Keller Williams Realty of Northern Colorado

A good credit score makes all the difference when applying for a home loan. On May 22, 2009, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 was signed into law, marking a turning point for American consumers and ending the days of unfair rate hikes and hidden fees. While the new law offers significant safeguards for consumers, there are new practices designed to skirt the law that consumers need to protect themselves against.

Stay as informed as possible, read your statement, report any irregularities immediately, and watch out for these tricks:

SHORTENED BILLING CYCLE
The CARD Act requires companies to allow a window of at least 21 days from when a statement is mailed and when payment is due. Cardholders are reporting being shortchanged on billing cycle time and then being assessed late-payment fees.

ADVICE: Watch out for shortened payment dates.

SUNDAY DUE DATES
The CARD Act stipulates if a creditor does not receive or accept payments on weekends or holidays, then the date is extended and late-payment fees shouldn’t be triggered. However, some banks say they’re open for business even when there’s no mail delivery.

ADVICE: Don’t assume you are safe.

LOW-LIMIT CARDS
The CARD Act says a card’s total annual fees can’t exceed 25% of a borrower’s credit line. However, some issuers may be evading the fee restrictions by charging an up-front processing fee that doesn’t fall under the 25% cap.

ADVICE: Watch out for processing and other fees.

FALSE INACTIVE FEES
Issuers will no longer be able to charge inactivity fees or extra charges for people who don’t spend a certain amount each year, effective August 22. However, some issuers are charging an annual fee that’s waived if cardholders reach a certain spending threshold.

ADVICE: Watch out for conditional annual fees.

REBATE OFFERS
Some credit cards offer refunds on finance charges when customers pay on time. However, rebate offers aren’t governed by the CARD Act, and such offers can be revoked suddenly and for any reason, leaving cardholders stuck with higher charges.

ADVICE: Rebates may translate to real savings in finance charges.

Source: Keller Williams Realty, Inc., “This Month in Real Estate”, released 8/7/2010.

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Posted By: Keller Williams Realty of Northern Colorado - Fort Collins Real Estate Agents,
specializing in Fort Collins Real Estate and Northern Colorado Real Estate
Pictures of Fort Collins

970.377.3700

AUSTIN, TEXAS (July 30, 2010) —According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Home Buyer/Seller Study^SM, Keller Williams Realty, Inc., the third largest real estate company in the United States, has received the highest overall satisfaction ratings from home buyers among the largest full-service real estate firms for the third year in a row. The company also ranked second among home sellers in the study for the second year in a row.

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>> Original Keller Williams Press Release

Thanks for reading our Fort Collins Real Estate Blog!
Posted By: Keller Williams Realty of Northern Colorado - Fort Collins Real Estate Agents,
specializing in Fort Collins Real Estate and Northern Colorado Real Estate
Pictures of Fort Collins

970.377.3700

While interest rates for conventional loans reached historic lows in recent years, it has been a different story for jumbo loans. Interest rates for jumbo loans shot up as lenders tightened restrictions and steered clear of anything that could be considered somewhat risky. Another factor working against jumbo loans - they are too large for the government to support through the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac.

Understanding Jumbo Loans
First, what constitutes a jumbo loan? Below is a chart that breaks down what it means to be a Conforming Loan, Conforming Jumbo and True Jumbo Loan:

* $729,750 is the upper limit in the most expensive areas.
Limits vary depending on median home prices in local areas.

Recent Changes in Jumbo Loan Interest Rates and Down Payments
The difference between interest rates on conventional loans and jumbo loans has decreased from higher levels seen last year:

* Based on the week of February 25, 2010.

In some cases, the down payment requirements are easing as well, but they often still depend on the level of borrowing – the more the mortgage, the higher the down payment percentage. In New York, mortgage professionals report the following common down payments:

**According to Bank of America’s Jeffrey Appel in Inman News.

Borrowers will still need a good credit score, typically at least 700, evidence of high income, and a sizable bank account.

In Summary
Available credit for the high end will likely help stabilize prices in that sector and boost the overall average sales price. Until now, the high levels of activity in the entry-level price points combined with relatively few sales at the high end have skewed the average price down.

Thanks for reading our Fort Collins Real Estate Blog!
Posted By: Keller Williams Realty of Northern Colorado - Fort Collins CO Realtor,
specializing in Fort Collins CO Real Estate and Northern Colorado Real Estate
Pictures of Fort Collins

970.377.3700

Two critical measures of a real estate market are the Month’s Supply of Inventory (MSI) and Days On Market (DOM). The MSI is an estimate of how long it will take for all the homes in a market area to be sold, or absorbed, based on the number of homes currently on the market and the rate that homes have sold in the past. The lower the better for sellers. DOM is the average number of days it has taken homes to sell in a market in a given time period. Again, the lower the better for sellers.

The graph below shows the change in MSI for Loveland, Greeley and Fort Collins from 9/1/2007-9/30/2009:

While DOM has not dropped for all three cities, the MSI has lowered significantly across the board and points to a more balanced real estate market.
Source: Brokers Metrics, “Months Supply of Inventory (MSI) 9/1/2007-9/30/2009” for Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley.

Thanks for reading our Fort Collins Real Estate Blog!
Posted By: Keller Williams Realty of Northern Colorado - Fort Collins Real Estate Agents,
specializing in Fort Collins Real Estate and Northern Colorado Real Estate
Pictures of Fort Collins

970.377.3700

BusinessWeek recently examined small metro areas where the housing market didn’t bubble, hasn’t burst and is showing strong signs. Using data from Zillow.com, the magazine ranked metro areas based on the share of single-family homes in which values rose in the second quarter 2009 compared with the second quarter of 2008.

