New Daily Camera Ad

RE/MAX of Boulder is updating the look and feel of its advertising!

The idea for this new ad is:
1. Highlight the development projects that our agents our doing. We believe we are the only company that has so many agents doing their own projects. This makes us unique and heads above our competition.

2. Feature the high end homes we have for sale. There will be pictures and basic information, as well as, a website link - this will promote your high end homes in a more effective way.

3. The old ad will no longer be used. It's not enough to say we're Number 1 - it's time to SHOW we're Number 1.

We would appreciate any feed back or ideas that you may have. To send your comments Email Tom or call him at extention x620.

Fewer homes on market, but sales up

By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published October 8, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

It's as if the Denver-area housing market has gone back in time.
The number of unsold homes on the market in September dropped to the lowest level since December 2005 and the number of homes placed under contract jumped almost 22 percent from September 2007, the best September for sales in three years.
The average and median sale prices of homes, meanwhile, have fallen back to 2002 levels.
That doesn't mean that if you bought a home six years ago you can't sell your home for a profit.
"It's the mix of homes," that resulted in the median price of a single-family home falling 11.6 percent to $216,150, and the average price falling 14.8 percent to $260,118 from a year earlier, said Gary Bauer. Bauer, an independent broker, released one of three reports on Tuesday that analyzed data from Metrolist.
But if you bought a home in 2002, and you can afford the mortgage and you have no compelling reason to move, you probably won't put your house on the market, competing with foreclosures and otherwise distressed homes.
"People are afraid to put their homes on the market and are going to wait until next year," said Jim Levy, of RE/MAX Classic.
Levy said the southeast area, including Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock, is not experiencing the pain of cities with large pockets of foreclosures, such as Aurora. And Denver's housing market is in far better shape than almost every other U.S. city, he said.
But the reluctance of move-up buyers to sell leaves more lower- priced homes on the market, driving down the average and median prices.
"I don't think you can paint a very rosy picture for the market," said Jason Miller, managing director of Realty Source Financial. "We'll be seeing job losses sooner, rather than later. And when you have no equity in your home and you lose your job, that is a recipe for a foreclosure."
Miller said the lower end of the market may have hit bottom because there are so many investors shopping in that price range.
"There are homes in Montbello that had sold for $190,000 and are now selling at $75,000 or $80,000, and as rentals, they will cash flow," Miller said.
With the credit crisis, it is almost impossible for custom builders to get permanent financing for ultra-expensive spec homes, which means more foreclosures are on the horizon at the upper end, Miller said.
Still, Bauer said he was surprised so many homes were placed under contract in September: 5,269 or 21.7 percent more than 4,329 in September 2007. He said he doesn't expect the trend to extend into fall and winter, and because homes sold then to be lower-priced, he thinks a large percentage won't make it to closing.

Buffett: My fix for the economy

Investment guru proposes getting private investors involved in the mortgage bailout and warns that the $700 billion price tag may be too low.

LISTEN TO WARREN BUFFETT

By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: October 2, 2008: 4:44 PM ET

(Fortune) -- Warren Buffett suggested Thursday that the U.S. Treasury team with private investors to buy the distressed mortgage assets at the center of the controversial $700 billion Wall Street bailout, and said the price tag of the rescue plan may have to rise.
Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, called the problems facing world markets "unprecedented" and warned of a "disaster" if Congress does not move faster to shore up the economy.
"We had an economic Pearl Harbor hit," he said during an appearance at FORTUNE's Most Powerful Women Summit in Carlsbad, Calif. "For a couple of weeks we've been arguing about who's at fault [and] fooling around while things have gotten a lot worse."
On Wednesday, the Senate passed a $700 billion bailout package. The House is expected to vote soon on the revised bill after rejecting an earlier version Monday.
Buffett said the bill isn't perfect, but it's a crucial step in the right direction. He then warned it will take a while to work and that the economy is going to struggle even with its passage.
"It will cost more to solve this problem today than it did two weeks ago," said Buffett, referring to when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's first proposed that Congress help rescue Wall Street after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America, and American International Group had to be rescued.
"If we don't get it solved next week," added Buffett, "I may go back to delivering papers."

