This week I'm joined in studio by a Denver-area realtor who's known around town as the Condo King, and we're not talking about reverse mortgages — we're talking about the market you're actually living in.

Here's the headline: closed listings were down 18% year over year in September. That's 2,898 closings this September versus 3,523 a year ago. Pending listings were down 13%. Gross sales volume was down 17%. The median closed price slipped from $650,000 in August to $635,000 in September, and it's off about 2% from a year ago. And for the first time in more than twenty years, more people are leaving Colorado than moving in.

The trend is not your friend right now — but that doesn't mean it's all bad news. It's very much a buyer's market, and sellers have tools they may not realize they have, including seller-funded buydowns that can pull a rate down significantly in year one.

We also go through three pitfalls for buyers and three for sellers. Buyers: skipping pre-approval, believing the 20% down myth, and underestimating the hidden costs of ownership. Sellers: overpricing, neglecting repairs, and skipping staging and presentation.

If you're thinking about buying, selling, or wondering whether to stay put for a while, this episode gives you the real numbers from the people in the trenches.