As we enter the final quarter of 2026, it’s time to start thinking about all the fun things ahead from powder days (yes they are coming) to festive holidays, and time with friends and family in the mountains. It's also important to talk about maintenance! We should always take care and maintain our personal health and well-being, but it's also imperative to prioritize the health and wellness of your property, whether here in Grand County or elsewhere. It is critical when faced with weather elements, usage wear and tear and age.
In the current real estate market, we are experiencing more of a buyer’s desire for a certain amount of “perfection” in a property’s condition. Whether you plan to sell now or down the road, we cannot stress enough how important it is to keep up on property maintenance whether small or great. For instance, having your septic or sewer line preventatively scoped could save you lots of money down the road; getting those pesky roots cut out now before they split your line will save you time and money. Or having your heat tape checked before you turn it on, making sure it works before an ice dam forms or even worse, it causes a fire due to faulty wiring. We’ve preached this many times, but after facing lengthy inspections and objections time after time, we feel it’s an important point to harp on.
And if you are a condo owner or investor, we REALLY want you to read this. With the current interest rates rising more than falling, the more favorable rates are currently in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac (FM/FM) “approved” properties. With condos, you’ll find that the definition is “warrantable.” This isn’t to say “non-warrantable” is a dirty word - it isn’t - and we LOVE our lenders who have non-warrantable product in their portfolio. This PSA is more of a heads up to lean into your condo association, whether you own or are buying, so you understand some of the recent requirements. You should ensure your condo association is doing things correctly so you don’t waste time on either side of the deal. (CAVEAT- we are not in the lending business, but we do deal with this on a daily basis and want all property owners to know, whether you are buying or selling or have no plans to do either, it is important to engage your property managers.)
INSURANCE- current FM/FM guidelines are requiring that insurance policies carry higher deductibles and they are analyzing replacement costs. They want to make sure replacement costs are at 100%. BUDGET AND RESERVES - the current requirement is that the budget reflect at least 10% in reserves to cover any replacement or unforeseen expenses in a fiscal year. This is supposed to increase to 15% Jan 4, 2027. We’ll see if this happens or if FM/FM pushes this deadline. There is nothing to fear here and no reason to think condo buying or selling is SCARY (we’ll touch on scary next month since it’s Halloween…stay tuned). These newer requirements, now more than ever, just take more diligence and awareness in planning.
If you need help, we have a masterful set of lender partners we work with who get this better that we just explained here and would love to guide you, your board, association, etc to make the process less stressful and painful for everyone involved. Call us and we’ll point you in the right direction. Oh, and check the webcams at Winter Park resort this week or CDOT- you might just see some white stuff up high!
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