Once the data was compiled, Fort Collins took the #19 spot on the magazine’s study of the nation’s strongest housing markets. The area’s share of homes with increasing value came in at 28.82% and median home value at $232,500. The annual change in value of homes was -0.32%, however, the quarterly change was 1.71%. The numbers are complemented by Fort Collins’ great schools, low crime, outdoor recreational opportunities and unique offerings of Old Town.

Colorado was well represented on the list, as Boulder, CO took the #1 spot as the strongest housing market.

You can view the complete report at: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/aug2009/bw20090810_741278.htm

Source: BusinessWeek, “The Strongest U.S. Housing Markets” by Prashant Gopal, 8/11/2009
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/aug2009/bw20090810_741278.htm

In late August, the federal government announced half a billion dollars in grants to help develop wind-energy projects. This is good news for northern Colorado ranch and farm owners that have land ripe for wind farm development. Some wind farms, such as the Cedar Creek Wind Farm located east of Grover, have already taken shape. The Cedar Creek farm has 274 turbines making it one of the largest wind-powered facilities in the country. Colorado State University has their own project in the works called the Green Power Project. This development, just north of Fort Collins on I-25, has the potential to produce four gigawatts of wind energy.

The rise of the wind energy market has naturally led to a change in property appraisals for some properties. On some appraisals you will see a new line item: “Annual turbine lease revenues on top of crop revenue yield per acre.” These are properties that have wind speeds of 11-13 miles per hour and are ideally in the general vicinity of existing high-power electrical transmission lines and not too remote from population centers.

Source: Realty Times, “Investor Report: Wind Energy” by Kenneth R. Harney, 9/4/09; http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20090904_investorreport.htm; Source: Coloradoan, “Wind farms gaining speed in Northern Colorado” by Bobby Magill, 9/14/09; http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20090914/LOVELAND01/90914003?GID=m1C3TdIF0zBOI6pDbtcAj5KvzHtkaNI

Rocky Mountain Foothills	CSU Flower Gardens	Local Mountain Biking
If you are an adventurer looking for a place to start a family, then according to National Geographic Adventure magazine, Fort Collins is a good place to be. In their annual review of the hottest cities to live and play in, the magazine identified Fort Collins as one of the three best places for an adventurer to start a family. The magazine pointed to Old Town’s “gingerbread” Victorian houses, city parks, open space, nearby mountains and the Poudre River as just a few of reasons to call Fort Collins home. If you don’t have a Fort Collins zip code yet, then feel free to start your search by clicking on the map below:

Source: Denver Channel News, “Adventure Mag. Gives Ft. Collins Honor As ‘Best Place To Start A Family” by Deb Stanley, 9/16/09
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/20946447/detail.html

In August, a new version of the credit scoring model, called FICO 08, was released to our three major credit bureaus — Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. These modifications will likely raise FICO scores for consumers with a relatively good track record save for a few blemishes, while possibly lowering credit scores for consumers with habitually late payments. Some of the highlights of FICO 08:

For consumers with a relatively good track record: Small missed payments lingering in collections with original amounts of $100 or less will no longer do damage to your credit score. For example, if you missed paying one utility bill three years ago and otherwise have a clean record then your score will likely be less affected by the missed payment.
Read the rest of this entry»

In a July article, Forbes magazine let readers know “Where to Live Cheaply.” Northern Colorado had two cities make the list with Fort Collins taking the #9 spot and Greeley #13.

Forbes identified the 100 cheapest locations by studying 380 metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions. Cost of living data from Moody’s Economy.com and home affordability figures from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo was used in the study. In addition, Forbes rated cities against each of the following four quality-of-life measures: violent crime rate, unemployment rate, average salary for college graduates and cultural opportunity.

Click here to see the complete slide show of “Where to Live Cheaply”

The bottom line: In northern Colorado, inexpensive living and quality of life can go hand in hand.

Source: Forbes.com, “Where to Live Cheaply” by Zack O’Malley Greenberg, 7/14/2009.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/13/cheap-cities-property-lifestyle-real-estate-cheap-places.html

Buyers, have you heard the word about the recently available SmartBuy purchase program run by HomeSteps, a Freddie Mac Unit? If not, read on. Through the SmartBuy purchase program, HomeSteps can pay up to 3.5%* of your purchase price in closing costs for initial offers presented on HomeSteps homes between July 17, 2009 - October 30, 2009, with escrow closed by December 31, 2009.

To qualify for the offer:
1. Complete the SmartBuy Buyer’s Closing Cost registration form: http://www.homesteps.com/smart_buy.htm#form.
2. Ask your real estate agent to show you the available HomeSteps homes in your area.
3. Confirm with your real estate agent that the Home Protect** Home Warranty is available with this home.
4. Present your completed Buyer’s Closing Cost coupon upon initial offer on a HomeSteps home.
5. Receive your SmartBuy Buyer’s Closing Cost offer, upon qualified closing.
6. Receive your Home Protect** 2-year Home Warranty upon qualified closing.
7. Complete and submit the Homebuyer Survey form to your Closing Agent (Closing Agent to provide)

Click on the link below to learn more about the SmartBuy Purchase Program:
http://www.homesteps.com/smart_buy.htm

*As an example of your savings, if the purchase price of your home is
$150,000, HomeSteps will pay up to $5,250 of your closing costs. This
savings is money that you can use for moving expenses or new
furnishings. (Please note HomeSteps will only pay up to 3.5%* of your
purchase price in closing costs, not to exceed the total closing costs.
For instance, if your purchase price is $125,000, and your closing
costs are $4,250, HomeSteps will only pay $4,250, an amount equal to
3.4% of your purchase price.)