Gina,
I really enjoyed working with you on the sale of my house in the Lighthouse. Gina, I know it took a long time to sell but I could not have chosen a worse time to put it on the market, just as the housing market was crashing. There are a few things I would like to mention that I appreciated in the showing process and the actual sale. First, the Perry & Co. team that supports you was wonderful. They always gave me a heads up when someone was coming to see the house and then followed up with the feedback. You kept reminding me that it is important to keep the feedback in perspective. You provided me with helpful hints in preparing the house to show.
Some people seem to think that open houses are the answer. Even though you held open houses occasionally none of the people who demonstrated real interest in the house came from an open house. So even though it seems important, I think it is more important to have the brokers come by and see it so they can sell it to their prospects.
Gina, you really do know and understand the benefits the Lighthouse at The Breakers neighborhood offers. That was a huge plus when speaking with prospects. When we finally got an offer, you handled all the details so I didn’t worry about anything. You gave me the options and your opinions when I asked but you did not push me into anything and supported the decisions I made. It made for an easy closing. Throughout the entire process, from listing to final sale, you were always available and so positive.
Thank you.
Sonjia Kurzepa
Filed under: Denver Colorado Real Estate, Home Selling, Leading Real Estate Companies, Perry & Co. Agents, Perry & Co. Services | Leave a Comment
Tags: Denver Colorado Real Estate, Denver Neighborhoods, Denver Real Estate, Gina Cornelison, Home Selling, Letters of Commendation, Lighthouse, Perry & Co, Positive Attitude
USDA Rural Development Business Grant & Loan Eligibility
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers programs that help spur business activity as well as provide affordable financing for those who live in rural areas. These programs are no longer known as farmer’s loans. Since the expansion of the program, over 50 million Americans live in areas that are considered rural by the USDA.
While Denver doesn’t qualify as a rural area, there are many surrounding areas and suburbs that fall under the qualifications of the USDA rural development program. These areas can easily be found on the USDA’s Eligibility Map.
Business Grants and Loans
The USDA is the leading advocate for rural communities and private enterprises. The USDA’s mission is to support rural communities and enhance the quality of life for rural residents through providing economic opportunities, community infrastructure, increasing environmental health, as well as sustaining agriculture production.
The way the USDA provides these opportunities is through their Rural Development Program. Under the program, small business owners are given the opportunity to gain educational training, technical assistance, and tools to start small businesses.
There are different types of grants and loans available to small businesses owners, which means doing your research is necessary. The USDA offers a complete listing of their business grants and loans on their website, which is a great resource.
Home Loans
The USDA Rural Development Program isn’t specifically for businesses, but for the whole rural community. The USDA offers home loans through the Department of Rural Development to help homebuyers purchase homes in rural areas. The department offers three separate programs, the Guaranteed Loan program, the Direct Loan program, and the Mutual Self-Help Housing program, each of which allows prospective homebuyers to secure financing without a down payment.
What are the Benefits of a USDA Loan?
In addition to not requiring a down payment for qualified borrowers, a USDA home loan is a popular choice due to:
- Lenient eligibility requirements
- No private mortgage insurance
- Attractive interest rates
What is the Differences Between the Loans?
The USDA home loan is specifically designed to help those who would like to live in rural areas, and the department offers three different loans to meet the needs of varying individuals.
- Mutual Self-Help Housing Loan
The Mutual Self-Help Housing Loans is forvery low to low-income households wishing to build their homes in a rural area. This is for those unable to purchase safe housing in a region, and house in the program help each other complete 65 percent of the construction of each other’s homes. This program is funded directly through the USDA.
- Direct Housing Loan
The Direct Housing Loan is also for very low to low-income households, but is designed to allow low-income individuals purchase a home within their means as opposed to building one. This program is also funded directly through the USDA.
