A LOT of agents don't advise their clients to get sewer scopes when they purchase a property. This is a major mistake.  A broken sewer can cost between $3,000 - $10,000 dollars to repair and it only costs $99 ($99Rooter - others are more expensive) to have a tech put a camera down the sewer pipe and videotape the sewer all the way to the mainline. This will tell you  and the-buyer what the condition of the sewer is.      So let's see, we pay to have the furnace inspected but a new furnace will only be about $2,000. We pay to have the roof inspected but that's probably a $4,000 job. So why don't we always inspect the sewer?  One reason is because, let's face it,  Realtors want closings. Many figure if they keep their mouth shut and don't go out of their way to recommend a sewer scope tha... 11/07/2008

 Have you ever driven through Aurora North looking for a rental property and taken a close look at the roofs?   Here's what you'll see: a bunch of 1950's ranches in varying states of repair or disrepair, lawns that are often grassless, old handcrank windows and roofs in almost perfect condition!  This surprised me at first and perplexed me for a long time.  Why, in a neighborhood devastated by foreclosures with properties with massive deferred maintenance are the roofs in such condition?  Really!  Stand in the middle of a typical street and looking at 10 roofs simultaneously, you'll be amazed. Well, it turns out the answer is pretty simple. There was a huge hailstorm in the mid-90's and most of the roofs were replaced by insurance companies then. The result is that while you certainly n... 11/07/2008

The talk around the water cooler these days is all about LOANS. Who can get them? At what price? What if I already have a few loans, do I still qualify?  A year or two ago the question was at what price do I get a loan (those were the days!).  Today it is "am I still in the game?"        Here's the deal:  if you have an owner occupied loan and 3 investor loans you cannot buy any more properties and get Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac financing, meaning you can't get a conventional 30-year fixed loan. Now, my hope is that someone reads this and tells me I'm wrong. That would be great!  But as far as I know that is the case.       Where does this leave you?  You can pursue loans that are warehoused by lenders, meaning they are not sold on the backend to Fannie or Freddie. You are probably lookin... 11/07/2008

Take a look at the first page, for AUN (Aurora North).  Note these positive market trends this year:-          number of active listings steadily declining-          average list price pretty stable (finally!)-          U/C up dramatically-          Number of sales / month up (partially seasonality)-          DOM dropping-          Stability in average sold prices and sold price as % of list-          Sold price as % original price UP a lot - banks are getting better at pricing-          Number of expired listings down Every indicator is improving this year in AUN.  You will see the same trends in DSW (southwest Denver  County), but not as marked an improvement as AUN. By contrast look at DSE (southeast Denver County).  -          listings are up (they should be - seasonality)-         ... 11/07/2008

Investor often ask me what types of real estate investments are available on the market.  Here's what we tell them. This is the first of several postings on the topic. Please offer comments - positive or negative! Assignments.  If you don't have much equity to work with, and/or if your credit power is limited, assignments can be a way to get started in real estate investing.  You will need to have a strong "sales" personality to succeed at it, though.    Rental Condo or Rental Home.  Purchase of a residential property to be rented out to tenants, usually on a 6-12 month lease term.  This is how most new landlords get started.  You can hire out all of the property management functions, but in many cases you will do many of them on your own.  There are smaller down payment requirements th... 11/07/2008

You walk into a property you're looking to buy and rent and you walk down into the basement and voila! you find a full second kitchen.   Great!  You start calculating how much rent you could get if you could rent the downstairs separate from the upstairs and the cashflow is out of this world!  But wait, there are a number of very real problems with this scenario.     First of all, it's illegal unless the property is zoned for more than one tenant and the property has been converted to non-residential use. But there are even more practical reasons why having two separate tenants is often not a great idea. The first is the utilities. Since it's a house there will only be one bill for Excel and water. Who's going to pay it?  Can you really get the tenants to pro-rate their share if you pay... 11/07/2008

A LOT of agents don't advise their clients to get sewer scopes when they purchase a property. This is a major mistake.  A broken sewer can cost between $3,000 - $10,000 dollars to repair and it only costs $99 ($99Rooter - others are more expensive) to have a tech put a camera down the sewer pipe and videotape the sewer all the way to the mainline. This will tell you  and the-buyer what the condition of the sewer is.      So let's see, we pay to have the furnace inspected but a new furnace will only be about $2,000. We pay to have the roof inspected but that's probably a $4,000 job. So why don't we always inspect the sewer?  One reason is because, let's face it,  Realtors want closings. Many figure if they keep their mouth shut and don't go out of their way to recommend a sewer scope tha... 11/07/2008

