Louisville #1 Again

And the winners are…

Yes, strong local economies still exist. These small towns have ‘em – plus great schools, affordable homes, low crime, and much more. More

1. Louisville, CO

2. Chanhassen, MN

3. Papillion, NE

4. Middleton, WI

5. Milton, MA

• See the top 100

WINNER

Top 100 rank: 1
Population: 18,800
Unemployment: 6.0%*
Compare Louisville to Top 10 Best Places

Some towns nestled along the Rockies are full of pretentious eco-hipsters. Not Louisville. Ice cream shops dot the historic downtown. Families grab burgers at the cozy Waterloo Café. A Friday-night street fair, with a beer garden, live music, and games for the kids, runs all summer. No wonder this down-to-earth town has appeared high on Money’s Best Places list before–and on many others.It’s also weathering the economic downturn well. Robust industries in the area, such as high tech, energy, and health care, make county unemployment among the lowest in the state.

But the top reason residents give for moving here? The great outdoors. Louisville is laced with nearly 30 miles of trails, Rocky Mountain National Park is less than an hour away, and eight world-class ski resorts are within two hours. The town’s schools are highly rated as well.

Add in dry, clear weather, little crime, good health care, and low taxes, and Louisville is pretty tough to beat.

Today is the Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is the day.  

 

Supporters of  Leave My Home Alone! (LMHA!) will be here: 

 

5:00 PM, at the City Council Chambers, Broadway and Canyon, The Boulder Planning Board will be discussing the proposed “Compatible Development” regulations, which would greatly restrict the ability of Boulder homeowners to expand or remodel their homes.

 

The first 100 people who show up to oppose the proposed regulations will receive a free LMHA! T-shirt.  Come as early as 4:45 PM if you want to sign up to speak early in the evening, but feel free to come whenever you can and to stay as long or short as you can.  The hearing will last a number of hours.

 

If you don’t plan to speak, that’s okay.  It is important to have as many people as possible on hand to show support for our citizen group aimed at stopping these regulations from taking our flexibility, our nest eggs, our freedom to use our homes and property.  You can wear one of our T-shirts and support our other speakers.

Whether you can come or not, please let the Planning Board and City Council know of your support for LMHA! by sending emails to:

 

Council@bouldercolorado.gov

boulderplanningboard@bouldercolorado.gov

 

Please spread the word to your friends, neighbors, and colleagues. We need to increase the size of our group and demonstrate clearly that the majority of Boulder residents don’t endorse freezing 45% of the potential value for most of the homes in the city.

 

Do you know how much the new regulations will impact the potential use and value of your property?

 

Find out on our website at:  www.leavemyhomealone.org

 

(a link at the bottom of the home page goes to the calculator on FairFAR.org, but we’ll have our own up in the days ahead)

Best,

 

Warren Hultquist

LMHA! Committee member

whultquist@gmail.com 

National Real Estate Market Analysis Report

Today eppraisal.com released its National Real Estate Market Analysis report for 186 markets across the continental U.S. This report, which tracks median sales price of residential homes, compares data on homes sold in the last three months ending May 2009 with homes sold in the previous three months beginning on December 2008 and ending February 2009.

For the first time this year, more than half of the markets tracked by eppraisal.com saw an increase in the median home value. Of the 97 markets that saw positive gains, more than 25 percent of those markets saw a double-digit increase in the median home value. For example, in the Ohio markets of Columbus, Sandusky, Lima, and Cleveland-Elyria, all saw double-digit increases of 12.7 percent, 23.1 percent, 26.7 percent, and 29.9 percent respectively. Overall, increases were seen across most states. Ithaca, NY, saw an increase of 16.9 percent to a median home value of $159,000, Fairbanks, AK, increased by 9.3 percent to a median home value of $225,506, and Boston-Quincy, Mass., areas increased by 7.1 persent to a median value of $300,000.

In the previous report, smaller markets led the list with overall increases in home values; however, larger markets have begun to make a comeback as well. For example, San Jose-Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, Calif., saw an increase of 8.4 percent to a median value of $439,000. San Francisco-San Mateo, Calif., was up 10.4 percent to a median value of $635,000, and Chicago-Naperville, Ill., saw an increase of 3.1 percent to a median value of $115,000. This is the second time this year that San Francisco has seen an increase in home values. For the first time this year there are more positive markets in California than negative.

