Insurance companies have resisted changes to the industry that would benefit survivors of natural disasters, making it more difficult for homeowners facing this dire situation.

The second moment of trauma

There is another looming moment not often talked about that comes in the wake of disaster — that sinking feeling when hope fades and reality of an uphill battle sets in. There is no going back. Unfortunately many families had to experience this feeling of helplessness and loss yet another time following the Marshall Fire when insurance didn’t adequately cover the damages wrought by Mother Nature. Surviving a natural disaster is traumatic enough. Discovering your insurance won’t fully cover the costs of the damage is a whole new hurdle, but it can evoke the same feelings of loss, helplessness, and insurmountable odds.

The danger of living in a place with such stunning natural beauty is understanding that nature cannot be tamed, controlled, or even predicted at times. We value our open spaces, our mountain views, and the forests of trees that can bring such tranquility to everyday life in Colorado, but existing this close to nature has its occasional drawback when fires or storms have other plans.

951 total loss of homes reported

Buying insurance is almost no one’s idea of a fun time. Going over specifics and details to be worked into a contract with your agent can be time consuming and tedious. It is so much easier to simply enter some basic information about your home and let a computer program run the numbers. It is so much more tempting to go with the easiest or cheapest insurance option, forgoing coverage that may never be needed for the sake of efficiency. Getting into the weeds of every item in the home that has value, double checking calculations, and obtaining multiple quotes from adjusters take time and resources not readily available to everyone.

Unfortunately so many residents found out — in the hardest way possible — their insurance did not cover the total loss of property in the Marshall Fire. Even homeowners who had the extra time to spend on their insurance when first moving into their house may have at one point rejected a coverage increase. Some of our rural residents have added to their homes or built additional structures to better suit their needs. Additionally, building codes may have changed since the home insurance was first purchased which may affect payout if new codes were not addressed. Not everyone is aware of the exact coverage needed for their specific situations. Any of these events would have resulted in insufficient coverage.

The non-profit organization United Policyholders’ website explains, “If you refused to follow recommendations from your agent or insurer to increase your limits, or if you have made major improvements to your home without notifying your agent or insurer, it is unlikely your insurer will agree to pay above the amounts stated in your policy contract.”

United Policyholders goes on to define what underinsurance means: “When you’re underinsured there is a gap between the actual cost of replacing your destroyed home or business and the available insurance benefits in the policy that was in force at the time of loss.”

That’s when despair can strike again. It is daunting beyond belief to have lost your home and possessions. It becomes dehumanizing to also be informed that your insurance will not cover the total loss. Homeowners facing this situation are looking for empathy, support, and assistance but are instead faced with the cold hard facts that money rules the day. Insurance agencies exist, like so many of our institutions, to make a profit. It is not profitable to cover the complete loss of numerous homes, and the agencies bank on this unlikely event never happening when they issue insurance. That all means when disaster does strike, homeowners need to be prepared to fight another battle once the initial dust clears. It also means that as the climate shifts to become more unpredictable and more devastating, total loss events are more likely to occur.

The good news is that underinsurance can be rectified — under the right circumstances. Even though your insurance policy is a legally binding document, some things can still be amended or adjusted after the fact for those who are persistent enough and have some support from advocate groups, lawyers, and the time to spend fighting.

Contracts and contractors

Insurance agencies present themselves as experts when a home or business owner works with them to establish a policy. The cruel irony is that in the event of loss, the property owner must now become the expert in finding ways to advocate for themselves and understanding the full nuances of their coverage. Knowing what avenues to pursue and who to turn to can be half the battle.

Reading insurance policies often brings about that glazed-over look, pages on pages of minutiae and details nearly incomprehensible to the average person. “Legalese” is a term colloquially used to describe the detailed and specific language that contracts use. Simply interpreting what a policy fully entails can require someone with specialized skills.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

Attorneys often get a bad rap, but this is a time when you will need someone in your corner fighting for you. Finding the right lawyer for your needs can help immeasurably. In some ways, it can be like dealing with the police. Do not have your insurance company take a statement or interview you without consulting with a lawyer. You can accidentally limit your coverage by saying the wrong thing to the right person. Insurance companies know how to protect themselves and as a homeowner or business owner facing a total loss, you do not want to limit your coverage by misunderstanding or simply misstating a basic fact. It is difficult to comprehend and communicate in legalese, so having an expert on your side when attempting to negotiate with a corporation can be immensely helpful.

You wouldn’t fight the fire on your own, you don’t need to fight insurance companies on your own either. Lawyers don’t have nearly the reputation that firefighters do, but in this case they are crucial to navigating the complex system. It may seem like an uphill battle — because it is — but insurance companies often count on homeowners becoming frustrated and giving up hope instead of pursuing a fight for fair coverage. This can seem cruel, forcing disaster survivors to fend for themselves, but it is the nature of the business in many cases.

Another separate but related stress to deal with is contractors who inflate quotes post-disaster in order to take advantage of those in desperate need. Unfortunately, there is no statewide database for licensed and bonded contractors in Colorado. Each municipality must independently verify a contractor’s information is up to date. Fortunately, this has not been as widespread of a problem as it could be according to our conversation with Garry Sanafaçon, recovery manager for Boulder County.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

Always make sure your contractor is licensed and registered in Boulder County. It may be cheaper to go another route, but you as a homeowner would be left with huge costs and liability you had no idea existed. Licensed contractors have liability insurance that covers any injuries or post-construction failures that could possibly occur. Certain contractors may advise homeowners into signing as owner-builder so as to remove this liability, claiming that it will save money. In the short term, they are correct. It can save you money, but in the long run it can leave you with liability and debt if work is performed incorrectly.

Your recourse for poorly completed work, unfinished jobs, or disappearing contractors vastly increases when you hire a licensed contractor. You can report them to the municipality where they operate, which may cause them to lose their license if their violations are egregious enough. This is a much more effective way of holding them liable than simply leaving a bad Yelp or Facebook review.

Taking the human out of the equation

The way insurance works, it is in the best interest of agents to get you to sign up. These tactics can make them offer you less insurance coverage for a lower cost if that’s what it means to get you to use their services over competitors. Reducing your entire life’s possessions to numbers can seem dehumanizing — because it literally is. Computer software is most likely responsible for what insurance policy you have for your home.

Insurance companies use software programs to issue insurance claims. They input data provided by the homeowner, and the computer tells both parties what insurance is needed. Homeowners need to be as detailed as possible in order to get the right coverage. This is the time to be meticulous, dive into details, and possibly save yourself a huge hassle on the backend if, God forbid, anything should ever happen.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

Sanafaçon told us that “the insurance companies use software to estimate, and just like anything, it’s only as good as the data you put in.” The more detailed and specific you can be when signing up or renewing your policy, the better the outcome will be when disaster strikes.

Many agencies do not want the general public to know that it is possible to fix underinsurance after the fact in certain circumstances. If underinsurance was no fault of your own, for example you believed you were fully insured when in fact you were not, there is still a path forward.

Insurance agencies often have homeowners sign agreements not to discuss the amounts above their policy that were successfully negotiated, which stifles word of this process getting out. Instead, stories of homeowners not being able to fight their insurance companies dominate the news and can create a feeling of helplessness for others in the same situation.

Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, told YS that unfortunately, “disclosures don’t solve the problem.” Bach stated that your best bet is to “find a good agent, spend time with them explaining the features of your home, and when they generate a quote — which they will do using a replacement cost estimating software provided to them by an insurer — get a second opinion, the software chronically skews low.”

“Don’t trust your insurance company is going to take care of you when you get a renewal,” Sanafaçon warned. He also advised to “ask your insurer to put in writing that you are adequately covered, which they’ll never do, and the other is to actually do your own calculations.” To begin, he shared, “talk to construction experts or general contractors in your area who know what kind of house you have and what it costs to rebuild.”

“Don’t trust your insurance company is going to take care of you when you get a renewal.”

Rectifying underinsurance

One suggestion when facing underinsurance is to band together with other home and business owners who have policies from the same company. Strength in numbers allows victims in similar circumstances to find what strategies work best, consistently move up the chain of command, and offer comfort and support knowing that you are not alone after facing such a loss.

United Policyholders provides a comprehensive step-by-step plan on how to start dealing with underinsurance after disaster strikes. The first and most obvious is to identify any errors in the policy itself. This does not happen often, but finding a mistake like incorrect square footage can get your foot in the door and open up more avenues for collecting the money you will need, as long as the error is not on your end.