- Guaranteed Housing Loan
The Guaranteed Housing Loan is for borrowers who are more financially stable, which makes this is the most common USDA loan. Those eligible for this type of loan are allowed to have an income of 115 percent of the area’s median household income. This program is funded through any lending institution certified to handle USDA loans.
Who is Eligible?
Many prospective applicants who hear of the USDA Rural Development program assume they are not eligible believing the program was designed solely for rural living. While the program does cater to rural areas, there are thousands of citizens that are eligible for the program. In fact, of the 50 million individuals eligible for the program in 2010, only 150,000 only took advantage of it. Determining eligibility can be done easily through talking to a USDA Home Loan Specialist or by contacting the USDA for business loans and grants.
Because the USDA Rural Development Program is designed to benefit moderate to low income households in rural areas, the program has some very lax eligibility requirements. In order to secure a USDA home loan, interested borrowers must:
- Be purchasing a home in an eligible area
- Be able to pay monthly mortgage payments
Although the USDA home loan program does have lenient eligibility requirements, prospective borrowers will still need to have a reasonable credit score of 620 in order to obtain financing. All interested in the program are encouraged to ask their local realtor for a listing of USDA homes and to submit an application with an approved lender.
Written by Matt Polsky – a mortgage commentator associated with USDALoans.com, a company dedicated to the development of rural areas.
Filed under: Denver Colorado Real Estate, Denver News & Things of Interest | Leave a Comment
Tags: Denver Colorado Real Estate, Denver Real Estate, Loans, Matt Polsky, Rural Development, United States Department of Agriculture, USDA
The good folks at Pineapple Interiors recently showed a group of Perry & Co. Denver, Colorado Realtors why it’s important to dress your home for success.
Recently we had the pleasure of reconnecting with the owners of Pineapple Interiors, a home-staging and furniture leasing company that serves the Denver Metropolitan area. We had seen their work firsthand several years ago when we asked them to “stage” our Denver headquarters meeting room for a group of Realtors. Our couches and chairs, side tables and plants were moved and “dressed up” with their accessories to create a warm and welcoming space. It did seem like magic! Last week, Shelley Brouwer, owner and designer, came to our Greenwood Village office to tell us about the difference between staged homes and un-staged homes. We chatted before the meeting began. As usual, Shelley walks her talk – she was dressed professionally, and had her facts and figures at hand along with sleek, promotional materials to leave behind. We were eager to hear the entire presentation, and Shelley said we’d start as soon as her business partner arrived.
Tammie O’Brien, the above mentioned business partner, waltzed in a few minutes later. Tammie clearly had been in a rush to get to the meeting: her hair was thrown up in a messy pony tail, she was wearing a large, baggy Pink Floyd t-shirt with a pair of jeans and flip flops. She looked like she’d come from working in her garden. At the time, we didn’t realize that everyone was equally shocked by her appearance.
Shelley smiled and began to explain. She, of course, was exhibiting herself as the “staged” home: she’d spent time on her hair and make-up, carefully selecting an outfit to present to our group and bringing the materials. Tammie represented the un-staged home, wearing her husband’s favorite band t-shirt, a pair of old jeans and her oldest pair of worn flip flops! She explained they had wanted us to see and feel how differently our impressions would be based on outward appearance. Boy – did we get it!
In addition to how one feels when presented with staged home, the designers had hard facts to support how important it is to stage a home in today’s real estate market. The statistics were compelling: national average days-on-market (an industry standard) with a staged home is 1.35 months versus homes without staging at 10.4 months! The cost savings of a faster sale on average can be over $25,000. Here in Denver, homes staged by Pineapple Interiors sell, on average, in less than half the time as the city-wide average of 100 days. They recommend staging before professional photos are taken on a home because 9 out of 10 buyers started with home-buying search on the Internet, then they decide on which homes to visit. You want your home staged in the photos to maximize its assets and result in a showing. Home staging costs vary on the number of rooms that are staged and whether sellers use their own furnishings or want Pineapple to provide and whether or not the home is vacant. Staging, Shelley Brouer concluded, almost always costs less than a price reduction. For more information about staging, contact your Perry & Co. Realtor or go to pineappleinteriors.net to see some staged examples of sold homes!
