Questionable Offers, Public Money & Boulder’s Changing Neighborhoods

House Einstein Podcast #134 Transcript

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Osman: Before we get started, a little disclaimer to this podcast. To be clear, we don't know whether the other offer is real. Our point is that public money shouldn't be committed until it's independently verified. And with that said, let's get into the podcast. Am I the only one questioning this supposed $42.5 million offer for San Lazaro? That's nearly 200,000 per mobile home site, seemingly far above what comparable parks have sold for. The owners claim to have an offer at their full asking price from an unidentified buyer. But has anyone actually seen or independently verified this offer? Who is the buyer? What are the contingencies? And is there any evidence they could actually close? The timing and secrecy seem awfully convenient when the alternative is getting the city, county, and taxpayers to finance a purchase at the same price. And that is from a Reddit user on the Boulder subreddit talking about the San Lazaro mobile home problem that the city and county is trying to solve to allow for affordable housing or to preserve affordable housing. And I'm laughing too because Mr. Balls is back there on screen wanting to be stretching or scratching on the.

Hamish: Stretching on the door. Uh.

Osman: door. I'm not sure what he's doing back there, but clearly wants to be part of the podcast. So with that, welcome to the H- welcome to the House Einstein podcast. I'm Osman Parvez, and with me is Hamish Crabb, and, uh, departing is Mr. Balls, leaving and going down the hallway, which is Hamish's adorable cat.

Hamish: He's got his timing down. Yep.

Osman: He does. He... I,.

Hamish: Yeah, as a quick context, that is a cat's name, not a human's name. But, um, yeah. So San Lazzaro, I mean, that's gonna be one of our.

Osman: I... I mean, I kind of feel like.

Hamish: news stories. But, um, you know, I think that Reddit post raises a good question. Mm-hmm.

Osman: there's a world of people that are testing Boulder just to see how dumb we are, because if we're willing to spend as much as we've spent on Alpine Balsam, maybe we're willing to spend way more than anybody's ever spent in Colorado for a mobile home park with an unidentified buyer who supposedly has submitted an offer and no way to vet that offer. And there's even more detail. We're gonna get into that. And, uh, kudos,.

Hamish: One of our... Yeah.

Osman: kudos to that, uh, Redditor for being on it. Jeff in Boulder is the username, and, uh, we always enjoy their content. So as you may notice,.

Hamish: I was gonna say. Yeah.

Osman: if you're watching this on screen, we are not in studio today. I am actually recording remotely, literally in a van down by the river. I'm, uh, on a little adventure fly fishing trip with a good friend of the pod and advisor to House Einstein, and he is now, uh, celebrating his 70th, and has had some health challenges, and I felt like if I didn't take this trip, it might be-- it may not come again. There may not be another opportunity. So, um, it's just, it's just m- increasingly important for me to spend time with people that I may not have more opportunities to spend time with, and I-- And you just never know, especially as, as people get older, how things are gonna play out. So that's why I'm remote recording today. And Homa-- Hamish is in his office. It feel...

Hamish: It's, uh, almost like a throwback, isn't it? Seeing this, uh, dashboard for the, for the podcast and everything. Nicely done.

Osman: I kinda like it, to be honest. I feel like the camera's more flattering, and it's kinda fun to do it remotely. Um, thank Starlink. I appreciate the technology and all the team of people that put that together, because otherwise I would not be able to stay on top of real estate deals either. I've got two under contract at the moment, both of which are going through inspections this week, and we'll have a tale from the trench maybe next week from that experience, because it's been an interesting journey, uh, to get to the point we're on. But let's walk through the docket. Well, actually, let's declare our mission so that we're clear about what this podcast is about. If you haven't joined us before, our mission in the House Einstein podcast is to entertain you. If you're a client of the brokerage, then we're more than happy to give you advice on your, on your specific real estate situation. But otherwise, if you're just listening to the pod, please do not make any financial decisions, any real estate decisions, any important decisions whatsoever on the basis of what you hear in this podcast. Clients, you know where to reach us. We're more than happy to advise you. And if you're interested in becoming a client, you can find us at hauseinstein.com. Okay. Let's go through the docket. Thank you. Thank you. So th- this is gonna be a short pod, and so I can hear some of you cheering perhaps, because we are remote, and we have a very tight timeline today. We're also gonna do s- a few things differently. We're gonna have, uh, on, on the recommendation, on a comment of a listener, listener, if you're, if you're listening to this, we, we heard you. Uh, you asked us to, uh, put out the, the visibility for the event horizon further than five to seven days, because by the time you hear it, you're missing out on these events. So we're doing that. Now we're, we're putting out events ten to fourteen days, and maybe even longer into the future, and hopefully we don't have any repeats. I think we'll just... If things are g- need updating, we might update. But, uh, going forward, this podcast, we're still gonna include the next five to seven and all the way out to fourteen days. Uh, but then going f- Yeah.

Hamish: Yeah. And even some events tonight too, uh, for those listening. Yep.

Osman: That's right. If you're, if you're listening to this on Friday, uh, the day that we go live, then you might still catch some of these events. But otherwise, you're, you're gonna miss it, unfortunately. Um, but most of the events are much further out. So don't lose heart. Okay. A- and we're gonna do our hot takes after that. We've got a bunch of news stories to talk about. Um, and then we're gonna do carve-outs. So what's missing? We're not doing a table topic this week. A table topic. A closing.

Hamish: Closing table topic. Mm-hmm.

Osman: table, closing table topic this week, and we're gonna skip, um... We're also gonna skip sales of the week to be a little bit more efficient, and we're gonna s- I think we're also gonna skip, uh, shameless self-promotion. So we're just gonna.

Hamish: Yeah. You've got this one called Quick.

Osman: skip, skip through news items, and Event Horizon is pretty much what this pod's all about.

Hamish: Hits, and I almost like that as may- you know, maybe we workshop what that's like. But, uh, could be a, a fun passing segment or, you know, one that comes and goes. Just top of mind, not.

Osman: Okay. All right. Yeah, we might keep it.

Hamish: carve-outs, but things to, to quickly jump on, so. Yeah. We'll see. As always, I mean, shoot, we got feedback and, and we listen. So we do like the feedback, we like the comments. Uh, seeing the five-star reviews is pretty good for me and my ego. I kinda complain. So, uh, yeah, if you're listening now, be sure to interact any way you can. And, um, yeah, we hope you're along for the, the long haul.

Osman: And if you're a YouTube subscriber, thank you so much for doing so. We're now past 3,000 subscribers, which for a tiny little podcast that seems to be Boulder-centric, I feel very happy about that, and, uh, that's just on YouTube.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: That doesn't include all the Apple Podcast subscribers, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and all the other places people get their podcasts. So I'm very, very happy to see it growing.

Hamish: And this is-- That's our YouTube as a whole too. So there's neighborhood guides, um, just released the Time in the Market video as well, which goes into, uh, Boulder real estate in depth and the, the seasonal and cyclical nature through price points. Um, really helpful video. If that sounds interesting, you'll find it on our YouTube, Hal Steinstein. Mm-hmm.

Osman: Yeah, there's a lot of different con- other types of content on our YouTube. All right. Hamish, let's talk about Event Horizon.

Hamish: Yeah. And, uh, this first one, um, I'm gonna just, the long and the short of it is tonight, um, Boulder Reservoir has a drive-in movie for the screening of CoCo. I think I've seen it once. I think I've seen it in Spanish, for Spanish class as homework. Um, and then on the 23rd, they are screening Poltergeist. It's at 7:30. It's at the Boulder Reservoir. And I wanted to share my experience. I'll be going to the one on the 23rd, so if you're there, say hi. You'll see me in a $300 Pathfinder. Um, but the, uh, the sign-up for this event was insane, Osman. And I, I think, you know, we- we're pretty candid about how we feel with, uh, the City of Boulder, but they're using some third-party system. I had to put in like... I mean, granted, I realized it was optional till afterwards, but they were asking, like, my household income, and my first and last name, and my address. And they, I was required to upload a profile picture and all sorts of things to even be able to purchase tickets. So if you'd like to avoid that mess,.

Osman: That's crazy. I mean, Halloween drive,.

Hamish: turns out you can just go to a rec center and pick up tickets there too. So, um, it's just for one car. Uh, if I remember correctly, it's about 30 bucks. But we will have all of the links for these events, for the news items, uh, in the show notes description and on our website. So that's, yeah. It's ridiculous.

Osman: Halloween drive-in movies sound like a lot of fun. It's a bummer that the signup process is so onerous, but Boulder used to have a lot more than... We had the Holiday Drive-In. We also had, um, Boulder Outdoor Cinema that ran for about a decade and then eventually,.

Hamish: Oh. Who would do that?

Osman: um, went defunct. Uh, it... And I, I used to love going to Boulder Outdoor Cinema. I hope a little bit of that spirit is still alive at the reservoir. Uh, people, of course, sneak in beverages and, uh, and it's, it's... I do- I really wonder how they're gonna handle... How are they gonna handle the s-.

Hamish: Yeah. Oh, is that how they were doing it?

Osman: the sound? Because a lot of people don't have, like, AM radios in their car anymore. Like, how are they actually gonna... Well, they also, in the old days,.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah.

Osman: they, they actually handed you a speaker that you could, like, put on your, on your window, um, that was... Or you parked next to a speaker that was, um, mounted to the ground. Uh, so you got, not stereo, but you got mono on th- through one, one window. Um, I have no idea how they're.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Uh.

Osman: gonna... So is, is it really a drive-in like you're in your car, or are people getting out of their car and sitting on a lawn?

Hamish: To my understanding, it's a drive-in, and looking at the photos, they've got, yeah, a little inflatable screen. Good point on the if you have to tune in on your radio, though. My Pathfinder does not have an.

Osman: I sus- Hamish, I bet s-.

Hamish: antenna, so.

Osman: I bet ch- I bet you money that they are not doing actual drive-in cinema. I think you're actually gonna get out of your car and...

Hamish: Yeah. I'm looking at a picture of the Boulder Reservoir with cars pulled in front of it and the projector screen.

Osman: Okay. Well, you may wanna do your.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah.

Osman: homework on... You may have to bring a radio if that's what they're doing is broadcasting on AM or FM.

Hamish: I may be screwed. Silent cinema,.

Osman: Um, okay, so yeah, well... Have you... And you haven't seen.

Hamish: silent films. Uh, I think you had me watch it last.

Osman: Poltergeist, right? I ha-.

Hamish: year as part of my movie education.

Osman: I had you watch it. Okay.

Hamish: But yeah.

Osman: L- Reader, listeners, I did not have.

Hamish: But he suggested it, yes. And it was,.

Osman: Hamish watch Poltergeist. I may have suggested it as a fun movie night. Okay. All right.

Hamish: um, it was watched but maybe not remembered, so a second time I'll, I'll, uh, be able to digest a little bit better, um, m- in the silent film, uh, category. We'll see. But.

Osman: Okay. All right, our next one is Creature.

Hamish: if you're there, I'll be there. Um, should be fun. Marty, yeah. Hmm. I'm not sure.

