About Larimer County, CO

Extreme (paper) Hoarding Solved...Just Get a Scanner!

In all likelihood your desk (or someone you know) looks similar to this one.

Paper tends to act like that mythical creature from Star Trek known as the Tribble. Tribbles multiply with reckless abandon - so can paper. Managing paper is one of the banes of the daily grind in real estate and often isn’t managed at all. Most paper simply gets shoved in a file, placed on a stack, or shoved in a drawer; that’s hardly good file management.

As much as we hate all this paper, we also have a strange obsessive love affair with it. We can’t seem to part with it. I want to just throw all the paper away – but then the thought that plagues hoarders and non-hoarders alike creeps up from the depths of our amygdales…. “I may need that someday…”

A couple of years ago, that all changed for me when I purchased a Fujitsu desktop scanner (I have the older model S510 that is no bigger than a small inkjet printer). It scans in color or black and white. It scans double-sided in one pass. It can auto-feed a stack of up to 70 sheets of paper. It has optical character recognition (OCR) so I don’t have to re-type stuff. Quite simply, it is AWESOME. At the time, I was debating whether to get a scanner or a printer and I’m so glad I went the scanner route because scanners eliminate paper. Printers create more paper. Office space and filing cabinets are expensive. Memory storage is cheap.

You may be thinking “A scanner – hah! Old news!” Maybe so. But few things in my daily activity have done so much to eliminate the piles of paper as well as stifle the little voice chanting “you may need that someday”. Instead of filing paper, I scanned it. I scanned everything! Receipts; invoices, contracts, addenda, conference notes, business cards, flyers, mailers, greeting cards… if it fit in the scanner, I scanned it and filed it electronically. I was amazed at how good it felt to clear my inbox; to clean out my lateral file; to clear off my desk! I felt freed from the burden of keeping paper.

I made a commitment to not create more paper. Between using my scanner and the terrific services of DocuSign, I rarely print anything anymore. As a matter of fact, I rarely have to leave my desk when keeping office hours because it can all be handled via email, texting, cloud-based storage, or scanning. Since all the scans are stored on my laptop (with a back-up on an external drive), I have all my 'paper' with me all the time. Brilliant!!

Now, about the filing system on my computer… what did I name that document that says I may have just won 10 million dollars?

For more posts on how other folks have eliminated inefficiencies check out this link: http://activerain.com/blogsview/2988103/eliminating-inefficiencies-in-real-estate-a-contest.

What could possibly be better than an evening spent watching a troupe of talented canines do amazing tricks? The answer, of course, is absolutely nothing!

And on March 24th, at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins Old Town, you can see Chris Perondi's Stunt Dog Experience! America’s favorite canine stunt dogs soar, spin, jump and fly! These amazing “Extreme Canines", which have all been rescued from pounds and animal shelters, have performed on Animal Planet’s Pet Stars, Amazing Animal Videos and even The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. They’ll make you laugh, cry, cheer and beg for more! This is a Vegas style show that is entirely scripted, choreographed to music, has comedy antics, unique skits, and is a one-of-a-kind theater experience like nothing you've ever seen before.

Tickets are available online, by phone - 970-221-6730 - or at the Lincoln Center box office, 417 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins, CO.

This is the seventh in a series of reports on 2012 Northern Colorado Real Estate Market Trends, looking at specific indicators relating to market performance over the last two years. We're defining the Northern Colorado market to consist of Larimer & Weld Counties, including Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park, Greeley, Windsor, Berthoud, Johnstown and Wellington.

In tracking the Sold Price/List Price Ratio for homes sold in Northern Colorado, the overall strength of the marketplace is evident. While there was a dip from July, 2010 through April, 2011, the magnitude was within a range of 1.6% - homes over the two year period have sold for between 96.5% to 98.1% of listing price. There isn't any evidence of panic selling or a steep decline in values, and the ratio is trending up again. This data becomes even more meaningful when paired with the previous look at rising prices of both listed and sold homes. And the upward trend suggests both continuing stability and the possibility of a recovery in the regional real estate market.

If you would like to follow Northern Colorado Real Estate Market Trends more closely, with detailed looks at specific community data and market segment breakdowns, please subscribe to Mary & Dicks Blog - we report regularly on what's going on throughout Northern Colorado, and we'd love to have you join us.

Old Town Fort Collins is definitely the place to start off your celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Following the Sharin' O' the Green 5K run, walk & kids fun run, the Lucky Joe's Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade will kick off at 10 AM on Walnut St. adjacent to Old Town Square in downtown Fort Collins. And of course, the parade is free to the public.

And after the parade, Lucky Joe's is throwing an Irish Party in Old Town Square, from 11:30 PM to 3 PM - there will be live Irish music and green beer! As the Irish would say, "It'll be a great craic!"

Here is a link to a printable map of the parade route for this year. And here's one just to look at:

This is the eighth in a series of reports on 2012 Northern Colorado Real Estate Market Trends, looking at specific indicators relating to market performance over the last two years. We're defining the Northern Colorado market to consist of Larimer & Weld Counties, including Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park, Greeley, Windsor, Berthoud, Johnstown and Wellington.

The trend for average Cost per Sq.Ft. for homes sold in Northern Colorado is an interesting one. The most evident feature is that it definitely shows a seasonal effect - homes generally sold for less per square foot in the colder months than the rest of the year. The data show some significant amplitude, varying in range from a low average of $90 to a high average of $98, a factor of about 8%. The logical explanation for this is that homes which go on the market during these times tend to be priced more competitively to compensate for lessened activity. There may be other factors at work here as well, and we're curious enough about this to plan on digging a little deeper into the data for a future report.

If you would like to follow Northern Colorado Real Estate Market Trends more closely, with detailed looks at specific community data and market segment breakdowns, please subscribe to Mary & Dicks Blog - we report regularly on what's going on throughout Northern Colorado, and we'd love to have you join us.