Assessments going out now reflect the period before the recession.
By Mitchell Byars
The Denver Post
Property owners who hoped the economic slump might lower their tax bills should not expect to see any changes until next year.
Colorado counties assess property values every two years. Bills that owners have begun to receive in the mail reflect the value of property for the 18-month period that ended June 30, 2008 — just before the recession hit property values hard.
The next property-value assessment will be mailed to property ownersMay 1 and willbe basedon sales between Jan. 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010.
That assessment should more accurately reflect the real-estate slump, though not everyone will see a drop in their property value.
“They will pick up those two years (2009 and 2010) in the new assessments, but whether that raises or lowers their property value depends on the individual property,” said Jefferson County Assessor Jim Everson. “It’s not uniform across the county.”
Many county assessors’ offices have received calls from residents who don’t understand why their most recent property taxes have not decreased as market values have spiraled down.
“It’s not all that uncommon with Colorado being on a two-year assessment cycle,” said Arapahoe County Deputy Assessor Steve Sneddon. “The new assessments will be more indicative of the market change.”
After the new notices of valuation go out this spring, owners have until June 1 to appeal if they think their property was overvalued.
“You never really get a chance to protest your taxes, but you get the chance to protest your value,” said state property-tax administrator JoAnn Groff.
Everson said his office is expecting many appeals after the notices of valuation go out.
“There is the perception that the recession will mean changes in the value of their property,” he said. “Then there are a number of people who tried to refinance and were led to some sort of value and were turned down. The assessment may not be the value that they expected.”
County assessors typically see much higher appeal rates during years that new assessments are mailed out.
Although it is too late to file an appeal for 2010, if there were factual errors made in the assessment of the property, owners might be able to file for an abatement.
“It’s important to look at the characteristics of the property to see if they are correct,” Sneddon said. “The number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms, the square footage — those all impact the value.”
Assessors said the most important thing to remember when deciding whether to appeal is that the value might not necessarily reflect what the property is worth today.
“Most people don’t realize what we’re being asked to do,” Everson said. “We’re appraising properties based on a date that is almost a year old by the time they are getting their assessments.”
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
STATE’S WATER USE TO DOUBLE BY 2050, STUDY ESTIMATES
A statewide report estimates water use in Colorado will likely double by 2050 as more people move into the state and the oil shale industry develops on the Western Slope.
A study commissioned by the Colorado Water Conservation Board released Friday estimates the state’s population could grow to as many as 10 million people by 2050, the Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction reported.
The report recommends a mix of strategies that include conservation reuse, agricultural transfers and development of new water supplies to fill the gap between supplies and municipal and industrial needs.
A study commissioned by the Colorado Water Conservation Board released Friday estimates the state’s population could grow to as many as 10 million people by 2050, the Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction reported.
The report recommends a mix of strategies that include conservation reuse, agricultural transfers and development of new water supplies to fill the gap between supplies and municipal and industrial needs.
Friday, January 21, 2011
How Soon Can I Buy After a Shortsale?
FORECLOSURE
-Conventional-7 years from the completion date on the foreclosure action as reported on the credit report or other foreclosure documents provided by borrower
-FHA-3 years from the completion date on the foreclosure action as reported on the credit report or other foreclosure documents provided by the borrower
-VA-3 years from the completion date on the foreclosure action as reported on the credit report or other foreclosure documents provided by the borrower
SHORT SALE
-Conventional-2 years form the short sale date per HUD-1 if putting 20% down,
4 years if putting 10% down,
7years if putting less than 10% down,
-FHA-Treated as a foreclosure
-VA-Treated as a foreclosure
BANKRUPTCY CHAPTER 7
-Conventional-4 years from the discharge date or dismissal date of the BK
-FHA-2 years from the discharge date or dismissal date of the BK
-VA-2 years from the discharge date or dismissal date of the BK
BANKRUPTCY CHAPTER 11
-Conventional-Same as Chapter 7
-FHA-Same as Chapter 7
-VA-Same as Chapter 7
BANKRUPTCY CHAPTER 13
-Conventional-2 years from the discharge date or 4 years from the dismissal date
