Boulder, Colorado Homes, Real Estate, Mortgage and Events

The real estate story of 2012 in the Front Range continues to surround the lack of inventory and many buyers entering the market soaking up the limited quality homes on the market. This has led to several sellers we represented receiving a favorable price and terms on their homes but on the flip side it has created challenges for several buyers we have represented successfully and others that are still seeking a suitable home. This month I wanted to touch on some of the reasons why we have a lack of inventory in our market place. This is more anecdotal to what I am seeing in the field and in practice and not a data driven scientific study. As one of my clients this weekend said, residential real estate tends to be “more art than science.”

A few

36 Commuting Solutions is offering a complimentary bus pass for people to try the Regional Transportation District's Route 228 through Louisville and Broomfield.

The route travels from Garfield Avenue and South Boulder Road in Louisville to the Broomfield park-n-ride, with stops at the McCaslin park-n-ride and FlatIron Crossing mall.

Residents interested in receiving a free bus pass for Route 228 can e-mail info@36commutingsolutions.orgor call 303-604-4385.

36 Commuting Solutions, a nonprofit transportation group focusing the U.S. 36 corridor, also is sponsoring the 36 Prize Riders contest through Aug. 3. Commuters in the U.S. 36 corridor who travel by bus instead of in their own cars will be eligible to win an iPad 2, Kindle Fire or

The magazine Family Circle has listed Louisville as one of the top 10 towns for families. The magazine "assessed which places best met our family-friendly criteria -- including affordable homes, quality schools, access to healthcare, green space, low crime rate and financial stability -- and ranked them from top to bottom."  In the past, Louisville has ranked at the top of Money Magazine's "America's Best Places to Live" list. With these national accolades, Louisville is becoming quite the relocation hot spot for families moving to Colorado. If you would like to learn more about this fantastic little town, and the real estate in it, feel free to contact me.

Malia Maunakea
Estey Realty Group
720-254-3590
malia@esteyrealtygroup.com

Enjoy a beautiful spring day in Colorado and take advantage of free entry* to all National Parks in honor of Get Outdoors Day this Saturday.  Head out to Rocky Mountain National Park, or Sand Dunes National Park and remind yourself why we are so privileged to be living in such an amazing place.

If you want to stick to the city this weekend, you can still enjoy the Get Outdoors Colorado event at Denver's City Park.  There will be rock climbing, kayaking, live music, dancing, fishing, canoeing, hula hooping and much more.  The event is free and promises to be a fun event for all ages.

*Fee waiver includes: entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees. Other fees such as reservation, camping, tours, concession and fees

 A report from Coldwell Banker Real Estate ranked Boulder homes for sale as the fifth most expensive out of college towns.  The average cost for a three bedroom, two bath home for sale in Boulder is $731,617 according to the report.  The report looked at real estate markets of the 117 schools in the football bowl subdivision from August 2010 to August 2011 listed on Coldwell Banker.com.

Fort Collins homes for sale ranked 95th (most affordable) on the list at an average home price of $266,708.  Colorado Springs homes for sale ranked 72nd with an average home price of $193,968.

While the Boulder market is known for its higher real estate market prices, the numbers from the Coldwell Banker report appear to be drastically exaggerated based on

In our ongoing series highlighting Colorado real estate experts, ColoradoHomesIQ interviewed Jason Kloss with Fuller Sotheby's International Realty in Boulder, Colorado. We hope our Colorado real estate agent blogs provide Colorado home buyers and sellers a better perspective of the real estate agents and a chance to know a little more about our Colorado real estate experts.

Colorado Real Estate Expert: Jason Kloss - Fuller Sotheby's International Realty

Where are you from?

I was born in South Florida and lived there until I was about 15 years of age; my dad and mom decided to make the move with me and my brother to Colorado for the lifestyle change and have lived here loving it ever since. Having lived in Boulder County for the last 18 years I am

Saturday July 30th Boulder and Longmont area Open Houses

Ben Grisinger - 5280 Homes, Inc.

7/30 from 12-3pm

4442 Driftwood Place Boulder, CO  $380,000

Description:  

Fantastic home backing to park like greenbelt. Great flowing open floor plan. Amazing natural light with lots of windows and 4 skylights. Extremely spacious master bedroom. Don't want to be inside? Step out into your backyard oasis with amazing patio and even better swimming pool and hot tub. Still plenty of room for the kids or dogs to run. This is it.

John Lee - RE/MAX Traditions

7/30 12-2pm

809 Collyer Street Longmon, CO  $282,500

Description:  Fabulous Historic Eastside 2 bd, 2 bath home fully refinished hardwood floors, brand new stainless dishwasher,

The conforming and FHA loan limits in some counties will be changing at the end of September.  The federal government temporarily increased the conforming and FHA loan limits in 2008 to help home buyers in high cost counties to obtain mortgage financing but is set to expire September 30th. 

The only counties in the Front Range area that will be affected by the conforming loan limits are Boulder and Weld County.  The current conforming loan limit in Boulder County is $460,000, Weld County $417,500, both counties will have their loan limits lowered to $417,000.  All other counties in the Front Range area loan limits will remain at $417,000.  Summit, Pitkin, Lake, Routt and Eagle counties loan limits will be lowered to $625,500 from $729,750.

What

Our monthly Colorado Realtor survey question results are back. 

If you were to purchase a home in the Front Range, based solely on what it's future value would be in 5 years, what neighborhood/city/area/community would you choose?

The overwhelming majority was Boulder homes.  More than 50% of Colorado real estate agents surveyed would buy a home in Boulder if the only criteria was the value of the home in 5 years.  The Boulder real estate market has been relatively immune to the real estate problems over the last 5 years.  While Boulder home values did have a few tough years, over the last 5 years homes in Boulder did experience a slight increase in the median sales price from June 2006 to June 2011.  Boulder homes have also seen a much bigger