Note: This transcript was exported from the video version of this episode, and it has not been copyedited

00:00:00:01 - 00:00:24:20
Michael Lovato
For us. I would sort of start with we, you know, our tribe of people generally are going to be people that are active. And that doesn't mean elite athletes. It doesn't mean world class. It just means you appreciate a dog walk or hike or run, a swim, sometimes gravel bike. So generally speaking, there are quite a few of our clients and the referrals we get and the connections we make that are in that same tribe.

00:00:24:20 - 00:00:43:16
Michael Lovato
And it's it's a big competitive industry here in Boulder to be in real estate. And we recognize that we can't work with everyone and we don't want to work with everyone. And I think that for us, we we generally do really well with people that we click with and, likes to share it with people too short to work with people you don't.

00:00:43:16 - 00:01:04:12
Michael Lovato
So, so there's definitely that with our business. We work with a lot of active people. We also because the content we create, the podcast is called love where you Live and, you know, the interviewees, the conversations we have there with people that are often Olympians, but also, just runners that own businesses or any of that. So I think that for sure.

00:01:04:12 - 00:01:13:24
Michael Lovato
Yeah, we, we do draw in those people that love to be outdoors and enjoy the activity, that our, our county and our city offer.

00:01:13:24 - 00:01:43:05
John Simmerman
Hey everyone, welcome to the Active Towns Channel. My name is John Simmerman and that is Michael Lovato from Boulder, Colorado. Former professional triathlete and also multiple time winner of the Ironman distance triathlons and various locations around the world. And we're going to be talking about living in Boulder and why it is the quintessential active town. But before we do that, I just want to say, if you're enjoying this content here in the Active Towns Channel, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an Active Towns Ambassador.

00:01:43:06 - 00:02:03:14
John Simmerman
Super easy to do. Just click down below on the join button, as well as head on over to Active Towns Dawg and click on the support tab at the top of the page. There's several different options, including becoming a Patreon supporter. Okay, let's get right to it with Michael Lovato.

00:02:03:17 - 00:02:07:15
John Simmerman
Michael Lovato, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast.

00:02:07:17 - 00:02:09:06
Michael Lovato
Oh, thanks for having me.

00:02:09:08 - 00:02:12:29
John Simmerman
Welcome, welcome. It's it's been a while of making this happen.

00:02:13:01 - 00:02:14:09
Michael Lovato
So yeah, super.

00:02:14:09 - 00:02:15:06
John Simmerman
Super stoked you for.

00:02:15:06 - 00:02:15:26
Michael Lovato
Your patience.

00:02:15:26 - 00:02:17:25
John Simmerman
Oh no. No worries.

00:02:17:28 - 00:02:24:17
Michael Lovato
Officially and in front of everyone. Thank you for bearing with my flakiness. That's what it ended up being. So I do appreciate that.

00:02:24:19 - 00:02:41:06
John Simmerman
Well you I am, I am super, super chill about all these kinds of things. This is really just meant to be a nice, relaxing conversation. So we're going to just dive in and do a little bit about that. But what I love having my guest do is just say a few words about who the heck Michael Lovato actually is.

00:02:41:09 - 00:03:02:11
Michael Lovato
Please share. Yes. Oh, that's a good way to start. I mean, you know, who am I? I guess, you know, I'm a guy that that, shoot, I've been living in Boulder, started this way. I've been living in Boulder since 2001. So going on 24 years. I moved here by way of Austin, Texas. I was there for almost a decade, and I grew up in, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

00:03:02:13 - 00:03:24:12
Michael Lovato
That's my hometown, I guess you would say. And, I'm an active guy. Good to be on an active town's podcast. And, currently, father, husband and, try to be an athlete. And I'm a real estate agent by profession. So that's me in, in a quick nutshell, which not everything's quick with me, John. Sometimes I have long answers either.

00:03:24:17 - 00:03:47:04
John Simmerman
That's fantastic. That's fantastic. And we we obviously have a whole bunch of crossover. I, of course, used to live in Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is the quintessential active town. I like to say that. And, and in fact, my nonprofit that I founded, advocates for Healthy Communities, is, is really based in Boulder. Most of my board of directors are there in Boulder.

00:03:47:04 - 00:03:56:23
John Simmerman
So I try to spend as much time there. And yet and I also now live in Austin, Texas. You were here for undergrad, I think. Yes.

00:03:56:25 - 00:03:59:12
Michael Lovato
I did, I did, yes, yes that's correct. Yeah.

