There was an interesting article posted in this Sunday’s paper about the recent home sales in La Plata County.  The positive article brings up the recovery of the market and how the median home price is gradually falling.  Buyers are returning for the good deals and volume is up from last year.

Click here to read Sunday’s article

The 1st time home buyer tax credit was extended to next April and the feds added a $6,500 tax credit for current homeowners who have owned their home for over 5 years.   With positive market statistics,  great mortgage rates and buyer credit incentives…the magic 8-ball says “all signs point to yes”!  Get it while the gettin’s-good!

*****As for weekly statistics:

14 Homes have sold in the last week. 5 were in town, the other 9 were in rural areas of Durango.  This number has been gradually on the rise.

-The median sold price was $502,500 (gone up from last week)

-The average sold price: $526k.  (gone up from last week)

-Average Days on market: 193  (this is about average right now)

-Average sold price per square foot from these homes: $222.00 (going up)

Here are the homes that sold

* How many homes are under contract?

Currently there are 74 homes with sales pending, Prices range from $16,000 – $2.9 million.

Click Here to View New Listings

Feel free to email us with any questions!  We are here to help!
Thanks for reading.

–
Shaheen Hangval
Broker Associate/EcoBroker with Blue Ribbon Properties

835 Main Ave. Suite # 214
Office: 970-247-8388 Fax: 970-247-8360
Shaheen’s Cell: 970-769-2441

Looking for something New? 

 How about a business opportunity that makes sense!

Here is the perfect turn key business with all inventory, equipment, supplies and goods included with the sale.   Down town location makes for great drive by and walk in traffic. Make back your purchase in just one year!

 

Many accounts, profitable events and holidays…Weddings, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, birthdays, office accounts (like the dentist and doctor offices), funerals, anniversaries, holidays, big parties, baby/wedding showers and more.

* One of only 2 flower shops in Durango!

 

Great location for the right enthusiast.

 

Experienced staff and design personal available if needed.

 

Priced to Sell!  If you know someone that would be a good match for this opportunity, let them know now!

 

Inventory would include:

New refrigeration unit, computer system, business software, paper printer, picture printer, established website, all in store fixtures, display stands, basic vases, high end vases, baskets, plant stands, live pants, silk plants, 3 large beautiful wooded arches, water fountains, Vera Bradley purses, maintenance tools, decorative paper/string/ribbon/glitter, floral guide books, signage (stationary and portable), paperwork, established wedding slide show, sink, washer and dryer, cabinets, cleaning supplies, work desk, glass counter/register, antique dresser, 10 candle abras, approx 50 display floral buckets, greeting cards cards, decorative stuffed animals, rent-able candle holders, swamp cooler, compressor, high quality natural body saves and lotions, etc.

 

You could not start up a flower business with this kind of inventory for less then this price! 

 

Orders placed through the fall.

 

Available to purchase separately:

Delivery Van – Chevy Astro van: 117K miles $8,500 (blue book value)

 

Seller financing available.

MLS # 630269

 

Call or email me if you have any questions or would like more info,  Thanks!

–
Shaheen Hangval

Shaheen@blueribbondurango.com
Broker Associate/EcoBroker with Blue Ribbon Properties

835 Main Ave. Suite # 214
Office: 970-247-8388 Fax: 970-247-8360
Shaheen’s Cell: 970-769-2441

* Luck is where preparation meets opportunity!

So, what do I recommend today? Key is to find the sellers that are seriously needing to sell, they don’t say it’s a buyer’s market for nothing. Let’s try again, here are three recommendation for properties that are agressively priced and will likely go “under contract”  in the next two weeks.

Click Here to View Listings

Call me to discuss Durango real estate, I’m happy to help you find Durango’s best values. If you are not sure about a home’s valuation, whether it’s a good deal or not, call me for comps, no commitment, just information.

Claudia Williams

Owner, Broker, Realtor, Exchangor

Blue Ribbon Properties

970 247 8388

Durango Real Estate

“Don’t stress, call the best”

I got it from http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/11-23-2005-82165.asp, the author is Stephen Nelson, an accountant from WA, contact info follows post.

Accountants and attorneys love limited liability companies. But do limited liability companies—LLCs for short—really make sense for real estate investors? Probably they do for two almost unknown reasons.

The Big Legal Benefit of an LLC: Limited Liability…

The big legal benefit of an LLC is that limited liability companies provide all the same liability protection as a corporation—but with much less red tape. A regular corporation, for example, requires regular stockholders meetings, a board of directors, regular board meetings, and of course records of all these activities and bodies. But a limited liability company doesn’t.

This legal liability protection provided by an LLC can be extremely valuable. One local attorney I often collaborate with, for example, tells his clients that an LLC protects real estate investors from the worst case scenario—which in his mind is a “slip and fall” accident on the investor’s property.

