San Juan Realty, Inc.

Is there one? Over 85,000 people lost their homes in October within the United States, but does that mean the foreclosure situation is all gloom and doom?

For anyone currently in the market to pick-up a piece of investment real estate or purchase a primary residence, the time is ripe for the picking. Foreclosures offer the opportunity to purchase properties that banks are anxious to get off their hands by the end of 2008, so here are some of the “good parts” to consider about the foreclosure market:

• It signals market correction. After prices became so overinflated in many markets across the U.S., prices are resetting back to “normal” levels.
• In many instances, real estate prices are over-correcting themselves, offering the opportunity to purchase properties at below-market values.
• People purchasing foreclosure properties must generally show mortgage pre-qualification to the bank holding the home. This means the potential for a pool of better-qualified buyers becoming homeowners moving forward.
• Inventory in abundant and it’s definitely a buyer’s market. Real estate professionals are more important than ever to help buyers identify the “good deals” and those that are less-than-optimal.
• Just because a property is a foreclosure, it doesn’t mean it’s a “good deal.” Make sure that during your due diligence process you clear the title, make sure there are no tax liens on the property and have a thorough home inspection performed by a licensed inspector.

Well. here it is. SNOW! We’ve had some gorgeous snowfall here in the San Juans as of late and we’re ready for yet another winter wonderland. For real estate in Ouray, Ridgway, Montrose and Telluride - it means one thing: vacation rentals are ready! Every year, we host tourists and enthusiasts from the world over for our incredible back country adventures to ice climbing and ski season. If you’re looking for a vacation rental for your next adventure, give San Juan Realty a call and we’ll be your guide. We’ll also be delighted to work with you to find your dream Colorado mountai home, just like we’ve done with thousands of clients we’re now proud to call friends and neighbors.

Search for your Colorado Mountain Home in Ouray, Ridgway, Montrose or Telluride HERE!

The Ouray Ice Festival is coming! Read all about it HERE!

If you live in Ridgway, Ouray, Montrose or Telluride, Colorado and are either selling your home or looking to buy, there’s good news afoot! As reported by MarketWatch on October 24, existing home sales have reached a 13-month high. Prompted by the massive foreclosure market coupled with declining prices, the National Association of Realtors estimates a 5.5% increase in existing home sales, the largest increse in five years.

While the median home price fell 9% over the past year, sales surged 19% in the western U.S. in September. Data is reported only from actual closed home sales.

What this means for San Juan region locals is that your Ridgway real estate (or that in the surrounding area) has buyers ready and waiting and buyers are looking for favorable purchase scenarios. It’s a great time to speak with your Realtor about how you can make your home attractive to buyers and an even better time for liquid buyers to grab a Realtor and talk about the home of their chioce.

Click here to read the entire report by the National Association of Realtors.

Check back next week, as winter is coming and the entire team at San Juan Realty, Inc. is ready with a whole list of hot spots and upcoming events for locals and visitors alike. Whether you’re headed out here for Telluride skiing or Ouray ice climbing (or just a little cabin time in the mountains), it’s a beautiful time of year to escape your everyday for our little slice of heaven!

Residents from Ridgway to Ouray: get ready! Colorado is gearing-up for one of the most crucial Presidential elections in U.S. history. This week, we’re passing along some valuable information to help you prep for Tuesday, November 4.

Early voting has begun! If you’re a Colorado resident,registered voter and live in Ridgway, Montrose, Ouray, Telluride or surrounding areas, you can vote early and avoid long lines on Election Day.

Visit the Vote for Change website to locate your early voting dates and locations for your area. Please note that San Juan Realty, Inc. does not endorse any candidate and provides the link above as an unbiased and accurate resource ONLY for locating an early voting location.

Use Google to find your voter registration information. Verify your voter registration, absentee/early voting information for your area, links to Colorado’s official election website and more!

Did you know that it’s the law for your employer to provide you with time off to vote on Election Day? It’s true!

Need to read-up more on the Presidential candidates to help you decide? Here are links to both major candidates’ websites for you to visit and review information that’s important to you.

Obama for America - Barack Obama/Joe Biden (Democratic Nominees)

John McCain - John McCain/Sarah Palin (Republican Nominees)

Here at San Juan Realty, Inc., we’ll all be joining our neighbors at the polls on Election Day. See you there!

Life extends beyond Ridgway, Colorado real estate for us here at San Juan Realty, Inc. We’re business owners and homeowners, just like you. Even though the maket rebounded on Monday with a 936 point gain on the Dow, what does this mean for you and me? Mr. and Mrs. Normal American Homeowner… The largest-ever single-day gain in U.S. History is impressive, but unless you bought GE and Microsoft today and finished up 17%, it’s likely you’re just as concerned about the state of things as we are here in Ridgway.