00:03:59:13 - 00:04:09:21
John Simmerman
Fintech scientist back in the 90s. In fact, I think you probably left here right about the time I was moving to Boulder, which was in 1996.

00:04:09:24 - 00:04:21:08
Michael Lovato
Yeah, you know, I do. I finished up my school 96, came up to Boulder as well in that same summer. I was here and but then I went back for a couple more years to be in in Boulder or sorry, in Austin before I came here.

00:04:21:11 - 00:04:47:29
John Simmerman
Oh, okay. Fantastic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fantastic. And then, we also spent some time overlapping in Kona because after my ten years in, in Boulder, I moved to, to Hawaii. And so I was living on the Big Island and living in Kona for ten years. And so I was, very much a part of the, the World Championships there and that race and then putting on other types of events.

00:04:48:01 - 00:05:13:00
John Simmerman
They're based in Kona. So I spent a lot of time, seeing, you and Amanda, you know, and other folks from Boulder tripping into town, to compete in the event there. And, we'll talk a little bit about, your triathlon history and all that kind of stuff, but I want to just kind of share one memory that is sort of a lasting memory of of the two of you, you and Amanda.

00:05:13:03 - 00:05:17:29
John Simmerman
And that's. And this is classic photo right here of the two of you. Yeah.

00:05:18:01 - 00:05:20:29
Michael Lovato
Yes. That's, that's funny.

00:05:21:05 - 00:05:28:13
John Simmerman
And this is, this is like, I think circa 2012, perhaps this particular,

00:05:28:15 - 00:05:31:02
Michael Lovato
I would guess that's exactly right. Yeah. 2012.

00:05:31:06 - 00:05:40:29
John Simmerman
Yeah. Which is I recall, this was probably your final year as a pro racing was in 2012. Was that, about right?

00:05:41:02 - 00:06:01:21
Michael Lovato
That was Amanda's final year of as a pro, I it should have been my final year. I raced in 13. Or arguably we both should have skipped that year, but, Yeah, that photo is on Eagle Trail here in Boulder. About 1.4 miles from where I'm sitting right now. And, we did that photo. That was a photo shoot.

00:06:01:22 - 00:06:14:29
Michael Lovato
We don't usually wear out our race kits. Amanda looks incredible in hers, but, we. Yeah, we were doing a little photo shoot for the brands and the sponsors at that time, and so there we were. Yeah.

00:06:15:01 - 00:06:33:06
John Simmerman
And one of the reasons, one of the reasons why this this is such a brings a smile to my face is that, I think it was in 2012. I was racing, the Boulder backroads Marathon, right there in that same neck of the woods. You know, it starts at the races and goes down on, on the, the roads there.

00:06:33:08 - 00:06:58:00
John Simmerman
And I started off my first mile with, with Amanda and Darren to Rook, and we're just, like, chatting away, having fun and everything. And I'm, like, looking at my time and looking at our time as we're, like, running and chatting. And I'm like, if I try to keep up with you too, I'm going to bury myself. So this is like the first mile of, of of the marathon.

00:06:58:00 - 00:07:17:28
John Simmerman
So anyways, I excused myself and said, okay guys, I'll see you later. And I know that it was 2012 because I had been spending a lot of time in Boulder. I was actually training, doing a whole bunch of events, throughout that summer, including I raced, Coeur d'Alene that year. And then I also raced, Kona that year.

00:07:18:00 - 00:07:48:00
John Simmerman
And so, it was like, okay, I'm, I can kind of put this into that time frame is about 2012 is good stuff. So yeah, it brings bring brings back good memories. Do you look back on that your professional career with a great deal of of sense of accomplishment. I mean, when I look back at your stats and everything, I count almost ten, maybe, maybe ten or more, top three finishes at the Ironman distance level.

00:07:48:00 - 00:07:51:29
John Simmerman
And then who knows how many at the 70.3 level.

00:07:52:02 - 00:08:10:03
Michael Lovato
Well, that's that's something I should go back and count as well. I have all the races, chronology kernel in chronological order in my brain remembering back and a lot of fond memories, but, you know, I, I wouldn't have thought of it that way. Do I do look back with a great sense of accomplishment? It was, it was a good career.

00:08:10:09 - 00:08:33:14
Michael Lovato
It was a hard way to earn some dollars, but it was formative in so many ways. So, you know, when you can look back at, I'm almost 52 and I can look back and say, I started the sport in in 1992. The number of things that it gave me, in addition to sort of those little moments of glory and satisfaction, you know, I met Amanda at a triathlon.

