Buyer Tips

Buyer Tips Bubble Burst Every so often we will hear a concern that another housing bubble is forming. To help answer that question it’s valuable to look at the reasons that caused the last one. There were three main drivers of the bubble that burst in 2008: 1. Easy Credit – loans were very easy to attain 2. Over-Leverage […]
Buyer Tips Rate Forecast Here is our interest rate Forecast for the next year. Our Chief Economist, Matthew Gardner, predicts that rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage will stay between 3.8% and 3.9% for 2020. He doesn’t see rates going above 4.0% until at least the first quarter of 2021. This is obviously great news for buyers as their […]
About the area Vital Signs Here are the vital signs for the Northern Colorado market. First, Larimer County: Average prices are up 2.4% Number of transactions is down 2.5% Inventory is up 11.9% Days on market is up 4.1% Now, Weld County: Average prices are up 4.3% Number of transactions is up 3.6% Inventory is up 12.9% Days on market […]
About the area County by County Metrostudy, who in our opinion is the leader in new home research, recently did a study on the average price of a new home in each of the Front Range Counties. Here are some interesting takeaways… If you want to find the least expensive new home on the Front Range, the places to look are […]
Buyer Tips Two Tales This is a tale of two Counties. When it comes to new home activity, there is a big difference between Larimer and Weld Counties. Larimer County new home starts are down 10% and new home closings are down 15% compared to last year. Weld County new home starts are up 18% and new home closings […]
Buyer Tips All Time High Home Builder’s confidence in Baby Boomer buyers is at an all time high. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) surveys their members each quarter to discover what they expect of future sales. The builders base a large part of their answer on how many people are visiting their sales centers and model homes versus […]
Buyer Tips Time for New Here is a fact… If you have ever thought about owning a new home, the last two months of the year are usually the best time to make that happen. Here’s why… Many builders have year-end goals and sales quotas to hit. If they have a “standing inventory” of homes that are completed but not […]
Buyer Tips Most Active What is the most active price range in Northern Colorado? Take a guess… $300,000 to $400,000 $400,000 to $500,000 $500,000 to $750,000 $750,000 and above By far, the most active price range is $300,000 to $400,000 with 60% more closed transactions than the $400,000 to $500,000 range and 400% more than homes priced $750,000 and […]
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Buyer Tips Equity Insights The real estate research firm Core Logic just produced their latest Homeowner Equity Insights report. Some interesting tidbits: 63% of all properties nationally have a mortgage Homeowners with mortgages collective realized a $428 billion rise in equity over last year, an increase of 4.8% Only 3.8% of all mortgaged properties have negative equity (where the […]
Buyer Tips Net Worth It’s no surprise that for just about every homeowner, their real estate represents the largest portion of their net worth. Check out these numbers from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances: Median Net Worth in the U.S. = $97,300 Median Net Worth of a Renter = $5,200 Median Net Worth of a Homeowner = […]
Buyer Tips Big Bounce Seventy-five major metro markets have seen home prices bounce back to above their pre-recession peaks. Metro Denver has seen the biggest bounce with home values 91% above its previous high in 2007 , according to the Home Price Recovery Index from HSH.com. “Aside from routinely strong home price appreciation, it’s important to know that the […]
Buyer Tips 1 Million We have our pulse on the high-end luxury market. The activity in price ranges over $1,000,000 is an effective indicator of the health of the overall market. If buyers for luxury properties are active, it tells us that “smart money” is confident about real estate in Metro Denver. So far this year, 1671 luxury properties have […]
Buyer Tips Rate Bounce Rates hit near-historic lows this week and are now at 3.49% for a 30-year mortgage. There have only been two other times in history when rates have been this low- April 2013 and October 2016. It’s interesting to see what happened soon after bottoming out these last two times. In April of 2013 rates hit […]
Buyer Tips Case-Shiller The Case-Shiller Home Price Index is a well-known report in the real estate industry and a valuable way to gauge what is happening in various markets across the Nation. The report tracks home price appreciation in the 20 largest markets in the country. Their most recent report shows that, Nation-wide, home prices are up 2.1% […]
Buyer Tips On Sale With interest rates so low, one could argue that money is essentially on sale. It’s actually half off. 30-year mortgage rates hit 3.75% which is exactly half of their long term average. Rates have averaged 7.5% over the last 40 years so today buyers are getting half of that rate. The “sale” on mortgage rates […]
Buyer Tips What We Notice Here are some observations we have about the market right now: Inventory is up, price reductions are up, the length of time to sell a home is up Seller concessions are more prevalent Sellers are more willing to accept contingent offers (especially in higher price ranges) If a home doesn’t sell within a week, it […]
Buyer Tips Homeownership Rate An interesting stat which can give some insight to the national market is the Homeownership Rate. It simply looks at the percentage of Americans who own their home instead of rent. The most recent report from the Census Bureau shows the rate at 64.2%. Most importantly, this number is showing stability after many years of […]
Buyer Tips The Scoop – 3rd Quarter 2019 WELCOME TO “THE SCOOP” Everything You Need to Know About the Northern Colorado Real Estate Market – Produced Quarterly by Windermere Real Estate in Northern Colorado The 10-Year Rhythm As we study 40 years of price appreciation data for Larimer County, an interesting pattern emerges.  We call this pattern the 10-Year Rhythm.  It shows that […]
Buyer Tips Sign Surprise Given how active our market is today and has been over the last few years, many people assume that virtually every home with a “For Sale” sign in the front yard is already under contract. They are surprised to learn that, in most cases, the “For Sale” sign does indeed represent a home that is […]
Buyer Tips Over List A statistic we keep our eye on is the percentage of homes which sell for at least list price. In a robust, healthy, market with lower inventory, we will frequently see homes selling for their asking price or even higher. Here are the number of sales that occur for list price or higher in each […]