Bob's Blog

I have just joined Flikr! I have created a Lowry, Denver, CO site to showcase this great community!There’s just a test page now, but check in soon for some really cool pix!

Here’s an article out of today’s Denver Post that should cause a little sigh of relief:

Metro Denver Home Prices fall 4% from Dec. 07 to Dec. 08

The news here is that, altough no one likes falling prices, the Denver Metro area ranked the lowest price drop of the 20 major US metro areas surveyed for the statistical study.

Please realize that this is a compilation of ALL Denver area home sales. Just as I mentioned in last weeks article about Zillow, statistics can vary county to county, town to town and block to block!. THAT is why you need a professional real estate agent (like me!) to do a comparitive market analysis (CMA) for you. There are areas in Denver that are appreciating. For anyone even remotely considering buying, look at my prior blogs on home prices and credit unions to gauge the “perfect storm” of low home prices, low interest rates, lack of enough buyers and – for first time homebuyers, your maximum gift of $8000 from Congress – that should make you seriously consider pulling the trigger now.

I know this is the internet, but I’m not talking about that kind of spam. I’m talking about the REAL Spam, produced by Hormel Foods in Austin, MN.  So, here’s an article about Hawaii and Spam. If you’ve never been to Hawaii, you don’t know what I’m talking about, but if you have been there, then you do.. I just didn’t know what to write about today (the Academy Awards are SO ’90′s) and my wife, who is Filipino was longing for Spam and if you know anything about Filipinos, they probably love Spam as much as Hawaiins. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got to say, except I hope Slumdog Millionaire wins best picture!

Spam, the other white meat

Everyone loves to talk about money, cuz none of us have enough of it these days. Anyway, I’m no financial guru, by any means, but I do invest in some stocks. (Disclosure: my holdings don’t exceed $10,000!) But anyway, here’s a few stocks I’m optomistic of. And I don’t have to be a genius, almost everything is a bargain these days.

1. John Deere (DE) OK, they’re not making as much money as before, but they are STILL MAKING MONEY!

2. General Electric (GE) blue chip America for less than $10/ share?

3. Novagold (NG) holder of some of the largest gold deposits in Canada.

4. Pengrowth Energy Trust (PGH) below it’s 52 week low and posting a 24% dividend.

Your thoughts, comments and recommendations???

Wow! All that talk about Italian food got me hungry! Here’s something we can all rally around in these tough economic times: Denver Restaurant Week.! Simply put, there are over 200 participating restaurants with a wide varirty of tastes offering a pre-fixe dinner for two for $52.80 or $26.40 for one. Denver restaurant week runs from Feb. 21-27, but several restaurants are extending the run to March 6. And several hotels are getting in on the experience by offering rooms from $52.80 and up.

Check out participating restaurants and menus here!

I’d appreciate it if you’d comment on your experiences at whatever restaurant you try. Thanks!

I’m sorry, but I really have to return to last week’s stimulus circus. No, I didn’t even have my blog up and running yet, but I did comment on Facebook exactly one week ago that the Speaker of the House, Ms. Pelosi,  had promised on Wednesday that the members of the house would get at least 48 hours to read the stimulus proposal before voting on it. Later that day, I learned that House members would receive their copies of the 1000+ page document around midnight and vote on the bill by noon on Friday. That’s not very honorable, I thought. And then several hours later I caught wind that Ms. Pelosi, her husband and an entirely Democratic group of Representatives were flying to Rome at 6 pm that very night on an eight day “trade mission”. I’m no internet sleuth, but I will tell you I spent 15-20 minutes searching the web for anything discussing this trip. I found NOTHING! Not even on Speaker Pelosi’s congressional website! Speaker of the House, eight day trade mission, even an audience with the Pope! Amazing!.

But by now, Ms. Pelosi must certainly have washed down a scallopini or two with some nice chianti, so the word is finally getting out.

Read about her successful trade mission here

OK, when I started this blog, I mused about taking some time to show my political hand. I guess it took a week. But I insist, I am a fair individual, I would have had the same outrage if this occurred on Newt Gingrich’s or Dennis Hastert’s watch. I was not too politically active then, so if anyone wants to send me a like kind story from the GOP years, go ahead.

Read a cool article about one Coloradan who’s thinking inside the box when it comes to growing old in your home:

Houses that age well

Seriously folks, Zillow is a really neat real estate website with tons of helpful information – just like my blog! And just like my blog, it grabs information from many areas. You may or may not agree with it and it may or may not be “right”. If you are checking Zillow for home prices, you are looking at a

. Zestimate

Zillow knows what a Zestimate is, but you and I don’t. Here’s what it is NOT: Local MLS’s (owned by realestate agents for real estate agents.) do not sell their data. Return to the link to see that Zillow says a Zestimate is a starting point, which should be corroborated with either an appraisal or a Comparitive Market Analysis (CMA) which is provided to you by a Realtor. Just wanted you to know!

That said, here’s Zillow’s last snapshot of 160 US metro markets:      Check you city’s performance here

Actually, I loved this article. I suppose we can argue the merits or the technicalities of this approach by homeowners facing foreclosure, but c’mon, who’s looking after us? When it’s us vs. them, and them is a corporation or a government entity or whatever, don’t they always have a high priced legal team who combs through every little bit of legalese to gain their victory?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29242063/?gt1-42003

Actually, it’s just a matter of simple documentation, which I’d say is the basis of sound business practice. And yet, as many as 40% of loan packages aren’t filed properly? Man, as a Realtor, if I got audited and was missing required paperwork the real estate commision would be after me in a flash.

So, to cut to the chase, I think this is a reasonable tool for people in a desperate situation to “level” the playing field a bit. Please comment if you have any experience with this!