Tag: Golden Real Estate

With Credit Scores More Important Than Ever, Here’s What You Need to Know

Sweeping changes have been implemented for all FHA, VA and conventional home loans in the past few weeks. In addition to increasing interest rates for borrowers purchasing at the “top of their buying power,” a borrower’s credit score now has an even bigger impact on interest rate than in the past. I asked Jaxzann Riggs, owner of The Mortgage Network to review “credit basics” with me and learned the following:

The five categories of data that impact your score, are: Payment History, Balances, Length of History, Types of Credit, and New Credit.

Your payment history makes up 35% of your credit score. For those who need the bottom line version of this paragraph – pay your bills on time.  Potential lenders want to know if you are paying your current credit accounts when they are due. The timeliness of payments is the biggest factor affecting your credit score, so missing or being late on even one payment will sting. If you have otherwise spotless credit, a payment that is made 30 days after its due date can knock as many as 100 points off your credit score. Clearly, late payments make a huge impact, and even further, they stay on your credit report for 7 years. If there is one thing you remember from this article, it is to make your payments on time! … or at least before they are 30 days past due.

The second largest category is balance owed. Lenders want to make sure that you are not overextended. This category will look at how much debt you have over all, how much is owed on individual accounts, and how many accounts you have with outstanding balances. With revolving credit, like credit cards, keep the amount owed on each card under 30% of the limit. 

The length of history shows whether you’ve had credit for six months or 20 years. Having a long track record without any major slip-ups suggests that your credit behavior will be consistent in the future.  Lenders and credit card issuers like that. Keep old accounts open unless there is a compelling reason to close them, such as an annual fee on a card you no longer use. You might be able to help yourself a little in this category by becoming an authorized user on an old account with an excellent payment record.

Did you know there are different types of credit? Revolving (i.e. credit cards), installment (i.e. student/auto loans), and open credit (i.e. a charge card, actually different than a credit card). Having a mix of credit account types may show lenders that you are less of a credit risk because you’ve demonstrated an ability to successfully manage different types of credit and the payment systems associated with them. Having a mix of credit accounts positively impacts scores.

Lastly, keep in mind that applying for new credit can cause your score to slip. Each application causes a hard inquiry on your credit and will likely take a few points off your score, unless the applications happen to fall withing a certain category of credit and within 7 days of each other. As an example, multiple auto loan inquiries or multiple home loan inquiries all made within seven days of each other won’t hurt your score.

Remember that it’s not a good idea to shop for a new car at the same time that you are shopping for a home loan. Lenders don’t like that.

If you are contemplating a home purchase, keep in mind that there are many steps you can take now to set yourself up for success. If you have any questions about the newly updated guidelines or need lending support in any way, do not hesitate to reach out to Jaxzann Riggs, owner of The Mortgage Network at 303- 990-2992.

Here Are Some Ways to Make Your Home More Accommodating to Seniors

Even if you live in a home with stairs, there are ways to make your home more senior-friendly, so you can age in place instead of moving.

Stairs are the single biggest reason that most seniors want to downsize into a ranch or patio home, but almost any staircase can accommodate a stair elevator — a chair which can transport you from one floor to the next, even around curves. We had a stair elevator on the stairs to our basement in the ranch home we sold last year. We used it mostly for transporting heavy items to and from the basement, including those big purchases from Costco which didn’t fit in our kitchen cabinets or pantry. The seat on a stair elevator folds up so you can walk past it easily.

Some new homes are built with 4-foot square closets one above the other which could be sacrificed later on to install an elevator. If you’re having a custom home built, consider that idea. Even if you never make that conversion, it’s a feature that could raise your home’s resale value.

A handyman can often design and build ramps onto your front porch, into your back yard or from your attached garage into the home.

Rita and I are big fans of “chair height” toilets, which cost no more than regular toilets and can be swapped out by a handyman, making it a pretty affordable enhancement. A handyman can also install grab bars in multiple places around your home, especially in bathrooms.

Other easy and affordable improvements could include installing lever door handles to replace door knobs. Another might be to install a video door bell so you can see who’s at your door from your chair (or from afar when on vacation — a stranger ringing your bell wouldn’t know you’re not home).

There are also internet-connected electric deadbolts which you can lock or unlock using a smartphone. Speaking of security, you can also install internet-connected cameras which not only give you a live view of your interior or exterior spaces but also store that video in the “cloud” for later viewing or sharing.