  Have you ever driven through Aurora North looking for a rental property and taken a close look at the roofs?   Here's what you'll see: a bunch of 1950's ranches in varying states of repair or disrepair, lawns that are often grassless, old handcrank windows and roofs in almost perfect condition!  This surprised me at first and perplexed me for a long time.  Why, in a neighborhood devastated by foreclosures with properties with massive deferred maintenance are the roofs in such condition?  Really!  Stand in the middle of a typical street and looking at 10 roofs simultaneously, you'll be amazed. Well, it turns out the answer is pretty simple. There was a huge hailstorm in the mid-90's and most of the roofs were replaced by insurance companies then. The result is that while you certainly ... 11/07/2008

A lot of clients ask me how to figure out what market rents are in a neighborhood. This is a critical input into the calculations an investor needs to make in order to determine what their return on investment will be on a rental property. So you don't want to screw this up! Unfortunately, this is one of the many figures new investors get wrong. One place people go to get rents is Rent-o-Meter. Rent-o-Meter is billed as an online resource to get accurate market rents. In my experience it is anything but! However, I have a fairly simple solution. Multiply what you see on Rent-o-Meter by 80% and you'll probably be close. I can't explain why but I find rents on Rent-o-Meter to be about 25% high, so multiplying their rents by 80% will get you close (do the math, it works out). So then, how ... 11/07/2008

The talk around the water cooler these days is all about LOANS. Who can get them? At what price? What if I already have a few loans, do I still qualify?  A year or two ago the question was at what price do I get a loan (those were the days!).  Today it is "am I still in the game?"        Here's the deal:  if you have an owner occupied loan and 3 investor loans you cannot buy any more properties and get Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac financing, meaning you can't get a conventional 30-year fixed loan. Now, my hope is that someone reads this and tells me I'm wrong. That would be great!  But as far as I know that is the case.       Where does this leave you?  You can pursue loans that are warehoused by lenders, meaning they are not sold on the backend to Fannie or Freddie. You are probably lookin... 11/07/2008

Investor often ask me what types of real estate investments are available on the market.  Here's what we tell them. This is the first of several postings on the topic. Please offer comments - positive or negative! Assignments.  If you don't have much equity to work with, and/or if your credit power is limited, assignments can be a way to get started in real estate investing.  You will need to have a strong "sales" personality to succeed at it, though.    Rental Condo or Rental Home.  Purchase of a residential property to be rented out to tenants, usually on a 6-12 month lease term.  This is how most new landlords get started.  You can hire out all of the property management functions, but in many cases you will do many of them on your own.  There are smaller down payment requirements th... 10/02/2008

Recap of First Half 2008 Home Price Performance By Lon Welsh and Terry Wenze, Your Castle Real Estate. The average home price in Metro Denver increased +2% in the full year 2005 to the full year 2006. Comparing 2006 to 2007, the average home price across the metro dropped 3%, to $303,000. The half of 2008 was $275,000 vs. the first half of 2007 was $306,000: a 10% decrease. These numbers will be slightly different than Metrolist, as they are just Denver Metro and don't include outlying areas like Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, or Boulder. The average price of a foreclosure dropped -6% to $168,000 in the first half of 2008. The average short sale was steady at $212,000. The average price of a non-distress sale decreased 5% to $352,000. Sales volume was down for single family homes. For... 09/30/2008

                  Looking for a Home to buy in a great Longmont Colorado Golf Community?        Longmont has three municipal golf courses for your enjoyment: the historic Sunset Golf Course, breathtaking Twin Peaks, and the Robert Trent Jones II designed Ute Creek. They are all challenging and have interesting layouts for golfers of all  levels.           Interested in seeing all the Longmont Real Estate Listings for Sale around these areas? SEARCH ALL LONGMONT HOMES FOR SALE BY MAP!       08/08/2008

Longmont Colorado Homes and  Neighborhoods - Single Family Home Subdivisions COhomefinder allows you to browse or map all the neighborhoods in Longmont. Some of the top Longmont neighborhoods include Spring Valley, Somerset Meadows, Idaho Creek, Old Town, Renaissance, Sundance, Fox Meadows, and Stoney Ridge . See all the Longmont neighborhoods below and browse, map or sign up for email alerts for any Longmont neighborhood.   Browse Longmont Real Estate For Sale Browse through Longmont MLS listings to find your dream home. We have more ways to browse property listings than any other real estate website. It's the easiest way to search Longmont real estate listings and there is no registration required! Colorado HomeFinder has the best Longmont MLS search tools and the best Longmont REALTO... 05/19/2008

