Barbara Salisbury

When one is thinking of buying a home the usual questions one asks are:

How much payment can I afford?

Do I have enough down payment?

Another question you need to ask your self is do I have enough to cover the closing costs? To answer that question, of course, you need to know how much those fees will be. And, in order to know that, you need to know what fees there are to be paid.

If you are buying in Colorado I can give you a little help. Below are listed some, if not most of the fees you can expect closings and home loans to carry with them.

Credit Report Expense

• Appraisal

• Loan Origination Fee

• Discount Points

• Prepaid property taxes some times up to 9 months of taxes, but usually more like 3-6 months.

• Prepaid homeowners insurance, 2 or 3 months worth.

• 2 or 3 months worth of HOA fees

• HOA Transfer fees

• HOA fee for CIC docs
• Storm Drainage Fee
• Prepaid interest for partial month to Lender
• Closing Fee to Title Company
• Title Insurance for Lender
• Various Endorsements Fees to Title Company
• Courier Fees to Title company

• Tax statement fee to Title Company

• Loan closing fee to lender to Title Company

• Copy fee for Title company

• Recording of Title fees

• Sales tax on deed

• Brokerage Document handling and storage fee

• Delivery, recording and processing to Recorder fee

Typically these fees can run between 2 and 4 percent of the loan amount. These are over and above your down payment. During the process of loan application you will be given a Good Faith Estimate of your closing costs by your lender. It is exactly that, an estimate. Do your homework. Contact the Title Company that will be used and ask them how much they estimate for each of the fees above and for any other fees besides those above. That will give you a better estimate on the fees that are paid to them. Contact the HOA and find out what their fees will be. These can vary greatly from HOA to HOA as can the title company fees from company to company.

You can always get your own homeowners insurance before closing and instruct the lender to let you take care of that each year on your own.

Don't wait until the last minute when you get your HUD document from the title company. That can come as late as the morning of closing. Know what you will be needing in closing costs well in advance. And, of course, you can ask the seller to pay some or all of those costs, but that will need to be negotiated when negotiating the contract.

There's a quick and easy way to go sky diving here in the Denver area. It's indoor sky diving at Sky Venture Colorado right here in the Entertainment District n Lone Tree. If you don't believe me just check out the website www.skyventurecolorado.com. There's a really cool video of people sky diving in the wind tunnel that simulates sky diving. You'll see newbies and professionals and all of their antics.

This is just one more neat thing to do here in the southern metro Denver area. It will cost you $48 for 2 one minute sessions, $43 for kids under 12. There are lots of packages, though, even birthday party packages. Each session includes instructions from qualified instructors. Hours of operation are 9 am to late, whatever that means. Sky Venture is located just off the intersection of Yosemite and C470 at 9230 Park Meadows Dr.

Here's an idea: include a sky dive session in your next trip to Park Meadows Mall which is just across C470 and/or a trip to Go Putt! Miniature Golf, United Artists Meadows Theater or Brunswick Zone or one of your favorite restaurants in the Lone Tree Entertainment District or Park Meadows Mall. Just to name a few of the many restaurants;

Brewery Bar III

Fox & The Hound Tavern

India's Clay Oven

Mimi's Café

Rio Grand Mexican Restaurant

Grazio Italian Grill & Bar

Champps

The Cheesecake Factory

California Café

California Pizza Kitchen

Brio Tuscan Grill

Fish City Grill

Grande Luxe Café

Mikuni Japanese Sushi Bar

P.F. Chang's

Thai Basil

White Chocolate Grill

Red Robin

Earl's

There's lots to do, see, eat and buy in this exciting area of south metro Denver. Websites that might be helpful:

http://www.parkmeadows.com/html/mallattractions.asp

http://www.goputtminigolf.com/entertainment.html

If you live in Highlands Ranch, whether you are an avid reader or occasional reader, I think I know something in which you might be interested. Book Clubs! If you read very little this might be a means for helping your interest in reading and enticing you to read more. If you are an avid reader, it just goes without saying that having other readers with like interests with which to share could be a fun thing.

The Highlands Ranch Library has a great variety of book clubs meeting there. And here's the best part. There are book clubs for youth, also!

Here is a list of book clubs I obtained from my Access Magazine published by the Douglas County Libraries:

Daytime Book Club discusses everything from popular fiction to classics to nonfiction.

Great Books reads great literature.

Highlands Ranch Book Group reads contemporary fiction and occasional non fiction.

