Here is some more good news for condo owners...the FHA has revised the condo rules again to reduce some of the barriers to financing.  Restrictions still exist that hamper some investments, but we are heading in the right direction!  Click here for more details!

Keystone, Copper Mountain and Arapahoe Basin are up and running, and Breck's lifts will be turning by the end of the week!

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Team@SummitRealEstate.com. Allison is a long time local in Summit County. Summit Real Estate – The Simson/Nenninger Team is located at the Dillon Ridge Marketplace. Allison’s long-time residency and years of real estate experience can help you make the most of any buying or selling situation. She’s a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), the highest designation awarded to a Realtor in the residential sales field.  Her philosophy is simple, whether buying or selling, she understands that the most important real estate transaction is yours.  Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com  

When the economy was exploding in the early 2000s, many people began to dream about purchasing that vacation home in the mountains. However, with the booming economy came those skyrocketing house prices. Many of the homes we fell in love with quickly became out of reach financially. Now may be the time to look at those homes again- and give it some more thought!  Is this the year? 

With prices dropping by over 30% in some markets and with interest rates at historic lows (I can’t believe how low the rates are!), this may be the perfect time to do what you and your families have always dreamt of doing – buying that resort or retirement home.  Let’s look at the numbers.

Back in 2006 we may have seen the ‘perfect’ home but the $500,000 price tag was just out of reach. Today, we could probably get that home for $400,000 (if not less). We also would be financing it at the current mortgage rate instead of the rates available six years ago. The table below shows the difference in impact on our family’s finances:

Not every family is in the financial position to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities the current real estate market offers. But, if yours is, this may be the time for dreams to come true. (Graph reprinted with permission from the KCM Crew)

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Info@SummitRealEstate.com. Her philosophy is simple, whether buying or selling, she understands that the most important real estate transaction is yours.  Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com  

Question:  Allison, we are considering purchasing another condo in the complex where we already own as a long-term rental property.  I’d love to get your perspective. 

Answer:  I think it’s a fantastic idea!  Prices are low and while rents haven’t skyrocketed, they are staying up and we’ll see more renters in Summit County.  According to Brian Davis and Inman News, home prices and sales may be flat, but the rental industry is booming. The percentage of renters is on the rise, the number of households is increasing, and more Americans are downsizing, all of which point in a single direction: rents are on the rise.

At the peak of the housing boom, homeownership in America reached an all-time high at 69.2 percent. Today that number has dropped to fewer than 67 percent, which may not sound like a huge drop, but that represents roughly 3 million households that were owner-occupied and are now tenant-occupied.

The high foreclosure rate has accelerated the transition toward leasing, but there are a myriad of other trends coalescing to boost demand for rental housing.

For the first time in 40 years, demand has been shifting toward smaller dwellings, coinciding with a shift in demand toward urban centers. Baby boomers are considering downsizing, moving toward areas with more amenities, and members of Generation Y are just hitting their single, urban-living years.

Only the relatively small Generation X is in the buy-a-large-house-in-suburbs category, which means the demand for the traditional single-family home with a white picket fence is weak.

The number of households in the U.S. was artificially stifled during the "Great Recession," as people took on roommates, moved in with family, or remained with their parents longer than they would have otherwise.

Rental vacancy rates are sharply on the decline as well. In the first quarter of 2011, rental vacancy rates had dropped to 6.2 percent, according to Reis Inc., which tracks nationwide residency data. This figure is down sharply from the 8 percent vacancy rate just one year earlier.

Each of these indicators are entire topics in themselves, but the bottom line is that the rental industry is on the rise, and some real estate experts believe that its growth will accelerate rapidly over the next three to five years.

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Info@SummitRealEstate.com. Her philosophy is simple, whether buying or selling, she understands that the most important real estate transaction is yours.  Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com  

Loan limits, investors may impact your decision

Question:  Allison, we’re debating timing the sale of our Wildernest Condo with the purchase of a Mesa Cortina single family home.  Any thoughts?

Answer: The decision of whether to buy or sell a home is perplexing. A lot of buyers and sellers are still wondering if now is the right time to be in the market.

According to Dian Hymer of Inman News, ideally, buyers would like to know that the market has hit bottom and that the value of what they buy won't decline. Sellers who will sell at a loss today wonder if they should get out now or wait for a better market to sell.

