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We offer several services to help you find your dream home. Each of the following services are designed to meet your home buying needs.

• Neighborhood Searches - If your looking for a home in a specific area, check out our most popular property searches. We've already done the searching for you. Click on the area you are interested in, you'll have an opportunity to narrow the search if needed, then you'll instantly see homes that match your search in a specific city or neighborhood.
• Search All Properties - You can search all properties all along the Front Range. We can offer homes from the northern parts of Longmont-Ft. Collins, through Metroploitain Denver and down to Colorado Springs. Enter the criteria you'd like in a home and instantly view homes that meet your needs. Please note the buttons on the search bar that will give you the three different area MLS property location choices.  Please make the proper choice for your property search.
• Home Tracker - e-Home Alerts - Don't want to create a new search everyday? Enter your criteria once and we will email you all the listings that match your wishes. We'll continue to email you everyday any new listings that come on the market, within your search criteria, until you find what you are looking for. You will have access to the property details, photos and virtual tours, from your email inbox without having to hassle with entering a  new search. e-Home Alerts will also provide you with 100% of the homes available.  Remember all Internet sites like REALTOR.com or most all broker's site will only provide you with 92% to 98% of the market.
• or, Let us Serve You - simply click here and complete the form and we will search all of our sources and provide you with a convenient report of all the properties that you may be interested in complete with photographs of the properties and detailed neighborhood information.
• Buyer Reports - If you are a first-time buyer or if you are unfamiliar with the buying process, click here and view our helpful buyer reports. These reports are packed with information, tip and tricks for buying a home.
  

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photo credit: spike55151

On Monday, October 24th, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) revealed a brand-new government mortgage refinancing program. The new program includes several rule changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) which permits homeowners who are sinking in debt to lower their mortgage debt. Mortgage loans backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that were sold to GSEs before May 31, 2009 are eligible for the new program. The new HARP rules eliminate the 125 percent LTV (loan-to-value) ceiling. Before the new guidelines, only owners who owed 25 percent more than their homes worth were eligible for HARP. New guidelines allow owners with above-80-percent LTV ratios.

The HARP programs end date has been extended out to the end of December 2013 instead of June 30, 2012 and is hoped to help hundreds of borrowers to improve their household finances while at the same time allowing them to remain in their homes. FHFA anticipates some lenders will be prepared to accept applications for the new program as early as December 1st of this year. HARP has already made it possible for almost a million owners to refinance their current loans; they expect these new provisions to help another one million borrowers who are drowning in debt.

In order to qualify, homeowners must be current on their monthly mortgage payments, but government officials think these new rules will prevent foreclosures after negating the chief "motivation behind strategic defaults." University of Chicago economists approximate that nearly 35 percent of mortgage defaults are strategic defaults. Several studies purport that borrowers who owe considerably more than their houses are worth are much more likely to give up altogether and simply walk away from their homes and their mortgage debt in some cases, even if they are able to keep up with their payments. Michael J. Williams, the president and CEO of Fannie Mae, says this new program is a "welcome development." He continues, "By removing some of the impediments to refinance, lenders can more easily participate in the program allowing more eligible homeowners to take advantage the low interest rates." Freddie Mac CEO, Charles E. Haldeman, Jr. agrees that, "These changes mark another step on the road to recovery for the nations housing market."

Read the complete article.

photo credit: David J. Thomas

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently approved a program designed to make foreclosed houses available to owner-occupant buyers. From now until October 2012, certain states will allow a down payment of only $100 for the purchase of a HUD-owned REO property. The program stipulates that the buyer must be an owner-occupant and must have FHA financing. The purchase must be for the entire amount of the current list price, and standard FHA underwriting guidelines will apply. This program has already been approved for two of HUDs four regions in the country and include the regions managed by the Denver Homeownership Center and the Atlanta Homeownership Center.

The Denver Homeownership Center's region includes: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Utah. The Atlanta Homeownership Centers region includes: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the Carribean.

