Recently I had the opportunity to visit and tour the BackCountry community, which is the new gated community located in Highlands Ranch on the south side of WildCat Reserve Parkway at Broadway. I do have a Denver home buyer that is going to be visiting next month and he was hoping to see some additional photos of what was available in the Highlands Ranch new construction real estate market.

The construction for the Back County is well under way and already some homes are complete with many more to come.

Most of the Homes in the BackCountry are built by Shea homes and start in the $500,000′s and the custom homes (by a variety of builders) will go well past the $1 million mark.  The BackCountry is one of the last of the larger communities being built in Highlands Ranch and once it is done, Highlands Ranch build-out will be most likely near completion.

This was not the first time I had visited the BackCountry – but it was the first time I had my camera.  I was fairly impressed with the floor plans – large kitchens and great rooms with a wise use of space.   The thing that I really found interesting being in the models was house pretty much across the board – the great Colorado outdoors have been brought inside. Amazing patios, many times more than one per home, with outdoor fireplaces in many of the homes and the decor that was chosen for the models highlighted the outdoors as well.

My wife came with me on this tour of the BackCounty and she was impressed as well with the emphasis on the beautiful Colorado outdoors. When complete the community itself will be comprised of over 450 acres of open space and trails and also leads to the over 6200 acres of The BackCountry Wilderness.  We both felt that the theme had been played out very well. In addition there were incredible views of the entire front range from so many areas in the BackCountry.  I will be interested to see how that is developed over time once more of the homes are built.

Interestingly,both of our favorite model was one of the first we saw, and featured a “pop-top” design - as it was explained to us – a ranch with a popped top for extra living space upstairs to be used as a loft, study, playroom, whatever.  I found this so intriguing as Denver pop-tops is a very hot term.  In the last 10 years or so plenty of Denver home owners (in Denver) have expanded upwards since they really didn’t have anywhere to go out-wards. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were trying to appeal to the more urban crowd that may be familiar with a pop-top home of their own & that terminology.  In any case, it was impressive.

All in all, we both enjoyed our model home tour at the BackCountry that day.   It was nice to tour leisurely without clients as it was the first time I had been there without a customer, thus I was able to really take my time and look around.

If you are looking for a new home in the Highlands Ranch area and want to consider the homes at BackCountry, I would love to take you on a tour as well.

I just read a quick news story from The Denver Business Journal.  The numbers are out as far as Denver best-selling new home builder sales for the area for 2007.

Stapleton topped the list with 411 new homes under construction last year.  

Highlands Ranch was ranked 2nd with 386 new homes under construction for the year.  Highlands Ranch sales were primarily boosted by the 2007 Back Country release as well as continued sales in The Hearth as well as Tresana and other areas.

Stapleton is a fascinating development and continues to be an area that will grow this year.  Its urban feel in a neighborhood setting, coupled with very close proximity to downtown Denver keeps its growth strong. 

I wasn't surprised that Highlands Ranch was not #1.  Build-out is getting closer and closer and with so much resale inventory on the market in 2007, competition for home buyers between new home sales and resale home sale can be interesting to watch.

The report was released by MetroStudy.  

New Construction in Highlands Ranch – What's left?

If you have lived in Highlands Ranch for any amount of time, you know that the new construction that has been going on for years, is starting to near a close.  And if you are looking to move to Highlands Ranch, if you don't know that yet, you will know.  But there are still options available for those that want to purchase new construction in Highlands Ranch. 

New Construction Homes in Highlands Ranch are now limited to a few areas and house do range a bit in price, although the majority of what is being built now lies more on the higher end of the spectrum.   According to the Highlands Ranch Fact Sheet, build out is not going to be completely finished until 2015, but the areas that are left comprise a much smaller percentage than what was in recent past.  In my mind-this is the home stretch.  Land in Southridge is where you will still see the bulk of new homes going up, but there are still some areas near the border of Eastridge/Northridge as well.  Not only are there options in the realm of single family homes, but condos and town homes are certainly available from new construction in Highlands Ranch as well.

Some people love buying new construction in Highlands Ranch.  And others prefer resale real estate in Highlands Ranch.  Either way, there is something for everyone. 

If you are considering new construction, I would highly recommend you bring a REALTOR® with you on your first visit.  Contrary to the belief of some, it is an excellent idea have a REALTOR in the sale of new construction.  The new construction sales agent will tell you, that you do not need one – however – be forewarned – that sales agent works for the builder, not you!  If you do want your REALTOR® to work for you, you absolutely need to have them register you on your first visit. 