When will that better market appear? It's impossible to time the market. We'll know that we hit bottom after the market turns around -- not before. Some economists think this will take another two years; others expect a turnaround in five to six years.

Many economists think we're at or close to bottom. However, it's expected that the market will be rocky for some time. The market will change seasonally. For example, it's typical for home sales to decline during the winter months.

Good and bad news can affect whether buyers feel optimistic about home buying. The fact that the conforming jumbo loan limit is likely to drop to $625,000 from $729,750 could spur home sales in higher-priced markets between now and September, when the higher loan limit expires.

Interest rates have been fluctuating but remain below 5 percent for conforming, fixed-rate mortgages. Interest rates and affordability in general have a great impact on the strength of the housing market.

The news about the real estate market was discouraging at the beginning of the year, as hopes of a solid recovery were dashed by declining home-sale volume and prices. Some economists even predicted that the housing market was headed for a double-dip recession, but this doesn't look likely at this point.

March brought good news as home-sale volume nationally picked up 3.7 percent from February, according to the National Association of Realtors. However, the sales were primarily driven by investors buying cheap foreclosures.

Although investor purchases were up, the percentage of first-time-buyer purchases was down, possibly due to tough mortgage qualifying criteria, which are expected to become even more difficult going forward.

Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors (CAR), points out that it's difficult for buyers to trade up or down if they don't have equity in their homes. According to CAR, approximately 25 percent of homeowners in the U.S. owe more than their home is worth. Appleton-Young believes the figure is closer to 31 percent in California.

Keep an eye on trends, but focus on your local neighborhood when making decisions about buying and selling.

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Info@SummitRealEstate.com. Her philosophy is simple, whether buying or selling, she understands that the most important real estate transaction is yours.  Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com   

Ask for credit or reduce offer price?

Question:  Allison, we are looking for a home in Summit County and there isn’t a lot in our price range that doesn’t need a lot of “fix up”.  We’re up for some of it, but want the sellers to help, too.  What is the best way to negotiate fix ups?

Answer:  That’s a good question.  According to Dyan Hymer of Inman News,  Buyers often make mistakes when they buy based purely on emotion. They fall in love with the view or charm of the home, but fail to take into account the ongoing maintenance that will be required to keep the French doors operating properly, the garden looking pretty and the skylights free of leaks.

This is not to say that you shouldn't buy a home that catches your heart. Just make sure that maintenance costs are included in your housing budget. If you can't afford the maintenance and you let the home fall into disrepair, its appeal will diminish, as will its value.

Buyers who walk into a listing and know immediately they want to live there are fortunate. Most buyers don’t have this experience. Usually compromises are made when buying a home. You should make a wish list of everything you'd like to have in a home and then prioritize it. You probably won't find everything you want in one home.

There are a couple of issues that complicate home buying decisions in the current market. One is how to deal with deferred maintenance. Another is: How do you evaluate improvements you want to make to the property for your own enjoyment? When home prices are moving up quickly, buyers don't give much thought to these matters.

You have several options when the house you're buying has been neglected by the seller. Let's say there's $10,000 of water damage work recommended in an inspection report. One option is to ask the sellers to have the corrective work completed before closing.

Sometimes there isn't time to have the work done before closing. Or perhaps you want to incorporate improvements into correcting the deferred maintenance, in which case you might not want the sellers to do the work.

For example, if the bathroom floor needs to be replaced because of water damage to the floor joists and the shower pan leaks, you could redo the entire bathroom to your taste, if you could afford to. Even if you just want to replace the floor and redo the shower, you might prefer to use finishes that you select.

In cases where you don't want the sellers to do the work, reduce the offer price by $10,000 and buy the property "as is" regarding the fix-up work.

Buyers who don't have extra cash for repairs could offer a price that doesn't reflect a reduction and ask the sellers to credit them $10,000 in escrow to be applied to their nonrecurring closing costs. Even though the buyers pay a higher price, they bring $10,000 less to closing -- money that can be applied toward deferred maintenance.

Almost any home you buy will need modifications so that it will satisfy your taste and intended use of the property. Perhaps the house lacks a developed backyard or deck. You might not like the color scheme. It may look too plain; you envision spending money to improve the curb appeal.

