08-7-2025 Life, Pickleball, and Rocks in All the Wrong Places

This past week reminded me that life doesn’t always need to be fancy to be memorable. Sometimes it just needs to include old friends, new bruises, and a pool lounger doubling as a whitewater vessel.

Tag and I kicked off the weekend with a Friday date night at First Friday on Santa Fe. If you haven’t been, imagine an artsy street party where the galleries throw open their doors and everyone suddenly becomes a wine-sipping, painting-staring expert in abstract expressionism. While wandering through the crowd, we ran into some very old friends of mine, like 17 years old. We met back in 2007 when I worked as a paralegal for a collections law firm. Not exactly the career highlight reel, but hey, it paid the bills when jobs were scarce.

We chatted, laughed, and did that thing adults do where we made plans to make plans for pickleball. Clement Park was floated as a maybe, and honestly, even penciling in a “someday soon” felt like a win. And in case you're wondering, yes, Tag is still terrible at pickleball. Somehow, that just makes the game even more fun.

Saturday, we played a family round with the kids, and on Sunday, we upped the adventure with tubing down Clear Creek. Only, plot twist: our new budget meant we skipped actual tubes and floated down the river on pool loungers. Budget-friendly? Absolutely. Comfortable? Only if you're into tailbone acupressure via river rock. At one point, Adam bailed and hiked the rest of the way, but the Merchant family pushed through to the end, sore but victorious.

Then on Monday, we celebrated a truly special occasion. Tag’s grandma turned 98. Ninety-eight. Can we just take a moment to appreciate that? She’s lived through world wars, landlines, dial-up internet, and now she gets birthday wishes via group text. Spending that evening with her was a powerful reminder of just how much life can hold when it’s filled with family and a bit of grit.

The whole week had this theme of connection, simplicity, and making the best of what we’ve got. Have you ever noticed that when you're working with a budget, your creativity has no choice but to level up?

Real Estate Never Sleeps

On the work front, the theme of the week is: weird market, same hustle.

I got a buyer under contract on Friday. Yes, with multiple offers. The market continues to defy logic. Rates are up, inventory is weird, and yet here we are, still fighting over homes like it’s 2021. I’m not mad about it. Just confused. But grateful. Also grateful that our structural inspection of the property went very well today!

In other news, I’ve been playing real estate matchmaker. A buyer who had previously loved one of my listings circled back after getting his own property under contract. He’s doing a 1031 exchange, which, for those of you not in the real estate weeds, is a nifty tax-deferral strategy where investors can sell one investment property and roll the profits into another without paying capital gains, as long as they move quickly. That time crunch is real. So I dusted off my old contact list, called around, and wouldn’t you know it? One of the neighbors might be open to selling. Fingers crossed. Updates to come.

And speaking of updates, I may have a scammer buyer on my hands. Or maybe just an eccentric millionaire. Too soon to tell, but it’s giving Netflix docuseries setup energy. Will report back once I solve the mystery. I also think I’m about to get an offer on one of my listings, so stay tuned for that too.

In this market, you just have to expect the unexpected. One minute you're dodging rocks on a pool lounger, the next you're dodging fake buyers with suspicious backstories. Either way, it keeps things interesting.

Oh, and if you missed our seminar last week, here’s the link: https://youtu.be/y65UuVoyJ_E. Enjoy!