Robin Smith and her growing family were ready to move on from their two-bedroom apartment near downtown Denver. So they placed a generous offer on a four-bedroom house in Arvada. “We made an offer $10,000 over the asking price, and found out there were 32 offers on the home over a weekend,” Smith recalled. The house sold for $23,000 over asking price. “That’s pretty much how our search went, 100 houses later,” said Smith. Heading into the peak home-selling season, many prospective buyers like the Smiths are frustrated. Intense demand for a historically limited supply of homes has led to bidding wars that are driving prices out of reach for many.
Click here to Read More Buying a home in metro Denver can be a frustrating experience. With the influx of people to the state, limited number of homes for sale, and investors gobbling up properties to convert to rentals, it's not uncommon for a home to receive dozens of offers as soon as it hits the market. Kevin Risen, executive vice president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage of Colorado, one of the biggest real estate companies in the state, has a few tips. He's been selling homes in Denver since 1978. Risen spoke with Colorado Matters host Ryan Warner. Try paying both commissions According to Risen, offering to pay both the buyer's and seller's commissions, but only offering the asking price on the home, can be a successful strategy. That may be more comforting to a seller than an artificially high bid. Click here to Read More People in Chicago’s metro area spend an average of 31 minutes commuting to work. That’s a slower commute than the national average of 26 minutes. But 11.8 percent of commuters here take public transportation. And that’s higher than the national average of 5.2 percent. Those numbers — stats reflective of the “Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI” metro area — appear in a new Associated Press report on commuting in America. RELATED: Fear of longer commutes puts pressure on US cities to act Transportation experts warn that increases in population and freight volume could lead to daily traffic jams the likes of which we only see now on major holidays. “If we don’t change, in 2045, the transportation system that powered our rise as a nation will instead slow us down,” the Department of Transportation said in a report earlier this year titled, “Beyond Traffic.” In Chicago’s metro area, 71.1 percent of commuters drive and 8 percent carpool, the AP reported. Joe Schwieterman, director of DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, said the Chicago area has been “notoriously slow” in using tolls on local expressways to change drivers’ behavior. For example, toll prices could be increased during peak travel times in an effort to dissuade motorists from using the expressways unnecessarily during rush hour. The Chicago area could most easily boost its public transportation options, Schwieterman said, by increasing the frequency of its trains and buses and by “getting in the game for express bus service in a big way.” Click here to Read More CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s not often you hear a preference for Iowa’s landscape to Colorado’s rocky mountains. But if you’re looking through local artist Fred Easker’s eyes, or at least at one of his paintings, you might see where he’s coming from.
Easker, whose 44-year-old son lives in Denver, said Colorado has an “interesting landscape” but not as interesting as “what we have here.” “It takes a while to get to know a place,” he said. He’s been getting to know Eastern Iowa for the past 70 years. He was born and raised in Cedar Rapids and has remained ever since. The subjects of his paintings are what he thinks many Iowans take for granted — gentle, rolling prairie, acres of farmland and rural roads, flowing creeks and rivers winding throughout. Iowa’s landscape “has a music to it. It’s very rhythmical and it has it’s own energy, even though it may not be apparent,” he said. “But I think that’s kind of my job, to bring some of that out because that’s how I feel about it.” Easker is a full-time artist and is far from starving: His paintings, which are priced at $8 per square inch, can be found all over the country and internationally. Closer to home, he currently has work in galleries here in Cedar Rapids as well as Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Tulsa and Des Moines. His long list of commissioned work includes a piece for the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids and one for the civic building in Ottumwa, which houses his largest painting to date, at 36 by 150 inches. “I’ve been really fortunate that what I’m interested in doing, there are people interested in buying it ... It’s very gratifying to do work that people find