Boulder Market Update – April 1, 2020 [Analyze This]
Updates: 1. I know it's April Fools Day, but I don't have any jokes. If you're looking for a laugh, check out Nick Heath's #lifecommentary and Pub Quizes. He is hilarious. 2. You'll find a preliminary Boulder real estate market update in this Twitter thread. In short, closings were up for condos and town homes in March, down for stand alone houses. As we move into April, about 30% of inventory in Boulder is under contract.There were a bunch of broken deals (i.e. back on market) during the last two weeks of March, but it's unclear if it was more than [...]
Land Swap: CU South for CU North?
At last night's Council meeting, staff revealed they are in discussions with CU for a land swap. This citizen inspired idea means that instead of investing tens of millions to re-engineer the flood plain, CU will trade mostly swamp land for nice, dry acreage (with a pretty view) in the Planning Reserve. Of course, CU South is not just swamp land. It's de facto open space, used by dozens of people every day to run, walk, and exercise their dogs. The wetland areas are also home to abundant wildlife. It's a scenic part of Boulder, although not on most trail [...]
Impact of Boulder’s New Co-Op Law
by Osman Parvez ---- At 1am this morning, a bleary-eyed Boulder City Council approved the new co-operative housing ordinance by a vote of 7-2. It was one of the most contentious real estate related issues to face Boulder in recent years, probably the most since Compatible Development was passed nearly 8 years ago. Boulder needs more housing supply. The way forward is to selectively allow for higher density while maintaining the character of our existing neighborhoods and quality of life. No easy trick. The new measure contains a litany of rules to establish a co-op, as well as some [...]
Longmont’s NextLight Forges Ahead, Boulder Flounders in Muni Quagmire
Longmont's NextLight Installation in Progress In case you forgot, Boulder is still trying to buy an obsolete electrical grid while Longmont is actually installing fiber to houses. Boulder's muni efforts have already cost taxpayers millions of dollars (the city admits to $5.9MM). If successful, municipalization will substantially increase your monthly utility costs even under the most favorable modeling scenarios while doing nothing to reduce our carbon footprint and fight climate change. Let's face it. Municipalization is a money hole. Instead of fighting Xcel and indebting taxpayers for little return, we could be installing solar panels and Tesla batteries in [...]
Your VOTE is important! NOW is the Time.
Hey Boulder! Don't forget to vote. Boulder's future is on the line. Ballots are due tomorrow, November 3rd. It's too late to mail, you must drop it off. Polling locations are HERE. Bill Moyers Essay: Your Vote is Important -- Here's Why (2008) from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.
Thoughts on #300 and #301
by Osman Parvez ---- In recent years, I've tried to avoid political commentary on this blog but the incredible volume of misinformation that has been spread on ballot #300 and #301 and the importance of these initiatives warrants a response. A few weeks ago, organizers and their opponents gave my local Rotary club a short - and very respectful - live debate over these issues. It was very educational. Here are my conclusions. I'm voting YES #300. The 10% and then 50% threshold is a reasonable mechanism for citizens to weigh-in on a planning process that has disenfranchised [...]
Short Term Rentals and Over Occupancy Enforcement [Council Watch]
by Osman Parvez ---- We attended last night's City Council meeting. Council approved an ordinance limiting short-term rentals to primary homeowners for up to 120 days. Rental licenses would be required. Once implemented, second home owners will not be able to rent their property legally. Implementation won't begin until January. Council's supposed intention is to encourage long term rentals. While council members considered the impact to second home owners, and acknowledged it would catch some people in the net they didn't want, they passed the ordinance anyway. I expect the impact will be a new revenue stream for the [...]
Civic Area Design Initiative
The Boulder City Council is working on a plan to implement new designs and updates in Downtown Civic Area Park to better suit the City's needs. They have decided to turn to us, the citizens, for creative ideas! They're calling it the Civic Area Design Inspiration Initiative. Artists, architects and creative thinkers of all types are encouraged to submit their thoughts, pictures, drawings and ideas HERE in this three part survey. They are running three phases of the design initiative, and the deadline for phase one is July 10th. Since the passing of the Community, Culture and Safety tax initiative in November 2014, [...]
