In today’s insightful episode, we delve into the challenges of Colorado’s housing market with in-depth discussions on construction defect legislation and its profound impact. Hosting for Kim Monson, Karen Levine walks us through the historical journey of such laws and their unintended consequences on housing affordability. Hear from legislative figures, such as Representative Rose Puglisi, as they share current debates and legislative efforts aimed at balancing market forces with realistic, attainable housing solutions. Don’t miss this comprehensive conversation that unravels the nuanced intersections of law and real estate in Colorado.
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It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
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The socialization of transportation, education, energy, housing, and water. What it means is that government controls it through rules and regulations.
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The latest in politics and world affairs.
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Under this guise of bipartisanship and nonpartisanship, it’s actually tapping down the truth.
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Today’s current opinions and ideas.
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On an equal field in the battle of ideas, mistruths and misconceptions is getting us into a world of hurt.
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Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
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Good morning. Welcome to the Kim Monson Show. I’m Karen Levine, and I am stepping in for Kim as she is traveling. I’m excited to be with you this morning on this bright Monday morning, March 10th. Love to start our conversation this morning with our word of the day. And Kim was, I guess, excited about the word I selected, which the word today is listen. Listen. And of course, today we’re going to have a lot to listen to. And the reason I selected that word is each year I read a little red book called One Word That Will Change Your Life. And this year, my word of the day, or my word for the year, I should say, is listen. And listen is a verb, and it means to pay attention to a sound, to hear something with thoughtful attention, give consideration, and to be alert to catch an expected sound. And with that said, the quote of the day is, be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble. And that quote is from Frank. Tiger, Frank Tiger, and Frank Tiger was an editorialist and a cartoonist for the Trenton Times, and he started his career there in 1960. You might be wondering, too, what was going on on March 10th. And so this day in history has some interesting things I thought I would share with you. In 1862, the U.S. issues the first paper money in the form of a $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, and $1,000 notes. 1862 that was going on we are moving into stanley cup season here in colorado with the colorado avalanche potentially we’ll see where they go in the playoffs but in 1900 the stanley cup took place in the montreal arena westmont quebec montreal shamrocks outclassed the halifax crescents And the score was 11-0 to sweep Challenge Series 2-0. My favorite what was happening in this day in history is in 1922, KLZ AM, the radio station you are listening to this morning, in Denver, Colorado, begins radio transmissions. 1971, the U.S. Senate approved amendment lowering voting age to 18. And in 1980, Willard Scott becomes the weather forecaster for the Today Show. So that is this day in history. Joe, did you have anything you might want to add to this day in history? I think Joe, oh, Joe is very busy. He’s trying to keep me organized. Not anything I have off the top of my head. What else is interesting is today’s headlines or some headlines that Kim shared with us. And one that’s really close to my heart is what is happening with construction defect. We talk about that a lot when I am on on Thursday mornings or here in the studio. and the construction defect legislation was passed over a decade ago, and we believe that has been very harmful to our housing environment here along the Front Range and in the state of Colorado. And it sounds like the Democrats at the state have two bills that are very, very different – One would help to lower the ability to file lawsuits against developers and builders and offer more opportunity for housing. But it’s interesting because it limits that to lower end housing. It says that since the construction defect legislation went into place, housing prices and rents have turned Colorado into one of the country’s least affordable housing markets. Builders and buyers have been waiting for the state to offer some relief. So far, they’ve all been waiting in vain. The Colorado Real Estate Association is working diligently during this session as well to try to find some answers to the construction defect problem. And what I find interesting is that they want to, one of the bills has some reasonable changes to construction defects, but it’s so-called the middle market housing that they want to affect only. And my question, Joe, is why are we only looking at middle class or middle market housing when this affects all housing in the front range? So that was an interesting headline. The other thing that is out there is Arapahoe County is looking for citizen watchdogs that need to overlook the bill that was passed. I don’t know if it was a bill, but it had to do with voters approved issue 1A. And that was… removing those spending limits that Tabor has given us that is, you know, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which helps people, helps us taxpayers to keep an eye on how our government is spending our tax dollars. And Arapahoe County chose to remove that and allow the government to spend the overcollect tax revenue. And it is supposed to go towards specific things and not to pet projects and political agendas, and obviously watchdogs in that arena would be important. So with that said, I’ve covered a lot of information. You can always email Kim at kimmonson.com and check out her website. She has lots of great information there for you to be able to take in regarding… regarding upcoming guests on her show. And that’s Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. And I look forward to the conversations we’re going to have here today. We’re going to do some talking with my dear friend Lee Brown, who’s a realtor in North Carolina. And as well, we have a gentleman who’s written a book about affordable housing. And I had told Kim it would be exciting to have a conversation with about how do you bring affordable housing to the marketplace without incentives. So that in itself will be a challenge. With that, what else do we have here? Let’s see. There’s a lot that she sent over. Oh, I did find this also very interesting, which was a headline is Federal Office to Move from Denver Amid Sanctuary City Accusations. In a bold move by the Trump administration, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced on Thursday that it would be relocating the Denver Regional Office to a less costly, more accessible location that would better serve the small business community and comply with federal immigration law. The Denver office is not alone. Administrator Kelly Loeffler said Thursday that Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York City, and Seattle offices will also be impacted. Loeffler said that these municipalities do not comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regulations. The announcement comes on the heels of Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s appearance before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, where he was grilled over state and local policies and laws that limit how local law enforcement can work with federal immigration officers. The SBA, which aids small business owners and entrepreneurs in their business ventures, also said it would be rolling out a new policy that requires loan applications to include a citizen verification provision to ensure only legal eligible applicants. can access SBA programs. Our small business community is really an important part of our economy. It’s what’s built America. And really, small business has been under threat over these last years with the rise in minimum wage, the requirements of family leave, those type of things that puts a lot of pressure on small business. And maybe this move will give them some more opportunity. Do you have any thoughts there, Joe?
SPEAKER 20 :
I’m hopeful that it does create some opportunity for them.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly, exactly. So, you know, we are very fortunate that Kim has lots of great sponsors. You may know I am a sponsor of the Kim Monson Show. I’m with REMAX Alliance. Arvada and have been in the real estate industry helping people buy and sell houses over the last 35 plus years and my office is located on Arvada but I am very available to help people along the Front Range both with a purchase of residential real estate or the sale of their home and would love to have the opportunity to help you out At this point, we’d like to hear from Roger Mangan, who is one of Kim’s great sponsors. And he will be on later in the second hour to have a conversation, brief conversation with us. But with that said, let’s hear from Kim’s sponsor at this time.
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Focused and wise marketing is essential for your success, especially during tough economic times. If you love The Kim Monson Show, strive for excellence and understand the importance of engaging in the battle of ideas that is raging in America. Then talk with Kim about partnership, sponsorship opportunities. Email Kim at kimmonson.com. Kim focuses on creating relationships with individuals and businesses that are tops in their fields. So they are the trusted experts listeners turn to when looking for products or services. Kim personally endorses each of her sponsors. Again, reach out to Kim at KimMonson.com.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to The Kim Benson Show. I’m Karen Levine, and I am sitting in for Kim as she is traveling. As you know, Kim Minson also hosts the American Veterans Stories, and that is airing on Sundays between 3 and 4, and would love for you to check that out. Again, that’s American Veterans Stories. I think we have on the line Minority House Leader Rose Puglisi, and she is here to give us an update of what is happening down at the Statehouse. Representative Puglisi, can you jump in and fill us in?
