Of Course: Recall the Jeffco School Board Majority

[Published Oct. 15, 2015, in the Jeffco editions of the Denver Post's YourHub section and in four Jefferson County weekly newspapers]

It was a shock and disappointment in 2013 when the block of three conservatives seized control of the Jeffco School Board, caused the resignation of Superintendent Cindy Stevenson, and paid more for a newbie with none of Cindy’s experience and expertise. The conservative majority has displayed its “Tea Party” stripes time and again, and I’m so glad that a citizen group was able to get their recall on the ballot and found five excellent candidates to replace them. One of them I know — Brad Rupert, who has worked side by side with me for many years supporting an interfaith coalition that has raised funds to build 15 Habitat for Humanity homes. (Our biggest fundraiser is our pumpkin patches at 68th & Wadsworth and Garrison & Alameda — come buy your pumpkins so we can build our 16th Habitat for Humanity home!)

 

I’m proud of the effort made to reverse that 2013 take-over and hope you’ll join me in voting for the recall and those candidates.  More info at www.JeffcoUnitedforAction.com

Is Your Home Listed On the Right MLS? What You Need to Know

[Published Oct. 15, 2015, in the Jeffco editions of the Denver Post's YourHub section and in four Jefferson County weekly newspapers]

The I-25 corridor from Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs is home to three MLS’s, and those MLS’s have a decade-old arrangement by which the members of one MLS can search and find — and sell — listings on the other two MLS’s. The three front range MLS’s are:

1)    IRES, based in Loveland, which serves Northern Colorado.  Their consumer-facing website is www.ColoProperty.com, which carries only IRES listings.

2)    REcoloroado, formerly known by its corporate name, Metrolist, is based in the Denver Tech Center, and serves the Denver metro area, including Jeffco. The consumer-facing website is www.REcolorado.com, which doubles as the agent website once an agent logs in.

3)    PPAR, serving the Colorado Springs market, is owned by the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors. Its consumer-facing website is www.PPAR.com, which displays only PPAR listings.  I have limited familiarity with this MLS, since it serves El Paso and Teller Counties and the Pikes Peak Region.

 

Multiple Listing Services, or MLS’s, exist for the purpose of “cooperation and compensation,” meaning that each member agrees to publish all his or her listings on the MLS, allowing any other member of the same MLS to sell that listing and earn a published “co-op” commission for doing so. A non-MLS member is not promised that commission. The agreement between the three Front Range MLS’s listed above works the same way — any member of one MLS can sell any listing on all three MLS’s and earn the advertised commission.

Because of this arrangement, some agents are under the impression that they can list a home on any one of the three MLS’s, regardless of its location, and achieve the same result for their seller.  Let me tell you why it is essential that your home be listed on the MLS which primarily serves where the house is located — in our case, REcolorado.com.

 
As I write this column (Monday, Oct. 12) there are 30 Jefferson County homes listed on IRES, but not listed on REcolorado.com. See the box below for their addresses. Another 37 IRES listings of Jeffco homes were also entered on RE-colorado.com and therefore do appear on our consumer-facing website — either because the listing agent belongs to both MLS’s or has co-listed the property with an REcolorado member.  

I myself am a member of both MLS’s so that I can list my north metro listings on IRES.  That way, my listings not only appear more readily to IRES members, but they also appear on IRES’s consumer website. 

How much does this matter?  For starters, we all know by now that over 90% of buyers do their own online home searches and tell their agents which houses they want to see. And www.REcolorado.com is, I’m told, second only to Zillow in the number of visitors per month and other important metrics.  That’s more visitors than realtor.com, more than Trulia, and more than any brokerage website such as redfin.com. If you list your home with an agent who is not a member of the Denver MLS, you’re giving up a sizable audience of prospective buyers.  

But it gets worse, because when agents search for listings on REcolorado, they can default to REcolorado listings only.  Members must not do that for them to see any of the 30 listings in the box below.  Also, many of us REcolorado members still utilize a vendor solution called Virtual Office from Hillside Software for finding active listings and analyzing comparable sales, and that software is unable to include IRES listings.  

The proof can be found in the days each listing spends on the MLS. There are currently 67 IRES listings under contract in Jefferson County.  The median days on market for them is 8 days. The three listings with the longest days on market — 77, 90 and 95 days — were never listed on www.REcolorado.com. They were Arvada homes listed only on IRES. 

Jeffco Libraries Deserve Our Support - Vote Yes on 1A

I am happy to endorse ballot measure 1A, which will increase the Jefferson County Public Library system’s mill levy by 1 mill, from 3.5 to 4.5 mills.

Each homeowner will see his property taxes increase by roughly $8 per year for each $100,000 of property valuation. For a $300,000 home valuation, that’s $24 per year or $2 per month.  Personally, my utilization of the Jeffco libraries has been primarily to use its excellent meeting facilities, but I also recognize the importance of having a great library system, and this mill levy increase — the first tax increase for the Jeffco library system since 1986 — is an investment in our community’s educational and civic future.

 

Since 1986, the population of the county has increased by 30%, but library utilization has gone up 469%.  Also since then, the World Wide Web was invented (in 1989), and the library system has adapted its services and offerings significantly.  With the increased mill levy it can further update technology, expand its hours and increase access to materials.

