Brendan Gustafson - Denver Real Estate

08/27/2026

We’re in the early stages of what economists have called the Great Wealth Transfer — trillions of dollars in assets passing from older generations to their children and grandchildren over the coming years.

And in Colorado, a significant part of that wealth is tied up in real estate.

That could have some interesting implications for our housing market. Some people will inherit homes they want to keep. Others will sell, rent, renovate, or use inherited wealth to help purchase a home of their own.

I included this Kentwood article in my newsletter going out today because I think this is a trend we’re going to hear a lot more about in the years ahead.

🏡 How the Great Wealth Transfer Could Shape Colorado Real Estate

Worth a read:

If you've followed financial headlines over the past few years, you've probably heard the phrase "The Great Wealth Transfer." It sounds dramatic, and in many ways, it is. Over the next two decades, economists estimate that between $84 trillion and $124 trillion in wealth will pass from Baby Boomers....

08/17/2026

🏡 JUST SOLD | Capitol Hill, Denver

Approximately $50,000 MORE NET to my seller.

I’m a couple months late posting this sale, but it’s a story worth telling — especially because it became one of the real-world stories in my new book.

My seller inherited this Capitol Hill half duplex in pretty rough condition.

When we first listed it, the only serious offers came from investors — and their prices reflected the work the property needed.

Rather than settle for those offers, we changed strategies.

We pulled the property off the market over the holidays and gave it a relatively modest refresh: paint, carpet and cleanup. Then we relaunched.

That was enough to change the buyer pool. This time we attracted owner-occupants instead of just investors — and ultimately sold above asking price.

Getting to closing still took some work.

The seller had previously filed a hail claim on the roof that his insurance carrier denied. I connected him with a roofer who helped revisit the claim, and it was ultimately approved.

We also worked through a failed sewer line, plumbing and electrical issues, mold remediation, appraisal requirements and structural concerns that required an engineer.

In the end, even after accounting for the additional money the seller spent preparing and selling the property, he netted approximately $50,000 MORE than he would have from the investor offers we received the first time around.

Not $50K more in sales price.

$50K more in his pocket.

That experience reinforced something I tell sellers all the time: the best strategy isn’t always a major renovation or selling as-is.

Sometimes a few targeted improvements can completely change who is willing to buy your property — and what they’re willing to pay.

📘 It’s also exactly the kind of decision I explore in my new book, I Inherited a House. Now What?

More on that soon.

Brendan Gustafson
Broker Associate | Kentwood Real Estate City Properties

08/11/2026

🏡 FOR RENT in West Wash Park!

Bright and spacious 2 bed / 1 bath main-floor home in a fantastic Denver location — just minutes from Wash Park, South Broadway, Whole Foods and more. 📍

✨ 934 sq ft
❄️ Central A/C
🚗 Detached 1-car garage
🌳 Private fenced backyard
🍳 Stainless appliances + gas range
🧺 Shared laundry & storage
🐾 Great outdoor space

💰 $2,250/month

Know someone looking for a great place in Denver? Tag them or send this their way! 👇

📩 Message me for details or to schedule a showing.

06/12/2026

Today is a big day for the stock market.

The hype around the SpaceX IPO is incredible. Investors are scrambling to get in, valuations are being stretched, and the fear of missing out is everywhere.

It reminds me a lot of the Denver real estate market in 2021.

Back then, homes were routinely selling six figures over asking price. Buyers were waiving contingencies, stretching budgets, and convincing themselves that prices could only go higher. Meanwhile, the federal government was still pumping money into the economy while insisting inflation was “transitory.”

The excitement was intoxicating. The fundamentals were often ignored.

Fast forward five years, and the real estate market feels completely different. The hype is gone. The urgency is gone. The FOMO is gone.

And that’s usually when opportunities start to get interesting.

The best investments are rarely the ones everyone is talking about. Most wealth is created by buying into uncertainty and pessimism, then selling into optimism and excitement.

That’s exactly what many of SpaceX’s founders, employees, and early investors are doing today.

Meanwhile, in Denver, you can buy office buildings and development opportunities at discounts that would have seemed impossible a few years ago. Buyers aren’t necessarily purchasing great cash-flowing assets today—they’re buying options. Options to redevelop, reposition, or create something more valuable in the future.

The same argument can be made for residential real estate.

At current interest rates, it’s often cheaper to rent than to own. But homebuyers aren’t just purchasing monthly cash flow. They’re buying options too: the ability to build equity, pay down principal, benefit from future appreciation, create stability, leverage tax advantages, and put down roots in a community.

Today is a day to celebrate entrepreneurship, innovation, and capitalism.

But years from now, we may look back and realize that while everyone was chasing the hottest tech IPO, some of the better long-term opportunities were quietly sitting in the corners of the real estate market that nobody wanted to talk about.

