Thornton Colorado Short SalesThere are many home currently available in Thornton CO as short sales and that number will probably be increasing throughout the year if the forecast from RealtyTrac is correct.  If you are a home owner contemplating a short sale or even a foreclosure or strategic default of your home, there are a number of factors you need to consider with a short sale vs foreclosure.  Besides the usual tax and credit implications you will need to select an experienced short sale broker in your area.Damaging trend for homeowners doing short sales!One of the most disturbing and damaging trends to a home seller that I've seen recently involves the short sale listing broker mandating a buyer paid fee (or addtional commission) on the HUD that goes directly to the short sale lis... 08/14/2010

A quick spotlight on Thornton Colorado 80229 and some reasons to consider living here.  I have recently listed two homes in this area and feel it has many things to offer.  Thornton is nestled right to the east of I-25 and has a varied topography with lots of trees and rolling terrain.  Access to Denver is easy and the mountains are just a quick shot up I-70.  The Denver Metro area has limitless options to take in the active lifestyles of Colorado.  Skiing is 45 minutes away with access to many world class ski areas.  There are plenty of trails for the bikers and hikers.  Thornton is minutes from the foothills! Thornton is a pretty walkable city with close access to restaurants, fitness, schools, parks, transit and shops.   Check out the walk score of Thornton. According to city-data th... 05/04/2010

Hawk Hustle 5K Run/Walk, Thornton, Colorado Date & Time Saturday, May 01, 2010, 9:00 AM Address Horizon High School 5321 East 136th Avenue Fees-Adult $25.00-Children 18 or under or seniors 60 or over $18.00-Families of four or more (must be immediate family members only) $75.00 Registration Closing Date Thursday, April 29, 2010 @ 11:59 PM Description The Hawk Hustle is a community run and walk to aid the hard-working athletes, coaches, and trainers in Thornton’s Horizon High School. Come out and support your local high school and enjoy the exercise, competition, and fun! The out-and-back 5K course will start and finish on the north side of Horizon High School, cross Holly Street, and follow the Horizon Tributary Trail past picturesque ponds and wetlands, and through adjoining neighborh... 03/13/2010

In the past 6 mos., 11 properties have sold at an average net price of $227,526, which was 93.8% of the average listed price.  The average price per sq. ft. was $116 and the average days on market were 59.  out of the 11 solds, 2 were shortsales and 2 were foreclosures with the remaining regular sales.  Not bad statistics, except for the fact, of course, that the average sold price is way prior to the time that the housing market took at huge dive.  03/08/2010

If you want to buy a house in Thornton Colorado between $175,000 and $225,000 you probably know it may not be easy. Yet you need to move fast, if you want the $8,000 or $6,500 home buyers tax credit. There's a lot of people with that same idea, hoping to cash in on the $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers, or $6,500 for next-time buyers. So people find a house they like and write an offer, only to hear there are already several other offers. The offer that wins is the best one, not necessarily the first one. And the best one may not be the highest one. Many times, hopeful homeowners find themselves competing with cash buyers (usually investors) in this price range. And a cash buyer may waive title insurance, inspection objection, etc., to sweeten their deal. Many home buyers are find... 01/21/2010

Christmas 2009 Tree Recycling    Curbside The City will conduct a curbside collection of natural Christmas trees for recycling from January 4, 2010 - January 15, 2010. This service is available for City of Thornton trash/recycle collection customers only. Customers are asked to place their natural tree at the curb on their regular trash pickup day for City crews to collect. Trees should be free of decoration, tree stands and should not be placed in bags. These trees will be recycled into mulch for use in City parks. Drop-Off Thornton residents can also drop-off their Christmas trees for recycling on Saturday, January 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Infrastructure Maintenance Center, 12450 Washington Street, at the north entrance with access on 126th Avenue east of Washington Street. Pro... 01/01/2010

Thornton Colorado Aquatic Center finally approved.  The long awaited joint venture between the Adams 12 school district and the City of Thornton to build the district's new aquatic facility at the Holly Sports complex in Thornton finally received Thornton City Council approval this week.  The Holly Sports Complex is located on the Southwest corner of 136th Avenue and Holly Street and will be known as the Thornton Trailwinds Park and Open space.  The joint agreement betweent the city and the school district is a first according to city staff members.The Aquatic Center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010 and will eventually be attached to the new recreation center the city is also planning for the area.  According to the city's agreement with the school district, the pool will be ava... 05/20/2009