Written by Perry & Co. Vice President of Marketing Lorrie Grillo.
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Tags: Denver, Home Staging, Lorrie Grillo, Perry & Co, Tammie O'Brien
Perry & Co. Launches Its 40th Anniversary Celebration At The 2011 Denver Botanic Gardens Plant Sale
Perry & Co. Realtors officially launched its 40th Anniversary celebration at last night’s Preview Party for the Denver Botanic Gardens’ Plant Sale. “Celebrating Forty Years Of Extraordinary Customer Service To Our Real Estate Clients.”
“We thought it was fitting to start our 40th Anniversary celebrations at the Gardens, a special place for all of us at Perry & Co.,” said R. Don Larrance, CEO. Perry & Co. has been a sponsor of programs at the Denver Botanic Gardens for over a decade, and has hosted most of their client appreciation parties in the Gardens over the years. This is the second year in a row that Perry & Co. has sponsored the Plant Sale. The company is hosting a booth and giving away special seeded bookmarks with the company’s 40th Anniversary logo to visitors.
The company was started in 1971 when four real estate and insurance agents – Ken Perry, Don Larrance, Ed Talmadge and Ken Grunwald — split off from Bishop-Perry & Co. to continue doing business in Denver, while the rest of the company relocated to do business in Vail. The original downtown office was moved to Cherry Creek in 1976 and continues to be the headquarters for the company’s 65 agents, who work there and in Perry & Co.’s satellite retail showcase offices in Cherry Creek North and Greenwood Village.
Today Don Larrance is the sole proprietor of the company and has kept it locally-owned and privately-held since its establishment. In 2002, Don’s son, Jon Larrance, came into the company to upgrade the company’s website and overall technology. Today, Jon is the company’s COO & Relocation Director as well as keeping an eye on the company’s technology. “I certainly was approached over the years to sell, but I never found the right fit for our agents. I never found an offer that would continue our family-like culture,” said Don. “Now, with Jon at the company, not only is there our family-like culture to sustain, but a legacy, too. I’m proud of that.”
Asked the biggest difference to doing real estate today versus 40 years ago, Don Larrance said, “Paperwork!” He recalls that the contract to buy and sell real estate was one page long and the closing documents included one settlement sheet. Rules and regulations over the past 40 years have changed the process of buying and selling real estate but it’s the Internet that has dramatically changed how homes are marketed. The one thing that hasn’t changed? “Our desire to help people buy and sell homes. Real estate will always be about a relationship of trust between agent and client. I’m proud that our agents have their clients’ interests at the center of their business and that hasn’t changed at Perry & Co. in 40 years,” said Larrance.
Visitors to the Gardens over the Plant Sale weekend are invited to stop by the Perry & Co. booth, staged as an outdoor room, to meet an agent, share a story and pick up a seeded bookmark along with new plants for their garden.
For more information about Perry & Co. go to www.perryandco.com or call 303.399.7777. For stories about our 40 year history follow our blog and our Facebook Fanpage!
Filed under: Denver Colorado Real Estate, Denver News & Things of Interest, Leading Real Estate Companies, Perry & Co. Events, Relocation Services | 5 Comments
Tags: 40th Anniversary, Brooke Granville, Cindy Webb, Denver Colorado Real Estate, Denver Real Estate, Don Larrance, Jon Larrance, Katie Thomas, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Lorrie Grillo, Mary Sullivan-Ridge, Perry & Co, Relocation
R. Don Larrance CEO of Perry & Co. Is Honored by the National Association of Realtors®
R. Don Larrance, CEO of Perry & Co. was honored today for his 40 Plus years of consecutive membership in the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) with a surprise celebration at the company’s weekly sales meeting. Barbara Lambert, CEO of the Denver Board of Realtors made the announcement and presented Don with congratulations, appreciation and a 40-year pin from Vicki Cox Golder, 2010 President of the National Association of Realtors®. For his 40 Plus years of membership, Don becomes a Realtor Emeritus, a high honor not often bestowed by the NAR.
