Boulder Real Estate:
When and should you buy in Boulder?
If your first criteria for buying a home in Boulder is to live in a beautiful area - this decision is a no brainer. Boulder is one of the most scenic cities in America.
If you are next wondering if you can afford a house in Boulder, that is a tough question or an even tougher question is whether to buy now or wait (thinking they might go down). But one thing is for sure, you definitely pay more to live in such a beautiful place.
There are several reasons that Boulder is one of the most expensive places to live in America. The biggest reason is Boulder is land-lock in terms of growth because it is surrounded by protected open space and allows very little growth each year. This lack of new real estate creates a great demand for homes in Boulder.
In the 90's the average price for a Boulder home has risen sharply - in the past few years those high prices have cooled the demand somewhat. Of course the other reason the market has cooled is because of the Boulder economy. The Boulder area attracts many high-tech business such as IBM, Sun Microsystems and Level3 - and since the dot-com crash a few years ago the job market has softened which has affected the housing market. The number of jobs in the services sector has increased by 175% from 1985 to 1999. In 1999, nearly 1 in 3 employees in Boulder County were employed in the services sector.
If you don't want to spend a lot and get less house for Boulder real estate, you might consider towns such as Broomfield, Louisville and Niwot where you can get much more house for less money. Of course the downside to this is you might not be able to walk or ride your bike to Pearl street - but a car ride to Boulder is only about 15-20 minutes.
Some useful links to help you decide if Boulder is right for you:
Boulder Real Estate County Assessor helpful site for finding out what houses are selling for.
Boulder Home ownership Programs
Last revised January 16, 2009
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