New Listing – 2083 North Fork Dr. Lafayette, CO 80026 $269,000

by neil kearney | Oct 1, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 comment

WOW! This is an immaculate and inviting townhome with a great location looking out on a private undeveloped area with trees & grass. Gleaming oak floors, stainless steel appliances, great light and in perfect condition. Professionally finished basement includes a half bath, laundry area, & built-in shelving in 3rd bedroom. Bedroom doubles as an awesome home theater with surround sound, mounted projection & a 10 ft. screen (all components included!). Private courtyard is filled with flowers.  Located in a golf course community with an easy commute to Boulder or Denver.  Busline is a short walk away.  This is one of the most attractive townhomes I have seen.  Act now and take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit.

Boulder City Council a Step Closer to Home Size Regulations

by neil kearney | Sep 16, 2009 | Uncategorized

It has been over a year in the making. The Boulder City Council last night moved one step closer to implementing a new set of regulations designed to prevent overly large homes to be built or remodeled within the city limits.  The problem some see is that new large homes are being built that overshadow the rest of the neighborhood and are not built within the scale of the existing neighborhood. The argument has some merit on principle, but the policies proposed are much like setting a house on fire to get rid of a mouse.  In my opinion the policies are overkill and too broad based to make sense in every case.

The council has been spending an inordinate amount of time on this issue and last night was no exception. In a meeting that went beyond 11 pm, the council nailed down some principles of the new regulations which could be in place as early as the end of 2009. Here are a few of the details of the proposal which have been all but decided by the Council:

• The footprint of a home shall cover up to but not exceed 35% of a lot.
• The “floor-area ratio”, or total square footage of the home compared to the total size of the lot shall not exceed .45.
• The total square footage figured in the second item above shall include that areas with ceilings above 16 feet be counted as twice the square footage and those areas with ceilings above 26 feet are to be counted as three times the square footage. (so much for vaulted ceilings).
• Two allowances that were conceded were an extra 200 square feet for seniors and people with disabilities and special exemptions for those with very small lots.

These regulations are going to make it very difficult to add any square footage onto an existing home and will make a new home on an existing lot (a scrape and re-build) very difficult to make economically feasible.  The net result in the real estate market will to make existing large homes more valuable and make smaller homes that need work or whose highest and best use is a new home on the lot less valuable.

The video below shows members of the grassroots group ‘Leave My Home Alone’ in a peaceful protest outside the council chambers last night.

Let’s Make a Deal – Finding a Way to Make a Move in a Tough Real Estate Market

by neil kearney | Sep 13, 2009 | Uncategorized

Do you remeber the game show that tempted you with what was behind door #3, Let’s Make a Deal? All summer I have been fielding calls and emails from people who want to move to the Boulder normally a really good thing.  But too many of the calls have seemed like the donkey behind door #3, not quite what I was looking for.  Between, slow house sales across the nation, tighter credit and people forced to change careers due to unemployment, there are plenty of reasons why people can’t buy a home right now. So instead of calling me to help them find a home, which I specialize in, they call me to help them find a free place to live.

I have received over 10 calls from people looking to be a caretaker for my vacant listings. They all seem very nice and all have a very believable story about how they want to be in Boulder, have a blue ribbon family, the best (non-shedding) pets and how they can fill my vacant listings with their beautiful furniture for very low or no rent.  A win-win right? I haven’t had any vacant listings that would benefit from a caretaker so I haven’t been able to help anyone out. I have however kept their names.

Another scenario that has come up a lot is the lease purchase. Buyers want to get settled, but have not sold their current house yet and only want to make one move. They then look for an acceptable vacant house and ask if the seller in interested in a lease purchase. I will re-print a prior post outlining the nuts and bolts of the deal tomorrow.

Last week I got a call from a potential buyer who is looking to trade up to three properties in Florida for a home in Boulder. Now this is a deal that has some moving parts to it. The Boulder owner must be open to a specific property or properties in Florida, have an acceptable property in Boulder and then we must match up the value. Not impossible, but not an easy deal to put together.  If anyone is interested give me a call.

Boulder County Weekly Real Estate Index

by neil kearney | Aug 28, 2009 | Uncategorized

Boulder County Weekly Activity Index

by neil kearney | Jul 23, 2009 | Uncategorized

The number of homes that went under contract during the past week was the lowest since staring this index in late April.  Another interesting trend is that through mid June, there were consistently more new listings than price reductions.  Now it has reversed, there are typically more price reductions than new listings.

The chart below shows the sales and under contract activity over time.

Article in The Daily Camera

by neil kearney | Jul 14, 2009 | Uncategorized

I was interviewed yesterday for a story on the Boulder area real estate market that appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera this morning.  The photo that accompanies the story shows me from the back (some would say this is best) pointing out a feature to my client.  To view the article click here.  For more detailed market information contact me directly.