After 16 years of selling real estate in Colorado Springs, I am amazed regularly at how much I still am learning. This morning we had a RE/MAX Properties North office “marketing forum” meeting, and one of the regular topics is “lessons learned”. There were a couple of pretty good ones that I thought I would share here:
1. If a VA appraisal comes in low, the underwriter at the lender actually has a 3% discretionary buffer.
2. If a house is zoned for horses, has horses on the property, and is surrounded by horse properties, it does not mean that you can actually run horses. This is because the well permit may still not allow it, and the state water board can come in after the fact and enforce the well permit restrictions. Standard “household” well permits do NOT allow horses. The state Division of Water Resources has a look up facility for permits.
3. Habitat for Humanity has a new project in school district 20 near Woodmen and Tutt Blvd that is going to be a small area of homes that will actually be built by contractors, not by the homeowners. The first homes are in process. See http://www.pikespeakhabitat.org
for more information about this great work, how to qualify for a Habitat home, and the new homes they are going to build.
4. Habitat runs a facility called the ReStore that sounds like sort of a Goodwill store for building materials. This could be a great source for people who are remodeling on a budget. One our agents mentioned buying $1800 worth of brand new windows for $350. Proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity operations. They also take donations of leftover building materials and used materials.