Jim Smith, Broker

International Rescue Committee (IRC) Honors Judy Denison of Golden

Judy Denison, 86, was honored this Wednesday by the International Rescue Committee for her indefatigable work obtaining free furniture and housewares for virtually every refugee resettled in Colorado by the IRC since 2020.

From her arrival in Golden 35 years ago, Judy volunteered in countless ways to serve Golden and ultimately to serve refugees, reaching out to involve the rest of us in every possible way.

Her first civic involvement took the form of co-founding Save the Mesas (from being developed by Nike) and joining the fight against ramming a beltway through Golden. She created the “Golden Newsletter” to keep over 1,000 email subscribers informed of that and other campaign/issues as well as the activities of virtually every Golden organization.

Judy’s first local refugee effort was the creation of the Golden Relief Group, which helped seven families who survived Hurricane Katrina.

For the IRC, she used her 2-car garage to store furniture donations for refugees from Afghanistan and a dozen other countries. Golden Real Estate was proud to make our moving truck available for transferring those items to IRC’s warehouse until Judy’s greatest collaboration, which is with CK & Done, an estate sale company. That company donates the unsold furniture and furnishings from estate sales and delivers them to IRC’s warehouse.

The IRC was not the first organization to recognize Judy for her voluntarism and civic mindedness. In 2012 the Golden Landmarks Association honored her as a “living landmark.”

Space does not allow for a sufficient listing of Judy’s contributions to Golden and our planet, but these links for both those honors provide a lot more details:

https://www.rescue.org/announcement/spotlight-judy-denison-0

http://goldenlandmarks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2012-Judy-Denison-1.pdf

Judy’s prep school, Northfield Mt. Herman, did a podcast interview with her. Here’s the link for that:

Governor Polis Signs into Law Massive Tax Credits for EVs and Home Electrification

A package of new climate-related legislation signed this year by Governor Polis is designed to make it more attractive for Colorado households to ditch fossil fuels.

Many of the discounts are designed to be combined with other incentives, but not all the savings will be available right away.

Here’s a guide to what’s coming and when:

Electric Vehicles: Right now, Colorado has 80,000 registered plug-in hybrids and battery EVs, a long way from the state’s goal of 940,000 EVs on the road by 2030. The new incentives are intended to speed up their adoption through a $5,000 tax credit on the purchase of a battery-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle with a suggested purchase price of less than $80,000. For cars priced under $35,000, buyers can get an additional $2,500 credit. Any Colorado resident qualifies, beginning on July 1, 2023. After Jan. 1, 2025, the base rebate decreases until it’s phased out in 2029.

E-bikes: Denver proved the power of e-bike rebates last year. The state is now hoping for similar success. The Colorado Energy Office plans to launch an e-bike rebate program for low- to moderate-income residents this summer but hasn’t detailed the size of the discounts.

The plan for all Coloradans regardless of income is clearer. Under legislation signed into law this year, the state will offer a $450 discount on e-bikes starting on April 1, 2024 and continuing through 2032. The discount will be applied at the point of sale.

Electric lawn equipment: Because gas-powered lawnmowers and other lawn equipment is a major source of ozone pollution, the state will institute a 30 percent discount on electric lawnmowers, leaf blowers, trimmers and snowblowers, applied at time of purchase, starting Jan. 1, 2024 and continuing through December 2026.

Heat pumps: Heat pumps for household space heating and water heating, powered by electricity, are seen as key to reducing pollution from natural gas. Colorado currently has a rebate worth 10 percent of the cost of installing heat pump equipment. It was scheduled to expire at the end of this year, but recent legislation extended it through 2024. The same bill also includes new incentives depending on the technology.

For air-source heat pumps, a resident is eligible for a one-time $1,500 tax credit from 2024 through 2026. After that, it drops to $1,000 until 2029, then to $500 through the end of 2032.

For ground-source heat pumps, residents are eligible for a $3,000 tax credit from 2024 until 2026. After that, it drops to $2,000 until 2029, then again to $1,000 through the end of 2032.

For heat pump water heaters, residents can apply for a $500 tax credit from 2024 until 2026. After that, it drops $250 until 2032.

You can expect vendors of such equipment to be well versed on all these discounts and rebates.