Another crucial step can be to have an “independent scope of loss from a qualified professional on the total cost of replacing your home with one of like kind and quality, to current building codes,” UP’s website states. There is a cost associated with hiring a professional to do this, usually a few thousand dollars, but the benefits can be immeasurable, not just for covering your monetary losses but for the peace of mind that you have adequate coverage.

Strength in numbers allows victims in similar circumstances to find what strategies work best, consistently move up the chain of command, and offer comfort and support knowing that you are not alone after facing such a loss.

Finally, another route that should be considered after a major natural disaster is to name and shame insurance companies that are not living up to your expectations and making things more difficult for you and other survivors. The media or your local government representatives can be avenues to publicly express your frustration and disappointment of the company’s customer disservice. Bad press and media coverage of difficult insurance companies can cause higher-ups at said company to reconsider their approach if it may affect their bottom line. Unfortunately our society runs on dollar signs. There is also the option of applying for the FEMA Individual Assistance Program, which can help cover the gap between what you need and what insurance will provide.

There are remedies for overcoming the second-time trauma hits, but they are not quick or easy. On a state level one remedy could be “legally requiring insurers to calculate RCV (replacement cost value) accurately before they issue a policy and holding them responsible for retroactively increasing the policy limits if they turn out to have projected low is the key, but insurers resist having the law state that,” Bach explained.

Reaching out for resources, connecting with other survivors, and pursuing all available options for help can be exhausting. Ultimately, similar to working on personal trauma, success may depend on resources available to each individual and the persistence to put forth the effort. Sadly, we are unlikely to see any state-wide initiatives that deal with the underlying problem. “I’ve presented before state regulators on underinsurance many times over the years, but I don’t know of a current initiative on point, other than the constant attempt to mandate disclosures,” Bach revealed. It might be time to put pressure on lawmakers to better regulate insurance agencies so that the unexpected — and unthinkable — do not have to occur twice for disaster survivors.

The post Dehumanizing and Traumatic: Underinsurance Following a Major Disaster Can Be a Daunting Hill to Climb Alone appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Community Corner is provided by members of our community on relevant local subjects. Typically CC is provided by organizations working to affect positive change but can also be provided by individuals but all rely on their expertise in their fields to address the topic they are contributing on.

What do much of Boulder County and San Francisco, Manhattan and Boston have in common? It is not the number of Starbucks and other coffee boutiques (which per capita may actually be close!), or the way people drive (which we will not discuss further). It is certainly not the amount of space between individual city limits, unless of course, you add up the width of all the freeways and streets. And we have them hands-down on diversity of population that includes Blacktail Prairie Dog towns. So, what on earth could our area have in common with these major metropolitan areas, all in the top ten of the largest cities in the U.S.? Sit down when I tell you, “housing.”

Before you flip the page, or decide you have to go find something to staple, take a moment and recall the last time you had a thought about open space. And when I say that, I mean the vast areas of land in Boulder County’s incredible Open Space program with its roots going all the way back to the late 1950s’s. Perhaps it was a drive through verdant land neighboring cities, or a mind-settling walk on one of the many Open Space trails. Maybe you’ve taken for granted the bucolic nature and feeling of the large swaths of undeveloped land here, rife with nature, some dedicated to farming, or preserved as rare and unique ecological environments.

Search the internet for a map of the Open Space holdings in Boulder County, including the City of Boulder Mountain Parks, and you will likely be astonished at the breadth of the holdings. They are vast. This includes land many cities have joined together to buffer and preserve their unique characters. Very much unlike San Francisco, Manhattan, Boston– or the metro Denver area for that matter– you cannot reach a neighboring city or town in Boulder County by just crossing a street.

Knock the trail dust off your boots and come back to housing. The cities we’re comparing to are geographically and geologically hemmed in. Bays, rivers, mountains, and centuries of earlier development on their outskirts prevent any thought of expanding the number of places for people to live. In contrast, if one day, a whole bunch of people decided that, say, Dubuque, IA, was the one place on the planet they had to live, developers could just mow down a cornfield or two and build a new section of town. In the areas of Boulder County where most people have preferred to live (as generally defined by proximity to Boulder, the foothills and mountains, or the character of a city or town, and other factors), the mountains to the West forms a natural barrier. But with all our wonderful Open Space dramatically constricts the available land on which to build any large-scale housing developments. And that makes this area comparable to the housing markets in San Francisco, Manhattan, and Boston.

Land use here is defined by codes designed to complement the surrounding character of the County. By state statute, if you have 35 acres you can build a home. Those codes, however, define where on the land you can build and how much house you can construct. Whether or not you agree, for over 70 years, the beauty and open feeling here is the result. The homes that currently exist in the most popular areas of the County are what we have to buy and sell now and into the future, just as those in the mega cities we are comparing to.

And that limit on the numbers of homes, in combination with a very robust local economic foundation, and the attraction of this area for all of its attributes, is why the value of your home here will be one of the most valuable investments you have. And the prairie dogs get the same benefit.

Paul Dart is a native, resident of Lafayette, a 30-year Realtor with RE/MAX of Boulder, and a 2022 Forbes Magazine Five Star Legend.

The post Where the Market is Now appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

By Brandon M. Rearick,  RCC, CNHS, Realtor® The Fowler Group at Coldwell Banker Realty

Courtesy of Shutterstock

2022 has been a crazy year for Real Estate. As a former mortgage lender for 13+ years before joining Brie and Tom Fowler in Real Estate, I found myself going over what we went through in the Housing Crisis compared to what is happening currently and why I believe this is totally different.

January through June 13th of 2022, there was extremely low inventory of homes on the market, creating a supply shortage and an increased demand for properties. We had mortgage rates in the upper 2% to mid 3%, and of course people were over bidding on the small amount of homes that were on the market. There was a chaotic frenzy in the Real Estate Market.  Then June 13th was on the calendar and EVERYTHING changed! Why? As my wife Brie Fowler said to me, “We went from a crazy market to a flea market in hours”. That is the best analogy I have ever heard for the seismic shift in Real Estate.  

We are hearing some of the pundits say that we are heading back to a similar housing issue like we had in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and here is MY opinion why we are not heading down the same road. Our markets will stagnate a bit which was needed. We could not sustain the equity growth path we have been on the last 3 years. Even with an increased amount of homes coming on the market, there is still a demand issue and the increase of mortgage rates has slowed down the pace of which homes are selling.

As we all remember, on September 11th, 2001 America was under attack and the world came to an abrupt stop. Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan was flying over ground zero, and realized our economic system was frozen and to energize the economy, the Feds reduced the Fed Funds Rate, Overnight Bank Lending Rate (The rate at which banks borrow money), and the Discount Rate down to make money more affordable for consumers to keep them spending and keep our economy moving.

Perfect Financial Storm of 2001

If you remember the initiative  “Everyone Owns a Home” to increase home ownership, especially in our minority communities. There was mass amounts of money directed towards that plan. When the Feds dropped rates, along with the presidential initiative for home ownership, banks and mortgage companies who were borrowing money at cheap rates, realized they could create a huge “cash arbitrage” (seeking to exploit pricing inefficiencies) by using certain loan products to get the money out in the market.  This was back in the day of non-regulation of mortgage loan originators and anyone could provide you a loan. People were trying to “live like The Jones” and borrowing above their income payment availability.

Here is the link for David Faber’s documentary “House of Cards” on CNBC that is very informative. This is a huge insight into what happened.

Option Arms took center stage and buyers were not told that the difference between the minimum payment and the interest only payment would be tacked onto the back end of the loan.  Those products also were usually a 2/28 Arm where the loan was fixed for the first 2 years, and then adjusted after that. Add to it, there was a 5 year prepayment penalty of 5%  to refinance or sell the home.  So, someone who purchased a home for $500,000 with 100% loan to value, where borrowers put no money into the loan, and say the payment comparison between minimum payment and interest only payment was say $700. After one year their outstanding principal balance on their loan was $508,400,516,800 after the 2nd year. Now their rate adjusted and their payments adjusted up $1000 a month. With the pre-pay penalty of 5 years, where they could not sell without paying a $30,000  penalty and understanding their payments would continue to increase monthly, bi–annually or annually, people walked away from homes. This happened in entire neighborhoods causing area homes to lose mass amounts of equity putting all the homes underwater. Hence the Housing Crash of 2008.

After the Housing crisis of 2007-2009, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as well as the Dodd-Frank protections were created. So the products that were used are no longer available eliminating a majority of  risk.  Every loan that is underwritten is so vilified and scrutinized. Anyone who has gotten a loan knows how cumbersome the loan process can be.

