11-04-2026 Marshmallow Ghosts, My Last Parade, and a New Build Inspection

I almost missed the last Halloween parade I will ever attend at Elk Creek Elementary, and the culprit was a bag of marshmallow ghosts.

I wasn't even planning on going to the parade, because my day was already stacked: a closing in Castle Rock, then a land listing appointment in Idaho Springs. Then Sterling forgot his treat for the class party. So I rushed back to the house, grabbed the marshmallow ghosts, and aimed to get there by 1:15 pm.

Somewhere in that scramble, it hit me. If I didn't make it, I'd miss the last one. Eight years of parades at Elk Creek and nobody warned me which one would be the final one. I was never counting. One day it was just the last parade. Over. Just like that.

I honestly can't decide if not counting is a good way to live or a bad one. If I'd been counting down, I'd have spent eight years watching a number get smaller while the kids were little. But not counting means it sneaks up on you and you wonder if you should have been paying closer attention. Too late to change the past, so... moving on.

Except I've already noticed a shift in my thinking. I only have two years before Bridger turns 18. That is crazy to me. Two years until I can't make his doctor's appointments for him anymore, which my friend Amy pointed out, so I better teach him how to do it himself. Thankfully I've started, but what a weird thing to think about. Bridger has changed so much this past year, and he's maturing. He just got a job at Ripple, a local pizza place in town, and they said they'll probably have him making pizzas. About time, too, since he'd finally spent every dollar he saved working at Marshdale Burger before they closed.

Sterling, meanwhile, has nearly finished off his Halloween haul, which was about 10 pounds of candy, no exaggeration. He has the same sugar problem I do. #truth

This Week in Real Estate: On The Ground This Week

You might be wondering why anyone needs a buyer's agent on a new build. Or an inspection on a house nobody has ever lived in. Lemme tell you.

Because nobody is there to watch out for you. Everyone you work with on a new build works for the builder at the end of the day. My buyers have had this one under contract for a lot of months, and along the way they hit a couple of annoying hiccups that I was happy to step in on and advocate for.

Then came the inspection, and you want one on every house. Ours turned up a slider door that doesn't latch properly, scratches on the floor in front of the fridge, high radon, a broken main stack in the sewer line that needs repair, and a pile of debris in the lower level ducts that we're hoping the builder will clean out. There was also a gap under the deck between the decking and the siding. Perfect for critters, and we saw it being filled on other homes, so it needs filling here too. My buyers texted to thank me for suggesting an independent inspection. They said the builder's inspection hadn't flagged anything they could see, and a door that doesn't work seems like an obvious thing to catch.

Most of that is minor, but a broken sewer stack is not, and I've heard the horror stories. A washer that flooded the house the very first time it ran. Pipes were never connected from the ceiling out through the roof, so they just vented into the attic. Sewer drains completely clogged because the trades treated the pipe like a garbage chute.

So if you're buying a new build anywhere in the foothills, take it from a realtor in Evergreen: hire an agent, and get a full inspection, a radon test, and a sewer scope at the very least. Most builders factor an agent commission into their pricing, especially in this market, and it isn't a discount you'll see if you skip the agent. It's likely money the builder just keeps. They're offering tons of incentives right now whether you have an agent or not, and sometimes we agents can negotiate an even better deal in a market like this one.

The Market: Evergreen, Conifer & Pine Market Snapshot

139 days. That's the median time on market this week for homes that took a price cut, compared to 13 days for the homes that never needed one. Same towns, same week, more than ten times the wait.

Here's the rest of the picture for Evergreen, Conifer, and Pine closings from October 28 through November 3, stacked against closings from October 21 to 27.

The median sale price came in at $1,095,000 across 19 closings, up from $770,096 the week before. Hold your horses, though, because the mix changed. Fifteen of this week's sales were in Evergreen, compared to seven of last week's 13.

The median list-to-sale ratio hit 100%, up from 98.1%, which means the typical home closed right at its list price. Six homes closed above list, up from two the week before. One Evergreen home listed at $1,450,000 and sold for $1,570,000 after 3 days on the market.

Now for concessions. Ten of the 19 closings included them, which is 53%, and nine had none. Among those ten, the median concession was $19,900 and the highest was $35,000. Last week, seven of 13 (54%) had concessions, with a median of $9,000 and a high of $28,000.

Seven of the 18 homes with a list price took a reduction this week. Last week it was seven of 13. If you're planning to sell a home in Evergreen or Conifer, or you're moving to Colorado and shopping Colorado mountain homes, those reductions are where the waiting happens. The reduced homes sat a median of 139 days, up from 107. The homes that held their price sat a median of 13 days, up from 5.5.