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. Good morning. And thank you so much to you and to Kim for having me on today. The legislature is getting pretty busy. We’re about at the halfway mark. And what we’ve seen so far are the good Republican ideas basically getting killed in committee. And that’s been incredibly disappointing. And I’ll give you a brief overview, and then I can go into more specific bills. But the other thing that I think is really disappointing is the legislation that we’re seeing is not the legislation that we heard when we knocked doors. And I can’t imagine that the doors that Democrats knocked were any different than the doors Republicans knocked. But affordability is the number one issue. And I have yet to see, we, our caucus, have yet to see really any bills that address the affordability crisis. We are working on bringing forward legislation around decreasing regulations. I think that’s really important. And you’ll see some of that coming forward later this session. But, you know, public safety, we’re not seeing bills that really are addressing the public safety crisis in Colorado. And so I think it’s really disappointing that we are not really delivering as a legislature here. on bills that are really going to help Coloradans today. So that’s the basic overview of what we’re seeing at the legislature. I’m hoping the next 60 days will bring forward legislation that actually positively impacts health care and affordability in Colorado. So that’s the general overview. When we are getting more specific, obviously the attack on our Second Amendment rights has been the major theme that we have seen thus far at the legislature. We saw the ban on ammo going through for people who are 18 to 25. 21, and that passed the House, is on to the Senate. We saw in the Senate SB3. I will say of all the emails I get, the attack on our Second Amendment rights are the most of the emails. That is the number one issue for our constituents. You know, the attack on our constitutional rights just continues. And so we saw SB3 go through the legislature. That’s the assault weapons ban. And we saw it go through the Senate. It is supposed to be in the House. They continue to reschedule it. We do believe we will see it this week in committee and then potentially on the floor. So I encourage people to get engaged in committee hearings when they can, testify when you can. You can do it remotely. You don’t need to come to the Capitol and wait all day. But I do think getting the voices of the people to the legislature is incredibly important on this issue. And then we will continue to fight it on the floor.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, we appreciate, Representative Poglisi, how much work you are doing down there. I find it interesting that you started the conversation by saying that what’s happening down on the state floor is not what the constituents were saying at the doors. And with the emails I’m getting from my representatives at the U.S. House and Senate, it does not reflect the way that I a feeling and thinking today. And I think it’s important, and I know the listeners on the Kim Monson show are of like mind from the standpoint that there’s an agenda out there that is being pushed, and it is not for the benefit of the constituents and taxpayers. And I think you’re seeing that, and that’s kind of what I heard in your overview.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I know, you know, we always try to say the state’s different from the federal government, and we’re seeing that. You know, I have a piece of legislation that I’m running with Senator Lundeen. It’s bipartisan, but to really look at auditing the regulations that we have and starting to roll back some of these regulations that are hurting businesses. And I firmly believe in this bill. I also, though, think that, you know, especially we’ve seen these attacks on the health care industry every year. There are more and more bills piling, piling on. And I think the common theme of the legislature that I have been frustrated with, you know, I was a county commissioner on the Western Slope before I ran for the legislature. And, you I think implementation is incredibly important. And what I find that the legislature personally is that we continue to pile, you know, we say there’s an issue, we agree on the issue, but then we continue to pile legislation on and on and on that never actually gets fully implemented. So you never get to see the effects. So is what we’ve done to fix the issue actually working? You’ll never know. And I think and when I say we, I want to remind your listeners that we are 43 Democrats to 22 Republicans in the House. So most of the legislation that is being passed, while I will say a lot of legislation is bipartisan and we are we are definitely there are definitely areas of common agreement, especially around protecting charter schools that we’ve seen on both the Republican and Democrat side. So I don’t want to say that we don’t ever agree.
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Mm hmm.
SPEAKER 04 :
There are definitely some areas where we do have some agreement. But I will say, like, you know, these attacks on the Second Amendment, I heard not one person at the door say, hey, my life will be better if you continue to do this. Now, Democrats might have a different feeling depending on who they talk to at the doors. But there’s already been legislation that has been implemented saying, curbing our Second Amendment rights. We don’t agree with it. They think it’s good, but they never let these pieces of legislation work. And then they want to do more and more and more. And I think really focusing on implementation and what is good for our state. But again, we’re not addressing the affordability crisis. I really, I don’t think today that the people of Colorado have had a piece of legislation that’s really going to make their lives easier, going to make it better for them to not have to work multiple jobs in Colorado for single moms and dads to be able to provide for their families. I just I don’t see that legislation coming through. And it’s disappointing because Republicans tried to get bipartisan legislation to happen on on some of these affordability issues that we’re hearing. And, you know, I think of Ruff Gonzalez and his cage-free egg repeal so that you know eggs don’t cost 11 in colorado and democrats will say well that would have had no effect but um it’s an issue that i think needs to be talked about and um and addressed and i just i don’t feel like we’re doing enough
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I know there has to be frustration down there from that regard. What was interesting, one of the headlines I shared in the beginning of the show had to do with two bills regarding the construction defect legislation, which I’m sure you’re aware of has dramatically affected affordability in our housing markets. And I know when that legislation was passed over a decade ago, at the time, people were very well-meaning, but they didn’t understand the long-term effects. And what’s interesting is the headline had to do with two bills that conflict but are both coming from the Democratic side of the aisle. And they’re very—one is more broad, the other one is more narrow, but— It segments out the housing market for the middle housing market that will give protection there but not protection to the whole housing market. And what we don’t understand is that when you give benefit to one part of the market, it will harm the other part of the market. So it is interesting to see that they’re in conflict as well.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and I think you bring up an excellent point. It’s one that I’ve been beating the drum on for the last two years. We talk about addressing issues in the affordable and attainable housing crisis. But then what we have seen are bills by the Democrats that have been signed in law by the governor. that actually make the cost of housing less affordable. And so you’re saying, okay, on the one hand, you want to address this crisis, but what you’re putting in place is not addressing the crisis. And I think construction defects, you know, we’ve come a long way on construction defects. When I started in the House two years ago, this is my third year, Nobody wanted to really talk about construction defects. I mean, Republicans did. Democrats didn’t. Governor wasn’t really on board. They didn’t really see how construction defects would actually help affordable and attainable housing. I will say there’s been a definite shift. in actually wanting to have the conversation and bringing something forward and what i think you’re seeing um our developers saying you know what we are just not going to build um affordable and attainable entry-level housing we’re just not going to do it because of construction defects and so i think now there is definitely a realization that we have got to do something now I agree. We have to do something. But making sure we’re doing the right something is just as important as doing something. And I’m sure you understand that. So I do think there’s definitely a lot of conflict. But I think there is an opportunity. There is one of the construction defect bills that I know I signed on to because we have to have this conversation and we need to be able to figure out where where there are opportunities to make changes. Are they going to be all of the changes that we want? Probably not. Is it going to be the perfect bill? Absolutely not. But does it bring us a little bit further into having the conversation and actually addressing the underlying issues in the housing market? I think at least it opens the conversation. So we’ll see how it progresses through the House and the Senate. We’ve had a couple of construction defect bills throughout the years, but they’ve never made it past the finish line. So I’ll be curious to see how these go.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, yeah. Well, I know the Colorado Association of Realtors, of who I’m a member of, they are definitely putting a lot of energy and effort into supporting good bills with regards to construction defects and rolling that back so we can bring more. more housing and affordable and attainable housing to the state of Colorado. You made another comment which was about eggs, and what I found interesting is we legislated this cage-free situation, and eggs was one of the most affordable forms of protein in our marketplace. And through those type of bills, we made eggs really not affordable. And so I appreciate all the work you’re doing down there to continue to whittle away and make things affordable for the citizens of Colorado.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you so much. And thank you to your listeners for your prayers and your support. We get a ton of emails and texts of support. And I think it’s really important to keep us motivated as we go through the last 60 days.
SPEAKER 03 :
Most definitely. And I’m sure that in the next 60 days, your sleep will be limited. But just know we appreciate the work you’re doing.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity to talk about the legislature today.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I appreciate the update, Representative Pugliese, and we just ask that you have a great Monday, and thank you for your time this morning. Thank you. Well, that was nice to hear that they are working hard, but, you know, as they have seen down at the state, a lot of roadblocks, a lot of legislation being presented, so a lot to work through to get to good solutions. And I think Representative Puglisi is looking at how do we roll back some legislation because more and more layers creates more and more costs. So I think that was a great conversation there. We are going to head to break here and hear from another great sponsor. Well, I think she’s pretty good because that would be me, Karen Levine and Remax Alliance.
SPEAKER 01 :
Award-winning realtor Karen Levine with Remax Alliance understands the importance of home ownership. Karen Levine works diligently at the local, county, state, and national levels to protect your private property rights. With over 30 years experience as a Colorado realtor, Karen Levine will help you navigate the complicated metro real estate market, whether you are buying your home, selling your home, considering a new build, or exploring investment properties. Kim Monson highly recommends Karen Levine call Karen Levine at 303-877-7516. That’s 303-877-7516 for answers to all your real estate needs.