You might have the handyman install motion-sensing light switches in your garage or bathrooms to turn on those lights when you enter. A photocell light switch can turn on your porch light at sunset. You can purchase both types of those switches at any hardware store.

One reader suggests a countertop microwave oven as being more convenient than a wall-mounted one for a wheelchair-bound senior. 

For bathing, you can buy a walk-in bathtub, but that’s a pretty expensive improvement that won’t necessarily improve your home’s resale value. It could even hurt it. Most seniors prefer a shower, and one that you can roll into is best.  At least build a walk-in shower with a bench and hose attachment.

A home with zero outside maintenance is ideal for seniors, but “patio homes” are few and far between and sell quickly when they come on the market. I’ve had clients lose bidding wars for a patio home.

The primary feature of a patio home is that the HOA takes care of all outside maintenance, mowing unfenced front and back yards, removing snow up to your garage door and porch/front door, trimming trees and bushes, etc. Many patio home HOAs even take responsibility for repainting your home’s exterior on a schedule (typically 6 years) and have a master insurance policy covering the structure and your roof. You purchase renter’s insurance instead of homeowner’s insurance.

No patio home? You can hire vendors to mow your lawn and shovel the snow. We had a wonderful Vietnamese family which not only mowed our lawn as needed but did a spring and fall yard cleanup for a reasonable fee. Of course, now that we live in an apartment, we have none of those expenses, and I’m a big advocate of doing what we did — cash out by selling your home if it will produce enough cash to live out your remaining years.

‘Cord Cutting’ Becomes More Common; Here’s Our Story

Over the years, Rita and I have bounced around from cable TV to DirecTV to Dish Network because of the astounding increases in monthly fees. Add some premium channels and the cost can approach $200/month, which is $2,400 per year, just for TV!  Perhaps your story is similar.

A year ago, when Rita and I moved into a 55+ rental that only offers Comcast TV and doesn’t allow satellite dishes, we finally did what so many have done before us: we abandoned both cable and satellite TV, or “cut the cord,” as it’s called.

So now we only stream, and our primary TV provider now is YouTube TV, not to be confused with YouTube. And I recommend it as an affordable solution. We get all the channels we were getting before, both local and cable.

We have Comcast/Xfinity for our home internet, which is a business expense for me, and their basic internet speed is fast enough for streaming YouTube TV (which is $64.99/mo.) and Netflix.

I love two things about YouTube TV. First, it has unlimited cloud DVR storage. (No equipment for us; just connect to our WiFi signal.)  Second, like Netflix, I can watch it on my laptop, phone or iPad, such as at the office or when I’m traveling anywhere in the U.S. (I watched some Denver programs while I was in Hawaii recently.) Rita can watch one program while I’m watching another.

We don’t watch any programs live anymore, because we want to fast forward through commercials. We preferred Dish and DirecTV over Comcast because they have a 30-second fast forward button. Comcast has no such button. YouTube TV has a 15-second button, which is good enough. Here’s a screenshot of from logging in to YouTube TV just now:

Each of those programs (and countless others) are recorded online and we never have to worry about running out of DVR space.

Price Reduced on Your Golden Dream Home

    This solar-powered home at 359 Canyon Point Circle was a model home for the Village at Mountain Ridge, the subdivision west of Highway 93 backing to the Mt. Galbraith Park. (There’s a trailhead to the park’s 5 miles of hiking trails within the subdivision.) The seller has made many improvements to the home since buying it in 2002, including a total renovation of the gourmet kitchen and master bathroom, plus adding 11.5 kW of solar panels which meet all the electrical needs of the home. The main-floor deck was also completely rebuilt with composite decking, metal railings and a breakfast bar for enjoying the sunrises over South Table Mountain and the City of Golden, which are visible even from the walk-out basement. A walking path near this home allows children to walk safely to Mitchell Elementary School via a pedestrian bridge that crosses the highway. The listing price was just reduced to $1,545,000. To appreciate all the features of this 4,106-sq.ft. home, take the narrated video tour at www.MountainRidgeHome.com, then come to the open house this Saturday, March 18, noon to 2pm.

