Tracy Shaffer
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BABA RAM DASS AND THE REAL ESTATE MARKET

It took Dr. Richard Alpert, Timothy Leary and countless hits of LSD to learn one simple truth: Be Here Now. So what can the psychologist-turned-spiritual guru, Baba Ram Dass, teach you about today’s Denver real estate market? BUY. HERE. NOW.
With nary a trace of mind-altering substance in sight, I can honestly tell you that the time to list your home for sale in the Denver metro area is NOW.
“How now” you say?
• Because EVERYONE else IS WAITING until spring.
• Because buyers ARE out looking.
• Because SHOWINGS ARE UP and inventory is down.
• Because all FOUR OFFERS I wrote in January created a BIDDING WAR.
Now, we all know war is not the answer but in real estate, a competitive market results in sellers driving their purchase price above their asking price. At this point (Jan/Feb, so I’m being here this quarter) the demand exceeds supply and buyers are flying out to snatch up well-priced properties like savvy shoppers after Christmas at Filene’s Basement. There is simply not enough out there. And I’m not just talking of the under-$200-first-time-buyer/investor end of the market. A home priced at or around $300k is likely to move well, despite the common seasonal perception, the Super Bowl or the weather. On Friday, as constant snow flurries were rapidly accumulating inches, agents were rushing out to show homes in order to present their offer s before the “Highest & Best” deadline. (I know this, I was one of them.) Today I submitted an offer for a buyer on a property, sight unseen. The home fit his criterion and he’d been beaten out three other times, so today we take no prisoners.
If you are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the winter storm to pass before you list your house, remember… you could be pushing up daisies before the crocus pushes through the frosty ground. Now, I don’t mean that in the literal sense of the metaphor, but in the BE HERE NOW spirit.
If you’d like more information on the value of your house, trends in your neighborhood, or a yoga class near you, send me a vibe, a text or find me on Facebook. As the guru said…“We’re all just walking each other home.”
― Ram Dass

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Tracy Shaffer
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The New Year’s Rainbow and the Housing Market

I tend toward optimism. The New Year is always quite appealing. It’s not that I believe there will be a sudden, magical turn in the way life works, ushered in by a herd of unicorns; I like the New Year in the same way I like clean, white sheets.
January is filled with energy, coming off of the seasonal rest we call the holidays. Things are wrapped up with shiny bows; gifts and year-end spread sheets. There is an ending, the ball drops, you rest, wake up and begin all over again. I love it. For many 2011 was a rough year; a devastating tsunami, a lingering doubt over the debt ceiling and our jobs. For others it was glorious; oppressive regimes were overthrown and the taste of freedom filled the air. The global economic uncertainty of the day can stop you in your tracks if you let it, but even Chicken Little eventually realized it was not the sky that was falling, but the rain.
Here in Denver, 2011 was not the worst year in the housing market. Though families still struggle to keep their homes, those numbers are receding and we are well beyond the “crisis”. Investors have stepped up (or rushed in) to purchase distressed homes, gentrifying neighborhoods and flipping them for first time buyers or building their portfolios with buy and hold strategies. Vacancy rates in Denver are under 2%, making landlords very happy. This is all good news as the housing market recovers from the ground up.
We begin 2012 with the standard economic indicators up; consumer confidence, GDP, retail sales, housing starts and existing home sales, while the unemployment is slightly down. The good news kibble:
• Pending Home Sales index from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) went UP 7.3% in November, hitting its highest level since April 2010!
• NAR’s chief economist commented, “Housing affordability conditions are at a record high and there is pent-up demand from buyers who’ve been on the sidelines. The sustained rise in contract activity suggests that closed existing-home sales should continue to improve in the months ahead.”
• The S&P Case-Shiller index for October showed minor price drops in 19 of the 20 surveyed metro areas, but the index was UP 1.9% from its post-crisis low in March 2011.
I am a news junkie, constantly scanning cable news shows and internet sources to see what the ‘experts’ have to say and to learn both sides of the issue. Lately, where real estate is concerned, everything I watch says yes. Even the “con” side says “yes with caution”, which makes perfect sense to me.
As we head full gallop into an election cycle, we can expect to be pummeled for the next ten months with tales of silver linings, predictions of doom. That’s their job. Mine is to help people buy, sell and invest in real estate, creating wealth in the process. Cue the Unicorns.

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Tracy Shaffer

2011 in Brief… Happy Holidays

created at TagCrowd.com

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Tracy Shaffer
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Charlie Chaplin Speaks! and he’s talking to you.

