The Grey Rock Realty Podcast Northern Colorado Real Estate

How to choose the right mortgage provider for you and avoid common mistakes!

Give the average person the choice between moving their family and all their possessions to a new house, or getting a root canal, and I think most people would choose the root canal.

Because of all the complexity and time typically involved in the moving process, people tend to put it off for months or years, especially families with kids.

Often they badly need more space, or they really wanted to be in a different neighborhood, but he thought of all the brain damage involved in moving is overhwelming.

I know it was like that for us. At the time we moved we had three kids under 5 years old. We were living in a 1,200 square foot house and we throught about moving for more than two years before we actually did it. Part of that was waiting for the right house, but most of it was the overwhelm.

Once we moved, we couldn’t believe that we waited so long. It felt absolutely incredible to have the space we needed.

After taking so many families through this process we've designed a system that makes moving dramatically easier. We call it the Total Certainty Method. This episode is all about that process.

We hope you enjoy the podcast!

To get the process started call or text us at 970-689-0824 or go to www.GreyRockRealty.com and click "contact"

This process is labor intensive for our team and advance planning is key. If you'd like to utilize this method, even if you are 6 months away from your move, please call to reserve your spot well in advance.

The Fort Collins real estate market has been on a ride in 2023. Scott and Ryan sit down and share stories from the trenches. This pod accompanies the release of our most recent market report, you can read it below

The real estate market continues to adjust to the new normal of painfully high rates. The 30 year rate is now just under 8%. I remember a year ago I was dumbfounded to learn that rates had eclipsed the 7% mark.  That number felt impossible at the time. I remember thinking it must be a fluke.

But here we are a year later and 7% seems like a bargain.

The only thing more surprising than the sharp increase in rates is how stubborn the market has been to give up the massive price gains that occurred during the pandemic.  

Some people say the lack of price correction is due to low inventory caused by the golden handcuffs, the phenomenon where people won’t list their homes because they don’t want to lose their low interest rate. But that is misleading. 

While the golden handcuffs are keeping the number of sales that occur about 20% below normal, the number of homes that buyers have to choose from is back up to pre-pandemic levels. These levels have been relatively consistent over the last decade. And coupled with low interest rates, they have been producing an average annual price growth rate of 9.2% per year through 2022. 

Obviously that kind of appreciation won’t be sustained with current borrowing costs. And now that we’ve seen a full year of rates in the 6.5% to 8% range, we have a better feel for how the market will perform in this environment. Overall it appears that we will end the year with prices about 2% higher in Larimer County and 1% higher in Weld County.

The simple fact is that there are many people who can still afford this market. 

The buying power of the dual income household  should not be underestimated. Particularly when they are sitting on $250,000 in equity should they sell their current home.

The average homeowner in the US has $275k in equity and 25% of homes are owned free and clear. 

When people need or want to move and the new house payment will not dramatically impact their day to day life, they will usually make the move. 

Buyers are also enjoying the lack of bidding wars, they are able to shop more leisurely, take their time making decisions, negotiate concessions and buy below list price. This is making their high payment a little easier to swallow.

The economy continues to show remarkable resilience in the face of the rate hikes. Low unemployment and robust consumer spending are keeping the fed from feeling good about the softening inflation. Expect rates to stay higher for longer than people expect. But also be wary of anyone, including me, projecting where interest rates will be in the next few years.

If and when rates do come down into the 6% range again, expect a lot of pent up buyer demand to be unleashed into the market. This should bring more inventory online but will also increase the number of buyers, so the market is unlikely to soften with this new inventory. When this happens, expect any price corrections that occurred during the rate surge to be quickly erased. 

Someone asked me the other day, “Who are the people buying and selling right now?”

In the last month we have sold homes for people leaving town due to job transfers, people coming to town to be close to their kids, people selling investment property, people buying investment property with cash, people buying vacation property with loans, people buying a larger home and turning their current home into a rental, and even some first time home buyers. It’s a similar mix of people as we have seen in years past, but there’s fewer of them. 

We have been sharing these market reports for over a decade now and each time we do it is with some sadness as we see affordability in Northern Colorado continue to erode away. I am ever mindful of our sister city Boulder, its similarities to Fort

Audrey Lavender is a veteran Realtor who specializes in helping people free themselves, or their parents, from that oversized, maintenance-heavy home and into the next phase of their lives.  In this episode Audrey gives great tips for how to start the process of donating, throwing away, or keeping all the stuff that's accumulated over the years. She also discusses the danger of waiting too long to help your parents move to assisted or independent living. Also, what to look for in these types of facilities, the mistakes people make when they're projecting the cost of the move, and more! 

Audrey is a pro at helping people plan these moves. If you're planning to downsize or are considering helping your parents move to a care facility, feel free to call or text her at 970-222-8895.

I sat down with Amber Quann to talk about dog training! Amber is the CEO of Summit Dog Training in Fort Collins, CO. She was voted Colorado’s #1 dog trainer and was ranked #15 in the US in 2022! She obviously knows her stuff and gives tons of great insights into the mindset and techniques of a world class dog trainer.

In this episode we discuss…

Reactivity & aggressive behavior and how to deal with it.

Recall (getting your dog to come).

When dog parks are a good idea and when they’re not.

Why “fetch” shouldn’t be the only exercise routine for your dog.

Hiking off-leash with your dog.

Backpacking the Colorado backcountry with a small dog.

Correction styles.

Gentle leaders.

And more!

We also talk about Amber’s journey from business owner/operator to CEO!

Check out Summit Dog training http://www.summitdogtraining.com/

Instagram.com/summitdogtraining

970-541-4930

Grey Rockers Scott Lowe and Ryan Jenkins sit down to debrief on the real estate market in Fort Collins and Northern Colorado.