legalized cannabis...tourism boost?

[iloveyoga]

I have been visiting Colorado for many years and my opinion is that a lot of the state is in a major boom cycle and I would assume that legal weed is a factor. I see a lot of building (hotels, etc) around the areas that have dispensaries.

 

[COcheesehead]

I think you got this a little backwards, my friend. The proof lies with you if you feel so strongly that pot has driven migration & prices up in colorado. That's your thesis, not mine. Like I've said, I've seen these real estate cycles before, independent of legalization.

The previous cycles were always fueled by something. Western migration, the ski boom of the '70's, oil in the 80's, tech in the 90's, etc. House prices just don't go up, there is a reason and I will leave it at that.

 

[Shredder]

In my state, MI, we are voting on full legalization this nov. While I'm not sure not much it will help the state, but I'm convinced the politicos will cash in.

As an old hippy, I'm glad it's finally happening. But as a cynical voter, I'm sure whatever is passed here, that it will benefit politics more.

It's interesting that our legalization push is opposed by big pharma, prison and police unions, and big alcohol. All folks who would most likely lose money. And afaik it's supported by average joes like me who know through experience it's no big deal, and very well might help people in many (medical) and other ways.

 

[MichaelB]

Recalling the interest in asking whether legalization had any impact on the Colorado housing market, here's a recent (01/18) paper on that. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecin.12556
The abstract

Does legalizing retail marijuana generate more benefits than costs? This paper provides a first step toward addressing that question by measuring the benefits and costs that are capitalized into housing values. We exploit the time‐series and cross‐sectional variations in the adoption of Colorado's municipality retail marijuana laws (RMLs) and examine the effect on housing values with a difference‐in‐differences strategy. Our estimates show that the legalization leads to an average 6% increase in housing values, indicating that the capitalized benefits outweigh the costs. In addition, we find suggestive evidence that this relatively large housing value appreciation is likely due to RMLs inducing strong housing demand while having no discernible effect on housing supply. Finally, we show that the effect of RMLs is heterogeneous across locations and property types.

 

[COcheesehead]

Recalling the interest in asking whether legalization had any impact on the Colorado housing market, here's a recent (01/18) paper on that. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecin.12556
The abstract

Interesting. Seeing it "up close and personal" I knew this had to be the case.

 

[gerntz]

please keep this clean and honest. do not insult any one. be respectful.

John Morgan from Fla may get elected to Gov of Fla should he decide to run.

As respectful as I can be, this is a joke, right?

 

[Dancer373]

Florida has medical marijuana

 

[MichaelB]

How about we not get into politics. Legalizing cannabis and local impact is enough to keep us busy 'til the end of time.

 

[Crabby Mike]

While concern about drug-related crime is understandable, that's already an issue well before legalization. I don't have any statistics to support this, but I would suspect that marijuana-related criminal activity should actually drop after full legalization, as existing users in a state would/should migrate from the underground supplier network to their friendly neighborhood dispensary. That's certainly one of the arguments that legalization proponents use in advocating for the change.

 

[kitesurfer2]

As respectful as I can be, this is a joke, right?

Florida has medical marijuana

HAHA there was another thread on the subject and i was interested in it. then it was locked down (for a reason I could not ID) that's why I said that

the world thinks that Fla has medical MJ. JACKSONVILLE is the largest city in Fla and ask any one of us 61% who voted for it where we get it...the answer will be the same "I'm not driving 200 miles to Gainesville and back"

 

[ponyboy]

I wish cannabis would just be legalized federally...just get it over with already.

As for FL seeing a boom...I doubt it. Wasnt CO the first state to legalize? Makes sense why they have a green rush. Created a lot of businesses/jobs. Now that many more states legalized recreational...not really a big deal anymore. There will be more business opportunities. Other than that...meh.

With that being said...I would gladly spend some of my money in FL when I visit for these goodies.

 

[hesperus]

Recalling the interest in asking whether legalization had any impact on the Colorado housing market, here's a recent (01/18) paper on that. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecin.12556
The abstract

The article is locked. I am assuming you have access to and have read the article?
I'm interested in reading more about the 'suggestive evidence' it refers to.

 

[HFWR]

So, homeless people who, it would seem, are too broke to rent a place, are moving halfway across the country to be homeless in Colorado, so they can buy $400/oz weed...

At the same time, others are transferring/moving to Colorado and buying all the homes, just so they can buy legal weed, never mind moving away from family, quitting their current jobs, etc.

Smells funny...

 

[kitesurfer2]

So, homeless people who, it would seem, are too broke to rent a place, are moving halfway across the country to be homeless in Colorado, so they can buy $400/oz weed...

At the same time, others are transferring/moving to Colorado and buying all the homes, just so they can buy legal weed, never mind moving away from family, quitting their current jobs, etc.

Smells funny...

smells like SKUNK I tell ya!

 

[MichaelB]

Smells funny...

So does the pot

The article is locked. I am assuming you have access to and have read the article?
I'm interested in reading more about the 'suggestive evidence' it refers to.

Sorry, can't find the original link that led me to that story.

Just a crazy thought. There may be a number of factors affecting the housing market. Employment is probably the most significant, but the legalization of MJ may have contributed. It doesn't have to be all or nothing ..

 

[COcheesehead]

So, homeless people who, it would seem, are too broke to rent a place, are moving halfway across the country to be homeless in Colorado, so they can buy $400/oz weed...

At the same time, others are transferring/moving to Colorado and buying all the homes, just so they can buy legal weed, never mind moving away from family, quitting their current jobs, etc.

Smells funny...

