Flood risks are up, and consumers likely to pay-State has 7th highest projected increase in properties that will need to add insurance

plan ahead if you're close to a flood zone, per Denver Post Colorado and other mountain states don’t just face a much higher risk of wildfires in the years ahead, but also of flooding, which could hit more homeowners directly in the pocketbook. Of the 10 U.S. states likely to see the biggest percentage increases in the number of properties needing flood insurance, five are in the Rocky Mountain region, including Colorado, according to a study on changes in flooding risk from Seattle- based QuoteWizard. “You have this combination of increased flooding around rivers, streams and flood plains and you have an increase in drought, which makes the ground more floodprone,” said Nick VinZant, senior research analyst at QuoteWizard. FEMA currently designates 43,332 properties in Colorado at an elevated risk of flooding, meaning they need separate insurance policies to cover that risk. But a separate study from the First Street Foundation estimates given changes in the climate, Colorado should have about 131,245 properties listed at elevated flood risk and insured. That 203% increase in properties at flood risk is the seventh highest among U.S. states, according to the QuoteWizard analysis. The four biggest increases go to Colorado’s neighbors in the mountain region: Utah, up 419%; Wyoming, up 325%; Montana, up 311%; and Idaho, up 290%. QuoteWizard also broke out the additional properties that will need flood insurance in four Front Range counties. Denver could see a 249% increase to 5,061 at-risk properties under FEMA guidelines. Arapahoe County could see a 239% increase of properties at risk to 4,306. Boulder County, which was hard hit by the 2013 floods, is expected to see a 92% increase to 7,436 properties at risk. Broomfield could see a tripling in FEMA properties at-risk, going from 122 to 366. The concern for consumers isn’t only about more properties falling within flood zones but a change in the way that FEMA determines premiums for flood insurance, VinZant said. Rather than basing premiums on the replacement value of a property, FEMA wants to take a more risk-adjusted approach. Beachfront and lakeshores homes, for example, face some of the highest risks of flooding. Those premium locations also tend to host more expensive homes. “Big properties will be paying a lot more, while smaller properties could be paying less,” VinZant said. Some homeowners are looking at flood insurance premium increases of five to seven times current levels, which has generated strong political opposition. FEMA was set to implement the new rate policy this month, until Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, moved in March to slow down the changes. In Colorado, the average cost for obtaining flood insurance runs $856 a year, which ranks 22nd highest in the nation, according to QuoteWizard. Climate change is driving the increase in risk. Areas expected to flood once every 100 years are now flooding every five to 10 years, which has upended the entire flood insurance system, VinZant said. “It doesn’t matter if you believe in climate change or not, your insurance provider does believe,” he said.

Landlord licenses may be required-Proposal would mean long-term permits for about 54K properties