Meet Our New Broker Associate, Austin Pottorff

    I have known Austin for over a decade. He’s one of the hardest working Realtors I know, and he has been very successful, especially in finding and listing development sites which he recognizes as having great potential. Previously self-employed under the name Mountain Opportunities Real Estate, he has now joined Golden Real Estate, bringing with him a new development listing which you’ll be reading about in a coming column. He is also a licensed drone pilot, and you’ll be impressed as I was by the aerial photos and videos which you can view on his website, www.MountainDrone.com.

    Austin’s politics also align with my own, and I am really impressed by his commitment to the banning of assault rifles, as evidenced by his website, www.KidsLivesMatter.org. I look forward to a great relationship with Austin. You can reach him anytime on his cell phone, 970-281-9071, or by email at Austin@GoldenRealEstate.com. Welcome aboard, Austin!

February Statistics Show Some Stabilization of Metro Denver’s Real Estate Statistics

Below is the “Market Overview” for February as published by the Market Trends Committee of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR). It is for the 11-county “metro” area, which includes Elbert, Gilpin and Park counties.

One statistic omitted from the DMAR infographic is the median days in MLS, which fell dramatically compared to the average days in MLS. Defining metro Denver as a 23-mile radius of downtown Denver (not how DMAR chooses to define it), I find the average days-in-MLS for February to be 47 (up from 46 days in January) and the median days-in-MLS to be 24 (down from 34 days from January).

(Notably, the days-in-MLS statistics for the first several days of March are 39 and 13 respectively. We’ll check back in April to see how those statistics for March end up.)

That’s an important distinction, because what it tells us is that while there continue to be lots of overpriced homes sitting on the MLS, there are now enough right-priced homes on the MLS which are selling quickly to bring down the median days-on-MLS statistic.

This is a lesson which all sellers should take to heart — that if you price your home at or slightly below the market, you will sell your home quickly, but if you put it on the MLS at a hoped-for price that is above the market, it will sit on the MLS for a long time.

As I write this on Monday evening, these are the numbers of active Denver metro listings on www.REcolorado.com listed by days-on-market:

0-7 Days—610

8-14 Days—306

15-31 Days—478

32-60 Days—442

61-90 Days—193

Over 90 Days—743

We agents refer to listings that have been on the MLS over 30 or 60 days as “stale,” and those are good prospects for getting a low-ball offer accepted. Buyers can certainly be confident that they won’t encounter a bidding war for any listing that has been on the market more than a couple weeks — unless there was a recent price reduction. If you want to avoid bidding wars and get a good deal, ask your agent to send you only listings which have been on the MLS over 10 days.

Meanwhile, sellers need to recognize that if they overprice a home and later reduce the price to make it sell, they typically get less than if they had priced the home correctly.

For Jefferson County residents, here is the above analysis as it relates to Jeffco:

These are the numbers of active Jeffco listings on REcolorado by days-on-market:

0-7 Days—150

8-14 Days—62

15-31 Days—92

32-60 Days—82

61-90 Days—25

Over 90 Days—141

Here are the charts adapting that DMAR graphic to Jefferson County:

Just Listed: Solar-Powered Golden Home in Village at Mountain Ridge with Walkout Basement

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This solar-powered home at 359 Canyon Point Circle was a model home for the Village at Mountain Ridge, the subdivision west of Highway 93 backing to the Mt. Galbraith Park. (There’s a trailhead to the park’s 5 miles of hiking trails within the subdivision.) It was just listed for $1,595,000. The seller has made many improvements to the home since buying it in 2002, including a total renovation of the gourmet kitchen and master bathroom, plus adding 11.5 kW of solar panels which meet all the electrical needs of the home. The main-floor deck was also completely rebuilt with composite decking, metal railings and a breakfast bar for enjoying the sunrises over South Table Mountain and the City of Golden, which are visible even from the walk-out basement. A walking path near this home allows children to walk safely to Mitchell Elementary School via a pedestrian bridge that crosses the highway. To appreciate all the features of this 5-BR/4½-bath home, take the narrated video tour (with drone video) at www.MountainRidgeHome.com, then come to the open house this Saturday, March 11, 11 am to 1 pm.

Connecticut Launches “Green Liberty Bonds” Program to Fight Climate Change

   The Washington Post’s “Climate Coach” recently wrote his column about Connecticut’s program which, like War Bonds (which raised billions of dollars to fight World War II), aims to create a pool of millions of dollars to finance small solar energy systems. Here’s a link to that column. It links to another such program, “Raise Green.”

