John Keene

After last year's poison pet food scare, my wife and I began to research better food for our two cats as well as our two dogs. After quite a bit of online research we learned that only a few miles away, in Park Hill, there was a natural pet food store. Ever since, I visit Ciji's Natural Pet Supplies about every two weeks.

Upon our initial visit Bonnie, the store owner, provided us with a wealth of information of pet nutrition. We switched to a combination of wet and dry food for the cats, and put our dogs on a Holistic dry food.

Our 4-year old daugher loves Ciji's too, and always wants to bring a toy home. I highly recommend Ciji's for all your pet needs. They are located in a wonderful block of retail at 2260 Kearney St.

I visited three builders today. Infinity Homes currently has no inventory homes for sale.

Harvard Homes only has one Near Zero Energy Home available. It is a Courtyard model, 3BR/3.5BA home, listed at $758K.

McStain, on the other hand, has several inventory homes. In their Casita paired homes product, there is a 2BR/2BA Cielo listed at $290K and a 2BR/2BA Luna listed at $250. Both are approximately 1000 square feet and come with an attached 2 car garage.

McStain is also running a special on three penthouse units on Xenia St. The Alcott, a 3BR/3.5BA (including two master suites) has been reduced to $435K. The price of the 4BR/3.5BA Franklin has dropped $47K to $450K. While the largest of the three units, the 4BR/4BA Grove is now only $525K.

Lastly, McStain is selling a Lincoln row home near the dog park for $350K. The Lincoln has 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.

A few buyers have recently expressed concern over purchasing a home now because they fear that home prices will continue to drop. They want to time the market and buy at the "bottom". What they fail to realize is that interest rates are near an all time low, and that an increase in interest rates will have a greater impact on their purchasing power than price.

In the following example, assume a buyer is pre-approved to purchase a $200,000 home while the 30-year FHA rate currently at 5%. Their monthly payment would be approximately $1322. Now assume the interest rate goes up to 6%. To keep that monthly payment, the home owner could only purchase a $180,000 home.

Home Price Rate Payment
$200,000 5% $1322
$180,000 6% $1320

In other words, the value of home would have to drop 10% in order to offset the one point increase in interest rate for this buyer to break even. In my opinion, at this price point such a price reduction is unlikely. Inventory of homes in this price range continues to decline as these homes are in great demand.

I work with a lot of first time home buyers, and this is the price point where many of them fall. I've been in competitive bid situations quite a bit lately in the sub-$200K market. That is why I recommend the buyers I am working with buy now.

The only way they could lose would be if home prices do continue to fall AND interest rates followed. But really that's not much of a loss either because they could still re-finance at the lower rate. If either go up (which history tells us they eventually will) the buyer is ahead of the game.

The City of Aurora is currently accepting applications to the Art Selection Panel. To obtain an application visit their website, www.auroragov.org/publicart.

Once established, the panel will be considering art for the following location:

• Beck Recreation Center, 800 Telluride Street
• City Park, 16th Avenue & Dayton Street
• Trolley Car 610 Canopy, Aurora Municipal Center

SUN Announces 2009 Board Elections

By Bryan Penny

Are you new to the neighborhood? Have you hoped that more voices from the community would be represented in development decisions? Want to help make Stapleton a better place to live and work? Do you have talents and skills that could be put to good use in planning future development in Stapleton? Are you a current resident who has been looking for an opportunity to get involved with neighborhood issues? If your answer is “yes” to any of these questions, please consider running for a leadership position in the Stapleton United Neighbors Board of Directors.

The first Board of Directors of SUN was elected in the spring of 2004. During the past five years, much has been accomplished. SUN developed By-laws and established non-profit status. Several community forums have been held and a neighborhood watch program has been started. SUN has also supported alternative transportation planning and active living in the community. SUN now hosts regular forums with Forest City representatives and officials from the City to help keep Stapleton residents up to date on the state of our neighborhood. SUN also organizes the annual Block Party Day and the Kickball Tournament, to help bring new neighbors together, and build the bonds that are critical to strong communities. Now it is time to make plans for another year of progress with the election of members of the SUN Board of Directors. Of the 15 seats on the SUN Board, seven are up for elected this year. As Stapleton is always growing, SUN is committed to including on the Board residents from all areas, including newly built homes.

A nominating committee has been formed to identify members of the Stapleton community who are interested in becoming more involved in the effort to organize the neighborhood. Please consider sharing your voice and experience by becoming a candidate for the SUN Board of Directors.

Stapleton United Neighbors Board Election FAQs

What is SUN, and what role does it play in the neighborhood?

The mission of SUN is to work for the betterment of the Stapleton neighborhood and the City and County of Denver by providing: (i) a forum for residents living within the boundaries of SUN to discuss and resolve issues; (ii) a network of communication; (iii) a means of acting on matters of importance to the community as a whole. Check out the SUN website at www.stapletonunitedneighbors.com for more information.

What do SUN Board members do?

SUN board members are responsible for helping bring the mission of SUN to life through work in the community. That entails at least the following responsibilities: Attendance at 9 or more of the 11 SUN board meetings each year (currently scheduled at 7:30pm on the fourth Monday of January through November). Chairing or serving on a SUN committee (transportation, education, outreach, safety and communication), serving as a SUN liaison on a Stapleton Citizens’ Advisory Board (CAB) or Stapleton Development Corporation (SDC) committee (parks advisory group, zoning and planning, housing diversity, community communications and design review) or serving as a SUN liaison to InterNeighborhood Cooperation (INC). Authoring at least one article per year for the SUN Spot section of the Front Porch and Tower Ledger. Attending and helping out with SUN sponsored community events and forums. Promoting the work of SUN and the ethos of SUN’s mission in the community.

What is the time commitment involved?

Monthly board meetings typically last an hour and a half to two hours. SUN, CAB and SDC committee meetings are usually once a month and run about an hour to an hour and a half and INC meetings are the second Saturday of the month for three hours. Beyond that, keeping up with voice mail, email, authoring a SUN Spot article and attending other events and meetings can add as little as a few minutes to as much as several hours per week. Board members should also monitor Grapevine posting on StapletonOnline.com weekly for issues relevant to the committees they are a part of or attend. As a general rule, SUN will involve about 10-15 hours a month of time March 2008 Stapleton Front Porch commitment, and potentially more depending on the calendar of events.

What do I need to do to run for the Board?

The application process entails submitting a 200 word statement of interest and bio to Bryan Penny (bryanpenny@gmail.com) by April 1, and attending the SUN Forum and Election on May 5th. The statement of interest and bio will run in the May issue of the Front Porch and Tower Ledger and be posted online on SUN”s website at www.StapletonUnitedNeighbors.com.

How are the elections determined?

In the past, there have been just enough candidates to fill each slot, but in the event of more candidates than slots, each voter has 7 votes and the top 7 vote gatherers are elected to the board.