Berkeley Homes and Harvard Communities, two of Colorado’s most creative builders, could give you a whole new way of looking at the landscape south of Park Meadows this weekend; and a new way of looking at solar energy, too.

Builders John Keith and Rich Laws show their new, contemporary model at ParkSide, where a team from Solar City installs a leased solar-electric system with every home.

They’ve joined forces in Lone Tree to design an enclave of 31 single-family residences (9 are already reserved) showcased by an eye-catching, family-sized model with finished walkout basement, and a solar power system that you lease rather than buy.

At ParkSide at RidgeGate, the solar power system is just part of the energy extras that come with homes. ParkSide is being crafted to new Energy Star 3.0 standards – an ambitious upgrade that many national builders are backing away from, according to Berkeley Homes’ Rich Laws.

You can see those features in a ‘Sky’ family sized 2-story that shows a fetching interior by Barb Decker of Captivating Design, a trendy kitchen with both walk-in and butler’s pantries, and terrific entertaining, office and recreation space. It can go five or even six bedrooms, priced for today’s opening from $439,000. That value, along with attractive Douglas County schools serving RidgeGate, is luring numbers of family buyers into the mix that has reservations.

ParkSide doesn’t have a ranch, but the ‘Bluff’ main–floor master suite model has drawn two reservations from empty-nest-type buyers. “I call it a reverse-ranch,” says John Keith of Harvard Communities, who was a pioneer in introducing energy-efficient patio ranches to Castle Pines in the ‘90s. “You really have single-level living, but with much more added space upstairs or in the basement for guest suites and other spaces.” That idea is a perfect match for walk-out and daylight garden levels available on half of these ParkSide sites, and for builders who are ready and anxious to finish space for you down there now.

You’re also getting 3.0 kilowatts of solar panels from Solar City, a company taking a lease approach to solar. Families receive the system on a 20-year lease paid up-front by the builder, costing buyers nothing for hardware or extended maintenance, and still providing them a return against electric costs every month. That, notes Keith, will make ParkSide the first all-solar neighborhood in the Denver area.

Laws estimates the leased-solar together with ParkSide’s added conservation standards could save some families as much as $1,000 per year at today’s rates. That’s not counting the gas you could save taking advantage of 3,500-acre RidgeGate’s remarkable walkability – something that will grow even stronger as families settle in. ParkSide, a half mile west of Sky Ridge Medical Center (getting a $100 million expansion) is a short walk from new, 500-seat Lone Tree Arts Center, from Lincoln Commons with Sprouts Farmers Market, and from parks and ballfields surrounding Lone Tree’s comprehensive rec center … not to count 1,000 acres of bluff open space accessible by two trailheads within two blocks of ParkSide (builder Keith does a weekly climb to its scenic summit – elevation exactly 1,000 feet above downtown Denver).

…Not to count the shopping, theaters and restaurant row at Park Meadows; Light Rail in Lone Tree, or a new station in the FasTracks plan that would be walkable from here. To reach the opening today and this weekend take I-25 south past 470 and Lincoln to RidgeGate Pkwy exit; head northwest to Crossington, then left past the Rec Center.

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IF YOU GO

WHERE: Grand Opening, ParkSide at RidgeGate, a Harvard-Berkeley Community, 31-site enclave, 3 family-sized models, main-floor master, 2,400-2,900 s.f., solar-electric system; walkable to parks, trails, Lone Tree Arts Center, Rec Center, stores. Hillston at Crossington, Lone Tree; take I-25 south past 470 to RidgeGate Pkwy exit; northwest 0.3 mi. to Crossington; left past Lone Tree Rec Center to Hillston

PRICE: From low-$400s
WHEN: Today and Saturday 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.; Sunday 11-6
PHONE: 303-340-3333 WEB: LiveBerkeley.com

Mark Samuelson writes on real estate and business; you can email him at mark@samuelsonassoc.com.

What could make for a better way to celebrate Earth Day than visiting a new Stapleton home that uses absolutely no energy at all? You can come tour New Town Builders’ Zero-Energy Home Sunday (Apr. 22) in Stapleton’s Central Park West neighborhood; get Earth Day treats for the family including SunChips and Coke Zero; and see all of Stapleton’s other attractions that draw buyers the other 355 days-a-year, including big values on new home space at attainable prices.

Stephen and Jenny Sanderson and kids Jayla, 7, and Weston, 4, were the first buyers to contract on a zero-energy-use home from New Town Builders at Stapleton.

