What Are the Pitfalls of Buying a New Home in Denver?

In today's video, Ryan Anderson discusses why you need a real estate agent, even when you are building new.

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Hey everyone, welcome back. Today I wanted to share with you some important information if you've been thinking about buying a new home. A lot of people in Denver have been purchasing brand-new homes lately. This is a great idea for a lot of buyers, but there are some drawbacks you should know about before purchasing. We want to help you avoid these pitfalls. 

We highly encourage our clients, our friends, and our family to use a real estate agent when buying a new house. Here are a few reasons why working with the Anderson Group is essential to a successful transaction:

• We are your advocate in the transaction. We only have your best interest at heart, and we want to give you the best advice possible so you can get the best price and best terms on a purchase. 
• We help choose the right lot location.
• We advise you on lender selection. Builder's lenders tend to have higher rates than normal.
• We help you negotiate your deal the right way, so you don't overpay, and you get favorable terms.
• Biweekly walkthroughs are the norm for us, whereas some don't do them at all.
• We can help you set a strict budget, so you don't spend more on a home than you are comfortable doing. 
• We can advise you on the best resale options for maximum value.
• We help keep track of your costs.
• We arrange for a home inspection prior to the home closing, as well as an inspection 11 months after closing.

Buying a new home in Denver is like buying a FSBO. The builder, and the builder's agent, don't have your best interest at heart, so you need someone who does. If you are thinking about buying or selling a home in the Denver area, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

How to Prepare Your Home for Sale

Happy 2014! I hope you are having a great year so far. Today I wanted to talk about preparing your home for sale. You may be thinking about selling your home this year or later on down the road; either way, I have key information about preparing your home for sale.

Before I go into that, I want to mention two things; the first being our Market Snapshot Tool. If you’re interested in knowing the value of your home, this is a great tool we use with both our past and current clients. With this, you will receive a monthly email showing what has been selling in your neighborhood, what is active and what is under contract. Secondly, if you’re looking to buy a home, we offer a private portal that shows you the homes for sale in the areas you’re interested in. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to take part in any of these services!

Before prepping your home for sale, you’ll want to get a good feel for what neighborhood homes are selling for. The next piece of information you’ll want to know is what price range you want to sell your home in. This is a great opportunity for us to give you some initial values and general comparable properties via email. After this is determined, we have a 75 point checklist that analyzes the important areas, from room to room, to start preparing your home for sale. This checklist goes a long way!

Another step a lot of my clients like to do is to complete a pre-home inspection or obtain a home warranty before even placing the home on the market. This allows you to deal with any issues that may arise during the sale that you couldn’t see on your own.  Consider it this way: the inspection process is not dissimilar to buying a used car!

With spring coming up, I hope this helps you when you’re preparing your home for sale. If you have any questions or any inclination to sell your home, give us a call! We look forward to your call being the best call of the day.

What Can You Expect in 2014?

What Can You Expect in 2014?

It is December 2013, we’re coming to a close and we are here at  our “headquarters.” I want to show you where we operate but importantly, I wanted to thank you for a fantastic 2013. This was one of our best years as a company, we worked with a ton of great people like you and we are so thankful. Our team has grown, the market has grown and we hope 2014 is a great year for you.

What happened here in Denver in 2013 was incredible; it was a banner year and one of the best Denver has ever seen in terms of market growth and appreciation. As for 2014, we are expecting the same thing with interest rates possibly rising to 6%. If you are looking to sell in the coming year, spring time is typically the best. However, putting your house on the market right after the holidays is a great time, too.

If you’re looking to sell or stay, we have strategies, updates and game plans to help you make the most informed decision. In 2014, we look forward to our call being the best call of the year.

Testimonial with Sarah T. - Listen to Her Story!

Hello everyone, meet Sarah. We're here in the backyard of her new home. We helped her buy her new town home in Centennial and also sell her old home. We had some amazing adventures and experiences along the way. Here's Sarah to share her experience of what it was like to work with us...

“Well I'm down sizing, I wanted to get rid of the yard so that I didn’t have to shovel snow anymore. It was very difficult to find a place and bid on it quickly. But Ryan and his Anderson group move fast. We looked at this home on a Thursday and began negotiating. On Friday I climbed a Fourteener, I was on Greys Peak. Every time I was able to get signal on my phone I would get a text from Ryan to update me on where we were in the negotiation. I kept climbing the mountain and getting texts and by the time I came back down, I had a text that said I needed to stop at a place that I could get signal long enough to sign the contract. With my finger on my phone to sign the contract, I had a house by the end of the day after climbing a Fourteener! It's been great. The get things done now process was exactly what I needed. Ryan knew what I needed, because Ryan and Tessa sat down with me for a couple of hours and actually got to know my wants and needs. With that I have exactly what I want , I've downsized and I have time to play and it's because of the team... the whole team!”

We love doing this work, and this is an example of a life transformed! Her life is now taking its next adventure and we are so excited to be part of that! If you or someone you know is looking for any changes like this, give us a call! As always we look forward to our call being the best call of your day!