Follow SpaceX IPO live updates on price, ticker, broker access, valuation and what investors need to know before shares trade.

06/01/2026

🏡 Available Now in Golden

Just had tenants move out and this 5-bedroom home is ready for its next occupants.

Located on a quiet cul-de-sac just minutes from the Colorado School of Mines, downtown Golden, Colorado Mills, and I-70. Enjoy easy access to some of the area’s best hiking, biking, and outdoor recreation while still being close to everything Denver has to offer.

With 5 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, multiple living spaces, central A/C, and an oversized garage, there’s plenty of room to spread out.

Whether you’re looking for a home for your family, a group attending Mines, or simply want to enjoy the Golden lifestyle, this is a great opportunity.

Available immediately.

See photos and details here:

This 2050 square feet Single Family home has 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It is located at 123 Orion St, Golden, CO.

05/21/2026

Over the last year or two, I’ve become increasingly interested in a part of real estate that most people don’t really talk about until they’re suddenly living through it.

That’s a big part of why I created 👉 Transitional Property Advisory

https://transitionalpropertyadvisory.com

The platform is focused on the “in-between” stages of life 🏡 — not just buying or selling a house, but navigating the transitions around aging parents, changing health needs, family homes that no longer fit, difficult maintenance decisions, future planning conversations, and all the emotional + financial complexity that comes with them.

A big reason this became important to me is because my wife and I went through some of these challenges within our own family years ago.

And honestly… it was really hard.

There wasn’t a roadmap. No centralized resources. No clear guidance on housing options, property decisions, timing, finances, or even where to start.

Most of the decisions had to be made during stressful moments while emotions were already running high. 😞

We basically had to figure everything out in real time during a crisis.

That experience stuck with me.

And over the past several years in real estate, I started seeing more and more Colorado families going through very similar situations.

This isn’t a typical real estate website.

It’s an educational and advisory platform focused on helping families think more proactively about major housing and property transitions — before decisions become urgent. 📖

Topics like:• aging in place 👵• downsizing 📦• multigenerational living 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦• preparing a longtime home for sale 🛠️• accessibility considerations ♿• deferred maintenance decisions 🔧• future housing planning 🧭• coordinating family conversations 🤝• and understanding available options before a crisis forces quick decisions ⚠️

A lot of these situations sit at the intersection of housing, finances, family dynamics, logistics, and emotion — and they’re rarely as simple as “just sell the house.”

My goal is to continue building practical resources, educational content, and a broader support ecosystem around these transitions here in Colorado. 🌄

Still early. Still building. But I’m excited about where this is headed.

05/13/2026

One area of the market I’m watching closely right now is small multifamily (2–4 units). 👀

There are some pretty substantial pricing discounts showing up compared to where these properties were trading 4–6 years ago.

A lot of that comes down to cap rates, financing costs, and what’s happening in the larger multifamily/commercial market bleeding down into smaller properties.

At the peak of the market, a lot of multifamily properties were trading at cap rates in the 3.5%–4.5% range.

Today, many properties are trading more in the 5%–7% range depending on the location, condition, age of the asset, and rent stability.

That shift matters because even relatively small changes in cap rates can create major swings in value.

The problem is rents haven’t really increased enough to offset the higher financing costs and cap rate expansion.

In fact, multifamily rents in many areas have softened over the past couple years as a wave of new apartment supply hit the market. That rent pressure has impacted larger multifamily the most, but it’s also bleeding into smaller multifamily properties now too.

Single-family rentals have generally held up better.

Part of that is because single-family homes don’t really trade on cap rates the same way commercial real estate does. They trade more on supply/demand dynamics, monthly affordability, and the availability of long-term fixed-rate residential financing.

The condo market has also been under pressure in many areas.

But condos have their own unique issues right now:
• HOA deferred maintenance problems
• Rising insurance costs
• Special assessment fears
• Financing restrictions on certain complexes
• Competition from large amounts of new apartment supply

Commercial real estate is different because the debt structure is different.

A huge amount of commercial debt from the low-rate era is now rolling over into a much higher rate environment. Many owners have spent the last few years in “extend and pretend” mode — extending loans and hoping rates would fall or values would recover.

That runway appears to be ending for a lot of owners.

The result:
• Lower values
• Lower leverage
• Tougher refinancing
• Softer rents
• More distressed sellers
• More negotiation opportunities for buyers

Meanwhile, the stock market continues pushing toward all-time highs, with many investors arguing equities are historically expensive by traditional valuation metrics.

Real estate feels like the opposite right now.

Not every property is a deal — far from it — but there are definitely segments of the market where pricing feels materially more attractive than it did a few years ago.