I tell you - it’s pretty confusing. Gains today could be losses tomorrow, as evidenced by last week’s 1000 point plus cumulative dump in the Dow. Home values continue to remain fairly static and we’re still in a buyer’s market and seller’s market for those in a favorable equity position.

So, looking beyond real estate…Ridgway, Ouray, Montrose and Telluride aside. We asked ourselves this week: what kind of news you can use can we provide to our readers? 

Here are some interesting things to think about in this roller coaster of an economy:

• If you’ve got (or want) solar power in your home, WAHOO! The federal bailout offers tax incentives to homeowners for installation of solar power.
• Did you know you can use an FHA Streamline K loan to finance your purchase/rehab property?
• The U.K. has invested more than $2.3 trillion in their country’s banks, by far outweighing the $500 billion the U.S. just spent. Read more about the parallel bank bailout situation in Europe at Yahoo! Finance.
• Tired of getting flipped to an out-of-country call center? That inexpensive labor is getting a glimpse of the economy that’s paying their salary, reports MSNBC.
• It’s not just the mortgage, housing and credit markets in turmoil. Could your child in college be next?

It’s the largest US economic intervention since the 1930s. But what does it mean to YOU, Joe and Jane America? The recent $700 billion federal bailout signed into action by President George W. Bush isn’t a cure-all. Here’s a brief explanation as to what it means on a big picture level:

• The bailout gives the US Treasury power to buy up toxic mortgage debt which has been choking the financial industry and would create a 700-billion dollar federal program to buy bad assets from banks and other financial firms.

It’s official! Summer is over for the Montrose, Ridgway, Ouray and Telluride areas and we’re headed towards another delightful fall and winter here in the San Juans. From skiers to snowboarders to three year-old sledders and everyone in between, we’re ready to fill you in on what’s going on in the area before the first snows start to hit the ground. Some friends camped overnight a few weeks ago on Mt. Sneffels and were greeted by a light snowcover, so let’s see what the fall has in store for us before it’s officially winter.

Saturdays in October
Montrose Farmer’s Market, 8:30 am - 1 pm
Centennial Plaza,  South 1st & Uncompahgre - 970-209-8463

Saturday, October 4

1st Annual La Sportiva Ouray Mountain Trail Run
The run circumnavigates a 13.9 loop around the City of Ouray on USFS trails. For more information visit www.ouraytrailrun.com.

Oktoberfest Celebration, 6 - 11 pm
Ouray Community Center
A fun evening that includes the 44th Annual Jeep Raffle Drawing. Dancing, food, door prizes, Museum Quilt Raffle. For information call Ouray Chamber 800-228-1876 or 970-325-4746.

Go-Kart, Penny, Sport, Hobby, I-Stock, Mod & Mini-Sprint Races, 2 pm
Thunder Mountain Speedway, Montrose 970-201-7089

October 10 - 11

Bosom Buddies Auction and Run
Ouray
The Bosom Buddies run/walk and silent auction will be held the second Fri. and Sat. of October.
The Silent Auction is the 10th at 6 PM and the Run at 9 AM on the 11th. Proceeds are used to help low income women and men acquire breast cancer related treatments. Donations can be made by mail to: The Outlaw, Box 59, Ouray, CO 81427 or silent auction items can be dropped off to Chris at the Outlaw Restaurant in Ouray before the 5th of October. This is a wonderful and worthwhile event and assists residents of Ouray, Montrose and San Miguel Counties. For more information contact Chris Bonatti at the Outlaw Restaurant in Ouray at 325-4366 or via e-mail at cb1@montrose.net.

Saturday, October 18

Mt. Sneffels Education Foundation Auction, 6:30 - 10 pm
4-H Event Center, Ridgway
Live & Silent Auction - Fundraiser for the Mt. Sneffels Education Foundation. Appetizers, wine, desserts, and lots of great fun for a great cause.

October 30

Ah Haa School Seventh Annual Youth Art Awards Celebration, 5 - 7 pm
300 S. Townsend Ave. - Telluride
This opening will celebrate and announce the recipients of the 2008 Youth Art. For more information visit www.ahhaa.org or call 970-728-3886.

With Halloween coming up, don’t forget to stock-up on candy early for the trick-or-treaters! We’re happy to help our local community with event information and general news on what to do in our beautiful region. Just give us a call at 970.626.3200 and we’ll help out wherever we can!

The Staff at San Juan Realty, Inc.

Have your real estate improvements been put on hold for the summer? As the weather cools off and it’s actually fun to work up a sweat again, we thought we’d present you with a simple list of things you can do to add value to your home - quickly and efficiently. All projects can be done in a weekend, too!