Most people feel they should recoup investments they make on improvements when they sell. However, studies have shown that most remodel projects don't pay back 100 percent of the amount invested. For this reason, you should select your projects carefully and keep resale value in mind.

Making changes to a home to make it reflect your taste improves the quality of your lifestyle while living there. It's hard to quantify this. The longer you live in the home, the more valuable the enhancements will be to you.

Before improving your new home, make sure you won't be over improving for the neighborhood. Inman News copyright.

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Info@SummitRealEstate.com. Allison is a long time local in Summit County. Summit Real Estate – The Simson/Nenninger Team is located at the Dillon Ridge Marketplace. Allison’s long-time residency and years of real estate experience can help you make the most of any buying or selling situation. She’s a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), the highest designation awarded to a Realtor in the residential sales field.  Her philosophy is simple, whether buying or selling, she understands that the most important real estate transaction is yours.  Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com   

Today's buyers are less willing to overlook 'incurable' defects

Question:  Allison, we’ve heard “location, location, location” but what else affects a home’s value?

Answer:  Location has long been touted as the most important variable affecting the value of residential real estate. Recently, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices suggested that location is still a front-runner in terms of determining valuation.

In October 2010, four cities in the 10-city composite index registered price gains from the previous year: Los Angeles (3.3 percent), San Diego (3 percent), San Francisco (2.2 percent) and Washington, D.C. (3.7 percent). In many cities around the country, like Las Vegas and Detroit, home prices continue to decline.

The front-runners listed above are coastal port-of-entry cities. Three are in California. However, the inland cities of California -- Fresno, Merced, Bakersfield and Riverside, to name a few -- are not experiencing the same relatively good price performance. They are still plagued with a surplus of foreclosure inventory and high unemployment.

A large number of foreclosures and short sales in an area can bring the overall price of homes down. It's difficult for appraisers to find non-distressed comparable sales to support higher prices because of the lack of conventional, non-distressed sales. However, if there are only a few distressed sales in an area, the distressed sales will probably not have much if any effect on the valuation of conventional sales.

Location within an area can also influence home values. Some market niches in an area are doing better than others. A niche need not be a physical location. It could be a price range. For example, well-priced listings in the $1 million to $1.4 million price range in Piedmont, Calif., have been selling relatively quickly, sometimes with more than one offer. The $3 million and above price range has not been doing as well.

HOUSE-HUNTING TIP: Today's buyers are usually willing to pay more for homes that have a good "walk to" score. That is, they are within walking distance of shops, parks, cafes and transportation. Buyers with children often prefer a location close to schools. However, the value of a home might be diminished if it is located too close to a school -- such as across the street.

Proximity to a major metropolitan area usually has a positive impact on prices, particularly when combined with a good public transportation. Employment opportunities in the area also boost home prices.

Supply and demand are up there with location in terms of impact on price. A surplus of unsold inventory gives buyers choice and a lack of a sense of urgency. Too little inventory relative to demand has the reverse effect. This usually puts an upward pressure on prices. Sellers in sought-after neighborhoods who put their homes on the market when there's little for sale often sell for more than they anticipated.

Buyers take the condition of the property into account before they make an offer to purchase. A home with a lot of deferred maintenance might put off buyers altogether, particularly in the current market. If buyers make offers on homes that have been neglected, they will factor work that needs to be done into their price.

Deferred maintenance can be corrected. Incurable defects can put a bigger damper on price, particularly in a down market. An incurable defect, like being located next to a freeway or on a busy street, is something that can't be corrected. You'll have to live with it.

In a hot market, buyers often overlook these defects because prices are rising and buyers are more willing to make compromises. In a slow market, with no urgency to buy immediately, buyers are pickier. They take their time and buy when they find the right house.

THE CLOSING: Price accommodations need to be made to overcome buyers' objections to incurable defects.

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Info@SummitRealEstate.com. Allison is a long time local in Summit County. Summit Real Estate – The Simson/Nenninger Team is located at the Dillon Ridge Marketplace. Allison’s long-time residency and years of real estate experience can help you make the most of any buying or selling situation. She’s a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), the highest designation awarded to a Realtor in the residential sales field.  Her philosophy is simple, whether buying or selling, she understands that the most important real estate transaction is yours.  Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com   

Rules and regulations can be confusing

Here's the underlying problem when people move for the first time into a condominium or a homeowners association community: They never read the fine print. Heck, they never read any of the paperwork!