The Real Estate Market in 2022

What does the Future hold for the Mortgage and Real Estate market?  According to Barry Habib, the CEO of MBS Highway, he feels inflation will start to abate by the end of ‘22 starting when we get the October CPI inflation numbers.  As we see inflation subside, and supply chain issues start to resolve themselves, we will be back to a more normal real estate market and mortgage rates will start coming back down.  Inflation is the largest deterrent of Mortgage Backed Securities directing mortgage rates.

Click here for an interview with Barry Habib.

The 2022 Real Estate Market has changed, but nothing like we saw during the housing crisis in 2007-2010!   

Interest Rates in May, 2022- 5.23%
Interest Rates in October, 2022- 7.5%

Days on Market (How Fast a home sells) in May 2022 was 6 days
Days on Market (How Fast a home sells) in October, 2022 was 24 days

7223 of Homes for Sale in May, 2022 from IRES MLS
13,049 of Homes for Sale in October, 2022 from IRES MLS

– Brandon Rearick with The Fowler Group at Coldwell Banker Realty

The post Here we go again… or are we? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

• The FBI reported finding empty folders meant for classified documents in their raid of Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort. 
• Queen Elizabeth died on September 8th at the age of 96. She will be succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.
• On September 28th, Hurricane Ian touched down in Fort Myers, Florida. A category 5 hurricane, it is one of the most powerful storms to hit the US in decades, with wind speeds being recorded at over 150 mph.
• On September 16th, the EPA announced it has granted $121 million in federal funding to Colorado for watersheds and clean drinking water as part of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 
• The U.S. Senate delayed their vote on a bill protecting same-sex marriage until after the midterm elections. 
• The body of Hillaree Nelson, a Coloradan extreme skier famed for reaching the summit of Mount Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world, was discovered in Kathmandu, Nepal. Reports say she was skiing Mount Manaslu and fell off the mountain. 
• A prescribed burn was scheduled on September 27th to teach fire investigation students. Conducted by West Metro Fire, the students will learn about fire prevention and management through the prescribed burn which lasted three days. 
• A Boulder woman, Laura McCall and her two sons disappeared abruptly on September 14th. The children were found the next morning alone in their mother’s car. McCall was soon found nearby and arrested on two charges of misdemeanor child abuse. The children were subsequently reunited with their father. 
• A 20 year old Greeley woman named Yareni Rios-Gonzalez was critically injured after being placed in the back of a police car that was parked on train tracks which was then hit by a train. She is expected to recover and no charges have been filed at this point.
• Disgraced pop star R. Kelly was charged with child sexual abuse and the production of child abuse imagery on September 14th. Kelly was already serving a 30-year sentence on charges of racketeering and child abuse and the new charges are expected to add to that sentence. 
• Amtrak halted all long distance trains in response to potential stoppages related to two prominent rail freight unions working out contract negotiations. 
• Famed rapper Coolio, known for his 1995 hit “Gangsta’s Paradise,” died at age 59 on September 28th. 

Small Talk

“Home prices in Colorado increased by 40% in less than two years, so I think what we are seeing now is a little bit of correction. Rising interest rates are tightening the market and I think we are switching from a seller’s market to a buyer’s one.”

– Nick VinZant, a senior research analyst at QuoteWizard, an insurance website, in regard to a decline in Colorado’s home prices. 

“That’s the past, and this is the now. I just know what we’re about to go out there and try to do. I know it’s going to be a great game in a rivalry between these two teams, and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

– Broncos Coach Nathaniel Hackett in regard to the team’s game against the Raiders.

“We are trying to engage more volunteers all of the time. We want folks that want to do citizen science work. It is really important because it is just a snapshot, and it’s good to look at whether the water is improving or declining.”

– Barb Sheedlo, president of the St. Vrain Anglers Chapter, part of the national nonprofit Trout Unlimited regarding the “Citizen Scientist” program that allows volunteers to assist with the collection of aquatic macroinvertebrate to see whether diverse species are living in the waterways, which gives researchers insight into the health of the river system in the Longmont area.

“This was a pretty cool event, and we wanted to make sure everybody knew about it.”

– Mountain View Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Jeff Webb at an event honoring Addison Meyer, an Erie 11 year old that was commended for reporting a fire at a neighbor’s house before it got out of hand. 

“If you have received a settlement or denial letter from your insurance company, it’s important to share this information with FEMA. This information is crucial to updating your FEMA case.”

– A release reminding those attempting to apply for disaster assistance through FEMA after the Marshall Fires to make sure their applications are up to date.

By The Numbers

The post Month in Review | September 2022 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Homeownership is one of the strongest tools for generating wealth in America. Home values tend to appreciate over time, loans and mortgages make it easier to make such a large purchase, and equity grows as mortgage payments are made. However, though the homeownership rate in the U.S. sits at 65.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, the racial gap in homeownership is alarming, and has been so historically. There are changes happening, and programs available, to reverse this trend.

The U.S. has marginalized most non-white groups in its 400-year history and the institutionalized groundwork that prevented minority groups and the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) community from generating wealth in America continues to still play a very real and active role today. It is as vital to understand the historical events that led up to our current situation as it is to understand the available opportunities that exist today, and what needs to be done to create viable change for the BIPOC community.

Colorado Homeownership by Race Over Time. Source: The Bell Report Analysis of American Community Survey Data, 1960-2017

Data from the Census Bureau shows that homeownership for White people in America sits at 74.5 percent, or roughly 9 percent higher than the national average. White people make up 76.3 percent of the population, or roughly 250,000,000 people. Black people make up 13.4 percent of the population, or roughly 43,000,000 people, but the homeownership rate sits at 44.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020. The homeownership rate for Asian, Native, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander is 59.5 percent and for Hispanic the rate is 49.1 percent, the population makeup of those two groups is 8.5 percent and 18.5 percent (27,000,000 and 60,000,000) respectively. Any argument that higher population numbers correlate with higher homeownership rates is inherently wrong because those percentages are specific to the populations, meaning it’s more common for certain races to purchase a home than it is for others.

In Colorado, the numbers are roughly the same. According to the report, “Colorado’s Racial Wealth Gap: Homeownership & Credit” (2019) by Mateo Parsons from The Bell Policy Center, “Colorado’s black families are 62 percent less likely to own a home than the state’s non-Hispanic White families. Latino families are 43 percent less likely,” “Native American families are 38 percent less likely, and Asian families are 36 percent less likely.”

Homeownership rates have improved since the 1960’s for all races but the gaps between BIPOC groups and White people have all increased, signifying an increase in racial wealth gaps.

Poverty, Unemployment, and Bad Credit

According to the Bell Policy report, poverty and unemployment rates are large factors playing a role in homeownership, especially in regards to credit creation, which is a key factor in acquiring loans. Parsons states that, “[r]esearch from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2015 shows a strong correlation between income level and both ‘credit invisibility’ and ‘unscorability’ – that is, a lack of credit record altogether, or having an insufficient credit history to generate a credit score.” Parsons continues that the “CFPB also finds ‘credit invisibility’ and ‘unscorability’ are strongly correlated to race.”

Racial Disparities Apparent in Colorado’s Poverty Rate. Source: American Community Survey (data for some groups unavailable)

Even when using federal or state programs for loans or down payment assistance, good credit scores are incredibly important. In an interview with local Realtor and (Woman of Color) Ella Marie Taylor of the Wall Street West Group explains that “[b]ad credit is one of the main obstacles keeping POC away from homeownership.” Taylor continues that, “there will always be minimum credit requirements in order to qualify for a loan.” Taylor says that even programs designed to assist require a score of at least 620, and one program through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires a score of 580 but it can go as low as 500 with a larger down payment.

Source: Center for Responsible Lending

The Bell Policy report analyzed Colorado and found that “[b]oth black Coloradans and Native Americans are twice as likely to be impoverished than non-Hispanic white Coloradans.” The national average poverty rate in 2019 was 18.8 percent for black Americans, 15.7 percent for Hispanic Americans, and 7.3 percent for white Americans. The national average for Asian Americans is also 7.3 percent.

As to what’s causing these continued trends today, Parsons blames discrimination in lending, predatory lending, and the subprime crisis and Great Recession. Parsons points to, “2009 data from the policy think tank, The Greenlining Institute, show[ing that] Latinos and Blacks were disproportionately steered into the subprime lending market leading up to the housing crash.” Non-white groups are also more likely “to have high-cost mortgages.” Parsons explains that the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) says this is due to a combination of high-risk lenders and “differential treatment by those lenders.” Parsons further explained that The Greenlining Institute found “even among borrowers with the highest credit scores, 13.5 percent of Latino and 12.8 percent of black borrowers received high-cost loans, compared to 2.6 percent of white borrowers.”

