The Dumont Group of 1st Place Realty

03/09/2019

"Idaho is tied with Nevada for the highest growth rate in the nation, at 2.1 percent, between July 2017 and July 2018. The national growth rate was .6 percent."

While the Gem State continues to grow, many people are also leaving Idaho for neighboring states.

03/06/2019

Boise tops the list again.

Livability.com surveyed more than 1,000 Millennials about what was important to them when they considered a relocation.

03/03/2019

Boise Charter Schools 2019/2020 Lotteries
By: Amanda Dumont
February 28, 2019

The beginning of a new year signals the time to begin researching school options for your children. Parents who are not quite satisfied with the status quo for their children or who have a specific idea of what they want their children’s education to consist of have options in Boise and the Treasure Valley. Idaho is home to 58 charter schools. 11 of those schools are in Ada County. Charter schools are considered “schools of choice” because they have more freedom to develop curriculum.
Charter schools are public schools. They receive some state funding, though not as much as traditional district schools. As such, charter schools often have to partake in fundraising to make up the funding shortfall. Like all public schools, they have to take all students that enroll; however, enrollment often exceeds available space. To combat the issue of excessive enrollment, charter schools hold lotteries to fill the available seats and form a waiting list each year.
With so many options, it can sometimes become confusing and difficult for parents to navigate the options. So, to help, below you will find a list of the charter schools in Boise and their respective lottery dates. Each school sets its own date. A few schools have already had their lottery and are working on their enrollment lists for the upcoming 2019-2020 school year. If your top school has already had its lottery and you missed out, do not fear. You can always get your child on the waiting list. Additionally, while it can be hard transitioning to a new school mid-year, one thing to keep in mind is if you receive a mid-year, or even late year, offer and you enroll your child, you are in and your child’s seat for the following school year is secured. So, now is also the time to see if there is any availability for your child in the current school year. This will help you avoid the lottery altogether.
So, without further ado, here is the list of Boise charter schools and the date of each school’s lottery:

Future Public School- February 19th
Anser Charter School- February 21st
Sage International- February 28th
The Village- April 12th with deadline to apply on April 11th
Rolling Hills Charter School- April 22nd with the deadline to apply on April 15th
Peace Valley Charter School- April 27th with a deadline to apply on April 25th

To find more information on these and other charter schools in Idaho visit the Idaho Charter School Network website:

Capitol Celebration - January 23, 2017 The event will raise awareness of the benefits of school choice in Idaho.

03/03/2019

Parents often find themselves either unable to afford a house in the boundaries for their top choice school, or have been forced to settle for a home that is not what they want because it is in the school boundaries. The good news is that charter schools allow parents more options and flexibility when choosing a home. They make it so you have a wider area to choose from when looking to buy a home.

Reimagining Education: One school, one classroom, one student at a time Charter schools are independently-operated public schools that have the freedom to design classrooms that meet their students’ needs.

03/02/2019

"School districts should clearly be on every buyer’s radar whether or not kids are in the picture. The right home should be one where you feel comfortable and in a location that makes sense to you and fits your needs in terms of size, style, condition and price."

Whether you have children or not, researching school districts is a crucial step when buying a new home.

03/01/2019

“Schools are a huge driver of where people want to live, more so today than in the past.” “Parents today are more active than ever in planning for their children’s education.”

D.C.-area buyers, even those without children, are drawn to highly ranked districts, buoying local realty markets.

03/01/2019

Education is very important to us as parents, and we're sure it's important to many of our buyers. Stay tuned over the next few days as we highlight some important information relating to home buying and schools.

"Of all the local neighborhood amenities that can influence a buyer's decision to purchase a home, proximity to good quality schools is one of the most influential. According to the National Association of REALTORS® 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 25% of home buyers listed school quality and 20% listed proximity to schools as deciding factors in their home purchase." -National Association of Realtors

02/28/2019

A little weather humor to help you through. Yesterday afternoon gives me hope we are moving into Season 4, which is at least one step closer to Spring.

02/15/2019

January 2019 BRR Market Report
EXISTING HOUSING SUPPLY UP IN JANUARY
AFTER 51 CONSECUTIVE MONTHS OF DECLINES

Did the new year bring with it a new trend in the housing market for Ada County? While one month of existing inventory increases can’t be considered a trend, January 2019 was the first time since October 2014 that the number of existing homes for sale in Ada County was higher than the same month the previous year — up 5.9% compared to January 2018. We’re hopeful that this year-over-year increase is the start of inventory coming back into balance, however, we still have quite a ways to go before that happens.

Any increase in housing inventory is welcome news to those who’ve been looking to buy. If you’ve been considering a move, now would be a great time to talk to your REALTOR® about what’s newly available.

Despite this recent uptick in existing inventory, overall closed sales were down 6.3% year-over-year. Looking at the existing/resale segment specifically, sales were down 18.6% from a year ago. The number of closed sales that are even possible has been limited due to the fact we’ve had fewer and fewer existing homes to sell each month compared to buyer demand for over four years. The logic is simple — buyers haven’t been able to buy homes that aren’t for sale.

Speaking of buyer demand, the “Months Supply of Inventory” metric is a way to measure the relationship between inventory and buyer demand. This metric takes the number of homes for sale (inventory) divided by the average number of closed sales by month for the preceding twelve months. The resulting number can be described as the number of months it would take to sell through all the available supply assuming no other homes came on the market.

As of January 2019, the months supply of existing/resale inventory in Ada County was at 1.2 months, for all price points combined, up from 0.9 months in January 2018, when looking year-over-year, as well as December 2018 looking month-to-month. Still a far cry from the 4-6 months of supply that is considered “balanced,” but a small step in that direction. We will continue to monitor these metrics to see if the trend continues into spring.

01/16/2019

2018 BROUGHT RECORD HIGH HOME PRICES IN ADA COUNTY- BUT WHY?

2018 BROUGHT RECORD HIGH HOME PRICES IN ADA COUNTY — BUT WHY? Key Takeaways: For the year, Ada County’s overall median sales price ended at $314,000 year-to-date (January 1–December 31, 2018), driven by more new homes selling at overall higher prices, primarily due to rising construction costs...

01/01/2019

Happy New Year! We hope 2019 brings you peace, joy, and prosperity. We look forward to helping you with your housing needs in the new year.