Professionals Miracles Foundation was founded by Denver area real estate agents in 2000, as a support for families who are battling life threatening illnesses, particularly those involving children.

“We’re looking at Pradera as a venue that will take our very successful tournament to an even higher level,” says Rebecca Kenny with RE/MAX Professionals, 2010 Birdies for Blessings Event Chairperson. “It’s a terrific course that’s genuinely fun and challenging to play, with clubhouse facilities that will add character and capability to our silent auction and ceremonial events surrounding the tourney,” Kenny said.

Kenny adds that Pradera has an ambience that fits the warm, engaging atmosphere of Birdies for Blessings. “Playing in this tournament is always a great social experience, as well as a very moving personal encounter with other professionals who are genuinely interested in helping others,” Kenny added. “For a course with terrific golf architecture, Pradera has a family feel to it that will complement this event and draw in new participants.” The Club at Pradera, she added, had actively sought to recruit the Birdies event from its former long-term venue at Inverness Golf Club.

Major supporters of Professionals Miracles Foundation include agents with RE/MAX Professionals, who launched the charity in 2000 on behalf of one agent’s daughter who waged a successful battle with childhood leukemia. The Childrens Hospital Foundation remains a principal beneficiary of the PMF and of Birdies for Blessings, along with individual families needing financial or other support, often identified by agents and their contacts in the community.

Check-in for Birdies for Blessings begins at Pradera at 10 a.m., Aug. 30, followed by a noon shotgun start. Players register for $250 to include range balls, a hole-in-one competition, and a benefit dinner following at Pradera’s attractive Mt. Elbert Dining Room overlooking the course, where guests can bid on sports memorabilia and other silent auction items. The dinner also includes a public auction of some priority sports and travel items. Dinner tickets exclusive of the tournament are available for $50.

Kenny added that Professionals Miracles Foundation maintains an exceptionally low ratio of overhead costs, well below 10%, and that 100% of its financial support is spent within the Denver Metropolitan Area. Positions for the 2010 Birdies for Blessings Tournament are $250, and Kenny and other organizers are actively seeking hole sponsorships ($250), special dinner sponsors ($2500 to $250), and donations of auction items. To register, visit www.professionalsmiraclesfoundation.org, or contact Becky Kenny at 303-570-9190.
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WHERE: Birdies for Blessings Golf Turnament to benefit Professionals Miracles Foundation, The Golf Club at Pradera, Parker, CO
ENTRY FEE: $250
WHEN: Monday, Aug. 30, Check-in 10 a.m., Shotgun Start non
PHONE: 303-570-9190 WEB: www.professionalsmiraclesfoundation.org

So, what does the year ahead look like for our refrigerated town on the High Plains? After 12 months of tough sledding real-estate-wise, don’t expect a thaw anytime soon…but don’t pack your bags, either. People who make a living predicting the market are saying, all things considered, you’re better off here.

Jack O’Connor, author of a market report for RE/MAX Professionals, sees chilly weather ahead for the highest price ranges, and solid appreciation for people who own homes under $250,000.

“I’m still very bullish on Denver,” economist Patty Silverstein told me this week. She’s president of Research Development Partners, consulting chief economist for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. and for the Chamber.

The big factor impacting residential real estate is employment, and Silverstein sees slightly brighter prospects there. “Year 2010 will see a glimmer of hope,” she said, adding that we’re likely to continue losing some jobs early on…firming up later, with the odds favoring a slight increase for the year
That kind of late growth, however, will do little to jump-start the high-end housing market, says Jack O’Connor, who authors a monthly report for RE/MAX Professionals that was surprisingly accurate in predicting lower-end appreciation this past year. At the highest end, the Denver area still has way too much inventory and way too few buyers. If you own a house below $250,000, the forecast is much warmer…some price increases…maybe even multiple offers, once you put the sign up.
“If you have a nice home (priced below $250,000), you’re going to see 4 to 6
percent appreciation in 2010,” O’Connor adds.
In the million-dollar range, prospects are still glacial. Current inventory of 1,100 single-family homes at a million-plus (only 240 closed during the year as of Dec. 30) will take years to absorb. For million-dollar condos, says O’Connor, the temperature drops even more.
Meanwhile, you’re living in a place with a future in aerospace, bioscience, software, and energy…industries hit by the recession, but with temperate long-term prospects.
“You need to look beyond to what the opportunities can be,” Silverstein said.
Colorado, she adds, is perceived by the nation as a very attractive place to live…one that appeals to entrepreneurial types. “That will help us,” she adds.
If you’re selling in the high end, don’t expect improvement in 2010…and,
O’Connor adds, figure that interest rates, which have stayed low for a long time,
could likely climb late in the year. At the low end, watch for the continuing federal tax credit to play an abnormally large role in motivating sales. And remember…it only applies to contracts written by April 30.
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RE/MAX Professionals President Leeann Iacino has been chosen as Residential Real Estate’s Power Book Newsmaker for 2009-2010, by the Denver Business Journal.

“This is a positive change, underscored by the fact that the totals were substantially better than October 2008’s, almost an 11% increase,” said Jack O’Connor, a senior partner in RE/MAX Professionals and author of The Monthly Report. O’Connor added that three or four months of monthly increases over the previous year would portend price increases.

