Marianne Bandy

If you wanted to buy a Denver home and someone said to you, "Here's $8,000 to help you out!" what would your first response be? I'm betting it would be, "Great! Thanks! Can I use the $8,000 on my down payment? Currently, the answer is "No!" but that may be changing.

On May 12, 2009, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, speaking before several thousand Realtors at the Realtors Midyear Legislative Meeting and Trade Expo, told the group that this would change for FHA borrowers. FHA-approved lenders would be able to "monetize" the credits through short-term bridge loans so that borrowers can apply the funds at closing.

In the past, new homebuyers would only receive the credit when they filed their 2008 or 2009 income tax. Those who buy a home this year can either wait until next year to claim the credit or file an amended 2008 return.

While $8,000 in hand is great to have even after a person buys a home, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has argued that having the money available for a down payment will be a better stimulus than offering it later. The group also advocates expanding the credit to include all homebuyers at all income levels and expanding it past its November, 2009 expiration.

When coupled with falling home prices, high inventories of foreclosure and bank-owned properties at bargain prices, and low mortgage rates, the $8,000 credit is expected to lead to increased housing sales beginning in early summer - especially in view of the Donovan announcement. The ability to use the money as part of a down payment is expected to turn a lot of fence-sitters into new buyers. NAR economist Lawrence Yun anticipates that home sales will be up 10-20% in the second half of 2009.

The predicted economic recovery in housing is good news for the industry, as housing prices in Denver and elsewhere prices will become more stable. Buyers looking for a bargain may find fewer "steals" amidst the deals they can make.

If you are thinking about buying a home, now is the time to make your move. Your Denver Realtor at Bandy Homes can tell you the most current information about the credit and help you find the best lender to help you apply this credit to your down payment - after you have found a great new home in Highlands Ranch and other communities in metro Denver.

Marianne Bandy

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In our crazy economy, when prices are going up on everything and when income is staying the same or decreasing for many families, it's necessary to find ways to save. Let's face it - most of us have little say in the price of gasoline, electricity, or groceries. A homeowner has to find ways to save money when possible. This is why many shoppers find coupons a necessity.

Most us have great war stories about much we saved at Macy's when the store offered a %-off coupon. For those of you who have studied and mastered the art of using them, coupons can save a bundle. Turn on your local TV station or peruse the Internet - there's always a story about someone who saves $100 week on their grocery bill or feeds a family of eight on a stack of coupons and $20.

The big savers with coupons are the people who collect them, use them (in contrast to those who clip them but don't think of using them until after they expire), and maximize their effectiveness by using multiple offers that might be available. For example, if bacon is on sale for 2/$4.99, a savvy customer might use two $1.00 coupons to reduce the cost per pound to $1.50. In cases where the store doubled or tripled coupons, the cost would fall to $0-.50 per pound. If the sale was to buy a pound of bacon, get a dozen eggs free, you would pull out a coupon for the bacon. If the store had a coupon dispenser that offered the bacon coupons, if you take a few and the expiration date of the coupons is in the future, you can reduce the cost of your bacon purchases for months to come. By expanding this approach to a variety of products in your home, you could realize major savings.

Traditionally, people clipped coupons from their local newspaper or received coupons in the mail. Now that most people have internet access, many coupons can be printed online for use at a "brick and mortar" store or used for online shopping. Online coupons are a bonanza for people who intend to use them but forget to bring them or forget to cut them out.

Say you want to know if a store you are planning on shopping has any coupons available. By typing in, for example, "Bed Bath and Beyond coupons" you might come up with several sites that offer the coupons. In fact, Google search brought up 323,000 sites where you might find coupons. If you want to buy a DVD recorder, you could type in "dvd recorder coupon" and Google would offer you 1,320,000 matches. You could further search by brand to arrive at a more manageable number. Many of the coupons might be expired or have conditions to them, but it's likely you will find some that will help you. Because retailers have to follow a procedure to get their money back, most are careful about accepting expired coupons or ones you try to apply to the wrong product.

Since lots of people have picked up the trick of "Googling for savings." there are numerous websites devoted to offering online coupons. Popular sites include Coupon Cabin, Retail Me Not, Coupon Mountain, Dealtaker, Yahoo Coupons - the list goes on.

Regardless of how you get your coupons and how often you use them, the process can save you money and add a bit of adventure to shopping. When you're shopping for your new Parker Colorado home, you probably won't find coupons but a good Realtor® can tell you where the deals are in the Denver Metro area. At Bandy Homes, we are dedicated to finding you an affordable home. Marianne Bandy Relocate to Denver

You read everywhere that housing values are dropping, yet your property taxes haven't budged. The fact is, government taxing agencies seldom reach out to homeowners and tell them to send less. In a climate where revenues that fund public services are declining, don't expect the government to make the first move to lower your taxes.

As a homeowner, you do have the right to appeal the amount of your property tax if you think it is unfair or incorrect. To make this happen in Colorado, you must file a petition with the County Tax Assessor's office within 30 days of when your tax notice was mailed to you. Most people do this right after they have received a "notice of value" letter, which comes out every two years in May. The County Assessor will turn your case over to a Board of Review, which will consider your case, based on the documentation you have provided.

