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| April 2010 |
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National snapshot
Last month, as the final month in the first quarter of 2010 came to a close, we finally began to get a picture of where the housing market is heading for the rest of this year. Stats from the first quarter provide us with some very promising news.
Nationally speaking, the number of pending sales increased for the month of February by 8 percent. While this is only a slight increase, compared to the same figure from one year ago, we are seeing a 17.3 percent increase in the number of pending sales. For the month of March, sales increased 6.8 percent from February, and rose 16.1 percent from March of 2009.
Lawernce Yun, the National Association of Realtor’s Chief Economist, said there are many contributing factors to these hopeful numbers. Of course the extension of the tax credit remains a powerful tool, but lowered inventories over the past months have also helped contribute to greater price stabilization.
One survey from the NAR reported that in March, first-time home sales accounted for 44 percent of all sales. Additionally, total housing inventory rose 1.5 percent over the month of March.
However, for the Western Region, of which Colorado is a part of, sales and inventory levels have been slightly lower than the averages among other regions. Yun explains that this is partially attributed to the fact that the lower-priced inventory especially, is nearly depleted. Many people out there are looking to buy and are having a hard time finding homes in the lower-priced markets. In March, sales rose 6.6 percent from February, and 14 percent from March of 2009. The median home price for states in the west is now at $209,400, which is a 7.9 percent decrease from March of 2009.
Local Snapshot
On a more local level, first quarter stats for the local regions are beginning to shape up, as well. For the Fort Collins region, the first quarter average active listings increased 6 percent from 2009. Additionally, the number of sales increased an average of 4.9 percent from a year ago, |
and the median sales price increased 2.1 percent.
For the Loveland/Berthoud region, the numbers of active listings increased 0.06 percent from the first quarter in 2009, the number of sales increased 11.9 percent, and the median sales price decreased 4 percent.
In Greeley and surrounding Weld County, the number of active listings for 2010’s first quarter increased by 0.46 percent when compared to last year. The number of sales has slightly dropped off, with a decrease of 12.5 percent when compared with 2009’s first quarter. Finally, the median sales price for Greeley has increased 4.3 percent since the first quarter of 2009.
In the Boulder area, the number of active listings has taken a sharp drop off, decreasing 18.5 percent when compared to 2009’s first quarter. However, the number of sales has more than made up for the lacking inventory, by increasing 68.4 percent from 2009’s first quarter. Additionally, the median sales price has increased 4.4 percent.
All of the local region statistics are for residential sales, and are reported by Ires, LLC
Investments in homes remain popular
Another report from the National Association of Realtors recently published that a stronger percentage of Americans still consider buying a home a good investment.
Around 17 percent of potential home buyers consider buying a home as a long-term investment. This interest is an increase from the 5.6 percent of potential buyers who responded the same just one year ago in March 2009.
Of consumers across the nation, 21 percent of people are considering buying a home within the next 1-5 years. Of that percentage, roughly 50 percent of those consumers would be first-time home buyers. |
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When you build a home or purchase a newly constructed home that is ENERGY STAR qualified (1), Bank of America will give you a credit of up to $1,000 toward the closing fees on your mortgage. So, not only will you save with energy-efficient improvements that deliver better performance, greater comfort can lower utility bills, you’ll also save on closing costs.
Notes: Customer must work with builder to provide Bank of America proof of ENERGY STAR certification before closing. Not available on FHA or VA loans
For additional information on the Energy Credit mortgage, please contact Dave White today at (970) 419-2729.
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There's more than one kind of green in your home
Now that the much-anticipated deadline of April 15th has passed us, many people can be expecting their tax return money to be arriving any day now. According to the web site homelogic.com, the average American’s tax return comes in around $2,500. With the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit from this last year, many new homebuyers could expect an even higher return! Well, now that you’ve got the money, what are you going to do with it?
Most financial advisors would recommend splitting your return up a couple of different ways. Spend some of it now, save some of it for later, and invest the rest. One of the top investments you could use that money on is by making value-adding and money-saving improvements to your home.
From the homelogic.com web site, here are tips for home improvements from $500, $1,000 and $2,500. Here’s a list of some of their recommended projects in the $500 range:
Install low-flow showerheads. This new technology uses up to 50 percent less water, while still maintaining good water pressure. Most low-flow showerheads run $50-$200 each, but over time, could save you around $150 a year on your water bill. Low-flow toilets can also contribute to about $90 a year in savings on your water bill.
Upgrade your homeowner’s insurance policy. Most standard home insurance policies only cover standard incidents, but many leave out a liability clause—which means if someone gets injured in your home, could open you to a pricey lawsuit. Umbrella policies cover liabilities such as these, and many times can also cover your car, and usually cost about $300. Or if your homeowner’s insurance policy is sufficient, consider |
adding flood insurance—which is not covered in most homeowners’ standard policies. While the average flood insurance policy costs about $540, the National Flood Insurance Program reports over $33,000 in flood claims each year.
Schedule a professional energy audit. Homelogic.com claims that the average homeowner spends about $350 a year on heating/cooling problems due to air leaks. Having a professional come out and inspect your heating/cooling systems and their leakage problems, will cost about $400-600, but with their thermal infrared scanners and smoke puffers, they can find many leak sources that the naked wouldn’t be able to spot. Pinpointing and fixing these areas can help you save that extra $350 a year in wasted heating and cooling costs.
