Fluid-Applied WRBs are Getting Our Attention

A house needs a weather resistant barrier (WRB) underneath the wall cladding to divert wind-driven rain.  Asphalt impregnated felt paper was the most common WRB for 100 years.  Then about 1980, builders started using Tyvek.  It had at least three advantages:  The 12' length of  the rolls saved labor cost, you can tape the seams, and it doesn't tear as easily.  Taping of the seams meant that it could also serve as an air barrier, and reduced the infiltration rate of air moving through the house.

Now it appears that the best WRB is "fluid applied" which means it gets sprayed on like paint.  In some wall designs, it can serve as both a seamless air barrier and fastener-free WRB.

Check out Matt Risinger's work on the topic:

Housing Demand is at a 50 Year Peak in Denver

Housing demand is important, otherwise there are no reasons to build low and zero energy homes.

Here's some advice for house hunting new Denver immigrants:
Your best option is Capitol Hill, where the older, more affordable apartments are.

Older neighborhoods close to light rail have 2-3 bdrm homes for $1700 and up.  Some have basements which will add 1-2 more bdrms.  All these close in neighborhoods have started getting their own brewpubs too.

I have some rental homes, and it looks to me that the market will stay incredibly tight this year.  That means a feeding frenzy for every advertised house or apartment.  So using Craigslist to find a rental can be a frustrating waste of time, with a lot of disappointment and wasted application fees.

My advice is to find some solid management companies that seem to have a lot of inventory of apartments and homes.  You can pay an application fee and if approved, get on their waiting list.  Make sure they explain to you how their waiting list works.

You simply can't wait for a showing to see if the place will be acceptable.  Find companies you trust and jump on what they offer you.

I like and have dealt with Cornerstone, Wheelhouse, Boutique Apartments, Fourstar, Distinctive Dwelling, Realm.  I'm sure there are more out there I don't know about, but the newer ones could be scammers.  Read the Yelp reviews, but take the occasional bad reviews with a grain of salt, otherwise none will make the cut.

I haven't heard of anyone testing this method yet, so please report back if you try it.

BTW, more than half the renters I talk to these days are new to town and moved here because of legalization.  I think most folks have really underestimated the economic impact it is making.

Denver is Getting it Wrong on Short Term Rentals

Mary Beth Susman and Denver City Council are looking at the issue of short term rentals in the city because the zoning department has reported a total of 9 complaints about them.

Since 1956, it has been illegal to rent homes and apartments for less than 30 days.

With the popularity of  websites like Airbnb, there are 1000 landlords in Denver currently flouting this law.  Since it is such an obscure law, most landlords have been unaware of it.  The nine with complaints have been threatened with fines up to $52,000/year

Council is considering changing the law under the condition that the rental is the landlords primary residence.  I don't know where this strange condition came from, maybe some other city thought it was a good idea, and Denver is trying to copy their model.

When questioned about it, Ms. Susman, the chairman of the Sharing Economy Committee, said:

"Homeowners may operate one dwelling unit for rental periods of less than 30 days.  This unit must be part of their primary residence.  The reason for this is if a nonresident investor is allowed to offer multiple dwelling units for short term, then those units are out of the city's inventory of affordable long term rental housing.  The result of that is higher rents across the city."

It sounds logical at first, but there is absolutely no data anywhere to support this assertion.

Councilman Chris Nevitt said, "I don't see embracing a new model of lodging that doesn't play by the same revenue rules as the old model of lodging," .   "We are here to embrace new models of business, but we aren't here to pick winners and losers."

Chris, do you understand what "disruptive business model" even means?  Instead of supporting the aging status quo, consider what Long Beach did when the new Uber-style taxi companies began taking away business from the old-guard, regulated taxi companies.  They loosened the old regulations!  Smart.  http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-long-beach-taxis-20150512-story.html

So I'm just urging Council to gather and then consider only facts, not write laws that address fears.

Here's what might really happen - If investor short term rentals are truly as profitable as everyone thinks they are, then many more will be built in all the zones where additional units can be built.  This increased supply could drive down prices for short term rentals to the point where these new units are returned to the long term rental pool! Remember, I'm just speculating.  Council, please don't write laws based on speculation.

The "primary residence" requirement is the newest in a long history of specious arguments for various zoning regulations.   I'll list a few:

• "We must provide 1.5 parking spaces for every dwelling unit in the city or parking citywide will be awful."  (This was true in all zones until changed in 2010)
• "We must not allow more than three unrelated adults to reside in a single dwelling unit or the neighborhood will be horrible."  (Also changed in 2010)
• "We have to provide tons of parking at the light rail station and prevent parking in the nearby neighborhood or else parking will be awful." In fact, increased transit ridership reduces parking requirements citywide.
• "We must not allow rentals of less than 30 days or else the neighborhood will go to hell." (This probably will be changed because there are 1000 illegal short term rentals in the city and only 9 related complaints)

We turned up the following document from the City of Colorado Springs website.  It indicates that the Springs is proud of their tourism heritage and trusts its residents to self regulate short term rentals.  Apparently Denver City Council doesn't trust us to act like adults.

https://www.springsgov.com/units/planning/applications/2011/DAB2011/DAB_405.pdf