12-31-2025 Life Lately in the Foothills, Pies, Ankles, and Big Feelings

Happy New Year!! The past two weeks have been… a lot. Busy and lazy somehow coexisting, physically painful yet emotionally full, family-heavy in the best way, with one very rude interruption courtesy of my left ankle. Last Monday at CrossFit, shuttle runs reminded me that I have a long-standing reputation for weak ankles. I had almost forgotten about that little character flaw of mine. Almost. I rolled it hard, and while I did something similar in Portugal last year, this one decided to make a statement. Cue swelling, limping, and a serious hit to my daily momentum.

The biggest casualty, besides my pride, was my pie delivery schedule. Thanksgiving pies quietly morphed into Christmas pies, which have now confidently stepped into their New Year’s Pie Era. And honestly, pie is undefeated in every season, so I am standing by this decision.

Christmas itself was refreshingly low-key. My friend and her son joined us for Christmas Eve dinner, which felt warm and grounding, and on Christmas Day, we popped over to Tag’s grandma’s house for a visit. Simple, calm, and exactly what I needed this year. We have also been keeping up with the final season of Stranger Things, and I am emotionally unprepared for the fact that there is only one episode left. I refuse to believe that chapter is almost closed.

Saturday night, we saw Avatar in IMAX 3D and wow. Spectacular does not even cover it. If you want to fully escape reality for a few hours, that is the move.

One of the biggest highlights has been having my best friend, Veronica, in town. I have known her since eighth grade, which feels both impossible and deeply comforting. She is here handling her husband’s grandmother’s estate, which is heavy and emotional, but being together has been really meaningful. They currently live in Philadelphia, though her husband was originally from Colorado, and we are both Connecticut girls at heart. I would absolutely love to have them out here one day. They are joining us for New Year’s Eve Day, and I am already excited about the large number of board games that will be played.

The house has been full, noisy, and lived in. The kids have logged impressive hours of video games. Tag is out there stripping paint off the deck boards so we can restain them again. We have painted that deck so many times, and it chips immediately, so this time we are going scorched earth. Somewhere between all of this, a close friend had a baby boy, and I will admit, the baby fever has been strong. I do not know if it is age, hormones, or the belief that a baby might keep me young, but I would love a daughter. This house could use more estrogen. Tag would be an elite girl's dad, though he knows he would be absolute putty in her hands. We are talking about it. Realistically, it is a long shot, but it is a sweet conversation to have.

Through all of this, I keep coming back to balance. Family, work, joy, presence. I think about regret often, not in a dark way but as a compass. Most people regret working too much, not saying what mattered, and not spending enough time with the people they love. If I were gone tomorrow, it would be heartbreaking for those I love, but I do not think I would have regrets I could fix. That matters to me. I am better at this balance now than I used to be, and I am proud of that growth.



Real Estate in the Foothills, Looking Back and Looking Ahead

On the real estate front, there have been some really full-circle moments. One of my favorite stories from the past couple of weeks is helping the people who sold us our house find an off-market home back in the same neighborhood. They wanted to move back, found a fixer, and honestly, that is their love language. They enjoy making properties their own and have done it multiple times. I cannot wait to see what they do with this one. This is exactly why living and working in the Colorado foothills feels so special: relationships matter here.

I also got my VA loan assumption property under contract. This one is going to be fun to navigate. At a 2.25 percent interest rate, it is absolutely worth the extra effort. Surprisingly few agents have ever done a VA loan assumption, but opportunities like this are huge for buyers looking to make moving to Colorado more affordable, especially in mountain communities like Evergreen, Conifer, Pine, and Bailey, where every dollar of monthly payment matters.

I wrapped up my final closing of 2025 last week. I did not hit the big stretch goals I set for myself this year, but it was still a good year. I intentionally set goals that scare me a little because they force growth. Big goals matter. We only get one life that we remember, and I want mine to be expansive, meaningful, and useful to others.

Looking ahead, my goal for 2026 is to help 28 people buy or sell a home. That will be the most I have ever helped in a single year, and I truly believe it is possible. If you know someone thinking about buying, selling, downsizing, or investing in a Colorado mountain home, I would love to help. Your referrals mean the world to me and are how this business continues to grow.

Market Snapshot, December 10 to December 16, 2025

Here is a quick pulse check on the market week over week:

• Active units down 4.6%
  
  
• Closed units up 9.7%
  
  
• Supply in months down 1.1%
  
  
• Pending units down 3.6%
  
  
• Median days on market down 5.6%
  
  
• Total showings down 1.2% 
  
  

This slowdown is very seasonal and exactly what we expect around the holidays. Looking forward to 2026, I anticipate interest rates coming down slightly and buyers stepping off the sidelines as we head into spring. I am not forecasting chaos, but rather a healthier, more balanced market. Mortgage applications are up double digits year over year, which tells me more movement is coming. Time will tell, but I feel optimistic about what is ahead for buyers and sellers in the Colorado foothills.