The effect of the great recession on home equity for the next generation of whites and blacks (aged 30-40). Source: ACLU

In a report by the ACLU titled, “Impact of the US Housing Crisis on Racial Wealth Gap Across Generations,” they found that “without the Great Recession, Black and White home equity values for this group [next generation] were headed toward parity by 2050.” But because of the Great Recession, the ACLU found that the gap in home equity for the next generation of White and Black Americans, will remain large far into the future.

Historical Implications

The United States has committed undeniable atrocities against its own population, starting way before it’s founding and continuing today. Some of those atrocities were institutionalized and lingered, but all of them combined have led to the discrepancies that exist today between groups. Slavery, indentured servitude, lynching, internment camps, the deportation of 3 million Latinos from 1930 to 1954, Jim Crow laws, redlining, the murder and forced assimilation of Native populations (and theft of native lands/violation of treaties), and so many other examples, stain the very fabric of our nation with the blood of our own and other countries people. Parson explains, that “[t]he history of racial discriminatory policies shows today’s racial wealth gap didn’t originate naturally – it was purposeful.”

Redlining was the racist methodology that marginalized BIPOC and foreign communities and came about after the New Deal, which was said to have revolutionized the ability to acquire loans for homeownership. The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) created “Residential Security” maps, color-coding American cities in four different categories including the lowest, “Hazardous” zone which were subsequently redlined by lending institutions impacting the decades to follow. According to the study, “HOLC “Redlining” Maps: the persistent structure of segregation and economic inequality” conducted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), 74 percent of the neighborhoods that were marked hazardous “eight decades ago are low-to-moderate income (LMI) today.”

LEFT: Percentage of areas with HOLC grades that are currently majority non-Hispanic white, or majority-minority nationally; RIGHT: Percentage of areas with HOLC grades that are currently low-to-moderate or middle-to upper income nationally

National HOLC Grades and Race: Percentage of areas with HOLC grades that are currently majority non-Hispanic white, or majority-minority nationally

The University of Richmond offers an interactive guide for all U.S. cities mapped by the HOLC including original descriptions of each area when available. In the description of Denver section ‘D13’, which today would be near Five Points, it was referred to as “one of the best colored districts in the United States,” and “[w]ere it not for the heavy colored population much of it could be rated ‘C’.” The section was rated D and like all other ‘hazardous’ zones redlined. This is just one example of how the HOLC codified racism across the nation, something that continues to influence the development of those redlined areas to this day.

Redlined map of Denver by the HOLC.

Redlining was made illegal with the enactment of the 1968 Fair Housing Act and predatory lending has largely taken its place. Vestiges of redlining remain.

What Can Be Done

Boulder County Realtor (and person of color) Amirah Counts of West + Main Homes says, it’s a tough time to be a home buyer. “It’s a sellers market,” Counts tells YS. “Some properties have gone over contract for over $100,000 of the asking price.” When asked what’s one of the biggest hurdles first time homeowners face, Counts points to education. “It’s not just you’re paying a mortgage, you’re also paying upkeep.” First time buyers need to be aware of “not only the process of becoming a homeowner, but what it’s like to be a homeowner.” She explains that, “it starts with the financial portion and I think that should be taught in schools.” In Colorado, Operation Hope is providing financial literacy empowerment and economic education and the CHFA has a free Homebuyer Education program.

Federally, The Bell Policy report lists several ideas and bills that are being worked on as partial solutions. Baby Bonds, first studied by William Darity Jr. and Darrick Hamilton and then popularized by Senator Cory Booker during his Presidential Campaign, are one such answer and would provide each child $1,000 at birth that could grow to $40,000 by age 18. Such a seed fund would be used for wealth generation and asset acquisition later in life by the benefactor. Another approach is [former] Senator Kamala Harris’s LIFT the Middle Class Act to provide “refundable tax credit for most middle- and working-class Americans.” Other solutions include down payment and renter’s assistance and progressive tax reform.

Locally, programs are currently working to assist Coloradans when it comes to purchasing a home. Notable programs include Habitat for Humanity, the Affordable Homes program at Central Park, and NeighborhoodLIFT which provides down payment assistance to qualified first time homebuyers. See below for more programs.

Realtor Ella Taylor also shared that community members can use the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which “[t]hrough the FHA (Federal Housing Administration), helps home buyers who don’t qualify for conventional loans obtain affordable mortgages.” Taylor explains that “[t]he FHA’s mortgage insurance program offers low-income home buyers, or those with bad credit, the ability to qualify for FHA loans, which are secured by the government.” Taylor also became certified as a credit repair specialist, which they offer their clients free of charge.

Home Buyer & Financial Education

• CHFA Homebuyer Education
www.chfainfo.com

• Operation Hope
Veronica.Robles@operationhope.org  |  720-327-9367

Home Acquisition Assistance

• Boulder County Down Payment Assistance
longmontcolorado.gov  |  303-651-8530

• City of Boulder Home Ownership Program
bouldercolorado.gov/homeownership  |  303-441-3157

• City of Denver Affordable Housing Ownership Program
denvergov.org

• CHFA Down Payment Assistance Program
https://www.chfainfo.com/homeownership/down-payment-assistance

• Colorado Community Land Trust
https://coloradoclt.org  |  303-829-8744

• Department of Housing and Urban Development
hud.gov/states/colorado

• Elevation Community Land Trust
elevationclt.org  |  720-822-0052

• Habitat for Humanity Metro Denver
habitatmetrodenver.org  |  303-534-2929

• MetroDPA
denvergov.org

• NeighborhoodLIFT
crhdc.org/lift  |  719-589-1680

Data from the Census Bureau shows that homeownership for White people in America sits at 74.5%, or roughly 9% higher than the national average.

Conclusion

Homeownership is vital for wealth generation and allows individuals to add security to their own future and to that of the next generation. As Taylor puts it, “[a]s you build equity in your home over the years, you can borrow against that wealth. Homeownership is far and away the most powerful driver of wealth creation in the U.S. economy and one that must be made accessible to more POC if we hope to increase their financial security.”

The historical timeline of racism in the U.S., leading up to today, has systematically worked to prevent the BIPOC community from acquiring wealth and homes as easily as White people. It will take the effort of all Americans – specifically including political will – to change and work towards a future where all Americans have the same opportunities that White people are privileged with; this will not help BIPOC recover the wealth that has been systematically denied them, but it will allow for a more equitable future. It requires addressing a multitude of factors that certain communities and the BIPOC community face that perpetuate a cycle of poverty and the stunting of growth and development. For now, local, state, and federal programs and organizations are working to make it a little easier, with hopes that one day the playing field will truly be level.

The post The Injustice of Real Estate: History, Hope, and Solutions for a More Equitable Future appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Graphic by Irina Ratsek for Yellow Scene Magazine

Jack Fowler saw the potential growth coming to Boulder County and started the Fowler Group down a path that has enabled it to be a powerhouse in Boulder County three generations and 64 years strong. The Fowler Group has since been crowned northern Colorado’s largest real estate agency and Jack’s son, Tom Fowler, was known as the “Condo King,” even hitting the $1 billion mark in sales and peaking at over 300 agents representing the Fowler Group along the front range.

The early 1960s saw Evadean Turner blazing her own trail becoming the first full time female real estate agent in Longmont. Evadean and her husband Carl established Turner Realty in 1962. While Evadean was a pioneer for women in her time, 64% of realtors today are now female and Evadean’s son, Arnold, attributes that largely to the fact that real estate has no glass ceiling and thus the opportunities for women have abounded compared to other professions. The Turner’s focused on residential, commercial, and farmland, and they later attributed their diversification to the over 60 year success of the agency, but the Turner family has also focused on preserving historic buildings, open spaces and ensuring the history of farmland is passed from landowner to landowner. In fact, the Turners are still in the same former telephone company building where Carl and Evadean opened their doors in 1962.

Evadean and her Husband Carl established Turner Realty in 1962.

Turner Realty today

And therein lies the juxtaposition in Boulder County—this Game of Homes which has raged over, at least, the past 65 years between realtors who have embraced the rapid expansion of growth versus those who help their clients hang on to Colorado’s small-town past. Given the diversity of the types of residents of Colorado, it is easy to see that neither approach is wrong nor better. This bifurcation represents the two, clear target markets of buyers in our state as property and development has evolved over the past 65 years.

Brie, Jack, and Tom Fowler

Fowlers.