things on the horizon for Denver Rental Property Owners from the Denver Post By one estimate, Denver has about 54,000 homes, condos, row houses and apartment complexes that are rented out. A new proposal before the City Council would require landlords to pay for long-term licenses for each property. The measure from City Council President Stacie Gilmore would take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to launch. But she argues it’s necessary to protect tenants, ensure landlords meet basic standards and collect basic contact information from landlords. “For the first time in the city’s history we’ll be able to track our housing stock and understand how much we have,” Gilmore said. She hopes the bill — to be heard by the council’s business committee Wednesday morning — will help the city better understand its housing stock and to target where and how to add more affordable housing. But housing advocates worry Denver’s rents will only rise with the possibility that landlords will pass the costs along to tenants, and landlords are concerned about costs and making their information publicly available. The proposal would be the largest expansion of required licensing in the city’s history, according to Eric Escudero, spokesman for the city’s Department of Excise and Licensing. For context, security guards have the highest volume of licenses in Denver with just under 6,000 active ones, he said. How it would work Denver already requires people who want to let others stay in their properties temporarily through things such as Airbnb or VRBO to obtain short-term rental licenses. The city’s Department of Excise and Licenses has had so much trouble getting companies to comply, though, that there’s a $1,000 fine for each illegal short-term rental transaction. For long-term units, applications in Denver would cost $50 and the cost of licenses would range from $50 for single-unit properties to $500 for multi-family properties with more than 250 units, Gilmore said. Landlords would have to hold licenses for each rental parcel, not per unit, according to Magen Elenz, Gilmore’s chief of staff. Rental houses will need to be inspected, but only 10% of an apartment complex’s units would have to be inspected at random, Gilmore added. Her proposal is modeled after a similar program in Boulder, which started in the 1970s. As of January, Boulder had about 9,500 active long-term rental licenses covering about 20,500 individual units, a spokesman for Boulder’s tax and special projects manager Joel Wagner said. The city’s website indicates a $190 application fee per license, which must be renewed every four years and units must be inspected upon the first application and for each renewal. Long-term licenses in Denver would also have to be renewed every four years and would require inspections, Gilmore said. Landlords would have to hire private inspectors to cut down on the city’s workload. The licenses would help keep problematic landlords in check and give tenants the ability to seek help from the city, Gilmore said. Officials could fine landlords that don’t meet housing standards and suspend or revoke licenses — though tenants would be able to stay through the end of their lease. Plus, she said, creating a database of landlords and their properties would help the city track its housing stock and communicate with property owners and tenants about rental and utility assistance, Gilmore said. The concerns First, there’s the cost: more than $430,000 to phase in the new licensing program by the end of 2024, Gilmore said, on top of an unknown amount in the years following. The proposal also creates several concerns for landlords, according to Colorado Landlords Association President William Bronchick. While landlords wouldn’t necessarily oppose the licenses, he said in an email, many prefer to remain anonymous so tenants can’t communicate with them directly. “A registration that requires this information to be public would defeat that.” Bronchick said. “For example, I once had a tenant dig up my information and post nasty things on my Facebook page!” He also questioned whether safety violations found during inspections would count against landlords even if they were caused by tenants, and noted that licensing fees “could get expensive.” The Globeville, Elyria-Swansea Coalition Director Nola Miguel is worried that landlords will pass on the costs of licensing and required improvements or repairs to tenants. Her organization tries to protect marginalized neighborhoods and affordable housing. “A lot of the most vulnerable renters are the ones living in the worst conditions,” Miguel said. But at the same time, she said, the licenses do have an upside in creating a way for the city to ensure better living standards for tenants. If the proposal passes Wednesday, it’ll move to the full council. With its blessing, landlords could apply for early licenses next year, Gilmore said, but would not be required to obtain licenses until Jan. 1, 2023.

Inventory way down, costs up

pretty accurate article from Denver Post on current state of Front Range Market... Buyers in metro Denver can almost always count on having a wider selection of homes available as the weather warms up, but not this year. The inventory of homes and condos available for sale in the region continued to shrink last month, despite rising mortgage rates, according to a monthly update from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. In a metro area with more than 3.2 million people, only 1,921 homes and condos were available for sale at the end of March, down 5.1% from February and 66.7% from a year earlier. Last month’s inventory decline last month was the largest on record for a March, and the first February to March decline the area has seen since 2014. It came despite a 26.7% jump in new listings compared to February. Sellers showed up, only to be overwhelmed by demand. A word to frustrated buyers who held out for the spring surge in inventory: It isn’t happening. Instead, home prices are surging, further adding to the sense of desperation some buyers feel. “Theoretically, this month’s report shows that if a buyer waited just one month to buy a $500,000 property from the end of February to the end of March, they would have had to pay $35,000 more for that property,” said Andrew Abrams, chairman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee and a Denver Realtor in comments accompanying the report. The median closing price of a single-family sold rose 5.7% from February to $560,000 and it is up 15.5% over the past year. The average closing price reached $674,990, a 6.7% increase from February and a 19.3% gain from March of last year. Both of those figures are all-time highs. Median price gains were more modest for condos and townhomes, up 4.6% month-overmonth and 6.35% year-over-year to $353,000. The average closing price rose 4.4% and 8.2% respectively to $416,775. The number of residential closings shot up 24% between February and March and is up 1.2% over the past year. Half of the singlefamily home listings last month went under contract within four days, and received 104.1% of the listing price — two other markers of how hot the housing market remains. Rising interest rates, which can reduce affordability and limit demand, could start to weigh more on markets depending on how quickly they continue to move up. Rates on a 30-year mortgage started the year at around 2.65% and are now running closer to 3.2%, according to FreddieMac. “If interest rates continue to rise, we may see a decrease in buyers in the market place leading to a more normalized market. The million-dollar question is when?” Abrams asked.