High country lover fights Colorado housing crisis with unique approach
The housing situation in Colorado's Summit County remains desperate, but one man has a unique plan to find an affordable home. Around 150 people in Frisco recently received a postcard explaining who Alex Beach is and why they should sell him their home. But it's not just any home he's interested in, it's specifically deed-restricted homes.
"Unfortunately, we're now in a situation where there is no alternative for the working locals. When a two-bed condo market rate in Frisco is running $800,000, that's not possible," said Beach. "I'm getting desperate and I'm hoping ... I've sent out 150 of these (postcards) around the town. It only takes one person, right?"
With a deed-restricted property sale, a buyer still buy the home and has a mortgage, but it comes with a few restrictions. As a reward for jumping through those hurdles you're entitled to try to buy a deed restricted home at a reasonable price. Deed restricted homes in Summit County can cost around $320,000 instead of the mean average, which is closer to $2 million.
To qualify to buy one someone must meet specific requirements including a household income of less than $80,000, working in town for at least 30 hours per week, and a promise not to rent it out on any sort of short-term lease.
The catch is deed restricted homes can only appreciate a little bit, and not at the market rate, so the next buyer also has a cheap option. These homes must be sold for around the same price they were purchased.
Finding a deed restricted home in Frisco is like trying to find a golden ticket in a Wonka bar. To get one of the roughly 1,700 properties for sale in Summit County, you have to get very lucky and be selected in a lottery if the seller doesn't decide to pick you specifically.
Beach has his eye on a deed restricted home he hopes to call his own.
"This is a real neighborhood. People live here, people work here, people raise their families here. This is a dream."
He says he's chosen to live in Frisco and "doesn't want to start a new life in a new community at almost 40 years old somewhere else."
Beach's story is a common one in Summit County. Town Manager Tom Fisher said the housing crisis is Frisco's biggest priority.
"It's in our strategic plan. The council asks us about this constantly and we're working diligently to get these units online."
It takes more projects like Nellie's Neighborhood, a group of 15 deed-restricted homes with hundreds waiting for them.
Beach has tried to get lucky in the lottery to land a deed-restricted home over and over again. He says the real path to success is to simply know someone, hence his postcards. In the meantime, Beach will keep his fingers crossed that he finds his golden ticket so he can continue working four jobs and sustain the life he loves for the foreseeable future.