On the other side of the country, Florida leads the list with the most declines, with 14 of the 19 markets tracked by eppraisal.com showing declines in the median home value. In Jacksonville, Fla., home prices dropped 3.9 percent to a median home value of $152,900. In the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, home values dropped 3 percent to a median value of $125,000. The Orlando-Kissimmee area dropped 8.5 percent to a median home value of $151,000.

Overall, the markets are showing signs of recovery and surprisingly less than five percent of the markets tracked by eppraisal.com saw more than a 10 percent drop in home values. This is down from the more than 30 percent of markets seeing a 10 percent or higher decline in the median home value that was reported in the March 2009 report.

Colorado is the Leanest State in the US!

Mississippi’s still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers. It’s time for the nation’s annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there’s little good news. In 31 states, more than one in four adults are obese, says a new report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year, and no state experienced a significant decline.

“The obesity epidemic clearly goes beyond being an individual problem,” said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust, a nonprofit public health group.

It’s a national crisis that “calls for a national strategy to combat obesity,” added Robert Wood Johnson vice president Dr. James Marks. “The crest of the wave of obesity is still to crash.”

While the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as the boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not just age, will fuel much of those bills. In every state, the rate of obesity is higher among 55- to 64-year-olds — the oldest boomers — than among today’s 65-and-beyond.

The report provides one of the first in-depth looks at obese boomers, and its implications are sobering. This first wave of aging boomers will mean a jump of obese Medicare patients that ranges from 5.2 percent in New York to a high of 16.3 percent in Alabama, the report concluded. In Alabama, nearly 39 percent of the oldest boomers are obese.

Health economists once made the harsh financial calculation that the obese would save money by dying sooner. But more recent research instead suggests that better treatments are keeping them alive nearly as long — but they’re much sicker for longer, requiring such costly interventions as knee replacements and diabetes care and dialysis. Medicare spends anywhere from $1,400 to $6,000 more annually on health care for an obese senior than for the non-obese, Levi said.

“There isn’t a magic bullet. We don’t have a pill for it,” said Levi. “It’s not going to be solved in the doctor’s office but in the community, where we change norms.”

His group is pushing for health reform legislation to include community-level programs that help people make healthier choices — like building sidewalks so people can walk their neighborhoods instead of drive, and providing healthier school lunches to help fight the childhood obesity that turns into adult obesity. The pending House and Senate bills address obesity in different ways; one provision would particularly target baby boomers.

Many states have begun programs to try to tackle obesity, and there are hints of improvements, Marks said.

“We’re still getting fatter, but maybe a little more slowly than before,” he said: Last year’s report found obesity rates rising in 37 states compared with 23 this time around.

He’s encouraged that 19 states have implemented nutritional standards for school meals that are stricter than the federal government’s; in 2004, just four states did. Some are requiring nutritional information for restaurant food, he added.

States “recognize the solutions will lie outside traditional medical care,” Marks said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long said that nearly a third of Americans are obese. The Trust report uses somewhat more conservative CDC surveys for a closer state-by-state look. Among the findings:

_Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity, 32.5 percent, for the fifth year in a row.

_Three additional states now have adult obesity rates above 30 percent, including Alabama, 31.2 percent; West Virginia, 31.1 percent; and Tennessee, 30.2 percent.

_In 1991, no state had more than a 20 percent obesity rate. Today, the only state that doesn’t is Colorado, at 18.9 percent.

_The South is the fattest region. The Northeast and West are slightly slimmer than the rest of the country.

_Mississippi also had the highest rate of overweight and obese children, at 44.4 percent in total. It’s followed by Arkansas, 37.5 percent; and Georgia, 37.3 percent.

_Following Alabama, Michigan ranks No. 2 with fat boomers; 36 percent of its 55- to 64-year-olds are obese. Colorado has the lowest rate, 21.8 percent.