And they often end up confused and angry about what is expected of them and what limits are applied to the lifestyle.

It's not that folks are lazy, but there is so much paperwork, why bother? When you enter into what is collectively called a shared ownership community, or SOC, you are given all sorts of documents, including declarations, covenants, conditions, restrictions, articles and bylaws.

You move into your dream condominium in the mountains and expect a continuation of the American Dream.

This is your castle and you can do what you want -- until you discover that your flat-screen TV with surround-sound is 10 decibels louder than your neighbor can tolerate, the smell of your cigar bothers the people living above you, the floor that you just had installed has to be ripped up because it didn't meet architectural restrictions, and a special assessment is going to cost you thousands. You're pissed off, and you are not going to take it anymore ...

Well, you usually do put up with it unless you want to move away, which could mean bumping into a whole lot more condo rules that you weren't aware of.

For all of you who've become disgruntled, perplexed, threatened or disappointed in your shared ownership community lifestyle, Gary Poliakoff and his son, Ryan Poliakoff, wrote a book for you: "New Neighborhoods: The Consumer's Guide to Condominium, Co-op, and HOA Living."

A slight nod to son Ryan, who according to the book jacket is president of a condominium property in South Florida, but this book is really the handiwork of father Gary, an attorney, who after almost four decades in the SOC legal trenches has become one of the foremost authorities on community association law.

Going back 45 years, just about the time when Gary was still an undergraduate at the University of South Carolina, there were only about 1,000 SOCs in the U.S. Now, there are 300,000 SOC associations.

That's nearly four times the number of municipal governments, and they are responsible for maintaining and operating homes that are occupied by 24 million families and 60 million individuals, and have a collective value of $4 trillion..

Today, SOC residents are often dismayed and disgruntled, which is why Gary and Ryan wrote "New Neighborhoods" -- common folk who own SOC properties need some common-folk guidance.

New Neighborhoods is different than many other books written primarily for lawyers in that it is written for a lay audience, in conversational language.

"When we wrote it, we wanted to create a book that would be to shared ownership communities as 'Robert's Rules of Order' is to parliamentary procedure," Gary exclaims.

"This would be something a volunteer on a board or a person buying into a shared ownership community could use. This is for someone who wants to understand exactly what their rights and responsibilities are without falling asleep reading legalese."

Here are some paragraphs addressing some of the more prevalent hot buttons that drive SOC owners slightly batty:

• Architectural review. "In many communities, any modifications made to limited common elements and sometimes even individual units must be presented to the association. It is quite legal for your (association) to require approval of these projects. However, there is a cardinal rule of law when assessing an architectural review committee's scope of authority: the exercise of power by the ARC must be governed by the applicable covenants and guidelines and must be reasonably exercised, must be made in good faith and must not be arbitrary and capricious."
• Selling. "No association in any state can entirely prevent you from selling your unit. That said, associations can apply a few restrictions that may reduce your ability to alienate your property. Perhaps the most common is the right of first refusal."
• Outside management. "From the perspective of the board of directors, there are a lot of reasons why it might be in the best interest of the association to contract with a management company. A single harassment or discrimination lawsuit could quickly wipe out any savings that the association may have realized by going solo."
• Maintenance. "While all state laws provide some version of this rule, the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act explicitly states that 'the association is responsible for maintenance, repair, and replacement of the common elements.' If damage is inflicted on the common element, the association, if it is responsible, is liable for the prompt repair thereof."

So, what's the best way to approach an SOC purchase?  Well, according to Gary "The only safe bet today is to buy into a community that is built out," he says. "Even then you might still be buying into the potential pitfalls of bad debt, but the amenities are built and you can see what the community is. I would be very hesitant to buy into the promises of future development."

The bottom line?  Read the documents before purchasing a place with an association!  Make sure you’re ok with the majority of the rules and regs.   Will everything be just perfect for you? Maybe not, but the association does take care of a lot of things that you’d have to do by yourself without them.  They can save you a lot of brain damage!  Inman News.

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Info@SummitRealEstate.com. Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com   

Finding best home depends on preapproval, agent

The first step in the homebuying process is to find out what you can afford to pay for a house, condo or co-op. This will depend on the amount of cash you have available for a down payment, your credit, income, assets and overall financial situation.

