A few of my new-construction buyers this spring have mentioned the same thing - the builder's sales office keeps pushing their "preferred lender" with a rate that sounds too good to pass up. Sometimes it is a great deal. Sometimes it is not, and you only find that out after you have already signed. The Incentive Builders Dangle Most production builders in Colorado own or partner with a mortgage company,...
Buyers walking into a brand-new build in Parker or Castle Rock often assume everything is covered if something goes wrong. It's new, so what could break? I wish that were true. New-construction warranties are real, but they're layered, time-limited, and full of fine print that catches people off guard a year or two after closing. If you're considering a new build, here's how these warranties actually...
I've had three different buyers ask me about FHA loans in the last two weeks, and all three assumed the same thing: that it's a "starter loan" reserved for people with shaky credit. That's not quite right, and the details matter more than most people realize. FHA loans are one of the most useful tools for first-time buyers in Colorado, but they come with trade-offs that don't get explained well. Here's...
If you are shopping for a home above about $862,500 in the Denver metro this year, you are most likely looking at a jumbo loan, and the rules work a little differently than most buyers expect. I work with a lot of buyers in Cherry Creek, Greenwood Village, Castle Pines, and the higher end of Lone Tree, and the question I hear most is some version of "why is this loan harder to get than my last one?" The...
Here's something I've noticed more this year: buyers who'd written off "the ugly one" are coming back to it. With more homes sitting on the market across the Denver metro, that dated kitchen or the house that needs a new roof isn't the dealbreaker it was two years ago. It's an opening. And if you use the right loan, you can buy the house and fund the repairs in one shot, without draining your...
Colorado now requires a written buyer agency agreement before you tour homes. Here is what it covers, what is negotiable, and how to protect yourself.
Family can help with your Colorado down payment. Here is how gift funds, gift letters, and the paper trail work, plus how to pair a gift with state help.
Affordability is not the sticker price. A 2026 look at payments, the 28/36 rule, down payment myths, and the Colorado costs buyers forget.
Here's a number that surprises almost everyone I work with: the gap between the average mortgage rate from 2021 and what you'd pay today is wide enough to change your whole monthly budget. A buyer who locked in around 3% back then is sitting on a payment that looks nothing like what a new loan would cost in 2026. So it's fair to ask the question more buyers are asking me lately: can you just take over that...
Most people I talk to about home loans have never heard of the USDA Rural Development loan. Or if they have, they assume it's only for farmers. It isn't. And in a lot of Colorado, you can use it to buy a regular suburban home with zero down payment. I had a client last spring who almost passed on a great house outside Elizabeth because she thought she needed a 5% down payment she didn't have. Turns out...
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