Brokerages Slow to Adopt Digital Marketing - According to a recent survey, 76% of real estate companies spent less than 40% of their marketing budgets on digital marketing, devoting the rest of the money to more traditional media.  Approximately 58% don’t use search-engine marketing.  Of those that do, only 33% invest in search-engine optimization.  The report found that 53% of the respondents expect to increase their digital marketing budget in the future.
http://www.realtor.org/rmodaily.nsf/pages/News2010020205

Denver Union Station: Portal to Progress - The Denver Union Station: Portal to Progress film premiere will be held this Friday, February 5, at the Hyatt Regency Denver – Convention Center Hotel.  Fundraising is underway to bring back the Welcome/Mizpah Arch to the Union Station site.  The relocation of IMA Financial’s headquarters to the Union Station site was recently announced.  Design work for the massive project is nearing completion and the project authority, DUSPA, has a new website (www.denverunionstation.org/) with all the latest renderings, plans, and diagrams.
http://denverinfill.com/blog/2010/02/denver-union-station-portal-to-progress-film-premiere.html

FHA Relaxes Anti-Flipping Rule - As of yesterday, FHA began providing mortgage insurance for some purchases in which the seller bought the property and held it for fewer than 90 days.  The agency is changing what is known as the “anti-flipping rule” to speed up sales of renovated homes in communities with too many bank-owned and foreclosed homes.  Waiving the rule will encourage private investors to buy vacant properties, fix them up, and quickly sell them to buyers who will be eligible to buy them using FHA financing.
http://www.realtor.org/rmodaily.nsf/pages/News2010020102

How's the housing market in your neighborhood?

Denver-area luxury home sales slip in 2009, but median price rises - Luxury home sales in metro Denver ended 2009 with a 9.5% boost in median sales price from 2008, but a decrease in sales, according to Metrolist data released Monday.  In December, 33 homes sold for $1 million and more, while in November there were 39 sales.  Median sales price for December increased 9.5% to $1.35 million year over year.  Boulder had the most $1 million-plus home sales at 13, followed by Denver with 8 and Cherry Hills Village with 6.  Million-dollar homes were on the market an average of 145 days, up from 119 in November and from 106 days in December 2008.
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/02/01/daily17.html?s=industry&i=resi_real_estate

How's the housing market in your neighborhood?

Reverse mortgage dangers debunked

As pointed out last week, the growth of reverse mortgages has no resemblance to the growth of subprime mortgages, and there is no financial fiasco looming. This week I want to deal with three other arguments against reverse mortgages that keep popping up in the media.

Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) Are Too Expensive: This argument is ubiquitous, yet it makes no sense. Too expensive relative to what? Right now, there are no private programs to compare HECMs with, but when such programs existed their costs were much the same. The instrument that most resembles the HECM is the forward home mortgage -- while they meet different needs, the delivery systems are very similar, the cost items are much the same, and therefore the total costs ought to be similar. And so they are, absent the mortgage insurance premium on HECMs.

http://www.inman.com/buyers-sellers/columnists/jackguttentag/reverse-mortgage-dangers-debunked

Lag in digital marketing

Housing market: a new normal

A new normal will prevail when the housing market recovers, according to a report released by the Urban Land Institute.

"As the economy recovers, markets will stabilize but the old 'normal' will not return. Once nascent trends will emerge as major drivers, creating new markets in new places. Those who fail to understand these new trends will miss opportunities or find themselves building what is no longer in demand," said John K. McIlwain, a senior resident fellow at the institute, in his new research paper, "Housing in America: The Next Decade." 

http://www.inman.com/news/2010/02/1/housing-market-a-new-normal

Possible Funding for Colfax Streetcar?

The Denver Post reports today that State Senator Chris Romer plans to introduce a bill in the Colorado legislature that would provide significant funding for a streetcar line along Colfax Avenue. Senator Romer suggests the streetcar line should run from the Auraria Campus in Downtown Denver to the Anschutz Medical Campus at Fitzsimons in Aurora. For the details, click here for a PDF of the Denver Post article.

http://denverinfill.com/blog/2010/02/possible-funding-for-colfax-streetcar.html

How's the housing market in your neighborhood?

10 Home Features Buyers Want
Home designers and builders speaking at the recent International Builders Show in Las Vegas say that buyers are seeking cost-effective features and rejecting things that don’t have lasting value.

“It's all about family togetherness – casual living, entertaining and flexible spaces," says Carol Lavender, president of the Lavender Design Group in San Antonio.

Paul Cardis, CEO of Avid Ratings, which conducts an annual survey of buyer preferences, identified these must-haves in new homes:

http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2010020101?OpenDocument

How's the housing market in your neighborhood?

Fannie to Offer Closing Cost Aid on Foreclosures - Fannie Mae announced Friday that it would pay the closing costs on purchases of foreclosed homes in its inventory.  The government-controlled company said buyers of qualified properties will get up to 3.5% in closing costs, or an equivalent amount for the purchase of new appliances.
http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2010012902

How's the housing market in your neighborhood?