Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: January 6, 2006

Colorado Springs Business Journal, Jan 6, 2006 by Becky Hurley

The COPT Real Estate Investment Trust has purchased two Interquest Office Park buildings containing 113,000 square feet. The single-story buildings are at 9950 and 9960 Federal Drive.George Swintz, vice president, said the company will continue to build its portfolio and expects to establish critical mass along the city's north Interstate 25 corridor as well as near Peterson and Schriever Air Force bases.The company owns five Class A buildings and more than 190 acres of land.

Fidelity weighs inAt least 10 of Fidelity Real Estate Group's tenants renewed leases during the fourth quarter of 2005, including M.D. Painting, Helm Surgical Systems LLC, Stryker Orthopedics, Meeker Music, J.C. Builders, Rey Sandoval, Bill's Flowers and CMH Transmissions. The company also reported closing the sale of a 7,200-square-foot office building at 3625 Betty Drive. New owners, Craig and Antoinette Seiler, paid $640,000 and were represented by Buddy Rutherford. The seller, Eatertainment LLC, was represented by Christian Gile of Cameron/Butcher Commercial Real Estate.Fidelity deals finalized before Dec. 31 included a 1,940- square-foot retail lease to Clarion Mortgage at 4440 Barnes Road, Suite 100. The tenant was represented by Cliff Snyder. The building's owner is the John J. Gogian Revocable Trust.Bill Perry represented the tenant, S&S Bachman Ltd., on the lease of 2,800 square feet of retail space at 110 N. Tejon St. The company is best known for its Old Colorado City jewelry and clothing store, the Guinea Pigg. Delight Properties owns the building.Cascade adds tenantTed Link and Brian Norton represented the landlord, Homburg Realty Services, on the lease of 2,962 square feet of office space to Aspen Dental Associates P.C. The tenant was represented by Mark O'Donnell of Hoff & Leigh.Re/Max recognizedRe/Max International has been named the country's top real estate franchise and the eighth top franchise overall, according to Entrepreneur Magazine's 27th Franchise 500 survey. The international brokerage also ranked ninth on the top global franchises list, 11th among fastest-growing franchises and fourth among top low-cost franchises. Five Re/Max residential real estate companies operate in El Paso and Teller counties, including Re/Max Allstars, Re/Max Connections, Re/Max Properties, Re/Max Partners, and the Re/Max Real Estate Group. Prudential expands A.J. and Lenore Hotchkiss, broker/owners of Prudential Professional Realtors have opened a 10,000-square-foot building at 240 E. Highway 24 in Woodland Park. With 28 broker associates, Prudential Professional Realtors is one of the largest real estate companies in Teller County.Fascinating '06 projectionsHousing forecasts from the National Association of Realtors, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Homebuilders came across the desk last week. Here are a few highlights from the economic crystal ball gazers at each organization:*David Lereah, the NAR's chief economist, said existing home sales will hit 6.86 million - down slightly from 7.11 million sales in 2005. New home sales will reach 1.24 million, decreasing from 1.3 million last year. He also noted that housing starts will fall 4.7 percent to 1.97 million. These decreases, however, don't seem to be deterring price appreciation. Lereah projects the median cost of an existing home will rise to $219,000, up 4.8 percent compared to last year's $208,100 figure. New homes will rise to a median price of $247,000, up 7 percent from 2005.*MBA economist Doug Duncan sees similar decreases in existing and new home transactions. He predicted 30-year fixed rate mortgages will reach 6.6 percent by the end of 2006. He also sees continued price appreciation, and predicts median new home prices will rise 4.9 percent. Mortgage originations across the board could drop almost 19 percent to $2.26 trillion in 2006, but that's still up more than 29 percent compared to 2005 projections of $1.6 trillion in new loan originations.*Finally, NAHB chief economist David Seiders stood by a forecast issued jointly by the NAHB and Wells Fargo in the Housing Market Index for November 2005. Seiders said, It's likely that an orderly cooling process will lead to somewhat lower home sales and production. The experts estimated that new housing starts would stall at 1.94 million, down slightly more than 5 percent from 2.05 million in 2005.In Colorado Springs, the picture remains bright. The median home sales price rose more than 11 percent from the end of 2004 to Dec. 31, 2005 - increasing from $189,900 to $212,850. Transactions were up 10.5 percent compared to last year, from 11,746 to 13,124 closed sales for the 12-month period.Pinter represents seller On the recent sale of the 20,000-square-foot former Bossanova Skating Rink, the owner, the Bishop family, was represented by Gene Pinter of Keller Williams Real Estate.