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...
Throughout the state of Colorado property owners are paying substantially more in taxes than they should due to one fundamental flaw in the assessment. Here is a recent example: I was asked to evaluate a property in CO springs for a loan. The purchase price...
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...
What is the main culprit for increasing prices in ski towns? The list is endless but typically at the top is the huge increase in nightly rentals and the big bad mega passes bringing more people to the ski towns. Unfortunately, this answer is incorrect, it is a...
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...
If anyone were running a profitable business the way the state of Colorado operates, they would be out of business immediately. Colorado has created new programs that now lose ten dollars for every dollar in revenue. What does this mean for your taxes, real estate,...
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...
It has been an interesting year for the Colorado Legislature. After a brutal year for property owners last year, this year was not as bad with no huge bills impacting property owners. We can thank Governor Polis for putting business interests back at the...
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...
In my blog last week, Should Colorado double the income tax rate, I asked the question if Colorado should increase the tax rate on higher earners. I was very surprised with the results of the survey. My base case was that this survey would be a blowout one...
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...
Reading the headline, it sounds absolutely crazy to propose taxing businesses for creating jobs, but is this really a crazy idea? Is every job worth the same in Colorado? For example if someone builds a large hotel in Steamboat creating 15 jobs, should the developer...
In a stinging defeat Lakewood Colorado voters easily defeated by a 2 to 1 margin proposed zoning changes that would have allowed duplexes and triplexes anywhere in the city. The special election vote strikes a blow against those who have been pushing for more density...
Home values in Denver are falling faster than any other major metro area tracked by a key index, earning the Mile High City a dubious distinction as the weakest housing market in the nation. From the chart above it looks like Denver is in a free fall compared...
I’m amazed that there hasn’t been a bigger emphasis on the financial cliffs that most major cities will soon face. Most cities are heavily funded by property taxes and most importantly commercial property taxes. How will cities fund their budgets that...
Condos were once the hottest real estate in Denver and throughout the front range and now suddenly the tides have turned. Days on the market have jumped, prices are down, and sellers are now in a panic to dump properties. Is now a good time to...
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)....
After the Marshall fire, the state of Colorado embarked on a process to eliminate private property insurance. The first step the legislature took was to implement a study of why clean up from wildfires was inadequate and why insurance companies should be on...
