Three Friday the 13ths, Meetup Invite, Assumables and More
- Crisafulli Team
- Apr 7
- 6 min read
New listing:
2757 Sternwheeler, Fort Collins, CO
List price: $550,000
Status: Under contract
Seller savings with our flat fee: $6,500
Hello!
Did you know we get three Friday the 13ths this year?
(Or is it Fridays the 13th?)
While apparently rare, this feels on brand for 2026.
Not that we’re superstitious, or even a little stitious, we just can’t help recognizing patterns. Humans that we are, we’re always trying to predict how to minimize negative outcomes and maximize positive ones.
Which is also, of course, why AI was invented.
Right now AI is both over-covered in the popular media, and under-understood, but here’s an article that
clearly explains what drives mortgage rates, and
lays out an AI-assisted prediction of where rates may be heading over the next 5 years.
Of course, take it with a grain of salt. At least they used Claude by Anthropic—not exactly philanthropic, but not misanthropic like some other players in this space.
Why Mortgage Rates Jumped
Average 30-year mortgage rates just jumped up to 6.29% this week. Why? Wars—or non-wars—and a lot of global uncertainty.
Northern Colorado Housing Snapshot
Low home supply is still an issue both regionally and nationally, a big factor in price and affordability. This may change over the next 10 years as population growth has slowed dramatically across the US and also in Fort Collins–Loveland. Greeley, however, is a different story...
Inventory is stable regionally, but has dropped in Fort Collins—we’ve felt this firsthand with heavy Buyer competition recently. Low inventory is still giving Sellers meaningful leverage in many cases, and if you’re curious what your home might sell for in this market, we’re always happy to run the numbers
Median Sales Price (Single-family homes, February 2026)
Boulder—$1.42M (down significantly from $1.9M last Feb)
Berthoud—$700,000
Windsor—$598,000
Fort Collins—$585,000
Longmont—$544,500
Loveland—$505,000
Johnstown—$499,000
Greeley—$439,500
Wellington—$427,500
Home Energy Upgrades
Lastly, we’re still on the home energy upgrade kick. The guide is below for your reference. Yours truly is getting a full system upgrade in the next couple of weeks for a shockingly low out-of-pocket cost. Reach out with questions or assistance—we’d love to help.
In any weather, yours,
Crisafulli Team
P.S. Here’s some stuff that did not fit with the flow:
There might actually be a passenger train servicing the front range starting in 2029 🤨. You can vote on the name here.
Senate housing bill to limit institutional investors and ease restrictions on affordable housing product construction is heading to Trump’s desk.
Sign up with NOCO Alert to receive emergency notifications—wind, fire, winter storms, etc. Stay safe out there!
A Semi-Efficient Guide to Home Efficiency
Intro and Background
Purpose: To help homeowners take advantage of the massive rebates available for beefing up your insulation and air sealing, and getting new, efficient systems for heating and cooling.
Why Owners Should Care
More comfortable living space through consistent heating and cooling.
Utility bill savings through both more efficient systems, and a tighter home envelope.
Valuable home upgrade that will make your home stand out if you plan to sell or take out equity.
Why Buyers Should Care
Buying an older home doesn’t mean you’re fully on your own to improve insulation, heating and cooling.
Access to these rebates means looking at a larger inventory pool.
Learning about home energy efficiency makes you a more savvy buyer.
You know what’s aggravating? Now, when you format something as we’ve done below, it looks like ChatGPT had a hand in it. It doesn’t even have hands! But this is where we’re at. The age of having to check a box on a website testifying that you’re not a robot. We are not robots. We wrote this out based on our experience and research. Surely you’ll find some typos for additional evidence.
This guide applies to anyone served by Platte River Power Authority. You may have never heard of or noticed them, but they supply power to Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park, Longmont. If you’re an Xcel customer, there will be even more savings.
It may seem counterintuitive that the electric and gas companies are giving rebates for efficiency upgrades, since that means burnin’ less of what they’re sellin’. We’ve been told there are a few reasons this is happening. If some of the answers sound contradictory, well, maybe that’s just the world we live in now. We’re just the messenger:
It is more economical to reduce demand on the grid, than to make the plant investments and upgrades that would be needed if demand continues to rise at the current rate.
There is a State, and stated, goal of electrifying the grid, so that alternative sources of power can be introduced over time. Currently, most electricity in Colorado is generated from coal, but this is slowly shifting. To justify making investments into alternative energy sources, the grid of customers must be in place. “If you come, they will build it,” like they said in Dreams of Field, starring Costner Kevin.
State mandates and incentives require Xcel to administer some of the federal funds that are making the rebates possible. Rather than fighting against the tide of electrification, this is an opportunity for Xcel (and other gas companies) to be involved in energy decisions. No doubt they will find a way to still turn a healthy profit.
TL;DR
Connect with Efficiency Works to get a home energy audit and kick off the process
Figure out where to start—air sealing and insulation if you need it, upgraded mechanicals if your envelope is already tight.
Lean on your contractors to help walk you through the rebates. This is symbiotic, as incentives are aligned. The more you save, the more likely you are to use their services.
The Steps
1. Schedule home energy audit
Efficiency Works is a public-facing side of Platte River Power Authority. To gain access to Efficiency Works rebates, and have a baseline of your home’s energy rating, you have to have a home energy audit. Start here to speak with an advisor, and schedule the assessment, which will be $0 to $60 depending on income.
2. Analyze report
The report will give your home an energy score and provide the top recommendations for increasing efficiency, and also for any health and safety issues that may have come up.
3. Start with the envelope
Before you start switching out the major mechanicals of your home, make sure your home building envelope is as tight as possible. To achieve this, especially in older homes (1990s and older), focus on air sealing and insulation.
4. Get bids (or don’t)
Several contractors in the area do this work, but we’ll save you some time. Don’t get bids, just call Ascend Construction.
They’re the best at what they do, and importantly, can walk you through the available rebates for this work.
If you’re an Xcel customer, you could get up to $2,250 for air sealing and insulation, and another $1,500 through Efficiency Works.
5. Maximize rebate potential
Xcel customers can enroll in the Whole Home Efficiency Program which gives rebates (list of upgrades included in rebate programs) for upgrades, but also a 25% bonus rebate if 3 upgrades are made within 2 years.
6. Understand financing
If you can’t, or don’t want to, fork over a bunch of cash for these upgrades, you can apply for the EPIC loan, specifically offered for efficiency upgrades, featuring no money down and low interest rates. It gets paid back monthly on your utility bill.
7. Upgrade equipment
This is where the $20,000 HVAC upgrade for $2,000 comes in, by stacking the rebates from Efficiency Works, Xcel, and here’s a new one, the HEAR program, a State Department of Energy program designed for low- and moderate-income (up to 150% of the AMI, income charts by County here) households. For maximum savings, you do have to pick contractors who are enrolled with (and knowledgeable of) each of these programs. There are a lot of good ones, but our top picks are FC Heating and Air and MGI.
Featured Properties For Sale With Assumable Mortgages
March 2026 Update: Most assumable properties anymore will require a significant down payment, and the Roam platform has changed so you have to look at each property before knowing the difference between loan amount and list price.
Now, the strategy is to consider the second, or GAP, financing approach. Pay attention to the blended rate by playing with the slider next to each listing—it often can still be a huge win for buyers.
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