wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Signs of Spring....in May - 05/03/11 02:36 PM
All right you people out there with your pictures of flowers and grass, butterflies and trees... Here in Laramie, Wyoming, we are showing signs of spring as well.  Ha!  I even have evidence of it, a photo of our lilac bush, today, May 3, 2011 with....wait for it...wait for it ......... a BUD!  And by June - we may even have leaves on our trees!  Hate to brag or make other people feel bad.... but I think spring could be on its way!
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wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: ActiveRainPhotoBlogger Contest - 05/02/11 06:01 AM
When I was a kid I remember going on endless country drives with my parents . Back then, I never understood the purpose and did not look forward to the boring explorations of the dusty back roads where we lived. Halfway through the drives, my brother and I usually ended up with our heads tilted askew, fast asleep. (Hmmm, maybe that was the purpose....)

Now that I'm grown up with kids of my own, I realize - at least in part - what the draw might have been. Life can get a bit mundane and it can be fun to … (37 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: I Broke a Child's Heart Today - 05/01/11 04:46 PM
Life is ironic, isn't it.?!  I can't tell you how many late nights I have spent in my self-assigned role of Santa, Easter Bunny and even Leprechaun quietly creeping around in the dark and cold thinking "I can't wait until I don't have to do this anymore..." Well, now, I  officially don't have to.  Our youngest, now nine years old, came to me with a box she found in a hidden place that clearly had held Easter goodies at one time.  "Mom! Tell me the truth....are you the Easter Bunny?!" I tried to lie but she clearly meant business as her bright blue eyes pierced … (6 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Fencing in the Snow - 04/13/11 05:08 AM
Years ago, a friend of my parents married a girl from the south.  The kind of girl who'd never seen snow, a harsh winter, or frost in July.  She was a constant source of entertainment with her good-natured fascination of all things Wyoming.  One of the funniest things was when she finally demanded to know what was up with all the partial fences scattered across the praire by the roads.

She was of course referring to the ubiquitous snow fence!  Indeed, they do look like unfinished fences built alongside roads all over the west.  The purpose?  To catch the windblown … (15 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Honk if You Think Spring is Here! - 04/08/11 04:34 AM

I was startled by the oddest noise when I was walking across the parking lot this morning.  At first, I thought I was just hearing things, but . . . after I assured myself the sound was, indeed, real - I looked up and was surprised to see a formation of geese honking away and flying north through the sky!  Yes, north!  I wonder if this means that spring IS actually here.... I hope so!
 
 

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wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Don't Laugh...it's True! - 04/07/11 04:00 PM
One of the reasons I love first time buyers is that I remember ourselves and our first home hunting experience.  Long story short, this is how we thought it worked:
 Find the house you want.                                Tell the bank how much you want to borrow.  The bank gives you the loan.  You buy the house. Don't laugh...it's true!  I'd like to think that we were both reasonably intelligent people - having graduated from college and in the process of settling in to our new careers.  But obviously, I was wrong!  There are some things they just don't teach in school....LOL! Thank … (10 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Results for Assessed versus Actual Values - 04/05/11 04:02 PM
Most people like to do a bit of their own detective work when buying or selling a home.  With all the internet resources we have at our fingertips, you'd be crazy not to!  One of the most common sources of information people here come across is the Assessed Valuation of a property from the Albany County Assessor's office.  While this is a great source for basic property data, like the probable age of the home or general square footage, it is not a reliable source for current market value.It is always difficult to convince people of this.  In an effort to illustrate … (6 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Why Assessed Values Are Hard to Determine - 04/05/11 01:44 PM
Believe it or not, here in Laramie, Wyoming, there is very little relationship between current market value and assessed valuation.  Assessed valuation is the value the county assigns to a property as a basis from which to calculate  property taxes.  Every now and then the county estimate is very close to the current market value, most of the time - it is not.Under Wyoming Statute 34-1-142, sales information is not  Public Record and must be kept confidential.  The county does recieve a statement of consideration for internal use with each property sale, but with an always changing market it is difficult … (4 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Property Taxes Explained - 04/04/11 04:47 PM
Today's topic, property taxes. Try to contain your excitement!  It seems like property taxes are usually an after thought, a number thrown in with and added to the mortgage.  However, next time you get your assessment notice for the upcoming year's taxes, you might want to pay it a little more thought.  Here's how it works in Laramie:Fair Value  X  Level of Assessment  = Assessed Valuation  X  Last Year's Mill Levy = Last Year's TaxDefinitions:
Fair Value - An amount determined by the city to be the estimated fair market value of that property. It includes land and any improvements upon … (0 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: I'm back and ready to go again.... - 03/27/11 04:17 PM
I shared my first blog post on January 1, 2011.  I started blogging because of the 31 Days of January challenge.  To my surprise, I finished that and joined the Valentine Bloggers Daily Blogging Challenge for February.  Then I made it 21 days into March all on my own.  I thought I was hooked as I've heard it said that 60 days of something will make it a habit....
However, I finally just had to let a day go by without blogging.  It was consuming all my time and thoughts - not that it was a bad thing, though, as it really brought me to … (18 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: High Altitude, Cool Air, Sunny Skies - a Prescription for Sunburn! - 03/21/11 05:19 AM
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Laramie is 7163 feet above sea level.  With this altitude comes cooler weather and thinner air.  Another often overlooked feature of higher elevation is the increased danger of the sun's UV rays.  Why?  There is less atmosphere above us at the higher elevations to filter out the harmful rays of the sun.                                                                          So even though the days are cooler, you can get sunburned up to three times faster.  Ironic, isn't it?!For very technical descriptions of this phenomenon you can go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_indexhttp://www.epa.gov/sunwise/doc/what_is_uvindex.htmlTo determine the UV forecast for your area go to:  http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/uvindex.htmlOf course, we should … (19 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Altitude and Attitude - 03/20/11 04:09 PM
Having a good attitude about altitude is essential the higher you go above sea level.  Along with the cooler air comes thinner air and thus less oxygen.  You can't go to the store around here without seeing at least one person carrying and using a portable oxygen tank.                                                                            Just last summer a visitor from a lower elevation developed altitude sickness just hanging out here in town - before they even had a chance to go to the mountains.  I understand this is somewhat common and ideally, people who visit from lower elevations should add a few days to their plans … (9 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Full Moon - 03/19/11 04:49 PM
On the news today they said that last night and tonight the moon would look bigger than usual.  This is because tonight the moon will make its closest approach to earth in 18 years.  This event is what astronomers call a "perigean full moon."  While driving around last night we had noticed that the moon did seem unusually bright.  Now we know why!
The moon was visible for a bit tonight and indeed, it was big and brilliant!  But before I could capture a shot, it dashed back behind the clouds, showing no sign of returning.
I was bummed at having … (9 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: It said "No Smoking", so why did you call anyway? - 03/18/11 02:56 PM
As owners and managers of our own apartments (not affiliated with Century 21 Real Estate Center, Inc.), my husband and I made the decision to offer a smoke free, pet free and "party" free environment to our renters.  All ads that we run explicitly say:
                                         No smoking, No pets, No parties.  Why then, do so many smokers call and come to view our apartments anyway?  We've heard it all:
I only smoke outside", "Living here will be just what I need to quit", "It's okay, I only smoke with a hookah", "No, that ashtray smell isn't me, it's … (18 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Meet Eva - 03/17/11 11:23 AM
Meet Eva!  She is the newest member of our extended family.  That means she does not live in our house but we will still get to see her as she belongs to my brother.  Can you believe she is only 5 months old?  I had no idea German Shepherds grew to be so big!  She is such a puppy even though she is enormous.  She likes to mouth everything and never tires of following all the kids around when they are together.  Of course, the kids are in love with her, too!

