The Good Neighbor Next Door

The Good Neighbor Next Door is a program offered through HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). It offers a 50% discount of the list price of a home eligible for certain occupations – teachers, police, firefighters and EMTs. The condition is that you must live in the home for 36 months. HUD requires you to take out a silent second mortgage for the other half of the listing price but no payments are required and as long as you stay in the home for 36 months, the second mortgage is forgiven. If you do not stay for 36 months, HUD will require that you pay a pro-rata on the portion of the second mortgage. 
The number of properties eligible for the Good Neighbor Next Door program is limited and located in areas that HUD would like revitalized. The homes are typically only listed for 7 days and are a lottery system if there are multiple offers (which there are in Denver!) The Good Neighbor Next Door  is a great program to consider. Currently in the Denver metro area there are very few homes available through the program. In fact, today there are no listings eligible for this program. As you can imagine, when a home does come on the market eligible for The Good Neighbor Next Door program, it goes very quickly. If you are in an occupation that is eligible for this program and have time and patience to find a home, this is a great option. Search for HUD homes (including those for The Good Neighbor Next Door) here. In addition, be sure you choose an agent that is both familiar with the Good Neighbor Next Door program and the HUD bidding process. 
In addition to writing for Daigle’s Digs, Elizabeth works full-time as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC. Elizabeth’s expertise is in buying and selling a home, first time home buyers, short sales, and investment properties. Contact Elizabeth for any real estate needs. Cell 303-819.73.71. Work 720-314-8352

Focus on Observatory Park

Observatory Park is a much smaller park than City Park. Located southeast of downtown Denver and as one could imagine, this park has an observatory! The Chamberlin Observatory sits in Observatory Park and offer a bountiful schedule of events. If the observatory does not interest you, Observatory Park offers tennis courts, a playground for the kids and picnic areas to relax with family and friends. 
The neighborhood surrounding Observatory Park is a quiet, tree-lined residential one. Like many other popular neighborhoods Observatory Park has a mix of scraped homes and older, refinished homes. Homes in this neighborhood are large and on a decent size lot. It has become a sought after location for families as it has a strong school system. Home values range from 850k to above a million and the number of homes left that to be scraped is minimal since the neighborhood has become so popular.
 There not many local stores in the neighborhood, although, around the University are restaurants and coffee shops that locals can walk, run or bike to. The neighborhood is in close proximity to I-25 and Colorado Blvd and boasts two light rail stops which makes it a very desirable place to people working in the DTC or other commutes. 
In addition to writing for Daigle’s Digs, Elizabeth works full-time as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC. Elizabeth’s expertise is in buying and selling a home, first time home buyers, short sales, and investment properties. Contact Elizabeth for any real estate needs. Cell 303-819.73.71. Work 720-314-8352.

The Rise of the Duplex

 In a world where college prices are rising and employment is low many adults are finding themselves living at home with their parents after school. The American Dream of home ownership tends to get delayed as people pay off college loans that are equivalent to a mortgage payment. One solution that my clients came up with for their grown children living at home with them was purchasing a duplex. It offered the best of both worlds: independence but a home for their adult children. 

Buying a whole duplex in Denver can prove to be difficult though as they rarely have just one owner. Currently in Denver there are only 14 duplexes for sale! Many duplexes in Denver have one owner for each unit.  In Colorado the rules and regulations of a duplex are written up in a party-wall agreement. This agreement is similar to a condo’s HOA but it is between only two parties. It will outline how bills will be split, common areas, insurance and how structural issues will be handled. This agreement is a necessity since most duplexes in Denver  sit on a lot that once housed a single family home so there is only one sewer line and water line. This means duplex owners typically have to split utility bills.

 The party line agreement makes it a lot easier for a duplex to have one single owner per unit. Although, it makes it a little harder for people, like my clients, who are actually looking to be the sole owner of a duplex. It certainly is not impossible though! If you are working with an agent looking for both sides of a duplex, ask how they will work to find you the right duplex.

In addition to writing for Daigle’s Digs, Elizabeth works full-time as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC. Elizabeth’s expertise is in buying and selling a home, first time home buyers, short sales, and investment properties. Contact Elizabeth for any real estate needs. Cell 303-819.73.71. Work 720-314-8352.

