How Luxury Mountain Real Estate Can Still Cash Flow as an Investment

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In this conversation, Lindsey Stapay shares her journey in the real estate industry, focusing on mountain resort properties and the challenges of rural real estate. She discusses the importance of building a strong team, creating tailored packages for clients, and the role of perseverance and community support in her success. Lindsey also highlights her ventures into commercial real estate and the integration of AI in her business processes, emphasizing the significance of long-term relationships with clients and the evolving nature of the real estate market.

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Lindsey Stapay (00:00)
Absolutely. I say I don’t sell real estate. I help people make smart decisions. I care deeply about our community. I care deeply about sustainability. I care deeply about long term outcomes. And I think those long term outcomes is difficult for a lot of real estate brokers because we are hungry. You know, we want to get that deal done. We want to see that money come in.

Quentin Edmonds (01:58)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds. I’m excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest who’s been in the business for over 19 years. Definitely don’t look like it. I’m not how she show, I’m sure she pulled that off. But I love she’s focusing on the mountain resort. Really making tries in commercial real estate land acquisition. And so I’m excited for her to tell you what she’s involved in.

And so I just want to introduce you all to Ms. Lindsey Stapay. Ms. Lindsey, how you doing today, ma’am?

Lindsey Stapay (02:34)
Awesome, awesome, that’s another beautiful day in the mountains.

Quentin Edmonds (02:38)
Come on, see, she showing off now, right? that? She’s in the balance, in tranquility.

Lindsey Stapay (02:44)
Well, we’re here to sell lifestyle, know, there’s value in lifestyle. And that’s what I’m here to do. I’m here to be in service.

Quentin Edmonds (02:53)
Woo, and here we go. So with that being said, let’s dive in. I want you to tell the people what your main focus is these days, your main focus in real estate. ⁓ Miss Lindsey, if you want to give us a ⁓ origin story of kind of how you got into real estate, we would definitely love to know that. And then definitely let them know what part of the world you’re in. So ⁓ I appreciate you, Miss Lindsey, you have the floor.

Lindsey Stapay (03:18)
Amazing. Well, I was actually telling my nine year old this story because she loves the stories and where I came from essentially was the front page of the real estate newspaper. I had come out of software development and was completely burned out and I knew I wanted to get into contract law and I wanted to do something different and just manifested essentially one day that front page of the newspaper.

There were these developers building the first LEED certified high rise. That’s leadership and energy and environmental design. And I drove down to their office, didn’t know anything about real estate, knocked on their door and said, I’m looking to get my real estate license. I see what you guys are doing and I want to be a part of it. And they said, well, we’re not really hiring, but we have a fundraiser that we’re doing. And so they gave me an opportunity to help them with a little fundraising event because that was actually my background as well.

And I hit it out of the park and I worked with this team for four years developing high rises in downtown Denver. And they gave me the opportunity to learn soup to nuts from land development all the way up to building and selling. And it was an amazing opportunity. However, we hit our ⁓ ceiling in 2008 with the recession and I had to pivot and I was very much

attuned to the mountain lifestyle and actually had gone up there and met a cute boy, my now husband, and thought, you know, I’ll just kind of maybe see how this thing goes up here in the mountains, in the rural area. And I found out that it was slow, like very slow because in rural development,

you know, you might do four or five deals. Whereas in Denver, I was doing four or five deals a week. And so I really had to pivot and.

this new world of rural development. And I worked with a lot of the investors that I had through banks and selling land and consulting on assemblages and actually worked with the local towns and governments and how to do deed restricted properties. This was the first time people are looking at what it meant to build affordable housing, for example. And so I took a lot of these experiences. I interviewed with all these other real estate brokers and that

in the community and I decided, you know, I just want to have my own brokerage. I want to do it my way. And my way was with Westward Broker now going into my 20th year in real estate and really focusing on that mountain resort luxury residential, but also knowing that these are secondary homes, the majority of them, and they need to work in the way that investment properties do.

