08-19-2026 Rain, Last Elementary Days, and the Debt I Never Paid Back

In December of 2024 I spent twelve days in Bali without a phone, no calls, no texts, deep in a personal development retreat with Kute Blackson. Try being a realtor unreachable for twelve days straight. While I was gone, one of my transactions turned into a battlefield, four siblings who could barely stand to be in the same room, splitting up their parents' estate. Kevin took the whole thing over without me asking and never once brought it up like it was a favor. When I got home, I brought him steaks. It felt small against what he'd actually done, but handing him money would have felt worse, like I was paying off a friend instead of thanking one. I hope he knew. 

This weekend was his celebration of life. I didn't make it until it was mostly over, and I don't have a good reason why. I think I was scared of how hard I'd cry in a room full of people who had more right to grieve than I did. I'd rather be judged for showing up late than for falling apart in front of his family. I got there in time to hug Val and look through the pictures they'd set out, a whole life built around the people he loved. I have a dad. Kevin was my work dad, the guy who made everything feel like it would be fine as long as he was around. I miss that more than I expected to. 

Sterling started his last year at Elk Creek Elementary this week. Eight years down, nine months to go, and then middle school. Evergreen also got the kind of rain that flooded Cactus Jacks again and sent water right back into a utility room on a house I sold in downtown Evergreen, french drain and all. However, it was much less than last time. Every house eventually has one of these problems. For my in-laws, it’s their driveway, which after forty years is finally, mercifully, getting paved.

This Week in Real Estate: My Real Estate Life

After tomorrow, I'll be eighty percent of the way to my goal for the month, and it's tempting to give Kevin some credit for whatever's happening from wherever he is now.

I'm listing two homes I've already listed and sold once before. One goes on very soon, the other probably in spring. I also have a new listing coming in Bailey, cute, with the kind of views that make people forget they came to see a house, plus a brand new furnace so nobody has to think about that for at least a decade, hopefully. There's also a piece of land I might be listing, fifteen mountain-flat acres off Richmond Hill with mountain views once you clear a few trees. And it's not twenty minutes off the highway. It's two. A-2 zoning, genuinely stunning, and if it hits the market I think it moves fast, though land in this market can surprise you either way. Maybe one more this spring up Conifer Mountain, maybe one up Shadow Mountain, but it's too early to say anything real about either.

Monday I closed on a piece of land that gave me a run for my money. A new well had to be drilled, and some cleanup needed to happen before we could get to the table. We got there, and for a price that made the whole process worth it.

The Market: The Denver and Foothills Market Update

Homes with a price reduction took a median of 74 days to close this week. Homes priced right from day one closed in a median of just 15. Price it wrong, and you're waiting nearly five times as long for the same outcome.

Sixteen homes closed in Evergreen and Conifer this week, ten in Evergreen and six in Conifer, nothing in Pine. Median sale price came in at $914,500, down from last week's $1,170,000. The median list-to-sale ratio held nearly flat at 96.1 percent compared to 96.8 percent the week before.

Only three of the sixteen homes needed a price reduction to get to closing. The other thirteen sold at or close to their original asking price, several within two weeks of hitting the market.