As Featured in West + Main Home Magazine: Home Offices With Style

THREE WORK FROM HOME SPACES FULL OF CHARACTER

Just as we thought home offices + gyms were going out of style, the pandemic inspired a big-time return. We saw builders adding them back into floor-plans, buyers requesting them when shopping for their next place, and retailers bringing them back into focus with furniture + accessories designed to support those long hours studying, working out + zooming at home!

We're so inspired by these stylish spaces created by West + Main agents across the country!

Below: For the most part this was a DIY project. Gracie removed the wallpaper, textured the walls and ceiling, installed the f looring, and painted the entire room. Her brother in law ,who owns Affinity Woodworks built the dramatic custom built in, where the unique deigned doors are the real show-stoppers!

Above: Before and after of Gracie’s Home Office

“I’ve always been a fan of dark offices and thought that going monochromatic on the look would make it sleek. I wanted to maximize storage and have space to display all of my “office’ items. This is probably the most used space in my house. Although the deep green paint color is very masculine, I tried to girl it up with feminine touches.”

— Gracie Storey

GRACIE'S HOME OFFICE

MATERIALS

FLOORING, PAINT, WALL TEXTURE - $1500

CUSTOM BUILT INS BY AFFINITY WOODWORK - $4500

TOTAL PROJECT: $6,000

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Maire Chew’s Office Makeover

West + Main agent Maire Chew wanted her own space to work and feel like she was in an office even while working remote...and she and her husband also wanted a gym downstairs to be able to workout at home.

"The goal for the office design was maximize space and make it feel like an office inside of a co-working space feels which is modern, light hearted and creative," said Maire. "And the goal for the gym was for it to feel organized, functional and to be able to do as many types of workouts as possible. This currently includes cycling, yoga and weights! It's wonderful."

Major perk is Maire's husband has his own general contracting business (Urban Oak Builders) so we were able to maximize the budget in that way too!

MAIRE'S BASEMENT OFFICE + GYM

FLOORS, DRYWALL, PAINT - $8000 STANDING DESK + CHAIR - $1500 DECOR - $500
LABOR-$0/DIY

TOTAL PROJECT: $10,000 MARY'S OFFICE + GYM

BOOKSHELF - $1100

WALL, CONSTRUCTION, ELECTRICAL, FRAMING, PAINTING - $4500

REFRESH WOOD FLOORS - $600 ANTHROPOLOGY MURAL - $400 CB2 CHANDELIER - $350
TOTAL PROJECT: $6950

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Mary Hatch’s Make or Break Office Space

"This house was a make me move house," admitted West + Main OK founder Mary Hatch. "I went on a listing appointment to list the home and made a verbal offer before I left the appointment."

"We lived one block away in a Historic Cape Cod Bungalow, but I had also loved the architecture of a Tall English Tudor!"

The home was a built in 1931 and the floorplan had a large addition in the back of the home the was a large bonus room that Mary's family did not need. Their goal was to take the space and divide it into some great f lexible fun spaces that they could enjoy.

"The home had a great open arch that was already there so we decided to put a wall up with floor to ceiling shelves to create an open library," said Mary.

"We painted the walls and shelves in the same color for a moody look (Blue Note by Benjamin Moore) and the entry wall wallpaper was actually an Anthropology mural."

Behind the wall is a home gym, home office and a full bathroom. Mary and her family couldn't be more happy with the new footprint and all the fun spaces they created!

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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Colorado Springs plans to outfit streetlights with air quality, traffic tracking sensors

A streetlight in Colorado Springs could do far more than illuminate our paths by gathering data on air quality, snowfall and traffic patterns, although perfecting the new purposes of the poles will likely take time as the city works through pilot projects. 

Two city pilot projects to extend the capabilities of streetlights by controlling their brightness remotely and gathering weather data hit challenges recently, with the first showing limited promise efficiency gains, and the other hitting problems with data collection. Still, the city expects to press on with plans to outfit lights with new sensors, said Joshua Pace, senior contracting specialist with the city's Office of Innovation. For example, in the coming year, sensors could collect ozone data to help educate the public about air pollution. 

Streetlights can also be used to detect gunshots, provide free community Wi-Fi and track parking trends.  

"They are great because they are all over the city. They already have power to them, so it's just really convenient for smart city tech," Pace said. 

During a presentation to the Colorado Springs City Council on Monday, Pace said the city tested 50 remote controlled LED streetlights on two different schedules and found dimming them in the middle of the night created minimal energy savings. When dimmed for two hours, the city saved 1% of the energy that would normally be used and over four hours 3% of the energy was saved, he said. The project cost $23,803, said Ryan Trujillo, deputy chief of staff.

The city doesn't expect to scale up the program to remotely control LED lights further, in part, because the cost of controllers is prohibitive and they do not meet minimum specifications for surge protection. 