Since Eva's arrival I have been able to learn all about the German … (14 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Letterboxing - Your Own little Treasure Hunt - 03/16/11 04:02 PM
Unlike Geocaching which uses GPS coordinates to locate hidden "caches", Letterboxing relies on using written clues found online (at http://letterboxing.org/) to find the hidden boxes.  We discovered letterboxing a few years back and decided to give it a try.  When we went online, we were surprised to find out that quite a few were hidden right around here!
    
As a matter of fact, anybody, can go to the site and find out if there are any letterboxes hidden in their area.  The first one we found was hidden in the forest under a giant, fallen-tree trunk.  We felt … (2 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Temperature Comparisons in the Region - 03/15/11 11:38 AM
As mentioned in a previous post, Cheyenne, WY and Fort Collins, Colorado are the nearby go-to places for quick shopping trip outside of Laramie.  We like to joke that the temperature will be 10 degrees higher in either place so instead of bringing a just-in-case jacket we need to be prepared to lose layers instead.  Just for fun, I decided to see if indeed the temperatures were as different as we perceive.

If these graphs are accurate at all, it explains why Fort Collins has spring one month sooner and fall one month later than we do!  The differences sure … (4 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Good Morning, Spring....Snow! - 03/13/11 01:55 AM
Good morning!  Snow quietly blanketed Laramie last night while we slept and we woke up to the silent calm of a snowy spring day.  All is good, though, it is still spring and soon the sun will shine again!
    
Out the window, 6:00am, no, wait 7:00 am (daylight savings!), March 13, 2011.
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wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Reverse Osmosis Filtration - 03/12/11 02:32 PM
Another significant issue to consider when purchasing land in Albany County is water.  We have whole areas in the county with no accessible water.  Even if a well is drilled and water is found does not mean the water will be potable (usable). 
Some land owners are willing to overlook this and haul water to their land and homes themselves, often storing it in their own underground containers (cisterns).  Other land owners are lucky enough to have well water, but the water is unsafe for human and/or animal consumption. In this case they resort to some sort of filtration system, … (7 comments)

wyoming: Laramie, Wyoming Real Estate: Country Roads - 03/11/11 02:59 PM
Since we are the land of wide, open spaces, we get lots of calls from people looking for rural land. Many of those calls come from people not familiar with the area. One thing to consider about country living in Albany County is the roads.  Albany county has miles and miles of dirt roads.  Some of them county, some of them private, some a little bit of both.  These roads range from ones somewhat maintained  regularly by the county to those not maintained at all, ever.  Even the well maintained roads can become impassable for days at a time with no … (13 comments)