Recently a study was released that named Boise the 5th Best City In America for first time home buyers. I don't buy it but let's just say that the study is accurate and that you're out there shopping for you dream home. The minute you find it, you make an offer and to sweeten the deal you write a "homeowner love letter". You love this house so much that you're willing to plead your case and humbly ask that the current home owners pick you. It's worked for me in the past but it may soon be a thing of the past in Idaho.

Gov. Kate Brown recently signed House Bill 2550  thus making Oregon the first state to make home buyer love letters illegal.

Paul Knighton, CEO of More Realty says that realtors are encouraged to stay clear of these letters.  "An example—when a letter comes in, if it describes the family situation or circumstances, whatever that may be, or indicates or gives a clue to a religious or any other protected class, there's always the risk that a seller could be accused of making a decision based upon inappropriate factors," Knighton said in a ktvb interview.

We all know how competitive this housing market is, so what are you supposed to do if you can't pour your heart out and get the seller to sympathize with you?

"You really have to put your best foot forward, make it a clean offer as possible," said Knighton. "The truth is, this is a incredibly strong seller's market. There's 0.7 months of inventory on the market. The more months of inventory, the closer you get to a buyer's market, but right now it's such a strong sellers market that all the buyers can do is work hard and do their best to put their best foot forward in the offer."

I won't be shopping for a new home in Oregon anytime soon and I hope that Idaho doesn't follow in making homebuyer love letters illegal because I certainly have more love than money to offer.

 

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Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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