00:08:33:14 - 00:08:55:02
Michael Lovato
I moved to Boulder because of triathlon. I mean, this is just a shortcut to where we are. But I forged a lot of relationships that are currently central in my life and my business life through triathlon, work ethic, discipline. Everything that came from that time is not just a professional Ironman athlete or triathlete, but just as an amateur.

00:08:55:02 - 00:09:02:22
Michael Lovato
And and it is so absolutely. I look back with fond memories and gratitude for, for those years.

00:09:02:25 - 00:09:29:11
John Simmerman
Yeah. And and you mentioned a little bit about, you know, triathlon being central to, you know, that gravitation that pull that boulder tends to have of bringing people in. And that was, to be quite frank, you know, that's what brought me to Boulder as well. I at the time, in 1995, I was living in, Chicago and discovered the sport of triathlon and sort of went in it with, with both feet and, and really dove deep into it.

00:09:29:11 - 00:10:07:16
John Simmerman
And I was like, okay, Chicago's cool. I'm enjoying this. But I really want to be someplace a little hipper, a little cooler when it comes to training in this new sport that I just kind of discovered as an age grouper. And I'm like, yeah, Boulder, it was either San Diego or Boulder. And I think the are you and Amanda, you and Amanda went through that same sort of, you know, process of, you know, is it going to be sort of the San Diego, the North County beaches like Encinitas and Carlsbad in those areas, or is it going to be Boulder and and of course, a long story short, you decided on Boulder and it went

00:10:07:16 - 00:10:08:24
John Simmerman
from there.

00:10:08:27 - 00:10:20:09
Michael Lovato
We did. And you know. Yeah. Just have funny enough to look at the crossover. I was in 1995, I raced the Chicago Triathlon and the age group National championships. I was there at that big huge event got absolutely throttled.

00:10:20:11 - 00:10:36:02
John Simmerman
Yeah. But I had I had three flats. And during that race, by the way. Yeah, I'm assuming you're talking about Mrs. T's the what the, the the Olympic distance. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. That brings back memories. And this is this.

00:10:36:05 - 00:10:59:07
Michael Lovato
Yeah. I have some funny memories of that exact race where you think, wow, the technology. When you talk about where we've come to and where we started and, and this was a decade into the sport, but, to, you know, but no, it's so we. Yeah. And John, you're spot on. We we, we in 96, I came here because I was just finishing my college degree, and I was like, oh my gosh, I want to go to Boulder.

00:10:59:08 - 00:11:21:18
Michael Lovato
My good friend I grew up with went to school here and I went to Texas. So we wanted to sync up and spend a summer together. Another friend that went to University, New Mexico. We all converged here, and I had this incredible introduction to Boulder where I thought, this is absolutely heaven. All of those, sport greats were at Scott Carpenter pool, swimming masters in the morning.

00:11:21:18 - 00:11:40:24
Michael Lovato
And I was I was rubbing elbows with my heroes and and sort of that basically got me hooked. It took me five years to get back here due to other things going on, but Amanda and I, we did. We were looking at where do we move? I was in Austin, she was in Baltimore. We were looking at being together.

00:11:40:24 - 00:11:57:07
Michael Lovato
And we had this long distance relationship for, for two years. And we thought, at some point we're either going to have to split up or we're going to have to get somewhere together. And she didn't feel like Baltimore was for me. And I realized probably Austin wasn't for her. So she said, let's go to San Diego.

00:11:57:07 - 00:12:15:27
Michael Lovato
I love it there. And, spend a couple weeks. And I said, great, and let's go to Boulder. I love it there and spend a couple of weeks and we chose we. I don't think we could have gone wrong. Right. I think that North County, San Diego area is still a special spot in our heart for visits. And then.

00:12:15:27 - 00:12:31:21
Michael Lovato
Yeah, but we came here because we thought this is a smaller community. It's a little bit more of a small town vibe versus that busyness of of that area in Encinitas, San Diego. And we came here to the end of 2001 and never look back.

00:12:31:28 - 00:13:03:18
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And it's funny too, because, your, anniversary date is, is New Year's Eve. And so you're, you're the classic story that I also remember from, 2013, in triathlete magazine, which again, features that that photo that we, we saw earlier, here is, is is about this and it talks about that love story and what I love about your love story that you and Amanda have is, yes, triathlon was a big part of that.