-FHA-Eligible to buy once they are done with their payments and have approval from BK
-VA-Eligible to buy once they are done with their payments and have approval from BK
-Conventional-7 years from the completion date on the foreclosure action as reported on the credit report or other foreclosure documents provided by borrower
-FHA-3 years from the completion date on the foreclosure action as reported on the credit report or other foreclosure documents provided by the borrower
-VA-3 years from the completion date on the foreclosure action as reported on the credit report or other foreclosure documents provided by the borrower
SHORT SALE
-Conventional-2 years form the short sale date per HUD-1 if putting 20% down,
4 years if putting 10% down,
7years if putting less than 10% down,
-FHA-Treated as a foreclosure
-VA-Treated as a foreclosure
BANKRUPTCY CHAPTER 7
-Conventional-4 years from the discharge date or dismissal date of the BK
-FHA-2 years from the discharge date or dismissal date of the BK
-VA-2 years from the discharge date or dismissal date of the BK
BANKRUPTCY CHAPTER 11
-Conventional-Same as Chapter 7
-FHA-Same as Chapter 7
-VA-Same as Chapter 7
BANKRUPTCY CHAPTER 13
-Conventional-2 years from the discharge date or 4 years from the dismissal date
-FHA-Eligible to buy once they are done with their payments and have approval from BK
-VA-Eligible to buy once they are done with their payments and have approval from BK
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Mortgage Insurance Tax Deductibility Law has been extended through 2011
-Eligibile borrowers with adjusted gross incomes up to $100,000 may be able to deduct 100% of the MI premiums paid in 2011.
-Deductions are phased out in 10% increments for borrowers with adjusted gross incomes between $100,000 and $109,000.
please visit www.irs.gov for more details.
-Deductions are phased out in 10% increments for borrowers with adjusted gross incomes between $100,000 and $109,000.
please visit www.irs.gov for more details.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Great Book for Do-it-yourselfers
How in the world did we figure out how to outfit and maintain our homes before the days of Googling or watching HGTV? This book is a reminder that, in fact, it follows in a long tradition of handy household manuals which at one time were considered essential to running a happy home. Here, editors have combed through such vintage books in search of pearls of wisdom that remain relevant to today’s homeowners. For instance, the reader learns from a 1936 home maintenance manual that grinding rice in a coffee or spice mill will alleviate leftover odor, or that an old broom can be useful for planting bulbs. There’s even the occasional recipe to reward a busy do-it-yourselfer after a day spent caring for the castle.
Sealing leaks where a house loses its heat
By Bob Tedeschi The New York Times
Little-known fact: Your house breathes. A typical home is supposed to exhale about 33 percent of its air every hour, sparing your lungs from mold, dust and other tiny invaders.
My house doesn’t breathe. It hyperventilates. Every hour, according to a $75 energy audit performed by my local utility, it purges about 75 percent of its air, which is fine for my family’s health, but it kills me to think that we pay to heat that air and then quickly set it free.
The basic mission: finding where the air is escaping, plugging those holes and watching the heating bill shrink.
Job No. 1 — locating the leaks — was a challenge. My home has foam insulation, fiberglass insulation, insulated windows, weatherstripping and enough caulk to seal a ship. How exactly does 75 percent of my air escape every hour? I posed the question to three residential energy specialists, and in the process learned some tricks — a few of which will also help apartment dwellers, who usually have no worries about foundation cracks or attic insulation.
My panel included Kelly Parker, a board member of the Residential Energy Services Network, an association of firms that rate home energy efficiency; Michael David, lead technician for New England Conservation Services, which performs energy audits and upgrades; and Bob Gfeller, a senior vice president at Lowe’s.
Finding a leak is easy, they said. Get a blower door, which depressurizes a house so that even the tiniest drafts blow like a stiff wind. They cost a mere $2,900. Second choice: a Black & Decker laser thermal leak detector ($42, at Lowe’s), which will identify the cold spots that coincide with leaks.
The most cost-effective sleuthing device, though, is even cheaper and may already be in your home — a stick of incense. Pick a breezy day and pass the burning stick near any seam in your house, and the smoke will reveal where the leak is.
I took a lighted incense stick around my doors and windows, and the technique worked fairly well, even if I grew completely sick of the smell after a while.
But David and his colleagues later found that I’d missed some spots I hadn’t even thought to check, like the seam between my fireplace and the wall, and my baseboard heaters. My two biggest omissions were the attic and the basement.