Osman: performing at The Fox, also Friday night, 7:00 PM. Creature, I've seen them live at a friend's wedding, and they're up and coming. They're sort of Burner adjacent, and they're really fun. Like, we had a great night. So my wife and I will be there on Friday night if you wanna bump into us. Uh, we will be at The Fox. And the Fox Theatre, I- I- Boulder Theater and the Fox Theatre are institutions that I hope continue to thrive in Boulder. We need them in the arts scene. So, um, if you don't have any plans Friday night, come join us to see Creature. And then the CU Buffs game is on Saturday, 8:15, Folsom Field. Who are they playing?

Hamish: You know, the funny thing is, is when I was getting all the--.

Osman: That's all you got? Utah.

Hamish: Utah. I was getting the information together, but I was like, "Ah, they just, you know, they're playing someone." But yeah, uh, Buffs verse Utah.

Osman: Wow. Really, we should be saying, "Who are we playing," Hamish. They're our team.

Hamish: It's true. You're right. It's not very, uh, it's not very local of me.

Osman: Um, but likely will be, uh, it- it will likely be on ESPN,.

Hamish: Well, I hope we win. Mm.

Osman: and that's probably how my wife and I are gonna watch. But if you haven't been to a CU Buffs game, the tailgating experience is a lot of fun. And you can sometimes get tickets if you walk along Folsom. Um, you will sometimes find people desperately trying to sell their tickets. So don't give up all hope if you weren't able to get tickets. You might be able to pick up some cheapies to catch the game. All right.

Hamish: Yeah. So.

Osman: What is, what is happening on the 19th, Hamish, that's very Halloween-y?

Hamish: part of our search to see, you know, what's going on and, and keep us local and into the world, I-- there are multiple websites, Boulder events, and this one is Active Minds Salem Witches. Uh, it'll be at the Gunbarrel library branch, and it's a program on the historical context of the Salem witch trials, the factors that fueled the hysteria, and the impact on American ci- society that's still lasting. So just kind of a fun little off-ball one. If I'm not mistaken, the 19th is a Monday. Yep. So it's, uh, a 2:00 to 3:00 PM. Could be kind of a fun, light, just pop in, pop out, learn a little bit about the witchy world, uh, during spooky season.

Osman: I, I don't have kids, but I feel like it would also be an opportunity to talk to your kids about hysteria and social contagion and how people can believe crazy.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: things. Um, and if, if it, through the whisper chain, and you kind of have to watch out. Uh, and, and I don't know, I'm a big believer in independent thought. I was raised that way, and that came from parents that.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: were questioning the, the dominant paradigm, uh, as it was being fed to us by the nightly news. And that was when we had, you know, three channels of, of, uh, broadcast media. Today, we have millions of different news sources. And boy, people can really lose their marbles. Like, I think the whole.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you, man. Yeah.

Osman: 5G thing, for example, people for a few years were just losing it over 5G, and I, and it felt like social contagion to me.

Hamish: It's, uh... I mean, 5G, what does it do? What can't it do? You better look out. But, um, if, staying, staying on the Salem witches, uh, a follow-up, if you do have a child and you're taking them, I don't, but I would totally check my kid out for this. Uh, you know, get them out of school and just do it. Just as like, what a fun way to be like, "Oh,.

Osman: Um. Yep.

Hamish: yeah, I'm getting you out of school early. We're going to the library." But, um, if they were of reading age too, The Crucible, I had to read it in high school. A really good one, kind of a follow-up about you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't, especially in, uh, hysterical times. So.

Osman: All right, so tell me about Comedy Fempire. You put this one on here.

Hamish: yeah. Osman.

Osman: It's at the Dairy Arts Center, which.

Hamish: Yeah, you're gonna have to, uh, do your disclaimer, yeah.

Osman: full disclosure, I'm on the board of the Dairy, and I don't know what this event is, so that's embarrassing to me. But I'm curious. It sounds like live comedy?

Hamish: Yeah, it's, uh, about-- It's next weekend, so on the 24th, uh, 7:00 PM, and it looks to be, you know, Fempire. It is, uh, I've got eight, um, female comedians. So you've got, I'm gonna just list them off, Gabby Reed, Stacey Peterson, Cara Leone, Pam Moore, Mary Huth, Sam Doctor, Rosalie, Mia Wilson, and Zoe Rogers. Now, none of those immediately spark recognition for me, but this is how a comedy gets started. This is the, uh, the stepping stone to those Netflix co- uh, comedy specials that you always see. So supporting local comedians, especially getting up there and kind of putting it out there for stand-up comedy is, it's a lot. So go get some yucks in. Yeah.

Osman: I mean, I, I know Zoe because I took her stand-up comedy class, and I bet you Sam is our, our, uh, sometimes client who's also taken her class and is continuing to hone his material. So I know some of those comedians.

Hamish: Oh, really? Oh, no, it's all women. Different Sam. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Osman: Oh, it's all women. Oh, different Sam.

Hamish: Fem- Fempire, Osman. Come on, man.

Osman: Okay. All right. Well, I don't, I mean, uh, uh, I, I don't know how he identifies.

Hamish: I'm kidding. You got me there.

Osman: It's not my business, so, um, how they, I should say how they identify. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. All right.

Hamish: Yeah. Um,.

Osman: And then last but not least... Oh, no, no, there's a few, there's a.

Hamish: well, yeah.

Osman: few more. There's a few more. All right.

Hamish: Just, I've got a comedian friend, and I've been trying to see if he will have an event in Boulder, 'cause he every now and then does it. Um, but it's been like two years since I've seen any activity. So I'm starting to get less looking out for him and more worried, like maybe I should check in. Yeah.

Osman: It takes a lot of time to develop material, and it's a process of, of iteration. When you really get good at it, you know, you, you try out your new material and you... It, it's also, it's also scary AF, uh, standing up in front of a room full of people.

Hamish: You did it, right? Yeah.

Osman: with a microphone and hoping what you're about to say actually is somewhat funny. I, I, I think I realize that I'm probably not a natural comedian and would have to work really hard to make this a thing. And I suspect the vast majority of comedians, I mean, I mean, I know this, right? Like, the success rate's gotta be one in 10,000 that try turn into an act- can actually make a living at being a comedian. I just wanted to try it because I felt like it scared me, and.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. It's in a good way.

Osman: it turned out it did. It, it did scare me,.

Hamish: Yeah. It wasn't one of those situations.

Osman: and I don't need to be scared again. I don't think I'll resume that, that practice. Other than it was kind of fun to conquer your fear and stand up in front of a room full of people, but I, I don't know if I'll do it again. It,.

Hamish: where you saw just immediate success with it and that scared you. Just too much traction where you're like...

Osman: it also took up a lot of time, and.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah.

Osman: a- and late night, right? Like, I like to be in bed by 9:00. Like, I like to be asleep by 9:30. And,.

Hamish: That's true. Yeah. And then you have prepping all your material and delivery and.

Osman: and s- and, and the club scene is a nighttime.

Hamish: everything, like... Mm-hmm.

Osman: activity with adult beverages that wreck the morning. So it's... I think it's probably not gonna... You're not gonna see me do that again. All right. Hamish, let's keep going on with the news.

Hamish: Yep. Oh, well,.

Osman: Tell me about... Yeah. The, uh... Sorry, events. Thank you.

Hamish: events. Yeah.

Osman: Tell me about Witches Brew. What is that? At the Boulderado.

Hamish: Th- this one...

Osman: This podcast is sponsored by House Einstein. We serve buyers and sellers in Colorado, focusing on Boulder, Denver, and several mountain resort towns, including Breckenridge and Winter Park. Our mission is simple: help you make a smarter real estate decision. You can learn more at House Einstein.com or on our YouTube channel, where you'll find videos on neighborhoods, specific listings, and much, much more.

Hamish: Yeah. I I'm gonna be honest with you listeners, I didn't look into it too deep. Hotel Boulderado is throwing a Witch's Brew Halloween Tea event. Um, apparently it's a timeless Boulderado tea tradition. It's an elegant afternoon tea in the heart of downtown Boulder. It is in the historic, uh, Hotel Boulderado building. Pretty sweet. Osman and I had a client meeting there a while ago. It was my first time there. I quite liked that area. Um, and it's got, uh... It's $65 for adults, so I'm imagining, yeah, you get a three-tiered tower.

Osman: Wow. Oh, classic. So it's real tea time.

Hamish: and tea. So, uh, like, you know, a snack tower. Yeah.

Osman: It's real tea time. So are people dressed up as,.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. So that could be really fun.

Osman: are people dressed up as witches? Is that what the deal is? You put this on here, Hamish.

Hamish: I know. It's cr- it, it's like live, uh, live learning. But no, there's nothing that necessarily seems... Okay, yeah, people are dressed up as witches. There you go.

Osman: And it's adults, right? This is not for children.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah, there are kids tickets available too, but all the pictures,.

Osman: Oh, okay.

Hamish: you know, are shockingly adults. Um, and during that, uh, being that it's daytime, I, I don't think it's, uh... Yeah, um, no kids allowed or like, you know, 21 plus. But this will be on October 25th, uh, that's a Sunday at 11 o'clock in the morning. So instead of your morning mimosas, have some, uh, Witch's Brew.

Osman: Hmm. I do wanna mention this is.

Hamish: Halloween Tea. Yeah.

Osman: Halloween witches, not people that practice Wicca, given that this is Boulder and, and there are people that actively.

Hamish: Fair point. Mm-hmm.

Osman: practice Wicca as their, as their faith. So no disrespect to you if that's what you do. Um, but if you're into Halloween witchcraft and high tea, and you are down for the Boulderado and wanna hang out with other costumed witches, this sounds like kind of a quirky Boulder thing. I... It, it could be fun.

Hamish: Yeah. And the, the towers look delicious. I'm looking at avocado and egg salad toast, um, little, uh, salmon bites and, and yummy sandwiches and things. So it-- yeah, I think it'd be a lot of fun. And if you're wiccan you can go too. It's okay.

Osman: Um, avocado sandwiches are part of classic tea time, Hamish. True. Well,.

Hamish: Yeah. And millennials' favorite food. Yeah.

Osman: true. All right.

Hamish: So that's the Boulderado. That- I think that got more time than it needed, but I'm happy to mention it and I think that was, that's a fun little event. This next one, Osman, if you aren't a fan of late nights, you have to go to the early show. Uh, the Rocky Horror Picture Show. There's one at 7:00 PM, one 11:00 PM, uh, October 25th at the Boulder Theater. I've never actually-- I think I might have seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show once. This is a live.

Osman: Oh, Hamish. Oh, you know.

Hamish: theater. Super cult following, right?

Osman: You kn- do you know, do you know about Rocky Hor- m- do you know about.

Hamish: Like ridiculous cult following for Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Osman: w- And Tim Curry died this year, so it's gonna be a zoo. Um, people that haven't gone in.

Hamish: Oh, yeah. Dang.