And so a lot of times when I’m working with people, they’re looking for two different things. One, a property they can vacation in and they can enjoy. And another one that they can at least break even or at least offset their cost of ownership. And so we really had to create these packages around that for these buyers. ⁓ And then also an exit strategy once these buyers then turned into sellers because

Sometimes there’s other owners a part of it. They got their cousin to also buy in or another family member to buy in. So we actually had to work on a lot of exit strategies and that spun out ⁓ also into commercial real estate. So the commercial real estate in the last two years has been really, really great for me. I can’t recommend it for everybody.

You have to have some pretty thick skin to get into commercial real estate But I’ve been hired by the village at Copper Mountain and we just put four new restaurants ⁓ into that resort and it was because of my relationships with a lot of the small business owners and knowing that they needed to expand and Because of that I was also hired by altitude realtors our board of realtors

So that was very validating in 2025 to be hired by my peer group to actually sell their office building and that was interesting because that was a 501 C6 a nonprofit that was selling never had

I’ve worked with nonprofits, but not in that capacity of selling their property. And so that’s why I’m always learning. There’s always something new in this business. It never gets tiring. Uh, and that’s why I tease. It’s like those that show up either rule the world or beat it down. So I’m somewhere in between a ruling the world or beating it off. Uh, but I’m very excited that I’m now going into 2026 and really wanting to expand my brokerage.

and bring more energy in with other brokers and share my knowledge and my expertise with that. So sorry, that might have been a little long, but ⁓ I feel very fortunate.

Quentin Edmonds (09:19)
Yeah, not long at all. That was spot on. I love when people give me the full extended explanation. Like I love it. I love stories and everything you say. just it makes me kind of understand you a little bit better. Really appreciate what you have accomplished. And I have a saying where I say destiny has no wasted moments. Right. So things that happen in life, reiterations of your identity, things

that you develop with skills. They really have no wasted moment because they take you from one stop to the next and the next. And when I listen to you, I just see you as the very definition of that building your relationships, going down to a place that ain’t even hiring and saying like, Hey, what’s up? Absolutely phenomenal.

And so you said, I can’t even repeat what you say. You say you either you show up, you would be beat, beat, beat, beat, beat, beat, beat,

Lindsey Stapay (10:50)
that show up rule the world or have to beat it down.

Quentin Edmonds (10:54)
There you go, they rule the world have to beat it down. So miss Lindsey, I am interested to know Like I said destiny has no wasted moment. So when you look back at your life What can you identify? What traits can you identify that you know? Helped you along this journey helped you when you were 13 17 20 and helped you kind of where you are now like to be the woman you are today today to be the 42 person that you are

What things can you identify in your life that has helped you be the person you are?

Lindsey Stapay (11:27)
You know, I just go to that word perseverance. think, you know, I didn’t start from an easy life and I knew that I needed to take charge of my life at an early time in my life. And so even though that was a challenge, I feel like that’s now my superpower in the sense that I have persevered. with that perseverance, though, I know the burnout and I’ve seen the burnout.

And that is where I also have been able to protect myself and my family to make sure that I have that sane and balanced lifestyle. And that’s where maneuvering through real estate and maneuvering through these different industries, if it’s from development to finance to consulting and being as well rounded, ideal.

I have to be very careful though that I also don’t spend time doing things that are not going to be profitable, that are not going to yield what my real goals are. And so that’s where the work ethic comes in, know, perseverance and work ethic. That work ethic has also come by watching what other real estate brokers are doing, what other

business, broke business, you know, leaders are doing as well. I’m very much of an observer. love, you know, watching how other people have succeeded and learning from them. And that’s where I hope to be as well someday, where somebody can learn from me and say, Hey, you know, she didn’t have it easy. She didn’t come from something that somebody just handed her a real estate career. She had to pivot multiple times.

And again, will say protecting my health and my wellness and my being has always been the most important thing because I think that very quickly, you know, real estate brokers, we’re, we’re givers, know, give, we serve, you know, I, that’s how I serve is through real estate and you have to be careful not to over serve and harm yourself in that practice.

And so just going back to the basics a lot of times and that work ethic, you know, waking up in the morning, ⁓ going and working out, you know, writing down my goals, evolving and, keeping it simple. It’s, it’s nothing new that we’re all doing, but sometimes that consistency, you know, is hard to do because you’re like, ⁓ new shiny object. Let’s go here.