September Market Update and What $500K Will Buy in Highlands Ranch

Today we're talking about what's happening in the Denver real estate market and also showcasing what features you can expect to find in a home for $500K in Highlands Ranch.

Fall is here and I am in one of my favorite communities in all of Denver, Highlands Ranch. Highlands Ranch is just south of Denver and is home to roughly 95,000 people and is only 25 years old. This beautiful community is in one of the highest income earning per capita counties in the greater Denver area. This community is very family oriented with many parks, trails, schools and recreational centers geared for upscale outdoor living. Today I wanted to show you just what your $500,000 budget can buy in Highlands Ranch.

Before we jump to Highlands Ranch homes, I wanted to give you a quick market update for Denver. So far, the average days on market has not changed from a solid 39 days; which is awesome because just a year ago, the average was 70 days on market. Secondly, the average price per home in Denver is hovering around $304,000, which is also great. Finally, over the last two years, the amount of active homes on the market has dropped significantly and what has changed from last month to this month is that there are currently 2% less homes on the market for the Denver area.

Now back to Highlands Ranch where I am going to showcase three houses in the $500,000 range. When purchasing in that range, some things will come standard like at least a three car garage, at least a five bedroom home, at least a finished basement, 3500-4500 square feet standard and a home that will have an open and inviting floor plan. Some bonuses that come from a home in the $500,000 range is the home backs onto open space and mountain views, 10,000-15,000+ square foot lots, a fourth car garage (depending on the builder) and private cul-de-sacs.

My first house is on Candlewood Ct. and priced at $505,000. It has a three car garage, mountain views, backs to open space, has the open floor plan with updated fixtures and features five bedrooms, a finished basement and the house is just under 4,000 square feet.

The second house I’m showing is on Glenstone Dr. and priced at $510,000. What is unique about this house is that it’s a ranch-style house with a finished basement (for my out of state viewers, most houses in Colorado, especially the newer ones, have basements unlike California or Texas). This house features three bedrooms on the main level. Last year alone, 1600 homes were sold in Highlands Ranch - 150 of those houses were ranch style, which goes to show you that this is a rare find at $510,000.

Finally, we go to a house on Fox Meadow Dr. which is in one of the newest neighborhoods in Highlands Ranch called “The Hearth.” The Hearth features some of the most updated homes and newest models. This house, at $509,000, features an oversized two car garage. The home makes up for the lack of garage space by offering mountain views, updated fixtures, a fully finished basement, five bedrooms and four bathrooms in one of the newest and hottest neighborhoods.

Today I was able to give you three unique looks at homes in Highlands Ranch in the $500,000 price range. If you are looking for tri-levels, they are also available in Highlands Ranch. If you have any particular questions or intrigue about the houses I’ve shown today, don’t hesitate to call me at 303-523-4364. I look forward to talking and our call being the best call of your day.

Denver Quarterly Market Update

Denver Quarterly Market Update

Hey, guys!

I’m here in front of our brand new office today and I wanted to share what’s been happening in our Denver area market. As, I’m sure you’ve seen in the news, the market is great!

We have data included for you to see exactly what’s been going on. A year ago I thought our inventory was low. Since then, though, it has continued to decrease. The active listings for single-family homes and condos have dropped by seven percent.

One of statistics I’m most excited about is our average sales price. Last year it was $250,000; this year its $346,000! That’s incredible. Not only can sellers get a great price, but their homes are sitting on the market for fewer days! The average-days-on-market dropped 43 percent from last year. That average home is on the market for only 37 days!

It’s not just good news for sellers, though. We are experiencing historically low interest rates that make now a better than ever time to buy.

If you have any questions about selling, buying, pricing, staging, whatever you can think of, give me a call! I’d be more than happy to help!

Click to enlarge:

We Sold It In 8 Hours!

We Sold It In 8 Hours!

Hey guys! We're back! If you remember from the last video we were just getting ready to put the Browns' home on the market.

Well, we have fantastic news. On the very first day we had three offers! Our home went under contract in eights hours!

We had never sold a home before, but working with Ryan and his team exceeded all our expectations. All our questions were answered, everything was handled with grace and he was there from the beginning to the very end. We couldn't have asked for a better experience!

So if you want to sell your home we strongly recommend calling Ryan!

Highlands Ranch Listing & Get Your Home Ready to Sell

Hi everyone! Welcome back to Your Real Estate Matters! I’m here today with the Brown family in front of one our newest listings in the Highlands Ranch. I want the family to tell us a little bit about what it’s been like getting their home ready for market. We are about 24 hours away from listing their home.

The Browns

We have been working with Ryan for a number of years and getting this home ready for sale was relatively easy. He gave us really good direction for everything from how to stage, how to clean, what’s important and what’s not. His team was so helpful that we got this house ready to sell in about four days; it’s not a huge house but it’s big enough where it was still a project.

His team was with us the entire way. We are very appreciative and excited to see how things go!

If anyone watching this video wants a home with a three-car garage, 1,100 sq. ft. lot in Highlands Ranch, come check it out 9171 Weeping Willow. It has trails nearby; it’s close to the high school and whole foods. It’s really a great house.

If interested, give me a call! Thanks for watching!