Forbes magazine ranks the Fort Collins-Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area, basically Larimer County,  5^th in the nation as the Best Place for Business and Careers. 

Colorado had 5 communities in the top 50. Others included: Denver – 9, Colorado Springs – 30, Greeley – 42 and Boulder – 44.

Among the other things Forbes says about the area are:

• #67 in Cost of Doing Business
• #31 in Job Growth
• #12 in Education with 41% having a college degree
• Unemployment: 6.7%
• Job Growth (2010): 0.3%
• Cost of Living: -6.2% below nat’l avg
• Net Migration (2010): 2,170

The Group, Inc. Real Estate is the leading real estate company in Northern Colorado.  We have six offices in Greeley, Fort Collins, and Loveland and are celebrating our 35th year in business.

The National Association of Realtors conducted a study that was released earlier this year about the benefits of homeownership. The report, Social Benefits of Homeownership and Stable Housing, cite the following results:

• Higher educational performance and better behavior of children
• Lower community crime rates
• Lessened welfare dependency among households
• More household participation in civic affairs
• Better household health

Of course there are many economic benefits as well:

• For every two homes sold, one job is created
• Each home purchased pumps up to $60,000 into the economy
• Home ownership accounts for over $2 trillion of the U.S. GDP

The Wall Street Journal reported the following this week, “The long-term benefits of homeownership remain very much intact. For now, at least, you can deduct the mortgage interest on your taxes—a big perk for people in higher tax brackets. You get to paint your walls any color you wish, without having to clear it with a landlord. And assuming you can buy a home for about the same price as you can rent one, buying will give you the ability one day to live rent-free. Come retirement time, a paid-off mortgage means your monthly expenses are significantly reduced, and you have a chunk of equity to play with.”

Interest rates are at a 50 year low.  Don’t wait….there are many reasons why homeownership ( and expecially Northern Colorado real estate) will benefit you and your family.

http://www.realtor.org/research/research/homeownershipbenefits

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304563104576361522020024248.html#project%3Dhomepriceindexapril20110603%26articleTabs%3Darticle

The Group, Inc. received several awards at the Fort Collins Board of Realtors annual Community Affairs and Awards event held Tuesday, May 17. 

Earth Day Recycling Challenge Winner

Green Realtor Office of the Year

CARHOF Major Supporter in 2010

Former Fort Collins Mayor Doug Hutchinson received the Citizen of the Year award at the luncheon.  Keynote speaker was U.S. Representative Cory Gardner.

RIS Media 23rd Annual Power Broker Report

The Group Real Estate is ranked 3^rd in the nation in sales volume per sales associate for the year 2010 in the 2011 Power Broker Report compiled by RIS Media.  The magazine’s 23^rd Annual Report gave a detailed break-down of year-end production numbers for the 300 most successful real estate companies nationwide.  Nearly 1000 companies responded to the survey. 

 The Group closed 3,523 transactions, averaging over 22 transactions per associate in 2010, and totaling $922,339,823 in sales volume.  The company ranked 105^th in the nation for total transactions and 95^th for total sales volume.

 President, Eric Thompson responded to the recognition by saying, “The customer has never needed the assistance of a true real estate professional more than today. Customers today deserve to work with the very best- someone who will help them achieve their goal in the time frame that they need. The Group is the home of some of the most productive Realtors in the country and I believe our customers find value in that.”

The Group, Inc. Real Estate from Northern Colorado is locally owned by its sales associates and managers.  It has 6 offices in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley.   www.thegroupinc.com

The Agilent Technologies Inc. campus emerged on Tuesday as the choice for the Aerospace Clean Energy Manufacturing and Innovation Park.

The center, sponsored partly by NASA, will give the former home of Hewlett-Packard Co. new life — and the city  thousands of jobs.

When ACE locates in Loveland, it likely will draw scores of manufacturing companies, large and small, employing as many as 7,000 people in turning NASA-controlled patents into technology products on a high-speed schedule.

See The Fort Collins Coloradoan for more information.

