One of the main requirements of buying any real estate property is affordable property insurance.  No lender will mortgage a property unless property insurance is issued and I have never heard of an owner purchasing a property for cash and not obtaining insurance.

Breckenridge and Summit County are in a rather unique location which is why it is a world resort destination, the mountains!  With owning a property in the mountains comes insurance requirements that are different to other areas.  Homes here are typically near or next to National Forest or forested areas.

Insurance companies are currently scrutinizing insurance procedures and requirements to encourage homeowners to take preventative measures for fire protection.  Breckenridge and the other towns in Summit County planning departments have for a number of years required on new construction an inspection by the local fire departments that the fire mitigation zoning requirements have been met as part of the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy.  Part of these requirements are having defensible space around the home with the thinning of trees, removal of combustible materials near the home, removal of dead pine needles in gutters, etc.

Before these requirements nearly all the homes and properties in Summit County were not required to carry out these procedures as part of the home building process.  These homes are now being inspected by insurance agency personnel to assess the fire danger risk of individual homes prior to a real estate sale or even for re-issuance of homeowner's insurance.

Therefore if you are considering selling your property here in Breckenridge, Summit County or for that matter anywhere in the Rocky Mountains where your home is in a forested environment it would be a prudent idea to have your local fire department come and visit your property and give you suggestions to mitigate the property with regards to fire risk reduction.

If you are looking at buying a property, you will need to contact a local property/homeowner's insurance company very early on in the real estate contract due diligence period to obtain the insurance requirements that will be needed to issue insurance for the property.

Posted by Andrew Biggin on

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