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...
Crested Butte, CO it the latest to propose a vacancy tax with one major shift, nightly rentals would be covered by the new tax along with second homeowners. Who knew that Colorado ski towns would be taking economic lessons from Portland Oregon,one of the worst...
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...
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...
How can property taxes jump 40% since 2023 when values are basically flat in most areas? Is there anything you can do about it? In 2022, with property values and in turn taxes surging, the Colorado governor signed a grand bargain to save on property taxes in...
First, thank you to everyone who reads my blogs and has contacted your legislatures and various associations to ensure that the real estate industry is being heard at the Colorado Capital. Many of the original proposed bills have been...
In Colorado you will be receiving your new tax assessment in the next few weeks (typically the beginning of May) and time is of the essence as you have a limited window if you want to fight your tax value. Your taxes are likely going up even though the market...
Why is Steamboat Springs leading the way? Although in the last legislative session the initiative to charge second homeowners more was defeated, it is rearing its head again in the form of a new backdoor “vacancy tax”. The leaders of this new push are the Colorado...
Will Colorado property owners actually see real property tax relief? Property owners are fed up with the run away increases in Colorado property taxes and yet the legislature has done very little. The governor and legislature blinked from the threat at the ballot...
With little real progress on property tax relief by the legislature (above is the legislative fix), there is an initiative now on the November ballot to radically alter how property taxes work in Colorado. The new initiative would cap property taxes with a...
In the waning hours of the legislative session, a grand tax bill reduction was introduced to supposedly offset the 40-50% increases in the last tax cycle. The headlines are everywhere “Bipartisan bill would bring long-term property tax relief for Colorado homeowners”....
Property taxes on short-term rental properties in Colorado would more than triple under a bill drafted by state lawmakers that comes as communities from Durango to Denver grapple with surging numbers of vacation rentals. What is in the new proposal? How will this...
There is yet another proposal in the statehouse on affordable housing. This new bill would allow governments the first right of refusal on basically any multifamily property and require notice to the government of any intent to sell prior to listing with huge fines...
Just like in California, Colorado recently passed a bill to create a statewide insurance plan to write insurance policies in high risk areas. Why are most major insurers now leaving California? What does this mean for the future of property insurance in Colorado?...
It is amazing that Colorado continues to pursue a growth strategy throughout the state with the knowledge that we are basically out of water. The issue of water is coming to a head in one part of the state. Colorado is legally required to stop irrigating...
Every time I open the news, I’m amazed at what is happening in the Colorado legislature. As a rental property owner, I cringe as it is becoming next to impossible to cost effectively operate a rental property. The new bill is titled “safe housing”. Who...
New vacant building tax immediately implemented Lakewood, CO just implemented the first vacant building tax I have seen in Colorado. It seems a bit counterintuitive to put more taxes on a property owner that is already struggling with vacancy. Why did Lakewood...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