“If your attic access is inside the house, that’s a big one to watch for,” Parker said. “If it’s not well sealed, it’s like leaving a big door open.” At some point in the last few years, I lost a bolt that secured one of the two big springs in my drop-down attic ladder, leaving one corner sagging about a half-inch from the ceiling. I never considered the effect that sag might have on my budget until I envisioned air streaming through the gap.
Basement cracks
As for the basement, “Check the places where all your piping is coming and going,” Gfeller said. “Sometimes things happen, like your house might settle, and it’ll open a pretty good-sized crack.” To spot those leaks, try this: Go to the basement in the daytime, but keep the lights turned off. Depending on the angle of the sun, you may detect cracks from the daylight shining through the foundation.
For me, this exercise actually solved two mysteries. The pipes to my outside water spigots apparently travel through holes big enough to accommodate much airflow — and many mice. Basement doors are another area of vulnerability, since people often pay little attention to how well they’re constructed or maintained . In my case, the frame was surrounded with gaps that had probably been there the entire decade we’ve lived in the house.
If you have a fireplace, don’t even bother checking it.
“They all leak,” David said. “Even if you have the flue closed.” Doesn’t my fancy hearth cover help? “Nope,” he said. “Those all leak, too.” Last, a word to those with central air or central heat: Try the incense trick around the seams of the ductwork. Even a small gap can allow costly leaks.
Now on to Job No. 2 — plugging the leaks. You’ll need to spend some cash — except in one area, that is.
Every place I’ve ever lived has had a front-door draft, and just about every front door nowadays has a threshold with three big screws. But those screws don’t simply keep the threshold in place. Turn them counterclockwise and the threshold rises, closing out the source of a nagging draft. When the weather turns warm and humid, you can reverse the process if the door is too tight to close.
Thus ends the cost-free portion of this process.
If your doorway lacks adjustable thresholds, install a rubber door sweep (about $7 at Home Depot).
Weatherstripping, widely called foam, is also a must, for doors and windows. Gfeller prefers stripping of various thicknesses (the labels say whether they’re designed for doorways or windows); Frost King’s cost about $4 to $7 a package. David prefers V-shaped stripping (about $4 from Frost King); this type, he said, breaks down less easily than foam.
If you have an unheated section of basement, be sure the door to that section is firmly sealed — unlike mine, which has a hole for a cat door cut into it. (We plan to install the door pronto.) To seal molding and window frames, David said, steer clear of $2, all-purpose caulk and buy long-lasting 100 percent silicone caulk (General Electric’s is about $8 a tube).
For bigger holes, he said, like those around baseboard heater pipes, use Great Stuff (about $4 to $6 for 12 ounces), an expanding, foam spray insulation.
Leaky air ducts
This step isn’t necessary for people with central heating systems, but they may face bigger challenges. If the system’s air ducts are leaky, Parker said, the best solution is to budget about 20 hours to apply a liquid seal to the seams. (He recommended Mastic, about $25 a gallon.) Otherwise, he said, contractors will charge $300 to $500 for the job.
Speaking of bigger projects, my attic had about 6 inches of old fiberglass insulation, which is roughly half what it should be for a home in Connecticut. (The federal government’s energy website, energystar.gov , has insulation recommendations.) R-30 insulation (about $13.50 for a 31.25-square-foot roll at Lowe’s) brought my attic to the top of the site’s recommended levels.
What about those leaky fireplaces? It might help to fill the chimney with an inflatable plug (about $50 at Home Depot). Gfeller recommended electric outlet sealers, which are essentially gaskets, for other often drafty spots: switch plates and outlet covers. The sealers cost around $2 for a package of four.
Finally, my panelists agreed on the value of a programmable thermostat — so you can lower the heat at night, during vacations or at other opportune times. “As long as you really use it,” Parker cautioned, noting that many people who buy the devices never program them. A Honeywell model offers one-week programming and costs $80.
Little-known fact: Your house breathes. A typical home is supposed to exhale about 33 percent of its air every hour, sparing your lungs from mold, dust and other tiny invaders.
My house doesn’t breathe. It hyperventilates. Every hour, according to a $75 energy audit performed by my local utility, it purges about 75 percent of its air, which is fine for my family’s health, but it kills me to think that we pay to heat that air and then quickly set it free.