That’s what first lured Stephen and Jenny Sanderson to Stapleton in 2005, when with a baby on the way and their Uptown condo looking tiny, they compared Stapleton to older areas such as Park Hill.

Now they have kids aged 7 and 4 and are headed for their second Stapleton home, one that will have that same zero-energy performance, including 9.9 kilowatts of solar panels, as the model you’ll see.

Actually, every home New Town Builders builds in Stapleton is a remarkable performer – a 2.8 kilowatt solar system at the standard price, and HERS ratings in the mid-40s (lower is better), miles better than typical resale homes, well beyond most new builders, too. As an option with its Solaris Collection, you can opt for the full Zero Energy package, including even better insulation, window, appliance, and HVAC performance; plus tankless water heating, and the extra seven solar kilowatts, for an add-on of around $30,000.

“And you don’t have to make a bad economic decision to make a good energy decision,” adds builder Gene Myers, who’s been doing super-energy-efficient homes for 20 years. The cost of adding zero-energy mortgages out at around $100/month – pretty much a trade-off to what models show you’ll keep from paying Xcel at today’s prices. “It’ll be a competitive advantage,” says Stephen Sanderson, photographer who has also picked up an MBA in sustainability management. In the new place, his family will get three big bedrooms with a loft up; a main floor study; and finished basement with a darkroom for him and a fourth guest suite for Jenny’s parents during their visits from Michigan.

You’ll also take the family through an energy education exhibit by New Town, see new sites opening for these Solaris homes at Bluff Lake on the Sand Creek Greenway Trail; see the parks, pools, schools and rec center; and Stapleton’s Town Center where the Sanderson kids find their favorite grilled cheese sandwiches at Casey’s Bistro. To reach the models in Stapleton, take Quebec Street north from MLK, then head east on E. 35th to models on a greenbelt between Ulster and Uinta.

If you go…

WHERE: Solaris Collection by New Town Builders at Stapleton; 3 furnished models including Zero Energy Home, 3-5 bedrooms, all with standard solar electric panels; Earth Day treats Sunday, Apr. 22, SunChips and Coke Zero. 8126 E. 35th Ave., Denver; take Quebec Street north from Martin Luther King Blvd., east on E. 35th Avenue 0.7 mi. to the models on a greenbelt between Ulster & Uinta Streets

PRICE: From $389,900
WHEN: Sunday Noon – 5 p.m., daily 10-6
PHONE: 720-941-0359 WEB: StapletonDenver.com

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Mark Samuelson writes on real estate and business; you can email him at mark@samuelsonassoc.com. You can see all of Mark Samuelson’s columns online at DenverPostHomes.com

Orchard Hills, within walking distance east of the Denver Tech Center, has a secluded ambiance that wraps a trace work of ponds and trails; with half-acre and larger home sites that were left unfenced from its original 1960s development plan – creating the semblance for residents of even more treed open space.

Broker Carol Baker of The Denver 100 shows off remodeled, chalet-styled raised ranch in Orchard Hills, Greenwood Village

Denver 100 agent Carol Baker will show you a raised ranch in there that has what doesn’t come standard with most Orchard Hills homes – complete makeover of its 60s-era architecture with entertaining areas and alluring outdoor spaces.

No. 9106 E. Berry Avenue is in Orchard Hills 3, accessible directly east of the DTC on Yosemite Street – where you’ll see a transformed elevation that wraps a side-load 3-car garage; pretty hard to find in the neighborhood. The owner, a former builder, created much of the bright, natural finishes and ornate detailing in alder and Carlisle white pine; displayed in a spectacular great room with chalet-styled south window that opens to the treed expanse.

The bedroom count is four that could be pushed to five counting nicely finished space on the walk-out level, bringing the home’s total to 3,100 square feet. Raised ranches draw attention to their entry steps, one climbing a half level to the main, the other headed for the walkout; and these show special attention in wrought iron spindles and eye-catching stair treads. The kitchen makeover has a Viking six-burner range and a granite bar with seating; and the master suite offers his-her separated vanities and a clever dressing area. You’ll see several outdoor living areas including an eat-out deck off the kitchen and an outdoor cook center off a trellised patio.