And so you have to kind of step back, look at the big picture, calm yourself, and go back to what your goals are and make sure you’re doing the right thing.

Quentin Edmonds (14:28)
I mean, you said so many things that align and really connect with me because you cannot, you can’t pour, can’t draw from an empty well, right? So I love how you said doing the things that, when you talk about burnout, mean, protecting yourself from that. And you said protecting your family from that. I mean, all of that is so important. And I’m glad to know that you’re doing that. And thank you so much for answering that question the way you did because

There is a lot of business owners that are experiencing that bearing out and they don’t know the balance of really pouring everything out and never getting replenished and protecting that energy

so that they can continue to pull out. But like you said, like I said, you can’t pull from an empty well. so thank you so much. I really appreciate your answer. Thank you for the gift of your vulnerability is what I say a lot and just being transparent with that answer. ⁓ Let me ask you, Ms. Lindsey, what is the next real goal?

What are you looking to solve or scale next?

Lindsey Stapay (16:09)
Well, because of all these amazing experiences, I have been able to package. when I say package and, you know, we’re getting into this whole thing of AI right now where we can use it as a tool. And so that’s, what’s been really fun is taking the experiences from the buyer’s model, taking the experience from the seller’s model, taking it from the investor model and testing it within AI and creating these packages.

And not that every buyer and seller and investor is, going to have the same package, you know, especially in these resort areas, every single buyer and seller is a unique, unique person and they have unique goals, but it helps us create, you know, a real stable platform. And that’s what’s felt really good is sort of that rhythm where it’s like, as soon as I get that buyer that comes in, I’m like, okay, I’ve got this package.

And when I say package again, I’m talking about that, steps, that information, how that email is getting put out there, how we’re getting documents done. And it has taken a lot of weight off my business as well, trying to always recreate the wheel. And at the same time, these buyers and sellers and investors have, I think felt a lot bigger and better service because of that. And so those packages have been really, really helpful.

And along with that, because I’ve been able to, and obviously it’s always evolving, you know, we’re always improving. We’re always changing those packages. So when I say package, mean loosely idea or concept, and then inviting other brokers to be a part of my team and seeing how those packages are pulled together. And what it’s doing is, for example, we just brought on this new broker.

Quentin Edmonds (17:49)
Yeah.

Lindsey Stapay (18:05)
within seven days of him joining my brokerage, he had 15 land sellers and he signed up 11 of them, 11 listings, 11 listings in seven days. And I was so excited for him. I mean, and he was able to just plug it in and go. Whereas before he was with another brokerage and he was just trying to weed through all of the stuff. Cause that’s what happens. I think in a lot of the

brokerages, which is great to have all of these resources and tools, but sometimes it’s just too much. Sometimes you just really don’t need all of that. And so that’s what’s been really fun is to translate those services and then be able to prop them up for other brokers to say, I can take this and run. I can be successful. so we’re goodness 60 days.

of him joining and he has 22 listings. So I’m really, really proud of that.

It was funny. All ships rise. All ships rise. You know, I love watching other people grow and you know, people are like, my gosh, you know, don’t you want a piece of that? And I’m like, I’ll get a piece of that. Don’t you worry. But right now we got to get you growing. We got to get you moving and it’ll all work out.

Quentin Edmonds (19:30)
⁓ I love it. You know, I tell everybody at the root of any sustainable business, I think they’re going to find servitude. You’re going to find when you serve others. And I love it. Like you said, everybody’s going to rise. And I get that sense. But everybody that comes around you, everybody rises. And I think that’s the through line that I hear. Everything you touch, it turns better because you like to serve people. You know the value of bringing value before you ask for value. Right. And so

I appreciate that from you. I appreciate, you just you talking and just listening to you, you know, share is really, really refreshing. Now, so I’m going to ask you this, you know, I’ve always liked to end kind of on this question here. I want to talk about relationships because it seems to me you value relationship. It seems to me you value people that you just don’t see people as transaction, but that you see people as the asset. People are the real value. And so I want you to tell me.

