Veterans Green Jobs, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Denver, is offering a FREE HVAC diagnostic visit for your heating and air conditioning system, including a 29-point inspection.  This offer is valid though 12/31/12 and is an $80 value.

Simply call 720-236-1350, weekdays between 7:30 – 5:00 to schedule your appointment.

The good thing is, if they do find there is a problem with your furnace or air conditioner they can also fix or replace them.  Plus, using Veterans Green Jobs can save you up to 35%.

But that’s not the only reason you should use VGJ for your HVAC needs.  The real reason is the support you will be providing to veterans and the environment, which are at the heart of the Veterans Green Jobs mission.

As a nonprofit, VGJ uses the revenue it generates to directly support their employment programs.  The veterans they hire then work in jobs that support the environment.  Both of these causes have a great deal of meaning to me, and that is why I will continue to donate to Veterans Green Jobs.

I also plan on returning to their Go Green Warehouse, to shop for an electronic deadbolt for my front door.  The last time I was there I saw several on the self to chose from.  The Go Green Warehouse provides additional employment opportunities as well as revenue to sustain their mission.

I would encourage anyone working on a construction project to see what the warehouse has to offer.  Likewise, you can donate any left over building materials to the warehouse for use elsewhere.  The Go Green Warehouse will even pick up donation.  They came and got some carpet from me and I saw them in Stapleton on Earth Day as part of a recycling event in the Sam’s Club parking lot.

John Keene | Live Green Real Estate | john@keene-properties.com | 303-547-7578

]]> http://livegreen-denver.com/2012/04/veterans-green-jobs-offering-free-hvac-diagnostic-visits/feed/ 0 http://livegreen-denver.com/2012/04/stapleton-bluff-lake-neighborhood-denver-co/ http://livegreen-denver.com/2012/04/stapleton-bluff-lake-neighborhood-denver-co/#comments Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:44:44 +0000 John http://livegreen-denver.com/?p=758 Stapleton Bluff Lake Neighborhood – Denver, CO

While the building in Central Park West is far from being finished, sales on the lots are coming to a close.  I happened to run into one of the salespersons for New Town Builders over the weekend and she advised that their last home in Central Park West just went under contract.  Likewise, I’ve heard from the other builders that their inventory of lots in Stapleton’s latest filing is extremely low.

This means that potential new home buyers may have to consider a home in the last filing to be built below 1-70, the Bluff Lake Neighborhood.  Bordered on the west by Iola Street and on the south by 26th Ave, the northern and easter borders are made up as MLK winds its way along the nature center and turns into Moline St.

Just like many of the Stapleton sub-neighborhoods, the Bluff Lake neighborhood is being developed to have its own character.  For example, the four pocket park that are going in will be named after four of our five senses: Sound, Taste, Touch and Smell.  I’ve read that the Sound park will have wind chimes, where as the Smell park will have blossoming flowers and trees.  There are plenty of options to design a landscape that engages our sense of touch.  What I’m waiting to see is, what will they put in the Taste park?

One thing that won’t be in the Bluff Lake Neighborhood will be model homes.  The builder recently invested in new model homes in Central Park West and these model homes will be used to sell in the new area.  The one exception being Infinity Homes, since they will be building Limes in the Bluff Lake neighborhood instead of Pures.  The Lime models are still on 33rd, near the HGTV home.

Below is a list of the models that will be available in Bluff Lake Neighborhood:

To some in Stapleton, the Bluff Lake neighborhood might seem like the other end of the world.  But I think the location offers tremendous opportunity.  All of these homes will be within walking distance to the F-15 pool (which is my family’s favorite pool) or a short bike ride to the Rec Center, they will be the closest homes to Fitzsimmons, and living there should encourage greater usage of the Bluff Lake Nature Center.

For those who don’t know, the Nature Center is a wetland that was been preserved since the days of the Stapleton Airport.  I’ve seen bald eagles soaring over that area, plenty of red tailed hawks, and my daughter and I went trudging through the snow on New Years Day counting birds for the Audubon Society.

If you, or anyone you know, is interested in learning more about this part of Stapleton, give me a call.  As always, I suggest using a REALTOR when buying from a builder.  The builders rarely reduce their price even if they save on paying a commission, so why not have a professional help guide you through the process? Especially when the builder will pay for your Agent’s services.