With an LLC as the property owner, so says my attorney friend, the “worst case scenario” is liquidation of the LLC. That liquidation means the people who own the LLC wind up with nothing—which isn’t good. But all the owners lose is what they’ve invested in the LLC.

In comparison, without an LLC, the real estate investor’s “worst case scenario” if there’s a “slip and fall” accident is that the owner or investor can lose almost everything they own. In other words, the investors could lose not only their investment in the real estate property but many other assets.

Let me issue a caveat here, however. You may not get as much legal liability protection from an LLC as you want or hope. Say, for example, that you’re repairing the roof on your apartment house and that, unfortunately, you happen to drop a hammer onto the tenant’s head during the roofing project. Your LLC probably won’t protect you from that sort of tort liability. In other words, the tenant can probably look not only to your LLC for payment of damages related to the dropped hammer but also to you personally.

And here’s another example, which unfortunately makes things even murkier. What happens if someone working for you, one of your employees or subcontractors, drops a hammer on the tenant’s head? The LLC may offer you some protection in this case. But you may still be personally responsible. The tenant might reasonably argue that you should have done a better job managing the employee or subcontractor, for example.

If you’re extremely concerned about the asset protection features of setting up and operating an LLC, get an attorney involved in your real estate investment planning. An attorney knowledgeable in LLC and real estate law can help you increase the liability protection that you gain from using an LLC for your investing. And this consultation doesn’t need to be particularly expensive. You may be able to buy an hour or two of time from a good local attorney and get all your LLC- and liability-related questions answers.

The Big Tax Benefit: Enormous Tax Flexibility…

A second benefit of LLCs relates to the income taxes that investors pay on profits and capital gains. A limited liability company can be almost whatever tax entity it wants to be for income tax purposes. A limited liability company that is owned by one person can be a sole proprietorship, a C corporation, or an S corporation. A limited liability company that is owned by two or more persons can be a partnership, a C corporation, or even an S corporation (if the LLC meets the S corporation eligibility requirements). This second benefit of the limited liability company means that an LLC can choose to be taxed in whatever way is most favorable to the investment or the owners.

For example, a very small real estate business with a single member (LLC owners are called “members”), might decide to be treated as a sole proprietorship for federal income tax purposes. This decision to be treated as sole proprietorship would keep the business’s accounting very simple—and it would also mean that unique tax planning opportunities available to sole proprietorships can be used.

A larger real estate investment fund—perhaps one with several partners—might decide to operate as a C corporation or as an S corporation in order to take advantage of some of the unique tax planning advantages of these entity choices. A C corporation, for example, often lets businesses provide rich tax-free fringe benefits to employees including shareholder-employees. And an S corporation often lets a business dramatically reduce the self-employment, social security and Medicare taxes paid on the owner’s profits.

Note: While a limited liability company is not difficult to set up by yourself—you can have the paperwork done less than a quarter hour from now—you should be aware that paying a few hundred dollars to an accountant to pick the right taxation for your new LLC might be the best investment you ever make. It’s common that the right taxation choice for a new LLC can save the owner or owners of a small business $10,000 to $20,000 annually.

The Drawbacks of the Limited Liability Company Choice:

When you consider the two big benefits of a limited liability company—limited liability but with less red tape and tremendous tax flexibility—you have almost the perfect investment entity choice. So an obvious question is “Why wouldn’t every investor use an LLC or limited liability company?”

Perhaps predictably, there are some costs and headaches associated with operating as an LLC.

An LLC may increase your banking, accounting and insurance costs. For example, while the bank account for a sole proprietorship or informal partnership may be free if you keep a large-enough balance, the bank account for a limited liability company probably won’t be free. The bank may charge $10, $20, even more each month.

While a sole proprietorship or informal real estate partnership may be able to keep its bookkeeping and income tax return preparation very simple, an LLC probably needs to file its own tax return if the LLC operates as a partnership, a C corporation or an S corporation. And this LLC tax return may cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars annually.

Finally, it’s worthwhile to note that an LLC may involve several hundred or even a few thousand dollars of startup expense. For example, you may spend money on publications like this. You may buy the services of accountants and attorneys. You will need to print new letterhead, business cards, and envelopes (if you use these) that use the new LLC’s name in order to show the world that you’re now operating as a limited liability company.

So where does all this leave you? How should you balance the big benefits of forming an LLC with all the costs and drawbacks? Unfortunately, I can’t give you a one-size-fits-all answer. You’ll need to carefully consider the benefits and costs as they add up in your specific situation.