Mortgage qualification is easier for buyers who work as employees whose income can be easily verified. Self-employed individuals or buyers with income from investments may find the qualification process more difficult.

A wrinkle in the financing end of the homebuying process is that it's not as easy to get a preapproval letter from your mortgage broker or loan agent as it used to be. As of Jan. 1, 2010, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began requiring lenders and mortgages brokers to issue a binding Good Faith Estimate (GFE) within three days of receiving a loan application.

Before then, buyers shopped around for a mortgage. When they saw a house they wanted to buy, they asked their loan agent or broker to provide a preapproval letter to accompany their purchase offer. The loan person would run a credit check and verify the buyers' income and assets without, in many cases, taking a formal loan application. On the basis of this information, a preapproval letter was written.

Without a formal loan application, many lenders today will issue only a prequalification letter, which does not carry the weight of a preapproval letter. Find out from the loan representatives you talk with what kind of letter they can provide and what you have to do to get a preapproval letter.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP: You are in a much stronger position negotiating with a seller if you have a preapproval letter stating that you are qualified for the mortgage you will need to close the sale. It could be essential if you are in a multiple-offer competition. A prequalification letter may suffice in an area where there is a surplus of inventory of unsold homes.

Concurrent with shopping for a mortgage person, you should also be searching for a real estate broker to represent you. Both are good sources of information about where you can afford to buy. Ask friends who bought a home recently if they would recommend their loan representative and real estate broker.

Your goal is to buy in the best neighborhood you can afford without overextending yourself financially. Don't buy a home that you will outgrow in the next couple of years. The economic recovery is going to take years. You don't want to be caught having to sell at a price lower than what you paid. Even if prices don't decline further, you won't break even if you sell for the price you paid after taking the costs of sale into account.

Buy a home that has good resale potential. Many homes that aren't selling in today's market have incurable defects, such as a steep or shared driveway, a lot of stairs leading to the front door, or a location on a busy street, next to a freeway or too close to a commercial zone. An incurable defect is one you can't change. A curable defect includes such things as deferred maintenance or an outdated décor. These can be improved.

When home prices are escalating, buyers are more willing to compromise. They'll buy a home with an incurable defect, just to have the opportunity to buy in a market where they can make money quickly. Sellers don't always have control over when they sell.

THE CLOSING: It makes sense to buy a house that has broad-based appeal and will sell well in any market.  Inman News.

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Info@SummitRealEstate.com. Allison is a long time local in Summit County. Summit Real Estate – The Simson/Nenninger Team is located at the Dillon Ridge Marketplace. Allison’s long-time residency and years of real estate experience can help you make the most of any buying or selling situation. She’s a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), the highest designation awarded to a Realtor in the residential sales field.  Her philosophy is simple, whether buying or selling, she understands that the most important real estate transaction is yours.  Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com   

Price negotiations, defect resolution may suffer

Question:  Allison, we are considering buying a property in Keystone, CO and we want to buy directly from the listing broker to save money.  A friend told us that was a bad idea. What do you think?

Answer:  Good question.  Cutting expenses is at the top of most people's priorities today. Many are putting off major purchases like a new car or home until they feel more secure financially. However, not all buyers are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

According to Diane Hymer of Inman News, they're casting worries about the home sale aside and are buying now to take advantage of near-record-low interest rates. In order to get a discount in price, a number of buyers attempt to buy without an agent.

Let's say the sellers signed a contract agreeing to pay 6 percent of the purchase price to their broker when the sale closes. If the property is listed on the multiple listing service, the listing broker offers to pay a portion of the commission to the broker who represents the buyers.

If there isn't a broker representing the buyers, the commission can -- if the listing broker agrees -- be reduced by the amount that would usually be paid to the buyers' broker.

In this case, if the listing broker agreed to pay 3 percent of the purchase price to the buyers' broker and there is no buyers' broker, the sellers would pay the listing broker only 3 percent at closing. On a $700,000 sale price, this would net the seller an extra $21,000, allowing the buyers to pay that much less and still match the price the sellers would receive if they paid the full 6 percent to the sellers.

