First quarter finishes strong with significant improvement in home sales

In like a lion, out like a lion. That was the story of the Boulder area real estate market in March.

The end of the first quarter wrapped up strong, with an 11 percent increase in single-family home sales in the first three months of 2010 compared with 2009. Multifamily sales gained 24 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year.

“I think the momentum we started at the beginning of the year has continued and helped round out the first quarter,” says Ken Hotard, senior vice president of public affairs for the Boulder Area Realtor Association. “I’m pretty impressed with the strength of the market as far as sales volume. It will be interesting to see if we can maintain it.”

Hotard attributes the impressive improvement to low interest rates, credit slowly becoming more available, and job growth on a national, state and local level.

“Especially along the Front Range, job growth is contributing to the strength of our housing market,” he says.

However, the housing market will face another “unknown” when first-time homebuyers and those looking to move up no longer have access to $8,000 and $6,500 tax credits, respectively. The incentive ends at the end of the month – meaning homebuyers must have their houses under contract by then – though they have until the end of June to close on their homes.

But Hotard says he expects contract activity may decline some in May with the absence of the tax credit.

“We’ll see if that’s going to be a factor,” he says, noting the market may remain strong if economic conditions and consumer confidence improve and interest rates stay low. “My expectation is this strength will continue into and through the summer months.”

Hotard notes that Congress and the Obama Administration have squashed any hope for the continuation of the tax credit, saying that it has done what it was supposed to, which is jump start the market. Now, he says, the National Association of Realtors has turned its focus to increasing access to credit for qualified buyers.

Many of Boulder’s communities continue to see a decrease in average and median sale prices, some of which is attributable to some homeowners reducing their asking prices to sell, but not all, Hotard says. In other markets, prices have stabilized and some are even improving.

“Buyers are out there, they’re active and deals are closing,” he says, adding that more than one-third of homes under contract at this time last year weren’t closing.

Another factor affecting the housing market, from a political standpoint, is the election year, Hotard says. Those up for re-election will work hard to make sure the economy continues to strengthen through this year.

Massage therapy is adventure for woman whose life is full of them

Robyn Faike figured out what she wanted to do when she grew up while summiting Mt. Everest, which she did at 4:02 a.m. May 24, 2008.

The day after returning from that adventure – one of many she's had in life – she enrolled in courses to pursue her next adventure, massage therapy. After receiving her certification from the Boulder College of Massage Therapy, Robyn opened her own practice, Evolve Therapeutics, 2027 Broadway Street, Suite A, in Boulder in June. She is also is certified through the The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, which means the massages she offers can help a body heal, not just relax.

"The therapy that Robyn provides is much, much more than a simple massage," says her patient, Richard Silverman. "She is a very intuitive therapist and is able to provide a form of therapy that is unavailable in today's world of medicine. Not only is she unusually caring and compassionate, but she has mastered many different styles and forms of bodywork that can provide not only relief from pain but, in many cases, the eradication of its cause."

Faike says it was realizing that injuries have a mental, emotional and spiritual as well as physical impact on people reaching their goals revealed her calling.

"Nobody was a massage therapist (on her Mt. Everest summit team), but it got me thinking, because people would have muscle strain and it pretty much inhibited them from progressing and doing the climb in a comfortable way," she says. "I realized how it’s important to connect mind, body and spirit. An injury would take over psyche, cause depression, and I saw how beneficial (massage therapy) could be.”

Mt. Everest wasn’t Robyn’s first peak to climb, either. She’s climbed the highest peaks in five different continents, four of which she did with her mom.

Before discovering her true calling, Robyn was an elementary school teacher, though she originally went to Indiana University to pursue opera singing. She completed her teaching certification and student teaching in New Zealand before moving to Boulder, where her brother and grandparents lived (she’s originally from Carson City, Nev.). She also worked for five years with the Boulder YMCA in its mountain biking camp, helping older teens train for races.

None of those experiences, though, gave her the satisfaction that working as a massage therapist and doing bodywork does, she says.

"Every day is so amazing for me," Robyn says. "I walk away each day with different stories. I connect with people on unique and special level. I feel completely fulfilled in my life.

"It's really complementary to all my life adventures," she adds. "I really believe that everybody has their own summit in life. Through massage therapy, it's so exciting to support people in whatever adventure they're on, no matter how big or how small. It all feels connected to me."

Evolve Therapeutics' hours are by appointment 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Call (303) 246-7178.

Real estate market continues to crawl along; recovery time still unknown

Cooler weather has brought an end to summer as well as the hope that the increase in home sales the hot season usually brings was just delayed.

For the second month in a row follow a promising June, statistics for home sales and prices in Boulder County were anything but. According to statistics for August, 303 single-family homes sold in July, down from 372 a year ago, and 110 attached homes sold, down from 141 a year ago. Average sales prices dropped in every Boulder community except Broomfield and the mountains, though Broomfield, Erie and Louisville all saw increase in the median sales price of homes sold.

Through the end of July, 3,041 single-family homes sold, compared with 3,889 the previous year, and 1,184 attached homes sold this year, compared with 1,416.

“We’ve seen a slowdown in sales activities over the last couple of years and those trends are continuing,” says Ken Hotard, senior vice president of public affairs for the Boulder Area Realtor Association. “The real estate market is a victim of a trifecta of things: economic weakness, lending difficulties and low consumer confidence. People are not interested in making huge financial decisions at this time unless they have to.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t continue that growth in sales trend that we picked up in June,” he added. “But as you look around, you can certainly explain it. Who’s to say when that’s going to change?”

The market had had good activity and many people are in a position to take advantage of competitive prices and a solid inventory. Buyers are making offers but a larger percentage than usual are not making it to closing for a variety of reasons - those included in the "trifecta" of issues, Hotard says.

Lack of job growth is still an issue, though Colorado is doing better than the nation, but the state legislature now must cut another $240 million from this year's budget with deeper cuts expected in 2010, he says.

“It’s hard to peer into the future and get a good sense of when things are going to turn around,” Hotard says, noting he still thinks the second half of 2010 will have the potential for the economy to stabilize and turn the corner. “Depending on who you talk to, it’s gloom and doom forever, or we’ve already hit bottom and we’re beginning to correct already. I don’t think the picture is that clear on either account. The indicators are confusing at best.

“There’s demand,” Hotard adds. “When the time is right, things are going to move fairly briskly.”