I stated all this in the thread that got locked, but weed was just a spark. What I saw first hand in Denver was all the second and third rate real estate was bought up and used as retail fronts and grow houses. Labs sprung up, CBD producers (products made from the oils and there are plenty of them) and edible (candy and cookie) producers sprung up. Then the support services, packaging companies, bag printers, box companies, etc, moved into town or expanded. So it was the domino effect.

You multiple that by hundreds of additional employers and you get the 10,000 people a month they say were moving into Denver at the peak. It has since settled. I heard now just as many move in as move out because they can't find jobs or affordable housing. Idaho is the number one destination for people moving out, which I find interesting.

 

[MRG]

There's 363 dispensaries and 589 grows in Dever in 2018.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Idaho is the number one destination for people moving out, which I find interesting.

Idaho rocks!

 

[MichaelB]

Idaho rocks!

Uh, no. Potatoes, not rocks.

 

[kitesurfer2]

I stated all this in the thread that got locked, but weed was just a spark. What I saw first hand in Denver was all the second and third rate real estate was bought up and used as retail fronts and grow houses. Labs sprung up, CBD producers (products made from the oils and there are plenty of them) and edible (candy and cookie) producers sprung up. Then the support services, packaging companies, bag printers, box companies, etc, moved into town or expanded. So it was the domino effect.

You multiple that by hundreds of additional employers and you get the 10,000 people a month they say were moving into Denver at the peak. It has since settled. I heard now just as many move in as move out because they can't find jobs or affordable housing. Idaho is the number one destination for people moving out, which I find interesting.

And this is what I am thinking. fla has good fast food jobs, service industry stuff. the spin offs are where the money is to be made in fla. that's what i'm imgtereasted in.

 

[Jimmie]

I'm a 22 year resident of CO and Denver. Live the typical boomer lifestyle, live in nice home in suburb and work downtown, kids graduated from college and live on their own in town.

To me, our growth was above average for many years with people from CA, IL, & TX moving here. Sure, marijuana legalization had some effect, but my county (Douglas) has been on the fastest growing counties list in the nation for a long time. In my opinion, home appreciation is more due to lack of proper planning from communities and local governments than the legalization 2.5 years ago. My kids have no chance to buy a home in the near future here and I worry about that.

One aspect of the legalization is the impacts on other businesses that isn't discussed much. These grow shops and dispenseries can afford to pay more than average and it's hurting mom and pop operations such that they cannot keep or find good workers. This has hit especially bad in the food and restaurant industry where it's near impossible to find back kitchen staff, e.g. dishwashers and food prep. These people can make $20+ per hour working as a "budtender" instead of the $12 per hour in the food industry. Same for the construction industry.

Not sure where this will all lead in the future. It's been the topic of many social meetings with my friends. We love living here and feel it's a great place for retirement but it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[COcheesehead]

I'm a 22 year resident of CO and Denver. Live the typical boomer lifestyle, live in nice home in suburb and work downtown, kids graduated from college and on live on their own in town.

To me, our growth was above average for many years with people from CA, IL, & TX moving here. Sure, marijuana legalization had some effect, but my county (Douglas) has been on the fastest growing counties ilist n the nation for a long time. In my opinion, home appreciation is more due to lack of proper planning from communities and local governments than the legalization 2.5 years ago. My kids have no chance to buy a home in the near future here and I worry about that.

One aspect of the legalization is the impacts on other business that isn't discussed much. These grow shops and dispenseries can afford to pay more than average and it's hurting mom and pop businesses such that they cannot keep or find good workers. This has hit especially bad in the food and restaurant industry where it's near impossible to find back kitchen staff, e.g. dishwashers and food prep. These people can make $20+ per hour working as a "budtender" instead of the $12 per hour in the food industry. Same for the construction industry.

Not sure where this will all lead in the future. It's been the topic of many social meetings with my friends. We love living here and feel it's a great place for retirement but it's going to be a interesting to see how it plays out.

Good post.

My wife and I are also Douglas County residents. We loved our mountain views and all the amenities, open spaces and trails, but with FIRE looming we thought long and hard about where we want to spend our retirement years and the Denver metro area was not our final choice. We decided everything has become too crowded, too congested, even in the burbs. We have noticed the air quality has become worse in the time we’ve lived here and getting anywhere via the main highways is a drag. A short drive into downtown or even south to the Springs takes far longer than it used to.

We recently sold out house for top dollar and our building our retirement home out on the Western Slope. It still has small town charm, better house prices and the uncongested trails we had years ago on the front range. I am sure in time the growth will head west and it will become more crowded there as well.

 

[hesperus]

I stay as far away from denver as possible. ugh.

Just a crazy thought. There may be a number of factors affecting the housing market. Employment is probably the most significant, but the legalization of MJ may have contributed. It doesn't have to be all or nothing ..

Precisely. It is crazy to think it is all due to weed.

 

[MRG]

I stay as far away from denver as possible. ugh.



Precisely. It is crazy to think it is all due to weed.

+1

There's 363 dispensaries and 589 grows in Dever in 2018. There's only 17k folks who are licensed to work in the industry, state wide! Hard for me to believe that is the only cause of real estate issues. I know several folks who moved to the front range for technology opportunities, none of them use the devil's lettuce....

Yesterday I went to a different dispensary, as we're losing the last medical supplier in the county. They accept CC as many do, so the cash only aspect is old news. In the last year both of the medical dispensaries have closed in this county. I suspect there's much consolidation still to occur.

 

[COcheesehead]

+1

There's 363 dispensaries and 589 grows in Dever in 2018. There's only 17k folks who are licensed to work in the industry, state wide! Hard for me to believe that is the only cause of real estate issues.

Read my post regarding the multiplier effect of the industry. It is all of the support industries as well. How do I know? I own one. We’ve had record sales to the CBD and cannibus companies resulting in adding employees from Missouri, Wisconsin and Georgia. They all needed to find housing.