We're continuing our positive trends in Real Estate going into 2016, and by all accounts we're looking to have a repeat of 2015's activity, trends, and expectations. Where's the inventory? Still being built, but not at the speed to catch up to and keep pace with our demand.
Our local economy remains robust, even with weakness starting to show in our mineral sector (gas and oil exploitation specifically) due to the low price of oil per barrel. Our Unemployment Rate of 3.9% is almost 1.5% lower than the National Unemployment Rate of 5.3% per a recent article in The Denver Post: Colorado Unemployment Rate Among 10 Lowest in Country.
2016 Is Going Back To The Future
Naturally our low unemployment rate, coupled with Colorado consistently being mentioned as a top state to live in for a variety of factors, has resulted in a large migration wave over the last several years. For the first time since the technology boom, Colorado added over 100,000 people to its population in a single year, a much larger-than-expected increase that helps explain Denver's overheated housing market. "We were surprised that migration came in so strong. We had been forecasting about 10,000 slower in migration," state demographer Elizabeth Garner said. About 80% of these newcomers are settling into the Front Range, which is contributing to our lengthy strong Seller's Market. Colorado ranked 7th of all the States in the Country for adding population in 2015. Our last several years have featured net migration into our state as the primary driver for our population upside, not from additional births. People moving into Colorado for work, school, or retirement will all need houses to live in, while new babies move right into their parents home; so there's immediate demand for new housing with our net new migrant influx of our population. For additional information please read the rest of the migration article in The Denver Post: Colorado's Population Jumped by 101,000 in 12 Months.
We're still building to catch up to past demand let alone current demand, so we're in an enviable position over the near term to continue to capitalize on high rental returns and high sales prices. Eventually we'll have more shelter in attached dwellings and single family homes added to our inventory from new builds. We certainly shouldn't expect any kind of a bubble scenario where a glut of new, affordable homes will be introduced to the market, or a scenario where our local economy catastrophically collapses. It'll take time to build to demand, and with lending interest rates still at historic lows coupled with high demand, we remain in an extremely strong sellers market. Investor interest remains strong in purchasing entry level homes for rental purposes, and Kevin is working with several investors who're rehabbing deferred maintenance homes for use as rentals or to sell back into the market.
So for 2016 we expect a repeat of activity from 2015: Strong seller's market, low lending rates making it beneficial for buyers to seek new homes, continued net positive influx of people moving into Colorado, high demand for buyer's to purchase homes, and our local economy continuing to outperform the unemployment national average. 2016 looks to be another great year to either add to your existing investment inventory or to maximize your Return on Investment by selling your property. If you'd like to consult with Kevin about your property or review your real estate scenario and strategy, please be sure to reach out to him on his cell 303-931-9468 or via email at kevin@phoenixrealtyinc.com so he can schedule time to consult with you. Additional information regarding selling property may be found on our new Real Estate website here
Help us help you!
We're always working hard to insure we have your information up to date in our systems, and sometimes when things change it's hard to remember to let us know as well. So if anything on the following list rings a bell with you, please let us know so we can assist or update our systems for you.
Moved, or changed phone numbers or your email address? When we move to another address, change our phone numbers, or choose a new email alias or primary email alias for our communication; we always tell those that we're closest to and communicate with the most often via those conduits. Please be sure to let us know if you've changed any of the above, as we want to insure we have an accurate and up to date way of communicating with you. Insurance!! Make sure you have Landlords Rental Property Insurance for your rental property, and per our Management Agreement you need to have Phoenix Realty noted as additional insured, there is no additional premium incurred when adding us as an additional insured. The worst time to realize you need insurance is when something happens to your property and you find out you don't have coverage or enough coverage. Be sure to review your rental insurance needs with your Insurance Agent, and if you need an Insurance Agent referral let us know and we'll be happy to provide you with several references.
Landlord Insurance, Do You Have it?
Landlord's rental property insurance provides all the coverage you need to protect your property from damage and to protect you from personal legal liability. Most policies should cover:
- Your rental building
- Other private structures, such as a garage or shed
- Any personal property, such as tools, appliances, and furniture, stored on-site or provided by you, for use by your tenants
Generally Landlord's rental property insurance is available in two forms:
- Landlord's Rental Dwelling Insurance-This policy covers you if you own a rental building designed for one to four families
- Landlord's Rental Condominium Insurance- If you own a condo or townhome and rent it out, this coverage is likely better suited for you.
Please be sure to check with your Insurance Agent to insure that you and your property are well protected. Unfortunately it's far too common for us to work work with insurance companies about sewer lines breaking or backing up, plastic water lines that enable automatic ice dispensing in freezer's leaking, toilet tanks with rusted bolts leaking, hot water tanks failing and leaking, or the non metal braided clothes washing machine hoses failing and leaking among other claimable events. It's extremely important to make sure your insurance policy will cover your investment should your property experience an unfortunate need for insurance.