Everyone is talking about how the Boulder County real estate market is going gangbusters. People say to me all the time, “Must be a great time to be in real estate!” Dig below the surface a bit and the grass isn’t always as green as it seems. In this three part series I’m going to evaluate who has the greenest grass in this market, where there are brown spots and why we are seeing the brown spots in the grass growing.

If you are a homeowner in this real estate market who doesn’t plan on moving, then you have a lovely green meadow of grass! When a home lists next door to your house you are excited to see that it usually goes under contract within days. Throughout all of Boulder County we are seeing homes sell within 72 days on average, which is a 14% decrease from this time last year when it took an average of 84 days to sell a home.

When the home ultimately sells, it’s likely that the closing price is more than the home was originally listed for. For the entire Boulder County real estate market we are seeing the percentage of list price to sold price at about 102.5%, which is an increase of about 2% over last year when homes were selling for 100% of list price. So from the home seller’s perspective, the grass is very green indeed!

The major reason behind this activity is because of the lack of inventory in our market. This coupled with the expanding population throughout the Front Range fueled by the strong economic outlook of our area is creating the competitive real estate environment. The US Census Bureau reported that colorado’s population grew 8.5% since April of 2012. Since 2010 our state is the fourth fastest growing in the nation! That is largely due to migration to the are; people moving here from other states for jobs. With new jobs they also need to find homes.

http://www.newgeography.com/content/004818-2014-state-population-rise-south-and-west-continues
Unlike the green grassy meadow for home sellers, buyers are struggling in this real estate market. In the next article I will describe the real estate environment from the eyes of a Buyer who is migrating to our area. The story will outline the trials of a newly married couple who is moving to South Boulder for a new job. They hope to buy their first home, and I will let you know how it’s going for them. Here’s a hint, the grass isn’t as green for the Buyer as it is for the Sellers.