LEAP provides energy assistance to lower home heating costs.
LEAP proporciona asistencia de energía para bajar los gastos de calefacción.
LEAP helps eligible Coloradans pay a portion of their winter home heating costs.
LEAP ayuda a los residentes elegibles de Colorado a pagar una parte de sus gastos de calefacción de invierno.
cdhs.colorado.gov/LEAP
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS NOVEMBER 1 - APRIL 30
ACEPTANDO SOLICITUDES 1 NOVIEMBRE - 30 ABRIL
Happy Thanksgiving! This Is When I Like to Share What and Whom I Am Grateful for
Just being healthy is something anyone should be grateful for, especially at my age of 77. I’m doubly blessed, because my wife Rita, 76, is also healthy! Our siblings, children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and other relatives are healthy, too.
All of us are aware that not everyone is as lucky as we are, so philanthropic giving is a trait I think all of us share, and I know many readers of this column do, too. And our broker associates, who responded as one to sponsoring and providing side dishes for Dignity Tuesday, share that trait, too. Last week, as a group we donated food to Dignity Tuesday for people less fortunate than us . The event took place at Golden Pantry and Thrift, formerly the Christian Action Guild.
this long-running newspaper column. I particularly appreciate those readers who take the time to write to me, suggesting topics they want me to write about or making me aware of an issue that might have escaped my attention. Therefore, I have to say that I’m especially grateful to the publications who have made it possible for me to publish this column so widely.
er demographic that is perfect for this column. Those are my most faithful readers — although some of them object to my progressive views!
stay ahead of the competition.” I couldn’t stay as informed as I am — and keep my readers informed — without Inman in my back pocket. I mean, my inbox!
I’m grateful for Chuck Lontine, the owner of The Cloud, 96.9 FM, who organized Dignity Tuesday, which he started during the pandemic. He is a man with a big heart, and I salute him.
I’m grateful for the community we live in and for the larger metro Denver community. As most of you know, Dec. 10th is Colorado Gives Day, and I recently learned about its origins. It was started in 2010, when it was reported that Colorado was 50th on the list of states when it came to charitable giving. Thanks to the Colorado Gives Foundation, Colorado now ranks at the top of that list.
When thinking about who I’m grateful for, our clients — most of whom came to us from reading this column each week — come to mind immediately. Thank you for calling me, so I don’t have to call you! It is so nice that I don’t have to sell myself to prospective sellers and buyers. They come to me “pre-sold” thanks to
Thank you, Linda Shapley, the publisher of Colorado Community Media, for making it possible for this column to appear is all 24 of your weekly newspapers. And, I should add thanks to the National Trust for Local News and the Colorado Sun, which purchased CCM in 2021 with a commitment to saving community newspapers. If it weren’t for them and their non-profit model, some of those 24 newspapers, including this one, might not be around today.
My first big newspaper contract was with the Rocky Mountain News, when they created the YourHub section in 2005. When the Rocky ceased publishing in 2009, YourHub was the only piece of the Rocky which The Denver Post picked up and promoted. I like to think that my full-page ad 52 times per year might be a factor in justifying YourHub’s continuation. Thank you, The Denver Post, for continuing that publication so that I can continue reaching your readers all across the metro area.
Lastly, in this department, my thanks to Dan Johnson of the Denver Gazette for soliciting my account this October and making an offer I couldn’t refuse to include this full-page ad in your digital newspaper. Typical of printed newspapers, the Gazette has a mature homeown-
Moving, Even Locally, Can Cost You a Lot
At Golden Real Estate, we like to save you money wherever we can. For example, we have a handyman who can help you get your home ready to show or fix inspection issues at the client-only rate of $30/ hour.
We also have a box truck which you can use prior to, during and after closing, not just for moving to your new home, but making those dump runs or runs to Goodwill for donating all that stuff you accumulated over the years! We also provide free moving boxes
and packing material, including bubble wrap, so don’t buy any yourself.