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SPEAKER 05 :
Don’t delay. All of Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmonson.com. That’s kimmonson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. I’m Karen Levine, and I’m sitting in for Kim as she is traveling. Remember to sign up for Kim’s weekly newsletter. You’ll get the first look at all her upcoming guests as well as her most recent essays or their most recent essays. You can email Kim at Kim at KimMonson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. I have my friend and great realtor on the line, Lee Brown from North Carolina, and I’m excited to hear what is happening in your world, Lee.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, good morning. It’s such an honor to be back with you and your listeners again, and I’m glad spring is kind of here. Ready for more of it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, well, we are supposed to have blue skies and sunshine for the next three or four days here in Colorado. And then we might see some moisture that looks kind of white show up on Friday. But with that said… Well, that’s what we call Thanksgiving. Right, right. but love the warm weather and that, you know, spring in the air. So you have been a busy girl. I know the last time I heard you on the Kim Monson show, you had put together a, what do I want to refer to it as a charity situation, a 501 C three to help with hurricane disaster victims. And how are things in the real estate market?
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, we’re doing better. So we’re making progress. It’s just a long, slow fight. And we’re talking about being a marathon instead of a sprint. And so the nonprofit that I started was, of course, initially going for emergency help. And then we were doing emergency housing. But now we’re shifting into home repairs and helping the people who were devastated by the hurricane who didn’t have insurance or who got their claims denied because it was a flood. Yeah. And people who didn’t get anything from FEMA or if they got something from FEMA, it was inadequate. Because one thing that I’ve brought to the attention of the new FEMA director, Cameron Hamilton, out of Virginia, he’s wonderful. He’s a retired Navy SEAL. I’m just delighted that he’s our new FEMA guy under the new administration. But, boy, he’s got his hands full. And one thing I told him is that FEMA has not indexed the help that they give. And you and I both know the real estate markets have gotten so expensive, particularly over the last five years since the COVID pandemic started. And rents are higher, home prices are higher, labor is higher, materials are higher. So when FEMA does finally give some help, it doesn’t even begin to do the work that’s necessary. We’re trying to bridge that gap for people because I know that the only way we can preserve our communities is to help people stay in them and not feel like they have to move and uproot their entire lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Right. I I remember we had a situation with flooding up in outside of Boulder County and just, you know, the devastation that water does and how much resources it takes to restore that housing. But the work you’re doing is amazing because, like you said, keeping people in their communities and in their homes is better overall for everybody.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, and I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, so I prefer to call myself a coincidence spotter. We do notice that almost every city that puts in place these plans for 2040 plans and 2030 plans for smart cities, 15-minute cities, whatever you want to reference it as, it’s not long after they put those documents in place that they get hit by something. And we’ve seen it in the North Carolina mountains. Asheville wants to be a 15-minute city. And so the whole region goes down. We saw it in Maui. We see it. Well, right now we’ve got wildfires at Myrtle Beach and South Carolina. And Myrtle Beach had, of course, just passed a new UDO for smart cities. So We see all these things, and it just puts me on fire even more to say not all of us want to live in a city. Not all of us want to be on top of other people. A lot of people like privacy, and they like to have the liberty that our forefathers had. I mean, it’s one of the reasons Colorado is so beautiful. You’ve got all these people that said, you know, I need a ranch, I need some elbow room, and they moved out there not to be in Denver but to be on their own.
SPEAKER 03 :
Correct. Well, and it is interesting because – These agendas assume or make us believe that we all want to live in cities and walk to the grocery store and walk, you know, to shopping and to dining, et cetera, et cetera. And yet we have been a nation of mobility. And they continue to restrict our mobility. We were having a local conversation at our government affairs committee this week at the local realtor level about parking spaces. And we’ve seen how well limiting parking spaces has worked, not only in our cities, but throughout our communities. And we don’t want to give up our mobility as much as we want to be told that we want to.
SPEAKER 21 :
Right. I mean, I don’t want to give up the Great American Road trip. That’s iconic America. Right. And I like being in my car when I can turn my radio on and sing out loud or cuss or pray or whatever because I have the privacy to do it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. Exactly. Well, are you seeing the spring market pick up as far as real estate in North Carolina? Obviously, you guys have a lot more obstacles as you rebuild after the devastation.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, the market is doing very well, but of course, like every other community, there was a shortage of housing in western North Carolina before the storm, and then you lose a bunch of properties because of the storm. So it’s an exacerbated shortage. And the market, my guess is when I look at the history of areas that have been impacted by natural disaster, we’re going to see the big upswing probably in the next 12 months as people do figure out insurance checks and they figure out if they’re going to have to buy something new or where they’re going to go. So I’d say it’s a lull in the market temporarily, although my realtor friend, everybody’s got their phone ringing off the hook asking questions, which is Always a good sign that people haven’t given up on an area. But I think there’s a problem that’s coming that people don’t tend to look at the consequences of how things play out. And you and I both know part of the reason for the stabilization of our market over the last year has been the increase in interest rates because it just took some of those bidding wars and calmed them down. But now that we’ve got some chatter in Washington, D.C. about getting interest rates down, I don’t think people remember that if rates come down, it’s going to heat those wars right back up, and we’re going to be right back on that unaffordability swing we were on before. So we’ve got to take a big look at everything that happens and how we create opportunities without pricing people out forever.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Well, it’s interesting that you would bring that up regarding as interest rates potentially move down. After I think President Trump addressed the House and made comments about more favorable interest rates, this weekend was very busy for me in that I wrote several offers. And in both cases, we were in multiple offer situations. We saw the waiving of appraisal contingencies. We saw escalation clauses. And I was like, oh, my goodness. Not again. Right. And so, like you said, it just doesn’t help the affordability attainability environment. If we’re going to put that kind of pressure back on housing prices and again, due to the lack of inventory.
SPEAKER 21 :
And I don’t want to diminish people that need a better price and better interest rate to purchase. We understand that. But I think there’s a disconnect between if you buy right now while rates are a little bit higher, you might be getting a better price than you will six months from now if rates come down and people start bidding again. So there’s a balancing act going on. But still, at the core of it, we’re 10 years behind on building. And there’s got to be… I think a smarter group of local officials that don’t say yes to everything and they don’t say no to everything because we need to have housing options. But then again, I look at the other side of the coin and the deportations have started, not going at a fast enough clip for my taste, but they’re moving along. And I do wonder if that’s going to impact our demand side some as we start to take some of the humans out of the marketplace who were using housing And we’re being paid to do so by the government and NGOs.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, right. Well, and I know one of the things we’ve seen here in Colorado is so much legislation in last year’s session that really put a lot of onus on landlords, gave a lot of rights to tenants. And my small mom and pop investors basically threw up their hands and said, this is just more than we want to combat, that if somebody does not choose to pay rent to us and it takes us 90 to 120 days off. to get them out of our property we’d rather sell so that brought a little bit of inventory to the marketplace but that’s a sad way to increase you know availability of housing when you have really is because those are the landlord that you’re referencing there that usually do the affordable rentals they’re not doing the super swanky exactly the ceiling glass and hardwoods and granite they’re doing something that’s affordable to a working class
SPEAKER 21 :
And when we lose them out of the marketplace, then not everybody can buy. Not everybody wants to buy. They should have a lot of options. But, you know, every action has consequences. And we just have to pray for our leaders that they be more thoughtful and as voters that we elect more thoughtful people.
