The Daily Mail recently asked me about America's house-rich, cash-poor problem, where rising costs are pushing owners with plenty of equity to sell. Our mountain markets are close to a textbook case, so it's worth walking through what's actually happening in Summit County, and what I'd do if you're feeling it.
Start With Who Actually Lives Here
Only about a third of homes in our resort communities are lived in year-round by locals. Roughly 60 percent are second homes or short-term rentals. For the second-home owner, rising carrying costs are an annoyance. For the year-round resident, they're the whole story, and that's where the squeeze lands hardest: on retirees, teachers, first responders, and working families who are current on their mortgages, sometimes own outright, and still feel forced out.
The Two Costs Doing the Damage
The first is insurance, and it's the one that catches people off guard. Colorado ranks third in the country for wildfire risk, and that has flowed straight into premiums. Some HOA insurance premiums here have jumped as much as 300 percent in a single year, and owners can also face one-time special assessments of several thousand dollars when a building needs work to stay insurable.
The second is property taxes. Area residential values are up about 63 percent since 2021, and tax bills have climbed roughly 37 to 45 percent depending on the home, with the biggest increases on the higher-value properties. Another increase is expected in 2026. None of that shows up in your mortgage statement, which is exactly why it surprises people.
Put those together and you get an owner who looks wealthy on paper and feels stretched every month. It's a slower, quieter squeeze than 2008, and easy to miss precisely because the equity is real.
What I'd Actually Do Before Selling
The Daily Mail piece leaned on cash-buyer sources, so it framed selling fast as the answer. I'd start somewhere else.
First, appeal your assessment. Valuations are done in cycles and they aren't always right for your specific home. A successful appeal lowers the base your taxes are calculated on, and it carries forward.
Second, restructure your insurance rather than just paying the renewal. That can mean revisiting deductibles, documenting wildfire mitigation on your property, and reviewing what your HOA master policy does and doesn't cover so you're not double-paying. There's often real room here.
Third, if selling genuinely makes sense, do it properly. A prepared, well-represented sale almost always captures more of your equity than a quick cash offer. The cash buyer's entire business model depends on you valuing speed over the last chunk of your equity, and for most owners that trade isn't worth it once the pressure eases.
If you own here and the carrying costs are adding up, the first step isn't a for-sale sign. It's getting the real numbers in front of you, your assessment, your insurance, and what your home would actually bring in a proper sale, so you can decide from facts instead of pressure. That's a conversation I'm always glad to have.