Treasury to get paid first
Buffett didn't estimate how much more money would be needed to buy enough toxic mortgage investments in order to create a more stable market and get credit flowing again.
But he described a plan he thought of Thursday morning on the way to the Summit that would allow Treasury and private investors to buy assets together. He said his proposal would kickstart demand for mortgage-backed securities, help find a market price for these troubled assets and make it more likely that taxpayers would be made whole or even come out ahead in the bailout.
Under Buffett's plan, Treasury would lend hedge funds, Wall Street firms or any other investors 80% of the price for distressed assets. Investors would benefit from borrowing at lower rates available to the Treasury. But the government would get first claim on the sale of those assets, which means it would get its loan back plus interest and possibly turn a profit. Only then would investors see a penny.
"Now you have someone with 20% skin in the game," explained Buffett. "Believe me, I won't be overpaying if I'm buying with that kind of leverage. And you have someone [the investors] to manage the assets to the extent they need to be managed."
Buffett also noted that the presence of the government in the transactions would raise the price of assets above the absolute firesale levels for which they could now be sold. That would benefit the banks trying to unload them.

Kissing frogs
Since the credit crisis started, Buffett has made a $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs and a $3 billion investment in General Electric.
He said he was able to give an immediate answer Wednesday morning when GE called to request the cash infusion, suggesting he agreed to the deals without even consulting his own board of directors.
Buffett also said that, in return for his investment, top executives at Goldman Sachs and GE both agreed not to sell their stock in their respective companies for three years.
"There's an enormous advantage to being to act fast at a time like this," said Buffett. "People know they can call me and they can get an answer in 10 seconds....And we try to make them pay for the fact that it's an advantage to them."
The credit crisis has increased the volume of calls he's gotten from companies looking for Buffett to invest, he told the Summit.
"The fellow on the other end, usually the CEO, says 'The market looks at us as a toad. Berkshire Hathaway is looked at as a princess. And if you would just kiss us, we would turn into this handsome prince,'" said Buffett. "And I say, 'No, we would turn into a toad.'" Even so, he added, "we've kissed a few."
Buffett suggested he is still looking for deals and thinks it is a good time to be buying in the market.
He also praised some government officials dealing with the current crisis. He said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who he described as a friend, is the right man to be guiding the government's rescue efforts and that he hopes whoever is elected president asks him to stay on.
And he singled out Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair for particular praise for her work dealing with recent crises at Washington Mutual and Wachovia . Washington Mutual collapsed and, in a deal brokered by the FDIC, was immediately sold to JPMorgan Chase. Similarly, regulators orchestrated the sale of Wachovia's banking assets to Citigroup in order to prevent a failure there.
"In my book she stands higher than any CEO I know of in America today," he said, a statement met by applause by the women executives attending the Summit.

Sinners and saints
In a subsequent interview with CNNMoney.com, Buffett said he wasn't interested in placing blame for the crisis.
"I don't worry too much about pointing fingers at the past," he said. "I operate on the theory that every saint has a past, every sinner has a future."
He said the problem boils down to widely-held assumption during the housing boom that prices could only go up. And while the theory's flaws are all too apparent now, the misconception is understandable, said Buffett, pointing to previous asset bubbles going back centuries.
"There are not bad guys in that situation," said Buffett. "It's a condition of human nature."
First Published: October 2, 2008: 12:21 PM ET