Pocket Doors

Yesterday I was showing a home to a buyer in Cherry Creek. Of course it was a beautiful condo but there were a number of mirrored sliding doors. Almost all of the closet doors looked like this: 

My client asked what other options they had if they chose to replace these doors. One of the options I love for closets are pocket doors. This would require the mirrored doors to be completely removed but who will miss them?

Want to bring in a little more natural light? Use a frosted pocket door. 
Another option would be a pocket door with a mirror. This is great for a closet or bathroom, rooms that you can never have too many mirrors in. 
 Looking to add a pop of color to your room? Paint the pocket door!
How do you feel about pocket doors? Would you use them in place of the mirrored sliding doors found in so many homes? 
 In addition to writing for Daigle’s Digs, Elizabeth works full-time as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC. Elizabeth’s clients range from first-time home buyers, to sellers, to short sales, to seasoned investors. Contact Elizabeth for any real estate needs. Cell 303-819.73.71. Work 720-314-8352.

Personal Updates and Resale of Your Home

I was recently asked to join a private interior design Facebook page. Of course it brings me nothing but happiness to be part of a design community where people post pictures, tips and ask for and offer advice. Recently someone had posted that they had just moved into a place and were wondering what type of updates they should do knowing that the home was probably not their forever home. This is a question that is near and dear to me as a lover of design and a realtor. The short answer would be that it is always about balance. As you are decorating or renovating your short term goal would be to create a home that is YOURS but your longer term goal is to make sure it is not so personalized that it will deter future buyers. When a client asks me this question, I have a number of follow up questions:
  • How long do you think you are going to stay in the house?
         Interior design trends change over the years and what you do today inevitably will be outdated    in 15-20 years even if update to everything a possible buyer wants now.
  • What changes are you thinking of making?
        Changes such as paint, window coverings and furniture in any room in the home can always be changed prior to selling. Larger changes such as fixtures and flooring can be changed but also is expensive.
  • What rooms are the changes in?
 Kitchen and baths typically add the most value to your home and I would try to keep those on par with what buyers in your market are looking for.
  • What is your budget now and possibly for selling your home?
If you want to personalize your home for when you live in it, do you have a budget to change if when you sell if need be? 
  • Are you open to making changes to your home prior to selling it in the future if need be? 
If you are greatly personalizing your home, keep in mind to get it sold in the future you may need to replace personal upgrades with something more suitable to the current market.
My typical recommendation is to personalize your home with things that can be changed: paint, furniture, art, area rugs, lighting and other decorative items. Fixtures, counter tops, flooring and  appliances should remain close to what sells in your market. If you are making very personal changes that are much different from what your market dictates just keep in mind you may need to make additional updates prior to selling. Otherwise it may take a bit longer to sell as you are looking for a buyer with a very similar style or a buyer willing to do work to make the place their own. If you are considering making substantial updates and are concerned about your home’s resale, I would highly recommend getting the opinion of an experienced real estate agent.

In addition to writing for Daigle’s Digs, Elizabeth works full-time as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC. Elizabeth’s clients range from first-time home buyers, to sellers, to short sales, to seasoned investors. Contact Elizabeth for any real estate needs. Cell 303-819.73.71. Work 720-314-8352.

What to expect as a seller

The Denver real estate market is booming and it’s a definite sellers market. As of July 2014 Denver only has 23.2% of the required inventory to have a balanced market. This means that houses on the market are going very quick. In July, detached homes under $400,000 went under contract on average in 18 days- the historical average is 89. This is a market that we have not seen in quite some time and it can take sellers by surprise. When I work with sellers I try to explain what they may experience could be very different that was occurred when they sold their last home. Sellers should be prepared for: 

  • Multiple showings. The house I just listed had 82 showings in three weeks. Luckily the home was vacant so the sellers were not put out but there could be a number of people walking through your home.
  • There may be multiple offers depending on how the home is priced.
  • The market is moving quickly which means decisions needs to be made rather quickly.
  • Depending on the price point- investors may take interest in your property.
In this market if your house is not getting many showings or has been on the market more than 2 weeks without an offer, you may want to discuss with your agent what the cause might be. As a listing agent, I always have a conversation with sellers about how quickly the house needs to sell when we are determining a price.  

In addition to writing for Daigle’s Digs, Elizabeth works full-time as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC. Elizabeth’s expertise is in buying and selling a home, first time home buyers, short sales, and investment properties. Contact Elizabeth for any real estate needs. Cell 303-819.73.71. Work 720-314-8352.