Colorado Now Regulates the Installation of Radon Measuring Devices

By now, most home sellers and buyers should be aware that radon, a naturally occurring carcinogenic gas, is prevalent in Colorado. Every buyer’s agent should be advising their client to hire an inspector who, in addition to inspecting the home for hidden defects, can perform a radon test.

Radon, at any level, can cause lung cancer, and the EPA has established an “action level” of 4 picocuries per liter (4 pCi/l) above which mitigation is recommended. According to www.cdc.gov, the EPA estimates that radon gas is responsible for 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year, about one-sixth of the annual lung cancer deaths (cancer.org). However, if the radon level is above 4.0 pCi/l using any testing device other than a CRM (Continuous Radon Monitor), such as charcoal or E-perms, a second test is required immediately after, and those results are averaged with the first set of results to determine if mitigation is recommended.

Radon is an odorless, colorless and tasteless gas which is a decay product from Uranium U235. It further decays into polonium, which is what’s harmful to your health. The final decay product is lead.

Home inspectors are still not licensed or regulated in Colorado (something I have argued for), but as of July 1, 2022, only a licensed radon professional can install an approved radon testing device as part of a home inspection, and must follow explicit and detailed instructions for doing so.

Fortunately, my go-to home inspector, Jim Camp of Metropolitan Home Inspections, obtained his radon license and gave us a PowerPoint presentation on the subject at a recent office meeting. Here’s a link to his presentation.

Prior to licensing, any inspector could install the 48-hour testing equipment in a home and leave behind a flyer requesting “closed house conditions.” The device makes hourly measurements, so any violation of those rules would be obvious from looking at hourly variations in the measurements. Only the CRM has hourly results of the concentration levels along with temperature, barometric pressure and relative humidity reading.

But now there are several specific procedures that must be followed, including getting signed approval from the client to conduct the test, and providing advance notice of the test to the owner or occupant. The latter form states that closed house conditions must be initiated at least 12 hours prior to testing, not just throughout the 48-hour testing period.

Another rule is that if the basement footprint exceeds 2,000 square feet, two radon measuring devices must be installed. There are detailed instructions about where a testing device can and cannot be positioned.

Any air exchange systems, such as whole house fans, moisture mitigation systems for homes with structural wood or concrete floors, window air conditioners and box fans must be turned off. In addition, the garage overhead door must remain closed along with the windows and exterior doors including the passage door to an attached garage. An existing radon mitigation system can remain on during the test.

Environmental Film Festival Expanded My ‘Woke’ Credentials, But That’s a Good Thing – Better Than ‘Unconscious’

I’m writing this column in the immediate aftermath of attending the Colorado Environmental Film Festival. I was only able to watch 20 or so of the 90-plus films featured during the sixteen 2-hour sessions, but I plan to watch others this week. (You can access all the films at www.CEFF.net for $75, which gives you seven days to view any collection you log into by Sunday, March 5.)

My favorite films were: The Sacrifice Zone; Wings over Water; Heart of Maui; Somehow Hopeful; Earth Girl; The Witness Is a Whale; and A Rally for Rangers.

Many of these films raised my consciousness regarding different issues facing humanity and America, which got me thinking about the term “Woke,” which is applied negatively against those of us with similar awareness of certain issues. In the parlance of the MAGA folks, I’m part of the “Woke mob.”

Obviously, the term is adapted from “awake” or “awakened.” One thing for which we can thank the previous administration is that the division it spawned awakened people like me to portions of our history (and our present) of which we may have been less aware. I’m thinking of books like The 1619 Project and Caste,  which taught me things I did not know about our nation’s sad legacy of enslavement and racism, which are at the heart of America’s “great experiment.” For example, I didn’t realize that the 13th amendment abolished slavery, “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,” an exception that was exploited throughout the former confederate states by convicting Blacks of petty or false crimes and imprisoning them so that the prisons could lease them to plantation owners to continue their enslavement.

Yes, I’m awake to many aspects of our history to which the MAGA mob is (and would like to remain) unconscious. I’m awake to the environmental injustice suffered by the minority communities close to the Suncor plant in north Denver, which was the topic of a CEFF film. I’m awake to the broken promise of “40 Acres and a Mule” which underlies the calls for reparations to descendants of the enslaved.

I prefer “woke” to “unconscious.”