Thornton has been named a 'boomburb' The March issue of Planning magazine has Thornton Colorado as the only Colorado city named with that moniker.  A 'boomburb' is defined as city with at least 100,000 residents that has experinced growth of at least 10 percent each decade since 1970, but that is still not the largest city in its metropolitan area.  According to the US Census, Thornton has grown at least 30 percent each decade and doubled in size between 1970 and 1980.  The current population is rated at almost 120,000 people. Much of the city's growth has occured in the last 5 to 10 years as the city has annexed new real estate.  However, Thornton Real Estate growth isn't just growth for growths sake according to the city's policy planning manager.  To provide a perpective of how much ... 04/09/2009

What's happening in Homestead HillsTwo recent planned changes that will affect the Homestead Hills in Thornton community.  First, it looks like the City of Thornton in finally going to put in some speed cushions in the neighborhood.  The residents have complained since the community started that there are too many drivers using the neighborhood as a shortcut to get to either; the Northbrook neighborhood or Horizon High School.  If the city would have simply extended East 140th Avenue when they were constructing the cell phone tower near the park, the park itself, or when the neighborhood was built this wouldn't have to be done now.  Many Homestead Hills residents talked to the city traffic engineer about this very proposal, but it fell on arrogant and deaf ears.  So, although the speed ... 03/02/2009

The Haven at York Street homes real estate 2008 sales analysis Filing 1, Filing 3, and The SanctuaryThis is a year end analysis of The Haven at York Street residential home sales. We looked at active, under contract and sold properties for 2008 in Filing 1, Filing 3 and The Sanctuary. The new homes being built by Engle Homes are not included in this summary in Filing 4 because Engle Homes continues to build. These are the sold house results for 2008 for The Haven at York Street. It is important to know two facts before to analyzing home data: how many days are homes on the market before they are sold and the sold price of homes. The break down is separated into Filing 1 & 3 and then The Sanctuary. How long and what average price?The Haven at York Street home activity is as follows: The... 01/22/2009

While everyone fixates on how the average home price in Denver declined 13% in the last year, we overlook an important tenent of real estate: location, location, location. Every one of the 400+ neighborhoods in metro Denver we track had a slightly different response to the market! The attached chart shows different neighborhoods in our region. Each region has the neighborhood’s name and the percentage of sales in the last twelve months that were either short sales or bank-owned properties. The second line has the price change in the twelve months from January to December 2008 vs. 2007. Next, you’ll see the average home price in the last twelve months and the average days on market (DOM). There had to be at least twenty sales in the last year for an area to be included. The numbers are m... 01/09/2009

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Investing in Real Estate 4 – Small (2-4 units) Apartment BuildingThis blog will discuss a type of real estate investment, small apartment buildings, in the Thornton 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 as yard mainten... 12/18/2008

Investing in Real Estate 3 – Rental Condo or Rental HomeThis blog will discuss a type of real estate investment, rental condos or rental homes, in the Thornton area in Denver.What this investment is:  Purchase of a residential property to be rented out to tenants, usually on a 6-12 month lease term.  This is how most new landlords get started.  You can hire out all of the property management functions, but in many cases you will do many of them on your own.  There are smaller down payment requirements than for larger rental buildings.  The purchase process and financing process is very similar to what you experienced buying the home you live in now.  It's a great way for beginners to get started.Equity needed:  Currently 20% - 25% Downpayment.  In some cases you might be able to do it w... 12/18/2008

Investing in Real Estate 2 – AssignmentsThis blog will discuss a type of real estate investment, assignments, in the Thornton area in Denver.What this investment is:  An investor who is interested in Assignments gets a property under contract for an attractive price then assigns the contract to another buyer, usually another investor.  The first investor will be paid a fee for the work.  If you don't have much equity to work with, and/or if your credit power is limited, assignments can be a way to get started in real estate investing.  You will need to have a strong "sales" personality to succeed at it, though. Equity needed:  None, just earnest money.Importance of credit:  Not important, since you are not purchasing the property yourself.Importance of experience with contractors:  Not ... 12/18/2008

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 backend t... 12/18/2008

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 ... 12/18/2008

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 you... 12/18/2008

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... 12/18/2008

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 knock... 12/18/2008