Bandwagon
For 15 years Golden Real Estate has been almost the only brokerage which does live-action video tours of its listings. Other brokerages make use of the “virtual tour” field in the MLS for videos that are nothing more than slideshows with music or Matterport tours which are interactive but miss the vital ingredient of a live action video tour — narration such as you’d get if you were walking through the house with the listing agent.
points of each room. To get a feel for this kind of video tour, go online to www.GRElistings.com and click on any one of our listings to watch the narrated video tour.
Our video tours are designed to simulate a live showing. As such, the video starts on the street, with me (or a broker associate) introducing the listing and perhaps showing the street scene. “Now let’s go inside and check out this home.”
Cut to the foyer and a walk through of the home, speaking as we go. “Notice the hardwood floors…. That’s a woodburning fireplace…. See the skylight in the vaulted ceiling…. These are Corian countertops…. The high efficiency washer and dryer are included…. Notice the mountain view out the kitchen window….” You get the idea.
No slideshow with music can compete with a narrated walk-through with the listing agent pointing out the selling
What makes this the right time for listing agents from other brokerages begin producing narrated video tours is the NAR settlement, which is likely to reduce the number of in-person showings at listed properties. If every listing had a narrated video tour, the number of showings would be reduced, because only those who watched the video tour and knew this listing might be a contender for them would go to the trouble of calling the listing agent or engaging a buyer agent to show them the listing.
By the way, narrated video tours are essential for attracting out-of-town buyers. More than once, an out-of-town buyer has gone under contract for one of our listings based solely on the narrated video tour, because they feel as if they have toured the home. The buyers still have the opportunity to terminate when they fly in for the inspection. None of those buyers terminated, however.
So, in this video age, what is keeping the majority — the vast majority — of
I Foresee a Surge in Buyer Activity This Summer
The primary outcome of the muchdiscussed NAR settlement announced in March is that buyers will now have to compensate agents representing them in the purchase of homes.
That change is scheduled to take effect on August 17th, so it makes sense that home buyers who have been “on the fence” are getting serious now about buying a home while they can still count on the seller, not them, paying their agent’s commission.
It doesn’t matter that their fear is unfounded. I fully expect sellers to keep offering to pay a “co-op” commission to the agents who bring them a buyer, even though that commission cannot be mentioned anywhere on the MLS.
Just this month, REcolorado, the Denver MLS, quietly introduced a new field for all listings. It’s a field to list another website, such as the websites we already create for every listing, and that website is allowed to mention the co-op commission for buyer agents since it does not derive its data from the MLS. If you want to see what that looks like, simply go to the website for my latest listing, www.ArvadaHome.info There on the home page of the website you will see the 2.8% co-op commission my seller is offering to buyer agents
under the headline, “Buyer Agent Commission Details.”
Nevertheless, the fear is very real among buyers that they will have to pony some serious money on top of their purchase price and loan expenses to pay for professional representation. Another development in this regard is the introduction of new mobile software called LivePad, which facilitates the process of showing homes to buyers when the showing agent doesn’t yet have a signed compensation agreement. In addition to some fine features for setting up a tour of listings, the tabletbased software allows the showing agent to create that requisite agreement on the tablet where the buyer can sign it digitally before entering the first listing. If the compensation agreement is for just that one day, the buyer can avoid paying the specified fee to their showing agent by waiting until the next day to make an offer under a new agreement. There may also be a surge in sellers putting their homes on the market prior to the August 17 deadline. Broker associate Chuck Brown had a seller get “off the fence” this month and sell his home, because he feared reduced buyer interest once buyers face the prospect of paying for their own agents.
listing agents from creating narrated video tours of their listings? I can only speculate, but here is my speculation. Listing agents like to farm out as many tasks as they can. They hire photographers (as we do) to shoot magazine quality photographs of their listings. Those vendors offer “videos” of the interior and drone videos of the exterior, and the listing agents think that’s sufficient. But there’s no narration of those videos, because the videographer would not know what to say. He only knows how to press “record” and “stop.”