Tesla’s New Household + Utility Grade Battery, Impact to BOULDER [Municipalization]
by Osman Parvez ---- Tesla is set to introduce home and utility-grade batteries on April 30th. As costs plummet, cheap storage will likely be disruptive to the existing model. Yet here's Boulder Council, holding secret meetings and forging ahead with plans to acquire an ancient distribution network. I have nothing against a Municipal utility. Local control feels good, even though we're ignoring some of the risks. It's just becoming increasingly clear that taxpayer resources might be better spent subsidizing household and business level production (and soon storage) than paying lawyers to fight over Xcel's Model-T era distribution assets. [...]
The Impact of the Expanded Smoking Ban in Boulder
by Osman Parvez City Council passed an expanded smoking ban last night. Effective March 19, smoking will be banned at all Parks and Recreation and Open Space & Mountain Parks lands, all multi-use paths and 25 feet on each side of the paths, 25 feet from all transit stops and building doorways, outdoor seating areas at restaurants or taverns, the downtown Boulder Business Improvement District, the Boulder Civic Area, and the area surrounding Boulder High School. A map of the entire downtown Boulder smoke-free area is below. The ordinance prohibits smoking and using e-cigarettes or electronic smoking devices. Violators will be subject [...]
Deception by Design or Community Forum? [Aspenization]
by Osman Parvez Earlier this week, I attended Why Housing Matters - a community form to discuss housing challenges in Boulder. Here are my takeaways. - It's challenging to conduct a meaningful workshop for an overflowing amount of participants in the span of a couple of hours. eTown Hall could barely contain all of us. Given the size of the audience and the time constraint, the staff did a great job. - Several City Council Members were in attendance. - Michael Pyatok, the keynote speaker, has an agenda. It's called higher density. Recasting it as "coziness" is insulting Orwellian doublespeak. Boulder [...]
State of the City | Boulder [Watch It]
by Osman Parvez ---- Boulder unveiled it's State of the City video yesterday. Even if you've lived in Boulder for decades, it's worth watching to get a sense of our accomplishments, initiatives and future trajectory. My only comment is that the city seems to put a lot of effort into managing the message on issues such as municipalization and affordable housing. It's telling. -- The next Boulder Real Estate Meetup is TONIGHT January 22nd. Our topic is Best Practices for Bidding Wars. Learn more and RSVP HERE. --- Like this analysis? Subscribe to our client research report. [...]
The Risk of Municipalization [Due Diligence]
by Osman Parvez Ever since the movement began to create a municipal electric utility in Boulder, I've received a steady stream of emails from concerned clients. From a real estate investment perspective, the size and activities of local government have become an increased area of risk. Comprehensive due diligence mandates that you understand the risk before the investment decision. After studying the issue for some time, here's my opinion: Municipalization feels good but lacks economic merit. It's a slippery slope. My concerns: 1. Lack of Transparency It took a lawsuit from a Boulder resident for the City to release their [...]
The Sky is Not the Limit | A History of Boulder’s 55′ Height Limit
by Osman Parvez Close your eyes. Imagine what Boulder would look like with 300 foot buildings stretching from downtown to 33rd street. Believe it or not, once upon a time, Boulder City Council was seriously considering allowing this to happen. a future that didn't happen in Boulder In November 1967, CU law school student Ruth Wright wrote a seminar paper called "History of Height Control and Environmental Aspects." It sparked a movement which led to the passage of an amendment to the city charter limiting the height of buildings to 55 feet. The amendment saved historic buildings in [...]
Boulder, Can We Talk?
by Osman Parvez Here's how last night's meeting went. Sam Weaver withdrew his ill considered proposal for a 9 month emergency moratorium and Council narrowly voted against a comprehensive development strategy. The vote was 5-4 against and interestingly, fell along gender lines with male council members against the measure. Construction Continues at the Wencel Building (9/17/14) As I mentioned in recent blog posts, Boulder needs an efficient public process that results in a shared vision for our future but enacting emergency powers to halt all new permits (of substantial size) wasn't the right approach. I'm glad City Council [...]
Welcome to House Einstein
Locations, Due Diligence, Negotiation
Testimonials
Osman was a refreshingly honest realtor. He stressed through the entire process that his goal was to make me happy with my home purchase. I greatly appreciated the fact that he never shied away from pointing out the negatives as well as the pluses of different places while leaving the final decision up to me.
We can highly recommend Sophie. Her attention to detail and communication skills are great. Our home was in area that most realtors are not familiar with, but Sophie took extra time to get to know the neighborhood in order to give us quality service. She also brought in a professional photographer to make our home look its best. Even though the listing was in winter, the house sold quickly. With Sophie’s business and people skills, we have no doubt she will be a top realtor in the area.
