Luca L. Baud, Denver's Top Real Estate Advocate

08/10/2026

Boulder just put two measures on the November ballot that every homeowner and second-home owner in the city should understand.

First, a residential vacancy tax. If your Boulder home sits occupied 183 days or fewer per year, you would pay $4,000 annually starting in 2028. The city estimates 500 to 1,000 homes qualify. The goal is simple, push empty homes back into the housing supply as rentals or sales.

Second, a $400 million Recreation and Safety Bond. It would fund rec centers, fire stations, and a new public safety and 911 facility, repaid through property taxes at roughly $400 per year for every $1 million in home value.

Polling shows the vacancy tax at 64% support. The bond sits around 45%, so that one is a real fight.

What this means if you own in Boulder. A second home just got more expensive to hold, and renting it out or selling becomes the obvious math for some owners. If that is a conversation you need to have before November, I am happy to run the numbers with you. No pressure, just facts.

Luca Baud
Broker Associate, The Denver Group at Real Broker
Serving Denver, the Front Range, Boulder, and Vailthedenverrealtor

08/07/2026

Price Improvement

$2,085,000 | 7 Beds | 5 Baths | 6,412 SqFt | 1.07 Acres

Genesee, Colorado

08/06/2026

They don’t build them like this anymore. Historic loft conversion just hit the market in downtown Denver.

Discover Residence 202, a rare historic loft conversion in downtown Denver. Soaring ceilings, exposed brick, mushroom columns, and clock tower views steps from Coors Field, Union Station, and RiNo. Schedule your private showing with The Denver Group to...

08/05/2026

Where is Denver actually heading? Four forces will decide.

Denver isn’t the same city it was five years ago, and it won’t be the same in five more. If you’re buying real estate here, four forces matter more than anything else on your search filters.

1. Population. The people are coming, in two chapters.

Colorado is projected to add 1.5 million people by 2050, and about half of that growth lands in the Denver-Boulder area. Chapter one is the urban core. RiNo, LoHi, Baker, Uptown, Golden Triangle, Capitol Hill, and LoDo are compounding in desirability as residential conversions take hold. Chapter two is the suburban corridor, especially I-25 South and the northern suburbs that already invested in schools, infrastructure, and open space. Add the Colorado Connector, a proposed 190 mile passenger rail line linking 12 Front Range communities from Fort Collins to Pueblo, and the map gets even more interesting.

The takeaway: Colorado’s terrain limits where you can build. Long-term growth plus structural supply constraints means demand is not the risk here. The next three forces are.

2. Water. The story nobody talks about at open houses.

Colorado is a headwater state, and the Colorado River that Denver shares with Phoenix, Vegas, and LA has been in long-term decline. The 1922 Compact is being renegotiated because it promised more water than the river carries. Denver Water is well positioned with senior rights and serious investment in storage. But here’s the buyer angle: established urban neighborhoods with mature water infrastructure carry less long-term risk than sprawl corridors still being built out on the eastern plains.

3. Affordability. The floor isn’t dropping. The map is shifting.

Stop waiting for a 2015 style correction. Structural economics says it isn’t coming. What does move is relative value. Parker, Castle Rock, Brighton, and Commerce City stretch your dollar on square footage. Inside the city, the “promising but not yet arrived” neighborhoods are the closest thing left to a deal. Precision beats patience in this market.

4. Infrastructure. Good transit, strained roads.

Denver’s rail network is better than it gets credit for, and the region has 11 bus rapid transit corridors planned, with East Colfax, Colorado Blvd, and Federal Blvd leading the way. Meanwhile I-25 South and C-470 are strained, and growth corridors are adding people faster than road capacity. Buy near transit in the core and your commute improves over time. Buy in a growth corridor and congestion is part of your lifestyle math. The neighborhoods investing in walkability today will look brilliant in ten years.

The bottom line: knowing these four forces is the difference between guessing where to buy and knowing.

Thinking about your next move in this market? Let’s talk.

Luca Baud
Broker Associate, The Denver Group at Real Broker
Serving Denver, the Front Range, Boulder, and Vail

08/04/2026

This matters more than Days On Market

If you ever sell your home, here’s something worth knowing long before the sign goes in the yard.

Days on market is the wrong number to obsess over. Here’s why.

It measures time, not interest. And time on its own can’t tell you why a home is sitting.

The number that can is showings.

A well marketed home drawing fewer than a showing a week is usually telling you something about price.

One getting five or six walk throughs and no offer is telling you something about the house itself. The layout, the photos, the way it shows in person.

Days on market can’t tell those two apart. Foot traffic can.

Even if you’re in the early stages of thinking about a move, we should talk. It might seem premature, but my clients are always less stressed and better prepared the sooner we get the conversation started.