There are three basic scenarios where your petition is likely to be resolved in your favor:

• When the home is sold and you can clearly show that the selling price was lower than in the past
• When there has been property damage
• When neighborhood housing values have fallen, which puts homes in the area at a lower valuethan in the past

The first two cases are easier to prove than the last one. What taxpayers often don't realize is that the assessor bases his valuations on past pricing, not current values. In Denver, current tax assessments are based on sale prices of homes between January 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008. To make a case that your home is valued too high, you would need to provide documentation about home sales in your neighborhood in that time frame. Even if the property has taken a nose dive in the past year, the county won't consider any fall off in value if it occurred after the cutoff date. Actual 2009 sales prices in Denver metro neighborhoods won't be reflected on tax statements until 2011.

What's interesting to note is there is a time lag for tax value increases too. If area property values have gone up or if you have made improvements to your property that come to the attention of the assessor, you won't see the increase on your bill for a year or two.

What you'll need to prove your case to the review board are market comparisons and sales prices, information that a local real estate agent will have. You can also hire an appraiser. If you have pictures that show damage to your home or conditions in your neighborhood that might affect the value of your home, these might help you state your case.

Check the assessor's report that lists the features of your home that are included in the tax valuation. If things that you don't have are included - like extra bedrooms, extra bathrooms, a finished basement, a deck, or a garage - you could provide the appraisal report along with pictures or floor plans to clarify what your home includes. The review board is composed of people familiar with the area, so they should be tuned into factors like foreclosure rates, rising crime rates, and widespread storm damage. Along with your individual circumstances, they will take these factors into consideration when making their recommendations to the county.

The good news is that your hard work might result in a lower tax value for your property. The dollar value of the taxes you pay may go down and having a correct value on the books for your home will be a useful starting point for future years.

Getting ready to sell? The Bandy Home Team can help you determine how much your home is worth. Check out our Denver home search website for helpful tips on pricing your Denver home for sale. You can also sign up for a monthly email update of homes sold in your neighborhood. Marianne Bandy

Once in their life, everyone deserves to have a brand new house. There is nothing quite like taking possession of a home where no one has lived before! Your kids' pictures require the first nail holes to be put in the wall. You get the first shot at landscaping and decorating the way you want without having to undo someone else's questionable taste! This euphoria may only last until toys, dirty socks, and junk mail have cluttered the place up a bit, but it's a treat, none the less.

There are a few things to keep in mind to make sure that your new home buying experience is a great one. At the moment, there is plenty of affordable new housing around so buying "new" rather than pre-owned is an option that might have been out of range just a couple years ago for some buyers.

First, before you start serious looking, get pre-approved for loan. This will tell you how much the lender thinks you can afford. Think about how the payment at different interest rates will impact your lifestyle. When you go looking at homes, have a ceiling in mind and stick to your price range. Don't set yourself up to be a foreclosure statistic! If you have a $50,000 income, looking at $1 million homes might be an entertaining way to spend an afternoon (for you, not the realtor), but these homes or any that are way out of your price range pose a risk for you. It's easy to be seduced by a beautiful home. Model homes are set up to be appealing, while the sales people are always convincing when they tell you that you and the house are made for each other! Having a realtor represent you with the builder will help make sure you don't get carried away by the dazzle of a new home. A realtor can represent your interests at no cost to you, because the fees are paid by the builder.

Before committing to buy the property, it's a great idea to get a few good faith estimates (GFE's) of the mortgage costs, including the APR (annual percentage rate), as well as the terms. Builders usually offer financing that might at first glance appear to be the best deal, but having some other lenders lined up for comparison might reveal hidden fees and give you some negotiating power. Especially when inventories of new homes are high, as they are now, offers from builders will often include upgrades to use their lenders. Shrewd but polite buyers who have a realtor representing them can often negotiate an even better deal.

Though the model home may look flawless, it is a good idea to ask the neighbors about their experiences with the builder. It's important to know what kind of problems they had and even more important to know the builder has responded and how long it took him to respond. If you see too many red flags, it's time to reconsider. If you're in love with the house, breaking up is hard to do - but your love could quickly turn to hate if you are stuck in a house with lots of problems and poor support system. Here again your realtor can offer advice.

Once you've made an offer on the house, make sure to pay for a home inspection from an independent firm. Just because the home is new doesn't mean it's perfect. The builder may say he will stand behind certain types of problems that come up in the first year, but an inspection will bring them to light. Fifty perfect of new home inspections uncover a flaw in design, materials, or workmanship which could prove costly to the homeowner later on.

If you have bought a partially completed home or one you picked from a plan, you will probably drive by occasionally to observe the progress. It's a good idea to take some pictures of the progress that might later document problems in construction. (They will also serve as a memory of your largest purchase) Some excited friends who stalked the site of their new Aurora home noticed that something did not seem right when the foundation was laid. They weren't engineers, so they didn't know what. Their photos helped the builder troubleshoot a problem with the concrete and later alerted the home inspector to test for leaks in the foundation.

Before you close on the home, walk through the home with the builder and develop a punch list of problems that need to be fixed. The builder will mark these items with tape so that his crew will know what to fix. Once the repairs are complete, it's a good idea to have another walk through. The builder may pressure you to close before everything is fixed but once you've closed, you lose leverage, so don't give in.

At Bandy Homes, we can help you find the home of your dreams, whether it's new construction or part of our existing Denver housing stock. The Denver real estate market has homes to suit any taste and price. Check out our website for great tips for Denver home buyers.

Marianne Bandy

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