Get ready for sticker shock as you open the mail and get your tax bill. As values soften throughout the state, why are your property taxes going up? How can assessed values continue to increase even though property values are softening? Why will your taxes likely...
Colorado Hard Money Blog
Alterra (Ikon) buys Arapahoe Basin, impact on ski real estate
Alterra Mountain Company has announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, from Dream Unlimited Corp., expanding Alterra’s portfolio of destinations in the Rockies. What does this mean for real Colorado ski real estate? ...
Is Colorado setting up buy now pay later for property taxes
The legislature passed a little known bill to allow property owners to defer their property taxes above 4% increase starting in 2023. To get the message out, they sent out the flier above that I received this week. On the surface, this sounds like an amazing plan. ...
Colorado has highest debt per person of any state
What does Colorado’s debt load mean for real estate prices? I was surprised to see Colorado exceed every other state in the country on both the amount of debt and debt as a percentage of income. Why do Coloradoans have more debt than others? Why is debt an important...
Denver has highest increase in violent crime in US, impact on real estate
Of U.S. cities with more than half a million residents, only Denver’s overall violent crime (including aggravated assault, sex assault, robbery and homicide) has risen by more than 90% between 2012 and 2022, according to FBI data. What does the surge in crime mean...
Bill to quadruple taxes on short term rental passes out of committee
With the failure of proposition HH, the Colorado legislature is on the hunt for tax revenue and nightly rentals are in the cross hairs. Not surprisingly, the recent proposal to quadruple taxes on nightly rentals recently passed out of Colorado legislative committee...
Vail pass sales increase 86%, Colorado mountain towns revolt
What does the increased tension between Vail and ski towns mean for real estate? Vail, the owner of major ski resorts and the epic pass, is selling approximately 86% more passes than in 2019. At the same time mountain towns throughout Colorado and the country...
Property tax bomb awaiting Denver
Denver office vacancy exceeds 30% for first time since 1990’s In 2019 office vacancy stood around 16%, lower than the national average. Fast forward and Denver office vacancy has almost doubled to over 30%. Why is the vacancy rate so important to Denver...
Copper and Keystone outperform Breckenridge, why?
Over the last several years both Keystone and Copper Mountain have appreciated at almost double the rate of Breckenridge. Why the sudden change in fate for Copper Mountain and Keystone? What big changes occurred in governmental regulations to cause the surge in...
2024 Colorado real estate predictions, will prices continue falling?
Wow, 2023 has been quite the year in real estate. The beginning of the year started out good but as interest rates rose substantially volumes dropped off a cliff and prices began falling. What do the changes mean for Colorado real estate in 2024? Will prices have a...
Did Breckenridge implement rent control? Did Summit County take “property rights”?
A federal judge has effectively frozen a legal battle over Summit County’s short-term rental regulations — at least temporarily — after county officials filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by area homeowners. One of the claims of homeowners is that the new...
Second homeowners charged higher property taxes in Colorado
Although HH, the Colorado tax reduction initiative was ultimately defeated, there was one profound item in the legislation that will have far reaching impacts. One of the biggest changes in the proposal is that second homeowners (non-primary residents) are now paying...
Ready for Colorado property taxes to increase 35%
With much fanfare, CO legislators met in a special session to focus on tax relief once again after the searing defeat of HH. As suspected, the agenda was filled with allot of stuff not related to property taxes (Tabor checks, low income tax credits,...
Colorado property tax bill fails in stunning defeat
What happens now for Colorado property tax relief? Leading up to election day, millions was spent to try to convince voters to give up Tabor for small tax relief. Voters saw through the games and complexity and in the end the bill failed miserably with over 60% voting...
Live like a local, pay hotel property taxes on nightly rentals
Big changes in store for Colorado real estate in the upcoming legislature Colorado Governor Polis, in a recent interview, called short term rentals paying residential rates a “loophole” that he supports closing. “Residential properties that work like hotels...
New CO outlaws housing caps
Colorado is expensive (as shown above for Boulder) and the legislature thinks they once again have the answer. In the last legislative session all eyes were focused on a sweeping land use proposal basically outlawing single family zoning which was ultimately...
Real Colorado property tax reduction on the ballot in 2024
I wrote last week about proposition HH to eliminate Tabor under the guise of property tax relief. It is a bit ironic that it was just announced that there is a new property tax initiative that qualified for the 2024 ballot, initiative 50. The new initiative would...
Colorado’s back door tax hike allows local governments to grow 20 times inflation.
Property taxes in Colorado are off the charts with many seeing an increase of 40% plus in the last assessment which is considerably higher than any inflation measure. Lawmakers took up the cry from voters with a vengeance coming up with a solution that not only makes...
Short term rentals coming for the suburbs of Denver, Colorado
Joining Denver and some of Colorado's biggest ski towns, which have created strict rules for STRs in recent years, residents across Jefferson County (suburb of Denver) say they have fallen victim to an issue that has long plagued other parts of the state. Why are the...
Will real estate crash in Colorado? Where should you not invest in Colorado?
The good times continue to roll on. Inventory is down and prices are stabilizing and still increasing in some markets. When will there be a reset in Colorado real estate prices. What happens when this cycle ends? Are there opportunities currently? Where will new...
Cannabis quickly coming off its high; the green rush turning red; impact on real estate
Cannabis was the new goldmine for many years. I always am entertained by the chart above form a few years ago showing the sales of marijuana/resident. Unfortunately, the high does not last and is turning more into a hangover as marijuana becomes more mainstream with...
‘Airbnb collapse’, what does this mean for Colorado cities and real estate prices
A tweet that went viral last week proclaimed "the Airbnb collapse is real," with a screenshot of data attributed to AllTheRooms, a short-term rentals analytics company, showing revenue per available listing at Airbnbs between May 2022 and May 2023 down nearly 50%. ...
Denver Tops the nation in rent increases; if it is not due to demand, then what?
Metro Denver apartment rent inflation has outstripped income gains by a higher margin than any other major city in the U.S. since 2009, according to a recent study by Real Estate Witch. Furthermore, Denver has experienced the second highest jump in rents in the...
Colorado Mountain town tax revenue continues to grow, what does this mean for real estate prices?
Regardless of all the talk of a recession, soft landing, or something in between. Many Colorado mountain towns continue to see record tax sales revenue. How is this happening while domestic tourism is pulling back? What does this mean for the upcoming ski season? ...