Northern Colorado communities are set to receive more than $3.6 million in funding from the Colorado Transportation Commission.  Twenty-two projects will be funded including construction of a regional bus transfer center in Loveland and new park-and-ride facilities for Fort Collins, Evans and Fort Lupton.  (source: Northern Colorado Business Report)

Although the Home Buyer Tax Credit has expired for most first-time and repeat buyers, special rules for members of the military, the foreign service and the intelligence community may apply.

Qualified service members who are ordered on a period of official extended duty have an extension to the dates for one year. For these home buyers the tax credit applies to sales with a binding sales contract in place on or before April 30, 2011 and closed by June 30, 2011. ‘Official extended duty” means any period of extended duty outside of the United States for at least 90 days during the period beginning after December 31, 2008 and ending before May 1, 2010.

Call a Group Realtor to find out more about the Home Buyer Tax Credits for military personnel.

I’m pretty sure most of you have heard about this being the best time to buy a house in at least 20 and maybe 40 years. If you don’t know about it from your local paper, or your favorite online news source or even a neighbor, you’re either in retreat or you are insanely busy. Interest rates are at a historic low, the government is giving away free money, prices are more than reasonable for the most part, real estate agents are jumping at the chance to help you out, there is a decent inventory and it may get even better in the next month or so as sellers rush to get their homes on the market to take advantage of the upcoming homebuyer’s tax credit deadline.

The interest rates apparently aren’t going to last. The Federal Reserve Bank is threatening to stop buying back mortgage backed securities…blah, blah, blah…don’t nod off yet…but if they do what they are threatening, interests rates could go up 1-2 percentage points. And soon. Each percent equals $10,000 in purchase power. So if you qualify for a $200,000 purchase price, and the rates increase by 1%, your buying power goes down to $190,000. If rates go higher, the difference in purchasing power gets pretty drastic. And the FHA (Federal Housing Authority) is rethinking its risk exposure and considering raising its down payment requirement from 3.5% of purchases price to possibly 8 -10% putting many potential buyers out of the market.

So why are some buyers still hesitant? Sometimes all the statistics and incentives in the world can’t shake a lack of confidence in the economy. And sometimes it’s just a matter of helping the consumer understand what’s at stake.

But there are other issues. Just a few years ago the loans that helped bloat the real estate bubble were easy to get and buyers who shouldn’t have bought did and walked away from the closing table with a house that they had a good chance of losing. As a consequence lenders and their underwriters are not only operating under stricter guidelines but the new appraisal rules have affected at least 70% of transactions in 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors. I personally had two transactions go awry over some “inadequate” appraisals. One was resolved and another just didn’t happen.

A good credit score is more important than ever and many lenders insist on a score of at least 660 especially if you want to take advantage of those 4.75% interest rates. Even investors and buyers looking at jumbo loans are looking at 6% or below. So, let’s see…you need good credit, a decent down payment, a steady paycheck, a home that is worth the purchase price, and in return you get a decent deal, free money even if you are not a first-time homebuyer, the lowest interest I have ever seen, and a chance to move this economy out of the doldrums. Not bad.

And yet, some potential buyers still wait. Have consumers lost all confidence in the economy? Are too many people out of work? Are some buyers waiting for prices to tumble even further? On January 26, the Spokesman-Review published the following headline, “Poised for recovery, the economy is lurching forward,” giving a consumer confidence rating of 55.9%, the highest since September 2008 though not anywhere near the heady ratings of 90%, the gold standard in consumer confidence indexes. Then Investors Business Daily quotes an Economic Optimism Index (yes, there is such a thing, I didn’t make it up) of 46% down from 48% in January. The next Consumer Confidence Index comes out on February 23.

What does this all have to do with someone buying a house? Well, if we believe the naysayers and purveyors of a Chicken Little philosophy, we question our own decisions and tend to take a “wait and see what the rest of the world is going to do” attitude and by the time we hear about “one of the best real estate markets in the past forty years” in the media, that market is already passing us by.

There’s nothing wrong with a little caution. It would have been a blessing when lenders were handing out mortgages like Whole Foods used to hand out food samples. Have you noticed how Whole Foods is getting stingy with their samples? No more free lunches of brie and crackers with some smoked salmon followed by a dark chocolate truffle. Taking the lead from Whole Foods, lenders have become more judicious in their practices and the lending free-for-all has ended.

