08-26-2026 Sauna Hats, Septic Wins, and the Real Cost of a Slow Price Cut

It Feels Like It Ends Too Soon: I bought sauna hats for the seven ladies who came on Ladies Sauna Day, plus one for myself, and I have never felt so proud of a purchase in my life. Saturday was a full loop of a day, and it turns out you can fit an entire friendship into eight hours if you plan it right. We hiked Abyss Trail between Grant and Georgetown, grabbed snacks from Aspen Creek Cellars, and met at 2 Bridges Lodge, where Sally led us through yoga before we finally got to the actual saunaing. A few of us circled back to Aspen Creek Cellars for dinner after, because apparently one outing wasn't enough. This group has been coming together since October of last year, and every week it's a different combination of the same women, whether it's Sunday hangouts, poker night, or a Saturday hike. It always feels like it ends too soon. I say that a lot. I mean it every time.

The rest of the week was its own small circus. We had our septic tank pumped, which came back looking about as good as a septic tank full of black water can look, so I'm counting it a win once I get a bush pulled out of the leach field before it does real damage. Bridger got back to basketball, shooting one-handed while he heals, and watching him drain shots left-handed from close range has been more fun than I expected. Tag and I stumbled into a rare free Friday and ended up at a comedy show at Denver Comedy Underground with free pizza and NA beer, which is a strange but excellent combination. And this weekend I turn 42, which looks a lot bigger written down than it feels.

This Week in Real Estate: My Real Estate Life

My goal for the month was ten appointments, and I'm on track for eleven, which sounds like I should be celebrating, and I am, but it comes with a side of quiet dread I don't always admit to. I've got a run of new listings coming together right now, and every single one belongs to a person trusting me to handle something big, often something emotional, and get it right. Most of the time that responsibility feels manageable. This week it feels like a lot, mostly because I can actually count the number of people relying on me at once and the math gets loud in my head. I'm not saying that for sympathy. I'm saying it because I think most people who look like they've got it together are running the exact same math quietly, and it helps to hear someone else say it out loud instead of pretending everything is fine all the time. My plan is the boring one: stick to my list, take my breaks, get some sleep, and not fall apart in the process. On the actual ground, I got the verbal on both the Conifer Mountain and Shadow Mountain listings, we just have to put pen to paper now. I've also got a Bailey listing with a new furnace and views that make you forget you're looking at a furnace, a possible A-2 zoned land parcel out on Richmond Hill that's only two minutes off the highway, and my next closing on the horizon is a FSBO who realized midway through the transaction that she needed a little help after all.

The Market: The Denver and Foothills Market Update

The single most telling number this week isn't the median price, it's the gap between homes that got a price reduction and homes that didn't. Across the twelve closings in Evergreen, Conifer, and Pine over the past week, homes that sold without ever cutting the price had a median of 5 days on market. Homes that took a reduction along the way had a median of 57.5 days. That's more than ten times longer, and it's exactly the case I keep making about pricing right the first time instead of chasing the market down in increments.

The median close price for the group was $1,062,500, with a median of 18 days on market overall. The list-to-sale price ratio came in at a median of 98.4 percent, meaning most homes that closed did so very close to what they were asking, another data point in favor of pricing it right from the start rather than testing the market with a number you'll have to walk back later. One property in the batch, a fixer needing a new septic and deck repairs, closed 338 days after it first hit the market, which is its own reminder that some homes need the right price and the right buyer to find each other.