interesting enough to pay for,” he said. The key to being a successful artist, he said, is putting your heart into it because otherwise “it’s not going to be much fun.” Before committing all his time to painting, though, Easker held a variety of other positions including teaching at Linn-Mar Community Schools for seven years, working at the Cedar Rapids Art Center (now the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art) for three years and serving as a volunteer with the Granger House in Marion for 15 years, the last five of which he served as the paid director. He’s dabbled in a number of different kinds of art, as well — such as stained glass and a brief stint with woodworking — but ultimately stuck with oil painting, mostly because of the “rich colors” the oil paint provides. He was first inspired by Iowa’s landscape while commuting from Cedar Rapids to the University of Iowa for art history classes in 1990. Click here to Read More The Longmont Dairy Farm, a family owned milk delivery business based in Longmont, is celebrating its 50th year of service in 2015. It all started with a small processing plant behind a house on Coffman Street, a small dairy herd and one old milk truck. Today more than 20,000 customers between Loveland and Parker get their milk each week from the business, which is still headquartered on Coffman Street. We sat down with Katie Herrmann, who with her brother Dan is the third generation to work in the family business. Katie became a co-owner in January. 1. So the cows. They aren't here on Coffman Street. Where are all the cows? The cows are in Loveland, by Johnson's Corner. We have a more than 400 cows now, our own cows. So all our milk is from our own cows, which is unique these days. We send out over 30,000 gallons a week. 2. That's a lot of milk. I've got to think 30,000 gallons a week means that business is good? It's good. It's going well. We're steadily growing. We're continuing to expand our footprint a little bit. We do quite a bit of the Denver metro area. We go from Loveland to Parker and Highlands Ranch and of course all of Boulder County. We don't do downtown Denver, but we do everything that surrounds it, and all the suburbs. 3. How did you get to where you are today, a co-owner of the family business? In 1965 my grandfather Jim Boyd started the business. In 1988 my mom and step dad Susan and David Boyd took over the business. They have been running it since then. And then Dan Boyd, my brother, and I came back here after doing our different careers, we came back in 2010 and started working here and in January of this year Dan and I became co-owners. So there are four co-owners of the business, Susan, David, Dan and myself. We do milk and make our own chocolate milk, we do two flavors of protein milk, also half & half and whipping cream. We also carry some products from other vendors, like with cheese and yogurt. We have around 75 employees. 4. How do you stay successful? People can buy milk at any grocery store, 7/11, just about anywhere. We compete with a lot of different types of business, so we always need to make sure we do the best that we can do. Some of the ways we are different from others is we use glass bottles, and we reuse them so we're recycling all the time. Our customers say the milk tastes better in glass bottles. We have our own cows, so we can really control the quality of our milk. We control everything from start to finish. Click here to Read More AURORA, Colo. — An Aurora neighborhood was hit hard after an EF1 tornado came through Wednesday evening
Part of one house’s metal awning were bent back like cartoon figures. A day after the storm, neighbors came together to help each other out in a neighborhood at 10th and Elmira. Chris Lopez brought out his bobcat for the first time since buying it a couple of years ago, using the machine’s strength to take down tree limbs snapped in Wednesday’s storm. Alexis Quintana watched as hail pounded her Aurora home. “It was scary, it didn`t even get dark.. like it is supposed to get dark, there was no warning it was about to touch down.. it was just — whoosh. And from there we just ran inside,” said Alexis Quintana. The June storm of 2015 is something everyone on this block will be talking about for a lifetime. “That one time, that a tornado landed in Aurora, Colorado and guess where it landed?” said Kim O’Brien. “My house.” Kim O’Brien’s now laughing at what could only be described as a few terrifying minutes of her life. She was hiding in the bathroom when the tornado came through. “I heard ripping, and things crashing,” said O’Brien. All while she was on the phone with her mother. Click here to Read More ATHENS — For investors around the world looking at Greece, there was but one question Sunday: What is going to happen when