Invest in a whole-house surge protector. How much money is invested into your homes’ electronics? Figure in the TVs, computers, radios and appliances and that could add up to a lot of money really quick. And it only takes one lightening strike to ruin it all. Having an electrician install a whole-house surge protector can protect every outlet in your home at the cost of about $300. And it will be much more visually pleasing not having to see power protectors strung out across your entire house.
Install a rain barrel. Rain barrels can cost anywhere from $50 for a simple arrangement, to $600 for a more sophisticated system. The average homeowner spends about $140 a year on outdoor water, and a 1 inch of rain running off of a 2,000 square foot house can save 500 gallons of water. The EPA estimates that one rain barrel can save around 1,300 gallons of water during the summer months. Why not use this water to help water gardens and other outdoor shrubs and plants?
Not only can many of these improvements help you save money on monthly bills, but can also help improve your home’s marketability later one when you plan to sell it.
Click here to see homelogic.com’s list of $1,000 improvements. Click here for their list of $2,500 improvements. |
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- Loveland/Fort Collins
- Las Cruces, New Mexico
- Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
- Portland, Oregon
- Greenville, South Carolina
- Sarasota, Florida
- Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Tuscon, Arizona
- Montpelier, Vermont
- Honolulu, Hawaii
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This month's trivia: Which common flower has been given the nickname "heartsease"?
For the answer, check out our Facebook Fan Page!
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While the phrase, “smaller is sometimes better” has been used by people for many years, it usually is not used to describe the space within your home. That was, until recently.
Within the last year, homeowners’ average square footage of their homes began to slightly decrease from the past years. This trend is something new for many homeowners, as the last time that the acceptable size of homes decreased like this hasn’t happened since the early 1980s. That’s almost 30 years of increasing the space we live in everyday!
So what does this mean for homeowners, buyers and sellers? At this point, the downsizing isn’t happening at an alarming rate. Across the nation, the average square footage for a home was 2,277 in 2008. That number now has decreased slightly to an average of 2,215 square feet. However, those miniscule losses in average room size can have a much bigger impact on the marketing value of a home.
Even the widely popular reality TV show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” has been affected by this surge in smaller homes. While most people would love to have their dream home created, all the fancy upgrades have been causing some post-makeover stresses. Once a home is improved to that extent, the property taxes can increase, and can be hard to sell later on, thus creating the need for a smaller home.
Additionally, that oversize plush couch that used to fit in a larger home may now stick out just a little bit too far, creating a smaller walk way around the room, and making the room seem smaller. Realtor Magazine, gives us some tips for making the most out of a smaller space—whether you are trying to sell, or just need to make some more space to make your home more inviting. |
One easy tip to help create a roomier space in any room is to paint the walls in warm, blending colors. Loud, high contrast colors tend to make the room “scream” out at you, and thus making it seem smaller than it actually is. Another good tip is to use the same sort of flooring throughout the home. Whether it’s the same color carpeting or going with hardwood floors in the main rooms, either will help “maximize the perception of space” when flowing from room to room.
Lighting can also be a key element in spacial perception. Howard Hoffman, professional home stager, recommends using “corner uplighting” to increase the perceived room space. Adding as much light as possible will always help, whether that’s by removing dark, heavy draperies, or trimming tree branches that block sunlight from entering through windows.
Of course one of the most-widely used and common tips is all wrapped into one word: storage. The more storage structures you can utilize to organize all your belongings, the better. Articles like wicker baskets are very popular because they provide two functions—an end or coffee table for aesthetic purposes, and can also store kids’ toys or newspapers and magazines. Now there are also many storage functions in many furnitures, like places to stash the TV remote right into the armchair!
As long as you make a good plan about mapping out each room, finding good colors, lights, and storage devices, you can make any modestly-sized house work just as well as a larger one. The trick is to just plan everything out before you make any decisions. |
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Earth Day may happen every April 22nd, but that doesn’t mean that should be the only day of the year you should give Mother Earth a break. There are many small things each of us can do to contribute to cleaning up and making this world a better place to live.
However, in the spirit of Earth Day, there’s no time better than now to start considering some of these environmentally-friendly alternatives. Here’s our top ten list of very small and simple changes to implement in your lifestyle:
1. Reuse your water bottle at least once before recycling it.
2. Ride a bike, jog or walk every once in awhile when you have errands to run in the neighborhood instead of driving every time.
3. Get a library card, instead of always buying new books. Or invest in newer technologies that provide digital copies of books and newspapers. Most smartphones have a free app for reading digital books—such as the iPhone’s Amazon Kindle App (which is free!).
4. Always recycle your plastic grocery bags. Use them as trash can liners or even just take them back to the store the next trip. Many major grocery stores have recycling bins for used plastic sacks.
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5. Switch to paperless statements and mailing lists. A few companies may even give you a discount for switching to e-statements!
6. Set the rinse cycle on your washer to “cold water” instead of warm or hot.
7. Don’t just throw away those old TVs, computers or radios! Many major electronics companies have recycling programs. If you can’t find a program, recycle your old appliances at Goodwill or other thrift stores.
8. Always try to turn off lights as you leave the room, and turn the thermostat down if you plan to be away from the house for a couple days.
9. Unplug your cell phone charger when it’s not in use.
10. Spring time is the perfect time to open the windows! While it’s not yet hot enough out to run the A/C, whenever your home gets a tad bit warm during these in-between months, just simply open the window and let the fresh breeze cool things off. Making these minor adjustments are the first steps everyone can take to making their impact on improving this world. So start practicing these little habits in your everyday activities--there's no reason to only celebrate Earth Day once a year! |
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