The Matterport interactive tours are
very popular, and we include those on our listings too, but only because they are included in the enhanced package which we purchase that includes floor plans, which are done by the Matterport software. The Matterport tours are cool because they are shot with 360-degree lenses, allowing the viewer to rotate the view and even look up at the ceiling, then click on the next marker to go from room to room. But, again, no narration about what you are seeing. To call it a “video” is deceptive. It’s just a link that is inserted in one of the three “virtual tour” fields.
Reader Suggests the Pooling of Insured Homes as a Way to Reduce the Risks Causing
One reader, Andrew Burt, recently responded to my request for creative solutions to the home insurance crisis caused primarily by the multiple natural and man-made disasters resulting in profit-crushing insurance claims.
His suggestion: the pooling of multiple homes so that the loss sustained by any one home is spread across the pool.
My first reaction was that this is how insurance works already. Insurance companies have thousands or millions of insured properties in the expectation that only a small percentage will file catastrophic claims.
Nevertheless, here is Andrew’s proposal, which he supported with some serious mathematical formulae not for publication in this lay publication.
“If I'm in a pool with, say, nine other properties, and one of them gets damaged, the insurer pays a claim but then distributes the cost of that claim over all 10 properties in next year's premium calculation — instead of raising just mine to cover all of it. (Or I cover all of it over an amortized number of years, which is what they seem to do rather than lumping their cost all into year one. It doesn't change the math of the idea. Spread the new premium costs over multiple people instead of just me.)”
Andrew compared his proposal to the Affordable Care Act, which insures everyone without regard to pre-existing
Higher Insurance Premiums
conditions, but requires everyone to be insured. (Wildfire risk is a “pre-existing condition.”) He suggested that widely separated properties within the state could be pooled to further spread the risk of multiple claims within the pool.
Mike Nelson was one of six featured speakers at the annual fundraiser for New Energy Colorado, held on June 20th at The Retreat at Solterra in Lakewood.
Viewers of Mike’s weather forecasts on Channel 7 know that he is passionate about climate change. In addition to addressing the topic, he gave away free copies of his 2020 booklet, “The World’s Littlest Book on Climate: 10 Facts in 10 Minutes About CO2.”
Also speaking at the well-attended event was U.S. Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, State Sen. Lisa Cutter, Jeffco Commissioner Andy Kerr, State Rep. Brianna Titone, and Will Toor, director of the Colorado Energy Office. New Energy Colorado is best known for its annual Metro Denver Green Homes Tour on the first Saturday in October. This year it is on Oct. 5. Golden Real Estate is one of its sponsors.
Jim Smith
Broker/Owner, 303-525-1851
Jim@GoldenRealEstate.com 1214 Washington Ave., Golden 80401
Broker Associates:
JIM SWANSON, 303-929-2727
CHUCK BROWN, 303-885-7855
DAVID DLUGASCH, 303-908-4835
GREG KRAFT, 720-353-1922
AUSTIN POTTORFF, 970-281-9071
KATHY
Channel 7’s Mike Nelson Speaks at ‘Summer Solstice’ Fundraiser
Sun Jr., a ‘psych mountain rock’ experience at the Mile High Hoedown
BY JO ANN M. COLTON
If you yearn to fly back to the sounds of yesteryear, you will love soaring to new heights with Boulder’s own Sun Jr, appearing at the MILE HIGH HOEDOWN later this month! The band’s sound is a blend of psychedelia, cosmic cowboy and Americana with indie-folk influences.
Friends Nod Norkus (drums), Jim Heekin (guitar/singer), Matt Kubis (banjo/singer), Jon Schimek (pedal steel guitar), and Jeremiah Streets (keys/ bass/organ) launched the band in 2013. They practiced in the evenings in Jim’s basement (“The Bottoms”), where they have become a “band of brothers.”
Sun Jr. hit the stage with a style all their own and immediately made an impression. From a spot on the “Gentleman of the Road” tour in Salida with Mumford & Sons, Dawes and the Flaming Lips in 2015, they’ve grinded their way into a stellar act that you cannot miss.
During the 2020 COVID pandemic, the band leaned heavily into long basement jams, taking notes from the likes of Pink Floyd and late ’60s bands that played for art’s sake. They branched into livestreaming to reach out to more folks and have continued to do so.
