Brief by Allen Best
Real-Estate – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
Real-estate agents in Summit County are tinkering with a potential disclaimer to be included in sale of property. That disclaimer would advise potential buyers of the risk of wildfires.
There, as in the adjoining Vail and Winter Park areas, forests are in the 10th year of a bark beetle epidemic that foresters say could ultimately destroy 90 percent of lodgepole pine trees. The fear is that the dead trees will potentially become part of a massive, catastrophic fire.
One idea reported by Ken Deshaies, a representative of the Summit Association of Realtors, is to inform prospective buyers about the changing nature of local forests and also the need to create defensible space around their structures. The idea is being reviewed by lawyers, but could become part of the standard residential property disclosure form, reports the Summit Daily News.