Osman: years are gonna wanna go to, um, commemorate his passing, and it is a cultural tradition across the world. Um, it is a big deal, although I suspect it's way more popular in.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: the United States than anywhere else. But yeah, um, Rocky Horror Picture Show is, is quite the kitsch. You get dressed up in costume. You, you interact with the movie. Um, and.

Hamish: Yeah, it's... Ah,.

Osman: so yeah, I think it could be a lot of fun. So that... There's also October 25th at the Boulder Theater, two shows, 7:00 PM and 11:00 PM. And I don't know if we'll be going because we'll be attending a wedding. So I think the answer is not going. But otherwise, I would totally be.

Hamish: yeah. I g-.

Osman: there, 'cause I think it would be so much fun to have... It'll be wildly popular because of Tim Curry passing.

Hamish: I was in like the theater group in high school, and they were just obsessed with Rocky Horror Picture Show. And.

Osman: Really? I,.

Hamish: yeah, and knowing like the cult following just off of that and kind of the age group then, and then seeing it in Boulder, I can imagine it's just gonna be a, it's gonna be like a party basically at the, at the Boulder Theater.

Osman: I think Rocky Horror might be one of these things that is just tr- like intergenerational. It really surprises me that it.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's got this.

Osman: was popular for your age bracket. I was kind of surprised it was popular for mine, because it was really something that I think grew out of the '70s. Um- Hmm.

Hamish: legendary, what is it, like god-like kind of presence behind it. Everybody is just... The people that are into Rocky Horror Picture Show just go for it, so... But we've got two more. Yeah.

Osman: All right, two more to go. Ballot dates, and these ones are a little bit more serious. So, um, eh, the voting centers open on Monday, October 19th, and... Sorry, on Octo- yeah, and then Monday, October 26th is their last day to register and still get a ballot by mail. Um, and so if you are planning to vote in Boulder County elections, this is your warning shot across the bow that time's running out to get yourself registered and vote. And we're in a democracy, people. Please, please vote. Um, and then the last,.

Hamish: Yep. Keep it alive.

Osman: the last news item is CU's La- CU Lab Venture Challenge is.

Hamish: Mm. Be a lot of fun to.

Osman: happening at The Dairy. It's October 21st to the 22nd, 6:00 to 8:30 PM. Uh, tickets are free. And think of this like Boulder Shark Tank, where, uh, entrepreneurs pitch their new ideas, and, uh, researchers also are there pitching their ideas, and the ideas get vetted and discussed. And Boulder actually has a pretty long history of this, from Startup Weekend to Ignite to the Boulder New Tech Meetup, which I don't know if it's still going, but for many years I used to go to these things routinely. And I would definitely be at this one if it wasn't for a conflict on those dates. Um, so great opportunity to check out some of the startup scene people, who almost certainly will be in attendance. And that is, again, October 21st to 22nd, 6:00 to 8:30. Tickets are free, but you do need to sign up for them, and we'll put the link in the show notes. Oh, that's,.

Hamish: go in pretending to be a shark and, like, listening to the presentations as though you're ready to stake in money, you know? Could be a fun date idea or.

Osman: that's pretty funny. Yeah, go dressed as a shark.

Hamish: something. Yeah.

Osman: Um, I'll tell you, that just reminded me.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: of running the, um, the ultramarathon at Burning Man. And I didn't quite finish that. This is.

Hamish: This year? Okay. I was like, damn, dude. Yeah.

Osman: ... No, no, no. I had an ankle injury this year. Maybe next year I'll do it again. But I got, um... On my second lap, there were these people that were dressed as sharks and, and, and drinking and hanging out, and they chased me. They chased the runners, which was hilarious. You're just kind of running your pace, and.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah. Good way to push through.

Osman: then suddenly out of the corner of your eye you see somebody dressed as a shark staring at you, and then starting to run at you. It's such a Burning Man moment. And then next thing you know, they're chasing you and laughing hysterically. And you can't help but laugh hysterically at being chased by a shark while you're doing an ultramarathon. So your comment about dress like a shark, uh, it, it, it, it, it resonates. Yeah, it.

Hamish: the walls. Yeah.

Osman: resonates. Okay.

Hamish: That's at, uh, Dairy Theater in case--.

Osman: All right. The D- the, The Dairy Arts Center.

Hamish: I think you already said that, but yeah.

Osman: Yes, yes.

Hamish: Yeah, sorry. Well, we're chugging right along.

Osman: Yep. Okay, hot takes.

Hamish: Yeah. Down by the river.

Osman: We're gonna chug along. We're gonna do a fast pod this week because of this travel I'm doing, as you can tell. Uh, well, if you're watching, I'm in a van down by the river, so. And if this is successful, I think, you know, if we're, if we're happy with the quality of this pod, then we'll do longer form ones. It just was the timing this week has been a little crazy. Um, so we'll do more of them because I like continuity in our podcast. I don't know if I wanted to be doing a podcast from Burning Man.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: next year, but who knows? If it's... It, it might be possible. You can't pay, you can't pay... Uh,.

Hamish: Paid access for that one. That way we're not straight to the public. I'm thinking like Patreon, but.

Osman: definitely free if it's being done from Burning Man. Nothing is... You pay for n- no, definitely not.

Hamish: yeah. Um,.

Osman: Definitely not charging people. Um,.

Hamish: I don't know. You know, I'm kind of tempted to set up like a fun scene if you're, you know, in a different spot next time and we can plan it or, or anticipate it. I might set up, like, recording from my backyard or something. Could be kind of fun.

Osman: I haven't even told people where, where I've... I, I'm in New, New Mexico. I'm close to Taos, and, uh, there's amazing fly fishing.

Hamish: Mm, yeah. Yeah.

Osman: here. It's really pretty, and I think leaves feel like they're close to peak. It's really, really scenic. Yep. I mean, I,.

Hamish: That's gorgeous. All right. News. And I'm doing terrible with time codes today, but it's a short pod and transcripts will help me get the, uh, the rest of them down. Uh, this first one, Lafayette approves new festival short-term rental license ahead of the Sundance Film Festival, kind of on the back of the City of Boulder. Um, I attended a seminar from the City of Boulder for landlords that discussed, um, the festival short-term lodging license, I believe they called it. And my biggest takeaway was they hadn't decided anything yet, and it was all still in flux. This, for us, being in the property scene raises kind of some confusion and then, yeah, more confusion than anything. Uh, it's like you have now a lodging license, a short-term rental license, and a long-term rental license. And speaking more to the City of Boulder, you can have one but then not the other, or you can have two but not one, and it's just-- I mean, Oz, what's-- Where, where are you at on this? You know. Can't argue with that either, right?

Osman: I... Where I'm at is that they always position or spin this type of thing as good for the community, but in practice it really only catches the most egregious, unsafe housing situations, of which are a tiny fraction of the rental f- the... I mean, the rental inventory in Boulder.

Hamish: Like... Yep.

Osman: County across the county, the vast majority of the properties are safe, and, um, the, the inspections are very cursory anyway. So it's, it's sort of... It's really a money grab by municipalities to look at ways they can monetize Sundance, and they can also monetize a business that previously they were not able to, um, to s- to, uh, extract,.

Hamish: Dip their hand in the pie. Yeah.

Osman: right? And it just... What's that scene in The Godfather? He just wants to dip his beak. Just let me dip my beak in this a.

Hamish: Oz, I still haven't seen it. Yeah.

Osman: little bit and I... Oh, I can't believe you haven't seen that movie. So that's where the mafioso...

Hamish: It's on my watch list, okay?

Osman: That's where the mob boss just wants to dip their beak in the revenue stream of a legit business. And it's like, it's almost like a protection racket, right? And really all you're doing is protecting yourself from the city or the county or the, or the state from harassing you. Because if you were, if you were keeping a safe property to begin with, how is this adding any value? You're just adding cost, which then you pass on to the, the tenants. So I, I don't know. I, maybe I'm.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. I'll say it, yeah.

Osman: sounding more like a libertarian lib- libertarian every day. Um, although for the record, I'm independent. I just find it frustrating that, that it's spun as positive news. Um, but really, do you think,.

Hamish: Um, there's a game.

Osman: do you think that... Oh, go, go ahead. No, go ahead. SimCity.

Hamish: There-- So the new permit costs 100 bucks, at least for Lafayette. Um, and I think part of the technique to what you're saying is to make it not such a sting of a fine, but more of a, "Ah, fine." Or not even a fine, sorry, the permit. To make the permit cost not so much of a sting, but more of like a, "Ah, fine, I'll pay it." And there's a game that I used to play where you manage a city, and there's a budget section. It's just a slider. No, uh, Cities: Skylines. But,.

Osman: Oh. I mean, I, I don't know.

Hamish: um, there's a budget slider, and you adjust it, and if you go slightly over, the residents get pissed. But if you stay just underneath, they don't say anything, but you still make money. And I think that's where they're-- what they're doing with the permit cost, right? Is they're just, uh, you know, right where it's kind of a thorn in your side, but not quite enough for you to go completely up in arms. Um, it's kind of a tact, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: I just, I hope, I hope that we don't, uh, kill the golden goose, um, when it comes to the how much our community's willing to tolerate with the explosive growth of government spending. Um, it really is just, it seems out of control to me, and it doesn't surprise me there's yet another way that they're dipping their beak, um, and, and entering into private business, uh, and extracting revenue streams. You know, on the contract to buy and sell, there is a checkbox that we continue to skip over because it doesn't apply, and that checkbox is for a transaction fee, um,.

Hamish: Yeah. Admin fees.

Osman: that would go to the city or county.

Hamish: Yeah. Oh.

Osman: Uh, no, not, not admin fees. This is a,.

Hamish: Yep, sorry. Yeah.

Osman: this is a, a tax on transfer, and I think there's one community or two communities in Colorado, I think it might be Aspen that has it. Um, uh, it might be s- somewhere in Summit County, where basically there's an, there's a percentage that goes to the government every time there's a real estate transaction. And I saw this on Nantucket where I got started, and, uh, I can't remember what the percentage is, but it goes to the land bank. And the land bank buys property for conservation, and also possibly for affordable housing. I think it's all conservation on Nantucket. But this is... It, don't be surprised, and I keep telling my clients, like, at some point, this is almost certainly the... I'm not trying to give the city of Boulder ideas, but this is one way they can close that budget gap is to, is to... Man, there's a fly in here, and I'm gonna let it get out because it's gross. Get out of here. All right. Local transfer tax, right? Yeah, I.

Hamish: To add the local transfer tax is a is a way to close the budget gap. Yeah. Yeah.

Osman: mean, it seems kind of fitting that a fly is buzzing at my face while, while we're talking about the local transfer tax. Um, so anyway, that's, that's the news is Lafayette also has entered the game, and I'm glad to see that, that... I, I, I mean, I suspect that... I'm not glad to see that there's a rental tax, but I'm glad to see that people are considering renting their homes for Sundance because w- e- even as far as Lafayette, because we need it. We do need lots of short-term housing, and I don't think we have enough. Um, and we'll see what happens. I mean, this year I expect it to be quite the, um, show, quite the, quite the chaos happening for Sundance. Ah, there's a, there's another,.