I will share these thoughts, however. In my opinion, an LLC is uneconomical for very small real estate investments—unless there is only a single owner. For example, a real estate investor who owns one single-family home may not want to shoulder the hundreds of dollars of cost (or more?) incurred in setting up and operating an LLC. (Remember that this investor can use liability insurance to reduce his or her risk, too.)

On the other hand, any time you’ve got a large real estate investment—say multifamily housing—or any time you’ve got substantial wealth, an LLC economically reduces investment risk and as an added bonus can even save the owners thousands of dollars a year in income or payroll taxes.

Bellevue WA accountant Stephen L. Nelson, CPA is the author of both Quicken for Dummies and QuickBooks for Dummies and an adjunct tax professor for Golden Gate University’s graduate tax school.

By Stephen Nelson
Published: 11/28/2005

If you are not in LaPlata county and would like Regional Housing information for your county check with your local real estate association.
Thanks!

~Shaheen Hangval

A house that “sparkles” on the surface will sell faster than its shabby neighbor…

…even though both are structurally well-maintained.

From experience, REALTORS® also know that a “well-polished” house appeals to more buyers and will sell faster and for a higher price. Additionally, buyers feel more comfortable purchasing a well-cared for home because if what they can see is maintained, what they can’t see has probably also been maintained. In readying your house for sale, consider:

• How much should you spend

• Exterior and curb appeal

• Preparing the interior

• How much should you spend! (Not a typo!)
  

In preparing your home for the market, spend as little money as possible. Buyers will be impressed by a brand new roof, but they aren’t likely to give you enough extra money to pay for it. There is a big difference between making minor and inexpensive “polishes” and “touch-ups” to your house, such as putting new knobs on cabinets and a fresh coat of neutral paint in the living room, and doing extensive and costly renovations, like installing a new kitchen. Your REALTOR®, who is familiar with buyers’ expectations in your neighborhood, can advise you specifically on what improvements need to be made. Don’t hesitate to ask for advice.

Maximizing exterior and curb appeal

Before putting your house on the market, take as much time as necessary (and as little money as possible) to maximize its exterior and interior appeal. Tips to enhance your home’s exterior and curb appeal:

• Keep the lawn edged, cut and watered regularly.
• Trim hedges, weed lawns and flowerbeds, and prune trees regularly.
• Check the foundation, steps, walkways, walls and patios for cracks and crumbling.
• Inspect doors and windows for peeling paint.
• Clean and align gutters.
• Inspect and clean the chimney.
• Repair and replace loose or damaged roof shingles.
• Repair and repaint loose siding and caulking.
• In Northern winters, keep walks neatly cleared of snow and ice.
• During spring and summer months consider adding a few showy annuals, perhaps in pots, near your front entrance.
• Re-seal an asphalt driveway.
• Keep your garage door closed.
• Store RVs or old and beaten up cars elsewhere while the house is on the market.
• Apply a fresh coat of paint to the front door.

Maximizing interior appeal

Enhance your home’s interior by:

• Giving every room in the house a thorough cleaning, as well as removing all clutter. This alone will make your house appear bigger and brighter. Some homeowners with crowded rooms have actually rented storage garages and moved half their furniture out, creating a sleeker, more spacious look.

• Hiring a professional cleaning service, once every few weeks while the house is on the market. This may be a good investment for owners who are busy elsewhere.

• Removing the less frequently used, even daily used items from kitchen counters, closets, and attics, making these areas much more inviting. Since you’re anticipating a move anyhow, holding a garage sale at this point is a great idea.

• If necessary, repainting dingy, soiled or strongly colored walls with a neutral shade of paint, such as off-white or beige. The same neutral scheme can be applied to carpets and linoleum.

• Checking for cracks, leaks and signs of dampness in the attic and basement.

• Repairing cracks, holes or damage to plaster, wallboard, wallpaper, paint, and tiles.

• Replacing broken or cracked windowpanes, moldings, and other woodwork. Inspecting and repairing the plumbing, heating , cooling, and alarm systems.

• Repairing dripping faucets and showerheads. Buying showy new towels for the bathroom, to be brought out only when prospective buyers are on the way.

• Sprucing up a kitchen in need of more major remodeling by investing in new cabinet knobs, new curtains, or a coat of neutral paint.

We’d be happy to come by and offer our modest opinion on how make your house appeal to the highest number of people, thus increasing your chance of selling at full price in the shortest amount of time.

Even better…

Get a free – no commitment – market valuation and price analysis for your home. That means based on other sale in the area and what is currently for sale in your neighborhood we will help you determine a realistic market value that will ensure a sale of your house at top dollar.

Check out this video: Maybe it will remind you to enjoy your day-to-day!

Claudia Williams
970 247 8388

P.S. Search the MLS at http://www.blueribbondurango.com/mls.php or email us to receive listings as they hit the market

P.P.S. Determine the value of your home, call me today