Unlike Most Professionals, Real Estate Agents Work for Free Most of the Time

Most professionals I know get paid for the work they perform. Some even charge for estimates, and others charge even when they fail at what they were hired to do.

Real estate is different. Most of the time we are giving our services away to customers with only a vague hope of a payday down the road. Sometimes we invest a great deal of money marketing properties that never sell, only to have the seller re-list the home at a lower price with another agent who then enjoys a pay day.

I had about 30 closings last year, and I drove 15,000 miles. Do you think I drove 500 miles for each successful closing? No, I drove most of those miles for buyers and sellers who received my services for free without any compensation for my time and travel.

This is okay with me. I love real estate. When it produces a payday, I know that it makes up for the uncompensated efforts I expended on behalf of other clients.

Occasionally I have a buyer who has me show him or her the exact house he or she wants to buy, and I handle the transaction — one showing, few miles of driving around, one contract written, one inspection handled, one closing attended — earning myself a 5-figure payday. The buyer, seeing how easy it was, might reasonably expect a rebate. But what about those times I showed a buyer 100 different homes, wrote one or two unsuccessful contracts, only to have that buyer rent instead of buy — or the buyer goes to an open house and buys without me earning any commission?

A few years ago, I was considering listing 5 acres 30 miles up a canyon for $125,000, but the seller was so uncooperative that I ultimately declined the listing — but not before I had made three trips to the property and on one of those trips did

Just Listed: Mountain Muffler Site on Ford St.

$1,000 damage to my car’s underbody on his jagged culvert!

Such is the life of a real estate agent. We may seem overpaid when we are paid 5-figure commissions on a given transaction, and you may think that’s unfair, but if we didn’t have those closings to make up for all the times we work for free or spend without reimbursement, it might be hard to justify going into this business.

As it is, the average member of the National Association of Realtors earns less than $50,000 in gross commission income per year — before accounting for car, phone, MLS fees, Realtor dues, computer hardware & software, errors & omissions insurance, and other expenses

A Quit Claim Deed Is Cheap & Convenient, But It Can Void Title Policy

Quit claim deeds are a convenient way to transfer property among related parties. You might use it, for example, to add a new spouse to the title, or to transfer it to an entity which you control.

But be sure to check with the company which insured your title when the home was last purchased, because you’ll need to have the title policy amended, possibly at little or no cost, so it conforms to the new ownership of your property.

If you can’t find your closing documents, any Realtor can run a Realist Report which names the title company.

The Styrofoam Corral Needs to Find a New Home

$1,950,000

If you’ve driven Ford Street in Golden, you are familiar with the tall Mountain Muffler sign at the corner of 22nd Street (barely visible in this picture), and you may have had them install a steel cage around your car’s catalytic converter after it was stolen and replaced. (We hired them to do that for our moving truck.) Well, the owners of the business and the property have decided it’s time to join the other property owners in the area and make their 14,000-square-foot parcel available for multi-family redevelopment. Broker associate Austin Pottorff has listed it and has produced a drone video of the parcel and its downtown surroundings, which you can view, along with his South Golden listing at www.GoldenDevelopmentSite.info. For more information, you can contact Austin at 970-281-9071, or email Austin@GoldenRealEstate.com.

Just Listed: Home on Large Lot in Wide Acres

Perhaps you’re one of the thousands of Jefferson County residents who’ve brought Styrofoam to the Styrofoam Corral behind Golden Real Estate’s former office at 17695 S. Golden Road. In the 15 years of its operation, it has kept an estimated 36,000 cubic yards of the material out of landfills. The 10’x20’ chain-link enclosure is filled two to three times per month, and every time it’s filled we load our box truck with the bags of Styrofoam and take them to a factory near I-25 & I-70 where it is compressed and recycled into new products.

But all good things must come to an end. That property is under contract, and the Styrofoam Corral must close unless we can find it a new home. If you or someone you know has a suitable property for relocating this popular Jeffco service, let me know. I will personally set up the Corral in its new location and provide training and advice on its smooth operation. And I’ll continue to provide our truck for transporting the Styrofoam to the factory for reprocessing. Call me at 303-525-1851.

