Owning a Home Helps Protect Against Inflation

You’re probably feeling the impact of high inflation every day as prices have gone up on groceries, gas, and more.

If you’re a renter, you’re likely experiencing it a lot as your rent continues to rise. Between all of those elevated costs and uncertainty about a potential recession, you may be wondering if it still makes sense to buy a home today. The short answer is – it does. Here’s why. 

Homeownership actually shields you from the rising costs inflation brings.

Freddie Mac explains how: 

“Not only will buying today help you begin to build equity, a fixed-rate mortgage can stabilize your monthly housing costs for the long-term even while other life expenses continue to rise – as has been the case the past few years.”

Unlike rents, which tend to rise with time, a fixed-rate mortgage payment is predictable over the life of the mortgage (typically 15 to 30 years). And, when the cost of most everything else is rising, keeping your housing payment stable is especially important.

The alternative to homeownership is renting – and rents tend to move alongside inflation. That means as inflation goes up, your monthly rent payments tend to go up, too (see graph below):

A fixed-rate mortgage allows you to protect yourself from future rent hikes. With inflation still high, when your rental agreement comes up for renewal, your property manager may decide to increase your payments to offset the impact of inflation. Maybe that’s why, according to a recent survey, 73% of property managers plan to raise rents over the next two years.

 Having your largest monthly expense remain stable in a time of economic uncertainty is a major perk of homeownership. If you continue to rent, you don’t have that same benefit and aren’t as protected from rising costs.

Bottom Line

A stable housing payment is especially important in times of high inflation. Connect with a real estate agent so you can learn more and start your journey to homeownership today.

Get more like this on Keeping Current Matters.

Related Links

• Down Payment Amounts Are Shrinking: Can Buyers Put Down Less and Still Compete?

• 7 Easy Tips To Turn Your Garden Into a Bee Sanctuary

• HUD invests $837M in energy, climate renovations for multifamily housing

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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Here Are America’s 10 Most Affordable Golf Towns for Homebuyers

For some, it’s the smell of freshly cut grass and the brush of leaves in the breeze, creating an escape from daily stressors.

For others, it’s a competitive arena where precision skills are honed. It’s where business is sealed with a handshake, lifelong friendships are forged, wagers are won—and drinking is not only permitted, but encouraged.

It’s been called “a good walk spoiled” (Mark Twain), “the most fun you can have without taking your clothes off” (Chi Chi Rodriguez), and “an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle” (many, many folks).

If the allure of golf has you in its grip, as it does for so many, perhaps you’ve entertained the fantasy of living near a golf course. Affordable real estate with great proximity to a course might sound too good to be true, like hitting a hole-in-one with your first swing of the day (or ever). But we’re here to correct that notion.

The data team at Realtor.com® found the places in the U.S. that have the best balance of great access to golf courses, relatively affordable real estate, and weather best suited for days on the greens. Some of these towns you’ve surely heard of and might assume come with a high price. Others are hidden gems you might not have thought of as great golf markets.

Whether you’re a near pro, a weekend duffer, or someone who just likes the idea of living near a course, you might just find your dream home on the green. Even if you’re not a golfer, these cities offer a lot to appreciate, from excellent weather to a high quality of life.

“In most residential golf communities, it’s only about a quarter of residents who are active golfers,” says Brad Klein, a golf course design consultant and golf journalist. “So what that tells you is that a lot of people are drawn to the golf community, even if they don’t play golf.”

Most golf communities draw a highly diverse group of homebuyers who nonetheless share certain bonds: They’re physically active and crave regular social interaction, says Klein.

“If you have golf, you probably also have pickle ball, swimming, platform tennis, a gym, and a social center at the local clubhouse,” he says. “Even if you don’t play, you have all kinds of options living near this sort of community.”

The cities on our list aren’t just golf havens. Many are also places with a high quality of life, where a cost of living below the national average makes them affordable not just in terms of real estate, but also in terms of everyday expenses.

We found these places by first rounding up all the real estate listings on Realtor.com from the past year within a 10-minute drive (in normal conditions) from one or more of the 6,445 public and private golf courses in the nation that we were able to map out. Then we aggregated home price data for those listings by city.

Then we factored in the number of golf courses clustered in those areas and weighed the climate and weather patterns—favoring places with more warm days to hit the links. Finally, we selected just one place per state, to ensure geographic diversity. (Otherwise, the list would be mostly Florida towns, along with some Mississippi locations and a couple of spots in Arizona.)

Let’s tee off into our top 10 locations for finding affordable homes near a golf course.

