Cheyenne, WY

Should you rent? Or should you buy? Even those who would normally say no to buying, are now saying yes! Here is a post from the KCM Crew about what makes more sense financially; to buy or to rent:

Business School professors Eli Beracha of East Carolina University and Ken H. Johnson of Florida International University have done extensive research on which makes more sense financially: to rent or own a home. They published, Lessons from Over 30 Years of Buy versus Rent Decisions: Is the American Dream Always Wise?In their paper, the professors do not dispute the social benefits of homeownership:

"Home ownership is touted as the "American Dream". It is credited with enhancing wealth, increasing civic pride, improving self-esteem, crime prevention, child development, and better educational outcomes, among other benefits. This paper does not dispute any of these claims."

What the professors were proposing is that homeownership is not a better investment strategy than renting. The first of the two major findings was:

"After setting the holding period to the average American's tenure in a residence, renting (not buying) proves to be the superior investment strategy over most of the study period... Individuals, on average, were better off in economic terms to have rented for most of the years in the study period. This first result is strongly dependent upon fiscally disciplined individuals that, without fail, reinvest any residual savings from renting."

Historically, people do not actually reinvest savings "without fail". Check here for the findings of a recent study from The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard.

The second major finding says it all. According to both professors Beracha and Johnson, NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!

"(F)undamental drivers now appear to be in place that favor homeownership over renting in the near term future...

The second finding might seem unwise to many given the recent crash in the real estate markets around the country. However, rent-to-price ratios now seem to be in place along with other fundamental drivers that favor ownership over renting."

They conclude their research paper with this sentence:

"Conditions (historically low mortgage rates and relatively low rent-to-price ratios) now seem in place to favor future purchases."

It's beginning to be that time of year again; time to get the garden started. Here are 7 habits/tips that every successful gardener should use:

1. Make a compost. Mother nature never throws anything away. Start with kitchen, yard and garden debris and you will wind up with two benefits: a great soil amendment and many green points for avoiding the landfill.
2. Use the compost. Spread compost around plants to ward off disease; put a bit in your potting mix to add slow-release micro-nutrients; top-dress beds with it to improve soil structure now matter what kind of soil you are using; or use it to help restore life to soils that's exhausted from years of chemical abuse.
3. Plant crops in wide beds. This includes anything planted for harvesting; vegetables, cutting flowers or shrubs on hold to be transplanted. Keep these grouped as tightly together as possible in beds that are not trod upon cuts down on weeding, conserves water and allows the compost to be concentrated where it will do the most good.
4. Mulch. Mulch covers the soil in a protective barrier that moderates temperature, conserves water, helps keep soul-borne diseases from splashing up and keeps soil itself from splashing up.
5. Feed the soil, not the plants. Plant health depends on healthy roots; healthy roots depend on healthy soil for air, water and nutrients delivered in forms plants can use.
6. Share something. Have extra seeds, flowers or vegetables? Share them with your neighbors, family and friends.
7. Be there. Be there to take care of your garden, and watch it grow. "The best fertilizer is the shadow of the gardener."

Tips provided by MSN Real Estate - Home & Gardening.

Joing the Cheyenne Mineral & Gem Society for the 12th Annual

Cheyenne Mineral, Fossil, Gem & Rock Show

Saturday, May 14; 9 am to 6 pm

Sunday, May 15; 10 am to 4 pm

American Legion Post #6

2001 E. Lincolnway, Cheyenne

Enjoy exhibits, jewelry, fossils, petrified wood, grab bags, fluorescent minerals, free gold panning, silent auction, a faceting demonstration and a gold nugget to be raffled off. Don't forget your camera; there will be large dinosaur models you won't want to miss.

Admission is $3 per person. Children 12 and under are FREE.

See you there!

When it comes to real estate, we've all fallen to a mistake or two. Here are 10 mistakes you can avoid in real estate provided by HGTV.

1. Not providing easy access for showings. Make your house easily accessible to potential buyers. If there is nowhere to park or it is difficult to get into your house, buyers may skip it and move on to the next.
2. Waiting until Spring to sell you home. Although Spring is the busiest season of real estate, it doesn't mean that buyers aren't looking 365 days of the year.
3. Buying without actually seeing the property. With all of the Internet pictures and virtual tours, it's easy to buy a house without seeing it first. But keep in mind that virtual tours may be deceiving. Plus, it's hard to actually get a sense and feel of a home by only looking at pictures online. You should walk through the home yourself to make sure everything you see online is what you see in the home, and this way you will be able to pick up on anything that isn't showcased on the web.
4. Buying the most expensive home on the block. The most expensive house on the block will only depreciate in value over time, not appreciate which is what you want. It's critical that you research the neighborhood before you buy to find out what price point you should be at.
5. Falling in love with the first property you see. Many buyers, especially first-time buyers, fall into the trap of loving the very first house they see. Even if you truly believe it is the one, you should look at three more houses in the area to get an idea of what the comparables are in that price range.
6. Overlooking the extra and hidden costs. Buying a home is not just about the money you spend at the time of purchase, but also about the rest of the money you have to spend beyond that. Find out what the property taxes will be, what your water bill might be and what a standard monthly electric bill will run you.
7. Setting too high of a sale price. It is really important for a seller to do their research. To come up with your sale price, look up what comparable homes in your neighborhood have sold for. Figure out what the going price is and try to put yours right in the middle of that.
8. Trying to make the "hard sell" while showing. If you are selling your house, you really shouldn't be present during a showing. You might be tempted to try to sell the place on all the reasons you think the house is great, but that may not translate well to the buyer. Leaving will allow the buyers to give unbiased objective feedback to your agent which will only help you in the end.
9. Failing to market your home in different ways. A "For Sale" sign in the front yard isn't going to cut it. Explore other marketing tools as well. Talk to real estate agent about the marketing that he or she will do for you. Marketing is something that should be set up from the initial signing of a contract.
10. Trusting everything a real estate advertisement says. Don't assume every ad states a fact. Learn to decipher real estate lingo; for example, "cozy" means small, and "as is" means it's a fixer-upper.

Are you starting to feel some despair that your house has been on the market for a while now with no bites? Well have no fear! Here are 7 great tips to increase your home's curb appeal, provided by MSN Real Estate:

1. Start the power washer. Winter is finally over and your home has probably taken quite the beating from it. Rent or borrow a power washer and give the exterior of your home a good cleaning.
2. Add mulch. Mulch always looks a bit sad after winter; it gets spread around and blown about. Adding a thick new layer of mulch can work wonders for your home's curb appeal.
3. Clean out flower beds. Although you may not have flowers coming up in your beds yet, still make sure that they are presentable. Trim dormant ornamental grasses and hostas to the ground, and clean out any leaves and sticks that piled up in the winter.
4. Plant in containers. It may still be too cold in your part of the county to put annuals in the bed, but you can add life and color to your yard with container gardening. Buy some colorful pots and fill them with vibrant flowers. Place them on the front porch, going down your front steps or even in your flower beds.
5. Trim branches. If you haven't already done so, go out on the street and make sure that no shrubs or low hanging tree branches block the view of your house. You want potential buyers to get a clear look at the house as they drive by or approach it.
6. Prune flowering shrubs. Flowering shrubs should be pruned after they've flowered. It's important to shape these shrubs for the best visual effect, but hold off until their flowers have faded; this will keep the plant healthy and give you - or hopefully the next homeowner - more buds next year.
7. Look at your gutters. Take a look upstairs. If you have leaves and sticks hanging out of your gutters from winter storms, drag out the ladder and clean them out. Dirty gutters are an eyesore to potential buyers.