Taxes, fentanyl, trans youth in sports, hunting, natural gas are among matters voters will have a say on the ballot come November. Along with these issues is the battle of the century regarding the fate of your tax dollars with the elimination of the Taxpayer Bill of...
In Colorado there seems to be a pervasive theory that the entire state should focus on a few outliers even if it means higher taxes and costs for everyone else and there is no longer a pragmatic approach to anything in Colorado. A recent example is a Colorado Supreme...
In my blog last week Is affordable housing causing the surge in ski town home prices? I asked the question what was the impact on affordable housing in relation to ski prices . I was pretty surprised at the resounding answer regarding affordable housing What...
The appreciation over the last seven years throughout Colorado has been astounding, but now it is time to pay the piper. What cities in Colorado are most at risk of rewinding most if not all of the Covid appreciation gains? Why are “suburban” markets more at risk...
Take a look at the stock chart of Vail Resorts, which has lost almost 60% of its value in the last five years while the S&P has returned an approximately 90% gain. The vultures are circling with a Utah billionaire proposing a sale of Park City to stop the...
Over the last 30 years I continue to hear about the “affordable housing crisis”. Do we really have an affordable housing crisis or a leadership crisis within the ski towns. A recent proposal in Steamboat pegs the build cost of one affordable housing unit over 1.7m....
The Colorado legislature just voted for the largest tax increase in Colorado’s history. As you suspect they are framing this as a tax increase “without increasing taxes”. Essentially the new ballot initiative will allow the state to eliminate the taxpayer...
The Pueblo wildfire grew from 40 acres to 30 thousand acres in one day at the same time fire weather watches are up and winds are howling throughout the state. Two fires start near Campgrounds/lakes and yet the fire chiefs proclaim they have no idea how the fires...
This week, U.S. News and World report again released its popular ‘best places to live’ ranking, and once again, Colorado got snubbed in a big way. Just two short years ago Colorado Springs ranked as the 3rd-best place to live in the United States in the same report...
Instead of cutting bloat from the Colorado Government there is a new proposal to help the state spend even more by doubling the state income tax rate on “wealthy taxpayers”. The theory is who doesn’t want free money; someone else is going to pay. What...
Colorado property insurance costs have roughly doubled since 2020 placing Colorado in the top spot of insurance increases in the entire country. What is the top factor driving Colorado insurance rates much higher than the national average (it is not...
Colorado is having a tough year. Snowfall was down nearly 60% over the holidays, resulting in only about 11% of skiable terrain being opened in December and skier visits are down 20%. Vail resorts, the largest ski operator, is getting hit hard as seen in the stock...
The legislature is back at it again, thinking that they are going to solve the housing crisis by even more regulations and expense on property owners. The new proposal (HB 26-1106) will essentially ban evictions in many towns and quadruple the cost of evictions...
I was asked a question by one of my readers, what will legalized prostitution mean for Colorado real estate prices? If you haven’t seen it, there is a new senate bill to legalize prostitution in Colorado by promoting “commercial sexual activity”’; the proposal goes...
2025 was the year for housing in the Colorado legislature; the underlying theme is that more regulation of everything will somehow bring costs down. Unfortunately the opposite is occurring with many lower priced rentals drastically increasing prices to comply with...
Colorado has continued pushing for statewide zoning in the last several legislative sessions. The new proposal, House Bill 26-114 would radically alter every community in Colorado. The new bill mandates 2k foot min lot sizes statewide (no exceptions for any cities)....
In the legislature, it appears the biggest struggle for Coloradans is “$20 beer at a Nuggets game, the $10 water at the airport or the $80 Tylenol at the emergency room,” state Rep. Yara Zokaie, a Fort Collins Democrat, said during a news conference at the state...
Two high end Colorado ski towns are taking radically different stances on tourism. Vail had proposed a 17% short term rental sales tax, while Steamboat is taking the opposite approach by proposing to tax vacant homes. Which solution is correct? What does each one...
The figure sounds ominous that Breckenridge summer bookings are down 17%. Is the sky falling in Breckenridge with visitation? At the same time bookings dropped nightly rates actually increased. How is this possible? Are the new nightly rental regulations to blame...
2026 looks like it is going to be a quite interesting year. Is it a rinse and repeat of 25? Inflation is remaining sticky, interest rates are high, while property taxes and insurance bills have skyrocketed throughout Colorado. There is a ton of negative news coming...
There is yet another law coming out of the Colorado statehouse on affordable housing. This new law allows state and local governments the first right of refusal on most multifamily property and requires notice to the government of any intent to sell prior to listing...
This election in Colorado is following similar patterns of tax and spend. I wish one of these elections we could vote to reduce taxes and spending! Did voters in Denver approve 1 billion in new spending? What ski town proposed a 17% short term rental tax? What...
Look at the chart above, the debt carried by Colorado’s residents is higher than any other state in the country including expensive states like California, NY, etc. The largest factor is mortgages but also note a stark increase in variable debt (credit cards,...
A fall from a lift in Crested Butte, leads to a 21m loss for Vail even with the ski safety act (first ever). Is the lawsuit actually a win for Vail resorts (even though they lost money)? Why is this case so monumental? What does this case mean for Colorado...