These two families represent dynasties in Colorado real estate that are not at all common. In fact, realtors rarely make it past the two-year mark these days. A look into some of the successful realtors in Boulder County exposes some fascinating themes about how to stay in the game and how staying in the game has changed over the past 65 years.

Seasoned agents speak about hearing folks say, “I love houses so I am going to go into real estate,” as the number one worst reason to ever consider a career in real estate. As David Scott, a 15-year veteran, 2017 Boulder Area REALTORS® Association Realtor of the Year and 2019 Boulder Area REALTORS® Association Distinguished Realtor, put it “the biggest reason people drop out in the first 5 years is because they didn’t assess what they were getting into and it didn’t work out the way they thought.” Brandy Unruh, a 10-year veteran, notes “there are a lot of myths about being a realtor,” that it isn’t a get rich quick kind of career, it takes “a lot of love, blood, sweat and tears to survive.”

Brandy and David both emphasize that the key is solving problems for their clients—finding out what is going on and making connections for them to get them what they need when they need it. Brandy describes it as focusing on being a valued resource to get her clients everything from plumbers to hairdressers because that is the need; she cares about the little things and believes when her clients will need to make the life-changing, big decisions, they will come to her as well.

Diane Stow, a realtor since 1976 who got her start with the incredibly influential Longmont residential and commercial developer, Ken Pratt, points out that as a realtor you have to realize you cannot be good at everything and you have to make connections for your clients to deal with the things you aren’t good at (or just can’t do), like lending. She says, eventually, they may come back to you for the thing you are good at; it may be tomorrow or it may be further down the road.

Caring is at the core of this long term success. Arnold Turner, has been guided by the words of Theodore Roosevelt as he and his brother took on the family business. Roosevelt famously said, “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care,” and Arnold has made listening to his clients and caring about meeting their goals the top priority of Turner Realty since day one of coming into the family business.

There are simply two types of agents in this business: those who are in it to serve themselves and those who are in it to truly serve their clients.

Paul Dart, a realtor for 27 years, who served on the Boulder Area REALTORS® Association board of directors from 1999-2010, won 2007 Boulder Area REALTORS® Association Distinguished Realtor, Boulder Area REALTORS® Association 2007 Realtor of the Year and Colorado Association of REALTORS® 2004 and 2008 Distinguished Service awards, calls it out pretty plainly. He says “there are simply two types of agents in this business: those who are in it to serve themselves and those who are in it to truly serve their clients.” His motto is that he will be his clients’ “knight in shining armor as well as their unchained dog” and he notes that clients are really looking for integrity, that they can tell the difference. He doesn’t strive for simple referrals from clients, he aims to make storytellers of the experience he provides his clients.

The second theme that emerged from this group was the importance of community. Community means different things to different people and the diversity of the Boulder County area is rather expansive, even while not being obviously so. Successful realtors have adopted unique strategies for getting their clients to immerse themselves in the microenvironments of the various neighborhoods to get a taste for what their lives might be like if they purchased a home there. The homework assignments of spending the day shopping, enjoying the local restaurants and walking the neighborhood streets has been complicated by COVID-19, yet these intrepid realtors persist even among the ever changing restrictions.

Pat Murphy, a realtor of 40 years in Niwot, has been hosting an annual Easter Egg hunt in Niwot for the past 40 years. In 2019 between 700-800 people attended. Pat sees this as her way of thanking her clients, thanking the community and continuing those small town memories that she had growing up in the Midwest. The Easter Egg hunt had to be cancelled this year due to the pandemic and with many residents feeling stir-crazy this time of year, she organized an impromptu holiday motorcade around Niwot a few weeks ago to lift spirits while still remaining safe. Pat loves selling real estate in Niwot because she loves her community in Niwot and is thrilled to be sharing that small town lifestyle with others. While not all realtors focus on their own lovely communities, they still share that when it all comes together and the stars align for their client, it means more to them than just the commission. As Brandy Unruh put it, “when my clients follow their homework and they check out a community, that is great but when it also gets them the results they wanted and they end up connecting and finding their dream home, it is amazing.”

Finding the perfect community is only part of the story, once you are there, settled in that home you coveted, realtors are often doing a lot to keep it feeling like a community. In addition to the incredible holiday events that realtors like Pat Murphy hosts, realtors like Paul Dart provide services for their community that help entire neighborhoods understand their homes, their yards and the metrics of the markets impacting their home values. Paul cranks out two monthly, paper newsletters – newsletters that are actually mailed – to his community and his former clients to help them understand everything from winterizing their yards to what home improvement projects really add value to a home. Paul sees this as a community service to help people make better decisions about the enormous investment they have made.

The third theme that emerged is a willingness, or at least ability, to adapt to change. Of course, real estate markets have seen changes over the course of 65 years, but the changes in Colorado have been nothing short of dramatic. Jack Fowler signed one of his first contracts on a brown paper bag that he pulled from the trunk of his car because contracts just weren’t that big of a deal in the 1960s. Jack, who is the oldest active real estate agent in Boulder County, also finds it particularly odd that home inspections ever became a thing. In his day a house was sold as-is and if something broke the day after the sale, well, that was the new homeowners issue. Arnold Turner reminisced about starting out his career with three-carbon copy paper contracts and the day they got carbon-copy-less contracts. Today, real estate contracts are generally in excess of 20 pages in length and require the realtor to be able to educate their clients on what all of the legalese means and how to properly and legally execute the contract on behalf of their clients. David Scott, noted that technology has brought a lot of efficiency to the contracting process because it is all done over the internet now, but these contracts are immensely more complicated and thus one must keep up with their continuing education to be able to be the best resource possible for their clients. The biggest downside to the contracts going electronic is one lamented by Tom Fowler –the loss of personal negotiation. It used to be that realtors from buyers and sellers would meet and present the offers and negotiate in person. Wonderful personal and professional relationships were formed this way. Today realtors often never meet in person at all as everything is handled electronically making a profession that is highly dependent on relationship building, cold and impersonal.

Overview of Housing Market, Irina Ratsek

A number of other changes have kept the industry on its toes over the years. The introduction of the buyer’s agent made it clear for consumers whose interests were being represented when they were speaking with an agent. The economic downturn in 2008-2010 changed a lot of real estate agent behavior regarding the discussion of lending topics and shifted that responsibility entirely to the professional lenders. Interest rates are cheaper today than they were in 1962, which is great for consumers – meaning more money is going toward the principal payment every month rather than to interest. But by far, the biggest change has been the advent of technology, specifically the internet and the impact that has had on the real estate industry.

The initial prediction was that the internet would be the end. Winter was surely coming for realtors, especially for the small agencies. For as long as anyone had been buying and selling, the secret details of homes and lots had been being kept in giant three-ring binders that were updated monthly and clients were able to peruse the books with their licensed agents. The internet destroyed that paradigm and spilled those secrets to anyone and everyone, available 24/7, just as fast as the realtors got the information. The industry was terrified.

However, the opposite happened. The increased transparency and availability of information led to more informed consumers. Buyers weeded out homes they weren’t interested in more quickly and came in more educated and ready to buy. It did mean realtors needed to be more on top of things as information changed more quickly than the previous monthly cadence, but the efficiencies far outweighed the negatives.

For small businesses, the internet was also a blessing rather than the foretold death knell. It actually leveled the playing field and gave them just as much marketing power and visibility as the large companies. But it continues to change and for third-generation Fowler realtor, Brie Fowler, she sees the internet as the differentiator that will take her family’s business into the future. Brie has caring at her core having had a previous career as a nurse but when she transitioned into the family real estate business 4.5 years ago she did something that not everyone agreed was the right move – she dedicated herself to learning to be a social media influencer and a video expert. Her gorgeous home tours and social media posts got her notice but many thought it was overkill and then COVID-19 hit and the Fowler Group was perfectly positioned to help their clients sell homes site-unseen while other agents scrambled to not only learn the technology but also try to find teams to help them produce the content. 48% of real estate companies report that keeping up with technology is the biggest challenge they see facing them in the future. Brie notes that “one of the most challenging things about being in real estate is that you have to wear so many different hats – you have to be an SEO expert, a FB ad expert, you have to be your own marketing team – or you have to invest in them and invest in your business and online presence.” However, many of our successful realtors have attributed their success to personal touch and local knowledge. Recent surveys have found that 93% of realtors prefer to communicate with their clients by email and 92% prefer text communication  – which is quick but can certainly be sometimes perceived as impersonal. Both David Scott and Paul Dart discussed taking middle of the night calls from nervous clients as being a major differentiator for them. As Paul says, “you have to be absolutely and totally committed as a realtor in order to be successful and so you do whatever you can do to make your clients happy and fulfill their goals.”

