Entries by Babs De Lay

$20K Help or Not?

First time home buyers or folks who haven’t owned a home in the past three years should be jumping up and down now that the $20,000 has been authorized/released from the State Legislature for qualified buyers. BUT it’s not as wonderful as it seems. First, only 2,400 qualified homebuyers will be able to get the […]

PADDLE TIME

When it’s hot as hell we all like to find cool water. From our myriad of lakes and reservoirs to out rivers around the state, people love to swim, boat, paddleboard and kayak especially now that a really harsh winter has almost melted away. There’s one waterway many of us don’t think about-the Jordan River […]

Small Steps

If you travel to NYC and happen by Central Park, you’ll most likely see the park’s horse carriages for hire. They generally seat four humans and cost about $150 for a 45 minute tour of the lower end of the park. Salt Lake City used to have carriage rides but in August of 2013 a […]

Growing Pains

We love our cars, don’t we? As our state grows, so does our need to address traffic around the state. Six groups, including the Cache Metro Planning Org. (CMPO), Dixie Metro Planning Org. (Dixie MPO), Mountainland Assoc. of Governments (MAG), Utah Dept. of Transportation (UDOT), Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) […]

Catch Cans

Wasatch mountain ski resorts had more snowfall than any other recorded year in history. Utah isn’t unique, the Sierras and Colorado’s Rocky Mountains got hammered too.  Happily this translates into the end of the multi-year drought that’s been plaquing the West for several years, as lakes and reservoirs fill and rivers are running high-with several […]

Damn Bug-ly!

They’re baaaack!  A plague of those creepy crawly Mormon crickets are chewing their way through Nevada and are headed our way.  Native Americans long valued these ugly bugs for their nutritional value, herding them to gather to roast and grind into a flour of sorts making edible cakes of sorts that pioneers called “desert fruitcakes”. […]

Growing Pains

We love our cars, don’t we? As our state grows, so does our need to address traffic around the state. Six groups, including the Cache Metro Planning Org. (CMPO), Dixie Metro Planning Org. (Dixie MPO), Mountainland Assoc. of Governments (MAG), Utah Dept. of Transportation (UDOT), Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) […]

Renter Equity?!

The National Assn. of REALTORS published data last month showing that SLC homeowners gained an average of $238,240 in equity in the past decade. The report added that almost 72% of Salt Lake’s citizens own their own home. This is GREAT if you actually own, rather than rent because it’s like having a savings account […]

Good for Bad

Starting this month people with bad credit may be able to get federally insured mortgages thanks to people getting new loans with good credit. I’m so not making this up! About 25% of homebuyers of FHA loans are people of color. Generally, the demographic on average has fewer savings for down payments on homes and […]

Property Taxes

A few weeks ago I shared the median price of homes for sale in our surrounding states. What I didn’t mention was the huge range in property tax assessments in this country. The average jump in taxes on your home, condo, duplex, etc. was 3% in 2022 over the previous year averaging $3,901 annually in […]