Learn more at  www.YesforJeffcoLibraries.com

Golden Real Estate's Agents Are Getting Great Reviews on RatedAgent.com

All clients of Golden Real Estate receive survey requests from Quality Service Certified shortly after their closing.  About half of them take advantage of the opportunity to write reviews after providing grades from 1 to 5 on a score of different criteria. Here are some of those reviews, mostly from 2015.  Read them all at www.RatedAgent.com. 
 

We were totally unfamiliar with the area and market and Kristi Brunel was so great we felt relaxed and comfortable with this process from start to finish. -- L.L.

Jim Smith was informative, professional, and kept the best interest of all parties in mind. His assistance after the sale was remarkable. –J.T.

Leo Swoyer is a very knowledgeable and patient agent. His appraisal background and experience in writing offers in competitive markets was helpful in getting my offer accepted. -- J.L.

Mark Spencer was great! Always went above and beyond to help us in any way he could - he even let us borrow his trailer to take a load of junk to the dump. He was easy to get ahold of and very responsive even on short notice. I don't have a single remotely negative thing to say about him! -- K.J.

Jim Smith and his staff have a real edge on their competitors for many good reasons. Wonderful service, and a commitment to sustainability are two that stood out for me. –D.K.

Jim Smith and his assistant, Kim, did an outstanding job. — J.M.

Jim Smith and his employees are very professional and always available when you need them. –C.M.

Kristi Brunel was awesome. Top notch professional and we wouldn't have our home without her hard work and diligence. My family is extremely grateful. -- R.A.

Jim Smith and crew did a great job, from start to finish, going so far as to supply some needed packing boxes on the day of our move. –T.J.

Dave Dlugasch is more than a Realtor, he was and still is there for me when I need help. He made an extremely stressful situation as easy as possible.  I trusted him minutes after meeting him. His firm, Golden Real Estate, was great in providing assistance with recycled packing boxes and packing materials. Everything happened so fast that Dave even helped me to pack. I felt as though I was Dave's most important client. I would never use any other Realtor. Dave went beyond all expectations. -- A.H.

Jim Smith and his staff are great, all around A++++. You can rely on them for ALL your real estate needs. Modern approaches, with old fashioned caring and service. And he's a good guy too. He'll never lie to you. A good honest man and staff. –D.S.

Mark Spencer is the best real estate agent I've ever worked with by far. He is a true professional. We have worked with 12 real estate agents, who all did a good job, but Mark took it to the next level. He is one of the very few people I could give my unqualified, enthusiastic recommendation to anyone I know. Thank you! -- R.L.

Leo Swoyer is the epitome of a sales associate professional!  He was always available, knowledgeable, friendly, and upbeat. We enjoyed working with Leo and consider him a friend now. We would not hesitate to recommend him for properties in this area! -- B.D.

We enjoyed working with Jim Smith. He was quick to respond to our questions and concerns. He set up showings so that it was convenient for us to meet and not travel the distance to his office. –E.W.

Jim Smith is a leader in marketing green homes and he understood the unique nature of our property, positioning it in the market to attract the type of buyer who would appreciate the amenities at the price we set. Golden Real Estate’s team offers value, a full spectrum of services and are fantastic to work with. –B.C.

Jim Smith was excellent in helping us buy our house and going over the paperwork of the seller of my old house. Jim is devoted, passionate, friendly, and gets things done. –R.B.

We were out of state buyers and Carrie Lovingier's diligence and very informative videos made the purchase possible without us having to travel to Colorado. -- G.S.

Jim Smith's knowledge of market allowed for both the purchase and the sale of properties to be accomplished at fair market prices with a minimum of negotiation and a minimum of difficulties to all parties involved and all leaving very satisfied with the transactions. –J.L.

Having sold 14 homes over the years, I experienced many types of Realtors. Jim Smith was by far the most professional, the greatest marketing ideas and tools to sell real estate, very attentive to details etc. –M.M.

Wonderful experience with a wonderful agent and wonderful company!!! -- J.H.

Jim Smith did everything to make selling the house a very positive experience. He was always available to help or to answer questions. –J.D.

Everything was handled very professionally by Kristi Brunel. -- K.B.

Our agent, Jim Smith, was very thorough in all aspects of the process. After the closing, he paid attention to details and handled any issues so that both the Buyer and the Seller would be satisfied, since the possession date was approx. 30 days after the closing. –A.J.

Kristi Brunel was a pro from the word "GO!" It only got better from there. She made a difficult situation seem breezy. I would be her forever client if she could just follow me around the country. Never been more satisfied with an agent, ever. -- L.C.

    On your scale of 1-5, I would give Charles Brown all 6's if I could. He was the most knowledgeable about the area, accommodating to my time schedule, and all around helpful sales associate I have ever met or worked with. I can't say enough positive things about him. - P.B.
    My family and I were the happy recipients of Carrie Lovingier's friendly professionalism. She contacted me frequently and quickly attended to all of my concerns about selling my mountain home. During a previous 10-month listing with another agent, I had only 1 or 2 showings. After listing with Carrie I had 3 to 4 showing each week! --M.W.
   Great experience with Karon Hesse. Big help with negotiations. Thanks!!!! --P.P.
   Karon Hesse guided us through the whole process very smoothly and was a pleasure to work with. --C.A.