We’ve been offering the use of this truck since 2004. In fact, this is our second truck. It’s hard to estimate how much money we have saved our buyers and sellers, but it must be several hundred thousands of dollars.
We also make the truck available free to nonprofits and local organizations, such as Family Promise and BGoldN, which uses it to do pickups from Food Bank of the Rockies for local food banks.
I’m also grateful to my professional colleagues, especiallyfellow Realtors, who are among my most regular readers. And the Realtor association itself (the Denver Metro Association of Realtors or DMAR) does important work keeping us up to date on industry developments.
Just as important, in that regard, is the Inman News, which provides an endless stream of important email newsletters keeping me abreast of industry developments, innovations and challenges, which sometimes inspire a topic for this column. It describes itself as “the leading real estate news source for real estate agents, Realtors, brokers, real estate executives and real estate technology leaders who need the latest real estate news, insights and analysis to grow their business and
My broker associates, listed below, play an invaluable role in the day-to-day operation of Golden Real Estate. They are wonderfully diverse in their skills and backgrounds, and they help to staff our storefront office in downtown Golden seven days a week. They get wonderful reviews from the past clients, which you can read by clicking on the “Testimonials” tab at www.GoldenRealEstate.com
Here’s a Holiday Gift Giving Idea
Colorado Giving Foundation sells digital “Giving Cards.” Specify the dollar amount and who to send it to, and the recipient can then go to ColoradoGives.org where they can “spend” it as they wish. Give to clients, friends, children, et al. I’m going to make that my holiday giving!
Many Agents Are Taking a Continuing Education Class That Will Be Obsolete on January 1st
All licensed real estate professionals in Colorado are required to take the Annual Commission Update (ACU) class as part of their continuing education requirement to stay licensed.
The class can be taken at any time during the calendar year, with a new version introduced each January.
At Golden Real Estate, I incentivize our broker associates by reimbursing the $40 cost of the 4-hour class if they take it in January. It can be taken either online or in-person. That’s how important I think it is to be current on the everevolving rules that we must comply with and to learn about the latest revisions to the contract forms we must use.
Many licensees, however, don’t take this CE class until the last minute. I asked some of the major providers of the course for their enrollment figures to see how many licensees wait until the 4th quarter to take the class.
One of the biggest providers of CE classes is DMAR’s PEAK program, and Lisa Kallweit, DMAR’s director of member services, couldn’t give me this quarter’s enrollment numbers, but provided these numbers for the 4th quarter of the last three years.
2021 - 429 agents
2022 - 372 agents
2023 - 331 agents
Another big provider is Educated Minds. They have 393 agents enrolled so far this quarter and reported these numbers for the past three years:
2021 - 802 agents
2022 - 719 agents
2023 - 652 agents
It seems such a waste to take the ACU class at the end of the year, when the new ACU class is coming in January. Also, how many things did agents learn in December that they should have known 10 months earlier?
Golden Real Estate’s Broker Associates
David Dlugasch
303-908-4835
Joined us in 2014
Licensed in 2001
Jim Swanson
303-929-2727
Joined us in 2008
Licensed in 2000
Chuck Brown
303-885-7855
Joined us in 2014
Licensed in 2000
the years. For example, a sunroom was added over the back of the garage (visible in this picture) which is open to the kitchen and which opens to a deck with stairs down to a wood deck in the backyard. All the rooms have either hardwood or manufactured hardwood
sunset from the deck outside the front door next to the garage. Video tour and pictures at www.ArvadaHome.info. Open Saturday 11am to 1pm.
Greg Kraft
720-353-1922
Joined us in 2022
Licensed in 1982
Kathy Jonke
303-990-7428
Joined us in 2023
Licensed in 2002
Don’t be misled by our name. Our agents have listed homes throughout the Denver Metro area and helped clients buy homes and other real estate all over Colorado!
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