Denver Real Estate Law Blog

Buying and then quickly selling residential property for a profit used to be more widespread in the U.S., but recent statistics show that Denver still ranks among the top 25 most profitable residential property markets. The real estate data provider RealtyTrac found that 3,842 single-family residences were flipped in Denver in 2012. That number represents an increase of 7 percent from a year prior.

The criterion RealtyTrac used to define a flipped house was that the house had to have been bought and sold within a six-month span. According to the data, Denver was 24th on the list of some 600 metropolitan areas, in terms of best gross profits.

It happens in just about every community throughout Colorado: large residential plans are simultaneously supported and opposed by local residents. Demand for specific kinds of housing, such as apartments or condominiums, can be challenged by community members who raise aesthetic and environmental concerns. Still, good land planning does result in developments that can benefit all parties involved.

These kinds of questions have come up in an approved condominium project in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The city council gave approval of the Skyview Apartments project in early April, but some residents say the condos will cause parking and snow storage problems.

A particularly Coloradan real estate transaction is set to be completed in a couple of weeks in Pitkin County. The property in Old Snowmass that was bought by John Denver in the 1970s was meant to be conserved, and now the Windstar Land Conservancy and the Rocky Mountain Institute are close to finishing a deal to sell the land to a private buyer.

Some controversy has arisen about whether the Windstar property should have been put on the market for private purchase, and more recently there have been requests for an amendment to a conservation easement established in 1996. In particular, the easement allows the public to access, in perpetuity, the trails on 927 acres of the land. In all, there are 957 acres.

Coloradans know that water is extremely valuable in our state, and land-use agreements often depend on water-use agreements. Land between Colorado Springs and Denver has remained largely undeveloped for so long because of a lack of a reliable water source.

But land use and zoning in that area may change since ownership of The Broadmoor resort changed hands in 2011. In addition to the resort, the owner acquired adjudicated rights to water under thousands of acres of Greenland Ranch land in Douglas County.