Real Estate Blog

Most experts agree that the Puget Sound region needs more housing options, but zoning changes, regulations and NIMBYism have stunted progress.

Visible from Interstate 80 but otherwise tucked away behind office buildings, a 2-acre site in South Natomas is being eyed for a sizable project.

A collective formed before the pandemic to revitalize three neighborhoods in Dallas worn down by decades of under-investment and neglect got a progress report this week. The short version: This is gonna be harder than they thought.

Vail Resorts sued the Town of Vail this week over the latter’s decision to block the construction of employee housing due to concerns it will disrupt a bighorn sheep habitat.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Eagle County District Court, asks a judge there to invalidate an Aug. 2 vote of the Vail Town Council that stopped progress on the project.

“As is the case in many mountain towns in Colorado, the Town of Vail desperately needs affordable housing,” the lawsuit states.

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“Vail, therefore, needs to move forward with all of the workforce housing options available to it if the town wants to make a meaningful dent in the employee housing crisis,” it adds.

Town spokeswoman Kris Widlak said in an email Thursday, “We just received the lawsuit and are in the process of reviewing it. We will not be able to comment on it today.”

The lawsuit takes issue with the early August decision by council me..

Home sellers in metro Denver are starting to get squeezed in ways they haven’t felt in a long time, from their listings taking longer to sell, discounts replacing premiums and from buyers making more demands.

For example, the number of days it took for a new listing to go under contract averaged 19 days in August, up sharply from 13 in July and 10 in June, according to the Market Trends Report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.

“All of the major statistical categories are pointing to the market slowing down,” said Andrew Abrahams, chairman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, in comments accompanying the monthly report.

The number of closings dropped 5.9% to 4,221 last month from July and they are down 30.2% from a year earlier. The number of active listings at the end of August fell 5.7% from July to 6,939, partly seasonal and partly because of a drop in new listings. Compared to a year earlier, there are 114.6% more single-family homes on the market and 47.4% more cond..

This mansion last sold for less than half that amount in 2019.

The NFL star, an investor in the general contractor building the site, will give educational tours of the development to local youth this month.

Kevin and Keith McDonald invested about $300,000 to open a new 1,500-square-feet Batteries Plus location in Los Lunas. The brothers celebrated the opening on Aug. 6.

“As the steward of this beautiful property, I am proud to leave its legacy to the next generations of caretakers,” Arsht said.

The company also provides staff with unlimited snacks and beverages, and water coolers with their own water cup.