As this Game of Homes continues to play out in Boulder County two tales of caution were weaved by these seasoned veterans.

First, Arnold Turner reminds us that we are lucky to live in a “good funds state” thanks to the Conway Bogue law which passed in 1957 and requires us all to show up to a real estate transaction closing with real funds. In other non – “good fund” states the funds at closing are held in escrow, in some cases up to 60 days, which can put everyone involved in a Never Never Land with no sense of immediacy. Thus, keep that nugget in your mind if anyone should ever try to repeal it.

Second, numerous agents raised concerns about so-called “discount” brokerages and how they may negatively impact the consumer experience. When you deal with an agent who is designated a “realtor” vs. a “real estate agent” the difference is that the realtor has been through additional training and is required to uphold a Code of Ethics and they really focus on service according to Arnold Turner. Discount brokerages have agents that work there who may or may not be realtors. You may not always get to talk to the same person every time you call in, so as Brie Fowler put it, “you don’t have an agent’s cell phone, you get passed through customer service people and you don’t have an individual to call and talk to to figure out the next step in the plan.” Arnold Turner suggested “these may seem cheaper, but they may not be as safe, stable or better.”

Diane Stow points out that through all of her years and all of the changes, the one thing she is most impressed by is that hasn’t changed is that her fellow realtors still maintain a balance of competition between one another and cooperation with each other. The first broker Paul Dart worked with back in the 1990s impressed upon him then that realtors really need to cooperate even though they are technically in competition with one another. He reminded Paul that you never know when he might have to bring an offer to that other realtor and when you have a good reputation with the person on the other side of the table and there are multiple, competing offers, a good reputation can go a long way – that other realtor might just tell the seller, “Hey, I know that realtor and a deal with them will be really smooth.” Paul’s broker called maintaining this balance co-opetition.

While market fluctuations, economy, changing laws and policies, technology and even a global pandemic might have caused Boulder County’s real estate industry to see some interesting times over the past 65 years, the true Game of Homes tournament lies within how hard a realtor is willing to work, how much they care, how much they work to meet the goals of their clients and find that perfect whole package of a community for their clients and how well they can adapt to the one constant in all industries – change.

The post Game of Homes: The Realtors Who Stood the Test of Time | Home & Hood appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

So, we haven’t seen you around here before… You new in town? Well, let us show you around. The North Metro area is just about as diverse as it gets, with brand-new super-modern developments to quaint and charming hundred-year-old towns. We’ve got fun shops, killer restaurants and tons of things to see and do, not to mention miles of trails and that little thing called the great outdoors. In the following pages, we profile some of our favorite new (and re-newed) neighborhoods, letting you know where they are, what they’re about, and what makes them cool. Whether you’re looking for a place to live or just a new scene, these neighborhoods have something for everybody.

Using This Guide: Whether you’re new to the area or have watched it change and grow over the last 20 years, this guide may introduce you to some unique places you’ve never explored. Even if you’re not looking to move, check out the great restaurants, shops and sites we’ve highlighted in some of the North Metro’s most unique neighborhoods.

PROSPECT:
Prospect is the first development of its kind in the Front Range, combining a strict and unique planning vision with the percepts of new urbanism. It was built on the idea that suburban sprawl isn’t good for anyone, locating homes and businesses within walking distance along narrow, tree-lined streets with wide sidewalks. New Town was also built with sustainability in mind. Many of the housing units offer solar and wind energy and radiant heat flooring to keep energy costs low. In addition, landscaping regulations within the community require indigenous vegetation with low water requirements, and the streets have been laid out to preserve views of the mountains to the west. Plus, it’s just darn cool: there’s a modern yet casual vibe found in boutique shops like Tenacity Wine Shop, Nest and House and consistently pleasing restaurants, including Two Dog Diner, The Rib House and Sushi Jianken. It’s family friendly suburbia meets hipster urbanity.

Location
About two miles south of downtown Longmont on Main St./Hwy. 287.

Size
77 acres with 585 units on 340 lots when complete.

Prices
Range from $99k for qualified low-income buyers to $899k for a new penthouse.

Who Lives Here
Prospect has a diverse population, with a fair share of artists.

Why It’s Cool
New urbanism means driving less and walking more. Parks, shops and restaurants, a pool and offices are within a 5-minute walk of each of Prospect’s homes.

Two Dog Diner
A classic family diner with a gourmet twist. Amazing breakfasts, killer burgers and decadent desserts all with a retro-modern flair. twodogdiner.com

The Rib House
Sunset Magazine called this some of the best barbecue in the West. Kansas City-style ribs, brisket, chicken, sausage, turkey and that amazing cheesy corn. theribhouse.com

Solar Yoga
When it’s time to work up a sweat, head to Solar Yoga. Hot yoga, regular yoga, meditation, massage and a boutique for all your yoga needs. solar-yoga.com

Interesting Fact: Prospect is built on what was once a family-owned 80-acre tree farm on the south side of Longmont.

DOWNTOWN LOUISVILLE:
Louisville is obviously not a planned development like the rest featured here, but Money magazine declared it the best small town in the country…so how can you go wrong? The charming downtown main street is easily accessible on foot by dozens of homes that line the picturesque streets of the Old Town area, but more modern homes are only minutes away. As the Downtown Business Association puts it, it’s “just like it was 126 years ago, but with better restaurants.”

Location
Southwest of Boulder, between Lafayette and Superior

Housing Types
All types

Prices
Median home price, $358k

Size
8.52 square miles (entire town)

Who Lives Here
College educated young couples and families who long for a small-town lifestyle with all the city conveniences.

Why It’s Cool
A thriving Old Town makes Louisville the historical predecessor of what New Urbanism tries to recreate in planned communities. And, some of the area’s best shops and restaurants call Downtown Louisville home.

Empire Lounge and Restaurant
Comfort food meets fine dining in a relaxed, but hip casual atmosphere. theempirerestaurant.com

Waterloo Icehouse
Award-winning burgers, great bar and live music make this a local paradise. waterloolouisville.com

The Fuzzy Antler
Country classics, European antiques and gifts for every occasion including Pandora beads. thefuzzyantler.com

Interesting Fact: Louisville began as a coal-mining town for the Welch Mine, opened in 1877, and was named for the land owner who incorporated the town, Louis Nawatny.

HOLIDAY:
The Holiday neighborhood is model of a sustainable, affordable residential and commercial development. Houses and yards are smaller than average, but open space makes up the difference. Energy efficiency, water efficiency and passive solar heating and daylighting were worked into every home and business surrounding a large park, a community garden and orchard, and a central, unifying walkway. One part of the community strives to be a zero emissions neighborhood. In fact, some of the development of the project was documented in the film Designing a Great Community: Behind the Scenes at Holiday produced by the Sustainable Futures Society. With a commitment to affordability, people from all walks of life head north to live in the Holiday neighborhood. It’s “very Boulder,” as they say: a little funky, a lot progressive and filled with great treasures.

Location
Far north Broadway in Boulder.

Size
330 homes on 27 acres.

Prices
$422k median home price, with options for qualifying low-income buyers.

Who Lives Here
Boulder greenies, as well as more than 400 low and middle-income people, thanks to the project’s 40 percent permanent affordability rule.

Why It’s Cool
Integrated sustainability make these homes a hot ticket, not to mention that the neighborhood offers some of the most affordable housing in Boulder.

Restaurant 4580
Casual urban sophistication meets a family atmosphere. Large and small plates with many gluten-free options. restaurant4580.com

Boulder Cycle Sport
2006’s Best New Bike Shop in America by Bicycle Retailer and Industry News bouldercyclesport.com

Amante Coffee
Italian espresso in a cool, comfy setting, they also serve pastries, sandwiches, gelato, Italian sodas and Italian beer and wine. amantecoffee.com

Interesting Fact: The neighborhood is named after the twin-screen Holiday Drive-In movie theater, which operated on the site from 1969 to 1988. Easy Rider Lane is named for the first movie that played at the theater, and the original marquee has been preserved.

BRADBURN:
Westminster’s Bradburn Village was built on the principles of Traditional Neighborhood Design, with a main street for shops and restaurants, a church as the architectural anchor of the village center and four distinct residential neighborhoods to encourage residents to engage with their neighbors and their neighborhood. It’s very all-American—attracting growing families and retirees alike to its hip yet wholesome spirit. Housing ranges from luxury apartments and row homes in Bradburn Row to lofts above retail in the village to million-dollar custom homes. The development is built on 125 acres of land and encompasses nine parks, two recreation centers with tennis courts and swimming pools, Rocky Mountain Presbyterian Church, a Goddard preschool and an adjoining K-12 charter school.