Nine Signs Your Home May Have a Water Issue

Water damage can lead to serious structural issues and health concerns if not addressed promptly. Here are nine signs that could indicate you have a water problem.

Unexpected Increases in Water Bills: If you notice a sudden spike in your water bill without a corresponding increase in usage, it could signify a hidden leak or other water-related problem in your home.

Wet Spots on Floors, Walls, or Ceilings: Look for persistent damp spots on your floors, walls, or ceilings. This could be an indication of a hidden water leak or poor drainage.

Sudden Appearance of Mold or Mildew: Excessive moisture in your home can lead to mold or mildew growth. Not only does this signify a severe water issue, but it can also negatively impact your health, causing allergies and respiratory problems. Keep in mind that mold requires a steady source of water for it to grow.

Sagging in Walls or Ceilings: Water accumulation can lead to structural damage over time. If your walls or ceilings start sagging or warping, it’s a clear sign of prolonged water exposure.

Persistent Musty Smell: A recurring, unpleasant odor in your home may indicate the presence of hidden mold or mildew, suggesting a water issue. If the musty smell persists despite cleaning, investigate further.

Cracking or Buckling in Floors: Water damage can cause wooden floors to buckle or tiles to crack. If you notice these changes and can’t attribute them to normal wear and tear, it might signal a water problem.

Stained or Discolored Areas: Unusual stains or discolorations on your home’s surfaces can indicate water damage, especially if they are yellow or brown. This could be due to roof or plumbing leaks.

Changes in Lawn or Garden: A leaking water line can lead to unusual changes in your yard. Look for patches of particularly lush vegetation or sinking areas in your yard due to the excess water.

Decreased Water Pressure: A drop in water pressure could indicate a significant leak in your home’s plumbing system.

Water issues in your home should never be ignored. If you notice any of these signs, addressing them immediately is essential to prevent further damage. Remember, the quicker you act, the better.

—Courtesy PunchListUSA.com

Build Your Dream Home Creekside in Cedaredge CO

Our good friend and former broker associate Kim Taylor, who now lives in Cedaredge on the Western Slope, has listed these parcels in the Will-o-Way subdivision along Surface Creek. All four lots have infrastructure in place and range in size from 0.438 to 0.716 acres. Lots 1-3 have between 118’ and 200’ of creek frontage (but are not in a flood zone). The subdivision is within Cedaredge town limits, adjacent to a golf course and a walking path into town, and are near the scenic byway over the Grand Mesa. Envision your energy efficient home on any one of these lots. Conceptual architectural drawings are available. Lots priced individually from $80,000 to $112,000. For more info, call 303-304-6678, or visit www.WOWsubdivision.com.

New Disclosure Targets Financial Crimes and Fraud in Real Estate Transactions

We just learned about a new mandatory disclosure that affects some residential real estate transactions in the state of Colorado. It goes into effect tomorrow, May 24, 2023. The purpose of the new disclosure is to help combat the scams and fraud that are increasing in our industry.

The Federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a Geographic Targeting Order (GTO), requiring all underwriters and licensed title agents to report additional information about buyers before closing qualifying transactions.

Impacted transactions include residential transactions that are purchased with cash or financed by “hard money” loans from private investors, or if the buyer is a business entity. Only purchases over $300,000 are affected.

The rule applies to purchases within all the Denver metro counties plus Clear Creek, Elbert, El Paso, Fremont, Mesa, Pitkin, Pueblo and Summit counties.

For transactions that fall under these criteria, the buyer will need to provide specific details about the real estate transaction, the source of their purchase funds, and information about individuals with a 25% or more beneficial interest in the buying entity. This includes contact information, Social Security numbers, and copies of ID cards.

Title companies handling such transactions will reach out to agents and their buyers directly and ask for this information on a new form which will need to be returned to the title company prior to closing.

Yes, I Know It’s Confusing, But There Are Some Changes in Loan Rates

Social media has been abuzz lately with rumors about a new “tax” that is targeting high-credit score borrowers. Before you decide to stop paying your bills on time, I asked Jaxzann Riggs, owner of The Mortgage Network to explain as best she can what these changes are about.

She reminded me that we wrote about the shifts that had already begun in home loan pricing several months ago, when FHFA, the federal agency that supervises Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FHLMC), announced that changes were on the horizon.