Baker says there are plenty of signs of activity in the neighborhood this spring, with rising costs for scraped lots that are prompted along by Cherry Creek Schools and walk-to access to dining and coffee in the DTC. To reach today’s open house, featuring biscotti, take Orchard Road east from I-25 into Greenwood Village, a half mile to DTC Boulevard, then left to Yosemite, right to Berry Avenue, and right again, continuing a block past the trailhead.
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If you go…

WHERE: Remodeled 4-or-5 bed raised ranch w/ 3-car garage in enclave of large sites, parks, trails; biscotti today. 9106 E. Berry Ave., Greenwood Village; take Orchard east from I-25 ½ mile to DTC Blvd., left (north) 0.3 mi. to Yosemite, right 0.2 mi. to Berry

PRICE: $799,500
WHEN: Open house today, 2-4 p.m.
PHONE: 303-888-3401

As agents look over the metro area this spring, the Ken-Caryl Valley west of Littleton is particularly interesting to watch. Enclosed by 6,000 acres of open space west of C-470, it has no homes in the ‘affordable’ range that analysts say should sell quickly this spring – plenty of homes in the mid-range where recovery should be slower. Yet agents are seeing much brisker sales there.

Roze Team members Becky Berzins, left, Rachel Schroeder and Sandra Rozeboom sold this Ken-Caryl Valley home that had been its lowest listing. It received three competing offers.

“We haven’t seen this activity in years,” says Denver 100 agent Sandra Rozeboom, who has specialized in Ken-Caryl Valley since the 1980s when its 1,668-home master plan was first launched. From Jan. 1, Rozeboom notes, the Valley has seen 18 homes closed and another 18 go under contract. Only three of the sales were in the Valley’s lowest price range of $300,000 to $400,000.

Rozeboom, whose ‘Roze Team’ at The Denver 100 includes daughters Rachel Schroeder and Becky Berzins, notes that over the last year the Valley has seen the price of its lowest priced listing creep upward, currently into the $350s. Recent sales, she adds, ranged up to the $600,000 to $700,000 range, where eight homes are currently active, three of them already under contract, and where another two have recently sold. Even in higher ranges to over $1 million, the area is showing six recent sales, another four under contract.

“If you have a home that’s mid-priced and in good shape, you shouldn’t be sitting on the fence,” Rozeboom adds. “This is the time to go on the market.” Rozeboom and her daughters see the same thing in other south suburban neighborhoods where they sell, including Littleton and popular Highlands Ranch. Properties, she notes should be well priced and prepared for market – cleaned up, recently painted, with any glaring problems resolved. (A kitchen makeover is the upgrade the yields the best return on the dollar, Rozeboom notes, but isn’t necessary if a home is priced correctly.)

Rozeboom and her team also “stage” every home they list for sale. “We always do that,” she adds. “Not everyone shopping for a home has imagination.” The Roze Team, with a page at Facebook.com/TheRozeTeam, works from The Denver 100’s headquarters office at 385 Inverness Parkway near Park Meadows Shopping Center; on the web at The Denver-100.com. Sandra Rozeboom is at 303-979-8888.
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With Denver’s market showing fresh signs of a turnaround, The Denver 100 Real Estate is staging Economic Symposium 2012, to be held at Colorado Golf Club, 7:30 a.m. April 17, featuring nationally known economist Patty Silverstein and market analyst Jack O’Connor, Broker Owner of The Denver 100.

Economist Patty Silverstein

Admission, including a continental breakfast, is free and is limited to 100 attendees.

“We’re seeing a dramatically different market this spring, based on a variety of factors,” said O’Connor in announcing the morning event. “We’re gearing this symposium to make sense of this new environment, to give real estate professionals and their clients a model that will provide a view of the coming year, in light of job growth, housing supply and other factors.”

The Economic Symposium is free of charge, but requires a reservation; reservations will be ended after the first 100. Patricia Silverstein is president of Research Development Partners; is Consulting Chief Economist for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. and for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce; serves as chair of the manufacturing committee of the University of Colorado Business Economic Outlook Forum; and is a member of the Governor’s Revenue Estimating Advisory Committee.

Jack O’Connor is founder/owner of The Denver 100, a boutique-sized real estate agency that emphasizes experience and skills of its agents who average four times more transactions-per-year than the Denver area average. He has authored the ‘So How’s the Market?’ real estate analysis letter for eight years. Participants will receive a copy of O’Connor’s 2012 Denver Residential Real Estate Annual Report, and will have a chance to question both speakers.