John Keene | Live Green Real Estate | john@keene-properties.com | 303-547-7578

I have blogged before about the Denver real estate market being better for buyers than for renters.  However, since moving here from Chicago in 2006, I was a renter myself.  But not any more!

I finally took my own advise and purchased a home from New Town Builders in the Stapleton neighborhood.  This was not the first home I’ve ever purchased but, since it had been so long since I owned a home, I was eligible for several “first time” home buyer programs as well as an FHA loan.  Or I could have put 20% down and went with a conventional loan.

Luckily I was working with an excellent lender (Morgan Pennington at Gateway Mortgage) who was able to work up several scenarios for me and in the end I decided to use my VA loan.  I based this decision primarily on the fact that a VA loan can provide 100% financing but does not require payment of any mortgage insurance.

The pre-approval process was pretty painless (although gathering the documentation necessary for the formal application, signing all the disclosures and coming up with additional documentation for the underwriter will help me to empathize with my next buyer) and once I had a price point to work with my wife and I went out looking for homes.

We decided to go with The Solaris Collection which, as you may have guessed from the name, comes with photovoltaic solar panels as a standard feature.  New Town prepays the lease, which transfers to the new home owner at closing.  So there are no ongoing costs associated with the system and the leasing company will maintain the panels for the next 20-year.  But New Town doesn’t just slap solar on a typical house.

New Town incorporates many other sustainable and energy-efficient features like advanced framing techniques; high efficiency, sealed combustion furnaces and hot water heaters; duct work with very low leakage levels; low VOC carpet and paint; and EnergyStar appliances.  Furthermore, they back it up with a full energy audit and HERS score.  Our house scored a 51!  New Town also offers a Zero Energy home, but with our timeframe we couldn’t wait for one of those to be built.

The New Town staff was excellent to work with too.  Yet this was my first home purchase as a REALTOR and I was representing myself in this transaction.  So sometimes I had a hard time differentiating if I was being a good agent or a pain-in-the-neck buyer when I had to bring issues to the builder’s attention.  Normally I have no problem advocating on behalf of a client, but I was worried sometimes when I pointed out things, like a tiny chip on the granite countertop, or some flaws in the paint, that I was being too demanding.

All in all buying this home has worked out really well, and I am sure the experience will make me a better buyer’s agent in the future.  So if you, or anyone that you know, are interesting in purchasing a home please give me a call.  As always, I will donate 5% any commissions that I earn to local charities.

In fact, I divided up 5% of what I earned on this transaction three ways, between The Logan School for Creative Learning, The Urban Farm at Stapleton, and Veterans’ Green Jobs.

Last month I posted about the powerful effect of the Stapleton REALTOR broker tour (nicknamed SCORE for Stapleton Cooperation Of REALTOR Excellence) because within 2-days of listing a short sale I had the home under contract.

Besides viewing each other’s active listings, the SCORE tour allows the group to discuss real estate trends, buyer needs, and generally catch up with one another. It was during this time that another broker advised that she was working with some buyers that were interested in a 2-bedroom Stapleton Mansion Home. Unfortunately there was only one such property currently on the market and they didn’t like the location.

Luckily, I had recently approached a seller that I worked with last year about putting her home back on the market. Stapleton home inventory, just like all of Denver, is currently low. It appeared to me that now was the time for her to re-list, and now I had interest from a potential buyer.

A few days later, I took the listing and schedule a showing for the same day. Then, within 48-hours, I had this property under contract too. It went under contract so fast I didn’t even have an opportunity to put this home in the MLS. As you can imagine, my seller is extremely happy.

Likewise, thanks to SCORE, the buyer’s agent is a superstar in the eyes of her buyers. She leveraged her knowledge of the neighborhood and her relationship with other local brokers to find a property that was unknown to the public. She got her buyers in there before it was marketed and put her buyers in a situation where there may have been multiple bids.

If you have a home to sell in Stapleton, or know someone who does, give me a call. I’d welcome the opportunity to provide you with a market analysis of your home. If we list it, I will be sure to include it on the next SCORE tour.

Last week I was working on a real estate listing, getting the home ready to hit the market by the end of the month. Inventory is down almost 40% compared to this time last year and we wanted to get this home on the market before the spring rush.

We also wanted to have everything ready in time for the monthly Stapleton REALTOR tour in which I participate, so that I could have a dozen or so of my colleagues walk through the home. I was anxious for their feedback and hopeful that one of them would have a buyer in mind.