Location
Westminster, on 120th Avenue between Federal and Sheridan boulevards.

Size
125 acres, four distinct housing neighborhoods.

Prices
From $800 a month for apartments to more than $1.5 million for custom homes.

Who Lives Here
Young families and professionals.

Why It’s Cool
Bradburn offers access to open space and trails, creating a near-rural feel on one side of the development contrasted with the near-urban feel in the heart of the Village.

The Exchange Tavern
An Irish tavern offering morning coffee and tea, breakfast, lunch, dinner and live entertainment. theexchangetavern.com

Bikram Yoga
Hot yoga in the Bikram style at your neighborhood studio, which also sells yoga gear and accessories. bikramcolorado.com

Appearances Salon
Voted one of the top 200 salons in the country in both 2008 and 2009. Cuts and styles for men, women and children. appearancessalonco.com

Interesting Fact: The Big Dry Creek Open Space adjacent to Bradburn offers a network of 63 miles of trails connecting more than 800 acres of Westminster open space and 200 acres of parkland along the creek. Much of the city is accessible from this trail.

ARISTA:
Despite some ups and downs, Arista is all about potential. With pristine views of the Rockies, Arista hopes to become the epicenter of the northwest metro entertainment scene. The momentum is growing as we write, and the development’s future is looking pretty bright. The 1st Bank Center (formerly the Broomfield Events Center) is now bringing concerts, sporting events and more to the area and helping to draw exciting retail, dining and living opportunities to Arista’s main street and urban center. Another huge draw is the soon-to-be-finished RTD park and ride, which will make commuting to Boulder and Denver by mass transit a breeze. At least one restaurant is waiting for the park and ride completion until their doors open.

Location
Halfway between downtown Denver and Boulder on Highway 36.

Housing Types
Live/work lofts, condominium and apartments.

Size
1,500 residential units.

Prices
Ranges $1,000 per month to rent up to $600k to buy.

Who Lives Here
Upwardly mobile young professional commuters.

Why It’s Cool
Residents don’t have to pay for parking when they want to see the latest concert or hockey game at the 1st Bank Center. Plus, there’s a very cool character to the development—modern and urban while not actually being metropolitan.

Aloft Hotel
Chic, loft-style guest rooms inspired by the W Hotel with a vibrant lounge. aristabroomfield.com/aloft-Hotel.aspx

Salon Cosabella
Glamorous and sophisticated salon that creates “me time” for its clients. saloncosabella.com

Estelle Bicycles
Concept bike shop bridging the gap between boutique shopping and cycling. estellebicycles.com

Interesting Fact: Arista is one of the only residential town center developments in the nation to be anchored by an entertainment venue.

The post Hood Guide (for Newbies) appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The phrase “home on the range” once conjured thoughts of rickety, wind-blown ranches that sizzled in the summer sun and shivered in winter storms. But no more. The architectural landscape has matured, and homes on the Front Range now vary from weighty Colonials and bungalows to acres of traditional suburban split levels. While Colorado has never been a mecca for brilliant architecture, these days high-quality modern design is finding its footing on the Rocky Mountain terrain. Here, we explore what it means to be contemporary in Colorado.

Barrett Studio Architects
style: inspired eclectic

They talk about collisions. They talk about freedom of space. They talk about sense of possibility, reach and the seed.

Maggie Flickinger, business director, and David Barrett, owner principal, are earnestly exchanging abstract thoughts about design and materials and space and walls. It becomes apparent that, here, in this office, a home is not just a home. A building is not four walls and a roof. A window is rarely something that simply lets light in. Architecture and design seem poetic, emotional and metaphorical while remaining tangible and functional, informed by landscape, location and client and reined in—or occasionally inspired—by technology, design limits and reality.

“You look for a feeling. You solve a problem. You end up with something unique,” Barrett says. “Modern can be technical and austere, but we like modern that has heart and feeling.”

Their poetic seed very often comes from nature and setting. But it’s not always literal: Each home is a grand realization of a specialized vision, no matter how simple the seed might be. Barrett’s “Home on the Range” (below) is subtly influenced by the barns, silos and sheds that sit near the property. For another home, the design discussion ended with the client saying he saw his home as his final resting place—“We talked about him dying there,” Barrett says. It triggered the idea of a fallen leaf that laying peacefully on a hillside. In other home designs, they have mimicked the flow and ease of a wispy, white lenticular cloud and the craggy points and edges of a rocky peak.

They call it living architectureand they think about the homes they design as “being in tune with nature,” Barrett says.

Contemporary design is about freshness: A process of creating something clean, light, inspired and unique. Still, even though each home is splendid, Barrett’s team often emphasize the rawness of a building, leaving beams exposed or materials unfinished. Walls or structures are built knowing they’ll rust, with corrosion becoming a design feature. It’s beat-to-hell sophistication that balances, warms and brings a handmade quality to these splendid, dynamic homes.

Matt McMullen
style: Organic refinement

Walking through the houses that Matt McMullen has designed is like witnessing a structural evolution or exponential growth of architecture—each design building on the last.

Every home has momentum, a sense of intention and progression. Each has an identity and a connection to its setting. And together, there is a philosophy.

Over the past 10 years, McMullen has designed homes that balance a bit of eccentricity with impervious refinement, blurring the lines between outside and inside and creating substantial spaces with a delicate touch. Yet, they are livable.

McMullen says much of his inspiration comes from working in California with groundbreaking designers, where he learned to break from the traditional and embrace the freedom of contemporary design.

“There was a real conservatism about Colorado architecture and when I went to LA, that’s what really changed me,” he said. “…That’s where I learned that things really don’t have to look the same.”

But with his education came an appreciation for developing a sense of place and an appreciation for bringing the Colorado sun and the mountain views into a home.

“Colorado certainly has a lot of things that you really have to celebrate,” he says. “And you also have to celebrate people’s lifestyles: how they live, what’s important to them, their pasts.”

His homes bring that modern aesthetic—the clean lines, the individuality, the functionality—but often have a earthy, organic feel. One of mountain home (right) McMullen designed, for example, has an incredible concrete wall cutting through the main space. It’s made to look rock-like, and it picks up the richness of the wood ceiling and the dark granite countertops in the kitchen to inspire a sophisticated, rustic quality. In the living room, a small rocky creek flows down into a cozy refuge known as “the pit,” which includes a sitting area, pillows, bookshelves and a fireplace. The upstairs was designed to feel like a ranger’s station; this masculine, knotty pine-covered office has spectacular views of the Indian Peaks. The cathedral ceiling in the kitchen pulls the eye out onto a deck and down the canyon and onto the Boulder Valley.

In the home McMullen designed for Sylvia and Alan Bernstein in North Boulder, (bottom right) the focus is on the view of the Flatirons. It’s a remodel, and the Bernsteins purchased the house because of McMullen’s vision of transformation.

“He walked in and said, ‘I can work with this,’” Alan Bernstein says, after expounding on the cave-like aesthetics of the pre-remodeled home. McMullen walked right by the unsightly visuals within the house and saw the view. He saw the potential of turning the home from something dark and difficult to a contemporary, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired space with an ethereal quality.

“It had good bones,” McMullen says.

As you walk through the front door, there is a tenuous progression westward, over a hill, through the city and toward the mountain peaks. The window-lined living room, kitchen and dining room merge together into one big living and entertainment space. McMullen also worked to bring sunlight through the top of the house down, creating a buoyancy even in the basement. With blown glass features, stained concrete countertops and soft blue glass tiles in the kitchen, there is a linearity and lightness to this tremendous house.

“It’s really all about the view,” McMullen says simply.

Real estate tip:
Don’t be afraid of architects or designers. The expertise is usually worth the investment, says Mod Boulder Realtor Sean McIllwain—whether you are looking to sell a home, buy a home or just revamp.

Folwell Studio
style: glowingly grounded

There are no “rooms” in Michael Folwell’s very own Boulder home. There are spaces. In fact, the entire contemporary two-story is a series of spaces—intimate and grand; new, retro and timeless; filled with sunlight, textures and color. They feel at once connected with each other and connected with the outside while still seeming warm and private.

Much of Folwell’s philosophy on contemporary design focuses on bringing context to a home. In each of his projects, Folwell’s impetus—and challenge—is grounding a home in the site, “on a physical and contextual level, and even on a psychological level.” It sounds overly cerebral, but walking through Folwell’s home, it’s at once clear what he means by “grounding.”