Price Reduced on 3-BR 1904 Capitol Hill Home

$950,000

$975,000

Wide Acres is that quiet neighborhood located south of Colfax to the east of Colorado Mills. With 3,493 sq. ft. of finished space, this 3-bedroom home at 1125 Zinnia St. is set back about 100 feet from the street on its 0.57-acre lot, making it even more quiet and secluded. It is being sold by the family that had it built in 1974. The indoor and outdoor living space is exceptional, as you’ll see when you view the narrated video tour I posted at www.WideAcresHome.info. Then come to my open house this Saturday, July 22nd, from 11 am. to 1 p.m. Or call me at 303-525-1851 to arrange a private showing.

You’ll love the updates to this 3-BR home at 1240 N. Downing St., a short walk from Cheesman Park in Denver’s historic Capitol Hill — from the dream kitchen with white quartz countertops, farm sink, stainless appliances and rolling island to the primary suite in the basement! My narrated video tour will give you a taste of it and inspire you to request a showing. You can view more pictures plus that video tour (including drone footage) at www.DenverHome.info. Call me at 303-525-1851 to schedule a private showing.

Jim Smith

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 JONKE, 303-990-7428 when the American Rescue Plan Act was signed.”

President Biden signed ARPA into law on March 11, 2021.

According to Bryan, the plan was, “still about post-pandemic or trying to get to post-pandemic times. But that was more broad, he said.

He went on to describe the scope of the funding program.

“In other words, you can use things other than just public health resources. You could use it on things like roads, bridges and culverts. And broadband. at’s really important,” Bryan said.

Je erson County received $113 million dollars. Bryan explained how the county took great strides to ensure that the money was spent wisely.

“We started forming these task forces, these teams, to really give it a thoughtful look and approach on how and what was the right way to spend ARPA funds,” he said. e teams were important because, according to Bryan, the money was a one-time “bonus” to a county with too many projects and not enough funding.

“It’s resources we weren’t gonna have going into the future because every county is challenged with budgets, every city,” he said. “I don’t know too many that are just ush with cash.”

To help spend the money wisely, he said that they found subject matter experts and people who were seasoned in the areas of need that Je co faced at the time.

“ is wasn’t about people’s pet projects and pet peeves,” he said.

“ is was using the money in the best way we know how. And, in the end, it’s about taking care of Je co residents.” e Drew Hill Culvert is a visible project where county residents can see ARPA funds in use on a daily. But, Bryan revealed that there were several projects that were helping the county that the public may

For example, he explained how the Je co County Coroner’s O ce was allocated $675,000 from the ARPA funds. He said that the o ce processed 5,000 deaths a year, but was working on equipment from the 90s in some cases. He described the ngerprint machine that they used as “vintage.” It was from 1975.

So the county coroner was alotted the funds needed to update that equipment, lockers and other things like uniforms for the employ-

“ e crew was showing up in their own street clothes,” Bryan said. “And they didn’t have a standardized uniform. So, when they arrive on the scene, to work with rst responders and law enforcement, whoever or whatever the scene is, now they have a standard uniform and boots.”

Bryan described other projects like the County Clerk and Recorder’s O ce getting $962,016 to turn their micro che les into digital les searchable on the internet.

“So you can imagine you’ve got decades and decades, probably through the 80s into the 90s of micro che,” he said. “What they’re essentially doing is going back and they have a contractor that’s going to make everything digitalized.” ere are what Bryan calls “checks and balances” that begins with a project idea. e county manager gets it and briefs the county commissioners. e task forces brief the commissioners and then the commissioners have the nal say.

“In the end, they’re the ones that have looked at these things and said, ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ on these projects. And that way, they make sure that we are spending it wisely. at we’re using it in a very functional and wise manner,” Bryan explained.

According to Bryan, the ARPA funds must be spent by December 2026. He does not anticipate a problem with that. ey’ve spread the money out and projects are continuing to come in.

“ ere’s dozens and dozens of projects. So we did a pretty good job of spreading out the money, if you will,” he said, adding that some projects only need $20,000, but there are other departments like Je erson County Development and Transportation that are spending $20 million on projects.

“Why? Because they have a couple $100 million backlog,” Bryan explained.

Bryan urges anyone with questions about ARPA to come to the Je erson County Commissioner’s meetings. ere, he and other members of the ARPA team can answer those questions and o er more information as needed.

For more information on ARPA now, check out the Je erson County ARPA guide. ere is also an interactive dashboard that breaks down the spending by projects with details, called the Je co ARPA Projects Interactive Dashboard.