August pending home sales jump 7.4 percent: NAR

(2008-10-08)
By Lynn Adler
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pending sales of existing U.S. homes unexpectedly jumped in August to the highest in over a year, data from a real estate trade group showed on Wednesday.
The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based on signed contracts, rose 7.4 percent in August to 93.4 from an upwardly revised 87.0 in July on pent-up demand as affordability improved.
The jump may be fleeting, however, as global financial markets chaos has since escalated, some analysts said.
August's reading was 8.8 percent higher than a year earlier and was the highest since 101.4 in June 2007. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales to drop by 1.8 percent.
"What we're seeing is the momentum of people taking advantage of low home prices," the association's senior economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.
"Home buyers in July were hampered by overly stringent lending criteria in the months before the government takeover of Fannie and Freddie," in early September, he said. "August shows some unleashing of pent-up demand before the credit crisis accelerated in September."
Home funding giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , the largest buyers of U.S. mortgage bonds, were taken under government control on September 7.
Yun said it is unclear how contract activity will be disrupted by the crisis on Wall St, "but we're hopeful most of the increase will translate into closed existing-home sales."
Pending home sales gained across all regions in August: up 18.4 percent in the West, 8.4 percent in the Northeast, 3.6 percent in the Midwest and 2.3 percent in the South.
"The pending home sales data is not a signal of where we are going. Foreclosed homes at bargain prices have probably been supporting it," said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.
"We shall see if these sales close and if those people will go through the transaction because people's finances have worsened since that time," he added. "Housing at first impacted the economy and the economy is now impacting housing in a vicious cycle."
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate will average 6.1 percent in the fourth quarter, rising to 6.6 percent by the end of next year, the NAR predicts.
The trade group forecasts U.S. existing home sales at 5.04 million this year, rising to 5.41 million in 2009, and new home sales of 503,000, falling to 471,000 next year.
Housing starts, including multifamily units, should drop 28.2 percent to 973,000 units this year, and fall further to 843,000 in 2009 as builders clear inventory, it added.
(Additional reporting by Julie Haviv; Editing by James Dalgleish)© Copyright 2008, REUTERS

Increase your Income to $500,000

Did you have gross commissions of over $100k but less than $500k? Want to have it closer to the $500k? Then the RE/MAX Ultimate Agent program is for you. The RE/MAX Ultimate Agent program is powered by Buffini and Company and will be administered by our own Buffini Certified Mentor, Duane Duggan.

Over four weeks, twice a week, you’ll participate in fast paced training sessions where you’ll learn:
• How to turn good clients into great clients
• How to build a dynamic network of business owners
• Powerful dialogs for today’s market.
• How to increase your effectiveness and efficiency on a daily basis

You’ll also learn proven ways to work with frustrated sellers and buyers on the fence, be more efficient, effective, and productive; take control of your finances; and better manage your time and energy.

You’ll receive a student kit which includes your Ultimate Agent workbook; five Conference Call CDs on working by referral, building your business network, and using “words to win with.” You’ll also get personal note cards, and a Business Directory presentation tool that helps you attract business owner’s to your directory.

The tentative dates for the program:
11-17 Turning Good Clients into Great Clients-Working by referral overview
11-21 The Personalization Plan
12-3 Building Your Business Network-Your Business Database
12-4 Building Your Business Network Part 2-Build a Sense of Community
12-10 Words to Win With, Priceless Phrases
12-11 Words to Win With Part 2 Buyer and Seller Dialogs
12-17 The E2 Agent-Effectiveness, Top 10 Activities, Utilize Financial Controls
12-18 The E2 Agent-Efficiency, Leveraging your Time, Energy and Resources

All sessions will begin at 9:00 and run for approximately 90 minutes.

The cost of the program is $395. Deadline for sign up is 11-1.
Contact Duane x611 or Email Duane - for a complete outline and to sign up.

1st Annual Fall Real Estate Conference

THE FALL REAL ESTATE CONFERENCE IS THIS THURSDAY. Headlined by Brad Blackwell, Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo Mortgage, who will deliver 2 talks, and serve on 2 panels. Brad, who is a Boulder native, comes to us fresh off of a similar conference in Berkely California, where he served on a panel with Ben Bernake. We are also excited that Tracy Harlow, the Communication Director of ConocoPhillips, will talk to us about their plans for the STC site in Louisville. We have over 400 registrants, and expect to max out at 500 sometime prior to Thursday. There is an outstanding lineup of speakers, with John McEleven leading the Urban Living Panel, along with Steven Tebo and Bill Reynolds. The luncheon will be attended by about 400 people should be fascinating with Brad, Lou Barnes, Keith Dickelman (Bank of the West) and John Richert (Terrix.) The Forecast finale will be the crown jewel with DB, Scot Smith, Tracy, Brad, and Rocky Scott. The emails that I have seen from the CPA's promise a myriad of information about tax changes that are coming. There will be cocktails, (cash bar) food and the Salsa Band, Onda from 6:30 to 8:30. For informaiton, Tom Kalinski 303-441-5620