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REALTORS Announce $2,000,000 Relief Grant for BOCO Fire Victims

REALTORS® Announce $2 million relief grant 

for victims of Boulder County fires

Application process now open to displaced residents

A $2 million grant from the REALTORS® Relief Foundation to be distributed to victims of the December 2021 fires that ravaged Boulder County, destroying more than 1,000 residential properties.

Funded through donations from REALTORS® and REALTOR® organizations and administered by the Colorado Association of REALTORS® Foundation, the grant will provide eligible applicants up to $3,000 of assistance per household impacted by the recent fires. Funding is available on a first-come, first-served basis to qualified applicants, victims of the Boulder County fires who have been displaced from their primary residence, based upon certain qualifications. The funds must be used for one of the following:

  • Monthly mortgage expense for the primary residence that was damaged by the wildfire disaster; or
  • Rental cost due to displacement from the primary residence resulting from the wildfire disaster.

Grant details and access to the online application process are available at: https://bit.ly/CARBOCOFireRelief. Application requests will be accepted until all funds have been distributed or until April 8, 2022. A panel of local professionals will review and verify the applications and supporting documents with relief checks issued weekly.

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How a Handy Boulder Couple Bought a 100-year-old Pennsylvania Barn and Hauled It to Colorado to Build Their Dream Home

Boulder County Home and Garden featured an article on my newest listing. This one has such a great history and results!

Barn-EntranceExt300

Nothing exemplifies rural life like an old, wooden dairy barn. But Boulder builder Judy Knapp takes the country life a step further by living in one.

Growing up in more formal surroundings, Judy wanted something she could live in day to day. “I didn’t want the kind of rooms you try to keep kids out of,” she says. So on their 25th wedding anniversary, her husband, architect Johnny Knapp, asked Judy how she’d like to celebrate. The answer came as no surprise to him: “I want to live in a barn.” Shortly afterward, the Knapps traveled to New England on a barn-shopping spree, but came home empty-handed. Then Judy picked up a free newspaper in her driveway to skim the ads, and there it was: A ­couple was selling their family’s century-old dairy barn in Greensburg, Pa., to pay for a house in Colorado.

As luck would have it, a co-worker of Johnny’s was traveling near Greensburg. She agreed to pop over and videotape the barn. Built around 1900, the barn had amassed quite a bit of character—layers of it, in fact. The voice on the video sounded dubious: “I’m kind of scared to go in there. I might fall!” Undeterred, the Knapps focused on the quality of the lumber that lay beneath the dust and age. Satisfied that this was the barn for her, Judy offered to buy it, but discovered she was in line with at least 30 other interested parties. Yet when she told her story to the owners, they found it compelling. “It’s karma,” they concluded, and agreed to sell her the barn.

Read the full article at Boulder County Home and Garden

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Boulder Ranked #1 Housing Market for Growth and Stability in the U.S.–Fifth year in a row!

Boulder has done again! Once again we have been ranked the #1 Housing Market for Growth and Stability in the United States–for the fifth year by SmartAsset. Here’s what they have to say about Boulder:

Leading this study for the fifth year in a row is Boulder, Colorado. Besides being a great place for career opportunities, Boulder has shown consistently strong performance in the housing market. It has seen a 268% increase in housing value from the first quarter of 1994 up to and including the fourth quarter of 2018, the fourth-highest percentage of any metro area in our top 10, and fifth-highest in our study overall. It also has a 0% chance of a home losing at least 5% of its value in the 10 years after purchase. For those looking to invest in real estate, Boulder is a safe bet and is in one of the best states in the country for homeowners.

Read the full article here.

I’d love to talk with you about any of your real estate needs!

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Rural Boulder County Real Estate Definitions

Dreaming of owning property in Boulder County? I get it! I love living in rural Boulder County surrounded by land, animals and lots of space for my whole family to roam. Whether you are looking for a hobby farm, a farm, a ranch or just space for an awesome garden, I can help you navagate the real estate landscape of rural Boulder County! Here are some helpful definitions and resources:

Farmette/Hobby Farm. This is a small residential farm run by an owner who earns income from a source other than the farm. It is sometimes known as a yokelet or a farmlet. Farmette owners are typically city workers who want to own rural land without operating a full farm. A farmette often includes a large vegetable garden, the occasional barn, tractor, and even farm or domestic animals, such as goats and cats. Farmetters usually rely on their tractor to plow or snow blow their driveways during the winter. Farmettes are usually 50 acres (200,000 m2) max. They can have a small hog pen, a few chickens in a chicken coop or a kennel house for dogs.

It is also considered a farm when crops and plants can be planted on it.  Yes, plants can be planted on 2-3 acres, but this makes it a large garden. In the U.S., a high proportion of farms might be classed as hobby farms. [1]

Farm. This is an area of land devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food (produce, grains, or livestock), fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single individual, family, community, corporation or a company. It is also considered a farm when crops and plants can be planted on it.  Yes, plants can be planted on 2-3 acres, but this makes it a large garden.

So, when searching for property, make sure you a clear about whether or not you are just looking for rural property with a few acres, or if you are actually searching for a farm or farmette with numerous acres.  It makes a big difference. [2]

Ranch. Defined an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in Mexico, the Western United States and Western Canada, though there are ranches in other areas. [3]

Gentleman farmer.  This is referring to a landowner who has a farm (gentleman’s farm) as part of his estate and who farms mainly for pleasure rather than for profit or sustenance. The estate can vary from under ten to hundreds or even thousands of acres, and may produce any number of types of grains, poultry or other livestock.. The gentleman farmer can employ labourers and farm managers. The chief source of income for the gentleman farmer was derived not from any income that the landed property may generate. He invariably had his own private income, worked as a professional, owned a large business elsewhere, or some combination of the three. [4]

Boulder County Rural Property Resources:

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_farm
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranch
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentleman_farmer