I have come across a new way to look at the Durango real estate state of the current market. This analysis is done by $100,000 increments all the way up to $1 million and then by $500,000 increments after that. As you can see by the chart below we have the number of currently active listings in the County (so this would include Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio, both in town and out of town). The next calendar shows how many properties are currently under contract (buyer and seller have come to terms and have signed the sales contract) in the last column shows how many units have sold during the month of January of 2012 by price category as well.

Granted, one month’s worth of sales is a small sample so we will have to look at this over time, but it is certainly an interesting start in 2012 and a feature that I will try and bring to you every month. Notice that the vast majority of the sales occurred in just three price ranges. Frankly, I was a little surprised by the high number of sales in the $400,000-$500,000 price bracket; but I was especially surprised by the low number of units sold in the $300,000-$400,000 price range. This table also shows that there were only three sales above $600,000 in the month of January this year. We’ll have to see how that number changes as the year progresses.

If you would like help in searching for real estate in the Durango area or perhaps we could set you up in what we call our “auto notification” system that will send you listings that meet your specific criteria the very moment they hit the MLS system. This is well before properties get onto Realtor.com or the other “aggregator” type of sites such as Zillow, or Trulia. Our Team Lorenz members are certainly here to give you assistance. Please give us a call for all your Durango real estate needs.

The CyberStars are an elite group of technology savvy Realtors from across North America. There are about 225 of us in total. It is a by-invitation-only group and contains leading real estate brokers from their individual marketplaces. Once a year we get together at our own convention to share ideas, learn new technologies, improve existing systems and technologies. It is also a time to increase our networking and referral business. This was my 10th year in the group and in all that time I’ve only missed one conference. It is easily the highlight of my continuing education.

This year approximately 140 of us met for three days in Fort Worth, Texas. On the opening evening, we had best-selling author and real estate trend prognosticator Stefan Swanepeol give a very engaging presentation regarding skills to master for business and life. Having lived in the Serengeti in Africa for a number of years, he related the various skills to seven different animals that are indigenous to the Serengeti. He has written a book, Surviving Your Serengeti, which has been on numerous bestseller lists across the country. The next day he keynoted our group with is very insightful predictions of where he sees real estate industry going in the next several years. He was particularly impressed by the complete connectivity that the younger generation is enjoying and expecting to be expanded upon. IPads, iPhones, Facebook, and Twitter are just really the tip of the iceberg as to where he thinks we will end up. It is up to me to decide if I want to stand in front of that change and embrace it or stand in front of it and get run over! Here is a link to more information on Stefan  http://www.serengetibook.com/business-book/about-swanepoel/

Over the years I’ve developed many friendships with the CyberStars from around the country so it is more than just real estate at this conference. One person is having extreme difficulty with being overweight and the struggle to lose that weight. With the huge improvement I’ve seen in my medical condition this last year, I offered to be an accountability partner for this person because progress is seen in little tiny steps… While often what we want is to be able to run in long strides. And that could be a recipe for failure.

If you are an existing client hopefully you will see some changes in the way we do business over the next year. If you are not yet a client of Team Lorenz, I hope that you will become one so that we can better help you in your search for Durango real estate.