SPEAKER 03 :
Most definitely. And I think it was interesting. I had the minority house leader, Rose Puglisi, on earlier this morning. And our conversation was that what she heard at the doors when she was knocking on doors to talk to constituents is not what’s happening down at the state. And so I think as citizens. I hate to say it, but we need to be louder. We need to hold people accountable. These are jobs that our citizens don’t want because they’re hard jobs. And the ones that have chosen to go in there, we really need to support that are speaking the way that we believe and feel.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, I think the people are getting louder when you look at how infuriating it is with what Doge is uncovering for us. And I’m grateful for the waste and fraud that’s being exposed because it is giving the people a voice and showing our elected officials we’re not going to put up with it if y’all don’t get your house in order we’re going to do it for you and that’s i feel the same way when i look at housing and i’m glad that elon’s looking at the office of housing and urban development let’s make sure there’s no fraud there let’s make sure that the the housing dollars that are allocated are being spent wisely too
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, most definitely. I do find it interesting here in Colorado, the amount of conversation and press that talks about how bad revealing all this inappropriate spending, that this is horrible. And, you know… Elon should be fired and he’s doing bad work. And I thought, well, if somebody was which they are, they’re stealing our tax dollars for programs that are not necessarily beneficial to us as a community and a society. And why would you be angry at that? I mean, if somebody stole something from me, I would want them to be held accountable.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, they’re only angry because they’re getting caught, because there are Republicans and Democrats with their hands in those proverbial cookie jars. I don’t appreciate it, and I’m so grateful that Elon would take a break from his genius billionaire life to do government work for a minute because it’s costing him money to do this, and I’m so grateful.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and I think we continue to have those conversations, that we are grateful that President Trump has, I think, a good circle of people around him who are giving him good direction and will continue working. I think to share his sentiment and the value of the Department of Doge, you know, government expenditures. At this time, let’s take a quick break, Lee, and then we’ll get back to our conversation. We are fortunate because of the good sponsors Kim has on her show. And Lauren Levy with Polygon Financial is one of those sponsors.
SPEAKER 13 :
high inflation and increasing property taxes are making it more challenging for seniors to make ends meet. If you’re 62 or older, a reverse mortgage may be the solution for what’s keeping you up at night. It is essential that you understand the process and work with a trusted professional mortgage expert. Lauren Levy will help you craft solutions for your unique circumstances, whether a mortgage, a second mortgage or a reverse mortgage. If you’d like to explore what a reverse mortgage can do for you, call Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881. That’s 303-880-8881.
SPEAKER 14 :
Call now. You’d like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of The Kim Monson Show, but you can’t remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim’s website, kimmonson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. I’m Karen Levine sitting in for Kim as she is traveling. As you may know, through all of Kim’s work with veterans, she is honored to highlight the USMC Memorial Foundation and all they are doing to raise the money to remodel the official USMC Memorial Foundation. which is located right here in Golden, Colorado at 6th and Colfax. Paula Soros is the president of the foundation. She is a Marine veteran and a Gold Star wife. Paula and her team are working diligently to bring that remodel to reality. You can help by donating at usmcmemorialfoundation.org. That’s usmcmemorialfoundation.org. We have on the line, my dear friend and realtor, Lee Brown from North Carolina. And we’ve been chatting about her work, her nonprofit that stepped in to help families that were affected by the hurricanes there in North Carolina and are now helping them bridge the gap between what FEMA has been able to help them with or not help them with and home repairs, keeping people in their homes and their communities. I thought we might transition a little bit, Lee, and see if you are seeing any changes in the marketplace with regards to the NAR settlement, which is the National Association of Realtors, and the fact that making our fees more transparent to our consumers. And yet, in my practice, I believe mine were always transparent.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, you were. And the interesting thing about it is that the changes that the class action lawsuit forced on realtors made it less transparent because, as you know, we now have to call every agent and find out what the situation is with their seller and how the cooperation is going to work before we go in the door. And while I do enjoy talking to other agents like you do, it builds a better transaction when we have a good working relationship. Not every agent you can get on the phone because some of them are part timers and some of them don’t want to work together. And it’s created some challenges for the consumer. And I just don’t think it was handled properly. I still don’t. And I do think that the end consumer has been hurt by the lawsuit and not helped by it just because it’s made real estate more difficult. And there’s no reason to make one of the hardest things more difficult. Now, I will say that the challenge we also are going to see is that I think we’ve got a diminished reputation as a trade organization. And the National Association has done very important work over the years advocating for private property rights. And I think that opportunity has been squandered because we have elected officials that now look at us with a wary eye, even though we are not the bad guys here. So I think there’s going to be some long-term challenges in the market, but there’s a positive because since you and I both know the National Association of Realtors has a tendency to lean towards the progressive side of things, and I hesitate to call it woke, but it’s fairly woke. I think there’s an opportunity here as the organization gets diminished for good brokers and good agents to keep up the conversation with their elected officials about how important property rights are and how important it is to have a strong housing market. So maybe they’ll listen to the people more in the organization less, just like we’re seeing on the government level.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Oh, and I think that’s a great comparison and analogy is here in the Colorado market. The nice thing is, is we started acknowledging practicing buyer agency back in 1991. So that wasn’t new to our marketplace. What I have found is it’s actually created a more free market than negotiations created. of fees is in the contract, which made it more transparent. And we’re finding that, as you said, not necessarily to the benefit of the consumer because it created more levels of government, more levels of policy, which always creates more cost And so that did not help the affordability conversation. But we continue to see really professionals in the marketplace and those who didn’t understand the changes have not adapted well. But I think the quality of the realtor profession is actually being enhanced in our market, which is positive. I do also appreciate.
SPEAKER 21 :
I think you’re right. And I got to point out there too, because somebody like you with your years of experience and how seasoned you are, I think the consumer really does understand now there’s a difference between you and somebody who’s newly licensed. And you and I were both newly licensed at one point. It took us a while to get good, but the consumer shouldn’t have had to pay as much for a newly licensed person as for somebody who’s highly seasoned. So I’m sure that part of the reason your phone rings is that people know what they get when they call you. They get ethical, competent knowledge, and that means something to the consumer.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I appreciate that. Thank you very much, and I think that’s true. The old quote, you get what you pay for, is true in a real estate transaction as well. I also appreciated what you said about the National Association and And when I became a realtor, we were much more conservative thinking. We were much more private property owner driven. Really the American dream holding on to that, watching very closely what type of policies and legislation went forward that would affect housing. And I have watched that change over the years, which is a little bit disheartening. But I think locally, sitting on our government affairs committee at the local association, I sort of was on my soapbox at an earlier in the year meeting saying that if we don’t start standing firm about homeownership and private property rights, that amenity, that American dream will get whittled away in a year. fellow committee member said we should all be on a soapbox. And I appreciated the fact that he understood, you know, really the threat that a lot of this legislation and policy has caused to homeownership. And yet the American people want that American dream, and we have the ability to help them achieve that. Right.
SPEAKER 21 :
That’s right. And, you know, proof of that, too, is I love that you’re focused on the local level, but that’s where we all have to keep our eye on the ball. That’s how we got so far. A field of traditional values is because we didn’t focus on the local enough. But there was an Obama era policy promoted by the National Association of Realtors on the federal level called Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing or AFFH. And that was a rule that was designed to take local zoning controls away. And the feds could say, look, you’re in a suburban neighborhood. We’re going to put low-income multifamily in the middle of your neighborhood, whether you want it or not. And that decision should only be made by the locals. And then they can say yes or no. Well, the realtors have been pushing that for, I guess, a decade now. And our new HUD secretary, Scott Turner from Texas, who was a wonderful cabinet pick by President Trump, They have put that policy in the dustbin and it is gone. And I am so grateful that they understand each community should have the power to make its own decisions. And it doesn’t matter what a trade association says. It matters what the people say. And I’m very, very glad for that one big change.
SPEAKER 03 :
Most definitely. Well, thank you. Anything else you would like to cover in the last couple of minutes we have together, Lee? I always love your insight. I love that you have the willingness to hop on. I know since you’re on the East Coast, it’s not as early there.