Mystery Loves Company

Booklover's Circle

Youth:

Book Club for 1^st & 2^nd Graders

Mother/Daughter Book Club (Grades 4-6)

Parent/Child Book Club (Grades 4-6)

Mother/Daughter Book Group (Ages 12-15)

For more information call 303-791-READ or go to www.douglascountylibraries.org.

My first and my last bicycles were purchased at the Bicycle Pedal'r in Highlands Ranch. The first and the last were actually the same one. I'm a novice bike rider now although as a child I was quite experienced, but never had my own bike. I rode my brother's bike.

I have a Trek bicycle which I love. A young man at Bicycle Pedal'r helped me pick it out. He suggested it and after I very briefly tried it out I bought it. The Pedal'r provides free life time service with every bike they sell. This is a wonderful service for someone who is a stranger to the workings of these modern bikes. I guess it's a pretty good service for experts, too.

The guys at the Pedal'r are always so helpful and I've never have to wait. They are experts and have tons of tips on biking. They can custom adjust your bike to fit it to your body.

There are plenty of accessories and biking gear available in the store. It's a great store for novice or experienced bikers.

The store is located at 2030 County Line Road on the southwest corner of University and County Line. They are adjacent to the trail that runs along C470 so you can actually ride your bike there. Check out their website www.bicyclepedalr.com.

I am referring to Roxborough State Park and its natural red rock formations which lean at 60 degree angles and add breathtaking beauty to this wonderful hiking area. This park, which is about 11 miles from my house in Highlands Ranch, was set aside as a state park in 1975, but was not opened to the public until 1987. It started out as 500 acres and was increased to more than 3300 acres that sit any where from 5900 ft to 7200 + ft above sea level.

The most beautiful part of the park are the red rock formations which were created over millions of years as a result of uplift and erosion just as the ones in Garden of the Gods at Colorado Springs, at Perry Park in Larkspur and the Red Rocks Amphitheater just outside Morrison. Nature presents herself in many forms in the park such as prairies and meadows with prairie grasses and flowers, in her beautiful tree species of Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine and Aspen, in other smaller species of yucca, chokecherry, Gambel oak, Rocky Mountain maple, mountain mahogany and Boulder raspberry and, also, in the wonderful wildlife you may have a chance to witness while you are there. There are red foxes, coyotes, prairie dogs, cottontail rabbits, squirrels and mule deer that are quite abundant. There are occasional sightings of black bear, mountain lion, bobcat and elk. The park is also home to the western rattlesnake, milk snake, western chorus frog, short horned lizard, woodhouse toad, snapping turtle, more than 50 species of butterflies, moths and skippers and 42 species of birds with another 100 species that sometimes visit there.

Things to do in the park:

There are many trails for all abilities beginning with the half mile trail to Fountain Overlook with its spectacular view of the red rock formations to the 6.4 mile trail to 7,160 ft. Carpenter Peak. Many of the trails connect to other trails in the neighboring Pike National Forest, Waterton Canyon and others in Douglas county. Hazards include poison ivy and rattlesnakes.

Pets, horses, bikes and rock climbing are prohibited in order to preserve the naturalness of the park.

Bird watching is a favorite because of the great number of species.

Cross country skiing, sledding and snowshoeing are allowed only on the trails. You can call ahead to get the snow conditions.

Educational tours are available. Check the website http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/Roxborough for information.

There are no picnicking areas, but visitors are welcome to picnic along the trails at any of the numerous bench locations.

Trail Maps are available at the Visitor Center. Annual passes are $60, but are good at any state park. Any Colorado resident 64 or over can purchase one for $30. Any CO resident over 86 can get one for free. Disabled and income eligible CO residents can purchase one for $12.50 and Disabled veterans can get into all state parks free with a disabled veterans license plate. Check the website above for information on where to purchase the various passes.

Directions from Santa Fe and C470: Head south on Santa Fe (Highway 85) to Titan Road. (4.2 miles south of C-470 intersection) Turn right (west) on Titan Road. Continue heading west on Titan Road. It will curve and begin to head south-becoming North Rampart Range Road (3 miles). Continue south on North Rampart Range Road past Roxborough Village and the Foothills Water Treatment Plant (3.5 miles). At the intersection of North Rampart Range Road and Roxborough Park Road, turn left onto Roxborough Park Road. Take the next right (about 50 yards away) to enter the park.