To reserve a seat at Economic Symposium 2012, Tuesday April 17 at 7:30 a.m., call Val Decker at 303-708-0205. Colorado Golf Club is located at 8000 Preservation Trail in Parker; to reach from E-470, take Parker Road south, past Lincoln, 4 more miles to Stroh Road, then left and continue 1/3-mile to the Club entryway. The Denver 100 has offices at 385 Inverness Parkway near Park Meadows Shopping Center; on the web at TheDenver-100.com.

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IF YOU GO

WHERE: Colorado Golf Club, 8000 Preservation Trail, Parker
PRICE: Free, Limited to 100 attendees
WHEN: Tuesday April 17 at 7:30 a.m.
PHONE: 303-708-0205 WEB: TheDenver-100.com

When Katie Henderson had looked all over Park Hill and Hilltop for a nicer home with a little lower maintenance than her place in Mayfair was demanding, her son and daughter-in-law in Stapleton gave her some advice: Why not buy a Wonderland home like we have in Stapleton, and get a ranch so you don’t have to deal with stairs?

Katie Henderson and Wonderland’s Jeff Heien show off her new home in the Courtyard Collection at Stapleton, with smaller yards that blend into maintained common area.

Wonderland will show you how that came out at its new Courtyard Traditions in Stapleton’s Central Park West neighborhood (Henderson took the kids’ first suggestion, but turned them down on the ranch idea – although Wonderland has a big ‘Emerson II’ ranch you can see today).

“I instantly loved what they had here; it was in my price range,” she said, giving me a look at the heavily-antiqued interior of her ‘Amherst’ 1,500-foot 2-story ([priced from $305,900) – wide open great room/kitchen area, plus basement and 2-car garage on the alley, as in one of her previous Mayfair houses. “The resales I was looking at would have been a lot of fix-up that I didn’t want to deal with.”

Before Henderson signed the dotted line, she checked out another aspect of Stapleton life she’d read about: She dropped in on a weekly klatch of 20 other fiftyish/sixtyish women (Stapleton has loads of informal groups) at Panera, walking distance from her new place. “For someone moving in, it’s like instant friends,” she said, showing off her small, easily maintainable yard that blends into maintained common space in Wonderland’s commons-style Courtyard community plan.

Meanwhile, she finds she’s just as close to downtown and the DCPA as she was from Mayfair; has Stapleton’s new rec center where she swims laps and joined an exercise class; not to count the bike trails into vast Central Park and the Sand Creek Greenway, and a walkable park-n-ride where she can catch a shuttle to DIA when she’s traveling (Commuter Rail arrives in 2016). “It’s great,” she adds. “I have wonderful neighbors that watch out for my place.”
Not all of them, notes Wonderland sales rep Jeff Heien, are beyond their parenting years – some are families with kids that like Wonderland’s New England-styled neighborhood (Henderson says she prefers some kids). You can tour the ranch, a larger 2-story, and other Stapleton attractions that are delivering Wonderland over three sales a month now (Stapleton ranks 11th best-selling new home community in the nation this year; 379 sold in 2011). Wonderland’s models are tucked back into Central Park West neighborhood; from Quebec take MLK east a mile to Central Park Blvd., left a long block to E. 33rd, then left five blocks.

IF YOU GO

WHERE: Courtyard Traditions at Stapleton, single-family homes & ranches by Wonderland Homes, in a commons-styled community plan with lots of maintained space; close to Stapleton’s Town Center, Central Park, Commuter Rail station arriving 2016. 3280 Spruce Street, Denver; from Quebec take MLK east a mile to Central Park Blvd., left to E. 33rd, left again 5 blks to Spruce

PRICE: Single-family courtyard homes from high $200s
WHEN: Today & Mon, Noon until 6 p.m., Tues-Sat 10-6
PHONE: 303-393-9099 WEB: StapletonDenver.com

Mark Samuelson writes on real estate and business; you can email him at mark@samuelsonassoc.com. You can see all of Mark Samuelson’s columns online at DenverPostHomes.com

Even in trendy areas around Coors Field, builders overbuilt the LoDo market with condos and townhouses in 2008-09, and plenty of units would head back to the bank. But now, after a year that saw huge absorption, much of that Ballpark product is gone – meaning that 11 “urban brownstones” that developer Craft DeLay took back from the bank, each re-opening for sales tomorrow on Blake five blocks from the ballpark, with a 2-car attached garage and a rooftop deck – are stepping into a very different market.