Well, my expectations were far exceeded!

I hadn’t even put the home on the MLS and one of my fellow REALTORS sent over a client later that same evening. He also set up another showing for 8:30 the next morning. By the end of the first day I had a total of four showings, just from other Stapleton agents.

The icing on the cake was when we received an offer at approximately 11:00 PM that night. When I called my sellers the next morning they could hardly believe it, and the offer was so strong that they signed it right away.

Of course, I was lucky enough to be listing a great property. Likewise, a POD was rented, and the home decluttered and nicely staged ahead of time, so it showed extremely well. But I really think the broker tour is what lead to a real success story.

The buyers agent had been working with her for over 4-months and the just couldn’t find the right home. So when the agent saw this listing she know right away it was going to be a match, and proving to her buyer that this agent was in tune with the buyer’s needs.

John Keene | Live Green Real Estate | john@keene-properties.com | 303-547-7578

The latest section to be developed in the Stapleton neighborhood is what will be know as Central Park West.  This area is slightly smaller than other parts of Stapleton running from 35th Ave on the north to Martin Luther King Drive on the south, between Syracuse Street and Central Park Boulevard.  Basically, it’s the area where the old parking garage used to stand and includes the Swigert-McAuliffe International School.  As is typical when a new part of Stapleton is under development, many of the Stapleton Builders are relocation their sales offices to the area.

Central Park West is also the first area to be developed near the E. 29th Ave Town Center in several years, giving these residents some of the ammenities that drew the original Stapleton home owners to the neighborhood.  In addition to being home to the newest Stapleton school, Central Park West will also be one of the closest filings to the new Denver Public Library.  But maybe the best feature of this part of Stapleton is the availability of oversized lots!  Several builders are selling lots big enough to install a wading pool in the back yard.

Below is a list of the new home builders and the models that the are currently selling:

However, before you simply pop into one of the model homes, I would suggest you contact a local Stapleton REALTOR.  Since the new home builder will pay the commission of a buyer’s agent, why not have a real estate professional who is familiar with the area guide you through the process?  It doesn’t cost you anything but will give you peace of mind having someone looking out for your best interest.  In fact, the builders in Stapleton actually encourage buyers to use their own agent and currently over 60% of buyers do.

The key to using your own agent is to have that agent accompany you on your first visit to the builder.

Many times, when I bring clients to view a model home I will pre-register them with the builder and set an appoinment.  This makes the initial visit much more efficient and takes away the pressure some people feel when they have to deal with a salesperson unaccompanied.  Don’t get me wrong, the sales staff for all the Stapleton builders are awewome!  It’s just that most people like to have a buffer and feel more comfortable discussing their true likes and dislikes with me, rather than someone they just met.

So I am ready when you are to go and explore Stapleton’s newest sub-neighborhood.

John Keene | Live Green Real Estate | john@keene-properties.com | 303-547-7578

Stapleton Earth Day Festival

This Weekend The Stapleton United Neighbors(SUN) and it’s Sustainability Committee hosted the First Annual Stapleton Earth Day Festival in Central Park. With over 40 vendors and food purveyors, there was something there for everyone. “Sciency” things like solar panels and greening your home. Family and health items such as diaper alternatives, and yoga. Conservation from Denver Water, Excel and Tenderly Used. And tons of fun like a composting exhibit, animals from the Urban Farm and KBCO rocking the tunes to entertain the estimated 400-500 attendees, Mother Earth even made an appearance. Food offerings ranged from free organic fruit from Sprouts to spicy green Chili from Rocky Mountain Chili Bowl.

Mother Earth

Of course The Stapleton Home Team was there giving out recycled frisbees that used to be 2 liter bottles and having the electric golf cart for the kids to play around on. We also touted Stapleton builders that offer Green built to Energy Star rated homes. Stapleton as “a philosophy” is very green. Live, work and play all without leaving the community, cuts down on driving. We also have a 94% participation rate in Denver Recycles program. All this while it’s infrastructure skeleton is the world’s largest recycle project made of reused concrete.

We talked to many people that didn’t live in Stapleton and that were experiencing some of these great attributes for the first time. We showed the inventory of homes that we currently have with homes from Affordable Housing to loaded high end ranches. It was great being able to educate them and brag about our community as well. These Green details make a direct impact on our lives by Lower energy bills, saving on gas and enjoying all of the jogging and biking paths. At the same time doing the right thing for our environment and teaching our kids to do the same.