It was headline news when Chaplin’s first “talkie”, “The Great Dictator”, premiered in October of 1940, and it seems the Tramp had a lot to say. I am a life-long film fan and being raised on the backlot of a Hollywood studio, I guess it’s only natural. I grew up watching movies and watching them being made. My father worked at M-G-M, our family friend ran the film library. I spent hours looking thorough old clips and screen tests (including my mother’s), viewing them as the celluloid was hand cranked through a Movieola or pressed into service by a warm projector. I’ve tried to give my sons some cinematic context for their lives, and despite the “Is this another old move, Mom?” protests, they are always happy we spent the time together when the final credits roll. I’ve seen them light up when they understand a reference to “Vertigo, grab a light pole and attempt a graceful swing around it, Gene Kelly style. They have the dubious honor of knowing all the words to “Shipoopi”, although Gabe insists it’s ‘Grab her buns when she isn’t lookin’. Chaplin, Keaton, Hitchcock, Wilder, Capra, Lumet and so many others; they have been the profits of my life. Sir Charles delivers a heartfelt and timely message here in the final speech of “The Great Dictator”. Enjoy.

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Tracy Shaffer
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One Simple Thing You Can Do To Change Your World

Wondering what you can do to “be the change”? Here’s a video with an easy (and fun) way you can make your voice heard without camping out in the snow to the beating of drums. There are so many stories in America, each a unique experience within a collective experience. Whether you feel the Occupy Wall Street movement is an important expression of our frustration or a bunch of dirty-little-trust-fund-hippies, it has opened up a conversation about how we’d like to craft our future and that of our children. We’re in a moment of major change and there are many, many changes that need to happen; left, right and center. The first step is to create a dialogue, in this case with the banks who control our economy, our politics, and our destinies.
Let’s face it, we do want our lifestyle: we want our Starbucks and our comforts, and me, I like to see the ocean on occasion. We also want to stay in our homes and pay our mortgages, we want to feel our jobs are not going to be outsourced, we want our neighbors to have their jobs and their homes and we all want our freedoms. Here is a brilliant way to ensure those freedoms, including our First Amendment right to speak.
So we take responsibility. For our credit card debt, for our ability to create, and for being the change. Click here to see what you can do. Keep Wall Street Occupied. Oh… and there is sweet revenge for all that junk mail ; )

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Tracy Shaffer
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WHY I SUPPORT THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT


It is not because I was raised in California in the 60s, vote Democratic, eat granola or need a job. (I don’t. I have two, thank you) It’s not because I’ve made or lost a fortune in the stock market, am I anti-American, anti-corporation or want to bring capitalism to its bloody knees. I do not want to share my personal story of loss, health insurance, rate-jacking on credit card rates or banking fees here, I take responsibility for the decisions I’ve made and their consequences. And I’ll leave the commentary on the inner-machinations of who/how/why we got here to the pundits and those far more adept at these things than I.
Most of my professional life has been spent working in television and as theater artist; actor, director & playwright, and I’ve made a living doing what I love. I am at home with the dramatic expression of ideas, comfortable with change and used to the variables of a 1099 income. Suffice it to say Occupy Wall Street is not my first drum circle jam. But that’s not why I’m speaking out. Six years ago, when the prospect of single-motherhood was looming, I got my real estate license, worked my ass off in a difficult market and for the most part it has been good to me (I’m used to the variable income, remember?). I’ve worked the luxury market, helped buyers find their first homes, move up to larger spaces, and have numerous investors who’ve increased their cash flow with rental and fix & flip properties. I find it very gratifying and I’m good at it.
I support Occupy Wall Street because as a Realtor©, I have worked to save clients from foreclosure, spent hours negotiating with banks over short sales, sat around kitchen tables listening to frustrations with loan modifications, and spent as much on tissue as I have on champagne. (Okay, I exaggerate, but you get the idea.) I have seen this at all income levels and from clients who did not take out loans they could not afford, use their homes as ATMs or over-purchase. When they bought the future was bright and the payments were manageable. When the bubble burst and a few of life’s bumps hit (illness, divorce, job loss or downsizing) they tried valiantly to keep their obligations and pay the mortgage…until the day they couldn’t and their homes were worth less than they owed.
We may not all share an aching drive to be rich, but I’d bet that most of us want to work hard, prosper and live comfortably enough to invest in our futures, save for our children’s college and be prepared for retirement. We’d even like a vacation or two. For years we’ve trod along hoping things would get better and worked hard to make that a reality, even if the price of our hope was the depletion of our savings. At last we are exhausted. Too many Silverado, WorldCom and Goldman Sachs sagas played out on the nightly news, followed by stories of bailouts and bonuses for those who’ve shamelessly played fast and loose with our lives.
The tide has turned in America and around the world. The tsunami is hurling us forward faster than we’ve ever collectively moved before and there is no turning back. The social/political, dare I say… evolution is upon us, the old ways are outmoded and there’s no point in retreating to their ice age. It is time to start the conversation. We’ll figure out what the next best step is, but for now… shut up and listen.

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Tracy Shaffer
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Do You See Yourself as Others See You?

