewer scopes when they purchase a property. This is a major mistake.  A broken sewer can cost between $3,000 - $10,000 dollars to repair and it only costs $99 ($99Rooter - others are more expensive) to have a tech put a camera down the sewer pipe and videotape the sewer all the way to the mainline. This will tell you  and the-buyer what the condition of the sewer is.      So let's see, we pay to have the furnace inspected but a new furnace will only be about $2,000. We pay to have the roof inspected but that's probably a $4,000 job. So why don't we always inspect the sewer?  One reason is because, let's face it,  Realtors want closings. Many figure if they keep their mouth shut and... 12/29/2008

Topic:  Investor Series:  Estimating Rents   A lot of clients ask me how to figure out what market rents are in a neighborhood. This is a critical input into the calculations an investor needs to make in order to determine what their return on investment will be on a rental property. So you don't want to screw this up!  Unfortunately, this is one of the many figures new investors get wrong.     One place people go to get rents is Rent-o-Meter. Rent-o-Meter is billed as an online resource to get accurate market rents. In my experience it is anything but!  However, I have a fairly simple solution. Multiply what you see on Rent-o-Meter by  80%  and you'll probably be close. I can't explain why but I find rents on Rent-o-Meter to be about 25% high, so multiplying their rents by 80% will get... 12/29/2008

Topic:  Investor Series:  Things to look for when you look at roofs Have you ever driven through Aurora North looking for a rental property and taken a close look at the roofs?   Here's what you'll see: a bunch of 1950's ranches in varying states of repair or disrepair, lawns that are often grassless, old handcrank windows and roofs in almost perfect condition!  This surprised me at first and perplexed me for a long time.  Why, in a neighborhood devastated by foreclosures with properties with massive deferred maintenance are the roofs in such condition?  Really!  Stand in the middle of a typical street and looking at 10 roofs simultaneously, you'll be amazed. Well, it turns out the answer is pretty simple. There was a huge hailstorm in the mid-90's and most of the roofs were replaced by... 12/29/2008

Topic:  Investor Series:  Things to keep in mind when seeing a foreclosed home   As investors we face a number of very real and very scary challenges. Making sense of this market is no mean feat and one has to be very careful with his or her investment. However, we usually think about danger as financial. Unfortunately, on rare occasion it can be even worse than that. The majority of the homes investors are buying these days are vacant and once in a while people break in and live in these properties illegally.  The last thing you want to do is walk in on someone camped out in a house, perhaps conducting illegal an activity.      This is no joke, you want to be HEARD when you walk into a property that is supposed to vacant. So make a lot of noise when you're at the front door. I always k... 12/29/2008

Topic name:  Investor Series:  Understanding Egress Windows A lot of investors ask what an egress window is and when one is needed. Technically, it's a window for a room below grade that a municipality has deemed large enough to be safe for exit in case of emergency.   While there are some variations, the window needs to be large enough that a firefighter with an oxygen bottle on their back could get in, then carry out an injured person in a fire.  Most often, it's associated with a basement bedroom window, making it a legal bedroom. Basement bedrooms without egress windows are illegal.  Installing an egress window makes them legal.      The confusion is that different cities, counties and agencies have different size requirements and height-above-floor requirements for these windows. T... 12/29/2008

Topics for Investors:  Basement Kitchens   You walk into a property you're looking to buy and rent and you walk down into the basement and voila! you find a full second kitchen.   Great!  You start calculating how much rent you could get if you could rent the downstairs separate from the upstairs and the cashflow is out of this world!  But wait, there are a number of very real problems with this scenario.     First of all, it's illegal unless the property is zoned for more than one tenant and the property has been converted to non-residential use. But there are even more practical reasons why having two separate tenants is often not a great idea. The first is the utilities. Since it's a house there will only be one bill for Excel and water. Who's going to pay it?  Can you really get the... 12/29/2008

Investing in Real Estate 9 - Scrapes, Pops and New Construction This blog will discuss a type of real estate investment, scrapes, pops and new construction, in the Lowry area in Denver.   What this investment is:  Purchasing a small home in an expensive neighborhood that may or may not need work.  The home is bulldozed and a new home or duplex is put on the lot.  Alternatively, the existing home is renovated and more square footage is added on.  A pop-top is adding a second story to an existing home to add more square footage (commonly, a master bedroom suite).   Equity needed:  Being able to document your income and your assets will be critical.  For a commercial loan, your net worth should generally be at least as much as the loan you are seeking.  The good news is that the commercial... 12/28/2008

Investing in Real Estate 8 - Condo Conversions This blog will discuss a type of real estate investment, fix and flips, in the Lowry area in Denver.   What this investment is:  A synthesis of the fix and flip and rental operations - purchasing an apartment building in a neighborhood dominated by owner occupants, then converting the building from apartment building to condominium.  Often requires renovation of the units to meet the expectations of owner-occupant buyers in that area.  Complex and time consuming, but has wonderful tax advantages compares to fix and flips and often has superior returns to all other asset classes.  Ideally suited for the sophisticated investor with extensive experience.    Equity needed:  Being able to document your income and your assets will be critical.  F... 12/28/2008