Living in Colorado - denver

Denver DiningOut Passbook 2018-2019

Hot off the press! 

My Denver DiningOut Passbook just arrived — valid until the end of July, 2019. 

So here's the scoop:

1. Use this passbook to get two-for-one drinks and entrees at over 100 of Denver's best bars and restaurants. 
2. Purchase the passbook here ($99)
3. But wait! Use the promo code IGPB19 to get it for only $39!
4. Check out the list of participating restaurants here or in your passbook when it arrives
5. For extra-bonus-convenience, use my handy-dandy notebook map below!
6. Go enjoy (bring the passbook and a friend)! Seriously, it pays for itself in two uses. I used last year's so often that I'll need to request a heftier binding for 2019-2020. 

How does the map work?

Well, the map works pretty much like any other…

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Larimer Square is Now on America's "Most Endagered Historic Places" List

Controversial plans for redevelopment of "the street where Denver began" landed it on The National Trust for Historic Preservation's "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places" list.

Larimer Square has been named one of "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places."

The National Trust for Historic Preservation came out with its list this week, and the Denver location was singled out.

"It is threatened by an inappropriate development proposal that calls for partial demolition of several buildings, the potential construction of two towers, and weakening the groundbreaking ordinance that has long protected the famous square," the trust wrote on its website.

The development proposal in question is one proposed by Jeff Hermanson, president…

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West + Main in the New York Times: Want to Buy a Home? Beware, it's a Seller's Market.

West + Main Homes' Founder + Owner, Stacie Staub, was quoted this week in the New York Times, who asked for her thoughts on Denver's ongoing Seller's Market and current housing market conditions.

In Denver, where the inventory of homes has been low for the past couple of years, there is no such thing as lowballing, said Stacie Staub, founder of West and Main Homes in Lakewood, Colo., near Denver. Often, she said, homes go on the market on a Friday and are under contract by Sunday.

The market is so tight that Ms. Staub often recommends that people looking to trade up to a new home should first sell their own house, and then go shopping with cash. Sellers generally frown on contingency offers, which are subject to the sale of an existing home.…

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Denver is Trying to Fix Downtown's Parking Disaster

What is the worst part of going Downtown on a Friday night? The parking. It's crazy to think that despite the 43,000 off-street parking spaces it still takes 20 plus minutes to find one of those valued spaces. 

The city of Denver has partnered with Parkmobile, an app that allows smartphone users pay for off-street parking through their phones; they receive a notification when their time is close to expiring. Download the app, and when you find a spot in any of the seven downtown-area parking lots managed by the Department of Public Works, pay for the parking space through your phone, instead of the meter. You will then receive your expiration warnings and meter maids will be notified of the payments. 

 Parkmobile offers…

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Should you Buy a Colorado Home with Cash?

Should You Buy a Home With Cash?

If you have the ability to purchase a home with cash only, then you’re part of a slim percent of the American population - congrats! Before you head to the bank to withdraw those fat stacks of greenbacks, make sure you consider both the pros and the cons (yes, there are some cons) of skipping the mortgage. 

Pros

Skipping the interest. Buying a home is often a good investment, but buying one flat out may be an even better one. This is because you save on mortgage interest that is usually paid over the life of the home loan – interest that could amount to anywhere between several thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Avoiding the fees. With an all-cash deal, you skip those loan origination fees, an…

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Is Now A Good Time to Rent?

People often ask if now is a good time to buy a home, or if they should look for a new rental when their lease expires and inevitably increases. The answer is sort of frustrating, because with inventory so tight, both homes for sale and for rent are hard to find in Central Colorado. But, really, it all depends on your short and long term plans, as well as your Real Estate and other investment goals.

The Census Bureau recently released their 2017 first quarter median rent numbers. Here is a graph showing rent increases from 1988 until today:

In the first quarter of 2017, the median asking rent for vacant for-rent units across the United States was $864. 

According to Rent Jungle, that number is almost double in Denver:

As of April 2017,…

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If You Live in Denver, Get Ready to Wave Your Flag ... and Not the American One

There are so many people moving to Denver nowadays, that it can be difficult to determine how long they have actually been in our great state of Colorado. One of the sure fire ways to determine if they are "homegrown" is to ask them to name the official city neighborhoods.

A newbie might name some such as RiNo, LoDo, or Ballpark -- this means they are wrong and haven't been here long. These are all fabulous, popular, and fast-growing areas, but are relatively new to Denver, and most importantly, NOT official neighborhoods. 

As the city grows and old city borders obscure and morph into new in borders, one man has attempted to preserve the local history; Steven Chester is creating flags for each of the official Denver neighborhoods. 

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It's Official. House Bill 1279 will hopefully provide more affordable condos and long-needed housing inventory.

Breaking news from the Denver Business Journal:

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday signed into law a long-sought measure that will make it more difficult for associations of condominium owners to file multi-million-dollar construction-defects lawsuits.

And now, builders are on the clock now to prove that the change will spur more of them to begin putting up condos priced under $300,000, as backers of the measure are expecting.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signs a construction-defects reform bill Tuesday while… more

ED SEALOVER | DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL

The signing of House Bill 1279 comes after a decade in which condos fell from being roughly 20 percent of the new…

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