Fort Collins Weather

My better half and I both grew up on the East Coast.  I am originally from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, a beautiful part of the country.  I spent my childhood in a very small town of around 200 inhabitants, of which I knew 199 of them.  I hedge my bets a little bit because every town has that reclusive citizen that you see once a year...maybe, but never really get a chance to exchange words.  They like their privacy and so be it.  We had a blinking caution light, a post office and a country store.  It was so country in fact, that you could buy items on credit which meant that the elderly owners would pull out their spiral note book and write your name down with the amount you owed.  Maybe once a week or once a month you would pay off your tab, but I digress.

I bring this up because every time I speak with family or friends or anyone about living in Colorado they always say, "The winters must be so cold and snowy.  I don't know if I could handle it."  They are always surprised when I respond by saying the winters are actually easier in Fort Collins then where I grew up in Virginia and then I proceed to tell them why.  My admittedly unscientific logic (although I do have a background in science) to why Fort Collins winters are more hospitable than winters in Virginia revolves around four variables: temperature, humidity, sunshine, and precipitation:

Temperature:  On average, January is the coldest month in Fort Collins according to Wikipedia with the average daily temp at 29F.  In comparison, here is the info for a town near where I grew up.  The average for January here is 31F....pretty darn close.

Humidity:  This one is a bit tougher to get the numbers, but let's use personal experience.  Humidity in VA, high.  Humidity in Colorado, low.  I always refer to winter's in VA as having a damp, penetrating cold.  The kind that cuts right to the bone.  Not necessarily snowy or icy, but just wet and cold.  Colorado has very low humidity in both summer and winter.  The result is that 30 degrees in VA feels way colder than 30 degrees in CO in general because of humidity.

Sunshine:  Bottom line, we get a lot more of it!  It is also more intense since we are at around 5000 ft here.  This means, it feels very nice and warm in the sun, even when the outside temp is cold.

Precipitation:  If it falls in the winter, it is usually snow.  None of that freezing rain or rain at 36 degrees that makes it even colder than snow, and our storms generally don't last longer than a day.  We are rarely socked in for gray days on end like can happen on the east coast.  There is nothing like a nice, fresh blanket of snow and a great sunny day to take advantage of it.

So, winters here are really very nice....but don't tell everybody.

FHA fee increases start April 1st

Just a tidbit for those folks anywhere in the country that are thinking of buying a property using an FHA loan.  As of April 1st those loans are going to be more expensive, so it may be worth acting now if you are making a purchase in the next 6 months or so.  

The below is excerpted from Jill Hartman at Premier Mortgage Group Fort Collins-

I wanted you to be aware that FHA will increase its annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) by 0.10 percent (from 1.15% to 1.25%) for loans under $625,500.  Upfront premiums (UFMIP) will also increase by 0.75 percent.  The UFMIP will be increased from 1 percent to 1.75 percent of the base loan amount.  This increase applies regardless of the amortization term or LTV ratio.  FHA will continue to permit financing of this charge into the mortgage.  This is quite a significant increase and is effective April 1, 2012 which means your lender must assign a case number before April 1^st in order to use the current, lower amount.

Here is a link to the press release from the FHA:


http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=%2Fpress%2Fpress_releases_media_advisories%2F2012%2FHUDNo.12-037