SPEAKER 21 :
No, it’s not. But I appreciate you getting on to cover the show so early yourself because I know you’ve got a big heart for the listeners of the Kim Monson show and the work that you’re doing out there. I would just say that when you – get focused on the news cycle it’s easy to get wrapped up in it every day and we can even make politics almost an idol but you’ve got to remember what the underlying story is and so for me it’s been driven home with the tragedy in western north carolina that the story is about community and what housing actually means it’s more than the pretty houses that you and i enjoy selling But even while I focus on North Carolina, I can’t forget what’s going on in Kentucky and West Virginia with their recent flooding or California with the loss of entire towns that weren’t all fancy. Like Altadena had a lot of fixed income senior citizens. They’re not all movie stars. Or what happened in Maui where we were still never told the story about what happened with the children and those houses that burned down. So my request is just that we all pay better attention, ask better questions, and don’t forget the everyday citizens that are being targeted by forces that are bigger than they are and reality is we the american people can take care of a whole bunch of things that the global elites just can’t understand our spirit and so we we can’t let it go and whether it’s supporting your local real estate agent instead of calling some company like open door or orchard there’s decisions we can all make every day that impact our communities and It might seem like it’s more difficult or more expensive, but in the long run, it’s probably the best possible outcome.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, I so appreciate that. I had shared one of the news headlines had to do with moving the SBA out of Metro Denver. And our small businesses, of which you and I are members of small business, we are small business. And small business has been the foundation of America. It has built and helped to build the American dream. And I am reminded… of my memory Bible verse, which is love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And this is the great and first commandment. But the second is like it. And that is love your neighbor as yourself. And when we take on that attitude and that belief system, our communities will thrive. Amen, sister. Amen. Well, I have always I always love hearing you. I hope I get to see you soon. I so appreciate you taking time this morning to be on the Kim Benson show with me. And as I fumble through trying to be. Never an equal host to Kim, but step into her shoes. I think we covered some really good topics. I hope the listeners have enjoyed hearing from you and I. And I, of course, thank the listeners. Each one of them are valued and treasured. Today, please strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, soul, mind, and body. You were made for this moment. And I look forward to hearing and talking from you, Lee, in the future. And listeners, keep listening.
SPEAKER 12 :
On a rough road riding high Through the mountains climbing Twisting, turning further from my home Like a new moon rising fierce Through the rain and lightning this great unknown I don’t want no one to cry but tell them if I don’t survive
SPEAKER 15 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
SPEAKER 09 :
KLZ AM HD Denver, AM 560 and 100.7 FM. Another hour of the Kim Monson Show is coming up on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 02 :
We are looking for four girls who would like to learn about robotics and compete with teams from other countries.
SPEAKER 06 :
In the new Angel Studios movie Rule Breakers, now in theaters, we meet a courageous teacher with an outlandish dream. This Afghani woman’s name is Roya, and her dream involves mentoring four adolescent girls as they participate in an international robotics competition.
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s The Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 19 :
The socialization of transportation, education, energy, housing, and water, what it means is that government controls it through rules and regulations.
SPEAKER 09 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 19 :
Under this guise of bipartisanship and nonpartisanship, it’s actually tapping down the truth.
SPEAKER 09 :
Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 19 :
On an equal field in the battle of ideas, mistruths and misconceptions is getting us into a world of hurt.
SPEAKER 09 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to the Kim Monson Show. I am Karen Levine, and I am thrilled to host the show. Kim is traveling today, so let’s have a conversation. Thank you for listening. Each of you are valued and treasured. Today, strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, soul, mind, and body. Thank you to producer Joe for your good work. He’s keeping me on track today as I’m fumbling through the task of hosting the Kim Monson Show. Remember to visit Kim’s website, KimMonson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And sign up for our weekly newsletter. You’ll get the first look at all our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. You can also email Kim at Kim at KimMonson.com. We want to thank Laramie Energy for their gold sponsorship of the show. It is reliable, efficient, affordable, and abundant energy from oil and gas and oil and gas derivatives that power our lives, fuels our hopes, our dreams, and the prosperity of everyday Americans. So, Joe, my word for the day is listen carefully. And I selected listen because each year I read a Little Red Book. It is called One Word That Will Change Your Life. And in the past, I have had words like curiosity, gratitude, joy. And this year I selected listen, which is a verb. And it means to pay attention to sound, to hear something with thoughtful attention. give consideration, and to be alert to catch an unexpected sound. And then my quote of the day follows suit by, it’s a quote from Frank Tyker. He was a cartoonist and a columnist with the Trenton Times. He started writing for them in 1960. And Frank said, be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble. I think that’s true. That’s why we have two ears, right? And one mouth.
SPEAKER 20 :
I was just about to say that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. Exactly. So as we move into the second hour, I might share. Let’s just see here. I wanted to share a couple of things that happened. historically on March 10th and I shared these in the first hour and I find them very interesting because in 1862 the US issues first paper money in the form of a 5 10 20 50 100 500 and thousand dollar notes so that gave us the ability to trade with paper currency we are moving into Stanley Cup season and we’ll see how well the Colorado Avalanche does in the playoffs as we move forward. But the Stanley Cup in 1900, I never realized the Stanley Cup had been around so long. So 1900, the Stanley Cup occurred in Montreal Arena in Westmont, Quebec, Montreal. The Montreal Shamrocks outclassed the Halifax Crescents. to a score of 11-0, and they swept the Challenge Series 2-0. Another very interesting thing that happened on March 10th. In 1922, this radio station, KLZ-AM in Denver, Colorado, began its radio transmissions. Isn’t that fascinating? They’ve been around a bit. And then in 1971, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment lowering voting age to 18. 1980 willard scott became the weather forecaster on the today show so a lot happening on march 10th over the decades um lastly maybe we’ll share a couple of the headlines um that we’re seeing and the one that’s super dear to my heart is the headline reads dueling construction defects bills display democrat divide and there are two bills that have been introduced of all the factors contributing to colorado’s housing affordability crunch one that garners the most bipartisan agreement is the need to reform the state’s construction defect laws but a pair of bills working their way through the legislature highlight the historical near impossibility of passing anything of substance They also show fault lying within the governing Democratic coalition that Republicans might be able to exploit to their advantage. Even as recently as 2015, the then liberal but not quite uniformly progressive Denver City Council passed a construction defect ordinance designed to prevent frivolous lawsuits or lawsuits without actual victims. So that was a potential step in the right direction. House Bill 25-12-72, which has been introduced, would make some reasonable changes to construction defect laws for so-called middle market housing, multifamily attached housing of at least two units that is selling below the maximum loan limits for this county. So they’re segmenting out a portion of our housing when, in fact, that bill affects all housing. But we do know that construction defects has limited the construction of condominium ownership units, and that’s what we’d like to see return to our market, which would be an affordable option to our citizens. So we’ll continue to do a lot of work down at the state with regards to – pulling back some of that construction defect legislation. The Colorado Association of Realtors is heavily involved in that. As we continue through our morning, I’d like to take a minute and hear from Roger Mangan.
SPEAKER 19 :
And I’m talking with Roger Mangan with the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team. And last week, Roger, we were talking about transfer of risk. And how does life insurance work into that equation?
SPEAKER 17 :
Tim, that’s a good question. Let me share with you some of my thoughts. As we travel through the society we live in and become responsible adults, we’re faced with many difficult and obligatory decisions. Education, career choices, marriage, housing, just to name a few. We’re also left to make lifestyle choices, not obligatory ones. And I’m talking about hobbies, travel, recreation, entertainment, And I think sometimes we lose our balance in terms of these choices. The art of living is balancing these choices and not leaving yourself exposed to obvious risk. This brings me to the subject of protecting your most valuable asset, the economic engine that allows your life and lifestyle to go on and on. It’s you. You are the engine that produces the wealth. So, for example, what is your worth as a human being Let’s take a peek. Let’s say you have a job and you’re making $100,000 a year. You’re 40 years old and you’re going to work 25 more years. That concludes to you earning $25 million potentially. That’s without a raise. We insure our $35,000 car. We pay $1,000 a year. And over 25 years, we pay the insurance company $25,000. Does the car make any money for us? No. As a matter of fact, it costs us to keep and maintain that asset. So if you paid $1,000 a year to insure and protect a $35,000 asset, a depreciating asset as well, wouldn’t it make sense to spend $600 a year to insure your human life value for $25 million? Absolutely. Those are the kinds of thoughts that we need to open up in people’s minds, your listeners’ minds, and sit down with us and let us show you how to solve that conundrum.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and what would be the best way for people to reach you to do that?
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, if you are interested in getting into some significant conversations, we’re willing to be there for you. Our number is 303.