Get all the details on Realtor.com

Related Links

• Down Payment Amounts Are Shrinking: Can Buyers Put Down Less and Still Compete?

• 7 Easy Tips To Turn Your Garden Into a Bee Sanctuary

• HUD invests $837M in energy, climate renovations for multifamily housing

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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As Featured in West + Main Quarterly Mailer: Property taxes, hummingbird nectar, and a real estate market update!

by Janell Arant

In the last several years, homeowners have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of what comes with an absurdly imbalanced seller’s market, resulting from a high demand for housing with not enough inventory, which created unprecedented home equity gains.

Picture a typical spring storm – a little wind, a little rain turning to giant snowflakes that melt the next day, right? Maybe a few broken branches, but people are outside walking their dog and getting on with their day. Then, picture bomb cyclone...a culmination of extreme weather conditions all joining forces, never seen before in one storm.

Now picture your 2023/24 property taxes as that bomb cyclone (yes it’s a stretch but stay with me). In this scenario, the County Assessor’s office is the weather reporter, simply gathering the data and delivering the report to you, good or bad. The County appraisers gather sales data occurring during a select period of time, to value homes equitably so property taxes can be collected by the County Treasurer to pay for public services such as schools, roads, water, sewer, libraries, and public safety! All the things we need to run our cities well.

On May 1st the news of that bomb cyclone is hitting homeowner’s mailboxes in the form of a little postcard known as your NOV (Notice of Value) sent by the Assessor’s office.

For homeowners, it comes down to this: While unprecedented housing market conditions were great for earning equity, they are now going to be paying for it in their property taxes. BUT, it might be possible to reduce the amount owed, at least by a little, by doing some legwork + research! Protesting your property value is every tax payer’s right.

Please let me know if you have questions or would like help with the process. I’m here to be your local Real Estate Resource!

by the Audubon Society

In a few easy steps, you can bring these nectar-loving birds to your feeder.

Hummingbirds may be some of the smallest birds in the world, but fluttering those tiny wings can be quite a workout. Flapping away at up to 90 beats per second burns up calories fast; to maintain their momentum, hummingbirds need to eat—a lot! To satisfy their speedy metabolisms, these busy birds consume half their body weight in bugs and nectar, feeding every 10-15 minutes and visiting 1,000-2,000 flowers per day.
You can help these hardworking foragers get the nutrients they need by providing them with their favorite post-workout meal—nectar. This hummingbird sweet treat can be made right at home with a few simple ingredients. By filling your feeder with this DIY delight, you can complement nectar-rich plants and watch these beautiful little birds feed and flitter all day.
Materials:
• 1/4 cup refined white sugar
• 1 cup boiling water
• Bowl
• Spoon
Note: Please do not substitute honey, which can promote dangerous fungal growth, or use red food coloring, which is not necessary and could also prove harmful to birds.Steps:
1. Mix sugar and boiling water until sugar is dissolved.
2. Cool and fill feeder.
3. Hang up your feeder outside and wait for the hummingbirds to come.
***
You Can Help! Attract hummingbirds naturally by planting nectar-bearing native plants in your yard or community.

by Nick DiPasquale

The housing market continues to favor sellers, and that will likely remain the case for the foreseeable future.

For buyers, the market remains highly competitive. Low inventory and high demand are leading to bidding wars and higher home prices, as well as an increase in multiple offer situations and a sharp decline in days on market from February to March.

However, numbers across the board show the market is cooler than this time last year, when interest rates were much lower. Higher interest rates will always have a significant effect on the market, both impacting buying power and keeping homeowners, most of whom are paying much lower rates on their current mortgage, in their homes unless they have to move.

Expect activity to continue gaining momentum, even in the slower areas, over the next several months, as March through July is the seasonal busy period for the housing market. Interest rates will temper that, though, and keep us below the craziness we experienced in the past few years.

This post-pandemic housing market is starting to look more like it did prior to 2020, but will continue to present things we have not seen before. While some have predicted a market correction or downtick, the market has shown an historic resilience, even from the greatest fluctuations in the market.

Navigating through it all successfully will come down to knowledge, creativity and lots of patience. This starts with having a great team of trusted advisors around you — from your financial advisor to your lender to your Realtor.

West + Main Launches Foundation with Inaugural Golf Tournament

West + Main Homes, Inc. West + recently announced the launch of the West + Main Foundation, which will bring together Real Estate professionals and their communities to make home ownership more attainable for all by making charitable grants to qualified organizations, volunteering, and investing in education. 