Luca Baud
Broker Associate, The Denver Group at Real Broker
Serving Denver, Boulder, and Vail

08/01/2026

Colorado Turns 150: The Only Birthday Party of Its Kind

One hundred and fifty years ago this Saturday, a telegraph clicked in Washington and Colorado became a state.

It was August 1, 1876. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the proclamation admitting Colorado as the 38th star on the flag, less than a month after the nation blew out 100 candles of its own. A Denver newspaper had already floated a nickname the year before, and the timing sealed it forever. The Centennial State.

Think about what that took. A gold rush in 1858 that pulled a hundred thousand dreamers across the plains with “Pikes Peak or Bust” painted on their wagons. A territory carved out in 1861. A failed statehood bid vetoed in 1866. A constitutional convention hammered out in Denver by delegates who argued in English, Spanish, and German. And long before any of it, the Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and other Tribal Nations whose story here stretches back thousands of years, a history this anniversary rightly asks us to honor, not just footnote.

Here is the part I love. Because Colorado joined the Union exactly 100 years after the Declaration of Independence, 2026 is the only year any state gets to celebrate a 150th birthday during America’s 250th. The state is calling it the Sesquisemiquincentennial. Try saying that after one Colorado craft beer.

I have spent 15 years selling homes in Denver, Boulder, and Vail, and I still get chills thinking about how young this place is. The brick warehouses in LoDo, the miners’ cottages in Ballpark, the Victorian painted ladies on Capitol Hill. All of it built by people who bet everything on a state that was barely an idea. That bet is still paying out.

How to celebrate this weekend:

Friday, July 31
Homegrown Colorado Night Market at Civic Center Park. More than 90 Colorado makers, food, drinks, and local goods. Free.

Saturday, August 1 (the big day)
Colorado Day Community Fest at the History Colorado Center, 9 am to 1 pm. Free pancake breakfast, gold panning, live music, and a Rocky Mountain High singalong led by Isaac Slade of The Fray.

The State Capitol opens 9 am to 3 pm with a reenactment of the statehood proclamation and birthday cake on the west steps at 11 am.

Free admission all day at History Colorado’s museums statewide, 10 am to 5 pm.

Union Station’s 150th Birthday Celebration, 11 am to 5 pm. Steer roping, walking tours, green chile fries, frozen peach lemonade.

Colorado Day Bazaar at Commons Park, noon to 6 pm. Free.

Mile Long Table at the National Western Center, 5 pm. A community dinner seating more than 5,280 neighbors. Tickets start at $5.28. Of course they do.

Keep an eye on the sky. Stories in the Sky drone shows are lighting up communities across the state all year.

Sunday, August 2
City Park Jazz is free at the pavilion, and teams of climbers are summiting Colorado’s 14ers as part of Summit 2026, a nod to the 1976 Centennial climb.

150 years in, and this state still feels like the beginning of something. Happy birthday, Colorado. Wear sunscreen.

What is your favorite piece of Colorado history? Drop it below. I read every comment.

Luca Baud
Broker Associate, The Denver Group at Real Broker
Denver | Boulder | Vail
[email protected]
720-219-9320thedenverrealtor

07/31/2026

07/31/2026

TONIGHT on South Pearl Street: Final Friday Art Walk!

La Alma/Lincoln Park does First Fridays on Santa Fe. Platt Park does it on the final Friday of the month instead, a laid-back alternative to the Santa Fe art walks.

Tonight, the 1400 to 1600 blocks of South Pearl Street come alive from 5 PM until sundown with local artists painting live on the sidewalks, vintage vendors, live music, and shops staying open late. It’s the second Final Friday of the summer season, and it’s intentionally more intimate and family friendly.

A little history while you stroll: South Pearl got its start in the 1890s when a tramway ran down the street, and many of the storefronts you’ll pass tonight date back to the early 1900s. Today it’s the heartbeat of Platt Park, one of Denver’s most walkable neighborhoods, with the Sunday farmers market, Oktoberfest, Winterfest, and light rail access at Louisiana/Pearl Station just steps away.

Realtor tip: if you’ve ever wondered why Platt Park homes hold their value, spend one evening on this street. Neighborhoods with a true main street are rare, and buyers know it.

Where: South Pearl Street, 1400 to 1600 blocks
When: Tonight, Friday, July 31
Time: 5 PM until sundown
Parking: Street and garage parking available

Grab a date, grab the kiddos, grab a coffee at Stella’s, and come see why this is Denver’s “village in the city.”

Remaining 2026 dates: August 28, September 25, October 30. Mark your calendars!

Luca Baud | Broker Associate
The Denver Group at Real Broker
720-219-9320
[email protected]