SPEAKER 19 :
seven nine five eight eight five five okay and for sure i think people should sit down and take a look at it one question on this though and i understand what you’re saying regarding lifestyle risk so many of our young people young families they’re really getting squeezed in so many different ways and i think i know the answer to this but you’d really recommend that they make some choices with all that’s out there to transfer this risk in case of injury or death, right?
SPEAKER 17 :
Absolutely. And these lifestyle choices of recreation, entertainment, travel, vacations, I think we can help them plot that out. And if they’re honest and say, okay, here’s what I spend on Starbucks, here’s what I do when I go out with the boys or the girls and spend money up. And I’m not saying you don’t want to do that, but you have to certainly have some balance. And if you could divert some of those lifestyle choices to buying life insurance, for example, life insurance on a 40-year-old male, a million dollars of that coverage is somewhere around $52 a month. A female, $44 a month. You divide Starbucks or Burger King or whatever you want to do into them. If you’re doing it five times, six times a week, some people eat out all the time. And you push it back to three times or two times. You find there’s enough money to do what you need to do to take care of those financial responsibilities you have called family. And boy… I would say that we need probably for a 40-year-old male with two children and married, buying a home, somewhere around $1.15 million. I did the math. If you want to replace your salary at $100,000 for five years, that’s $500,000. That’s your economic life value. Your mortgage, $400,000. That’s what it is, $400,000. And if you die, you’d want your wife to have some income replacement and have the mortgage paid. And then you have college education or trade school dollars for children, two children. You need $100,000 in an account today for a five- and six-year-old, so when they’re ready to go to school with inflation, you’ve got enough money in that side account for the children. Then you have unexpected medical bills, probably. They’re not going to pay everything just before your death. So $50,000. So it all adds up to $1,150,000. And that sounds like a lot of money, and it is if you had to come up with it right away. But over your lifetime, that’s your commitment. So I think there’s a way for you to spend some of that Starbucks money and spend by $52 a month. spend 52 a month on a 1.15 million dollar life insurance policy okay and how can people uh reach you uh to to talk about this roger mangan yeah you can call us at 303-795-8855 i have five wonderful employees who are focused and they know what we’re about we have goals to help people. If we don’t help you, then you can go your merry way. But we will help you, believe me.
SPEAKER 19 :
And that number is 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
SPEAKER 01 :
Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty, wrote founding father John Adams. RE-MAX realtor Karen Levine has been working diligently at the local, county, state, and national levels to protect property rights and home ownership. Karen has navigated the often challenging Colorado metro real estate market for years. That’s 303-877-7516. That’s 303-877-7516.
SPEAKER 14 :
You’d like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of The Kim Monson Show, but you can’t remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim’s website, kimmonson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back. I am Karen Levine, and I’m pleased to host the show today as Kim is traveling. Remember to visit Kim’s website, KimMonson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for her weekly newsletter. You’ll get the first look at all the upcoming guests as well as her most recent essays. And you can always email Kim at Kim at KimMonson.com. Thank you for contributing to support our independent voice and exercising our right of freedom of speech. One thing I would encourage you to consider is something that should be on your bucket list is a visit to the Center for American Values, which is located in the beautiful Riverwalk in Pueblo. The Center for American Values was co-founded by Medal of Honor recipient Drew Dix and Emmy award-winning documentary maker Brad Padula. The Center is focused on honoring our Medal of Honor recipients and teaching and upholding the principles of America, honor, integrity, and patriotism. For more information, check out their website, AmericanValuesCenter.org. That’s AmericanValuesCenter.org. We are excited and hopefully we’ll have on the line with us Brian Phillips. He is the founder of the Texas Institute of Property Rights. He’s the author of Affordable Housing Crisis Causes and Cures. That’s the Affordable Housing Crisis Causes and Cures by Brian. Brian Phillips, and that can be obtained on Amazon.com. Brian Phillips has been actively defending individual rights for the past 25 years. He has successfully helped defeated attempts to implement zoning in Houston, Texas. and Hobbs, New Mexico. His writing has appeared in the Freeman Reason, the Orange County Register, the Houston Chronicle, the Objective Standard, and dozens of other publications. Again, his book, The Affordable Housing Crisis, Causes and Cures, It can be purchased at Amazon.com. This conversation is hopefully going to happen. It kind of came about because Kim wanted to know what I would like to talk about as I hosted her show today. And I have always wanted to have a conversation about how do you bring affordable and attainable housing to our communities without incentives and And Kim, as she does, did some research and some Googling and came across Brian. And I am hopeful that we’ll have a conversation with him. It sounds like Joe is trying to get him on the line. So let’s see who else to remind you of. We also want to thank the Harris family for their gold sponsorship of the show. And I’ll just reiterate about the USMC Memorial Foundation. As you well know, Paula Saros, the president, is diligently working at getting that memorial remodeled, updated, and honoring our Gold Star Memorial for Marine Veterans. And that’s located over in Golden, Office 6th and Colfax. While we try to get Brian on the phone, I was sharing some headlines and we were talking about, I shared about the dueling construction defect bills that are down at the house. And I’ve talked a little bit about that they’re looking at moving the federal office for the U.S. Small Business Administration wants to move out of Denver. Thursday, they announced they’d be relocating that Denver regional office to a less costly, more accessible location. And that is also occurring in other communities across the U.S., such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Seattle. And Loffler, Kelly Loffler, who is the administrator, noted that these municipalities don’t comply with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Actions. And so the announcement comes on the heels of Denver Mayor Mike Johnston appearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, where he was grilled over state and local policies and laws that limit how local law enforcement can work with federal immigration agents. The SBA aids small business owners and entrepreneurs in their business ventures. And Kelly also said it would be rolling out new policies that require loan applications for SBA loans to include citizen verification to ensure that only legal eligible applicants can access SBA programs. Our small business community is critical to a thriving economy, and hopefully these changes will help small business owners and those seeking to become entrepreneurial. And I did mention Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. The headline was, and it was in the DenverRight.com, Denver Mayor Faces Talk of Arrest and Criminal Investigation in Heated D.C. Hearing. Mike Johnston and the mayors of New York City, Chicago, Boston, were summoned to Congress to testify about statutory cities. Several Republican members of Congress called for criminal investigations or even the arrest of Mayor Mike Johnston and other city officials at an hour-long hearing before the powerful House Oversight Committee in Washington on Wednesday. There was a quote, we’ve had enough. Americans are fed up with this betrayal of oaths. And one of you said you’re willing to go to jail. We might give you that opportunity, said Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana, a comment poignantly directed at Johnson, who previously said that he would stand up for the city’s immigration policy. even if it meant arrest. Representative Gary Palmer of Alabama accused Johnston and the mayors of several other cities of obstruction of justice. Hopefully they’ll get to the bottom of that and we can see more freedom in our communities. The hearing was part of a larger inquiry by national Republicans into sanctuary cities. So, again, some interesting headlines. And we are hopeful that we’ll have a conversation here with Brian Phillips. I know Joe is diligently trying to track him down. The joys of live radio and your fill-in host. Let’s see what else I can share with you.
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
The current level of interest rates is causing challenges and creating opportunities. For nearly 20 years, mortgage specialist with Polygon Financial Group, Loren Levy, has helped individuals realize their hopes and dreams of homeownership, fund kids’ educations through second mortgages, and access capital by utilizing reverse mortgages. Loren’s not constrained to work with just one lender. Because he works with many different lenders, Loren offers you choices for your individual mortgage needs. Knowledge is power and preparation leads to success. Call Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881 so that you are prepared for the opportunities in the mortgage market. That’s Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. I’m Karen Levine, and I am pleased to host the show today while Kim is traveling. We are excited to have Brian Phillips on the line. He is the author of The Affordable Housing Crisis, Causes and Cures. And I teed you up a little bit earlier, Brian. Apparently, if we don’t have your correct phone number, it is hard to connect with you. But I am so glad we got that straightened out. Welcome to The Kim Monson Show.
SPEAKER 10 :
Thank you. It’s my pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, you know, I don’t know if you know the background, but I’m a realtor here in the Metro Denver area. And I have always wanted to have a conversation about how do we bring affordable, attainable housing to our communities that does not utilize incentives? And Kim did some research and came across your book and you. And I would love for you to tell us some of your thoughts and kind of. What do you see as some solutions to creating affordable and attainable housing?
