If you are a seller who has encountered a financial hardship and need to sell your home it won't hurt to talk to a Realtor with the CDPE designation in your area.

We have been around on the CSA (community supported agriculture) scene for a few years with no luck. We really do like to support local farmers. It is important for so many reasons, but I like to focus on the selfish reasons for a moment and just admit that we enjoy the local farmer’s food because it just tastes better when the vegetables are fresh.

This year we have finally found a CSA that is worth it. For so many years we put up with the meager selection of vegetables in order to support the farmers and we would always hang onto the idea that we might one day get something extraordinary…and usually it just ended up being an extra order of spinach or zucchini. This year however; we signed up with Chimney Rock Farms and they have put together an impressive selection with great quality produce. I get excited for every Wednesday’s pick up. They do trades with regional farmers to increase their selection and they also throw in fruit into the box.  

There are probably some other great ones out there, but we are excited to have found one that gives us the food that gets eaten up before next weeks box is picked up.

Where does the summer go...we took a longer than expected vacation to the Northwest this summer. We decided to drive due to the need for all of the baby gear that comes along with where ever we go (like a traveling circus). We thought that we would save money by driving. If gas was the only consideration we would have come out ahead, but looking back on our receipts…we missed our budget by a long way. If we were going to do that drive again with a baby I think that we would just get a tour bus and go on “baby tour”. We could sweep around the country making all of the family stops along the way and just plan for a long time on the road. Maybe we could charge an appearance fee to pay the way.

Now its labor day weekend. We have the two toned down motorcycle rallies going on this year. It seems that the drunken testosterone fest known as the Iron Horse Motorcycle Rally (which ran for 9 years) is gone. The current versions are the Ignacio Bike Week and the Sugar Pine Ranch Rally seem to be more of a mellow crowd…it is only Friday though, but that my initial impression. I will just have to wait and read the Durango Herald blotter tomorrow for the real story. As long as no one dies and everything is in the spirit of safe, low-decibel fun, it should be a great weekend for everyone.

Credit scoring is tighter these days and higher credit is necessary to qualify for “penalty free” loans your credit has to be up to at least 720. Bankruptcies and tight credit are things that are here for awhile. We have come across many people that are coming in from out of the area that have either been foreclosed on or have had their credit battered by a pre-foreclosure situation or might be looking for a Lease Options (a different scenario) while they wait for their home to sell in an area that they are coming from.  

Sellers need to get creative in this market and be proactive. One way is to be able to offer seller financing if the Seller owns the property out right. A seller could potentially get closer to asking price with seller financing until the Buyers are in good enough standings with their credit to refinance with a conventional loan. Sure there are risks…landlords take risks with every new tenant and sometimes things don’t work out for the best, but for the Seller who might have a financial buffer and who is ready to move into a new home, seller finance might be their ticket forward. 

A rough look at the process is simple:

• The Buyer usually would some cash towards the purchase price (the higher the amount the better).
• Terms are drafted by an attorney the Seller holds the note (like a bank on a conventional loan), so if payment aren’t made then the Seller get the property back.

Any Seller who chooses to go this route would need to speak in depth with a tax accountant. There are some additional taxing strategies out there that might work better one way or the other. But that is the rough idea of it.

These days values are holding strong in our market, but when pricing you have to stand out in the crowd of rising inventory. The market is currently very sensitive to price and if you're too high your listing will hear crickets from day one. It's tough because we have a smaller pool of buyers out there in the hunt and rising inventory....so how do you know what is and what is not the right price? Here is a list of some things that I think about when pricing:

• The one of the old rules for showings was "10 showings and no offers; reduce the price" now I believe the number for that rule of thumb should be reduced to five. Prices need to stay ahead of the market. Showings have to speak louder.
• Price it right from the start. Some agents will give you a higher "best guess estimate" in order to get the listing and will bank on price reductions in order to get it to sell...not good. Listing these days need to be price right from the starting gate so that they stand out and get the attention that they need in order to sell.
• Another rule of thumb is "one month and no showings; reduce the price". One month in this market and no showings. Ask yourself, "do I really need to sell now?" if the answer is yes, then reduce the price substantially. Foot traffic is key to any home selling.  
• You have to price for market and not need. Some Sellers will say “I need to make $X amount of money in order to make this amount” which creates a very weak pricing strategy. Buyers don’t care how much Sellers profit, just like Sellers don’t care how much Buyers pay. It is a market and you have to pay attention to what is going on around the market place.
• Think how much time on the market costs (mortgage payments, HOA dues, taxes and utilities) and keep the absorption rate for your neighborhood in mind. The absorption rate = number of listings vs. number of sold over a period of time to determine how long, in months, it would take for the current inventory to be sold at the current rate.

I know I shouldn't. This is the time that people have the most questions and have to stop and think about their choices a little more carefully. I saw the other day for the first time the stock market drop significantly and the interest rates rise. So, borrowed money is now more expensive and hard dollars are worth less...not good. So, when will the fed say the "R" word?

All of that aside, the Durango real estate market has remained resilient. It has definately been more of a Sellers market for the past couple of months with more listings than Durango has ever seen at one time. Although foreclosures are higher, their aren't that many fire sales happening. We are buffered by many of the homes having a big chunk of equity, a steady stream of people looking for opportunities in our area, and the lack of wholesale builders in our market driving down prices unloading product. As long as the US economy holds together and remains stable, so too should the Durango real estate market.

Today after work I thought what a great time to get in some quick yard work. I was out trimming off some dead branches from an oak tree when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. 2 feet from my face was a crazy looking bug eyed, big eared...what looked like to me a baby Lemur monkey (?)...we had a stare down briefly and I ran to Google to try and figure out what I saw. Turns out it was not a Lemur (surprise), but was a Ringtailed cat. I have never heard of these critters, but I guess that these nocturnal cats are common further south of here. Not too common to see, especially here, but common in the U.S. deserts. 

We had Greg at the la plata county extension office (an excellent free resourse) come over last year to help us figure out what was killing all of our aspens...our tree were covered with borers, caterpillars, cancers and fungus. We managed to clean up most of it and have stayed on top of the rest. If it weren't for the root suckers, I don't think that these fragile trees could exist anywhere!

To learn more about the Eco-Broker program that we are going through go to: https://www.ecobroker.com/