The Report, compiled from the latest Metrolist data, shows 3,708 transactions closed for single family and condominium units last month, up from 3,341 units for October 2008, and substantially higher than 3,398 units that closed during October 2007. O’Connor added that the 19,761 single-family and condo listings on the market as of the first of November represent the lowest inventory in more than five years. Single-family listings are down almost 18% over the past year; condos down over 12.6%.

O’Connor noted in the report that the numbers partially reflect the success of the federal first-time buyer tax credit, which had been scheduled to expire at month’s end, but has now been extended in a new package that will also include benefits for existing homeowners. Sold data for October, he added, reflected a 4% increase over sales during September—counter to typical fall performance that averages a 3% drop in sales, October from September.

Under-contracts—the number of homes awaiting a closing as of the first of the month—also stand at the highest level in five years, up 1,131 from the total awaiting closing a year ago, O’Connor added. “This partially reflects the longer time that transactions are taking to close this year, due to the number of pre-foreclosure transactions, loan modifications and short sales reflected in the numbers, all involving more transaction time,” O’Connor said.

For sellers, the data suggest that the early winter months may not be an adverse time to put a home on the market, O’Connor suggested. “There are fewer properties to compete with today, and serious buyers are buying now, particularly with the credit available,” he said. Fourth quarter, he added, is also is a time when relocating buyers typically enter the market.

Last December, O’Connor’s Monthly Report had predicted that reduced inventory particularly in the lower price ranges would drive prices upward in 2009 on Denver area homes priced below $250,000, at around ½% per month. That, O’Connor noted, has turned out to be conservative; actually increase for the price range during 2009 has run around 8%, or around ¾% per month appreciation. O’Connor reports that he expects appreciation to gradually affect higher ranges in 2010.

“Sellers can expect to see around 100 sales a day between now and Christmas,” said Leeann Iacino, President of RE/MAX Professionals. She added that the company has closed over $1.193 billion in 2009 Denver area sales through October. RE/MAX Professionals has seven offices serving Denver from the Denver Tech Center, Highlands Ranch, Denver West, Cherry Creek, Southwest Plaza, South Jefferson County and Castle Pines. For a copy of The Monthly Report, contact Jack O’Connor at 303-268-0597. RE/MAX Professionals is on the web at PrestigiousDenverHomes.com.

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The annual Birdies for Blessings Golf Tournament, scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24, at Inverness Golf Club, will feature former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle as master of ceremonies. The tournament is a major fundraiser for the Prestige Miracles Foundation, supporting Denver area families that are battling life threatening illnesses, particularly those involving children.
Becky Kenny, left, 2009 chair of Birdies for Blessings tournament at Inverness, is joined by Leeann Iacino and Jack O’Connor, principals in RE/MAX Professionals. RE/MAX agents are major supporters of the event.

Hurdle, who took the Rockies to a National League championship in 2007, has a 7-year-old daughter with Prader-Willi syndrome, a complex genetic disorder that can have lifelong effects. Major supporters of Prestige Miracles Foundation include agents with RE/MAX Professionals, who launched the charity in 2000 on behalf of one agent’s daughter who waged a successful battle with childhood leukemia. The Childrens Hospital Foundation remains a principal beneficiary of the PMF and of Birdies for Blessings, along with individual families needing financial or other support, often identified by agents and their contacts in the community.

Players can register for $250, to include range balls, a hole-in-one competition, and a benefit dinner following at Inverness Hotel’s Columbine Room, where guests can bid on sports memorabilia and other silent auction items. For the first time this year, the dinner also includes a public auction of some priority items, including a foursome at the very exclusive Sanctuary Golf Course in Sedalia. Auctioneer will be RE/MAX agent Jim Romano, one of the organizations founders. Dinner tickets exclusive of the tournament are available for $50.

“This is an exceptionally fun tournament to play in, but also one with a lot of heart and a lot of positive effects on the community,” said Becky Kenny, Managing Broker of RE/MAX Professionals’ Castle Pines office, 2009 Birdies event chair. She noted that Prestige Miracles Foundation maintains an exceptionally low ratio of overhead costs, well below 10%, and that 100% of its financial support is spent within the Denver Metropolitan Area.

WHERE: Check-in for the tournament at Inverness Golf Club
PRICE: Hole sponsorships $250, special dinner sponsors ($2500 to $250), auction items welcomed
WHEN: Thurs. Sept. 24, Register 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
PHONE: 303-570-9190 WEB: www.prestigemiraclesfoundation.org

In a year when the market for new homes should be lackluster all over the state, a European village on a hillside in Jefferson County has 30 sales racked up…at an average price that’s way, way beyond what’s supposed to be selling now: around $846,000.

Welcoming at Solterra are (from left) Carrol Howard, Wall Custom Homes; Sara Dieringer, Cardel; Lindsay Gannott, Infinity; Mike Copp, custom home sales; Steve Kruse, Infinity; Peggy Marvin, Remington; and Cardell’s Christine Busboom..

