Your Trusted Real Estate Advisor

"Is this a 'safe' neighborhood?"  That question puts a Realtor^® in a bind.  I really want to take care of my clients. I want them to buy in a community where they feel safe.  I want to meet and exceed their expectations.

Yet, if I answer that question directly with a "yes" or "no", I will be violating a federal law.  The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits me from steering a client away from a neighborhood or toward another one.

That prohibition is even written into the buyer agency contract and the listing contract we must use--they require both agent and client to not discriminate against certain classes of people.

I go further and just say to my clients that we won't discriminate against anyone.  To sellers I say, "If someone has the money, they can buy the house."  To buyers, I say, "If you want a 'safe' neighborhood, you have to tell me which neighborhoods seem safe to you.

For instance, in the buyer agency contract is a provision that relates to "Megan's Law": "If the presence of a registered sex offender is a matter of concern to Buyer, Buyer understands that Buyer must contact local law enforcement officials regarding obtaining such information."  This recognizes that I cannot perform the search for my buyer clients. To do so, and to imply that an area is "safe" or "not safe" by my answer would be a violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Fortunately in this instance, technology comes to the rescue.  You can ask local law enforcement officials about registered sex offenders.  You can also go to an internet site, familywatchdog.us, and see where they show such persons living near you.

I help my clients as much as I possibly can by providing a link to familywatchdog.us on my website.  You can always find it by clicking the button on the left panel that says, "Helpful Links".  It helps you stay safe and me stay legal.

I recently decided to clear out some of the old files in my basement.  The Colorado Real Estate Commission requires brokers to keep files for four years.  Mine go back to 1985.

Since I need some of that basement space for other things, I pulled out a bunch of boxes of records for transactions older than 2002 (an extra year than required, just to be overly cautious).

Now I have huge contractor bags so heavy with paper that I can hardly lift them. Now the question is not "Will the trash collectors pick up these heavy bags?"; it's "How do I dispose of 6-22 year old documents?"

The only wise answer--the one that protects my former clients' identity and my reputation--is to have them shredded.  I'm really grateful there are businesses that do just that--shred old records. 

Otherwise I would be spending days or weeks putting some 400 pounds of paper through my little office shredder.  Or, I could spend several days going through all the records and just shredding those documents with personal information (finances, social security numbers, etc.).

With identity theft such a major problem in America, you might want to invest in a small office shredder for your own personal papers that you discard.  Or if, you have 400 pounds of old records, ask me about the company I took mine to.  I'll be happy to refer you to them.

And, if you have some friends who would like the kind of service I give, you can feel secure referring them to me.  I'll take care of them just as I have my former clients.

Want to know more about how foreclosures affect the market in Denver? How about the number of building permits year-to-year or the supply of new and resale homes and what they may do to your home’s value? For a good summary with charts, click on this link. Although it is a summary, it may have more detail than you want, so here is a summary of the summary. [Extensive reports can be ordered from The Genesis Group by selecting the “Products” tab.]

Foreclosures:

“Initial foreclosure filings in the metro Denver area are on pace to reach a level for 2007 that would be approximately equal to half of the annual number of existing home sales in a ‘normal’ market.”

Economic Trends:

A mixture of good and bad news. Good—employment, consumer confidence, and fairly level interest rates. Bad—new and resale home sales, bankruptcies, supply of both new and resale homes (i.e. how many months it would take to sell all the homes currently for sale if no new listings came on the market).

Building Permits:

Gov. Bill Ritter has signed a package of new laws designed to protect borrowers from unscrupulous lenders.  The laws have long been recommended by Realtors® and honest mortgage lenders in Colorado.

Until now, anyone could call themselves a mortgage broker or lender.  There was no Colorado law which required training, licensing, or even registration for all lenders.  A recent lender registration law exempted many lenders, and it required no training or licensing for any mortgage lenders. Banking laws did not cover them.

Click on the link above to see what the new laws require. You'll be glad the new laws are in place, and shocked that they are just now coming into law.

When I work with a home buyer, one of my great concerns is that the lender they are using is competent and trustworthy.  I refer buyers to some lenders I have known and used for a long time.  I have no financial interest in referring them to these lenders. I just know that these lenders will treat my clients with the same care I have for them. 

If my client is already using a different lender, I check in to find something about them and to see if I can trust them.  My clients can use any lender they choose, of course; but it is my responsibility to counsel them about risks of using unknown lenders.  Perhaps the new laws will help reduce the risks.  I hope so.