FNMA and FHLMC are charged with providing liquidity, stability, and affordability to mortgage markets. Affordability is the key word here, especially for those borrowers within “underserved communities.” To support this priority, FNMA and FHLMC began changing Loan Level Price Adjustments, also referred to as LLPAs. These are adjustments made to the interest rates offered to borrowers based upon such criteria as credit score, loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, occupancy, property type, and debt-to-income (DTI) ratios.

In recent months, FHFA has announced many targeted changes to FNMA and FHLMC pricing. One example would be that first-time homebuyers who are at or below 100% of area median income (AMI) in most of the United States and below 120% of AMI in high-cost areas such as Denver may be offered rates that are lower than in the past. These changes signal a significant shift in lending philosophy with emphasis placed on those who may be “underserved.”

As an example, at the height of the COVID crisis, the cost of mortgages for second homes and investment properties was identical to that for primary residences. Currently the rate differential between an owner occupied home and an investment property or second home is over a full percentage point, making real estate investing much more expensive than during COVID.

The current change to LLPAs will, in some cases, reduce costs for those with lower credit scores and raise costs for those with higher credit scores, but, as shown in the graphic above from The Mortgage News Daily, the rumors are conflating the changes for the actual cost. Let’s take a minute to look at that graphic.

The chart shows the changes to the previous LLPAs. The green represents the falling costs; the red represents rising costs. As you can see, there is clearly no scenario where someone with lower credit will have a lower interest rate after adjustments are made.

While the change in LLPAs does result in a tweak of an existing fee structure in favor of those with lower credit scores, you can also see that there are instances where costs have lowered (green) for those with a high credit score. A low credit score borrower isn’t paying less than a high credit score buyer, but the gap between what they pay is simply smaller than it was previously.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, while some fees are being eliminated for lower-income buyers and lower credit score buyers, and fees are being increased for some buyers with higher credit scores, the two are not cause-and effect.

“Higher-credit-score borrowers are not being penalized or charged more so that lower-credit-score borrowers can pay less,” they said in a statement. “Some updated fees are higher, and some are lower, in differing amounts. They do not represent pure decreases for high-risk borrowers or pure increases for low-risk borrowers.”

I know that these topics can be confusing, and rumors can be overwhelming to debunk. If you are shopping for a home loan, Jaxzann would be happy to provide an interest rate quote for you. You can reach her anytime on her cell phone at 303-990-2992. Tell her you saw this column..

Liv-Connected: A New Player in the Rapidly Growing Manufactured and Modular Home Industry

As regular readers know, I’ve written several columns on technological developments in home construction and especially in the field of manufactured and modular home construction.

This week I was made aware of Liv-Connected, a 2018 startup which really got going during the pandemic when one of their partners, who was in the live event business building compact and readily deployed stage sets found himself with no work and turned his attention to compact and readily deployable modular housing.

At first, the company worked to improve upon the typical FEMA trailer being deployed to disaster areas, but then to the housing industry itself, beset as it was with labor shortages, supply-chain problems, and a soaring demand for second or remote homes.

Manufacturing home components in a warehouse has inherent efficiencies, but the cost of delivery of the finished home and/or its components to the build site needs to be factored in. For homes to be installed on a foundation, transportation costs for most manufacturers are inflated by the need to use wide-load trucks and pilot cars and to pay the associated permit fees. Liv-Connected’s concept eliminates that need by breaking down the segments of the house and roof into components (see diagram below) that can be delivered on one standard semi trailer (also below) and linked together in one day at the build site.

The bathroom and kitchen modules are fully equipped at the factory with fixtures and appliances and can be mixed and matched to create the desired end result. Also, the modular design allows the addition of more bedrooms at a later date, as illustrated on the company’s website, www.liv-connected.com.

Part of Liv-Connected’s business is building tiny homes or Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) under the brand Via, for which delivery costs are less because the homes are on a trailer chassis. The buyer could take delivery of them at the company’s Pennsylvania factory. Here’s a screenshot from their website:

Click here to read the June 2022 article on Forbes.com about the modular home industry, comparing and contrasting Liv-Connect’s business strategy with that of other off-site housing manufacturers. Here’s a link for an informative 9-minute video by Kerry Tarnow, an independent YouTuber.

