Living Littleton

   Are you a transplant in Littleton or the Denver metro area? Many of us are, but do you have friends or relatives back in your home state that are wondering what you’ve gotten yourself into.  Oh, sure, you tell them it’s real nice here and they should come visit but do they really believe you?      

  I just recently added 10 short videos on my web site that highlights what living in Littleton and metro Denver is like, not to mention our state.  If you want to give your doubters a third party testimonial, have them log on to www.JerryBeckerAndAssoc.com.  The videos average about two minutes each and after they watch them, they’ll be calling you, as they make their vacation plans.

Jerry Becker
jbeckerhomes@comcast.net

   I just read an article on Rismedia that reported the number of households in the US declined by 1.2 million from 2005 through 2008.  This happened in spite of the fact the population grew by 3.4 million people.  This was the results of a University of Southern California professor, who studied 80 of the country’s largest metropolitan areas.  Even though Littleton was considered one in the 80 that were studied, it was included as a part of Denver.  Even though this study was only through 2008, experts believe the downward trend has continued through 2009.

   This shrinking was contributed to the squeeze the economic downturn has had on household budgets.  Kids are moving back in with parents or delaying moving out and starting their own households.  Also, more families are combining households to help spread out cost.  People are getting roommates or just sharing a house with another family.

   This decline in households has contributed to the higher than normal vacancy rate among apartments and rental homes.  It’s also taken a big chuck out of our economy.  Experts don’t expect this trend to reverse until the unemployment rate starts to declining significantly, probably in 2011.

Jerry Becker
jbeckerhomes@comcast.net

It was all over the news outlets how the latest reports showed an increase for year over year home prices in Denver and Littleton.  Of course, the report didn’t mention Littleton by name, however, it was included as being part of the overall Denver Metro market. 

According to the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller home-price index, the Denver area prices increased by 2.9%  from January 1, 2009 when compared to January 1, 2010.   There were five major markets that did even better, and they were; Washington D. C, LA, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco at the top. 

What analysts read from these numbers, is that the market has stabilized.  No one seemed to be predicting a soon return to higher gains on a monthly basis as we had experienced in the past good times.  One thing I want to make clear to the reader is, these gains are based on averages of the cost of homes sold.  It doesn’t mean that every home went up in value 2.9%, but the “basket value” of all the home sales did rise.  Over the last several years, the low end of our market had been extremely hot with a high number of investors purchasing homes that they could spruce up and then rent out with a positive cash flow.  While this was happening, the higher price homes sat on the market for extremely long periods of time.  This heavy weighting to the low end helped to bring our averages down over the last couple of years.  The good news was that home values didn’t fall by the amounts of decline mentioned in the media.

Yes, our homes did loose value over the last half dozen years, but not to the degree some people think.  I still hear of people that are sitting on the fence waiting for values to fall further.  Baring any economic disasters, I think these people may be disappointed.  The question remains, ‘what will interest rates do and how will this affect the recovery?’  Great question and I wished I knew the answer.  The Federal Reserve has indicated they will stop buying mortgages which should have the result of pushing home loan rates higher.  I’ve heard experts predict they could go up from 30 to 150 basis points. 

Time will tell, but one thing we have in our favor, is that Colorado/Denver is still considered a great place to live and conduct business.  This quality of life has and still is attracting people and businesses to our area.

Jerry Becker
jbeckerhomes@comcast.net

   On a recent Today show, they featured their real estate expert giving her opinion of the top US cities for young professionals.  Metro Denver was number two on her list with a couple of the reasons being Denver had the nation’s most diverse culture and most educated population.  Of course, this would include Littleton.  They also showed examples of housing in each city and what they would cost, however, being a Realtor, I didn’t feel they were representative.  Watch the clip and see what you think.

 http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/35643347#35643347

    Here’s something you may want to book mark for when you are looking for things to do or places to eat.  It’s a site called Yelp.com.  Here you can find a couple of dozen of categories filled with recommendations for all sorts of things like where to eat, arts & entertainment, shopping, nightlife, or local flavor.  Other cites are also represented, in case you are planning a trip, but it’s a great source for all our local activities.

   On the weekend of September 19 & 20 the first ever Colorado Fall Home Show will be held at the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver.  The creators of this event expect to have approximately 300 exhibitors present, show casing the newest trends in remodeling, energy conservation, and green living. 

  I’ve always enjoyed going to the shows held in the early spring because of the wealth of new ideas that are presented every year, and I’m expecting no less from this event.  It’s amazing how much you can learn plus the contacts you can acquire to aid in your research on areas of interest for your own home. 

  Tickets for this event are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, with kids under 12 admitted for free.  In the past, you could get discounted tickets at King Soopers for events like this, but I can’t say for sure, yet, on this one.  You can print out a discount coupon from their web site, that will also get you $2 off adult admission.  That site is www.gardeningcolorado.com/fall/default.htm.

     February 1st marked the beginning of RTD’s new parking fee program.  What this will mean for all Littleton residents is that if they park their car for more than 24 hours, they will have to pay a fee of $2 per day after the first 24 hours.  In other words, the first 24 hours are free.  If you don’t live in the RTD service area you will be charged $4 for every 24 hours, with no free days.  If you aren’t sure if you live in the RTD
taxing district you can go to their web site at www.rtd-denver.com and click on the box that mentions
the Parking Management Program.  From there you can enter in your car’s license plate number to find
out if you are in the district or not,  or call them at 303-299-2900. 
    The good news is that RTD parking lots in Littleton won’t be converting until April 1st.  Using a phase in
plan, RTD will start with lots north along I-25 and east along I-70, which will include the popular park-
N-ride at Stapleton.  Every month there after, RTD will be converting more parking lots to the new system
until the final ones along U.S. 36 in May.  If you happen to drive to the southeast line, you can expect to
start paying on March 1st. 
    RTD will be installing machines where drives can pay the parking fees in advance.  By placing the receipt
on their dash drives can show they are in compliance.  Riders can also use a prepayment system that RTD
will be making available.  To enforce the parking regulations, RTD will be using a computer driven system
of license plate recognition that will show where the vehicle is registered and the time the vehicle was
first noted in the lot.  This information will be transferred to the parking lot attendant and notify them
if a fee is owed or if it has already been paid.

     According to an article that appeared in Thursday’s (January 29th) Rocky Mountain News, Denver was
selected as the place most people would want to live in a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center.  
Denver beat out such well know places as San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Tampa, Phoenix, and Orlando.
Denver didn’t come out first in all categories, but when the results were tabulated it ended up being the
number one choice.  One thing that seemed strange was even though Denver is considered a liberal city,
it was the first choice among those that considered themselves Republicans, Independents, or conservative,
while it came out third behind San Diego and San Francisco among Democrats and those that considered
themselves liberal.
    While this report should help to keep Denver out of the depths of the economic troubles being
experienced by the rest of the country, it will bring all of the future problems linked to high growth.
In the short term, this just reinforces the statistics that Denver and Colorado have an increase in migration
which is helping to bring our housing woes to an end.  As a real estate broker, myself and others, are seeing
many signs of this turn around.  It won’t be quick or sudden but it is happening.