Bill’s Blog

Have you been thinking about re-painting a room in your home?  They say certain colors can define and even enhance your mood.  Its a grea low-cost way to spruce up the appearance of your home.  Check-out this article about paint colors to help you find the right one for you.

Bill Allen

303.441.5690

ballen@boulderco.com

RE/MAX of Boulder, INC

Through all the ups and downs the housing market has been going through, one key issue is holding the market back from growing.  The market IS seeing lots of improvement from a year ago but that is just from housing activity and not the facts.  The activity in the market has been growing over the past year but the facts of the matter is that, nationally, we are not improving when it comes to home appraisals and valuation.  Home appraisals are the staple to the healthy economy and because of the past few years of poor valuation we are seeing the effects today…Here is why:

Before the housing bust, home appraisals were getting out of hand, making higher valuations than the property was worth.  This market characteristic contributed heavily to the housing bust, homes were jumping up 10-16% a year, when on an average year home values are to appreciate between 2-4%.  This spike in home values lead to the crash and the appraised values plummeted and over the past 3 years we have seen large de-valuation of homes where they were highly valued. 

The home appraisals of today are the effects of the high appraisals and the low home values of the past 3 years.  What is happening today is that home valuations are turning up lower than the REAL value of the home.  What I mean by REAL value of the home, is that a home may actually be worth $500,000 BUT because of the low appraisals of the past few years, the home that has a REAL value of $500,000 will end up being appraised at a lower value because the appraiser does not have comparable homes to compare it to.  And if the appraiser does have homes to appraise it to, they are at a lower price because of the housing bubble bust and the home values of comparables that have sold recently are at a lower price, therefore, causing the home with the REAL value of $500,000 to be valued below its worth at say $450,000.

Now you may be thinking, ok, its valued at $450,000 but im going to put it on the market for the $500,000 because that the real price it should be appraised at.  The problem here is 99 out of 100 times a buyer will want to see the most recent home appraisal and if the appraisal says the home is worth $450,000 and not $500,000 (as listed) the buyer will not be willing to go above $450,000 on the home and will end up buying a house down the street and leaving yours on the market for a long long time.

This is a very interesting subject to keep track of, because until home appraisers can figure out a better system to appraise homes, we may be stuck in this downward appraisal turmoil for a long time.  The appraisal system has the power to turn the housing market around and bring things back to normal.

    *for a similar story please follow this link:  U.S. housing faces extra drag- low appraisals

I’d love to hear some comments on home owners/ home buyers/ home sellers, and what you think about all of this.

Bill Allen

303.441.5690.office

ballen@boulderco.com

RE/MAX of Boulder, INC

The annual evaluation of the 10 Best Beer States has just been released and Colorado came in 4th.  I know, i’m a little disappointed to.  I thought we would make the top 3 at least.  But if you want to know how they ranked the top 10, just follow this link and watch the short clip on the ‘Best Beer States’ ranking system.

*Follow this link for the entire story and see the entire top 10 list!

Bill Allen

303.441.5690.office

ballen@boulderco.com

RE/MAX of Boulder, INC

The past week Outside Magazine ranked Boulder, Colorado the best place to work in the U.S.  This was only the fourth year for the poll but it is slowly picking up.  Out of the 100-150 companies that have taken place in the poll, this years list was the most competitive.  The ranking are as follows:

“Boulder-based Natural Habitat Adventures, a travel operator, is No. 1 on the list. Boulder-based Environmental Management & Planning Solutions Inc., an environmental consulting firm is No. 2, and Boulder-based Sterling-Rice Group, an advertising and communications firm, is No. 3.”bcbr.com

For the entire article from BCBR.com follow this link.

Bill Allen

303.441.5690.office

RE/MAX of Boulder, INC

A very poor start for the stock market this morning, dropping 400 points already has caused mortgage rates to hit the 50 year low!  A 30-year fixed loan has dropped from 4.32% to 4.15%, while the average 15-year rate fell from 3.5% to 3.36%.

Now is an excellent time to re-finance if you have been thinking about it.  It would be hard to believe that rates could fall any lower.  If you have been thinking about refinancing, feel free to leave a comment or contact me…

*For the entire article read here

Bill Allen

RE/MAX of Boulder, INC

303.441.5690.office

ballen@boulderco.com

Today, CNNmoney released their ‘Top 100 Places to Live 2011′ list, ranking 3 Colorado cities in the top 20.  The rankings are based on a combination of job opportunities, fiscal strength, top-notch schools, safe streets, good health care, cultural and outdoor activities, and nice weather.

HERE are the ranks for the three Colorado cities that made the top 20:

Are you a current homeowner, or looking to be one in the future?  Well then you are going to want to have Homeowners Insurance and I’m sure your going to be taking a lot of time searching for the right coverage.  Take a short cut and read this attached article to RealtyTimes.com and read their experts tips for picking out the right type of coverage for you.

*Read the article ‘The Basics of Homeowners Insurance’ here!

Bill Allen

RE/MAX of Boulder, INC

303.441.5690