Hamish: Mm. One of the things I what...

Osman: there's another one in here. All right, New Mexico, come on. Get out of here. Get out of here. No,.

Hamish: You can't bring them back across state lines. But, um, one of the things I do remember from the seminar is it was like there's blood in the water. Like, Sundance was announced, and everybody is like, "How can we get some money out of this? How can we just-- How can we squeeze just a little bit more out?" And that was, I think, uh, we talked about a news article forever ago, um, about that and the, the kind of forecasted economic improvement and then the actual. Um, so we'll see, right? The Sundance is next year, uh, less than like about three months away. So I'm curious about it. But it's also-- We were talking, I think it's something like 60,000 people are estimated to arrive, and, uh, that's over the course of a couple months, yet we've seen, what,.

Osman: no, weeks. What, what do you mean a couple.

Hamish: 40 weeks. Yeah. But... No, the duration of the festival.

Osman: of mo- a couple of months? You, you mean... Oh, yeah, yeah.

Hamish: Um, yeah.

Osman: It, it's, it's 10 days, I think. It's, it's... I.

Hamish: Okay. But so it's, it's that amount of people, and then we've seen what that amount of people looks like in one day for the Boulder Boulder. And there's the whole question of, you know, like hotels, there's not enough capacity, short-term rentals, Boulder's making it more complicated. So we'll see. But yeah.

Osman: mean, I would plan to not get into any restaurants and, um, and what, what Leah and I are joking about doing is bringing out our propane camping stove because... And we're gonna, we're gonna get to this. We're gonna get to this later in the news. I mean, we might as well go there now, that this was the, the, this was the.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah.

Osman: Sundance ticket packages are going on sale on Thursday. So by the time you're getting this podcast, you could buy tickets, and there's a great article in the Colorado Sun, and in it, it details that just because you have a ticket is not guaranteed entry. Um, y- if you buy normal tickets, you might just be standing in line, and then they spin it as that's part of the excitement. Well, I don't know if that's exciting to go stand in line in winter, right?

Hamish: GTFO. Yeah.

Osman: Like, it's January. Um, so what Le- Leah and I are joking about doing.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah.

Osman: is bringing our camping chairs and our, our portable propane tank, our pr- and our propane stove, and like marshmallows and handing out like marshmallows and hanging out at, at the line, uh, and watching it. Like, we'll just set up our, like we're watching like the sunset. We'll just sit there watching the, the line,.

Hamish: Yeah. Can we put...

Osman: uh, and having conversations with strangers. And maybe we'll hand out marshmallows or s'mores or something to, to, to the crowds to, to have fun with it. I don't,.

Hamish: I was gonna say, could we put like a, a Hal Einstein brand on the marshmallows? Like a hot poker and singe... No, I know.

Osman: I don't need to m- I don't need to monetize everything we do. That,.

Hamish: Yeah. Would be cute,.

Osman: that's not necessary. But cute. That's a cute idea, Hamish. I like it.

Hamish: yeah. So, hey,.

Osman: Yeah. Excellent.

Hamish: um, full festival express pass, 7,500 bucks. Um, seems like a pretty good deal for me. Might see if I can get my credit limit increased and make that happen. But if you are looking for just a single film ticket, which may or may not grant you ent-entry, that's $37. Those single film tickets don't go on sale until January 8th. But that's right, um, October 15th, everything else goes for sale pretty much.

Hamish: Yep. Yes,.

Osman: All right. Let's move on. A judge has.

Hamish: boy. Yeah.

Osman: frozen B- BVSD's school closure plan. So last week, a, a judge paused the closures for.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: Birch, Douglas, Flatirons, and Mesa Elementary while she decides on an injunction with a ruling expected in about two weeks. And the case turns on the superintendent briefing board members in pairs and one-on-one before the plan went public. As you know, we're supposed to have, there's o- there's open meeting regulations in Colorado. And, uh, and choice enrollment opens November 1st, so- Are we-- Was this a-a way around the open meetings law and getting things done quickly? And now what's the impact of this judge's potential injunction? I-it could get messy. I mean, parents, uh, choosing to sue the school district. Ultimately, what do you expect, what do you expect the school district to do? Like, they have-- Like, this is a financing issue. What do you expect them to do with declining enrollment?

Hamish: Hmm. It's,.

Osman: Um... It's the same.

Hamish: it's kind of a semantical block from the judge, right? It's like, I mean, the board voted that way, whether it's disclosed or not, or publicly gone through the right channels. I mean, abs- I think it should go through the right channels. That's why I've got them there. But the conclusion, I think, of the board and everything are kind of the same. Yeah.

Osman: Well, you're saying what w- that the violation of the state open meetings law is moot. It would still result in the same vote, and I, I agree with you. But let's bring this, let's bring it.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: back to the real estate side. And I was just talking to someone who lives near Flatirons, and hi-his concern is that BVSD is gonna sell that property, and what's gonna happen to it? Well, likely it's gonna be developed into student housing, because that area is rife with students,.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: and it's very close to CU. So they're the-- they may be the target audience or, or customer for housing product there. And that housing product will be negatively impactful on the rest of the neighbors, because you have a bunch of college students living there. And I don't, I, I don't, I, I don't blame him for that potential happening, but CU is also bringing online thousands of units in the next five to ten years. So the highest and best use of that property could also be duplexes.

Hamish: Yeah. That's true.

Osman: and triplexes. Uh, because I'm pretty sure there's a bus that goes up and down Ninth Street, and that means it might be within that distance from a transit corridor, so allowing for higher density housing. But will it be students? I don't entirely know for sure. Um, I think that if you're wise, you may not wanna develop more student-oriented housing because of the saturation of new development that's coming. You might be better off building something that's aimed at young professionals or retirees or another demographic which is underserved. And the m-- the, the, the nice adult attached dwelling market is really underserved in Boulder. There's stuff at the very high end, and there's kind of a little bit of mid-market, and then the rest is, is kind of beat up and old and has a very high student density. I don't.

Hamish: And then, though, this location isn't really lending itself to... I'm-- My point's moot, I think, um, this far into the news, uh, of the BVSD school district. But it's still, like, these facilities, s- schools aren't getting any cheaper to make. Um, they're not getting any cheaper to acquire, to develop, all these things. And just selling the land and selling the buildings themselves is a mind-bogglingly interesting long play. Um, that, that's at least my take on it. I don't, I don't know if they ran the numbers for like, you know, maintaining vacant buildings or, um, you know, what, what other options they could have done to at least keep the land. But, um, yeah, it's... Anything's for sale with the price, you know? For the right price.

Osman: know the legality of what they can do or can't do.

Hamish: Hmm. Yeah.

Osman: Um, but I-- but historically, they have sold off their properties. Like, the Washington Village School, uh, was sold off and became initially co-housing and is no longer co-housing. It's just.

Hamish: The building got to stand at least. Yeah.

Osman: a nor-- At least that historic beautiful building was retained and turned into condos, which was inordinately expensive and also.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah.

Osman: had lawsuits involved. Um, fun story, I got to play hide and seek in that building before it was done. Like, it had been gutted and.

Hamish: Really? That would be.

Osman: construction was underway, and the, the... One of the, um, contractors got us in to play an adult game of hide and go seek right before Halloween. It was a lot of fun. This is long time ago,.

Hamish: so much fun. Yeah.

Osman: before there was anybody in the building. Uh, it was spooky, actually. So...

Hamish: Oh, yeah. An old historic building, kinda creaky and everything, and ooh, yeah.

Osman: All the kids that went through there. But yeah, I, I don't understand what's like-- Like, I don't.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Right.

Osman: understand the mandate and limits of BVSD, but historically they've sold off these properties, and there's nothing particularly elegant or architecturally interesting about the Flatirons Elementary School. So likely it's gonna get bulldozed.

Hamish: Mm-mm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: and deconstructed, and you'll see something else there. Well, what is the most likely use of it? I mean, it could be subdivided into private lots, or it, it could be developed as a big attached dwelling, a, a condo building, or it could be triplexes and duplexes. But something's gonna happen there, and, and all of the neighbors should be aware of it, and anybody that we advise buying in that neighborhood should be aware that it's changing. And that, that quiet map, that, that noise map, which shows it getting really quiet when you go west of Ninth, Ninth is gonna change too if you have lots of students or even other young people living there. It's gonna change. Um, you know, you know, Boulder is not locked in amber. Um, it is changing faster than I could have ever imagined, and what we seem to be building the most of is apartment buildings. Let's move on.

Hamish: Boy, we could go on about that, too. Uh, but in the interest of time, yes. Oh, it's.

Osman: Okay, so let's go back to-- We're,.

Hamish: Stan Lazara. Uh,.

Osman: we're gonna talk about San Lazaro, and I'm gonna read this again in case you didn't, you didn't catch it the first time. And I'm gonna also finish it. I'm gonna read two points from this Reddit user, and I think he is spot on. Uh, this is Jeff in Boulder. "Am I the only one questioning the supposed forty-two and a half million dollar offer for S-San Lazaro? That's nearly two hundred thousand per mobile home site, seemingly far above what comparable parks have sold for. The owners claim to have an offer at their full asking price from an unidentified buyer, but has anyone actually seen or independently verified the offer? Who is the buyer?" What are the contingencies and is there any evidence they could actually close? The timing and secrecy seem awfully convenient when the alternative is getting the city, county, and taxpayers to finance a purchase at the same price. I'm all for preserving affordable housing, but I'd like to see some independent valuation and verification that this is a legitimate market price rather than an inflated asking price that public money is now being assembled to meet. And then later on, he writes, "Under current Colorado law, the seller must disclose the price and terms to residents, but can keep the buyer's identity confidential. Here's an interesting wrinkle, though. Colorado just passed House Bill 26-1224, effective January 1st, 2027, which specifically prohibits collusion to inflate mobile home park sale prices and requires disclosure of the buyer's beneficial owners, financing, and unredacted purchase agreement to qualifying resident groups or government authorities upon request. San Lazzaro's anonymous $42.5 million offer surfaced in August after the law was signed, and the residents' purchase deadline is December 8th, just weeks before it takes effect. Not evidence of wrongdoing, but interesting timing given that the new law addresses precisely these transparency concerns." It's next to, it's next to Valmont.

Hamish: I guess real quick up to speed, San Lazaro's a low mobile home park, um, in Boulder just for the-- our international listeners and far field.

Osman: It's Northeast Boulder. It's a pretty sizable lot,.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. And that.

Osman: and, uh, my understanding is the price.

Hamish: there was an offer, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: that supposedly this offer is, like, more than double the highest number ever paid in B- in, in... Was it Colorado or in Boulder for a mobile home park? Um, it's a huge amount of money to br- And look, I agree, I, I'm all for preserving affordable housing too, but mobile homes are typically obsolete, energy inefficient, and take up a lot of land that could otherwise support higher density. And you see what's going on with the Ponderosa Mobile Park on the west side of Boulder. The city bought it and is putting in place new modular housing that are, is being built in a factory. It, it's costing Boulder taxpayers a lot of money, but we have mandated affordable housing goals, and we do wanna try to preserve what we have. But preserving mobile homes is... I, I know that there's a lot of emotions around this. I know that people have lived there for decades, and they wanna keep living there. But they also...

