In Northern Colorado the rental market is on fire!  Rental vacancy rates are below 3% in Fort Collins and Loveland, which is one of the lowest rates in all of Colorado.  Property owners and property management companies are getting 5-10% rental increases year over year because of current market demand.

Right now in Fort Collins you can rent a 3 bed, 2 bath, 2-car single family home for approx $1,300/mo.

For that same monthly payment you could afford to purchase approximately a $250,000 home using FHA financing with 3.5% down ($8,750.00 down payment).

Here’s a great article on msnbc.com talking about how the median monthly mortgage payments and median monthly rent payments are about the same, making home buying more financially advantageous than renting. http://ow.ly/8Gujm 

Are you thinking about investing in Fort Collins of Loveland real estate this year? Then come The Group Real Estate’s “Wake Up Money” Session on Monday February 13th from 5:30 – 7:00!

When you register be sure to let them know you are coming as my guest.

Only a few seats left! January’s session sold out.  Click here to register: ow.ly/8DeAz

Do you need a few extra tax breaks this year?  If you own a home here are the Top 5 tax Breaks you might be eligible for from Inman News: http://www.inman.com/buyers-sellers/columnists/taranichollenelsoninmancom/top-5-tax-breaks-homeowners

Here are some great reasons to seriously consider buying a home in Northern Colorado in 2012:

• Appreciation – Prices have been flat to slightly inclining in the past year in Fort Collins and Loveland, and are just slightly down in Greeley.  Our economics in NoCo are looking very positive.  Interest rates are hovering just under 4% and the forecast is they will remain low through 2012.  A rising tide carries all boats is a great way to look at pricing appreciation in Northern Colorado.

• Property Tax Deductions – property taxes on your primary residence are fully deductible.  The IRS (Publication 530) provides detailed tax information for first-time buyers that can answer  questions about eligible deductions.

• Equity Building – Adding money to your monthly payment to decrease the principal balance at a faster pace.  This accelerated payment process allows you to pay off the principal balance faster, lock in a better interest rate, possibly shorten the length of the loan, own your home outright faster, and pay substantially less mortgage interest

• Skyrocketing Rents - The rental market in Larimer County is currently sitting at a 2.4 – 2.9% vacancy rate.  That is extremely low.  Rents are on the rise and most property managers and private investor owners are reporting yearly rental increased of 5-10% year-over-year.  In a lot of instances it is cheaper to buy vs rent on a monthly basis.

I just read the most disturbing post this morning from John Burns Real Estate Consulting (read full article here, http://ow.ly/8rbSA) about a newly trending problem with builders shying away from VA loans primarily due to VA appraisers and the new stance and rules & regs they have recently implemented.

This “stance” while under the guise of “protecting the VA and the Veteran” is really hurting the Veteran, the housing market and the general economy.

I recently encountered just what Jody Kahn, the author of this article, has written about.  I had a veteran who had diligently served his country for over 10 years decide last year to purchase a bigger home for his growing family.  He & his wife work hard to provide the American Dream to their two boys.  We go on the house search and they find a beautiful short sale home in the area.  The house had just come on the market and by my market analysis (side note – I’m a pretty conservative analyst when working with home buyers) this was a good opportunity.  They were in a competing offer situation with this house that had only been on the market for 2 days.  They won the bid and then spent 5+ months working their way through the arduous short sale process.  We finally get lenders approval and are told we need to jump to and have this home closed in 30 days or less.  Their lender who is one of the best lenders I have ever worked with hammers down and gets to work to make it happen.  Buyers, sellers, listing broker and myself all do the same.  We hit every deadline days before it was actually due.

Then  comes the appraisal….  The VA appraiser completely disregarded the deadline assigned to him.  After repeated attempts to contact him and request an update we encounter an extremely standoffish appraiser who curtly informs us that he doesn’t work for us.  His mandate is to protect the VA and the Veteran at all costs.  So he proceeds to take another 10-12 days beyond his deadline to complete his appraisal.  Well, guess what.  His appraisal comes in $12,000 under the contracted and lender approved price.  When we question him about this he refuses to justify or explain his rationale for how he derived this value.  He also refused to have a rational conversation about the value and informed us he would not reevaluate the appraisal.  This caused quite a quandary for us and we had to jump through several more hoops in order to get this through the short sale process and closed.  At the end of the day and not withstanding the best attempts of the VA appraiser to “protect and serve…” we were able to close on this home and now have a very satisfied veteran homeowner.  He did say that if he had to do it all again and knowing what he knows now about the VA lending process, he would probably forgo this “benefit” and pay a little more in a conventional loan just for the ease of the process.

As a veteran myself I this bothers me on so many levels.  First and foremost, our veterans deserve better than that.  They served honorably and are repeatedly sold that a VA home loan is a real benefit.  Really?

Secondly,  what’s with this protectionism stance of late?  Does the VA not trust the Veteran to make a sound financial decision?  Sure, they can ship you off to battle to make life or death decisions or operate million dollar pieces of equipment, but please once you step away from that we’re not so sure we can trust you to work hard and pay your bills.

Thirdly, as a government entity that relies on a robust economy and who says everyday that a healthy housing market is one of the keys to digging ourselves out of the Great Recession, why are you trying so hard to continue to keep it down?

I could go on and on but I will step off my soapbox for today and just say this.  Our Veterans need and deserve homes too!

Would you like to learn more about the concept of “Wake Up Money”? Come on out to The Group’s real estate investment educational session to learn about how to smartly invest in real estate in Fort Collins and Loveland on Monday Oct 17th from 5:30 – 7:00 to learn more! Follow this link to register and be sure to let me know if you are coming!  http://ow.ly/6NJwc

Are you a 1st time home buyer in Fort Collins or Loveland or know someone who is and would like more information about the home buying process?  Then click on this link to register for The Group’s Home Buyer Basics class on Thurs Oct 13th from 5:30 – 7:00p. Then let me know you are coming! http://ow.ly/6NJnZ

So is now the right time to buy or sell real estate in Northern Colorado?  Well let’s look at some simple facts about our market today:

1. Interest rates continue to stay in the sub 5% range, which is outstanding.  Yesterday I saw rates in the 4.5% to 4.75% range.

2. Pricing is still very competitive.  According to FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Authority) latest quarterly report on housing prices & appreciation it shows Fort Collins-Loveland market is only down 1.49% over the year, down .80% over the last quarter and down 4% over the last 5 years.  What this means is competitive pricing for buyers and not a significant loss for sellers.  Compare that with Phoenix, AZ where their home prices have fallen 11.59% over the last year, 4.87% in the last quarter and a whopping 44.02% over the last 5 years.

3.  In Fort Collins-Loveland inventory is down across the board by approx 13-15%.  Good, clean homes are hard to find and we are seeing multiple offer situations and homes being sold before they even hit the MLS.

4.  Lots of positive press and leading economic indicators are pointing to good things for our market in the near future.

I enjoy reading and following David Bach, author of the FinishRich series.  He posted a great blog article today asking the question “Is now the right time to buy real estate?”.  His answer, yes!  Here is the link to his article, http://www.finishrich.com/blog/is-now-the-right-time-to-buy-real-estate/

Housing affordability is at a 20 year high. The last time it was this good was 1981 and MTV was launched. That’s cool! http://ow.ly/5iP8V

Solid article from the Wall Street Journal on why now is a good time to be buying a home. http://ow.ly/5iMx9