Interior of 3-bedroom urban brownstone you can tour. Craft DeLay has eleven homes coming back on the market five blocks from Coors Field, all with 2-car attached garages and rooftop decks, all substantially reduced.

Prices for those 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom brownstones at Blake 27 now begin at $310,000…and top out at $508,000 for a couple of premium end units that have windows on three sides. When Craft DeLay began negotiations to get hold of Blake 27 from the original developer, the very least expensive was $477,800 and the top-priced unit was at $835,000.

You can tour a 1,954-square-foot home tomorrow (the furniture is going in today) opening at 10 a.m. at 2720 Blake – see the makeover that Craft DeLay is giving all eleven homes to restore the new feel (designer paint job, brand new carpet upstairs and down, rescreening of the big expanses of hardwood floor (including eye-catching block-on-single-steel-beam staircases) – and some of the options that Craft Delay will offer you as part of the purchase. Those include the designer low-voltage lighting in the kitchen and the trendy epoxy cover the floors have in the model; plus the possibilities of doing an outdoor gas kitchen on the rooftop, with firepit, and/or an outdoor television up there – an inviting setup to watch the fireworks at Coors on the Fourth of July.

“What we like best are the attached two-car garages and the outdoor living spaces; the rooftop decks are very unique,” says Tim Craft, developer, who’s worked on getting ahold of these since 2009. The homes also show designer quality vanities in their 5-piece master baths, loft-style ceilings, high windows, and on some, individual decks on the mezzanine living level (in addition to the rooftop) and an office type space on the street level near the garage.

“We’re making sure they look 100% new,” DeLay noted. The homes are blocks from LoDo and the central business district – closer still to new bars and galleries that arrived in Ballpark late in the decade. The opportunity, Craft adds, is less about price than availability. “We’ve seen all downtown inventory dropping,” he added. “It’s been a year-over-year 40% decrease market-wide, and this is one of the few projects that hasn’t been re-stabilized. Everything in this area is now a stabilized asset, that developers have bought from the bank. There’s not much competing.”

During the past two years in the blocks along Blake and Walnut north of the ballpark, he adds, there has been considerable turnover from warehouse to office, which has had the secondary effect of attracting additional retail.

“This is the only place you’re going to get a rooftop deck and a 2-car garage at these prices,” says Silvio DeBartolomeis, vice president of sales at Koelbel and Company, who’s available to talk about the project today (303-995-6363) and who’ll be on hand tomorrow and Sunday with coffee and cupcakes to take contracts.

What you WON’T see is all of these homes ready to move into now – a chance to pick your carpets and other custom options. Blake 27 at 2720 Blake is five blocks north of Coors; Blake is one-way southbound north of Park. To reach, take Market Street north from 20th (past Park, past Broadway) as it becomes Walnut, continue north to 27th or 28th, then west a block.

IF YOU GO

WHERE: Grand Opening, Blake 27, 2-bed 2-1/2 bath & 3-bed/3-1/2 bath brownstone row homes in LoDo’s Ballpark area near Coors Field; 1,298-1,954 sq. ft.; 2-car attached garage; rooftop decks; options on outdoor kitchen, firepit; all drastically reduced, sales by Koelbel and Company, coffee, cupcakes Saturday. 2720 Blake St., Denver; from 20th St. just east of Coors Field, head north on Market St. (becomes one-way Walnut St.), past Park Ave., past Broadway, 2 blocks to 27th, west 1 blk.

PRICE: From $310,000

WHEN: Call today 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.; open house Saturday-Sunday 10-6

PHONE: 303-995-6363 WEB: Blake27.com

Mark Samuelson writes on real estate and business; you can email him at mark@samuelsonassoc.com. You can see all of Mark Samuelson’s columns online at DenverPostHomes.com

Jack O’Connor, Broker/Owner The Denver 100

“We’ve already seen a yearly increase in value of around 4.7% for Denver area single-family homes in a range $250,000 and under,” O’Connor said in releasing the newest edition of his monthly ‘So How’s The Market’ report last week.

That increase, he added, mirrors an exceptionally low inventory of homes available under $250,000.
However, total inventory covering all price ranges in the eight county Denver metropolitan area is also down sharply over the past year, O’Connor noted. As of Feb. 5 that inventory totals 11,409 homes – down more than 41% from early February of 2011. Drops in condominium inventory have been even sharper – down more than 50% over the course of the year.

