How Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Can Increase Home Values

It’s no secret that medical and recreational marijuana have a striking amount consumer benefits, but here’s a surprising benefit you might not be aware of — increased home values! A recent study published in the academic journal Real Estate Economics concluded that homes within 0.1 miles of Denver’s 103 marijuana dispensaries saw increased home valuations by up to 8.4%. Based on average housing prices in those areas, the value was estimated to be $27,000 for a typical, single-family home.

Conducted by researchers from the University of Wisconsin, the University of Georgia, and California State University, these claims are based on real estate appreciation since January 1, 2014, when recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado.

What This Means For State Governments

Researchers and politicians from states that have enacted or are looking to pass marijuana legalization bills are now looking to factual, statistical evidence from cities like Denver on the benefits of having a local dispensary. For example, local San Francisco lawmakers have been making great strides to keep marijuana retailers in already zoned locations, despite the plea of the city’s Chamber of Commerce to do just the opposite.

Moussa Diop, a leading researcher of the study states, “The presence of retail marijuana establishments clearly had a short-term positive impact on nearby properties in Denver. This suggests that in addition to the sales and business taxes generated from the retail marijuana industry, municipalities may experience an increase in property taxes.”

Others suggest that it’s not only the prospect of growing and legally using marijuana that is causing the increased demand for housing but the job prospects associated in those legalized states.

“The legalization affects both the demand and the supply in the residential housing market,” says economics professor Cheng Cheng, an author on the study. “Areas where it’s legal are “going to attract more home buyers, including marijuana users as well as entrepreneurs and job seekers.”

What This Means for Politicians

Many of our current lawmakers (and some real estate investors with serious cash) have feigned concern over whether marijuana dispensaries will damage local property values. But, with these long-term, factual based statistics proving just the opposite, politicians and lobbyists alike have the opportunity to spin what constituents are already asking for into a positive for them — “I’m pushing for legalization because it’s good for my community.”

If you live close to a legal dispensary and have seen first hand the increase of your home valuation, we’d love to hear from you!

Originally posted at www.medicalmarijuana.com on October 25, 2017.

The Top 3 Latest Online Smoking Shop Trends

Online smoking shops started mushrooming in the past ten years on account of the growing smoking products and accessories demand in the market. This paved the way for the introduction of innovative smoking paraphernalia to the public that made smoking even more trendy, stylish, and interesting, just like the ones that can be seen at LuxeProductsUSA. Hence, despite discouragements from authorities the market just continued growing. Along with this growth and the stiff competition among different online smoking shops, various marketing strategies have emerged that have paved the way for some noticeable trends to surface. These trends are becoming prevalent among top online smoking shops for their effectiveness in driving sales up.

Here are some of the most interesting trends in today’s online smoking shops:

1. Online Visibility and Reach
Successful online smoking shops use the internet not only as a platform for selling but also as a tool for marketing. Like most online businesses, online smoking shops are starting to intensify cross- platform online promotions and visibility in various channels, with more focus on social media sites. While this is not actually surprising considering the nature of the shops being an online store, many out there do not maximize the potential due to either lack of technical online marketing knowledge, or the lack of people to handle the task.

2. Shops are Becoming Transparent
With the growing interest and demand for smoking products and accessories, as well as the increasing public acceptance of these shops as legitimate stores, they are now becoming open, honest, and transparent. Gone are the days of secrecy in fear of persecution. Today’s online smoking shops are a real business with the right certifications and permits to operate. That being said, shops also need to up the game by offering as many products available as possible and in greatly improving customer service.

3. Focus on Customer Service and Retention
With online shops offering somehow the same products and accessories, customer service and retention strategies serve as the tie breaker. Today’s online shops employ people that are technically adept when it comes to any product and accessories related to smoking. This is aside from common requirements in customer service like increased response time, the familiarity of product specifications, and providing customers with options that fit their needs and preferences. Aside from these, online smoking shops are also using various strategies to retain customers including the gathering of loyal customer’s online information, engaging with them in social media, and even the use of apps specifically created for that purpose.

As the online smoking market continues to grow and improved over time due to innovative products and significant changes in customer behavior, as well as the continuing popularity of online shopping, it is expected to see a more profound evolution on how online smoking shops conducts business sales and marketing. This professionalized shift also helps the industry gain a more desirable reputation while ensuring quality and excellence is maintained in products, accessories, and more importantly, customer service.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on October 19, 2017.