“It’s an awareness of where you are,” he says. “It depends on the site and the client. We talk with the client about the site and what specifically they want the house to feel like. …We are working with a client now on a home inspired by the mid-century modern style and it’s near the hills, so we just worked on bringing the hills into the design. It feels like they really come into the house and flow through the house.”

Folwell designed his home so that sunlight would move through it as the sun moves through the sky. In the house’s second story, you peer out a soaring window to see just the tops of trees while sunlight pours through a nearby skylight. In Folwell’s downstairs office, wall-spanning windows frame different sections in their backyard. He even takes structures like benches or cabinet tops and extends their form through windows and doors, developing an extension from inside to out.

Having worked in architecture for 20 years, Folwell says he’s drawn to the modern aesthetic. Though, he would not consider himself a modernist.

“I’ve always been attracted to contemporary design,” he says. “It’s of the moment, it’s of the time, but it’s influenced by those who have come before. …With the advent of computer technology in architecture, anything goes. The technology exists and if the client has the budget, anything is possible.

“Within the architecture that I enjoy, there is a sense of perspective and history,” he continues. “There is an homage to the masters, to the greats. There is context. …Architecture does not happen in a vacuum.”

One section near the back of his house—a heavy concrete wall—is inspired by ancient ruins. There are Asian design influences here and there. There is even an extraordinary, ornate sliding door across a simple half-bathroom. Yet it all works together to become timeless and aesthetically balanced.

“It’s just about not being afraid to do something different,” Folwell says.

Real estate tip:
Even if your home is a far cry from modern, Michael Folwell says there are always opportunities to “lighten up” the home by adding windows or skylights. Think strategically: Look for opportunities to create a connection with nature. “Is there a tree or rock outcropping that can help you establish that indoor-outdoor connection?” he says.

Vast Architecture
style: clean green

Beauty, to Brandy LeMae and Joseph Vigil, is a house that satisfies the client’s wants and puts more energy onto the grid than it consumes. So, at their boutique architecture and design firm, success is finding common ground between aesthetics and sustainability.

“There are times when a client really wants to have incredible views of the mountains, but if you turn the entire west side of the house into glazing, the house is going to turn into a sauna in the summer. They will have to pump up the air conditioning to keep it tolerable,” she says. “I think we are good at saying, ‘Yes, we could do that, but here is what we are sacrificing. And if we do it this way, here is what you will be saving.’”

Vast has made a name for itself in green modern architecture; their website even features a photo of the couple in embrace, wearing nothing but a small swatch of natural cotton fiber insulation. The houses they design are filled with clean lines and open spaces, inspired by contemporary design trends of Southern California, where both grew up, and mid-century modern architecture. Their real passion lies within working for clients who have a limited budget and who are looking to meet efficiency goals.

“It’s easy to build an amazing house with an unlimited budget, but we love the challenge of working on a modest budget and making something that’s really cool,” LeMae says.

And even more so, the challenge of being an architect, they posit, is the responsibility to the planet—not just the client. She says environmental mindfulness will continue to be a trend in modern architecture and design: incorporating sustainable materials and using techniques, technologies and materials to increase efficiency.

“Architecture really does have an impact on the environment. We don’t just have an opportunity to be efficient, we have a responsibility,” she says. “We really do have to pay attention to every aspect.”

Europe has progressed in green building, yet the U.S. still seems to be playing catch up. Passivhaus—or Passive House—is an ultra meticulous standard in Germany for building efficient homes. It far exceeds current U.S. building codes. It’s the type of standard LeMae hopes to see adopted on this side of the Atlantic.

“I think, soon enough, we will have a mandate for green building,” she says. “Efficiency should not be something that’s special in a home or building. It should be the standard.”

While Vast usually attracts clients who are more green-minded, their emphasis and focus on efficiency and sustainability often means working to change expectations of what is beautiful, what is luxurious and what is homey. Take carpet, for example.

“You really do want to avoid carpet. It’s petroleum based and usually beige, and it’s going to get trashed and end up in the landfill in just a few years,” LeMae says. “But it’s cheap, and a lot of families will look at us like we are crazy when we talk to them about not putting carpet in. They think you can’t raise a child in a house without carpet. But really, you don’t have to have carpet for kids or for your house to feel like a home. It’s a lot about people’s preconceived notions about comfort.”

Instead, if one must have carpet, she suggests using carpet tiles, which allow people to pull away one or two tiles when there is damage. LeMae’s own floor is concrete and she uses rugs to add color and a sense of cozy.

Real estate tip:
Don’t just focus on internal and external home cosmetics—but invest in your house’s energy efficiency. Brandy LeMae of Vast Architecture says if you make one green investment in your home, it should be beefing up your insulation. “It’s really the best bang for your buck,” she says.

The post Contemporary Colorado appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

However you describe LifeBridge Church’s Union project, never call it the city of Longmont versus the Lord. The battle over a giant planned unit development on the outskirts of the city is not about the Almighty. It’s about the almighty dollar. So when you look at the 348 acres near the intersection of Weld County roads 26 and 3 1/2, don’t think separation of church and state.

Think separation of church and real estate. For good measure, toss in a city council’s comeuppance from its constituents.
The LifeBridge PUD, with its 300 to 700 homes, 680,000-square-foot commercial development, 150,000-square-foot sports center, and million square feet of religious and civic use, may yet be built on what are now hay and corn fields bounded by dirt roads. But if this project is built as part of Longmont, it’ll be constructed on the people’s terms, not the dictates of politicians or the desires of a mega-church’s development arm.

Jen Gartner and Doug Wray saw to that.

Longmont City Council ignored Gartner’s request to delay an August vote on annexing 348 acres in the LifeBridge project. So she, Wray and others gathered more than 6,000 signatures in protest.

The city determined that “at least 4,725″ of those were valid, far more than the 4,021 needed to force council to overturn the approval or send the issue to voters (it opted for the latter). “It was a great grassroots’ effort done with no experience or money,” Gartner says. “This is the first time this has happened in Longmont. The Union project will be a major issue in the (Nov. 6) mayor’s race and other council races.”

That’s because the city still cannot specifically spell out Longmont’s financial risks in the venture. Despite the lack of detail, it voted 6-1 in favor of the proposal.

“The council could have avoided this by delaying the vote on the Union project until we had more information,” Gartner says. “It seemed almost punitive (to protesters) to vote the way (council) did. But it is better to have to pay for a special election than to pay unknown millions down the line.”

That added election cost may be tiny, however, as Longmont will piggy back the vote on special election early next year to fill the council seat vacated by the winner of the mayor’s race between Karen Benker and Roger Lange. Even if the annexation is overturned, LifeBridge, through its development arm, 4C, can still build the project in Weld County. The development rules in Weld are less restrictive than in Longmont. But there is a single critical advantage that being in the city offers LifeBridge: “We would pay less for water,” 4C spokesman Martin Dickey says.

Tens of millions less, says Benker, the sole ‘no’ vote on the annexation: “I asked the head of public works how much money we were talking about. He told me they would save $14 million to $23 million.”

Meanwhile, Benker, a state budget analyst, questions whether revenues paid by 4C can offset the $890,000 Longmont will spend annually to service the development. Which leads back to Gartner and Wray, who feel job one was getting the financial monkey off Longmont’s back. Or at least making sure that monkey didn’t turn out to be a 500-pound gorilla.

“If they had just planned to build a church, we wouldn’t be here,” says Gartner, a 31-year-old lawyer. “But in South Bend, Indiana, there is a lawsuit right now by residents in a neighborhood where people want to be tax-exempt because a church built and manages their homes.”

Some homes in the Union project are projected to cost $800,000 to more than $2 million each. “I’m a born-again Christian,” Wray says. “But I was always told I’d get a mansion in Heaven, not here.”

The thought resonated.

Although the backlash is primarily economic and environmental, there are residents concerned about a mega-church’s attempts to expand far beyond the spiritual. Some folks worry Longmont could turn into a smaller version of Colorado Springs.

“Unholy Union,” Wray calls it.

For now, though, the battle isn’t Longmont versus the Lord. It is a battle over water rights, retail estimates and tax-exempt land. It’s a fight over paving dirt roads into commercial arteries.

Without working these things out to people’s satisfaction, most developments wouldn’t have a prayer of approval. The reason why has come as a harsh reminder to Longmont politicians and LifeBridge church elders: The Ten Commandments are about G-O-D, not P-U-D.?

The post Separation of Church and Real Estate appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.