Some think that they may save money if they do not use a REALTOR® when buying new construction, I am going to tell you, that if you have a good real estate professional, this is absolutely not true.  It is not uncommon at all, for a seasoned REALTOR® to be able to save the new home buyer an enormous amount of money – the key is knowing what to ask for and how to negotiate.  I personally worked for one of the larger area homebuilders for several years and I absolutely know where and when its time to negotiate.  I recently saved a new home buyer in Highlands Ranch several thousand dollars, where they were about to pay full asking price on the spec sheet.  Don't make that mistake!  I did write another article back in March of this year that you may also find useful on this topic:  Buyer's Agent in Colorado: Do You Really Need One?

If you would like to consider some of the new construction homes in Highlands Ranch that are currently available, it would be my pleasure to assist you.   

Do you really need a buyer's agent in Colorado?

It isn't unusual for me to get that question when someone is looking at purchasing real estate in Colorado, especially when a buyer is looking at new construction.  But here are the facts.

In most all cases, a buyer does not pay the commission of their buyer's agent.  The seller does. So in the case of the first time home buyer, or out of state relocation, it may be tempting to try and go at it alone or use the listing agent, but that is not always the wisest choice.  First of all, if the seller is paying the commission, then why do all the work yourself and still not be represented in the deal?  Also, who does the listing agent work for?  You got it, the seller and not you!  Most times it is wiser to have an agent solely representing you and your best interest.  Why put yourself through all the brain damage.

Of course we all know that a builder would love for a buyer not to have a buyer's agent.  In the case of new construction, the seller (builder) still pays the buyer agent's commission.  Who do you think the on site agent works for?  And the transaction may be more cut & dry and seem like you may not need one.  However, this is so often not true. 

First of all, there are so many things that can happen that you will need a seasoned professional to help you navigate through – deadlines, options, re-sale considerations and of course the possible construction errors that may likely come up – those are just some examples, there are more.  It is also not set in stone that the home price is the firm price in new builds.  Builders are very good at creating a media frenzy of lotteries, lines and wait lists for new releases.  But the fact of the matter is they are hurting right now and they will negotiate.  You can often negotiate more than the incentives offered by the builders.  You just need to know how to go about it.  It's not as straight forward as it may seem – perhaps you can negotiate on some upgrades, or the lot premium, maybe just have the landscaping thrown in. 

In the end, if you can have professional representation that is usually paid for by the seller, why wouldn't you?  Someone mentioned to me once that they thought that they could do it all themselves and save some money (because the seller wouldn't have to pay a commission.  Which by the way, statistically almost never happens) I told them maybe, and I bet you could also cut your own hair or fill your own teeth! 

What about Views for My New Home? Mountain? City? I get so many home buyers and potential real estate clients in the Denver suburbs asking me to help find them a home with mountain views. Why not? Living in Colorado with such beauty to admire I can't blame them at all. And some even desire that double bonus of the downtown view or city lights. So the search begins. Some people want to buy a new construction home. We go out to the home sales office and find a nice floor plan and then decide on the lot. The buyers want views from their home and the builder shows them lots with views. Along with that come hefty lot premiums, of course. This is where I remind my customers that "views" now may be partially if not mostly blocked in the future as construction progresses. Some lots may not; these you can bet will cost plenty! Sure the sales person tries to paint the picture of better views and such, but even their contract from the home builder (in most cases) it says that you cannot rely on anything that the sales person says regarding these "views". So lets move on to the resale homes with views. Depending on the age and build out of the neighborhood, you can usually see what you get regarding views. However, you may not want to rely on just the pictures taken for the marketing. Actually going out to the house may reveal that the views can only be seen from the upstairs, spare bedroom and by looking to the far right of the window. This is an extreme example, of course. My point is that views may be subjective and not always the great mountain views that you were expecting. Marketing the best features of a home is the job of a listing agent or builder. Sometimes the views are a marketing feature. If there are some "views" but maybe not what you expected, then I'm sure the marketing was not intended to be misleading, just subjective. And sometimes those current views may not reflect what the future holds. You need to take into consideration future construction and even landscaping. Don't assume that the park behind you won't plant some big ol' trees. In many cases they can & they will. There are many different scenarios where views can be blocked and all should be discussed and researched in detail. Pictures and words can portray a wonderful image of any home. Usually they do a great job. However, nothing takes place of actually visiting the home or site with your real estate agent and seeing for yourself and then knowing where to get the research to back that up for the future. Perhaps that is one of the many reasons why the Internet can never take place of an experienced agent…….We'll leave that for another time.