How Property Taxes are Determined

This post describes how the property taxes are calculated and what are the timelines in order to appeal if your property tax seems too high. Property taxes are determined on odd-numbered years for 2-year tax periods. Property taxes determined in 2013 will be the taxes for 2013 and 2014 State statute requires that each property in the county be re-valued…

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Top 10 Cites for Home Sales

The Top 10 Best Cities for Home Sellers based on ZipRealty’s List Price to Close Price RatioReport are: San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Denver, Tucson, Portland and Seattle.

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“Unprecedented Opportunity for Sellers”

The Metrolist®, the Denver’s Multiple Listing Service, published a report titled “Denver’s Housing Market Continued to Recover in January Offering an Unprecedented Opportunity for Sellers“. The number of homes currently available on the market is at the lowest since 1990. “Year-over-year inventory levels continue to be low, home prices are up and average days on market (DOM) for Denver-area homes…

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NAHB: All Colorado metros ‘improving markets’ except Colorado Springs

Colorado Department of Local Affairs: For the second month in a row, all metro areas in Colorado, except Colorado Springs, are on the National Association of Home Builders’ Improving Markets Index. For much of 2012, Greeley, Boulder, and Ft. Collins were included on the “Improving Markets” list put out by the National Association of home Builders. The February list, released…

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2012 Wrap Up

Well,how did we do in 2012? I have wrapped up the highlights of 2012 in this short report full graphs and numbers. It includes information on the legislation front; rental market in Metro Denver, various vacancy rates by markets & dwellings, rent survey; Unemployment figures; Hiring; Home sales &Prices; new homes; and supply of homes on the market. Enjoy. 2012WrapUp

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Mortgages with No or Little Down-payments

Yahoo Finance published an article on “Mortgages with No or Little Down-payments”. Homebuyers with little money for a down payment are finding more home loans available for a low down payment or even no down payment. 4 mortgages are listed: No down VA No down Navy Federal No down Department of Agriculture Low down: FHA Read the full article here.

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Home Ownership Rate Stands at 65.5%

Americans still favor home ownership. The U.S. home-ownership rate continues to remain around 65.5 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau reported late last week. The home ownership rate is nearly the same as it was in the second quarter of 2011 at 65.9 percent. Please read the full article in the Realtor Magazine. The peak was at 69.2% in 2004.

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Declining Supply of Homes

Supply of homes and condos priced $250,000-and-lower stands at only 3.69 months reports Inside Real Estate News.

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FTC Mortgage Acts and Practices— Advertising Effective August 19, 2011

A new rule from the Federal Trace Commission aimed to deter deceptions in mortgage advertising. The rule imposes record keeping among other things on those impacted by the rule. “The Rule will impact real estate professionals that provide this information to consumers, such as giving a consumer a lender’s rate sheet.” According to the National Association of Realtors. Federal Register…

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Mid-year Housing Snapshot

Colorado Department of Housing has issued the Mid-year housing snapshot. Click here for the report. Or cut &  paste the link below into your browser. http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobheadername2=Content-Type&blobheadervalue1=inline%3B+filename%3D%22midyear2011.pdf%22&blobheadervalue2=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1251731922239&ssbinary=true

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New-home Sales Continues to Fall

“New single-family home sales fell again in the US, and in the West region, which includes Colorado. New home sales fell back to the lowest March total recorded in at least ten years. ” according to Colorado Division of Housing. http://www.divisionofhousing.com/2011/05/march-new-home-sales-still-at-ten-year.html

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Bill Banning Real Estate Transfer Fees

Senate Bill 11-234 would ban private real estate transfer fees, which have been added to homeowner association covenants during the development phase to fund an investment scheme cooked up by Manhattan-based Freehold Capitol Partners. The covenants are set up to require that a percentage of the sale price of a home be paid to a private 3d party every time…

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2010 Foreclosure Report Now Available

Colorado Department of Housing has published the 2010 Colorado Foreclosure report. The charts below show 2003-2010 stats for Colorado and the metro Denver area. The Denver metro includes the Denver, Arapaho and Adams counties. For other areas please refer to the actual report. The foreclosure filings are down, however, more homes are going to auction.

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Areas that avoided foreclosure mess earlier may be taking hit now

The Denver post reporting: Areas that avoided foreclosure mess earlier may be taking hit now – Homes in metro Denver neighborhoods that previously appeared insulated from the housing crisis are seeing a decline in prices as foreclosures and short sales tick up.  Meanwhile, those communities that were hit hardest are showing signs of improvement.  Read full article: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_16353602

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Homebuyers’ Tax Credit Recapture Starting in 2010

September 30th is the deadline to close on the homes purchased by Apr 30th tax-credit expiration date to earn the tax-credit. There were two variations to the tax-credit, one for the homes purchased in 2008 and one for those purchased in 2009. For homes purchased in 2008, the tax-credit was $7,500 and only applicable to the first time homebuyers. The…

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