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, before I get to that, a big theme in my book is that we’re using the wrong framework when we think about housing and indeed almost any government policy. And by framework, I mean just the way we think about an issue. And this has been going on for over 100 years. I call it the progressive framework that dominated policy discussions. And I call it that because it originated in the progressive era, early 20th century. And there’s two crucial aspects to that framework that I think create a lot of problems. One is that policies are examined in isolation. They don’t look at the big picture. And they look at the short-term benefits of a policy and fail to consider the long-term benefits. And as we know, you know, a lot of times a policy looks like it’ll be really good in the short term and for, you know, there’ll be benefits, but we don’t examine how it’s going to impact other areas, other issues. So that’s one of the problems with the progressive framework is it just looks at policies in isolation and in the short term. The other problem, or big problem, is that it uses the group as the standard. If we look at almost any policy discussion, the focus is on one group or another. How is this policy going to benefit the preferred group? And yes, the policy might benefit the people in that group, but that always comes at an expense to non-members of the group. It is ultimately harmful to the people that it’s intended to benefit. So I argue in the book that we need a new framework that eliminates these two problems. We need to look at the big picture, not just the short term, but the long term, and we need to look at how other issues impact the issue we’re considering. So in regard to housing, there’s Two aspects to the equation. One, obviously, is the cost of housing. But the other aspect, which is typically ignored, is individuals’ income or household income. The greater our income, the more options we have for affording housing. So we have to look at both sides of the equation before we can really address the issue. Obviously, I didn’t answer your question, but we need to start with a new framework, a new way of thinking about it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, no, I appreciate you starting there with the framework, and it brings to light a conversation I have been having on the Kim Monson Show over the years. Over a decade ago, here in the state of Colorado, we passed legislation as we commonly refer to as construction defect legislation. And that put a lot of limitations, guardrails around developers and builders and put them in a position where lawsuits against them could be very evident. And the fear of lawsuits then caused them to not build our entry-level housing, which is typically condominium ownership units. And at the time when the policymakers, our elected officials, representatives were being thoughtful about this, they did exactly what you said. They looked at that issue. for the present, and they didn’t look at the long-term effects of that issue. They looked at people who had been harmed in condominium units, maybe because the construction quality wasn’t to part, and yet it met building standards, that maybe there were shortcuts taken and it wasn’t caught during inspections, but then ensued. people having problems with their homes, which then led to lawsuits, etc. So this legislation was supposed to help in that manner. And now we sit in a marketplace that has a housing shortage and predominantly entry-level housing. So I appreciate that conversation about the framework. So that was a good place to start, Brian.
SPEAKER 10 :
Good. And let me just add, let me explain what I think the new framework should be. First, we should consider the full context and the big picture. And like I said, that’s a two-part equation. The cost of housing and then household income. We need to free up housing producers and we need to free up housing consumers. There are a lot of restrictions and regulations on builders, as you just pointed out, or disincentives to build. But there are also a lot of the restrictions on our ability to improve our income and our wealth to afford better housing. So we need to look at both of those. And there’s only, like I said, the progressive framework focuses on a group. So the new framework needs to focus on individuals. If we focus on any group, it’s coming at the expense of non-members. But if we focus on the individual and what’s good for all individuals, what enables and empowers all individuals, there’s only one answer, and that’s individual rights, the freedom of each individual to act as he thinks best so long as he respects the freedom of others to do the same. And that applies to us both individually both to housing producers and to us as housing consumers. And before we can consume housing, we have to produce other things. So we need freedom in our role as producers too. We can’t just look at builders and developers and what’s stopping them from building affordable housing. We have to look at what’s stopping the housing consumers from being able to afford housing more easily.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I definitely understand where you’re coming from. And as you were commenting on focusing on the individual, the thought that crossed my mind was freedom, and that’s how you concluded. So I think certainly I’m understanding your thought process and freeing up the limitations on producers and consumers, which then opens up the market more.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes. Yeah, there’s so many restrictions involved. on us both as producers and consumers and the government needs to get out of the way and that that could be a good segue to some of my suggestions for what can be done to make housing more affordable i think that would be a great segue and we have um we have about oh five or six more minutes that we can have this conversation then we’ll take a break so let’s delve into some ideas you have okay um I think the biggest culprit in the affordable housing crisis is zoning, and particularly single family zoning. And even Joe Biden recognized this. So I’d say get rid of single family zoning. And some locales have done that, either explicitly eliminated single family zoning or at least allowed duplexes and triplexes on a a piece of land that formerly was zoned for single-family zoning. But the reason zoning causes, drives up the cost of housing is because it limits the land available for housing. And minimum lot sizes are typically a part of zoning. So let’s say a lot, the minimum lot size is 1,000 square feet. Well, you can only build one housing unit on that lot. But you could build a triplex, a duplex. You could put in a small apartment building with five or six units, perhaps. You could put townhouses in there. I live near Houston, and in a lot of areas, developers have bought a couple of lots that previously each held one single-family house, and they put in six or eight or maybe even more townhomes. They build up. because they have a small footprint, so they can get more housing units on a piece of land. But with single-family zoning, like I said, it limits the land that’s available for housing, so the cost of that land just skyrockets. I’ve seen, you know, in some cities, it’s a quarter of a million dollars. Well, you can’t build housing that’s affordable for low- and moderate-income households when your starting point is a quarter of a million dollars. You just can’t do it. But if you could put six or eight units on that piece of land, the cost of the land is now divided between multiple housing units. So the resulting housing is probably still going to be too expensive for low- and moderate-income families. But it just illustrates the point that zoning is limiting
SPEAKER 03 :
availability of land and so it drives up the cost of housing right so as i’m processing what you’re saying brian is in utilizing zoning zoning took away the freedom of how to use the land which then You know, restricted that use, which in doing so drives up the price of a single family lot. Then my other side of my brain says, but what about our citizens who cherish that single family dwelling living? um and and as you mentioned we need to look at the individual how do we address the need for more units of housing and yet those who would prefer to live in a single-family dwelling well it’s interesting you mentioned that Houston doesn’t have zoning it has a lot of land use restrictions but it doesn’t have comprehensive zoning interesting but
SPEAKER 10 :
So a lot of neighborhoods have deed restrictions, or sometimes they’re called covenants. And these are attached to the deed of the property, and they limit how the property can be used, how the land can be used. Most of the deed restrictions say single-family only, single-family homes only. In fact, I live in a neighborhood with deed restrictions, and single-family homes are all that are allowed. And some people equate deed restrictions with zoning because they do some similar things, but there’s a crucial difference. Zoning is coercive and mandatory, whereas deed restrictions are voluntary and contractual. If you don’t like the deed restrictions in one community, you can move to another community. So you get to choose the restrictions that you’re willing to accept. But with zoning, you don’t have a choice. Well, you can move out of the city, but virtually every city in the country has zoning. Houston’s one of the rare ones that don’t. So there is a free market alternative. Deed restrictions are contractual, so you can agree to be bound by those restrictions or not. It’s your choice.
SPEAKER 03 :
I like that. We had a conversation in our Government Affairs Committee at the Realtor Association about a single-family property that is larger than a typical standard single-family lot, and their desire to put an auxiliary dwelling unit, an ADU, on their property, and the zoning prohibits that, and yet they— own the property, they should have some inherent private property rights. So where would you take that discussion for somebody?