“In February 2024, (Heekin) posted a TikTok video of our song ‘Buttercorn’ from a live performance at Dharma Farm
— and it went viral,” Norkus said. “The post garnered 2.3 million views and about 40,000 new fans.”
The post was the mega break that has opened more doors to some of Colorado’s best venues and a “second media wave” of the post expanded their reach even farther, he said.
“We started receiving invitations to play in California, Texas, and points beyond the U.S.,” Norkus said.
The band’s current goal is
mostly to ignore national invites and build an ardent local fan base. To stay connected, they are partnering with Chris Wright of Violet Recording to capture their Colorado live shows to share more broadly. Wright will also engineer a series of in-studio live recordings, possibly capturing two albums from this dual recording process.
Visit sunjrband.com for the latest band information (recordings, play dates — and more)! Then, “go down” to the MILE HIGH HOEDOWN and enjoy Sun Jr.’s “Psych Mountain Rock” ex-
perience LIVE at the Stampede, 2431 S. Havana Street, in Aurora.
MILE HIGH HOEDOWN attendees can enjoy food truck food and beverages, learn new line dances with instructor/choreographer Laurie Burkardt, “creative cut” or screen print their own T-shirt with Ink & Drink, purchase a custom hat from hat shaper Parker Thomas, get a “flash” tattoo from Ace of MR. ACE Art & Tattoos; and visit Little People Face Painting for cool, but not permanent, body/ face/hair art — you’ll be sure to sparkle during Sun Jr.’s LIVE, never-to-be-duplicated hoedown performance!
Get the “low down” on the MILE HIGH HOEDOWN, which is 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, June 29, by heading to coloradocommunitymedia.com/ mile-high-hoedown. And GET A MOVE ON, partners! We’re running a limited-time buy-oneget-one promotion. Entry ONLY tickets are $20/each ($25 at the door). Don’t miss out and BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY!
1. HISTORY: What is America’s rst colony?
TRIVIA
Answers
2. ENTERTAINERS: Which actress’ mother is actress Melanie Gri th and grandmother is actress Tippi Hedren?
3. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Which president is the only one born on Independence Day?
4. GEOGRAPHY: In which country is the Mont-Saint-Michel medieval monastery located?
5. SCIENCE: What does a kelvin measure?
6. ASTRONOMY: Which star is the brightest in the sky?
7. MUSIC: What are the rst names of the Gibb brothers who formed e Bee Gees?
8. AD SLOGANS: Which company’s slogan is “You’re in good hands”?
9. MYTHOLOGY: What did Prometheus steal from the gods, resulting in his eternal punishment?
10. ANIMAL KINGDOM: What is a baby turkey called?
1. Jamestown, Virginia.
2. Dakota Johnson.
3. Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872.
4. Normandy, France.
5. Temperature.
6. e Dog Star, Sirius.
7. Barry, Robin and Maurice.
8. Allstate.
9. Fire.
10. A poult.
(c) 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.
FLASHBACK
1. Name the Beatles album that includes “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” “You Won’t See Me” and “Michelle.”
2. Which duo released “ e Closer I Get to You”?
3. Where did in Lizzy get their name?
4. Who was Stagger Lee in the song?
5. Name the song that contains this lyric: “I watched you die, I heard you cry every night in your sleep.”
Answers
1. “Rubber Soul,” in 1965. It was released with 14 songs in the U.K. and 10 in the U.S. with an additional two taken from another album.
2. Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway in 1978. e song climbed the charts in the U.S. and was nominated for Best Vocal Performance by a Duo in 1979.
3. From a character in the 1937 comic “ e Dandy,” which had a character called Tin Lizzie, a robot maid.
4. “Stag” Lee Shelton was a gambler who killed Billy Lyons in 1895 during a card game in St. Louis.
5. “Because of You,” by Kelly Clarkson in 2005. Clarkson wrote the song when she was a teenager in response to the pain of her parents’ divorce. e accompanying video won Best Female Video at MTV’s awards the next year.
(c) 2024 King Features Syndicate
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