FREE BUS TOUR #2 - Bank Owned Properties, Foreclosures. Everyone is Invited. Location: Longmont, COIt s the Best Time to Buy Real Estate! Join Us for Our Bus Tour #2Bank Owned Properties Saturday, March 15th 9-12 Hosted by ERA Tradewind Real EstateTour #1 was featured in Longmont Times CallRead the entire newspaper article at:http://www.reporterherald.com/news_story.asp?ID=14896To reserve your seat, call 303 909 5742 or e-mail to Edite@EditesHomes.com for the registration form(Bus fills up fast)InformationContact Information Edite Liepina - Lawrence303 909 5742Contact Reply FormForward to a FriendView Other FlyersView ReputationRatesAdditional Costs: FreeLocation601 S Bowen StLongmont, CO 80501View MapProfileOrganizer: ERA Tradewind Real EstatePhoto GalleryView as SlideshowView Photo Ga... 03/04/2008

Good News for City of Longmont Residents.The City Council of Longmont has extended an invitation to the public for an open forum session with the council.This will give residents the opportunity to have their voices heard regarding issues, concerns and questions about the community. While every city council meeting has a public comments section, there is often not enough time to hear all concerns. By opening the entire meeting to public comments, the residents of Longmont will have ample time to be heard and responded to.The council will host a reception beginning at 6pm on Tuesday January 15th, 2008 in the City Council chambers at 350 Kimbark St. Refreshments will be provided. According to the city website, "This is an opportunity for Longmont residents to engage in a positive, informa... 01/10/2008

Recognized as a sculptor of Cowboys and the American West,  Frederic Remington helped bring the West to life through his sculptures and paintings. Now, the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center in Longmont Colorado will be featuring an exhibit with artwork from this talented man.Frederic Remington Makes Tracks...Adventures and Artistic Impressions from the Frederic Remington Art Museum is now in residence at the Longmont Museum from Nov. 10, 2007 - January 6, 2008.Admission is FREEAccording to the Longmont City Line, the exhibit "shows Remington's achievements as an illustrator, printmaker, and sculptor through original prints and silver recasts of original sculpture". (Nov. 2007 Vol. 18 No. 11)Don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity to see the artwork in person. Museum hours are:Tue... 12/12/2007

Active Rain. Those words have hit my ears many times in the past. From passers by at a coffee shop to networking with local professionals. Little did I know the power it seems to hold. I recenty logged on and created an account and was glad to see that it appears to be moderated well and stays on topic! (Of course it has areas to have fun off topic too!) I will start this first blog (first ever for me) just briefly explaining who we are and what we do. I have seen many pages and blogs here and have noticed one thing......it really seems to be a great resource for networking, information and most of all, different peoples opinions and thoughts. Hunter Investments, a local tenant placement and leasing company in Longmont, Colorado. We specialize in the listing of investment property for l... 12/03/2007

It's a happy winter here in Longmont! The community will come together Dec. 7th & 8th for some family friendly, fun community activities! This is a perfect time to get to know your neighbors, community leaders, local businesses and to have fun. Two great events will take place. Longmont Lights and Hometown Holiday Parade.The Longmont Lights celebration will be located at Roosevelt Park (8th & Coffman). Visitors will explore holiday huts, music performances, fire pits, carolers and will be treated to free cookies and hot chocolate at the Senior Center Patio.The Hometown Holiday Parade is fun for the whole family. Winter characters, floats, bands will parade through old downtown Longmont. The parade is followed by a fireworks spectacular - what a great way to kick-off the holiday season!C... 11/30/2007

The Nutcracker Ballet will be performed in two locations this weekend in the Longmont Area. Tickets are advanced purchase, so call today to reserve yours! This is a wonderful family tradition you won't want to miss.The Longmont Symphony Orchestra will be performing with the Boulder Ballet this coming Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd. The performance times are:Saturday Dec. 1st. at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday Dec. 2nd at 2:00 p.m.The performances will be held at the Vance Brand Civic Auditorium  located at 600 E. Mountain View Ave. in Longmont. (Skyline High School)Come watch Clara journey through the magical Land of Sweets with her Nutcracker Prince. The sets are amazing and the performance is top notch! Click Here for a slide show of last year's performance. All seats are reser... 11/28/2007