Off-site construction has multiple advantages, including all-weather and year-round construction, much reduced waste, and much improved insulation. There’s also less loss due to vandalism or theft from the build site.

On-site work is limited to building the foundation with its entry points for water, sewer and other utilities, pre-matched to the underside of the Liv-Connect modules. Those connections, when done right, consume only about four hours of the one-day installation process. The driver of the truck is a Liv-Connect employee who is part of the installation crew.

The prices for Via homes start under $100,000. The prices for the modular homes, under the brand Connexus, start at $150,000.

Are You Appealing the Jefferson County Assessor’s Valuation of Your Home? We Can Help!

The brokers at Golden Real Estate are ready to provide you with the qualified sales that you can use in your appeal, including their time adjusted sale prices. Call 303-302-3636 and enter the 3-digit code for the broker you want to help you. Or email your request to jim@goldenrealestate.com.

So Many New Scams! Here Are Some We’re Seeing Now

I’m so offended by the texts and emails I receive which are clearly from scammers. I don’t want you to be a victim, so let me describe some of them.

At least once or twice a day I get an email labeled “payment notification,” “deposit notification,” “ACH transfer completed,” or something similar with no message, only an attachment. But the attachment is not a PDF or document, it’s a file with the suffix “.htm” or “.html,” signifying that it’s a website. I could be pretty sure that by clicking on that link I would have my computer or iPhone infected with some kind of coding which would open me up to identity theft or worse. Don’t click on any link that’s a website! Another frequent email scam pretends to be from Microsoft stating that my password is about to expire. If I click on the link it will, of course, ask for my password! Here’s a screenshot from my Scam folder where I have been archiving the scam emails I receive:

Text messages are an increasing source of dubious and unsavory contacts. Many of them simply try to start a conversation with a greeting (a particularly clever such text message is shown at right), but the phone number is from a strange area code. Delete those! If it’s a real person, they will call you if you’ve ignored the text.

Be careful out there!

The ‘We Buy Ugly Houses’ Company, HomeVestors, Is the Subject of a ProPublica Investigative Report

HomeVestors of America is a franchisor of its “ugly homes” concept and now has over 1,100 franchisees, including here in the Denver area. The chief benefit of being a franchisee is the company’s national advertising which you have surely seen on billboards and in other media.

HomeVestors also trains its franchisees on lead generation, which was the subject of a May 11th article by ProPublica, co-published with the Dallas Morning News and Shelterforce.

To quote from the article, “HomeVestors, the self-proclaimed “largest homebuyer in the United States,” goes to great lengths to distinguish itself from the hedge funds and YouTube gurus that have taken over large swaths of the real estate investment market. The company says it helps homeowners out of jams — ugly houses and ugly situations — improving lives and communities by taking on properties no one else would buy. Part of that mission is a promise not to take advantage of anyone who doesn’t understand the true value of their home, even as franchisees pursue rock-bottom prices.”

Pro-Publica’s investigation, which included “interviews with 48 former franchisees and dozens of homeowners who have sold to its franchises” found that franchise owners “used deception and targeted the elderly, infirm and those so close to poverty that they feared homelessness” if they sold.

One former franchise owner said they were trained to lie.

We in the real estate industry are familiar with various tried-and-true prospects for listing a home, including couples that have recently divorced, or where an elderly husband or wife has just died, but HomeVestors apparently “goes the extra mile” in that regard.

A former employee of an ad agency hired by HomeVestors is cited as saying that the ad agency’s owner bragged about being able to target homeowners who had recently broken a hip, saying that the injury “is effectively a 60-day countdown to death — and, possibly, a deal.”

Click here for the full ProPublica article. And here are some follow-up articles:

HomeVestors Praised ProPublica’s Reporting, Then Tried to “Bury It” The “We Buy Ugly Houses” company held a virtual meeting for its franchises to outline a plan to “minimize visibility” of our investigation.
By Anjeanette Damon, Byard Duncan and Mollie Simon

Help ProPublica Investigate “We Buy Houses” Practices If you’ve had experience with a company or buyer promising fast cash for homes, our reporting team wants to hear about it.
By Byard Duncan, Anjeanette Damon and Sarah Smith