1. Paint the interior and exterior of your home. Just by refreshing the paint outside, you add to the curb-appeal for your neighbors and prospective buyers. A fresh coat of paint inside will brighten spaces, cover scuff marks and make everything fresh for visitors or buyers doing a walk-through!
2. Update your plumbing fixtures. Whether it be the bathroom or the kitchen sink, these are easy, cost-effective improvements you can do in just a few hours that will change the face of a sink, vanity or countertop. They’re easy to install, too (just don’t forget to turn off the water under the sink!).
3. Update your baseboards. With some smart planning, you can remove all of your old baseboards, paint the new ones and have them installed in a weekend. Get rid of those old 2″ baseboards and update your home with some elegant nd cost-effective 3″-5″ trim. Now, thanks to mitreless installation methods, you can buy curved pieces and cornerblocks, assuring you’ll never have to cut an angle again!
4. Update your lighting fixtures. If you have pendant lighting fixtures in your home, these are easy to install and a cost-effective project that will pay for itself in spades. Bathroom wall fixtures are just as easy to install, and if you’re not handy around the house, a pro or friend with the right skill set can have your life lit back up in no time over a weekend.

As always, the professionals at San Juan Realty are happy to have a look at your home if you’re considering selling. We’ll let you know the simplest ways to boost curb appeal and set your home apart from the crowd!

The Staff at San Juan Realty, Inc.

Your trusted source for real estate in Ouray, Ridgway, Montrose and Telluride CO

This morning, real estate is being blamed for the falling of two financial giants in the American economy: Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers. As fingers point towards billions of dollars in losses resulting from bad mortgage finance and real estate investment deals gone south.

Earlier this year, Bank of America bought troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, a long-standing staple in residential lending. The acquisition of Merrill Lynch, an aggressive lender during the recent real estate boom, places Bank of America as the nation’s largest brokerage house and consumer banking franchise.

What the trickle-down will be remains to be seen. For the average consumer, it’s likely to mean a continuation of tighter lending criteria until the market settles - which this collective collapse could signal. Savings and CD yields will remain nominal and banking will still be every day business. If you’re looking to buy or sell a property right now, it’s a prime time to make sure you’ve done your homework regarding your lender. At the risk of sounding conservative, fully-amortized mortgages look like the best bet and it’s really hard to go wrong with a 15-year or 30-year fixed rate. If you’re looking at adjustable products and payment options, make sure you’ve got the fortitude to bear the futures of the market, as we don’t know what it will hold.

Your Realtor can always point you towards a credible lender, one who does business with integrity. If you need lender referrals, call our office for a handful. We encourage you to meet with several to make sure you find one that’s an ideal fit for your exact needs!

Read the New York Times’ story on the Merrill/Lehman Brothers Collapse HERE

The Staff at San Juan Realty, Inc.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stocks hit rock-bottom, falling into the penny stock category on Monday as Treasury stepped-in to save the troubled giants. While mortgage rates might be falling (30-year fixed rates on conforming loans are nationally around 6.2% down from 6.55% a week ago), the nation shouldn’t look for an immediate revival in the housing market.

Historically, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought-up the majority of conforming consumer mortgages. Following purchase, they repackaged them into securities (Mortgage-Backed Securities or Obligations) or sold them off to mortgage pools/large investor groups. With the rise in defaulted mortgages, rising unemployment rates and tighter lending criteria that resulted, homebuyers like San Juan Realty, Inc.’s clients are wondering:

What does this mean for me?

What we find is that our clients care the most about the value of their home. Value means different things to different people, but most often it’s a simple equation of:

How much did we pay for our house vs. what our house is worth today if we wanted to sell it.

Here are a few tips we can offer consumers, whether you’re looking to buy, sell or stay put for the time being:

1. If you want to know what your home is truly worth, spend the money on an appraisal. Hiring an appraiser with not only get you the expertise of a professional familiar with your home market, but it will give you a real tool to use in your decisionmaking process regarding the status of your home.
2. If you’re looking to buy, be open-minded. Especially if you’re looking to purchase a home to keep for a few years and then upgrade, hire a Realtor to let you know what your options are. Often the best “deals” are in areas you didn’t think to consider for your home and you just might find your Realtor brings you some ideas that are complete gems!
3. If you’re looking to sell, be realistic about your home value and be prepared to offer concessions if the market demands. Your home is likely not worth what it was at this time last year (and if it’s worth more, congrats!). Be realistic about your asking price and if the trend in your area is to contribute towards closing costs, offer an extra point to the buyer’s agent or include a carpeting or landscaping allowance, trust your Realtor to guide you. Your Realtor doesn’t make money unless they sell your home, so it’s likely they’re going to give you sound advice that makes good business sense.
4. Know your mortgage options before you shop. Downpayment assistance has come to an end an even new homes can no longer include this service. Know what you can afford to spend, know what you’re approved to buy, and enter into your home search with the same arsenal of knowledge you’d use if you were told you needed major surgery. Chances are you’re not going to just let your doctor cut you open! Do your research and know where you stand. It can only increase your leverage as you negotiate the home of your dreams.