Whether this is actually a cost-savings strategy will depend on a number of factors. A key issue is knowing how much you should pay in the current market. If you offer a price that's way under market value, the seller might not even respond, particularly if you aren't represented by a knowledgeable local real estate agent who can plead your case, or at least elicit a counteroffer. If you offer more than market value, this might negate any savings you'd realize by a commission reduction.

When no one represents the buyers, the sellers' broker represents the sellers exclusively. This means the sellers' agent cannot prepare your contract for you or give you advice. An exception to this would be if the buyers and sellers agreed to have the listing broker represent both the buyers and sellers, which is not permitted in all states. But the listing broker often requires a larger fee for representing both parties.

Buyers who attempt to represent themselves may have knowledge that's limited to what they've read in consumer-oriented homebuying books. Unless these books were published since 2009, they don't represent the rigors and rules of the current housing market.

The best agents don't rely on books to learn their trade. As with most professions, agents become experts in their field through years of experience working with homebuyers and sellers.

Homebuyers and sellers hire agents to learn the process, understand current market value so they don't sell too low or pay too much, and to facilitate moving the process through the various quagmires plaguing the current market-loan qualification, appraisal issues and renegotiations over property defects -- to a successful closing.

BOTTOM LINE: Unrepresented buyers are at a big disadvantage if they're in a multiple-offer competition. Most sellers and their agents would rather work with a buyer who is represented by an agent, preferably one with a good reputation for closing home-sale transactions.

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Info@SummitRealEstate.com.  Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com   

Add power to purchase offer

Pay attention to 3 market forces

Question:  Allison, we are wanting to make an offer on a condo in Wildernest, but we’re unsure how much to offer.  What do you recommend?

Answer:  Good question!  Figuring out how much to offer on a home you'd like to make your own is never easy. A complicating factor is that although it appears that the housing market may be stabilizing somewhat in other parts of the country, there is no guarantee that prices won't slip further.

With this in mind, don't buy for the short term. Don't buy betting on future appreciation. Buy a home that will work for you long term, at the best price you can negotiate, using financing you can afford.

To avoid paying too much, hook up with a real estate broker who will educate you about how much you'll have to pay for a home that works for you. The Internet is a great resource to help you learn about neighborhoods, current listings and past sale prices.

However, a diligent, knowledgeable real estate broker who has experience helping people buy and sell homes in the area where you want to live can get you up to speed on what's happening in that niche market now.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP: Ask your agent to give you a summary of all listings that you might have been interested in that sold during the last three months to six months, including list price, sale price and how long they took to sell. It's also useful to have information about the change in average sale price over the past year. Have prices declined? Are they flat? Or are they rising?

Also, ask for a list of properties currently available and pending sale. A pending sale is one where the sellers have accepted an offer, but the sale hasn't yet closed. Significantly more active listings than pending sales in an area suggests a high-inventory market where buyers have an advantage. Few active listings relative to pending sales is characteristic of a low-inventory market.

During your house-hunting education, make sure your agent reports back to you about day-to-day changes in the market. If an overpriced listing has a price reduction and is now in your price range, make a point of looking at it as soon as possible. A new price can attract other buyers' interest.

When listings you've seen sell, your agent should let you know the sale price. This will help you develop a sense for when a listing is priced too high, or priced at or under market value. How well a listing is priced for the market affects your offer strategy.

A well-priced listing in a low-inventory market is likely to sell quickly. There could be more than one buyer making an offer. If so, you may need to make an aggressive offer near, at or over the asking price. However, multiple offers don't always result in a sale price higher than the list price.

Becoming savvy about local market pricing enables you to know when to make a strong offer on a new listing, even though the overall market may be lagging.

It's a different story in segments of the market like ours in Summit County where there are plenty of listings that take months to sell. In this case, you have choices, making it possible to offer less than the asking price and negotiate. If this one doesn't work out, you move on to the next. You should be prepared to walk away rather than pay too much.

Buyers making offers that are contingent on the sale of another property usually have to pay more than all-cash buyers who can close quickly. If you've already sold your home and are waiting for the sale to close, you'll be in a better position to negotiate on price. The best bet is to have your home sold and closed. It removes uncertainty in the sellers' minds and may make them more receptive to a lower price.

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - Info@SummitRealEstate.com.  Would you like a list of properties that meet your criteria automatically emailed to your inbox without having to speak with a broker? Visit www.SummitHomeBuyer.com