Let’s face it: moving is stressful for everyone involved and sometimes it’s hardest on the kids. Moving to a new neighborhood or even a new state means leaving your friends, maybe some family, and your familiar territory behind. For parents trying to help their kids make the adjustment, there are a few tips you can do to ease the anxiety. Here are a few of my favorites.
1) Let each child pick their new room and then help them personalize it. Every child has their own personality and this is a great opportunity to let them express that. This will take their mind off leaving their old room and house behind and focus on looking ahead.
2) While everything is still in boxes and disorganized, try camping out in the new house. Set up a tent in the living room, blow up air mattresses, and camp inside the house. This also works on the last night or two in the old house before you leave. Again, try to make the experience fun without focusing on the negative.
3) Explore, explore, and explore. In the first few days of moving, make sure that you make time as a family to explore your new surroundings. Try to find a new favorite pizza place or a new favorite ice cream shop. Make it an adventure or contest to see who can find the most fun places.
4) Routines! Nothing promotes stability and eases anxiety like routines and kids need them. If you have a standard bedtime routine, jump right into it as soon as possible. If you have a standard routine each morning getting ready for school or church on Sundays, make sure you stick with it. This will help the transition maybe more than anything else.
5) Open communication. This should go without saying, but sometimes in the busyness of moving, one can forget to stop and talk about what your child is thinking. If you notice that they have become unusually quiet over the first few days or weeks of the move, then chances are something is going on that you’ll need to address.
Finally, acceptance is the last step in making the transition. As parents, if we are having a hard time accepting the move, then you can bet the children will too. Make sure that you portray acceptance to your children and then help them to feel that way as well.
Buyers must act fast to get dream home. By Steve Raabe The Denver Post.
New advice from the trenches on buying a home: Look early. Think fast. Hone your quick-draw skills with the checkbook.
Metro Denver’s real estate market, not long ago a buyer’s domain, suddenly has shifted to a seller’s paradise, at least in some neighborhoods and price ranges.
Realtors’ offices are rife with fresh anecdotes of sellers happily cherry-picking from multiple offers – some of them above the asking price.
How fast is the market moving? A new report shows that Denver is No. 2 in the nation for the shortest length of time that a home is listed before being sold – 33 days – far below the national median of 89 days.
Until recently, prospective buyer Patty Kupfer had viewed shopping for a home as a weekend diversion. You know, tell your broker that you’re available, say, from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Hah.
“There’s no such thing anymore as a weekend home tour,” Kupfer said this week. “Because if you wait till the weekend, nothing’s going to be there. If you’re just looking casually, you’re not really in the market.”
Kupfer, managing director of a nonprofit immigration-reform organization, said she has adjusted her approach in the face of vigorous competition from other buyers.
“Every house I’ve looked at has gone under contract within 48 hours,” she said. “This has forced me to be more serious about it. The very next house that seems like a good fit, we’re going to visit it that very day (it’s first listed).”
In recent months, buyer demand has surged and the number of homes for sale in metro Denver has dropped sharply.
Unsold homes on the market totaled 10,325 at the end of March, a 42 percent drop from March 2011.
The result is that for some neighborhoods and some price ranges, homes are in short supply and selling fast.
In particularly high demand are homes priced from $250,000 to $400,000 and in central Denver neighborhoods such as Park Hill, Congress Park, Curtis Park, Mayfair and the Highlands, said Michelle Ackerman, Denver-area manager and broker for Redfin.
Even though metro Denver homes have shown only marginal price appreciation so far this year, realty analysts say strong demand and multiple offers could son push values higher in lower to moderate price ranges.
One factor that makes price predictions difficult is foreclosures.
Lenders hold an estimated 1,650 foreclosed properties in metro Denver that haven’t been put on the market, according to data compiled by Redfin. As the market strengthens, more foreclosures will be listed for sale, which in turn could slow down price appreciation.
Sellers of homes listed for more than $500,000 generally aren’t enjoying the market heat.
“Once you move above $500K, inventory widens dramatically and prices are still down, and arguably falling,” Ackerman said.
Elsewhere, inventories are low and urgency among buyers is high.
Joshua Kurdys and Ileana Sadin, recent arrivals to Denver from State College, Pa., found the Denver market to be an exercise in frustration.
“You’d go out and see five or 10 houses, and the one house that was decent would be snatched up immediately” by other buyers, Kurdys said.
After several failed offers in central Denver neighborhoods, the couple decided to expand their geographic parameters, accelerate their pace and be willing to bid higher.
“It was very apparent that if we didn’t make an offer at very close to asking price, we weren’t going to get it,” Kurdys said.
The strategy worked. They recently targeted a newly listed home in Curtis Park, made a 9 a.m. appointment to see it and submitted an almost full-price offer the same day. They now have it under contract.
