Not only have interest rates been steadily rising of late, but now the cost of actually getting a mortgage is going up as well.  If you are on the fence about buying or refinancing, the magic date is now April 1st to have something under contract to avoid much higher fees.  This increase in cost will most impact the thriving FHA market unfortunately.  The vast majority of all home loans are FHA and with the increases set for April 1st, buyers can expect not only higher upfront fees, but also higher payments on monthly mortgage insurance of $200 a month or more depending on the loan amount.

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted these changes well.  A snippet is below.  Click here to read to the full article so you know better what to

How is the Denver area rental market doing?  Great!  The vacancy rate is the lowest it has ever been since they began tracking it in 2004.  For those that follow this blog, you may realize this is the third time I have written about this in the past year.  I hate to sound like a broken record, but people need to realize just how significant this really is.  In certain counties in the Denver metro area, the vacancy rate is a whopping 0%.  Do you realize that means there are no rentals empty at this time?

I do not work with rentals and leasing, but this news is significant to me for two reasons.  First, for investors this is incredible news.  There are terrific deals out there right now on homes, especially in some of these counties where vacancy

What is the HUD Good Neighbor Next Door program and is it available in Denver?  The Good Neighbor next door program is a terrific program through HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and luckily it is available in Denver and all of Colorado.  The Good Neighbor program offers law enforcement officers, pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers and firefighters/emergency medical technicians the opportunity to purchase select HUD homes at 50% off list price.

I will say that again so it doesn't look like a typo.  This select group of community members can purchase select HUD homes for 50% off the sales price.  So what is the catch?  Not much really.  Hud believes that these select "Good Neighbors" can contribute to community

Please join your friends, neighbors and local merchants for February HUNI Hour at a HOT Highland location......Root Down! Enjoy award winning, free appetizers and amazing drink specials......$3 margs & select draft beers, $5 house red or white wine, $4 mojitos, “42 below” vodka rosemary, lavender lemonade AND seasonal boca loco caiprihanas!! Oh......and the perfect amount of fantastic door prizes!

The proud sponsor this month is ...local Highland, family owned business, Anchor Pest Control www.anchorpest.net they've been serving the front range for over 18 years! AND the grand prize is...........the newest Amazon Kindle 3G!!

A new treat this month will be longtime HUNI member, Ann Hershfeldt on the microphone! Ann's special “sound” is sponsored by

What type of deductions can I get now that I own a Denver home?  Since tax season is upon us, this question will come up more and more often in our office.  And while we aren't tax professionals, can't give tax advice and will always recommend you speak with a CPA about tax matters, there are some pretty common tax deductions available when you own your own home that we can point out. 

I always tell buyers who are wavering between buying versus renting that just comparing your monthly mortgage verse monthly rent is not a fair comparison, mostly because of the tax benefits of owning.  Below are some common deductions that I found in an article from Inman News.  Again, make sure to consult a professional tax consultant when it comes to taxes and

Does Denver country offer recycling for small businesses?  Denver county offers a terrific and free recycling program for Denver residents.  Unfortunately, the same doesn't apply to small businesses in Denver.  I have been trying to figure out why, but Denver Recycles, a program of the City & County of Denver Public Works Department’s Solid Waste Management, is only authorized to provide services to residential homes of seven or fewer units.

If you ever work in a small business, or walk through the alley ways behind many of our boutique lined streets in Denver, it becomes apparent how much paper and cardboard small businesses use.  It sure would make sense then for Denver to offer recycling to small businesses not only because of the obvious

I want to buy a home in Denver.  Is getting an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) a good idea?  ARMs certainly have a bad reputation right now, and in many ways, deservedly so.  ARMs accounted for 70% of all mortgages issued during the boom and have been blamed by many for the bust.  But now it appears that ARM's are making a comeback and Freddie Mac predicts by the end of the year they will make up 10% of all new mortgages this year.

So is it a good idea to go with an ARM when buying a new home?  That all depends on how long you think you are going to be in a home.  The average rate for a 5 year ARM is 3.5%  Compare that to a 5% average for a 30 year fixed and you can see the obvious difference in rate.  On a $200,000 mortgage, the monthly ARM

 I have heard of home warranties, is it a good idea for my Denver home?  I am surprised by how few home warranties that I actually see purchased in the Denver Real Estate market.  For how affordable these plans are, and all that they cover, it seems like a no brainer to have a home warranty.  But I don't have a home warranty on any of my properties and I know few people who do.  It made me wonder why this is.

Whenever I go to Best Buy, I always get hit up by salespeople about buying an extended warranty or "service protection plan."  And I am always shocked by how many people opt for the protection plan and how much these plans cost.  If you compare the cost of the plan to the cost of the item, it is typically a large percentage of the purchase

This Valentine's Day, there is no need to go all over town finding the perfect gift and planning the perfect date.  There are plenty of options here in Highlands just blocks from your house.  Below are promotions by Highlands businesses for Valentine's Day.  If you click on the name of the business, you can find more details on what they are offering.  And don't worry singles, there are some promotions catering to you too.  This is just a small sampling of what is out there so if you know of more, please let me know and I will add it to the list.  Happy Valentine's Day! 

Shopping

Ooh! Aah! Jewelry - Receive a free box of gourmet, local made chocolate with a $50 purchase.  Plus free gift wrapping. Nothing says Valentine's like jewelry.

The

When are there going to be new apartments in Highlands?  For quite awhile now, there has been talk about what is going on with the strip mall on the corner of Zuni and Caithness Place in LOHI.  The strip mall currently there certainly doesn't fit in with the rapidly changing neighborhood and when the metal fence went up surrounding the property, a cheer arose throughout Highlands that change was on the way.

It is official now that taking its place will be Highland Park.  Highland Park, also referred to around the hood as CorePower Yoga Apartments, will be a four story apartment building with commercial on the first floor.  Why CorePower you ask?  Because the super popular CorePower Yoga studio will not only have a brand new yoga studio on the