You can tour a special open house today at Solterra, east of Red Rocks (it has its own interchange on 470 near Dinosaur Ridge)…with sharp looking homes and patio homes starting way below that average, from $484,900. Four builders and a half dozen custom builders have models to show…including Remington Homes, which opened a new ranch-patio model three weeks ago…had 300 people out the first day, and took five sales.

Some of those buyers are coming from out of state…wowed by the dramatic landscape around Morrison…but others, says Remington’s Peggy Marvin, are lured from the least likely neighborhoods…Wash Park and LoDo…wanting to keep the new-urban feel, but at closer access to golf and the mountains. “They love it, they think it has a younger feel,” she told me, adding that one buyer is planning a wedding at Solterra’s “Retreat” community center…a 6,000-foot Tuscan villa that sprawls over the hillside, with pool and facilities you absolutely have to see.

At the other end of the price scale are spectacular customs from prices around $900,000…and semi-customs by venerable Wall Custom Homes that are priced from $679,000 but have drawn seven sales to date, centered in the $830s, a territory that should sound encouraging to Realtors all over the western suburbs. “We’ve had zero issues with people selling their older homes,” added Christine Busboom with Cardell Homes, marking 15 sales in 2009 from three great looking models from the $480s. “People are absolutely surprised by how quick things sell.”

You can also explore trails and hidden picnic areas in scattered in open space on Solterra’s 800-acre site…and some nicer restaurants that have opened in Morrison, adding to shopping/dining possibilities nearby on Alameda, Union, and at BelMar.

Take C-470 north from Morrison or south from I-70 to Alameda and head east.
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WHERE: Solterra, master-planned community by Carma Developers, with luxury homes & patio homes, open space, Tuscan styled community center; light refreshments today at five sites. Take C-470 either north past Morrison or south from I-70 to new interchange at Alameda Parkway and head east 1 mi. to Indiana head east 1/2 mile to Solterra.

PRICE: From the high $400s; customs from $900s
WHEN: Today, 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.
PHONE: 303-790-6611 WEB: www.delwebb.com/colorado

Can you really sell people whose kids have flown the coop on the idea of staying in Colorado, rather than retiring to places with cactus and palm trees? You can…and some of the most recent converts want to tell you why Saturday, Aug. 22, at an “island luau” at Anthem Ranch, complete with tropical cocktails.

Anthem Ranch’s Nathan Freeman (left), Mary Kermoade, David Foster and (not shown) Melanie Dube show off one of nine ranches you can tour, along with lavish amenities covered by an HOA dues currently only $148/month.

What they WON’T have to do is convince you that this master-planned community in north Broomfield is pretty enough to attract older buyers (around 40% of them aren’t retired at all, still working). In addition to nine ranch single-family models from the mid $200s, you’ll see gorgeous views of the Indian Peaks, set against nine manicured lakes wrapped by 800 acres of open space and 48 miles of walking/bike trails; along with a spectacular ‘Aspen Lodge’ with indoor/outdoor pools and state-of-the-art fitness center.

“Around 40% of our move-ins come from out of state, places where they know Del Webb,” says Melanie Dube, sales counselor, who noted that one 79-year-old arrival is now biking 35 miles a day around Anthem Ranch. But the sales balance is changing, adds consultant Nathan Freeman.
“Over the last 90 days, we’re seeing awesome response from Broomfield, Lafayette and Arvada.” When I arrived, Freeman was greeting a Louisville couple who were among a dozen sales this past month. “They listed their older house last Friday, had three offers within days and sold for $3,000 more than they were asking.”
If you’re from Boulder, Freeman adds, “you can probably take your 1960 home and trade it for one of our ‘Aspen’ plans,”…big ranch with large entertaining area and a deck with a private entrance from the master. You can tour it today…and see a couple of quick-delivery homes where it’s paired to a view site and a walk-out lower level.
You’ll also get to talk with homeowners anxious to tell you how this close-knit community has worked for them…such as Don Gemelli and his wife, who moved from Illinois to be closer to an assortment of grandkids. He’s now an ‘ambassador’ at Aspen Lodge, site of dozens of clubs that have popped up, including a golf group that gets discounts making the rounds between six courses that are within a few miles of here.
At Saturday’s (Aug. 22) luau, you can try a pitch shot (for prizes) at a floating green on the lake behind the models; pilot an RC sailboat; and enjoy Beach Boys classics by a live group. “But our goal,” says Freeman, “is to get you in front of our homeowners. They’re going to tell you, ‘I wish I would have done this sooner.’”
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If you go…

WHERE: Luau & club expo today at Anthem Ranch, Del Webb-designed active adult community, 9 ranch-style models, island cuisine, cocktails. 16583 Las Brisas Dr., Broomfield; I-25 north past 470 to Hwy 7, west 2 mi. to Lowell, left (south) 2 blks to Anthem Ranch, west. Or from Broomfield, take Lowell n. from 144th, past Northwest Pkwy, 1 mi.
.

PRICE: From $240s; homes for immediate move-in from $260s
WHEN: Sat & Sun. 9:30-5
PHONE: 303-604-5454 WEB: www.delwebb.com/colorado