Meanwhile, the Denver area is experiencing its first January increase since 2006 in numbers of homes-and-condos-sold – up 14.56% year over year. Total homes under contract are also rising – up 5.3% from those under contract in January a year ago. Foreclosure filings have continued to drop.

O’Connor says that inventory will rise this spring – an annual event that may be heightened as sellers perceive the low competitive inventory available. However, with interest rates expected to remain low through the fall election, O’Connor expects absorption to rise, as well. Currently, O’Connor said, absorption for the Denver area’s total combined inventory of homes and condos stands at only 3.42 months’ supply. That anticipates a projected 40,000 homes expected to close in 2012, at current rates.

Six months’ supply is traditionally seen as a dividing point between a seller’s market and a buyer’s market. O’Connor noted that the low inventory seen now is exacerbated by sellers who have been hesitant to market their homes; and that job growth needs to pick up the pace before the market can gain greater momentum.

Absorption, he added, is a highly localized phenomenon and needs to be watched at a neighborhood level.
Nevertheless, O’Connor said, agents are already noting spot shortages in middle price ranges as well as lower. “Area residents have substantial move-up power today,” he added. “This is a time for buyers to prepare for opportunities by getting qualified,” he said. “If you’re a seller, you should be working with an agent to set a price and to get ready for sale.”

O’Connor has authored ‘So How’s the Market?’ for eight years. The Denver 100 is a boutique agency that emphasizes experience and skills of its agents – over 20 years on average — and averages four times more transactions-per-year than the Denver area average. The Denver 100 has offices at 385 Inverness Parkway near Park Meadows Shopping Center. To receive Jack O’Connor’s So How’s The Market? report, call him at 303-880-8561, or visit the web at TheDenver-100.com.
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IF YOU GO

WHAT: “So How’s The Market?” monthly newsletter-report on Denver area residential real estate market, prepared by Jack O’Connor, Broker/Owner of The Denver 100.

PRICE: Free
PHONE: 303-880-8561 WEB: TheDenver-100.com

The Community of the Year for the entire Denver Metro Area: Homebuyers are showing every sign that they already know that coveted award was won this year by BackCountry – Highlands Ranch’s final chapter unfolding against 8,200 acres of scenic open space.

Sundial House, Gold Nugget award winning clubhouse, is luring large numbers of visitors behind BackCountry’s gates. Its Pikes Pub bar overlooks the 467-acre – South Rim.

And those buyers are arriving to see BackCountry in big numbers – up to 100 visitors a weekend despite the winter weather.

You can slip behind the gates at BackCountry to have your own look with a special gate pass that you can pick up at BackCountry’s Discovery Center, off Broadway three miles south of C-470. That includes a look at the splendid Sundial House private retreat/clubhouse – dramatic architecture, views of the ridges, the Front Range, and city lights, and alluring Pikes Pub bar for residents – that won architect Mike Woodley his own flurry of awards, including the National Association of Home Builders’ Gold Award for best clubhouse, and the Pacific Coast Builders Conference sought-after Gold Nugget.

“This is a chance to see a community with miles of private hiking and biking trails, and that has its own 467-acre open space, its own outdoor amphitheater, a resort-quality pool, and a lifestyle director who plans activities for our families, to help build a true sense of community,” says Cheryl Haflich, marketing director for Shea Homes, the community’s developer. “Those amenities create a lifestyle unlike anything on the Colorado residential scene.”

You’ll also appreciate the easy commuter access to employment campuses and city attractions, while you tour twelve different models from the $300s, by Richmond American, Shea Homes and Toll Brothers – along with a semi-custom model (tour it today from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.) by Paragon Homes. Nearby are some half-acre home sites where Shea offers its impressive Water Dance series homes, from the upper $500s, including two new plans that open as models next weekend. Those are the largest sites ever offered in Water Dance — so popular that Shea took three sales, plus three reservations, just since the holidays.

…And you’ll see that 467-acre South Rim that BackCountry residents get as a private reserve, unfolding beyond the outdoor amphitheater beside Sundial House. Residents also enjoy fitness/movement studios, spa treatment rooms — even a demonstration kitchen … not to mention the pools, designed grotto-style to blend with the setting. Start your tour of the Community of the Year winner from the Discovery Center, just outside the gate as Broadway becomes BackCountry Drive. From C-470 take Broadway south 2.8 miles, past Wildcat Reserve Parkway; watch for the Discovery Center on your left.
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IF YOU GO

WHERE: Gate passes available to see Highlands Ranch’s BackCountry and its Gold Award-winning Sundial House private retreat; 12 models by participating builders including semi-custom home. Pick up gate pass at BackCountry Discovery Center; from C-470 take Broadway south 2.8 mi., past Wildcat Reserve Pkwy, left in to Discovery Center parking lot just before gate.