“Madeline and I are beyond proud to bring what has been a long-term goal to fruition with the founding of the West + Main Foundation,” said co-founder Stacie Staub. “Since the inception of the brand, we have made a concerted effort to support both local and national non-profits as well as the passions of our agents. Now, we will be able to make a more direct impact.”

" With the support of our staff and agents across all of our markets, there is no end to the amount of good we will be able to accomplish,” said co-founder Madeline Linder. “As soon as we announced the Foundation at our all-hands Company Update, the excitement was palpableand contagious, and we can’t wait to get started!”

The West + Main Foundation, which is a national organization, is powered by the Colorado Association of REALTORS® Foundation Charitable Funds program, which enables groups of donors to make positive impact in their communities through grantmaking, community engagement and tax-deductible fundraising.

“We are thrilled to support the West + Main Foundation in amplifying the impact their agents can have in their communities. The Colorado Association of REALTORS® Foundation Charitable Fund program was launched to do just that: provide philanthropic guidance and administrative support so that our fund-holders can focus on the vital and meaningful work of getting out in the communities,” said Amy McDermott, Colorado Association of REALTORS® Foundation Executive Director.

The West + Main Foundation is kicking off its charitable activities with an inaugural round of non-profit grantmaking, educational scholarships, and a golf tournament + silent auction fundraiser, which is scheduled for today, May 19th.

Bidding for Silent Auction items is online and open to the public, and will close tonight during the awards dinner following the golf tournament.

Huge thanks to our Golf Tournament sponsors and Silent Auction Donors!

About West + Main Homes, Inc

West + Main is an independently owned and operated boutique Real Estate brokerage specializing in residential + commercial properties in Colorado, Oklahoma, Oregon, Minnesota and North Carolina with additional markets coming soon. West + Main’s agent roster is carefully curated: local experts whose mission to treat every client with the same level of care. With innovative storefront locations in popular walkable neighborhoods and resorts, The leadership at West + Main Homes has created a culture that celebrates collaboration, thoughtful + intentional design, and excellent service. West + Main has experts who can help find + purchase or position + sell any property, as well as an extensive International network of Real Estate professionals across the globe.

About the Colorado Association of REALTORS® Foundation

As the philanthropic and community engagement arm of the Colorado Association of REALTORS®, the Colorado Association of REALTORS® Foundation has granted more than $8M to qualified nonprofits across Colorado over 30 years of operations, touching more than 90,000lives. The Foundation supports safe and attainable housing, advances homeownership for all Coloradans and provides housing-related disaster assistance. Through an innovative Charitable Funds program, the Foundation empowers local REALTOR® associations, brokerages, and groups of donors to create charitable funds which fuel local philanthropy through grantmaking, disaster relief, targeted impact investing, and more.

There’s Already a Color of the Year for 2025

The future is here — or, at least the 2025 Color of the Year is.

Worth Global Style Network (WGSN), a company that claims to predict trends with 90% accuracy, has announced that the most popular color two years from now will be Future Dusk.

The deep purple-blue shade is described to be dark and moody — a hue reminiscent of the night sky. According to WGSN and color company Coloro, Future Dusk has a “sense of mystery and escapism,” and it evokes the twilight hours — from dark to light, or dusk to dawn — and is “perfect for a period of immense change.”

What this means is that the color is a reflection of the “surreal and otherworldly qualities” of our rapidly changing times. It represents the changes in AI, the metaverse, digital art, consumer tech, and space exploration.

The two companies say that Future Dusk can provide a celestial allure to anything that arises from these technological advancements, from 3D-printed items to electric cars to futuristic clothing.

“For several seasons now, Coloro has seen brands shifting toward palettes with long-lasting appeal,” said Caroline Guilbert, head of creative content for Coloro, explaining why they chose the color. “Future Dusk is an inspiring color that supports this trans-seasonal approach. It appears warm and deep, which makes it feel moody, mysterious, and timeless.” 

Urangoo Samba, head of color for WGSN, added: “Colors that bring a sense of reassurance will be key for 2025 and we will see captivating tinted darks gaining momentum. In the near future, the lines between reality and fantasy will become more blurred than ever — Future Dusk is an immersive and transformative color, aligned with this direction.”

Get more on Apartment Therapy.

Related Links

• Down Payment Amounts Are Shrinking: Can Buyers Put Down Less and Still Compete?

• 7 Easy Tips To Turn Your Garden Into a Bee Sanctuary

• HUD invests $837M in energy, climate renovations for multifamily housing

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.

Search Homes in Colorado

Search Homes in Oklahoma

Search Homes in Oregon

Search homes in Minnesota