40 Year inv. loans, racist covenants

Greetings folks! Been a minute since I blasted out a market update, and I’ve recently become aware of a cool 40 year loan for all buyer types.

First off, regarding the loan program I won’t go into too much detail because I don’t want it to sound like I’m endorsing a particular lender. However, some of the highlights (in my opinion) are: as little as 15% down for investors, 40 yr fixed, first 10 years interest only, rates are decent but better with standard 20-25% down. Buyers need to qualify at the higher PITI payment. No prepayment penalty. For anyone on the fence about getting into an investment property this seems like a great option, especially since the rental market continues to be strong. If you want particulars or some actual numbers just reply.

Secondly, in October of 2018 I assembled a group of independent agents for the purposes of discussion and camaraderie. First order of business is always market talk and what adjustments will take place. This is crystal ball stuff, but our consensus jibes with what we’re now hearing from various real estate vanguards: 2019 will be the coolest in years. I pulled a bunch of stats from the last five years and the only thing that truly stands out are the stats from last month, which was the slowest since 2012 by quite a lot (or quite a little). Fort Collins saw only 91 residential sales, down 37% from January 2018. And for the first time since the aughts, the average price of a home increased only 2% from the previous year, the lowest in...well as far as I cared to look. As a reminder, in a balanced market a roughly 3% year over year increase in value is considered normal.

So what does this mean to you in 2019? It means buyers, particularly investors, might actually be able to relax a little when it comes to identifying a property as there should be more inventory. Another really big question is how new construction will factor into our market since it is reactive by nature. So while we’re seeing more of a balanced market, new subdivisions continue to be announced. No I don’t think we’ll start seeing a “ton” of foreclosures like some people seem to perpetually suggest, but I do think we’ll see a slight bump in short sales - particularly in those areas of new construction - in the next three years.

Finally, a friend/client of mine named Tyler Silvy is an editor of the Greeley Tribune and uncovered an example of a racist covenant that’s still on the books for one subdivision. It’s a remarkable and shameful historical document that isn’t as old as one might hope or expect. His article and a copy of the actual covenant can be found here: https://www.greeleytribune.com/news/greeley-neighborhood-still-has-active-unenforceable-racist-rule-on-the-books/  I do have one correction for you, Tyler….!

That’s it for now - please let me know if I can help you or anyone you know with anything real estate-related!  Cheers, Crip

Originally published 2/19/2019