“Joel, it seems like you might have been in every house in Boulder.”
Someone said that to me recently. It is something people have said to me often over the years.
For years, I began each morning looking up at the Flatirons from my balcony, a daily reminder of how fortunate we are to live in this great little college town. Over more than 50 years in Boulder real estate, I have watched growth and rising property values build wealth and confidence for generations of families.
This is where I answer the questions people ask me about buying, selling and owning a home in Boulder. Each answer starts short and plain, and every number comes with its source.
Joel Ripmaster
Joel remembers
“He wore a trench coat and a hat, just like you would see in the movies. Nobody would recognize that it was him.”
In the ’80s, Robert Redford’s son Jamie lived in one of my rental houses while he was at CU. Redford flew in about once a month to see him, and he rented the same corner room at the Boulderado every visit.
Questions answered
Updated October 2, 2026
Because Boulder decided, vote by vote, not to grow outward or upward.
The typical Boulder home was valued at about $948,700 at the end of August 2026, up 0.9 percent from a year earlier, according to Zillow.
If you need to be in Boulder, it is not a bad time to buy.
Boulder County multiplies your home's actual value by an assessment rate, then by the mill levy for your tax area.
Price it on the land and the location before the finishes, make only the repairs that would stop a sale, and keep every original plan, permit and photograph.
Yes, though only a small number are privately owned. Colorado Chautauqua opened on July 4, 1898, and 98 cottages were built there between 1899 and 1954.
Boulder limits how much a new house or addition can shade the lots next to it.
The first Boulder edition of the Sundance Film Festival runs January 21 to 31, 2027.
Yes, if the home is inside Boulder city limits and you get a Festival Lodging Rental License from the City.
Sundance's own lodging portal suggests about $250 a night for a one bedroom up to about $1,386 for a four bedroom, two and a half bath home.
Probably not much on its own. Sundance fills Boulder for eleven days a year.
He came to CU on a baseball scholarship in 1954. In the ’80s his son Jamie lived in a house Redford leased from Joel, and Redford stayed in the same corner room at the Boulderado on every visit.
The record
- Licensed
- Colorado license 128441, first issued January 28, 1975
- Founded
- Colorado Landmark, Realtors, 1977. Led it for 45 years until its 2022 acquisition
- Today
- Broker Associate, Madison & Co. Properties, Boulder
- Designations
- CRS, CRB, CCIM, REALTOR® Emeritus