Council Backs Off on Home Size Limits… For Now
by Osman Parvez ---- Phew! The Camera is reporting that City Council is backing off their efforts to limit home sizes in Boulder. The foolishness of doing it as an emergency measure now, as the national economy moves into what could be a deep recession, finally clicked home. Public outcry and a recommendation by the Boulder Planning Board not to move forward with a temporary ordinance limiting house sizes prompted the City Council to put the issue on hold late Tuesday night. In a surprise move after 10 p.m., the council voted unanimously not to hear a first reading of [...]
FAR Issue Tonight
by Osman Parvez ---- If efforts by City Council to limit house sizes in Boulder concern you, I encourage you to attend or watch tonight's meeting. If you wish to speak, better arrive early to sign up (I recommend a few minutes before sign up opens at 5). Here's the press release... --- FAR issue on Planning Board meeting agenda Thursday A public hearing with the Planning Board is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 3, in the City Council Chambers, 1777 Broadway, regarding approaches to interim regulations that may provide additional limitations in single family zoning districts aimed [...]
Feeling Just a Little Bit More Cautious…
by Osman Parvez ---- If you're a regular reader of House Einstein, you already know that the Boulder real estate market is finally starting to feel the slowdown. It may be hard to see that from the monthly update analysis, but it's clear when I clean up the data. In a few days I'll update the indexes for the 1st Quarter. In the meantime, USA Today is reporting on the health of our local market (full article). Despite the chill in home sales across the nation, Boulder, Colo.'s mortgage market remains warm and healthy. The city, nestled in the foothills [...]
City Council – What, Me Worry?
by Osman Parvez ---- An email was posted on the City Council hotline providing staff's initial answers to Council Member Wilson's questions. Three items are of deep concern ---Questions of Deep Concern---(staff's responses are in italics. My responses are bracketed). 7. How would property values be impacted with an interim ordinance? I know this is difficult, but we should put some thought into it. Although we will not be able to address the economic impacts of an interim ordinance, we will try and research other communities' experiences since many communities across the country have enacted ordinances that limit the size [...]
House Size Limits – Get Involved!
by Osman Parvez ---- Do you care about City Council's recent efforts to limit the potential of your property? Here's two ways for you to get involved! 1. Join a group dedicated to understanding this issue and finding ways to address it. Email rationalplanning@gmail.com for details on how to join. 2. Take a survey. City Council wants to know about your specific situation, and how proposed regulations could affect you. Click HERE to complete an online survey (it should take no more than five minutes). The survey is anonymous. Questions generally refer to where you currently live and how the [...]
Can You Hear Me Now?
by Osman Parvez ---- If you ever want to speak in front of City Council, better show up early. At last night's meeting, sign-up began at 5pm but only the first 15 people were allowed to speak before the meeting's agenda commenced. That left dozens of people waiting nearly two hours before the public hearing was resumed. When I first started hearing the feedback, I admit I was a little concerned. A seemingly organized group of senior citizens, most living near each other, were among the first to the microphone. They spoke in favor of an immediate emergency measure to [...]
FAR Vote Delayed, Public Hearing Tonight
by Osman Parvez ---- The Camera is reporting that City Council has decided to delay the vote on the proposed ordinance to April 1st. Yes, April Fool's Day. Apparently it was the overwhelming response from Boulder residents that caused City Council to reconsider the urgency surrounding this issue. There will be a meeting tonight at 6pm to discuss the provisions of the ordinance. If you want to speak, you should come early. According to the City's website, the list to sign up for speaking opens at 5pm. ---- Like this analysis? Subscribe to our client research report. [...]
A Letter to City Council of Boulder
by Osman Parvez ---- City Council will hold a public hearing tomorrow on new restrictions to house sizes. I've encouraged residents of Boulder to voice their concerns by writing an email to City Council and by attending tomorrow's meeting. If you'd like to let city council know your thoughts on the matter, send them an email at council@bouldercolorado.gov. Here is my email to City Council: Dear City Council Members, My name is Osman Parvez and I live in Boulder. Together with my wife, I run a small, independent real estate brokerage. We own a small home in South Boulder and [...]