Are relationships important to you? What is your strategy on building relationships? Like what is your view on relationships in the real estate business?

Lindsey Stapay (20:38)
Absolutely. I say I don’t sell real estate. I help people make smart decisions. I care deeply about our community. I care deeply about sustainability. I care deeply about long term outcomes. And I think those long term outcomes is difficult for a lot of real estate brokers because we are hungry. You know, we want to get that deal done. We want to see that money come in.

However, being in business now going on my 20th year now, I ethically ⁓ feel that I need to make sure that my people have a long term plan. And I learned that honestly, where I learned this is in 2008, downtown Denver, the recession was deep. People had lost houses and cars and jobs and it was real devastating. And we had put

I’d worked with the Catholic Church on working on a deed restricted property and What had happened essentially is 2008 shut the door these people needed to sell their property and they couldn’t and I was only one year into real estate and I realized then that from now going on I will always make sure that I understand what the out turn the long term goal of somebody’s real estate is and even if

You know, they come back and they’re like, when I don’t even care about the long-term, just sell me something quick. I still dig deeper. just care way too much to see people fail. And I have seen people fail in real estate. And, uh, that’s where the relationships and, you know, a big part of my marketing honestly is, is just going and connecting with people and taking them out to coffee and.

you know, seeing how they’re doing. you know, I just emailed a bunch of those businesses that we put into Copper Mountain, you know, that the snow this year is a little thin. We don’t have as much of a activity going on at the resort. And so I just send them a little love note, like, Hey, I just want to make sure that candy store is doing okay over there. And they’re like, thank you. Thank you for just checking in on us. You know, it’s like, I didn’t have to do that. I want to. And they see that. And then they tell their friends about that or they remember you and that

goes so much further than any other social media post or marketing pitch you can ever do. People want to work with people that they know and they like. And it’s just as simple as that.

Quentin Edmonds (23:09)
⁓ yes, yes.

You already know I’m I could easily do another 30 minutes with you easily. ⁓ but unfortunately, I do have another podcast that I have scheduled after you. But I just I just want to thank you. I thank you just for when you talk about, know, being ethical, you know, I just hear honesty from you. I hear transparency. I hear authenticity. ⁓ And I just thank you. I thank you for bringing all that.

to this podcast and you just being you and bringing you here because I know our viewers are really going to get a really, really good nugget from the things that you said today. And so Miss Lindsey, if somebody, absolutely, if someone wanted to connect with you, collaborate with you, learn about what you’re doing, maybe come to the mountains, like how can they get in contact with you?

Lindsey Stapay (24:11)
Yeah, come hang out with me. my gosh, we’re opening businesses. got a nightclub open in tonight. We had the party. Let me just tell you, my company Westward Broker. like Westward, my son. So W E S T W A R D broker, you can find us on all the channels. And then me myself and I I’m Mountain Living Lindsey. ⁓ Other real estate brokers kind of tease me about it. I love it. That means they remember.

Quentin Edmonds (24:17)
boy!

Lindsey Stapay (24:40)
Mountain Living,

Quentin Edmonds (24:42)
Absolutely. Well, listen, I want to say again, one, thank you for your time because time is absolutely valuable. Right. Thank you for your story. Again, thank you just for being transparent, being honest, being ethical and walking us through your journey. ⁓ I really appreciate that. But I’m not going say more importantly, but I really want to thank you for your mindset, for your perspective, for the way you think and bringing that perspective to the podcast.

I really appreciate you coming through. Thank you so much for being here today.

Lindsey Stapay (25:16)
Thank you, Q. This is fun. Do it again.

Quentin Edmonds (25:17)
Absolutely.

Listen, you ain’t said nothing but a word. listen, everyone, you can’t tell me you didn’t get value from the conversation. You can’t tell me you didn’t get value from Ms. Lindsey. So definitely check her out. But definitely make sure you are subscribed here, because I guarantee you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Ms. Lindsey. So thank you again. And to everyone else, we’ll see you on the next time.

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Investor Fuel

How Luxury Mountain Real Estate Can Still Cash Flow as an Investment

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