The Office of Innovation would like to speed up the transition to LED streetlights in general, in part because the lights have been shown to achieve significant energy savings in other cities. In 2020, Phoenix finished converting its 100,000 streetlights to LED bulbs, a project expected to reduce emissions by 18,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year — the equivalent of taking 3,800 cars off the road, according to a news release. The conversion is expected to save the city $3.5 million annually.

Colorado Springs has about 29,000 streetlights and has converted about 18% of them to LEDs, Trujillo said. Colorado Springs Utilities converts lights to LEDs when a light fixture fails, because it is expensive to pre-emptively change an entire light fixture. If a high pressure sodium bulb burns out, it is replaced with a similar bulb.

The city would like to accelerate the transition to LED lights through grants, he said. Right now the full transition is expected to take 10 years. 

"It ultimately comes down to funding," Trujillo said. 

The city pays Colorado Springs Utilities $4 million to maintain and operate streetlights, an amount that has been relatively flat in recent years, Pace said. The transition to LED lights all at once would significantly increase that annual bill because of the capital cost, Trujillo said. 

The bill is based in part on an annual energy consumption of 23 million kWh, said spokeswoman Danielle Nieves. Cities that have transitioned to LED lights have cut their energy consumption in half, she said. 

The conversion to LEDs in Phoenix was expected to cost about $30 million, Phoenix said. 

The pilot program to test six weather sensors found they did not collect accurate snow depth data over streets because of interference from cars, pace said. The the city plans to relocate the sensors to quieter areas such as parking lots. The weather sensors cost $74,365, Trujillo said.

The data is planned to be used internally to help guide snow plowing operations, he said.  

"It’s helpful because there are so many microclimates around Colorado Springs," Pace said.

In the coming year, the city could install new air quality monitors on streetlights to monitor ozone and perhaps particulate matter, Trujillo said. The data would likely be used to educate the public. 

The city is also interested in sensors that could track bicycle and pedestrian traffic in growing areas of town that could help inform infrastructure upgrades like bike lanes, he said. 

Read the full story on The Gazette.

Related Links

• Hot housing market forecast again in Colorado Springs

• 5 Most Profitable Home Improvements to Make Before Selling Your House

• Plastic hippos are out. Colorado playgrounds are getting a more natural makeover.

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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2021 Price Surges Yield Record-Level Profits for Home Sellers, Report Says

It’s no secret that 2021 was a banner year for real estate sales, but a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions indicates that homeowners that were willing to sell last year reeled in a profit that hasn’t been seen in more than a decade.

ATTOM released its Year-End 2021 U.S. Home Sales Report on Jan. 27, which shows that home sellers realized a profit of $94,092 on the typical sale in 2021—up 45% from 2020 and up 71% from two years ago.

Based on median purchase and resale prices, experts said the profit increase marked the highest level in the United States since at least 2008.

Major takeaways

• National median home prices rose 16.9% in 2021 to $301,000, causing profits to surge.

• Profits margins rose in nearly 90% of the nation—150 of the 173 metro areas with sufficient data to analyze.

• Homeownership tenure dipped to a nearly 10-year low of 6.14 years.

• One of every three single-family house and condo sales in 2021 was an all-cash purchase—a six-year high.

• Institutional investing accounted for one of every 14 single-family home and condo sales in 2021 in the U.S.—an eight-year high.

• Federal Housing Administration sales hit their lowest levels in 14 years.

What this means

Frenzied market behavior filled headlines last year as pandemic-induced stimulus and historically low mortgage rates helped fuel demand for a finite number of homes for sale.

According to the report, a surge of buyers financially unscathed by the pandemic flooded the market throughout 2021. The intense competition for a tight supply of homes contributed to a price surge that proved to be a boon for sellers who were able to reel in nearly $95,000 in profit for their homes.

“What a year 2021 was for home sellers and the housing market all around the U.S.,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM, in a statement. “Prices went through the roof, kicking profits and profit margins up at a pace not seen for at least a decade. All that happened as the virus pandemic raged on, which actually helped drive the increases instead of stifling them. Households that escaped job losses from the pandemic dove into the market, in large part as a response to the crisis. And the rising demand led the market boom onward.”

While 2021 was a record-setting year for price gains and profit margins, ATTOM noted that there are signs that prices could flatten out in this year as declining affordability, lower investor profits, and rising foreclosure activity contributes to a market cooldown that began in the fall.

The report stated that that was layered over with rising inflation and likely increases in mortgage rates this year.

A silver lining is that the current imbalance in demand and supply suggests there is room for at least some additional price gains.

“No doubt, there are warning signs that the surge could slow down this year,” Teta said. “But 2021 will go down as one of the greatest years for sellers and one of the toughest for buyers.”

Keep reading.