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So.

Osman: It's also private land and leased. It's leased, right? The land is typically leased to the mobile home owner. So it, it's a crappy structure, but it's often what the, what people can afford to be able to live in Boulder. How do we balance these interests? Wait,.

Hamish: that's where I'm at. Like, these are Boulder residents. Um, so it's kinda difficult to-- I, I had a hard time reading that.

Osman: wait. They're,.

Hamish: Reddit... Well, no, you're right. The, the--.

Osman: they're not City of Boulder residents.

Hamish: You're right. Right.

Osman: They are Boulder County residents, and the annexation is a big deal. It's a big piece of this. Okay.

Hamish: Totally. They live in Boulder, right? Like you draw the Boulder proper map, they're fitting in there. We can go on technicalities, but.

Osman: All right. They're right next to the city. Okay, true.

Hamish: like they live and breathe and,.

Osman: And work here, and their kids go to schools here.

Hamish: um... Yeah. So th-that was like I had a hard time reading that, uh, 'cause he's like, "I'm not anti-affordable housing," or something. And I was like, "What do you mean?" 'Cause it raises a representation question, which is, we've talked about this a lot, is the other offer fake? The seller is kind of threatening the sale of the property at a price that they have not disclosed any of the stuff. And so you've got the residents of San Lazaro scrambling to try and get funding together. Um, just very strange. Like, uh,.

Osman: Yeah. Well, they're not getting,.

Hamish: uh, the initial part of the, um, that Reddit post read very pro-San Lazaro because it is like, you know, "Come up with this money or go, and I'm not gonna show you the proof that I have this money or that this offer is actually real." Um, and then we were talking about this is-- it shows a $1.3 million city loan, uh, but possibly $8 to $10 million in utility hookups. Well, we've covered this before too with, um, some other parts of unincorporated Boulder that now have roads failing, and it was written into their CC&Rs that they were responsible for the maintenance there. And they were super upset. Well, it's in the, it's in the CC&Rs, so yeah.

Osman: they're, they're not getting bailed out by the City of Boulder either, but those are affluent owners for the most part, not,.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: not, um, not people at the other end of the pay scale. And I... Like, how do we know the other offer isn't fake? And why would they not disclose it? Why would they not show their.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: cards? I don't... I, I think there's a really high probability the other offer, based on the timing alone, is not legitimate, and at some... I'm just reminded by what I grew up hearing whenever I wanted something that was expensive or even not expensive and, and my dad would just say, "I'm sorry. We're not buying that. We can't afford it," or, "I can't afford it.".

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: And $42 million, the City of Boulder can't afford it. We can't even afford to annex it because the cost of, for the infrastructure doesn't pay for itself. There's a reason that when there's new development, there are metro tax dis- districts that are established to pay for the cost for the infrastructure.

Hamish: Right. Mm-hmm.

Osman: I, I, I think the city is in the hole financially. I can't believe the county said that it's gonna throw in 11 and a half million,.

Hamish: Yeah. Uh, yeah.

Osman: uh, and I don't even understand where the 1.3 million is coming from. They... Some linkage to Alpine Balsam that we're now willing to spend f- to s... I, I think it's time to say we can't afford that, and let's circle back.

Hamish: So may I? Yeah.

Osman: in January. Yes, good. Jump in, please.

Hamish: Personally, I'm cool with 1.3. Like, right, Boulder's on a half a billion or half a-- yeah, half a billion dollar budget, like insane. I get that it's a lot of money. Um, and it comes out to, what was it? Like rough- Well, the total's $43 million purchase price of San Lazaro comes out to like 200K per trailer, um,.

Osman: Per lot, per lot. Don't forget though that i- if the.

Hamish: per lot. Okay. The, uh... Mm-hmm.

Osman: tra- I don't know if the trailers would stay or we would do another Ponderosa style deal where we would start to move the residents out, give them an option to purchase what's being built, um, help them with financing, all.

Hamish: Well, I guess... I guess here's the,.

Osman: that, that infrastructure could be done. Yeah. I don't understand what your.

Hamish: um, thing too. If the residents pool together and they're able to buy San Lazaro, Boulder's offering a loan The only instance in which the loan would be forgiven is if the park annexes into Boulder, and that's when the $8 to $10 million in hookups comes up. So they could stay unincorporated if the residents band together and buy it, and then still pay off that $1.3 million loan. You know, um, there's-- A part of it is there's the Boulder Reporting Lab saying that they still need $30 million. I didn't get that far into it, and, like, I'm not, you know, gonna go through the whole offer deals. But, um, for Boulder to make a loan, that doesn't sound like the worst thing.

Osman: point... You think the 1.3 million is, is insignificant? Okay. I mean, yeah, one- I'm not,.

Hamish: In the grander scheme, especially for what's at stake, right? Mm-hmm.

Osman: I'm not against the 1.3 million, although I'm concerned about how it's linked to Alpine Balsam. But I- I'm not, my biggest concern is the overall ticket price. It's not the 1.3 million, and I'm not against preserving affordable housing, it's just that we.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: have to face reality. It's not just buy the mobile home park and never have to look at it again or deal with it. It has infrastructure needs, and.

Hamish: Well, only if it's annexed.

Osman: I do- you think the infrastructure in this mobile home park is perfectly fine? It...

Hamish: Well, that's the point I'm making is, right, like San Lazaro's unincorporated and managing its own infrastructure currently. For sure.

Osman: So typically these, these mobile home parks have decaying infrastructure. Their sewage, their, their, their water and sewage systems have a lot of problems, um, and I... That's been a consistent theme, so.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. For sure.

Osman: it- it's still an, gonna be a future problem whoever owns this l- this parcel. It's, it's, see, it's, it's not, you, you're.

Hamish: And, uh, like, still back on the, um, representation thing and, and, like, the whole fraud bit is it's like before City of Boulder cuts any loan, it should-- we should be doing the due diligence to make sure, um, that the other offer is legitimate to even begin with. Um, but yeah, I mean, like the whole if the park annexes into Boulder, and it's very possible that, um, the residents decide not to if they own it. Then again, if they decide to annex into it, um, yeah, who is responsible for the $8 to $10 million in hookups? Mm-hmm.

Osman: fixated on these small numbers, and I'm thinking like Alpine Balsam with city council purchasing that without a proper process and without doing their due diligence, and ending up with.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: a boondoggle that costs twice more than they thought it would ever cost. Um, and we're still just trying to discover what it really costs. That white paper illustrated a lot of the cost overruns, and here we are again with the city,.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Osman: the municipalities who are not frankly qualified to do the due diligence, and are ready to indebt us to, they think, 40 million, but by the time it's said and done it could be 80 million because we don't know what we're.

Hamish: The city is not paying 40. Mm-hmm.

Osman: getting into. It doesn't matter who's paying for it, Hamish. The point is it's being purchased for, like it's the 11 by the county, however much comes from the city, but it, they're looking for the public taxpayer to fund it. That's the issue I have is that it's not being purchased privately by San Lazaro residents. They're looking for the municipal government to step in and help them purchase it, and we can't, we shouldn't be doing that without thorough due diligence and especially shouldn't be doing that on the basis of a, of a non-transparent bidder, uh, that we're s- that we supposedly believe is real. Uh.

Hamish: Yeah, and that's w- I, I think I'm agreeing with you because the due diligence on the city side... Well, I agree-- I disagree that we don't have the money, 'cause 1.3, and especially on a loan term with interest and everything, like I could imagine Boulder could swing that. But if Boulder were to finance anything, a dollar, they should be doing their due diligence to make sure that, um, they're not getting fleeced. And that, that's the point I really, like, I think we're agreeing on is that especially on the back of Alpine Folsom and how over cost that went, um, they should not just be writing blank checks, even if it's only 1.3. Yeah.

Osman: Okay. So we're on the same page. But I don't know if you're aware, but in.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: the past cities and counties in Boulder have rezoned mobile home parks. When they realized that it could potentially change hands, they have rezoned it to only allow for mobile home parks. That's probably...

Hamish: And I betcha that's probably not far off. So, like, I, I co- completely get your down the line thinking and yeah. First things first for me, this offer feels fishy, right? Yeah.

Osman: Okay. We're on the same, I think we're on the same page. I think.

Hamish: Yeah. Ad nauseam.

Osman: we've covered this one, uh, a- and, uh, and, and we can move on to.

Hamish: Yeah. Oh, boy. Oh. I saw that too.

Osman: highly sus- from this highly suspect deal to another highly suspect deal which is Nederland is still trying to spend $120 million on Eldora, and this is a community with a budget of roughly three million looking to spend 120 million, um, by using the revenue streams from Eldora and extremely expensive bonds at eight and a half percent. Uh, and, a- and meanwhile the town manager who was behind the plan just quit. So boy, uh, I... And, and they're looking for the state to show up with some cash to help Eldora, to help Nederland do it. I, I saw that article for that. And look, I think this is not the business of government is to own a ski resort. I l- like look, I, I think that the highest and best use can,.

Hamish: Maybe a- I mean.

Osman: is likely to allow it to continue to be in private hands with entities that do their due diligence before they buy something, build financial models on valuations, uh, that make sense. And this valuation In a, in a c- in a, in a world of changing climate and, and questionable competency in managing it, I think the answer is, is to l- is for the town of Nederland to back down and, and let it go back to market. And, and I would not be surprised if it does, the price is far lower, because it's a lot of money for a very small ski resort, and it, it has greater value to, um, the town of Nederland than it might to other private buyers. So I would not be surprised if the price is far lower if it's a different buyer. It seems like the, the gig is up to overcharge municipalities for acquisitions, and it's spun as a once in a lifetime.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Osman: opportunity to control the parcel, but in reality it ends up being completely mismanaged, and we as taxpayers com- uh, radically overpay. So the answer is don't do it. Let it, let the deal fall apart.

Hamish: I'm thinking about this, uh, town manager that just skipped. You know? It's basically like, "Oh, I'm out." Um, I, I'm not privy to how Nederland does their finances, obvious disclosure, but I wonder how much of their proposed income was that mall that burned down. Or.

Osman: I mean, I'm bit- I'm, I'm sure it's... I'm sure there's a lot of revenue.

Hamish: how much of their expected income. Like, Netherlands.

Osman: that... I'm just r- I think this is Carl Icahn,.

Hamish: doesn't have much. Yeah. Mm.

Osman: who has a business practice that if he's in an acquisition deal, and he is told there's a competing offer coming in, and, and he has not, you know, sealed his deal yet, right? He's just being told, "Hey, there's a competing offer, so if you really want this place or want this deal, it's gonna be this number," he backs out immediately. He, he makes it clear that that's not a game he's playing.

Hamish: That's fair. Yeah.

Osman: Uh, go for the competing offer. And, a- and that's out of principle. And I feel like.

Hamish: I feel that principle. Mm-hmm.