The basic mission: finding where the air is escaping, plugging those holes and watching the heating bill shrink.
Job No. 1 — locating the leaks — was a challenge. My home has foam insulation, fiberglass insulation, insulated windows, weatherstripping and enough caulk to seal a ship. How exactly does 75 percent of my air escape every hour? I posed the question to three residential energy specialists, and in the process learned some tricks — a few of which will also help apartment dwellers, who usually have no worries about foundation cracks or attic insulation.
My panel included Kelly Parker, a board member of the Residential Energy Services Network, an association of firms that rate home energy efficiency; Michael David, lead technician for New England Conservation Services, which performs energy audits and upgrades; and Bob Gfeller, a senior vice president at Lowe’s.
Finding a leak is easy, they said. Get a blower door, which depressurizes a house so that even the tiniest drafts blow like a stiff wind. They cost a mere $2,900. Second choice: a Black & Decker laser thermal leak detector ($42, at Lowe’s), which will identify the cold spots that coincide with leaks.
The most cost-effective sleuthing device, though, is even cheaper and may already be in your home — a stick of incense. Pick a breezy day and pass the burning stick near any seam in your house, and the smoke will reveal where the leak is.
I took a lighted incense stick around my doors and windows, and the technique worked fairly well, even if I grew completely sick of the smell after a while.
But David and his colleagues later found that I’d missed some spots I hadn’t even thought to check, like the seam between my fireplace and the wall, and my baseboard heaters. My two biggest omissions were the attic and the basement.
“If your attic access is inside the house, that’s a big one to watch for,” Parker said. “If it’s not well sealed, it’s like leaving a big door open.” At some point in the last few years, I lost a bolt that secured one of the two big springs in my drop-down attic ladder, leaving one corner sagging about a half-inch from the ceiling. I never considered the effect that sag might have on my budget until I envisioned air streaming through the gap.
Basement cracks
As for the basement, “Check the places where all your piping is coming and going,” Gfeller said. “Sometimes things happen, like your house might settle, and it’ll open a pretty good-sized crack.” To spot those leaks, try this: Go to the basement in the daytime, but keep the lights turned off. Depending on the angle of the sun, you may detect cracks from the daylight shining through the foundation.
For me, this exercise actually solved two mysteries. The pipes to my outside water spigots apparently travel through holes big enough to accommodate much airflow — and many mice. Basement doors are another area of vulnerability, since people often pay little attention to how well they’re constructed or maintained . In my case, the frame was surrounded with gaps that had probably been there the entire decade we’ve lived in the house.
If you have a fireplace, don’t even bother checking it.
“They all leak,” David said. “Even if you have the flue closed.” Doesn’t my fancy hearth cover help? “Nope,” he said. “Those all leak, too.” Last, a word to those with central air or central heat: Try the incense trick around the seams of the ductwork. Even a small gap can allow costly leaks.
Now on to Job No. 2 — plugging the leaks. You’ll need to spend some cash — except in one area, that is.
Every place I’ve ever lived has had a front-door draft, and just about every front door nowadays has a threshold with three big screws. But those screws don’t simply keep the threshold in place. Turn them counterclockwise and the threshold rises, closing out the source of a nagging draft. When the weather turns warm and humid, you can reverse the process if the door is too tight to close.
Thus ends the cost-free portion of this process.
If your doorway lacks adjustable thresholds, install a rubber door sweep (about $7 at Home Depot).
Weatherstripping, widely called foam, is also a must, for doors and windows. Gfeller prefers stripping of various thicknesses (the labels say whether they’re designed for doorways or windows); Frost King’s cost about $4 to $7 a package. David prefers V-shaped stripping (about $4 from Frost King); this type, he said, breaks down less easily than foam.
If you have an unheated section of basement, be sure the door to that section is firmly sealed — unlike mine, which has a hole for a cat door cut into it. (We plan to install the door pronto.) To seal molding and window frames, David said, steer clear of $2, all-purpose caulk and buy long-lasting 100 percent silicone caulk (General Electric’s is about $8 a tube).
For bigger holes, he said, like those around baseboard heater pipes, use Great Stuff (about $4 to $6 for 12 ounces), an expanding, foam spray insulation.
