I just opened the postcard from the Larimer County Assessor’s office. Yikes! My simple ‘70’s ranch home near the Foothills Mall increased in value by more than 30% in two years. I was expecting the value to go up but not nearly $100,000. I went looking for answers and saw this headline on the Larimer County website. Property Values in Larimer County Are Up. Unfortunately, The Assessor’s Office Noticed --Steve Miller, Larimer County Assessor I’m not sure there’s much any of us can do about …
Home Financing
Hope Springs Eternal for Home Buyers
Spring is here, or at least in Fort Collins, Colorado, where it’s 70° today on March 9, 2017. The home buying season is heating up (as well as the weather), and I’m asked daily, “will the appreciation in home prices slow down?” I wish I knew because I would advise my clients to either buy anything you can right now OR ‘take your time, no one else is looking.’ I won’t be saying that last part for a while. But if you have great credit, some down payment and you’re willing to offer a few …
Getting in on the Home Buying Game
The house didn’t do much for my client. It was okay but had very little character. It met all the other checkpoints: room for guests, half bath on the main, basement ceiling was higher than normal, good-sized garage, great location near the bike path. “I guess we should make an offer.” As real estate agents, it’s not what we like to hear from our clients. We like them to be excited about a possible new home and smile a lot at the Closing Table. But with a resigned shrug of the shoulders, …
So You Want to Downsize
I’ve lived off and on in Fort Collins since 1971. I’ve personally owned and sold a few homes, some in Old Town, some in Midtown, regretting that I didn’t keep them all. But now we have a situation where less and less people can afford to move here. If they work here, they will have to commute at least ten miles or more, contributing to pollution and traffic woes. We also have the issue of homeowners with large family homes in good neighborhoods, wanting to downsize but unable to because there …
Drive till You Qualify. Again?
Not surprisingly, there’s a scarcity of lots in northern Colorado and housing prices are climbing even higher. Affordability Index is decreasing (not a good thing) and rents are increasing. I sat in the Embassy Suites in Loveland, CO this past December, listening to a panel of men tell me what I already know. There are few lots, prices have increased by double percentages and we have very low inventory of houses on the market which means that buyers will be traveling east until they can …
Student Debt Could Slow Down Millennials Home Buying
Student debt topped 1 trillion dollars in 2015, nearly tripling since the last recession. There are a lot of reasons for that but it means that millennials are delaying big decisions like marriage and home ownership. That also means that the quickly recovering housing market could face a bit of stall once again when the first-time homebuyer market slows. That could affect those home sellers who want to move into their second home who were hoping to sell to a nice millennial couple. …