This program can also be used on an FHA 203k loan, which is often used to finance renovation and home repairs. Matt Martin, CEO of Matt Martin Real Estate Management explains that thanks to the new policy, with an FHA 230k loan, a buyer "can find a property that needs some TLC, fix it up however they want to, and finance the whole thing for $100."

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Since 2006, house prices have decreased by almost a third and homeownership rates are falling almost as fast as they did during the Great Depression. While this give some prospective buyers cause to hold off, experts imply that its actually a great time to purchase a home for either residence or simply an investment property. Americas ratio of house prices to yearly rental costs has almost returned to its average before the real estate bubble. Also, if you consider current mortgage rates, homes are the "most affordable they have been in decades." The price/rent ratio can be compared to a stocks price/earnings ratio it compares an assets cost to its potential profit. For potential buyers, a lower ratio simply means owning a home is better than renting; for investors, the lower the ratio means the higher the income.

Although the average rate on a 30-year-mortgage rose to 4.12 percent this week, rates are still low enough that homes in all types of housing markets appear to be terrific bargains. Consequently, mortgage payments are even more affordable than theyve been in decades. The National Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Index rose to 183.7 in August 2011 near its peak in the 1970s. An index reading of 100 means that a median-income family could make a 20 percent down payment and be able to keep up with payments on a median-price home. What does this mean for todays homebuyers? They could purchase nice houses, but the prudent buyer may choose to buy a more moderate home with smaller mortgage payments. However, this all assumes that buyers are able to obtain a new mortgage something made more difficult with new tougher standards for borrowers. Zillows chief economist, Stan Humphries, argues that if a buyer has good credit, a steady job, and a down payment, that buyer should be able to acquire a new loan. Humphries maintains that although lenders require more of a potential buyer now, "things are pretty much like they were in the 80s and '90s."

Some warnings are definitely worth heeding, however. Remember that not all sales are "average." Homebuyers should always shop carefully, even in low-priced housing markets. Also, keep in mind that its quite possible that prices will continue to drop. Lastly, flipping properties can be a precarious project, particularly because, "absent a real-estate boom, house price gains simply arent that exciting." Yale economist Robert Shiller says that houses "more or less track the rate of inflation over long time periods."

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photo credit: Scorpions and Centaurs

Experts predict that by the year 2015, new single-family homes will become smaller in size. Stephen Melman, the Director of Economic Services at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in Washington, D.C., reports that when surveyed, builders expect new-construction single-family homes will average 2,150 square feet down more than half of the current 2,400 square feet. The recession is one reason for the decrease in home size, but others purport that these changes will last even after the economy fully recovers. Melman says, "Although affordability is driving these decisions, smaller homes are a positive for builders. It allows for more creative design, more amenities, better flow. Its an opportunity to deliver a better home."

In addition to house size, another feature to change by 2015 is the living room. According to the aforementioned survey, 52 percent of American builders think that the living room will "merge with other spaces" in the home. 30 percent think it will disappear entirely. In lieu of a living room, we will be seeing more and more homes with a great room only combining the family and living room and flowing into the kitchen area. Experts say we will begin to see larger laundry rooms, more walk-in closets in the master bedroom or master suites, more porches, eating spaces within kitchens, more two-car-garages, and an abundance of ceiling fans. We can expect to see less mudrooms, less formal dining rooms, less media/hobby rooms, less skylights, and less homes containing four or more bedrooms.

A lot of builders and buyers are moving towards a more green-centric home smaller homes means much more efficient cooling and heating. Ceiling fans will evenly distribute heat as opposed to skylights, which release heat. As builders move more towards going green, they will also be installing energy-efficient windows, lighting, and plumbing. Some homes will be built specifically for baby-boomers, with main-floor master suites, walk-in showers, and bars in the bathrooms.

Melman concludes by stating that a "bigger share of the new homes will be purchased by people 55 or 65 and older. Theyre more likely to have more cash for a down payment, but theyre empty-nesters, so they dont need five bedrooms."

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