the markets open? On Sunday night, the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, said in a televised address that Greece’s banks and stock market would be closed on Monday, as Athens tries to avert a financial collapse. But the question of what happens when the markets do open is particularly acute for the hedge fund investors — including luminaries like David Einhorn and John Paulson — who have collectively poured more than 10 billion euros, or $11 billion, into Greek government bonds, bank stocks and a slew of other investments. Through the weekend, Nicholas L. Papapolitis, a corporate lawyer here, was working round the clock comforting and cajoling his frantic hedge fund clients. “People are freaking out,” said Mr. Papapolitis, 32, his eyes red and his voice hoarse. “They have made some really big bets on Greece. Continue reading the main storyRELATED COVERAGE
But there is no getting around the truth of the matter, he said. Without a deal with its European creditors, the country will default and Greek stocks and bonds will tank when the markets open. Click here to Read More For prospective tenants, the wraparound terrace is the highlight of the $60 million renovation under way at 437 Madison Ave. Leasing agents for the 40-story office tower take visitors on a tour beneath custom-built canopies, where they can take in the lush greenery of trees and ornamental grasses and check out the outdoor conference area and wet bar. They can even peer over the glass-and-metal railing and catch a dizzying glimpse of the street below and a view of St. Patrick’s Cathedral across the way. Actually, the $6 million “Sky Lounge” won’t be finished until next year, but Sage Realty Corp. isn’t letting construction hinder renting space in the 850,000-square-foot building. The leasing agents are simply giving virtual-reality tours: Each visitor sits in the marketing office, outfitted with headgear that is coupled with interactive 3-D modeling software. “I can take you out there right now and you can see the views, but you can’t experience the finishes,” said Jonathan Kaufman Iger, chief executive of Sage, which is managing and leasing the building owned by its parent company, The William Kaufman Organization. “You want to see the seating, the plantings.” Click here to Read More $6,202,500 Advocare of Bradenton LLC, Mosca Daniel D, Advocare Charitable Remainder Trust to Manatee River Real Property LLC, Gates Estates Manatee Hotel, O.R. Book 02574 Page 2397, June 18.
$5,850,000 Value Self Storage at University Square, Having to 3265 University Parkway Storage 18 Fl LLC, 0, O.R. Book 02574 Page 2056, June 18. $1,875,000 Kamco Properties LLC to 3604 84Th Avenue LLC, University Commons Commercial Center West, Unit 1, O.R. Book 02573 Page 6547, June 16. $1,800,000 Alvarez Wilson, Alvarez Daihanna V to Echo Crossings Associates LLC, Lakewood Ranch Country Club Village, O.R. Book 02573 Page 6651, June 16. $1,695,000 McClure Properties Ltd to Neal Communities of Southwest Florida LLC, Pt 21-35-18, O.R. Book 02574 Page 3616, June 19. $1,553,805 SLV II CCE Venture LP to Cardel Homes USLP, Country Club East at Lakewood Ranch, O.R. Book 02573 Page 6985, June 16. $1,400,000 Barry Thomas K, Barry Susan M to Verola Nicholas W, Verola Sandra L, Lot 8 Shore Acres, O.R. Book 02574 Page 4006, June 19. $1,350,000 TD Bank, Mercantile Bank, Carolina First Bank, Florida Bank to Real Estate Parking Company, Pt 30-35-18, O.R. Book 02574 Page 3969, June 19. $1,050,000 H and B Corporation of Pinellas, H and B Corporation of Pinellas Inc to Astro Skating Center of Bradenton LLC, Pt 02-35-17, O.R. Book 02573 Page 5305, June 15. $1,050,000 Ludwig Dwayne L, Ludwig Elizabeth M to Christy Alexander C Jr, Christy Jill L, Lot 2 Blk 12 Holmes Beach, O.R. Book 02573 Page 5844, June 15. Click Here to Read more Bill Freeman reported nearly as much in annual income on his most recent tax return as all of his mayoral opponents did combined, according to a review of finances conducted by The Tennessean. Freeman, co-founder of Freeman Webb Co., which manages apartment properties, reported an adjusted gross income of $2,412,451 last year — 21/2 times more than business executive Linda Eskind Rebrovick, whose $962,883 adjusted income in 2013 is second highest among the seven Nashville mayoral candidates. In a push for transparency, The Tennessean asked June 2 for all candidates' most recent personal tax returns, a list of sources of income — including investments — as well as involvement in and financial donations to nonprofit organizations. Much of this information — not the tax returns and net worth statements, however — was made public through filings with the Tennessee Ethics Commission this past week. Click here to Read More |
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