___

On the Net:

Trust for America’s Health: http://healthyamericans.org/

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: http://www.rwjf.org/

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Citizens’ Group Forms to Battle City over Property Rights

Leave My Home Alone! (LMHA) is a grassroots group of citizens in Boulder, CO working to stop Boulder City Council from taking away our property rights.  The use, flexibility and value of our homes and land are directly tied to our hopes and dreams for our lives and families in Boulder.  Council is poised to dictate aesthetics – unreasonably limiting the size and configuration of our homes – with a punitive and extreme array of complex rules and regulations that will make additions and remodels to our homes expensive, difficult or impossible.

 The proposed rules impact most single-family residential property in the city – roughly 10,000 homes - representing a massive taking of value from Boulder’s citizens. Most homeowners in Boulder stand to lose tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars – and the intrinsic value of having and using a home without overly oppressive restrictions.

 

 Our group includes a wide array of folks sharing the common ground that Boulder City Council is going too far with its recent effort to homogenize the city at the expense of our property rights and freedom.  We are seeking to stop Council before these regulations are enacted, and if that effort fails, to take this issue to the voters in order to stop Council’s misguided attempt to freeze the city in amber.  What can you do to help protect your home and your property rights?

 

http://leavemyhomealone.org/site/

OFFICIALS IGNORING ECONOMIC DOWNTURN AND LOCAL IMPACTS

While virtually every community in the metro area is seeking ways to spur economic activity and bolster sagging tax revenue, the City of Boulder appears to be ignoring economic realities and is forging ahead on a number of fronts that will significantly increase the costs borne by residents, businesses, and development. On example of economic incentive activity is the City and County of Denver’s recent action to suspend building permit fees. By contrast, the City of Boulder recently moved ahead with increased development fees and it plans to raise them further in the future. In fact, the city decided to convert certain business/development taxes to fees so they can be raised without voter approval. Home Size Regulations under consideration will produce significant hardship for Boulder families and threatens to erode their already battered home equity and property rights. (More on this below.) The City doubled the two year old Carbon Tax and is moving rapidly toward developing regulation mandating costly energy improvement in homes apartments and commercial buildings. It appears that the 20% inclusionary zoning (IZ) requirement for affordable housing will stay in place. The City is planning to double the in lieu fees to opt out of half the IZ requirement. The increases to as much as $230,000 for single family residences and $220,000 for attached dwellings will be phased in over several years. Business folks are also upset with a proposal to increase the Housing Excise Tax on non-residential development from 49 cents per square foot to $2.50 per square foot, and then increase it annually to adjust for inflation. Finally, Council is actively considering imposing new and/or significantly higher impact fees on development. All this against the backdrop of declining city revenue of $5.4 million this year with larger deficits expected in 2010. This is the same Council that has been asking voters to increase their compensation for the past two years. Many leaders in the community are wondering “What are they thinking?”

Places & Resources You Should Know

Places & Resources You Should Know
Great resources to share with your clients!

Savers Thrift Shop
695 South Broadway
Boulder, CO 80303

Savers is a good place to donate clothing, books, household items and furniture. Savers is located in the Table Mesa Shopping Center. For detailed donation guidelines click here.

Why we like it: Savers has a convenient drive up and drop-off door that faces the parking lot. They accept a wide variety of items.

Opportunities to De-Clutter

Dates You Should Know
Opportunities to Get Stuff Out for FREE!

Plastic Gardening Supplies
Date: June 27th, 9am-3pm
Where: Boulder – McGuckin’s Hardware
              Broomfield – Garden Country
              Lafayette – Lafayette Florist
              Longmont – The Flower Bin
What: Any plastic pot, 4- and 6-packs, hanging baskets, flats, shrink wrap and other greenhouse type plastic. Materials will be recycled for landscape products.
More Info: Garden Centers of Colorado

Hazardous Waste
Did you know that all residents of Boulder and Broomfield county may drop off hazardous waste at the Boulder Hazardous Waste Facility?
Dates:  Wednesdays, 8am-3:30pm; Friday and Saturday, 8am-12pm
Where: 5880 Butte Mill Road, Boulder
More Info: Boulder County Household Hazardous Waste

First-Time Buyer Opportunities

$8,000 Tax Credit

• Property must be used as principle residence.
• Available to individuals with an adjusted annual gross income of no more than $75,000.
• Purchaser must be a first-time buyer and purchaser’s spouse cannot have owned a principal residence within the past 3 years.
• No repayment of the credit for purchases made between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009.