Leaky air ducts
This step isn’t necessary for people with central heating systems, but they may face bigger challenges. If the system’s air ducts are leaky, Parker said, the best solution is to budget about 20 hours to apply a liquid seal to the seams. (He recommended Mastic, about $25 a gallon.) Otherwise, he said, contractors will charge $300 to $500 for the job.
Speaking of bigger projects, my attic had about 6 inches of old fiberglass insulation, which is roughly half what it should be for a home in Connecticut. (The federal government’s energy website, energystar.gov , has insulation recommendations.) R-30 insulation (about $13.50 for a 31.25-square-foot roll at Lowe’s) brought my attic to the top of the site’s recommended levels.
What about those leaky fireplaces? It might help to fill the chimney with an inflatable plug (about $50 at Home Depot). Gfeller recommended electric outlet sealers, which are essentially gaskets, for other often drafty spots: switch plates and outlet covers. The sealers cost around $2 for a package of four.
Finally, my panelists agreed on the value of a programmable thermostat — so you can lower the heat at night, during vacations or at other opportune times. “As long as you really use it,” Parker cautioned, noting that many people who buy the devices never program them. A Honeywell model offers one-week programming and costs $80.
HGTV's Home Show Professional Grade Looking for Denver Area Homeowners
Making the grade Local producers of HGTV’s “Professional Grade” are looking for Denver-area homeowners to audition for the show’s second season. Their tagline: “If you think you’ve got what it takes to be the general contractor on your own home renovation and you think you can do it cheaper than the pros, then we want you!” In the show, homeowners attempt to source high-end materials on the cheap, manage subcontractors and tackle hands-on work themselves in an attempt to lowball professional contractors for a chance to win cash. During the show’s first season, one big winner walked away with $40,000. Interested candidates should e-mail generalcontractor@highnoontv.com for an application and more information about the show.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Jobless young adults avoid longer moves
By Hope Yen
The Associated Press
Posted: 01/12/2011 01:00:00 AM MSTUpdated: 01/12/2011 06:45:06 AM MST
Read more: Jobless young adults avoid longer moves - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_17070868#ixzz1AqjGuxUC
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
WASHINGTON — Americans are shunning long-distance moves at record levels as many young adults, struggling without jobs, opt to stay put rather than relocate to other parts of the U.S., according to the Census Bureau.
"It is truly a Great Depression for young adults," said Andrew Sum, an economics professor and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. "Young adults are working at lower rates than they ever worked before since World War II. As a result, you would expect migration to fall because they have nowhere to go to."
The share of longer-distance moves across states last year fell to roughly 4.3 million people, or 1.4 percent, down from 1.6 percent in 2009.
Among adults ages 25-29, about 3.2 percent moved to a new state last year, down from 3.7 percent. Moving rates for college graduates, who historically are more likely to relocate out of state, remained flat at a low of 2.1 percent. Moves by those lacking a college degree dipped slightly.
New York and Los Angeles were among larger cities seeing fewer losses as many younger people stayed put, according to 2007-09 census data released Tuesday. Metro areas with diversified economies such as Austin, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; and Portland, Ore., saw gains in college graduates relative to other cities.
The Associated Press
Posted: 01/12/2011 01:00:00 AM MSTUpdated: 01/12/2011 06:45:06 AM MST
Read more: Jobless young adults avoid longer moves - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_17070868#ixzz1AqjGuxUC
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
WASHINGTON — Americans are shunning long-distance moves at record levels as many young adults, struggling without jobs, opt to stay put rather than relocate to other parts of the U.S., according to the Census Bureau.
"It is truly a Great Depression for young adults," said Andrew Sum, an economics professor and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. "Young adults are working at lower rates than they ever worked before since World War II. As a result, you would expect migration to fall because they have nowhere to go to."
The share of longer-distance moves across states last year fell to roughly 4.3 million people, or 1.4 percent, down from 1.6 percent in 2009.
Among adults ages 25-29, about 3.2 percent moved to a new state last year, down from 3.7 percent. Moving rates for college graduates, who historically are more likely to relocate out of state, remained flat at a low of 2.1 percent. Moves by those lacking a college degree dipped slightly.
New York and Los Angeles were among larger cities seeing fewer losses as many younger people stayed put, according to 2007-09 census data released Tuesday. Metro areas with diversified economies such as Austin, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; and Portland, Ore., saw gains in college graduates relative to other cities.
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