6-3-2026 Life in the Foothills: Tackles, Trails, and the Women Who Keep Me Sane

Let's start with the important stuff: Sterling made two tackles this weekend, which means he earned twenty bucks. (I told him I'd pay ten dollars per tackle. One was an assist, so we're splitting the difference on that one. He's already negotiating like a future businessman.) His rugby team won both games, which is great, and he came home very proud of himself. I came home slightly lighter in the wallet. Worth it.

Bridger, my eldest, has been camping at Lake McConaughey with his friends' family for a few days, and I've been getting sporadic pictures and videos that suggest he's having the time of his life. He gets home tonight. I cannot wait to hear the stories in person, even the ones that will probably age me five years.

Meanwhile, Sterling is currently in full vegetable mode in front of the TV. This is intentional, because next week the chaos begins: Evergreen Country Day for three weeks, then family vacation, then two sleep-away camps, then Innovation Learning at Marshdale Elementary for two weeks, and then school starts. Last summer we didn't keep him busy enough, and we felt that. This summer, we're correcting that mistake. He also still has rugby throughout, so the kid will not be bored. He will, however, be tired.

In other news, the ladies' walking group is very much a thing now, and I'm all in. We had a lovely walk Sunday, and now there's another one Thursday morning at Meyers Ranch at 7:30am. So: CrossFit first, then a hike. Apparently my body didn't get the memo about rest days.

My favorite lady from New Jersey is officially settled in and already joining us on the hikes. I helped her and her husband find their Colorado mountain home, and honestly their whole story is one of my favorites. They packed up and moved here on a whim, without jobs lined up, because they were just done with the East Coast. That took guts. And things are falling into place beautifully: he's already found a job where he feels genuinely valued. After some bumps with the sale of their New Jersey home, that side of things is also moving along better than expected. They're here. She's hiking. They're living the Colorado life they imagined, and it makes my heart ridiculously happy.

I think about how easy it is to stay stuck out of fear. They didn't. They just went. And now here she is, Thursday morning, at Meyers Ranch, hiking with a bunch of mountain women who are very glad she showed up.

This Week in Real Estate: The Stumper

I have been doing this long enough that not much catches me completely off guard. This week, though, I ran into a situation that had a whole group of us scratching our heads for way longer than it should have taken.

Here's the setup: I have a transaction where both the buyer and seller are closing remotely, out of state. There's personal property involved in the deal, and the funds for that personal property were supposed to be delivered concurrent with closing. The wrinkle? Title couldn't accept a wire for the personal property piece. That sounds simple on paper, but when both parties are remote and you can't just hand someone a check at the closing table, it becomes a logistics puzzle pretty fast. We worked through it, and we're scheduled to close Friday. I'll have a full update next week on how it went.

I'm also keeping a big surprise under wraps until after Friday. Details to follow. I'm genuinely excited about it.

If you're considering selling a Colorado mountain home or helping an aging parent transition out of a longtime family home, I'd love to talk. These transactions have layers, and having someone who's seen the unusual situations before makes a real difference. My Transition Road Map is specifically built for families navigating that process, whether it's downsizing, dealing with decades of accumulated belongings, working through a trust or estate, or just figuring out where to even start. Reach me at 303-328-8800 or vmerchant@kw.com.

The Market: Picky Buyers, Priced-Right Sellers, and the Insurance Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About

The most recent data we have is from DMAR's April 2026 report, and the headline is steady. The median close price for Denver Metro came in at $605,000 in April, nearly identical to where it sat in April 2025 and April 2024. Three years of flat pricing. The market has found its tempo, and it's not in a hurry to change it.

Median days in MLS tightened to 14 days in April, down from 16 in the prior period. So homes are moving. They're just moving on buyers' terms right now, and buyers have opinions.

On the rate front: the 10-year Treasury yield is sitting around 4.45%, and Freddie Mac's latest weekly average for a 30-year fixed is in the 6.5% range. Mortgage rates have risen about 10% since the beginning of the year, but there have been windows of lower rates in between. The Fed held steady at its May meeting, and Wall Street isn't currently expecting a rate cut this year, with roughly even odds between a cut and a hike at the January 2027 meeting. The June 17th Fed meeting is the next thing to watch. Nothing is settled.

Oil prices are ticking up, which keeps pressure on inflation expectations, and that in turn keeps the 10-year yield elevated, which means mortgage rates aren't going anywhere fast. The global trade situation has to stabilize before any of this really shifts, and that's going to take time even if things move in the right direction.

Here in the foothills, what I'm seeing comes down to this: buyers are picky, and they have every right to be. They're paying more to live in the mountains than sellers paid when they bought, and the list of things that now cost real money has grown considerably. Class A fire-resistant roofing isn't optional anymore. To be precise: if your roof is older and due for replacement, it has to be replaced with Class A fire-resistant materials. If it's in good shape you may still be able to get insured with what you have, but the moment it needs replacing, there's no going back to a standard roof. Buyers know this, and they're factoring the eventual cost in. Add the fact that average homeowners insurance premiums in Colorado are now around $4,100 a year, a 137% increase over the past decade, driven by hail and wildfire risk, and then layer on cement board siding, fire-retardant decking, compliant landscaping, and the new Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code, and buyers doing the math on a home that needs work are going to discount heavily, or walk.

This is why price reductions happen. Sellers often list high hoping someone will fall in love and overlook the deferred maintenance. That works less and less in this market. The longer a home sits, the more buyers wonder what's wrong with it, and then it sells for less than it would have if it had been priced correctly from day one. I say this with love: price it right first. One well-placed correction beats four small ones every single time.

If you're thinking about selling a home in Evergreen, Conifer, Morrison, Golden, or anywhere in the Jefferson County foothills, let's have an honest conversation about what your home is worth in this market and what buyers are actually going to see when they walk through the door. That conversation is free. Getting the price wrong is not.