“We are keenly aware that the long and faithful service, for which you are being honored, reflects myriad effort and activities on behalf of the Association or Associations of Realtors® of which you have been a member,” said Golder, in her congratulatory letter. Don has been an active member of the Denver Board and NAR from the beginning. Over the years, he has been the President of the Denver Board of Realtors®, Senior Vice President of the Institute of Real Estate Management, where he also served as a teacher for 15 years, and a Colorado Association of Realtors‘® Director. In addition to these positions he’s also continued to serve on a variety of committees while building his own real estate practice and his local company, as President and Managing Broker of Perry & Co. Real Estate. He has been honored for this work by receiving the Denver Board of Realtors‘ 1998 Realtor® of the Year Award, as well as, their Broker/Manager of the Year in 2004.
In typical fashion, Don told the assembled brokers that being honored for 40 years of consecutive membership was really all about them – for without the Perry & Co. staff and Realtors he wouldn’t have worked to build and sustain the independent company.
Click here to read more about Don Larrance’s almost 50 years in real estate on InsideRealEstateNews.com.
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Perry & Co. is a locally-owned, privately-held real estate company serving metropolitan Denver with three offices and 65 agents, in Cherry Creek North, Cherry Creek East and Greenwood Village. It is a proud member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World.
Filed under: Denver Colorado Real Estate, Denver News & Things of Interest, Leading Real Estate Companies, Who's Who In Luxury Real Estate | 1 Comment
Tags: Colorado Association of Realtors, Denver Board of Realtors, Denver Colorado Real Estate, Denver Real Estate, Don Larrance, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, National Association of Realtors, Perry & Co, Realtor Emeritus
Perry & Co. Is Presenting Sponsor For 2011 Denver Botanic Gardens Plant Sale
Perry & Co. Real Estate Professionals is the Presenting Sponsor for the Denver Botanic Gardens Plant Sale – called “Regional Roots” – for the second year in a row.
“Last year we found that working with the Gardens on this sale was a perfect fit for our agents and their clients,” said Don Larrance, CEO of Perry & Co. Don, a former DBG Board Member has always believed in the important programs the Gardens bring to the metro area; Perry & Co. sponsored the Birdhaus Bash for a decade before.
This year’s sale will take place on Friday, May 6, from 8:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 7, from 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. “One of the great things our sponsorship pays for is the free admission to this event – it’s a great support to the community as a whole. Plus, all proceeds go towards the Gardens’ education programs,” Larrance said. “We are extremely grateful to our sponsors and partners. Perry & Co is a terrific Presenting Sponsor, and the generosity of all of our partners makes this event possible,” said Mary Snyders, Corporate Partnership Manager at Denver Botanic Gardens.
The Sale will feature rare and unusual plants that are suited for diverse landscape conditions. Overall, more than 85,000 of the very best plants to grow in the Rocky Mountain region will be offered, including perennials, annuals, water-smart plants, herbs, vegetables, rock alpine plants and much more. The always-popular Grown at the Gardens plant offerings will once again be featured during this sale. Pre-packaged kits will be available for urban dwellers interested in growing a variety of plants in their own container gardens.
This year’s sale takes place on National Public Gardens Day – a national day of awareness in which communities nationwide are invited to visit and learn about the important role public gardens play in promoting environmental stewardship and awareness, plant and water conservation, and education.
Admission to the Sale is FREE and all proceeds benefit education programs at the Gardens. Members receive 10 percent off all purchases!
Also join us for the Plant Sale Preview Party:
Thursday, May 5, from 4-7 p.m.
$50 at the door
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Tags: Denver, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Real Estate, Don Larrance, Perry & Co