Osman: that's something, it, that, it, that you should take to heart. Um, I'm not saying that most competing offers are fake, right? Like we've been looking at a property at the Aretes, and, um, we were told there's an offer coming in, and my clients and I went back and forth, "Are, are you sure? It's been on the market over 200 days." And I'm like, "Well, you know, it, it's one of these probability things, right?" Because it, it, the probability, like there's a honeymoon period for a listing in which there's a high probability of competing offers and getting list price or more, and that's like the first two weeks. After that, there's phase two, where it's like anywhere from one to 3% discount is probably about right for a mid-range property. And then there's that last phase where the discounts become five, seven, nine percent, um, for stale listings. But the probability doesn't continue to... The probability sort of flat lines, right? It, it, there's, there's, like there's.

Hamish: Right. Yeah.

Osman: high probability that first two weeks, and then maybe it's like 40% or 30% probability on any given day that it's gonna go under contract, and then it drops to maybe 20%. And so it, but that 20% doesn't...

Hamish: At 200 days, like five, you know?

Osman: Well, no, no, actually, that's, that's what I'm saying, it isn't.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah.

Osman: It stays at 20 because by day 200 there's still a.

Hamish: Mm. I see.

Osman: steady stream of buyers entering the market. It's sort of like that statistics question, right? If you flip a coin 50 times and you, and you get heads the first 30, what's the probability on your 31st.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. 50%.

Osman: flip it's still heads? Exactly. It doesn't change just because you had...

Hamish: Yeah. The probability-- Yeah, the probability doesn't.

Osman: It's ex- the probability doesn't change.

Hamish: change. Yeah.

Osman: So the probability, 'cause there's constantly new buyers entering the market, is re- like once it reached steady state, it's at that steady state. It isn't like 1% probability because it's been on the market 200 days. It's like 20% probability that the, that.

Hamish: Yeah. That just entered the market, yeah.

Osman: there's another buyer swirling at this at the same time because they're looking at the same inventory. They're, or that's been on the market 200 days. They're reading the same news.

Hamish: No, the buyers just came in. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: W- right? Whether or there's, there's like it happens all the time that stale listings suddenly have two people interested at the same time. So don't take it for granted. It's quite possible the other offer is real. But as a principle, just backing away entirely is not the worst thing in the world to do.

Hamish: Yeah. No.

Osman: Particularly if you're s- if you're suspect. If it looks suspect, I would say there's always another house. Let's back out. Do not feel like... So there are shady agents out there that know that scarcity drives demand, and.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: by signaling there's another b- "Oh, by the way, there's another buyer that just saw it this weekend, and I think they're gonna submit an offer," it doesn't mean that's, that's real at all. It completely could be a very crafty, cunning listing agent that knows very well that hearing that might shake an offer out from your buyer's agent, from us as a buyer's agent. Um,.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Classically, too, I think that has.

Osman: it shouldn't, but it might. Maybe.

Hamish: more weight depending on the, uh, price point you're in. Um, when you're, you know, we're talking about higher end market being completely flat. You hear that there's another buyer coming in, uh, it's pretty likely you'll find another house, uh, that fits your needs.

Osman: There's a lot of inventory. Yeah.

Hamish: because of the amount of inventory. Yeah. And then as you.

Osman: Yeah. Well, one of the things that we do is.

Hamish: chuck down, it's like, "Okay, well, w- you know, show me a bona fide offer or the seal's too fishy, I think we're gonna pass." But I like that principle, and I'm thinking of like board games, right? Where somebody tries to make a deal, and you're like, "I just... No, you know? I'm not gonna do that." Yeah.

Osman: ask ourselves how many homes similar to this one sold in the last six to 12 months. And if there are many, that means there's probably a decent probability, probably probability. There's a high chance that there will be another home in the next month or two that you also would find attractive. But if it looks like based on your criteria, there was one or two sales in the last 12 months that matched up,.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: then you may wanna take this listing more seriously, and you may wanna decide to jump into the fray, ignore the Carl Icahn rule, and jump into the bidding war because unless you wanna just wait another year, um, or even longer, right? Just because there were two this year doesn't mean there will be two next year. But if there are 30 homes that are similar that sold in the same.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. You'll be all right. Yeah.

Osman: neighborhood in the last 12 months, I think you could safely let it go if the agent is trying to pressure you to make an offer. Oh, they're n- they're not.

Hamish: We actually-- The buyers, um, we had some buyers that closed with us, uh, at the very start of this year, and I was on showings with them, and it was a house they were passing on, and he's like, "Hey, I'm good. From what I can look at, the sale history and everything, two of our houses that fit our criteria come up each month." So he's like, "Oh, we'll just wait and see." And he was super confident in it, not very worried. And it was, um, right in that, just to give you a timeline, all this, uh, there were a couple agents that teamed together in Table Mesa. It was right when they first formed, and I, th- I don't think they're a team anymore. But yeah. Yep.

Osman: They're, they're a duo. They're a duo.

Hamish: Yeah. Oh, no.

Osman: Yeah, their new signage is still duo, although I think they printed a lot of, um, letterhead that had all three names on it because for a while we were still getting the letters that had all three names and now they're just a duo. But whatever, that's not our, not our business.

Hamish: Yep. Mm-hmm.

Osman: Let's move on with the next news story. 800,000 Front Range real tax ballots can't count, won't be counted, and, uh, after lawmakers re- Redrew the district. Voters outside it in Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas, and Weld still got issued a 7A ballot by mistake, and, um, sorry, you can't vote on it or on, uh, on the, or the tax for CoCo. Um, so,.

Hamish: You can color in the bubble, but it's not gonna do you anything.

Osman: uh, the... And again, it's gonna make you feel like... Some people are gonna say, "You know, I've been coloring in those bubbles anyway. It never did, did make a difference anyway.".

Hamish: Yeah, yeah. Right.

Osman: But it just points to more government incompetency, and I don't wanna be the podcast that just keeps harping on government incompetency, but clearly the government is not good at doing certain things, and that includes due diligence.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah, the dollar amount.

Osman: on investment decisions, particularly real estate investment decisions, particularly small government, local towns, cities, even the county. Due diligence, real estate due diligence is extensive. It takes a lot of time and expertise to do it right. And when you're talking about tens of millions or more, it, the, the... You know what's interesting is the size of the deal doesn't actually dictate due diligence. If, whether you're... If you're investing half a million, you should be doing very similar due diligence to if you were investing five million. Five million doesn't mean you do.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: five times or 10 times the due diligence. And so this is where compensation, it's also why private equity doesn't go below a certain deal size, because the amount of due diligence required to do the, the investment properly is the same.

Hamish: It's fixed, yeah. Or the, uh,.

Osman: And, and the numbers don't support the team, the administrative costs. And the same thing is true in real estate, frankly. Um, we will do affordable housing as a team, but we don't focus on it because it doesn't pay enough for the amount of due diligence we do for our clients. And unfortunately, municipalities don't have the investment expertise at all to do their due diligence, and Alpine Balsam is exhibit A for, for mismanagement.

Hamish: yeah. Or.

Osman: and, and, and bad due diligence. And, and L-.

Hamish: yeah. As a local city, yeah.

Osman: and San Lazaro is about to become exhibit B. Um, and so I, I think it's, I, it's really important to know the limits of what you're good at and focus at it. Um, and, and what the municipalities should be focusing on is quality of life, potholes, af- uh, yes, to some extent afford- we n- we're trying to achieve our affordable housing goals, um, climate resiliency, wildfire defense, homelessness issues. We shouldn't be focused on Palestine and Israel and international issues. It doesn't make any sense. And, and we should own up to our.

Hamish: Um. Alpine Bullseye.

Osman: mistakes. Just like you and I do a postmortem, I wanna see a postmortem on all the mistakes that have been made for Alpine Balsam, and we're never gonna see it.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah. I, um, I think that's pretty much.

Osman: They're gonna bury it. I mean, it's,.

Hamish: for as far as CoCo and all the, the, you know, this, this article goes into CoCo and how it's being funded and the sales tax, um, proposition and everything. But staying to your point, I think the public's tired, uh, at finally of being complacent with, um, sleepy or ineffectual local government. Ideally, it runs up the flagpole to federal, but they're pretty untouchable, you know? Yeah.

Osman: it's just insulting when they package together South Boulder Rec Center with this $400 million blank check, and they think the voters are that dumb, that we're so emotional about our rec centers that we're willing to write a blank check for the City of Boulder to spend whatever it wants on anything whatsoever.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Osman: And they also tie it to the, you know, the police protection and fire protection, and there's no accountability for mismanagement and lack of due diligence. So I... And, and, or market conditions when we're in the biggest commercial real estate downturn that we've had in decades, and they're still r- insisting we need a brand-new building. It's, it's insulting to our intelligence as, as tax-paying voters. So I hope the voters...

Hamish: As constituents? Is that...

Osman: I hope the... As constituents, yes.

Hamish: Okay, yeah.

Osman: Yes. All right. Boy, I'm starting to really.

Hamish: Wasn't sure. Yeah, I know, man. I'm j-.

Osman: f- getting me foaming at the mouth. We should move on to the next story. And now we're gonna talk about water,.

Hamish: I wasn't even trying. But great.

Osman: and we're gonna talk about, uh, more government mismanagement. I think we need to stop, but otherwise this is gonna become the podcast of government mismanagement. But the article is Denver Didn't.

Hamish: Okay. Mm-hmm.

Osman: Conserve, So It's Draining the Western Slope. And the, the tie-in to this, okay, so there's a great article in Axios and the Colorado Sun about how Denver did not conserve enough water over the summer and has, is drawing down a lot more water from the Western Slope. But Boulder is actually doing fine. Our reservoirs are only, are 76% full, despite it being a drought year, and there are no restrictions. And I'm reminded of, of asking an employee at the City of Boulder, who I, uh, knew years ago and who was a friend, about our water resources, because I was concerned. I was like, "You know, I'm worried about s- the city's growth and our ability to continue to deliver water. Should we be worried about it with climate change?" And he looked at me and he said, "Boulder has tons of water. We actually have a lot of water. It's not public knowledge, but the water side of our, of our municipal systems is very well taken care of." And I, I believe him. He's a very knowledgeable engineer. So, uh, that was years ago.

Hamish: Yeah. Off the back of that, yeah. No, and I was gonna say off the.

Osman: O- off the back of that, Denver apparently has not done a good job. Um...

Hamish: back of our previous discussion, somebody at P- Boulder Water is doing the right thing. You know, just not the rest of it.

Osman: Somebody at Boulder Water is doing great.

Hamish: Yeah. Yeah.

Osman: And our s- our sources are also upstream, so our water is, is less, you know, it's less polluted. It is less processed. It is, it is, uh, more natural, should we say.

Hamish: Lisicki. Yeah.

Osman: Less, it has not been filtered by millions of kidneys.

Hamish: Right. Good way to put it.

Osman: Well... And tho- for those,.

Hamish: Um, yeah, same, same with that. I, I... There's, um, the freaking...

Osman: for those that are gonna say, "What has Osman been talking about?" I'm gonna say Google it,.