CHFA JumpStart Tax Credit Program

Take advantage of the Federal First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Program by using the CHFA JumpStart Tax Credit Program for your down payment and/or closing costs.  Repay the 0% Second Mortgage Loan when you get your tax credit and build instant equity in your home.

The CHFA JumpStart Second Mortgage program is available for 3.5% of the First Mortgage Loan Amount, up to $6,000, at an initial 0% interest rate, and converts to an 8% interest rate with a 120 month term if not paid in full by June 30, 2010.  Interest begins accruing on July 1, 2010, with payment beginning on August1, 2010 and are made monthly thereafter.

To receive the greatest benefit from the JumpStart Program CHFA strongly recommends that you repay the CHFA second mortgage in full with the tax refund.  If the CHFA second mortgage goes into repayment, the benefit of the program is substantially diminished.  If the borrower does not intend to repay the CHFA second mortgage with their tax refund the borrower should consider using a different CHFA Mortgage Loan Program, such as the CHFA HomeOpener Plus.

What’s Really Happening in Boulder Real Estate?

Recent headlines in the Boulder Daily

Camera stated that sales in Boulder

had dropped 50% during the first quarter.

Numbers don’t lie but I think the

headline and story gave only a partial

view. The public is not looking for a

macro view of things, they are looking

for how the situation pertains to them

personally. In order to present this

more accurately, we need to break it down a bit. As Paul Harvey used to say, “now

here’s the rest of the story”.

Boulder County has a broad range of real estate and what affects Mapleton Hill

in Boulder does not affect Mill Village in Longmont. I have been noticing that the

lower priced homes in any given market are selling well and taken alone can be

considered a healthy market. The higher price ranges of any of our local areas are

not doing as well. Here are a few commonalities between all markets: real estate

everywhere has been negatively affected by all-time low consumer confidence

levels, tough credit conditions and increasing unemployment rates.

Instead of combining all sales together I’d like to present some data in smaller

pieces and show how each price range is different and why. The following statistics

are derived from IRES data and include residential detached and attached

dwellings.

 

First Quarter Sales

2008 2009 Change

 

 

$250,001 – $400,000 255 178 -30%

$400,001 – $800,000 212 122 -42%

$800,001 – $1,200,000 37 20 -46%

$250,000 316 228 -28%

􀀂

Combined 849 563 -34%

$1,200,000 29 15 -48%

First Quarter Sales

2008 2009 Change

Boulder 270 178 -34%

Louisville 52 40 -23%

Lafayette 73 47 -36%

Longmont 268 183 -32%

Suburban Mountains 35 22 -37%

Suburban Plains 121 70 -42%

Superior 30 25 -17%

Under Contract %

􀀁

$250,001 $400,000 25%

$400,001 – $800,000 15%

$800,001 – $1,200,000 11%

$250,000 31%

􀀂

$1,200,000 4%

Inventory in Months

􀀁

$250,001 – $400,000 7.1 Months

$400,001 – $800,000 11.8 Months

$800,001 – $1,200,000 19.5 Months

$250,000 5.7 Months

􀀂

$1,200,000 52.5 Months

Every price range is down but as the price increases not only do the number of

sales go down, the percentage drop increases. The high end has been especially

hit hard I believe, for three reasons; high interest rates for jumbo loans, losses

in the stock market and the fact that buying a high-end home is a luxury not a

The areas that have the higher concentration of high priced homes are the areas

that saw the greatest declines in first quarter sales.

The first quarter is now in the past, let’s move forward. Here is what is happening

right now in the different price ranges.

When at least 15% of the market

is under contract it is considered

healthy. Given this criteria only the

market above $800,000 in Boulder

County would be considered

unhealthy. With low conventional

interest rates and incentives for

first time buyers, the market below

$400,000 is especially strong.

The absorption rate or current

inventory measures how long it would

take to sell all homes in any given

range, given a historical sales rate (I

used the 12 month sales rate which

results in lower results). These figures

are quite dramatic when looked at

by price range. When looking at the

entire picture it becomes clear that

not all houses are affected the same

by the current market challenges.

Low priced homes are moving well

and high priced homes are oversupplied

for the current demand.