If you could see yourself as others see you, would you be surprised? I’d venture a guess that it would be quite different than you see yourself in a number of ways. There are adjectives we’ve heard all our lives from parents friends and lovers, some of them flattering and some we’ve carted around clumsily, like overstuffed luggage with a broken wheel. Why do we deny ownership of the positive qualities bestowed, and draw the fear feeding ones like picnic ants to the watermelon of our souls? And does it ever seem to you that other people don’t do that or is it just me?
Recently I did an interview with Nancy Koontz for the Blacktie Colorado site. The series, called “Have You Met?”, profiles members of Denver’s art, cultural and philanthropic communities, allowing us to get to know one another deeper than the cocktail party or social event allows. Usually I’m the interviewer so this turnabout gave me an opportunity to sit on the other side of the table. I’d been sent a list of questions prior to our ‘sit down’ so I had some time to contemplate my answers and made it a point to dig a little deeper, but what surprised me was my reaction to reading the final post. It was Nancy’s preamble that got me. Reading on the New York subway, I laughed out loud in a relapse of middle-school self-consciousness. “That’s total bullshit” was my first thought, my second… why would I think that?
Is it in our Judeo-Christian culture that ingrains a deep sense of unworthiness within us? Though I was raised without religious ideology, I’ve been on the planet long enough to know that praise is generally bestowed upon good dogs and the Lord. Refusing to allow another’s opinion of or feeling for you into your heart diminishes both giver and receiver.
As the world has become a public shout out we carefully craft and cultivate our online reputation with the real-time self-promotional ticker of social media. Opinions swarm like killer bees, bringing vitriol and condemnation into our daily experience with the blogs, news coverage and unwanted emails flooding our collective inbox. It is no wonder we feel downhearted, for what gets put out into the world the world becomes. So how ’bout a little balance? I’m not talking about posting positive quotes to balance the snark, but taking the time to engage in and embrace the good, starting with self. The introspective tend to take criticism, mull it over in search of its validity and the possibility of self-improvement. How lovely to do the same with praise. So, I have a question for you. How would your life be different if you took all of the good people see in you and reflect about you and accepted it as true?

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Tracy Shaffer
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You Can’t Make Me!

You can’t make anybody do anything they don’t want to do. If you’ve ever had a toddler or a teen, a sibling, a parent or friend, if you’ve been married or had the crazy ex crashing ‘temporarily’ in the basement you know this is true. Some things you just have to want to do, like diet… or… go out with this guy.

Even when what you want to do is what you’d like to do, what you should do, nobody can make you do it. Knowing that smoking is bad and vegetables are good has little bearing on our choice to do one and avoid the other. Doing the good thing actually doubles its positive effect as it tends to steer us away from the bad thing, though I do know some smokers who eat their broccoli. When it comes to other people, nothing is accomplished by force, even if it’s “well-meaning”.
I see this daily as a Realtor. Even though eating broccoli and buying a house are both good ideas to insure a healthy future, no matter how marketing I do on a listing or how market data I present to a buyer, I cannot make someone purchase a home. The Denver market is stable; prices have been slashed from their 2006 highs, leveled out and are slightly up for the first half of the year. More of cool neighborhoods, the ones you were priced out of in the bubble? Well, they’ve become affordable. In short, EVERYTHING IS ON SALE! Including the money.
So why aren’t buyers jumping? Because no one can make you do anything. If you are worried about your job, you may be afraid of transferring your low-interest savings account or CD into a down payment on a home, I get that. Cash on hand is a good thing, in fact I recommend it, but what is your return over the next ten years? Spending money every month on rent and passing an opportunity to invest in yourself makes as much sense as smoking broccoli. Smart buyers are building wealth by paying themselves first and getting more house for their money. Buy and hold and fix ‘n flip investment strategies are helping clients create cash flow.
Even as Irene raged to ravish the East Coast, many chose to stay put and ride it out. Is that the right strategy for you in today’s economy? How will you feel in five or ten years knowing you missed best real estate market for home buyers in your lifetime?

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Tracy Shaffer

From the Real Estate Porn File

I’m fascinated by what people do with the spaces they live in. The architectural wonder, suburban tract home, artistic space, trailer park or sod house all hold a mysterious appeal. Here is one for your voyeuristic pleasure called “House on the Rock” built by Alex Jordan and Alex Jordan Jr.

Alex Jordan Jr’s. father was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright.
However Frank was not pleased with him and kicked him out of Taliesin (the communal art school that Frank was running at the time) As an affront to Taliesin Alex senior built this house in his own style high upon a rock formation just south of Franks house hence the name “The House On The Rock”

After Alex Jr. finished the house he started admitting sightseers and added many ground level exhibits of his collections. It takes all day to see everything and can only be described as eccentric, strange and very unusual They dont allow tripods but they do allow monopods, which I had to use for just about every shot as it is quite dark in this place

Click here to start the slideshow of one of the most interesting and eccentric homes on earth.

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Tracy Shaffer
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Real Estate Porn:

How can this swanky 70’s bachelor pad be a real “conversation” starter when you’re forced to sit on concrete? Perhaps it gets you to the round bed sooner. In 2011, we’d have some great new ways to pimp out the property (besides adding cushions) For example: “Warm woods and cool concrete create a modern twist on the round table discussion.” Or, “Property values sinking? Turn your neighborhood into Atlantis as you stare at your friends through your fish eye window.” Throw me your best lines to sell this space-age space!

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