Hamish: Which municipality is doing that? Using the kidney method.

Osman: so we don't need to... Which municipalities are downstream? I think you can figure this out pretty You, you, you, well, I mean, water process, you know, it gets filtered and processed and maybe it's.

Hamish: Yeah. Oh, I'm...

Osman: okay, but you're also dealing with a lot more processing and who knows what chemicals aren't being processed out. Go- Google it, Ha- Hamish.

Hamish: I will say... Okay. Um, Westminster. No, for sure, but I-- now I wanna have a discussion about it, 'cause I'm like, um, there's a lot of surveys that go around, like census and stuff,.

Osman: I, I think my distrust in government began at 9/11,.

Hamish: and The more people... Like I have a water filter in my house, but if I'm ever taking a survey that asks if I do, I say I don't have a filter. Um, for me and my stance is that like it should be a municipal service to provide clean and safe drinking water. But if they see the census data that, you know, most of the residents have their own water filter, for sure that will be an area that they could use to cut the standards and the cleanliness of the water. Um, I, I like Westminster Water, that's my service, and it's Stanley Lake, right? I can walk to the lake that I drink. Um, and they independently test the water I think every two years, and you can see what's in there and everything. And, um, that's relatively reassuring. I am, you know, yeah. Hmm.

Osman: and they told us the air was clean, that there w- it was perfectly fine.

Hamish: Dude, especially.

Osman: and perfectly healthy, and it wasn't.

Hamish: topical. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: It, and they knew. And therefore, I don't expect the government to tell the truth about the quality of our water, or the quality of our air, or where they're spending money, or own up to the mistakes they make. There's zero accountability for all of the waste and all of the, all of the ways the government has lied to us. So I'm sorry, I, I don't bel- I, I... What you just said, you know, isn't it the municipality's job to provide us safe and clean drinking water? And I would say, "Well, that, that sounds good in, in theory, but in practice I wouldn't trust the government to provide safe drinking water at all." And I remember growing up, we had, we, we had a well, and my mom insisted on getting a water treatment, under-sink water treatment system. And my dad was kind of annoyed to do it, but he eventually acquiesced to my mother's demands.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Osman: that she, that we get a water filtration system. And now, decades later, I think she's right. You should test your own water and see what you learn. I think you can also have personal.

Hamish: Yeah, and like key word, right? It's independently tested, Stanley Lake. Um, and I also think too, um, trust doesn't have to be blind. You can trust with verification, and you can trust and not be complacent. So I totally hear where you're coming from and stuff, but I think a lot of... And I cannot speak to 9/11. I was one, maybe two. But, um, it doesn't have to be exactly the way that it is, or blind or, or fake trust, right? We, in theory, are represented, and our representatives can, in theory, create more public and transparent, uh, checks and balances. So I hear you, but... Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Osman: accounta- take personal accountability and responsibility for your own health and safety, and one of the areas, bringing this back to real estate, is historic homes. And there's a good chance some of these historic homes have lead in the pipes. And how do you know unless you.

Hamish: Lead pipes. Yeah.

Osman: personally test it? Um, and, and maybe you should just plan on a whole-house filtration system that, that is RO, reverse osmosis, and then remineralizes so you're not leaching calcium out of your bones.

Hamish: Yeah, deionized would be the, uh, remove the metals,.

Osman: Right, deion- deionize another... I,.

Hamish: but yeah.

Osman: so there are all sorts of ways to, to... If you can afford a historic home in Mapleton Hill, you probably can afford a water filtration system, and you probably.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: should get one. Um, it's not our business to necessarily insist or push on that, but I feel like it's our business to encourage our clients to do thorough due diligence and take care of their health. But it's ultimately our clients' responsibility. It, it... And there are some areas where lead-based paint, for example, there are federal laws that real estate agents and those involved in the transaction have to comply with, and that list just keeps getting more, you know, it contin- well, for a long time, continued to grow, uh, right on to...

Hamish: Radon, no. Yeah. Yeah. So that is, yeah, updating the.

Osman: Um, I think.

Hamish: added radon. But no, I, I don't know, I think different stances on that. But yeah, for like what, to me, a government should be doing is like clean and safe drinking water is like kinda bare minimum. Um, like I love the personal.

Osman: one, I, I, I'm in radical agreement.

Hamish: responsibility thing, but yeah.

Osman: So what should the government be doing?

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Right.

Osman: Absolutely the government should be providing safe and clean drinking water, and should be providing healthcare.

Hamish: And it's a world of shoulds and ifs and coulds and yeah. Yeah.

Osman: to our citizens. I'm in radical agreement on both of those things, but I also don't trust the government to do what they say or tell the truth about what they know. And that's,.

Hamish: Or the-- Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: until proven otherwise, that's what they've been doing, is lying. So, yeah, so what's that, the,.

Hamish: And yeah, always be suspicious,.

Osman: the... I remember, like, in the '80s there.

Hamish: like you know? Like, yeah.

Osman: was, like, um, it may have been, like, a con- like, an, a album from a rock band or something, and I remember this "Mother, should I trust the government" logo. It might have been, like, a Pink Floyd album or something, and, and I, it was subvers- it was.

Hamish: Tracks. Manipulated too.

Osman: subversive, uh, when I first saw that message, 'cause I grew up believing in, uh, the government trying to take care of its people, and then I've just kind of felt like I've, I've learned the hard way that that's not what the government does at all. The government is, is comprised of people who have their own interests, and there's all sorts of ways that things get subverted and fraud occurs,.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: manipulated, and the government's more interested in not starting a panic than it is in telling people the truth about their own health and safety.

Hamish: Yeah. If it's any consolation, I grew up only hearing not to trust the government. So that's pretty much the message that anyone I talk to or anyone everywhere... But it was always from people that couldn't articulate why. So it was almost more of like a bandwagon trend than an actual thought. I, I know we're getting too far afield, but.

Osman: Well, we're almost done with this pod, so hang on, dear listeners.

Hamish: yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Totally.

Osman: Um, I think we're about to wrap up this topic, but Hamish, you were one or two years old, and so you don't have memory of this, but I have a very distinct memory of the government being way more concerned with restarting the economy and tying the economy and with patriotism. Like, it was patriotic to go spend money, um, because everything stopped.

Hamish: Yep. Mm-hmm.

Osman: for, like, a week at 9/11, and we had to get the economy started again. So go out to the mall, go out to the grocery store, buy a new car, go spend money, people, because we need our economy back online, and it was patriotic, which is, in some ways I get it, but it also is, is deeply disturbing that our government is more concerned with the economics that aren't Main Street economics, but the economics that eventually filter out to the billionaire class and their stock holdings than they are concerned with the health and wellbeing of our.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. That was--.

Osman: citizens, and it's, it's just how it is. I, I wish it wasn't, but that is... Anybody that tells you differently.

Hamish: Yeah. This is--.

Osman: is probably selling you something. These are my COVID lockdown.

Hamish: They've got land to sell you on the ocean. But, um, same thing, lockdown. I remember, um, I, I can't remember, I think lockdown, like officially on a national level was like, what? Two weeks or a week and a half. But I remember taking whatever timeframe it was and just dividing... Yeah. And then just dividing like the GDP and being like, "Okay, that's the cost of a human life." You know? It's like they, they say you can't put a cost on it, but if you just work out a GDP and how long the country can afford to be shut down, there you go. You know? Like it's kind of grim, and it's probably not very accurate. But that was my tongue in cheek. I was 21, okay? Forgive me.

Osman: But we... So y- uh, looking back on that, the aftermath was highly inflationary, was a massive increase in liquidity in our economic system, which resulted in inflated.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: prices for all sorts of assets, including real estate. It, it unlocked m- massive government spending, and we overreacted. It's pretty clear that our, the levers that the government pulled in, uh, in, in the COVID lockdown, you know, with fear of mass unemployment and stagnant economic conditions, going to zero interest rates and flooding the economy with money, we went overboard. We overreacted, and, and now we're dealing with.

Hamish: I think we did-- For a postmortem, I think we did a.

Osman: the other side of it. Okay.

Hamish: lot terribly. Um, taking the actual threat seriously and, and having clear and consistent messaging to begin with is one of them. Um, remember our commander in chief at the time, "It's not real. It's not-- It's a hoax. It's not on the country. It's not here." And then only until I think like two or three months into it did we actually have a lockdown. So everything, the whole execution of it, sure. But, um, I mean, boy, was that just a cluster overall.

Osman: Well, before we go deeper into the conspiracy, I think we need to stop.

Hamish: You know? Like, yeah.

Osman: because you and I could go on and on.

Hamish: Yep. Mm-hmm.

Osman: about COVID and the government, and that was, is not our wheel... Like, I don't, that's not our wheelhouse at House Einstein. We're not this anti-government either. It just happens to be.

Hamish: No. And we're not speaking on behalf of House Einstein either. We are sponsored.

Osman: our news stories today. That's true.

Hamish: by the brokerage. Uh, these are not our views or.

Osman: That's true. Thank you, House Einstein. All.

Hamish: opinions of the brokerage itself. These are two fellows, uh, who are fortunate enough to have been sponsored by the House Einstein brokerage. So thank you, House Einstein.

Osman: right, the last news article is The Dark Horse demo is finally underway. The auctions are over. The, uh, the lamenting and sadness of, uh, and mourning of The Dark Horse is, is probably never gonna end because it was such an institution in Boulder, but its chapter is closed and new things will be built there, and that's happening now. Um, it's al- CU South is also happening. Like, development is happening all over town. Things are closed, and things are opening. Um, it, it's a, it's a community in transition, so I look forward to seeing what they construct there. Um, but if you are still feeling.

Hamish: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Osman: nostalgic about The Dark Horse, you can stand on the bike path behind it and see what's remains, um, and light a candle, uh, for The Dark Horse, and I feel it, okay? It was, like, one of Boulder's last remaining dive bars. It was fun. Um, but it, the chapter is over. It's closed, so... I mean,.

Hamish: Wouldn't put it past Boulder residents to have a candlelight vigil for the Dark Horse, you know? Yeah.

Osman: Boulder, Boulder has had candlelight vigils for trees that had to be removed, so absolutely there have been vigils and class reunions at The Dark Horse and all sorts of ways people have, have commemorated it. But it's now time to close out that chapter, and that's the only reason I'm mentioning that as a news article is that demo is underway and likely will be done very soon. So if you wanna light that candle, now's the time. Let's do it. Let's wrap it up.

Hamish: I'll put, I'll light one in the house. All right. Should we jump to carve-outs? How are you feeling on time? Okay. Easy one for me.

Osman: Carve-outs, people, in case, in case you're new to the pod, is when we get to talk about anything.

Hamish: Yeah. Been playing chess.

Osman: we wanna talk about, sometimes real estate related, sometimes radically not, and it just happens to be top of mind, and, uh, we just wanted to share it with you. So Hamish, jump in. Tell me about chess.

