2019 DenverReal Estate Outlook

Has the housing market in Denver finally slowed a bit? It sure seems like it might have.

The Denver Metro Association of Realtors just released their numbers for the end of the year and things seem to be slowing, especially in the suburbs.

From the article:  “Currently, in the luxury market [anything priced above $1 million], we’re seeing 7.22 months of inventory,” says Jill Schafer, DMAR Market Trends committee chair and an agent with Kentwood Cherry Creek. As a result, “especially in the suburbs, it’s becoming harder to sell a home over $1 million.” The full article can be found here.

Also, Zillow just released a report for 2019 that has our fine city ranked 3rd in the hottest housing markets. We trail only San Jose and Orlando nationwide.

That report can be found here. We hope you find lots of prosperity if you are transacting in real estate in ’19!

Goodbye Electric Scooters?

We wish.  Could we have Jetsons style hovercrafts instead?

When the scooter phenomenon landed in Denver last spring, we weren’t thrilled. Neither were our city administrators as companies like Lime and Bird dropped scooters all over town.

This has created a public safety issue, as well as new sets of rules for where these can be parked and ridden.

Initially these things were designated as “toy vehicles” which meant they were to be ridden on sidewalks. If you have ever been nearly taken out by one barreling down a sidewalk (yes we have), you would agree with us this is a bad idea.

Last month the city council of Denvervoted 13-0 on a mandate that these contraptions be ridden in bike lanes and not on the sidewalks any more. Only in situations where there is no bike lane and the speed limit is over 30MPH is sidewalk riding allowed. They are also now illegal on the 16th Street Mall.

The long-term future of the scooter business in Denver remains uncertain, as the original pilot program ends next summer, and could create further chaos. To learn more about this interesting dilemma, read the article in 5280 here. 

Crowded Skiing

We are pretty sure we are one of the few folks who don’t ski that live in Colorado. In fact, we don’t dance either (two left feet), but we digress.

But, for the rest of you, this looks like a challenge. We learned that already this winter, some resorts have actually been turning people away, due to capacity issues.

On January 11, the lots were full at Eldora, A Basin, and Keystone. As an important distinction, it isn’t that the mountain is full….it’s the parking lots!

So the major issue is vehicular density. There are a number of resources that folks can use to gauge the parking situation, including Keystone’s and Eldora’s Twitter accounts.

The complete article and detail on how to combat the 12 million skiers that hit the mountains can be found here.

DenverTeacher Strike

Uh oh.

Denver teachers have voted to strike.

Denver teachers haven’t been on strike since 1994. The current impasse is largely about wages, with DPS offering a 10% increase across the board.

This is disputed by the teacher’s union, who claims that number includes an already promised cost of living increase.

Denver Public Schools has promised an uninterrupted school year, and they are in full blown recruiting mode. With a pool of over 1200 substitute teachers, they are doing everything they can in the event of a strike.

The first possible day that teachers in DPS can strike would be January 28th.

Here is hoping both sides can work things out, for the sake of the students.

Complete information on the potential strike can be found here, courtesy of the Denver Post.

Snow Driving Refresher

Since it looks like more snow might be coming at the end of this week, we felt like it was time for a snow driving refresher course.

Colorado has been the new home for many folks from non-snowy states like California and Texas for a while now.

The kind people at AAA published a list of winter driving tips that includes valuable information on not only regular winter driving, but longer distance trips as well.

As an example, anyone that has ever had a fuel line freeze up will appreciate the tip to keep your tank at least 1/2 full on long trips!

Our friends at the Denver Post also chimed in on Twitter with their winter drviing tips….be safe out there!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

Clients have asked how we handle lockouts and last-minute client cancelations.

Our employees are paid by the hour fromthe time they leave the building in the morning until they return.  This means in the event of a last-minute lockout or cancelation we are paying for the team’s time while we try to contact the client and/or find another house for them to clean instead.

We don’t charge for these occurrences because lockouts are unintentional and generally unavoidable. Of course, if it happens more frequently we may need to charge for the team’s lost time.

On the same subject, many clients are giving us their garage codes to use instead of keys.  If this is easier please let me know and I will add the code to the work order instead of signing out keys on the clean day.

Bee