Related Links

• Increased Buyer Urgency Expected Amid Rising Mortgage Rates

• 7 Things Professional Movers Want You to Know About Moving in 2022

• The Housing Market Needs More Condos. Why Are So Few Being Built?

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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The Housing Market Needs More Condos. Why Are So Few Being Built?

Despite robust multifamily construction activity overall, the share of these units built for sale last year was less than 5.4 percent—almost the lowest level in half a century.

The rest were rental units. This trend has persisted even though demographic patterns are boosting the need for condos, and the shortage is adding to concerns about the lack of affordability in the homebuying market.

Condos can present a key path to first-time homeownership, but a combination of federal financing issues and local defect laws have contributed to a lack of multifamily units for sale. Although the issues are complex, it is critical to break down these barriers to developing more affordable housing supply and expand homeownership opportunities to more families. 

Multifamily for-sale construction is near historic lows

Multifamily construction for sale is historically low, whether measured as a share of all new multifamily units (constructed for sale and for rent) or as a share of all new housing units for sale (single-family plus multifamily units). Multifamily construction built for sale accounted for only 5.4 percent of all multifamily starts and only 2.7 percent of all single-family and multifamily home construction for the first three quarters of 2021.

This is not a pandemic-related phenomenon; multifamily construction for sale has been declining since the Great Recession, and the approval time for new construction means it is unlikely the pandemic significantly affected volume.

Condos are more affordable than single-family homes

In every major city except New York and Philadelphia, condo and co-op prices are significantly lower than single-family home prices. During the pandemic, the gap between single-family and multifamily home prices has increased as families have traded location for space, leaving condos as the far more affordable choice.

Because condos and co-ops are generally more affordable, they tend to help first-time homebuyers step onto the first rung of the homeownership ladder. These buyers often use the equity on their condo to then purchase a larger single-family home. When we look at government-sponsored enterprise purchases with a mortgage, about 60 percent of condos and co-ops are purchased by first-time homebuyers; for single-family homes, the share is around 40 percent (link corrected February 1, 2022).

Demographic trends favor more robust condo development

Condos and co-ops also tend to better match long-term demographic changes. The share of one-person households has increased from 12 percent of all households in 1960 to 28 percent today. The share of two-person households has increased from 28 percent to 35 percent.

Owner-occupied multifamily units tend to have a disproportionate share of one-person households. Approximately 20 percent of all owner-occupied single-family housing is occupied by a one-person household; that share is 45 percent in owner-occupied multifamily housing. Approximately 35 percent of both owner-occupied single-family and multifamily housing consists of two-person households, while larger households disproportionately live in single-family housing.

The growth in one-person households over the past several decades should have provided the basis for more robust growth in multifamily housing than in single-family housing, but that has not been the case.

Why the disconnect?

Condo production has been low for two main reasons. First, financing constraints are an issue for both the sponsor and the builder.

Successful condo development requires that the sponsor be able to sell the units quickly, which requires that potential unit buyers either have cash on hand or can obtain financing. Few owner-occupants, especially in more affordable buildings, will be able to purchase with cash, and with credit tight for first-time homebuyers, this uncertainty is a concern for sponsors. 

But sponsors cannot solve that problem by selling to investors, who are more likely to be able to buy with cash. For example, a potential condo buyer cannot get a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan or a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan unless (1) at least 50 percent of the condo units are owner-occupied and (2) no more than 15 percent of the units in the complex have association dues that are more than 30 days behind.

In addition, the FHA requires no more than 10 percent of the units in the complex secure existing FHA loans, further limiting access by the low-income borrowers the FHA typically serves. And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require that no single entity can own more than 2 units in projects consisting of 5 to 20 units and 20 percent of units in projects consisting of 21 or more units, and that the homeowners’ association is not named in any lawsuits.

In addition, defect litigation can substantially increase the cost of insurance and the riskiness of a condo project.

There is a statute of limitations on construction defect claims, which varies by state and by type of defect. For example, in New York State, construction defects are covered for one year after the warranty date. Plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling, and ventilation systems are covered for two years, and material defects are covered for six years. As a result, the condominium association has an interest in raising defect claims promptly. These claims are common on new buildings, and they have a chilling effect on a sponsor’s willingness to build for owner-occupants. And while this litigation is under way, it is virtually impossible to sell or finance new units in the building.

Because of the higher risk associated with condo development, the builder pays a higher rate to finance the condo construction than would be the case on a rental unit, and the lender demands a higher return for the higher risk.

These federal financing constraints and local defect laws make it far riskier for multifamily developers to build rental housing than for-sale construction and have limited the construction of condos and co-ops. But amid growth in single-person households and affordability concerns in the market, the need to address these challenges and build more of this type of housing has never been greater.