Hamish: Um, I've been playing chess since I was just a wee kid, and, uh, it comes and goes in, in waves, the, my interest in it. But I'm back on a chess kick, so chess.com's my app of choice. I am nowhere near as good as I once was, and I am fighting to get above like 300 in the 10-minute, uh, games. But having a lot of fun, um, replaying Queen's Gambit, the Netflix show, in my head as I'm playing, um, narrating it. So good.

Osman: Such a good, such a good show.

Hamish: So good. So, and I might end up rewatching it.

Osman: What's that actress's name? She's so good in that movie. I think.

Hamish: Uh, Anya Taylor-Joy, if I remember right.

Osman: it's the best role that she's played.

Hamish: Like, oh my gosh.

Osman: Yeah. She was excellent So.

Hamish: Yeah. But, um, yeah, just really loving chess. Um, gonna get my girlfriend into it. And, um, hopefully, uh, she's a quick learner 'cause I've, I have lost some friends to playing chess. No.

Osman: are you gonna use a timer with her?

Hamish: Mm-mm. Yeah.

Osman: See, this is my issue with chess, is I love chess, but my wife never wants to use a timer. And so we end up with, like, games that go forever, and it's just, it's just so, it's so much more exciting when there's a timer. And it, it is,.

Hamish: The timer at least ends it, right? Yeah.

Osman: it, it, it... You've got a fixed amount of time, and that makes it a real game. But without the timer, it's just, I just have a hard time with it. But my nephews and nieces are playing too, and are you using... Are you going to chess.com, or what website are you playing on? Do you wanna share your.

Hamish: Yeah, chess.com, which has desktop, which is awesome too. I'll have, like, my YouTube video over here, and I'll be playing chess on the other screen. Um, oh boy, if you would like to mop the.

Osman: username so people can challenge you to games?

Hamish: floor with a co-host of Hal Steinstein podcast, my chess username, chess.com, is M60E30.

Osman: Why is that your username, Hamish? You've got to explain it to the, to the crowd.

Hamish: It is the engine in my car. Uh, the engine and then my car. The engine in my car. So, uh, yeah, I built that account, I.

Osman: Oh. That's great.

Hamish: think, right when I was putting together the car, so of course. Yeah.

Osman: That's great. All right.

Hamish: But, um, yeah, that's me. I'd love that. That'd be.

Osman: Please chall- please, please challenge Hamish to chess. I think it would be a lot of fun.

Hamish: so much fun. Yeah. You can, yeah.

Osman: Yeah. Okay. Um, well, you chose this topic for me, so I guess I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna shift it a little bit. And, uh, you wrote in, "Van life, bruh." And um, I... So I, I'm... Really, this trip has been about fly fishing, and,.

Hamish: Hmm. Hmm.

Osman: um, this little mobile vehicle office home has turned into an interesting, um, project. It's van life 2.0, um, and we're doing very, very few mods, but it's great for camping. It's got heat. It's supposed to be in the 20s tonight, so I'm looking forward to having heat where we're staying. And, um, but it's the, it's enabled an opportunity to, to go fly fishing.

Hamish: About 20s. Hey.

Osman: midweek with this really good friend, and, uh, again, I feel like I don't know how many more opportunities there will be like this. So being able to record the podcast remotely, and, um, and I'm really bad at fly fishing. I would say fly fishing and stand-up comedy I'm not very good at, although I caught a fish today. I caught my first fish while fly fishing. I caught a rainbow trout and very quickly released it. It was.

Hamish: Nice. Cool.

Osman: a, a little small guy. Um, and it's super interesting to learn about all the different types of flies and work on my casting and mending techniques, um, and to be in incredible nature. It's very present. I don't feel particularly rushed or impatient with fly fishing.

Hamish: Hmm. Oh, yeah.

Osman: And it's sort of funny 'cause, uh, uh, uh, people are really friendly with fly fishing, which is, in some ways, stands out in contrast to what I experience with elk hunting, where people are very secretive about their honey holes. And instead, everyone is trying to point out places you might wanna try to fish and, um, and flies you might wanna try to use. Like, everyone's super encouraging and positive, which is kinda lovely. But one of the consistent pieces of advice have, has been, "You gotta be patient, man. Just be patient," as if I haven't been patient. Like, I could stand there all day long, like,.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: gently casting a fly and watching it drift down, and casting it again, and watching it drift down, and,.

Hamish: Perfecting the cast, yeah. You want the moving water?

Osman: and hearing the babble of the water. Um, I don't really like ponds and lakes. I'd, I'd much rather be on a stream.

Hamish: Yeah. Algal g-.

Osman: The moving water just feels good. It sounds good. It's cooler, um, underneath. It doesn't have the stagnant algae blooms and other things you see in lakes and ponds that have fish in them and other, you know, have, have, well, a lot of nutrients.

Hamish: algal blooms, yeah.

Osman: Yeah. Like, it feels like it's probably cleaner. Um, I guess I need to do some research in terms of mining and potential heavy metals or other issues, 'cause, like, what.

Hamish: Oh, the tailings? Mm-hmm.

Osman: I'd like to do is, uh, is actually camp and cook the fish we catch. Uh, but then I think that means understanding where it's not healthy to do so, and I have no knowledge right now. Like, I'm such a newbie.

Hamish: Yeah. I mean, it's fly fishing, yeah.

Osman: Caught, literally caught my first, uh, trout today, and it's really cool. It's really fun, and.

Hamish: There's so much. Yeah.

Osman: it's a way I get to connect with, uh, this close friend who's had some health challenges. Uh, and his outdoor ch- options are way more limited than they used to be, um, and this is one way we can, we can actually hang out and spend some time. And he's been great at teaching me. Like, he's an expert, um, at fly fishing and he, you know, he's been an instructor for lots and lots of people, so it's, it's really cool to get that. Yeah.

Hamish: Oh, awesome. Yeah. Well, congrats on your first fish. Um, fly fishing fish. But I, I do like to say, um,.

Osman: Thanks. It's very med- it's very meditative.

Hamish: fishing is one of those things that you can do all day, catch nothing, and people will still treat you like you did something for the day. You know, it's like you just sit there with a rod in the water, not fly fishing, but you sit there with a rod in the water for the whole day, and people are like, "Oh, productive day." And you're like, "Yeah, okay." You know? So it's a fun one. Hmm.

Osman: It's very zen, and you, you, you kinda lose your own conscious thoughts fly fishing. The same thing I've experienced hunting, and I've not been successful elk hunting. Um, I need to get back at it. I haven't been out in, like, four or five years, but I'd like to go back out next year. It takes a lot of scouting, a lot of research. Um, and but once you're actually out in the field hunting, I've never been more present with nature. Like, it is so... Like, you- every little.

Hamish: Hmm. Huh.

Osman: gust of wind, every sound, every shadow moving, um, it is wildly present. And I, even with my own meditation practice, I've never gotten that present as fly fishing and, and hunting. It's... I get it. It's... You know, I, I grew up in Red Neck-istan in upstate New York, and so, and I, I guess I s- feel very comfortable with huntin' and fishin'. Hunting and fishing and pickup,.

Hamish: No, I get it. Yeah.

Osman: pickup trucks and l- and literally a van down by the river. It's a nice van,.

Hamish: Literally. Oh,.

Osman: but it's still a van down by the river. I did. So I went off-road with it,.

Hamish: that's what I was gonna say is, uh, it's Van Life 2.0, so- You know, typically when people do their second revision of the hobby, they're streamlining, right? Like, they, they're getting rid of the fluff they don't necessarily need. They know what's more important when they're, um, putting something together. Like, have you, uh, noticed anything that you had that you didn't have and, um- Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: trying to camp off the rim, uh, on the Rio Grande and on BLM land, and we... I, I came to this spot where the, the trail, the, the dirt road got too rugged, too... It had a pitch.

Hamish: Oh, yeah. Good point.

Osman: And because I added a hitch onto the back of the van, I was worried about dragging the tail, which I don't mind dragging the tail on the van, but if it got stuck there, I have no recovery equipment. I didn't bring my MaxTrax, I didn't bring anything, and it just wasn't worth it. And this van doesn't even have off-road tires on it. The old van had a six-inch lift,.

Hamish: Yeah, you're still on. Mm-hmm.

Osman: six-inch lift, 35s, and Detroit TrueTrac on the front. Like, the four-wheel drive s- and, and not a locker, but limited slip on the back. Like, it was off-road ready, and it w- it was longer but taller at, or, or, or higher off the ground with rugged off-road tires. It also got nine miles to the gallon. This thing gets, like, mid-20s and is very civilized and.

Hamish: That's insane. And they're kind of all you need.

Osman: very quiet, and it's... We're doing almost no mods. Like, it... Basic modular interior and that's about it. All-wheel drive, but, um, and I have no interest in doing.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: anything that modifies the drivetrain or the suspension. But this was the first trip where I was like, "Ah, well," the first... It's really, this is the first trip out. I kinda wish I'd brought the MaxTrax because I probably would've gone ahead and gone over that little, that little bump. Or if Leah was with me, she could've at least spotted, or she could've driven and I could've.

Hamish: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Osman: spotted because I think that even with a shovel and we could've moved some dirt and sand and rocks and easily gone over that. But it just wasn't... In the moment, it wasn't worth it, and I had that momentary sadness of, "Oh, the old van would've just cruised over this," but this one I'm chickening out because it's, it... I, I can't risk it, getting stuck out there. Although.

Hamish: Yeah. And then this one, though, you're like, "Oh, wow, 25 miles to the gallon," and you know, all these other benefits. So.

Osman: diesel, I'm.

Hamish: yeah, it's cool. Yeah.

Osman: not happy. The universe is punishing me with high diesel.

Hamish: Oh my gosh, the universe is punishing everyone with the diesel.

Osman: prices, but yeah.

Hamish: prices. Yeah.

Osman: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I think that's it for this How's Einstein podcast. If you've made it this far, I wanna deeply thank you for spending your time with us today. We so appreciate your comments and as you can see from our edit or our changes to the programming, we take your comments and your feedback seriously. So thank you so much for subscribing to our content. If you liked what you heard or watched on YouTube, you can also find us, uh, across social media. You'll find us on YouTube. Uh, of course, I just said YouTube. You'll find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, um, or so-called X,.

Hamish: Yeah, that's X. Yeah.

Osman: BlueSky, uh, and, uh, uh, Hamish, you've got something going on TikTok. That's cool. So please, uh, continue,.

Hamish: Yeah, we're TikToking. Trying to think. Yeah. If you listen to us.

Osman: continue to like and subscribe. We're very open to your feedback. Any last words, Hamish? I don't even,.

Hamish: on Overcast, and this is an out- outside one, but if you listen to us on Overcast, can you go to our YouTube and comment to let us know? Something like, I believe, 40% of our audio listenership is Overcast. I've never even heard of Overcast, so I went and checked it out and everything.

Osman: I don't even know what that is. Huh.

Hamish: Yeah, it's just a podcast hosting thing. It takes from Apple to Overcast, but I think it's, like, less ads or something.

Osman: Huh, cool.

Hamish: Just curious. Yeah. But I'll, I'll... Yeah, thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next time.

Osman: We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.