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, get rid of zoning. Seriously, get rid of zoning and allow people to use their land as they want. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to just create chaos. And I talk about some ways that you can eliminate zoning and not create the chaos that some predict would occur. And that’s probably too involved to get into here, but I’m totally in favor of ADUs. They don’t, one of the arguments for single family zoning is it creates a certain type of neighborhood. And if we allow multifamily or other types of housing is going to disrupt the character of the neighborhood and certainly if somebody built you know 500 unit apartment complex in the middle of a neighborhood that could be disruptive but an adu or a duplex it’s not going to do that and they can be built in a way that is consistent with the characteristics of the neighborhood a two-story apartment building with six units isn’t going to look out of place in most single family neighborhoods so there are a lot of options like that there’s something called the missing middle yes or a type of housing called the missing middle and it’s it’s this refers to housing that’s between single family and you know large apartment complexes and includes duplexes triplexes townhomes small apartment buildings adus and That could fill in or provide a lot of affordable housing if it were allowed, but zoning doesn’t allow it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Interesting, interesting concept. One thought I had, too, when you were talking about the individual. And I was thinking of housing that is brought to the marketplace through Habitat for Humanity. And a part of me feels like that is a organization that looked at the individual and looked at how do you put… afford allow somebody to own a home by putting in sweat equity and that you know that there were limitations obviously as you mentioned um you know their income their household income and the cost of housing would that be an example of some of the ways you could address some of the things you’re talking about certainly and i talked about habitat for humanity in the book um and it’s a it’s a great example of putting your money where your mouth is
SPEAKER 10 :
A lot of people demand that the government do something. Well, if the government creates a program for first-time homebuyers, that’s coming at the expense of everyone else. Whereas a voluntary private organization like Habitat for Humanity, people can contribute to that, donate money or material or labor to help that, and create a better result than the government’s going to get. So I’m totally for private and even charitable organizations doing things like that. Like I said, it’s putting your money where your mouth is instead of putting other people’s money where your mouth is.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, well, this is a great segue. We need to take a quick break, but let’s come back and continue this conversation with Brian Phillips. Right now, we’d love to hear from one of Kim’s sponsors, which would be Boson Law.
SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. I’m Karen Levine, and I am pleased to host the show today as Kim is traveling. Again, remember to visit Kim’s website. That’s Kim Monson, Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N.com, and sign up for her weekly newsletter. You can also email Kim at KimMonson.com. We are having a lovely conversation with Brian Phillips, and he is the author of The Affordability. I lost the title, Brian, but it’s about affordability of housing. And I had an interesting text that came across from one of our listeners. So I think it’s a good jumping off point for the rest of our conversation. We have, oh, about eight minutes that we can continue this conversation. And Brian, Her initial comment was that getting rid of single-family zoning sounds bizarre, that zoning does protect, and that she would not agree with that concept. And if you don’t have zoning, you have no control over what happens next to you. It creates no protection for the people who have been there. She felt that it felt a little bit bizarre and that was a little like our friends at BlackRock, maybe a little bit on the more socialist side of thinking and creates craziness. She commented that she thinks zoning is important and that’s why they are trying to attack single family ownership and are putting big apartments in the middle of single family communities, which we have seen here in the Metro Denver area. So I’ll use those comments as a place to jump off to continue our conversation.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, I would disagree that abolishing zoning is socialist. The opposite is true. What I’m arguing for is allow the market to operate. But as I said, there are alternatives to zoning. to protect the character of single family neighborhoods. Indeed, restrictions, they’re widely used in the Houston area. So that is an alternative.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I know we, yeah, we, excuse me for interrupting. We see a lot of planned community development in our housing mix here in the Colorado area and the Denver Front Range. And, you know, you make the choice um, to move into that community based on those restrictions, those covenants. Um, and some people want, um, that oversight many cases, there’s a homeowners association involved. And then I have, um, customers, consumers, clients that don’t want that oversight. They want more freedom and then they seek homes that are not in covenant controlled and or HOA environments. So I think that’s where you’re saying those freedoms exist. I do have one quick question which is where does the average housing price land, medium housing price land in the Houston market?
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s I’m not sure. I’m going to say maybe a quarter of a million dollars. Okay. Don’t quote me on that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and I was just curious because knowing that it’s a community with no zoning, that would be a lower median price than what we see here in Colorado.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, and surveys regularly find that Houston is one of the most affordable large cities in the country. And I attribute that to zoning. And I’ve seen one of the things with zoning, if you want to change the land use, you have to go through a long and expensive process. And I’ve seen land use has changed dramatically in certain areas of Houston over the years. Areas that used to be single family, often bungalows, get torn down and Townhouses are built because the area has become more desirable. It’s typically closer to downtown. People want to be close to downtown. And so they’re able to build housing to meet that demand. So without zoning, you can change land uses as market demands change much, much easier than you can with zoning.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. When we went to break, we were going to jump into some thoughts you had about, and I think that’s creating freedom in the market, to bringing more affordable housing to our marketplaces. What are some of those ideas?
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, I mentioned getting rid of zoning. Right. Another one is allowing manufactured housing. Zoning typically relegates manufactured housing, you know, just to certain areas.
SPEAKER 11 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 10 :
But manufacturing housing has come a long way from just the dilapidated trailer that many people think of when they hear manufactured housing. There’s all kinds of alternatives. And that’s much less expensive than traditionally stick-built houses because it can be built in a factory, and it’s not dependent on weather, and they have a lot more control over the construction process. So that’s That’s another alternative. In fact, Elon Musk bought a house in a box. I forget the company’s name. I love that, a house in a box. He actually bought one of those. I mean, the world’s wealthiest man who could afford a palace, he bought one of those. So that’s an alternative. Mixed-use neighborhoods, which are becoming popular, but… zoning outlaws in fact one of the purposes of zoning when it was originally enacted was to eliminate what was called incompatible land uses they wanted residential land use separated from commercial separated from industrial but you know in the last few decades mixed-use communities walkable communities have become very popular so you know That type of land use could occur much more easily in a free market because builders and developers don’t have to grovel at the feet of zoning officials to get permission to change land uses. They can just react to the market. So those are a few ideas. Another one that will probably shock some people is to abolish building codes. Building codes… often impose a lot of expenses on the builder. For example, if they require energy efficient windows or things like that, it drives up the cost of the house.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and I appreciate that comment from the standpoint we’ve seen quite a bit of policy and building code changes in my career. And when we add things, and I will use this as an example, you add that all new constructed homes must have an electrical vehicle system. charging station that does not provide freedom to those of us who would prefer not to invest in a electric vehicle charging station but it does add to the cost of housing and when I started in new construction was the beginning of my career what differentiated builder a from builder B from builder C was the product use the mix and the cost and so the consumer as you said, had more free market to choose from. And they would say, I will pay more for that particular aspect of a home, but I don’t want to pay for that. And what we’ve done is made that differentiation actually more complicated or more difficult, which what I’m hearing from you, Brian, has raised the cost of housing.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes. Yeah. And some people… I mean, I lived in a house with aluminum windows that were probably 50 years old. I was perfectly happy because the house was affordable to me. And, you know, a new home buyer might that might be perfectly acceptable because otherwise you can’t afford the house. So and the builders can offer could offer options. And most builders do, from my understanding. You know, here’s our standard. product or the standard products we use, here’s what it would cost to upgrade. And then the buyer can decide what’s worth it to him and what he can afford. But the building code imposes this upon everyone, whether they want or need it. And drives up the cost.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Well, and then I go back to the comment that you made that you have to look at the cost of housing as one aspect, one aspect of the affordability quotient, mathematic, whatever, and the other being the house of, the income of a household and when you don’t take both of those into consideration you may be bringing a product into a market that I hate to say it doesn’t meet the needs of the people who need the housing and create sort of this log jam in the housing continuum. You also mentioned manufactured housing, and we have a builder in our marketplace, Oakwood Homes, that does manufactured housing, and they have an amazing presentation in their sales office about the construction of their homes. And the beauty of building a home in a warehouse is you can control, lot of the product and the process that you can’t control out in the field and having those controls brings the price down and brings a better quality home to the marketplace exactly I would like to touch on the restrictions on improving one’s income because and you just mentioned that so
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay, I advocate for, I think there are two big impediments to improving income. One is occupational licensing. And the other is minimum wage laws.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I got us in a bit of a bind, which means the show’s going to cut off here in about 15 seconds. But what I am going to suggest is maybe Kim can get you back on and we can continue this conversation because that is an amazing topic of which we’ve touched on here on the show. And I would love to do that. I apologize for cutting you off. But I want to thank you for being on, and I want to just say to our listeners, today, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for the truth, justice, and the American way. You are not alone. God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 12 :
I don’t want no one to cry, but tell them if I don’t.
SPEAKER 15 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