The future looks bright for this young event. I was very little watching my parents as Capitol Hill United Neighbors(CHUN) began the People’s Fair as a local large blockparty and it grew to a major Denver outdoor event. Stapleton attitude towards the environment, the social aspect of the community and the surrounding neighborhoods and the great Central Park as a location this surely looks like an annual event that will be around for a long time.

Damon Knop

Stapleton Home Team

Distinctive Properties

UC Denver Anschutz: Incoming students can grab great opportunities in Real Estate!!

The University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Center formerly known as Fitzsimons has become one of the country’s most sought after medical schools to attend. It is one of Colorado’s largest job and opportunity hubs for growth, and of course logically, so is the surrounding Real Estate market. 

CU Denver potential Light Rail Stop will add value

The situation most students come into is a commitment of usually 3 to 5 years to start, complete or get a full education. With the current real estate market in Denver, by most estimations, at or near the bottom, this time frame can be the exact right time to buy. Add that with the fact that most experts are agreeing that loan terms will probably get more difficult for over the next couple of years. Combine all of this with the tremendous growth around UC Denver Anschutz, including a future light rail station, several hotels and a redevelopment of the area surrounding it, and you have the perfect storm for real solid investment, NOW……http://d77d724.activerain.com/post/2153447/uc-denver-anschutz-incoming-students-can-grab-great-opportunities-in-real-estate- ]]> http://livegreen-denver.com/2011/02/university-of-colorado-medical-center-anshutz-at-fitzsimons-real-estate-investment-opportunities/feed/ 1 http://livegreen-denver.com/2011/02/denver-rec-center-in-stapleton-faq-denver-co/ http://livegreen-denver.com/2011/02/denver-rec-center-in-stapleton-faq-denver-co/#comments Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:01:10 +0000 John http://www.movetostapleton.info/?p=549 Denver Rec Center in Stapleton FAQ

For some reason, I have received numerous calls in which the caller thought they were calling the new Denver Rec Center located in the Stapleton neighborhood.  I guess the good news is, when people are Googling the rec center they are finding the MoveToStapleton.info blog.  The bad news is, they are confusing my number with that of the actual rec center, and clearly this blog isn’t providing the information for which people are searching.

So I have decided to post the answers to some of the questions I have been asked and I will try to incorporate some more useful information.

Q.  What is the address of the new rec center?
A.  9651 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

Q.  Is that the Stapleton Rec Center?
A.  Actually, no.  The new rec center is officially named the Central Park Recreation Center.  It just happens to be in the Stapleton neighborhood.  The Stapleton Rec Center is located at 5090 Broadway.

Q.  What is the phone number of the Central Park Rec Center?
A.  720-865-0750

Q.  What are the hours?
A.  MON-THU 5:30 am – 9:00 pm
     FRI 5:30 am – 7:30 pm
     SAT-SUN  9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Q.  What time is open swim?
A.  Open swim begins at 10:30 am every day of the week.  Open swim ends at:
     2:30 pm SAT-SUN
     4:45 pm MON-THU
     6:30 pm FRI

Q.  What are the membership rates?
A.  See table below

If anyone has suggestions for questions that I may have left off, please email me or post them in the comments section.

 John Keene | Live Green Real Estate | john@keene-properties.com | 303-547-7578

In a press release this week, Forest City Stapleton disclosed the number of homes sold in Stapleton in 2010. Contrary to almost all of the local and national builders, Stapleton’s Builders had in increase of almost 18%.

Stapleton Builder sales went from 238 in 2009 to 280 in 2010. Combined with the very consistent resale market Stapleton’s total home sales were 453. This is up from 412 in 2009.

Stapleton Builders

“Stapleton continues to enjoy strong housing sales in spite of a very difficult economy” said John Lehigh, president of Forest City Stapleton, Inc. Stapleton builders “offer a range of housing types and prices that has strong appeal to the market, capitalizing on Stapleton’s reputation as one of the most desirable and successful new neighborhoods in the nation.”

These numbers go further in proving the point that buyers are seeing both the value and pleasure of living in this great community. If you want to move to Stapleton please call the StapletonHomeTeam and we can tell you all about what is coming next in Stapleton.

Damon Knop

Stapleton Home Team

Distinctive Properties