Transaction volume is still pretty sluggish overall because:
• Buyers hate current rates
• Sellers hate current pricing
• Banks are tighter
• Everyone remembers 2021 values

That said, I do think there may be some real opportunities emerging right now for:
🏡 Buyers looking to house hack a duplex or triplex
💰 Investors searching for better cash flow opportunities
🔄 Landlords considering a 1031 exchange from a single rental house into small multifamily for potentially stronger ROI and scalability

And here’s the interesting part…

If rates eventually come down, rents resume growing, the economy stabilizes, or we see another wave of liquidity/QE in the system, buyers who acquired quality assets during this cycle may end up looking pretty smart in hindsight.

The math is starting to make a lot more sense on some of these deals than it did a few years ago.

If you’ve been curious about small multifamily investing, this may be one of the more interesting windows we’ve seen in awhile.

05/11/2026

Apparently my peers and I are hitting that phase of life where more and more conversations revolve around aging parents, grandparents, inherited homes, downsizing decisions, and figuring out what comes next for family real estate. 🏡

And honestly… it can be overwhelming.

Over the last few years, I’ve found myself helping more families navigate inherited property situations, estate transitions, deferred maintenance issues, family disagreements, “what do we do with the house?” conversations, and housing decisions tied to aging family members.

So I decided to build something focused specifically on those challenges:

👉 inheritedpropertyadvisory.com

The goal isn’t just “selling houses.”

It’s helping families think through:
• whether to sell or keep a property 🤔
• as-is vs renovation decisions 🔨
• deferred maintenance issues 🧰
• probate/inherited property logistics 📋
• timing considerations ⏳
• investment/rental possibilities 💰
• coordinating with attorneys, CPAs, and family members 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦
• and avoiding expensive mistakes during emotionally difficult transitions

I’ve also realized many of these conversations start years before a property is ever inherited.

So I’ll soon be launching a related platform focused more on transitional housing decisions for aging family members — things like aging in place, downsizing, multigenerational living, accessibility considerations, and proactive planning before a crisis forces quick decisions. ❤️

This is a topic that’s becoming increasingly relevant for a lot of Colorado families, and I’m hoping these resources help people feel a little more informed and a little less overwhelmed.

Would genuinely appreciate you checking it out — and sharing it with anyone who may be going through something similar.

🔗 inheritedpropertyadvisory.com

05/08/2026

📊 Denver’s housing market continues to slowly rebalance — and honestly, that feels a lot healthier than the chaos we saw a few years ago.

According to the latest Denver Metro Association of Realtors report, inventory jumped again in April, with over 11,500 active listings across the metro 🏡 — up more than 17% from March. At the same time, buyer activity is holding up better than many expected, with closed sales actually increasing month-over-month 📈

What I’m seeing on the ground:

🔑 Buyers have more choices and more negotiating power than they’ve had in years

🏠 Sellers can still absolutely win — but pricing strategy and presentation matter more than ever

⚡️ The “good” homes are still moving quickly, while overpriced or poorly prepared listings are sitting

We’re no longer in a market where you can throw a sign in the yard and expect 12 offers by the weekend 😅

But we’re also not seeing the collapse that a lot of people on social media predicted for Denver.

To me, this feels more like a normalization phase than a crash.

And honestly? Colorado real estate may quietly be becoming interesting again for long-term buyers and investors who got priced out or discouraged during the frenzy years 🌄

Curious what others are seeing out there right now — especially buyers who’ve been watching from the sidelines 👀

04/23/2026

Rents feel soft.
Expenses are up.
And the traditional long-term model isn’t hitting like it used to.

So instead of sitting on it… I’ve been reworking the model.

Just launched a mid-term rental in West Colfax / Sloan’s Lake

* running another in Centennial

Both were standard long-term setups that I’ve repositioned into furnished 30+ day living spaces.

✔️ Renovated + designed specifically for mid-term stays
✔️ Fully furnished + move-in ready
✔️ Flexible layouts that appeal to relocations, traveling professionals, insurance stays

Early projections on these ~$600k properties:

👉 ~$5k–$6k+ / month potential with the right setup

(Not passive. Not perfect. But a meaningful shift from traditional rents.)

The focus right now:

👉 Smarter use of the space
👉 Better tenant profile
👉 More flexibility in how the property performs

There’s still turnover, tenant issues, and plenty to solve.
But in this market, you either adapt your property… or accept lower performance.

👇 Check out the West Colfax / Sloan’s Lake setup:

Spacious and thoughtfully furnished 3-bedroom private suite designed for comfortable longer stays. The layout offers flexibility for sleeping, working, and relaxing, making it a great fit for traveling professionals, relocations, or extended visits. The suite includes a full kitchen equipped for eve...