PRICE: Richmond American from $300s; Shea Homes from $400s-$700s; Toll Brothers from upper-$500s; Paragon semi-custom homes from $1M (view 10 a.m.–2 p.m.); Custom Collection from $1.2M
WHEN: Today 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday 11–6
PHONE: 720-344-9600 WEB: BackCountryCO.com

Anybody who has ever tried to sell a house knows that you’re nuts to try and do it without a real estate agent’s help. But how about if you’re BUYING a house? How about if you already know what you want…have done your own research on neighborhoods…and you know how much you can afford? Do you still need to pay an agent a full buyer’s commission (generally 2.8% of the closing price) to help, if all you really need is somebody to manage the paperwork?

Slice Realty’s Tommy Lorden on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall. Slice serves the Denver metro area, but can usually assist with a purchase anywhere in Colorado.

Jeremy Long and his wife were exactly those kinds of buyers; he writes computer code for a living and with his skills, would need very little help in any internet search. Using the ‘net, he also found licensed broker Tommy Lorden, founder of Buyer’s Slice Realty, who specializes in what agents consider to be the ‘easy ones’ – buyers that do most of the work for themselves, and are likely to purchase without a lot of unexpected problems.

In return for matching that profile, Long and his wife received a trouble-free closing, and 50% of the 3% buyer commission at closing.
“Three percent is a pretty substantial amount of a $200,000 house,” said Long, who’d been troubled by the idea of paying an agent for a job he knew he’d be doing much of the work on. “Even if (we) did a substantial amount of research, a Realtor would still get a substantial commission.” Long added that if he hadn’t found Lorden, he would have paid an attorney, just to “keep everything kosher.”

Slice Realty was the perfect match (Lorden has been an agent 15 years, but has also practiced as an attorney and prosecutor before moving his family to Colorado in 2006). He had the Longs sign his limited-service buyer-broker agreement (a ‘Right-to-Buy’ agreement) and gave the couple some help in searching, including access to the agents’ MultiList system — up-to-date listings as they come on the market, and information to help evaluate whether a home is worth the price.

“My average buyer gets over $5,700 back,” says Lorden, adding that one received back $9,000 (the determining factors are the sale price, amount of co-op offered, and in some cases some lending stipulations). Rebates are made at closing – in 90% of cases as a credit against the buyer’s bottom-line. In a few cases, a lender may arrange to apply a rebate against financing.

What Lorden WON’T do is pick you up at the airport, or spend days driving you around, or sorting through listings over your coffee table. Buyers who need that extra support get their money’s worth by using regular buyer’s agents working on full commission. “My buyer’s agreement is actually a little longer than most buyer-broker agreements,” he told me, over coffee on Pearl Street near his house in Boulder. The objective, he added, is to find that particular buyer that really wants to buy, and that wants to do much of their own searching.

What do the feds say about rebating buyer commissions? The U.S. Justice Department encourages the agreements (they’re allowed by state law in 40 states — Lorden links DOJ’s site to his own web site). Are buyer rebates the way of the future? “Absolutely,” adds Lorden, who like other agents, sees the market’s pace picking up this year. “People have been trying to time it to buy low, but now they’re thinking ‘I want to be able to move quickly, I don’t want to miss it.’” The way to start, he adds, is at ColoradoCommissionRebate.com (you need to sign a Right-to-Buy agreement before you make an offer, not after). Or write Tommy Lorden at Tommy@SliceRealty.com.

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IF YOU GO

WHERE: Buyers’ Slice Realty, LLC, limited service buyer-broker that provides a 50% rebate of buyer’s commission according to U.S. Department of Justice guidelines, to purchasers who use the internet or other means to find their own home. Serves all of the Denver metro area and other locations within Colorado.

DISCOUNT: Average purchaser has received over $5,700 at closing
MANAGING BROKER: Tommy Lorden
PHONE: 303-376-6111 EMAIL: Tommy@SliceRealty.com WEB: ColoradoCommissionRebate.com