What can be a frustrating endeavor for buyers is a pleasant relief for sellers.
Connie Ulrich was anticipating the worst in attempting to sell her three-bedroom home in the Northbrook subdivision of Thornton.
But within a month of listing the home, she’d had 34 showings.
“We had so many showings, it was just insane,” she said. “I never expected it to be so busy.”
Listed at $254,000, the home now is under contact for $256,000.
“There is a shortage of good product,” said broker Rhonda Knop of Distinctive Properties. “If it’s priced right and shows well, it is selling.”
This week we are going to see Yelp reviews of Red Rocks Park and Ampitheatre, located at 18300 W Alameda Pkwy, Morrison, CO 80465. Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a geological phenomenon – the only naturally-occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheatre in the world. From Sting and The Beatles, to opera stars and U2, every artist aspires to play on this magical, spiritual and emotional stage. Red Rocks Amphitheatre is owned and operated by the City and County of Denver’s Arts & Venues Division.
Few of the top reviews are given below:
Claire from Denver, CO says, “Breath taking! It’s beautiful here!!! Everyone who visits Colorado must go here. I’ve never seen something so beautifully constructed by mother nature (besides grand canyon) but this is a sight to see. Two large monoliths (rock formations) enclose a beautiful amphitheater, which enables acoustics to generate magnificently throughout the theater. Open aired concerts, events and movies are played here from summer to fall. The seating was constructed like stairs not chairs. During weekends, the locals come use the stadium seating as exercise. They use the trails for hiking. The entire park is so amazing to take in, it’s huge! I promise you, watching a concert here, is like nothing else. There is available parking in 3 areas, the bottom near the gift shop, the middle near the bridge (you can use the bridge to hike up to the lower part of the amphitheater) or the upper area (where it’s easily accessible to the sights, museum and restaurant). The museum is very informative. Take a quick look, you’ll find the music area interesting. There is a restaurant though it closes early. Good for brunch, lunch and late lunch.”
Louisa from Vernon Rockville, CT says, “Such a BEAUTIFUL place. The amphitheatre is HUGE. They have 70 rows of seats with 100+ seats per row. I went during the day to visit. There were so many people exercising at the amphitheatre. I was motivated to run too, if I had the proper attire. There are 390+ steps from the top of the amphitheatre to the Trading Post Road. 190+ stairs from the top of the amphitheatre to the stage. Excellent place to workout. Outdoor seating. Planning to come back for a show. Also, they have several trails in the park to hike. My husband and I went on the Trading Post Trail. Lots of scenery. Only 1.4 miles long. Beware, if you go downhill, you will need to eventually hike back uphill. Have on good shoes, a bottle of water, and sunblock. Has very minimal shade. Definitely a place to visit. The view is breath-taking.”
http://coloradodreamhouse.com/featured/property.php?id=2 Enjoy stunning mountain & valley views from any of the five decks and nearly every room in this incredible five-bedroom, seven-bath, 7600 square foot, privately gated home nestled on over six acres of picturesque treed, mountain property. Practicality and high style blend perfectly to create a truly beautiful highland home.
We have heard an awful lot about “Green Homes” and “Green Construction” in the last few years. In fact, builders have been working hard to fill this demand in the marketplace, but is there really a demand? I have heard that stats show buyers will not necessarily choose an eco-friendly home over a standard home simply because it’s green. Although I think that buyers can be influenced to buy a green home if they think that it can save them money. The big issue with people who are converting their existing home to a green home has been the upfront expense. I tell home owners that are thinking about making a green improvement that it may not benefit them in the wallet when it comes to resale, but can help the home sell quicker.
For example, if you are thinking about putting in a geothermal heating unit to be green, efficient, and cut down on energy bills, you better plan on staying in that house a long while to make up for the expense of installing it. The person that really gets the payoff on the geothermal system is the individual that buys your home. Chances are they did not pay more for your home because of the geothermal system and yet they will reap the benefits in the energy bills while you up fronted the cost of installation.
Still, there are benefits to certain green updates. Installing new energy efficient appliances that are being sold with the home is attractive to potential homebuyers. Tank-less water heaters still seem to be in demand and are on some buyer’s wish list. Energy efficient furnaces and air conditioning units are a noticeable upgrade that the average buyer wants. Converting all of your lighting from incandescent to fluorescent is cheap and people like it. In some cases, solar panels can be a good investment, but again, that walks the line on whether or not you will see your money back when it’s time to sell.
Of course, there are the die-hard green buyers out there who want recycled blue jeans for insulation, recycled glass tile, as well as carpet in a home that has zero energy bills. As a seller of an existing home, I do not recommend you go to this extreme. This is still a small segment of the buying population that is best suited for custom green builders.