Boulder City Council Are Out of Control
by Osman Parvez ---- I attended last night's packed City Council study session. Before the meeting, I was under the impression that they were calmly studying the issue of a few oversized, out of character houses in Boulder and carefully considering reasonable options for addressing the problem. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Before I had a chance to write this post, Mark Hartwig provided the following comment: Osman, I'm not sure if you made it to the meeting tonight or not, but I was there. The city council means business. At least 5 of the city council members were in [...]
Pop and Scrape Map and Analysis (+Meeting Details)
by Osman Parvez ---- A commenter in my post on efforts to limit home sizes asked for more details on the meeting. Where: Municipal Building at 1777 Broadway When: Tonight, March 13th. 5:30pm to 9:00pm Contact: 303.441.3008 The earlier Pop/Scrape/Floor Area Ratios study and the more recent FAR subcommittee memo are particularly interesting. Here's a few tidbits I thought worth posting (a little fuzzy, but readable). Demolitions and additions citywide from 2001-2006 : Map of demolitions and additions 2001-2006: ---- Like this analysis? Subscribe to our client research report. Want to get blog updates via email? Click [...]
Your House is Too Big
by Osman Parvez ---- 5 Questions About Limiting House Sizes in Boulder "Your House is Too Big." "What?" "Oh, you heard me. Your house is too big. You're ruining the neighborhood." Sounds pretty confrontational, doesn't it? Well that's precisely the path that Boulder City Council is taking. Beginning last summer, the city revived an effort to study maximum home sizes and has indicated it will pursue the issue aggressively. If you think you can be complacent, guess again. In January, City Council held its annual retreat during which members shared their priorities. Many want new restrictions on redevelopment put in [...]
Boulder Neighborhood Map
by Osman Parvez ---- I know postings have slowed down recently. I've been quite busy here over the past few weeks. The good news is that blogging will resume this week. I've got a few articles up my sleeve. To start off, here's a map we've created showing neighborhoods in Boulder. Thanks to Adam Sharp for your efforts putting this together. Clicking on shaded areas will pull up a few relevant statistics. Play around with it and let me know what you think. I suggest clicking the larger map link before clicking the shaded areas. View Map Here ---- Like [...]
An Expert’s View on Boulder – Lawrence Yun’s Slides
by Osman Parvez ---- It appears that Lawrence Yun, the Chief Economist of the National Association of Realtors has put out a presentation on local market conditions here in Boulder as well as other parts of the front range. Here's a selection of slides from the presentation. The comments are mine. 2007 looks a little optimistic to me, but the NAR might be using different data. I expect the estimate to be a revised downward. See my index analysis for more details and a better dissection of Boulder's market. Subprime delinquencies are at a record high. Interestingly, delinquencies were quite [...]
Rough Waters
by Osman Parvez ---- Looks like the Camera is finally reporting what I told readers about a month ago... From Rough Waters: Nationally, 2007 was a disastrous year in the residential real estate market, with new home sales plunging 26.4 percent, median sales prices barely gaining and foreclosures skyrocketing 75 percent. While it was rough in Boulder and Broomfield counties, as well, things weren't nearly as bad locally as on the national scene. In Boulder County last year, sales of new and existing homes dropped nearly 7 percent and foreclosures jumped 28 percent to hit a record high. Home sales [...]
Lying to Barack Obama – Kash’s Book Corner
by Osman Parvez ---- As you might guess, I'm a insatiable reader. Seems as soon as I could read, I was visiting the local library. I will never forget the little library in the town where I grew up. I still remember the day I got my first library card. As a kid, I spent endless hours in that building, voraciously devouring books on countless subjects. Books will always fill a special place in my life. One of the things I love about our community here in Boulder is the number of strong independent businesses. They run a wide spectrum [...]
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We can highly recommend Sophie. Her attention to detail and communication skills are great. Our home was in area that most realtors are not familiar with, but Sophie took extra time to get to know the neighborhood in order to give us quality service. She also brought in a professional photographer to make our home look its best. Even though the listing was in winter, the house sold quickly. With Sophie’s business and people skills, we have no doubt she will be a top realtor in the area.
Osman was a refreshingly honest realtor. He stressed through the entire process that his goal was to make me happy with my home purchase. I greatly appreciated the fact that he never shied away from pointing out the negatives as well as the pluses of different places while leaving the final decision up to me.