Overcoming these obstacles would require government and government-sponsored agencies at the federal level to ease financing restrictions and would require states and localities to reevaluate defect laws. Although these defect laws provide valuable protection to condo owners, it may be possible to provide this protection in a form that does not discourage new condo production. This challenge reflects another instance where a concerted partnership among all levels of government is needed to overcome barriers to affordable homeownership.

Learn more on Urban.org.

Related Links

• Increased Buyer Urgency Expected Amid Rising Mortgage Rates

• 7 Things Professional Movers Want You to Know About Moving in 2022

• 5 Mortgage and Homebuying Tips for Newlyweds

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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5 Mortgage and Homebuying Tips for Newlyweds

For many newlyweds, buying a home makes their union feel even more official. After all, finding the perfect space to grow old together may seem like the most romantic thing a new couple can do.

Yet much like wedding planning, the homebuying process can sometimes test even the most solid couples. Indeed, when you combine the pressure of a new lifetime commitment with first-time homebuying jitters in a hot real estate market, you have a recipe for a potential housezilla meltdown.

But we’re here to tell you saying “I do” to a home can be as smooth as your first dance, if you know the right moves to make.

We tapped a team of experts for intelligence on what newlyweds need to know about making a financially sound mortgage commitment and choosing the right home for their happily ever after.

Tip No. 1: Check out your credit

Some first-time homebuyers don’t have much of a credit track record. Lack of a solid credit history can make lenders question whether you’ll be able to make your monthly mortgage payments. (Lenders consider a credit score of 740 ideal, while a score of 620 is the baseline for securing a decent loan with a reasonable interest rate.)

“Before you even apply for a loan, you need to check your credit report and score—and see where you stand,” says Michael Simons, a real estate broker and the owner of Tres Amigos Realty Group. “You also need to look at your debt-to-income ratio. Finally, sit down with your spouse and discuss your finances to see if one of you has bad credit or a lot of debt, as these factors could cause your loan to be turned down.”

Tip No. 2: You don’t have to put both names on the mortgage

If your credit is good, but your partner’s score is in the red, you have options.

“It’s possible to name the mortgage loan after just one spouse,” says Collen Clark, a lawyer and the founder of Schmidt & Clark, LLP in Dallas. “And that’s highly recommended if one partner’s credit score is low, because it excludes one party’s debilitating credit ratings from being considered during the mortgage calculations, ensuring a more affordable and friendly payment scheme.”

However, keep in mind that ownership is determined by whose name is on the title deed. So make sure both spouses’ names appear on the title, if only one name appears on the mortgage.

“At the end of the day, married couples must learn to disassociate the property’s ownership from the mortgage,” adds Clark. “Being the sole borrower of a mortgage loan does not equate to ownership.”

Tip No. 3: Determine how much house you need

While it might seem impossible to map out the next 30 years of your married life before buying a house, it’s a good idea to talk about the future in broad strokes.

“When buying a new home, there are a few basic things to consider,” says Rachel DiSalvo, broker associate at Keller Williams Park Views in Rutherford, NJ. “Most importantly, determine if this will be your primary residence. Then, determine if it will be a starter home or a forever home.”

Couples should also think about whether they picture children in their future or whether they foresee moving an elderly relative into their home at some point.

Once you determine the size of the home you’ll need, and drill down on a price range, you can work on your financing choices.

“A great mortgage product for a newly married couple that has never purchased a home in the past is an FHA mortgage, which is federally backed and requires just 3.5% down,” adds DiSalvo. “That could come in handy after paying for a wedding!”

Newlyweds should also keep a realistic budget in mind, beyond the home price. Remember that a home purchase comes with property taxes, homeowner insurance, and the home’s upkeep.

Tip No. 4: Beware of too low-interest rates

Did you get a fantastic offer from a lender? It could be a red flag.

“Newlyweds should be on the lookout for unbelievably low interest rates,” says Scott Rubzin, founder of Tiffany Property Investments LLC in Charlotte, NC.

Low interest rates might make an offer seem like a great deal, but there are sketchy loans out there. For instance, if you miss a payment, the late fees can be severe, and the deadlines for payments can tighten. These loans aren’t upfront about how tough the penalties are, so couples can end up losing their homes after a few missed payments.

Tip No. 5: Consider a house hack

Do you have the money to offer a sizable down payment?

“House hacking has become popular among first-time house buyers on a budget,” says Kris Lippi, a licensed real estate broker in Hartford, CT. “Instead of getting a single-family home right off the bat, why not get a duplex first, so you can rent out the other half and lessen the load of the mortgage payment? You can also portion off a section of a family home and rent out extra space there, too.”

For more tips, visit Realtor.com

Related Links

• Increased Buyer Urgency Expected Amid Rising Mortgage Rates

• 7 Things Professional Movers Want You to Know About Moving in 2022

• This Pandemic Home Trend Couldn’t Survive 2021

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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