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Mike is a Real Estate Specialist for Firelight at Highlands Ranch
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500 New Jobs in Douglas County Sunday, February 22, 2009
Just when you thought the Colorado economy was on a permanent downward spiral, here's some good news! Charles Schwab Corp. will bring 500 new jobs to Colorado by 2011, Gov. Bill Ritter announced Thursday January 15th at the state Capitol. This should help drive up the demand for homes in Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Centennial and other parts of south Denver. Let's hope for more good news like this.
Denver-area home prices not too bad Tuesday, December 30, 2008
It might sound odd to say that Denver area home prices aren't so bad when year-to-year they are down 5.2% on average, but that's the third "best" depreciation in the nation!
Here's the important thing to remember with that statistic: that's an average. It includes area's like the hard hit Green Valley Ranch neighborhood out by Denver International Airport where homes that originally sold for over $200,000 are now being bought by investors for under $100,000.
The key to real estate buying is the same as it's always been...Location, Location, Location! Real estate values are local so when an average figure is reported like this it's similar to saying all grapes on a vine are bad. There's good ones and bad ones.
Did you know that home prices in Golden are actually up 6.3%, Englewood is up 3.9% and Lone Tree is up 0.8%.
And while average prices are down slightly in Centennial (-3.5%), Highlands Ranch (-4.6%), Parker (-5.4%), and Littleton (-5.7%), they are nothing like the 17% decline in Denver nor the 17.9% decline in Fort Lupton!
Arapahoe & University Intersection Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Word from the City of Centennial is that construction is about to begin on the Intersection of Arapahoe Road and University Road near the new Streets at Southglenn development.
Work on the intersection will include replacing the asphalt with concrete pavement, widening the intersection with new turn lanes, improving drainage by installing new storm sewer pipes and inlets, and a new traffic signal.
Daytime work is scheduled to cause lane closures from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. and night time work will cause lane closures from 6:00 p.m. - 6:00 a.m. Work is scheduled to continue until August, 2009.
While this should have been an expected part of the Southglenn redevelopment, it's bound to be a traffic nightmare for local residents and it sure won't help the local retailers too much as we head into the holiday season!
One alternate route exist on Franklin Street, west of University between Arapahoe and Dry Creek, but there's really not much for the east-to-west roadways without meandering through neighborhoods. Best bet is to stay clear of the intersection for the next year.
Southglenn area hot for fix & flips Monday, October 13, 2008
If it seems like homes around the new Streets at Southglenn are selling better than in other parts of the south Denver area, you're right. As of today, according to Metrolist data, there are 62 homes for sale within about 3/4 miles of the new Southglenn development. The real surprise though is that in the past six months there have been 101 sold homes in that same area and 14 homes currently under contract! And this is just the homes, not included are condos and townhomes.
Over the next couple of weeks I'll be checking into the figures on how this compares to other parts of the south metro Denver area, as well as what sort of returns investors are seeing with the fix and flips. Keep checking back for updates or if you're an RSS reader, subscribe to this blog.
Southglenn area homes are selling Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Word in the office is that fix & flippers are buying up homes around the new Streets at Southglenn at a rapid rate. Most of the homes were built in the 60s and 70s and need updating so investors are buying these homes in the low $200s, updating the property, and re-selling them for a nice little profit. I'm going to research this to get some facts and post what I learn here on MikesClients.com in the next few days...stay tuned!
This water tower has stood as a landmark for several decades. When I first moved to Colorado in 1981 it was the familar Honeywell plant on the outskirts of town. After Honeywell it became a Metrum facility for several years, but eventually the building was left mostly empty except for a small branch of the Metrum Credit Union. For nearly 30 years I've been able to ride my road-bike all over town and constantly know just how far away from home I was by sighting this water tower. But as old gets replaced by new, this tower is scheduled to come down this week to make way for a brand new Lifetime Fitness facility scheduled to open sometime in early 2009.
While I welcome new development and hold no objections to the new Lifetime Fitness builiding and surrounding retail establishements that are sure to follow, I'm not looking forward to the increased traffic and traffic lights on Dry Creek Road. Part of the reason I moved out of Highlands Ranch was to escape all the traffic signals, which seem to be non-sychronized and spaced out every 100 yards. But putting that concern aside, I'm a bit saddened to see this landmark vanish into history. It sort of makes me feel old. I'm sure in the future I'll drive by the Lifetime Fitness and lament to my daughter of how that land used to look and how as a kid I use to ride my BMX on the vacant land behind the building.
