Why Can't I Find a Home?

If you are a first time home buyer you may be asking youself why is it so tough to find a home I/we can afford in Denver? You hear the news stories on the radio, TV, and internet about how bad the real estate market is nationally. However, it's a different story here in Denver for homes priced under $250,000.

Yesterday I attended a class taught by Your Castle Real Estate and they have the best local real estate data in my opinion and here is what I learned--
* For single family homes priced between $135,000-$215,000 there is less than 3 months of
inventory for sale. This is a sign of a Seller's Market.
* Inventory levels at this price point dropped last year.
* The average home price in this range increased 6% last year.
* In the Denver southwest area, prices increased an amazing 12% in 2009.

As a buyer you want inventory levels to be over 6 months and they are half of that. Plus, a huge majority of homes in this price range are short sales on top of it. This is why it is so tough to find a home you can afford.

So, what do you do? Here are a few ideas--
* Look every day on-line for new homes or have your Realtor do this.
* Tour the new listings that day as they will probably go fast.
* Look at your budget. Is it possible to squeeze another $100 a month towards a house
payment in your budget? That $100 will buy you close to another $20,000 of buying
power!
* Widening your search area can help too.
* If you don't have kids yet, good schools should not matter as much to you. In Aurora for
for example a $200k home in Cherry Creek Schools might have a monthly tax bill of
$150 a month; whereas, a $200k home in Aurora Public School might have a monthly tax
bill of just $75-$100 a month.
* ACT FAST! Mortgage rates will be rising in April or earlier as the Fed quits buying
mortgage bonds and this could cause your expected monthly payment on your home to
rise $75 to $100 a month.