And there are still more foreclosures and short sales on the horizon and millions of Adjusted Rate Mortgages (ARM’s) are due to change in 2010 which could price some homeowners right out of their own homes.

But none of this should discourage investors, first-time homebuyers or move-up or move-down buyers from visiting a lender and checking out the inventory of homes. Looking doesn’t have to mean buying so offer your favorite Realtor lunch and a latte and head out for a couple of hours to see what you may be missing.

Once a week I email my customers a list of “Homes I Love” which could mean it’s a fabulous deal, unique property or prime location or a combination of all three. If you’re interested, I can put you on the list. As The Group’s founder Larry Kendall is often quoted as saying, “You may not be buying, but you always need to be looking.”

Stu Hoime, Venture Manager for The Group Guaranteed Mortage, submitted the following report for the week:

National average rate for the week ending November 20th:

30 year fixed:  4.83%
15 year fixed:  4.32%

Market Commentary:
A highly anticipated speech on Monday by Fed Chief Bernanke on the economic outlook revealed no change in the Fed’s stance on short-term monetary policy. There were also few surprises in the economic data released during the week. The monthly inflation readings continued to show that inflation is not a cause for concern in the short-term. As a result, mortgage rates barely moved during the week, remaining at historically low levels.

The decline in the value of the dollar has received a great deal of attention lately. While Fed officials rarely discuss the value of the dollar, Bernanke assured investors that the Fed is closely watching exchange rates. However, he then reminded investors that the Fed’s dual mandate is to promote full employment and to keep prices stable. According to Bernanke, the value of the dollar is just one of many factors affecting inflation, and the Fed is not concerned by the movement in the dollar so far. With a fragile economy and high a unemployment rate, he suggested that the Fed intends to keep the fed funds rate at very low levels. Tightening monetary policy to strengthen the dollar would hurt the economic recovery and slow job creation. After the speech, the value of the dollar fell to the lowest level since August 2008.

If foreign investors expect the value of the dollar to continue to fall, it may pose a risk for mortgage rates in the future. Foreign investors historically have been major buyers of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). When the dollar falls, the value of US assets to foreign investors in their own currency declines, making US investments less rewarding. With the Fed scaling back its MBS purchases over the next few months, a drop in foreign demand would further pressure yields higher to fill the void left by the Fed.

A wide range of economic data will be released during the holiday-shortened week ahead. Existing Home Sales will come out on Monday. GDP, Consumer Confidence, and the ! FOMC Minutes from the November 4th Fed meeting will be released on Tuesday. Durable Orders, Personal Income, Core PCE inflation, New Home Sales, and Consumer Sentiment will all be packed in on Wednesday. In addition, there will be Treasury auctions on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Mortgage markets will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving.Copyright @ 2009 MBSQuoteline

Stu Hoime
Venture Manager
The Group Guaranteed Mortgage
Together with Bank of America
2803 East Harmony Road
Fort Collins, CO. 80528
970-229-2512
stu.hoime@thegroupmortgage.com

Fort Collins, CO – Chuck McNeal, Chairman and CEO of The Group, Inc. Real Estate announced today that Eric Thompson has been hired as President of the company.Thompson has been the Managing Broker of the Summit County operations of Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate in Breckenridge, Colorado since 2004.McNeal has served as interim President since November 2008.

During his tenure with Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate, Thompson led the company from no.5 in local market share to no.1 in local market share.He has extensive experience in all aspects of real estate brokerage including sales, recruiting, training, managing, marketing, and new construction and development.In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Colorado.

McNeal said, “Eric’s values and beliefs are in perfect alignment with the culture of The Group.His vision for the future of our company as well as the broad experience he brings is nearly impossible to find in this business.We are very excited to have someone of this caliber as President of The Group and I am confident he will become an important part of the Northern Colorado real estate and business community.”

The Group, Inc. Real Estate is the largest real estate company in northern Colorado and was founded in 1976. Its family of companies is independently owned by Realtors, managers and staff.Over 300 people work in The Group’s six real estate offices in Fort Collins, Greeley and Loveland.The Group has been the market leader since its inception in 1976 and has been named the most productive firm in the country by Realtor Magazine and RealTrends.