00:13:03:25 - 00:13:47:28
John Simmerman
Boulder ended up being a big part of it. And, you're also a content creator. You are. You host a podcast and you have a YouTube channel. And what I love about your story and how it intermingled and all of that with triathlon and also the city of Boulder. You guys summarized in a beautiful episode, for the very first episode of your podcast, and you talked about that history and you talked about those early days of struggling as you know, young pro triathletes, trying to make ends meet in a city that's very, very expensive for the artist types and the athlete types that's into that tend to gravitate towards the the

00:13:47:28 - 00:14:00:12
John Simmerman
city talk a little bit about those early days and, and and, and I'll make sure we include a link to that first episode that you and Amanda, recorded because I think it's a beautiful, beautiful story.

00:14:00:15 - 00:14:34:15
Michael Lovato
Oh. Thank you, thank you. It's well, I appreciate that. And we we did. We shared our story. We did a quicker version of it. And I mean, the early days for, see, it was, mind you, in the, in the fall of 2021, the 9/11 attacks that just happened and our country was in a spot of bother as, as we get into every now and then and, and we had but we had, you know, we were on our scouting trip, actually, we were here in, staying at my uncle's in Aurora, for some of that time and spending these three weeks in Boulder in September of 2020 or, sorry, 2001.

00:14:34:18 - 00:15:04:28
Michael Lovato
And it was really it was hard because I grew up at altitude and Amanda did not. And so she understood very little about how that affects you. And I understood that it was the norm. And so we came and we had a very beautiful introduction. But because I would say that it was also rocky in that first three weeks, and we were sleeping on the floor of, of a friend's house that, you know, on a mattress and because of that, I think it really, actually is sort of foreshadowing for the ups and downs that we faced.

00:15:05:00 - 00:15:30:09
Michael Lovato
You know, it was like all this beauty, all this opportunity, all this richness of of triathlon and outdoor and activity and just everything we wanted to start our life together. But also, as you said, how a place that we were like, how can you afford to live here? How could you rent, how could you buy? And so that shock and then and then an economy where there were no jobs, you know, we were trying to make it.

00:15:30:09 - 00:15:50:06
Michael Lovato
I was I think of this very fondly because as you look back and I think a lot of people can look back on hard times and say, oh, wasn't that tough. I know that we that we were building bricks in the foundation of our relationship that is weathered a lot in 26 years. And so we did we struggled.

00:15:50:06 - 00:16:13:00
Michael Lovato
I was, I was initially it was also fun, but I struggled, to make to make a commitment to a job. So I was trying to be a pro triathlete making very little money. I mean, hundreds of dollars that year, in 2002. But I was tutoring Spanish at the University of Colorado, and that was really fun. And I was working at a feed running store with an amazing group of people, and that was kind of it.

00:16:13:01 - 00:16:28:20
Michael Lovato
We I had those two jobs, and then Amanda, they had just opened title nine. Well, first time they had a store front. It's an online retailer, but at the time they were brand new. She worked for them and we were just we were just out there, you know, trying to work and make a couple bucks and exercising a bunch.

00:16:28:20 - 00:16:53:01
Michael Lovato
And we had two dogs and, you know, so it's funny because it comes back and you see these circle cyclical moments where we run into these people. But we rented the most incredible piece of property for $1,100 a month. It was an acre of land in the center of Boulder on Bluff Street, and it was a 1000 square foot farmhouse.

00:16:53:01 - 00:17:12:00
Michael Lovato
It was built early 1900s. It had nothing. It had no it had a little bit. He had really very pretty shoddy. But it was on this magical little undeveloped acre in, in Boulder which little did we know. Well, that's going to go for millions and they're going to build a bunch of houses. But that first introduction was so special because we were downtown.

00:17:12:02 - 00:17:23:01
Michael Lovato
We were center of everything. We were riding and running from the house. We were walking our dogs all the time, and we were just in this really, again, magical introduction to this very unique community.

00:17:23:03 - 00:17:41:25
John Simmerman
Yeah. So yeah. And since you, you, you and Amanda are real estate people, it was it was neat to see in that, story arc of the places, you know, telling your story about your time in Boulder is that the locations that you lived where the where it was like the key thread that went through there. And that was kind of cool.

00:17:41:25 - 00:18:04:12
John Simmerman
And, I, of course, you know, recognize all the places that you were, you know, talking about and reminiscing over. And you just mentioned Bluff Street there. And of course, that's where I saw you just a few months ago. Last last summer, you guys had, a couple of properties left listed right on Bluff Street, which, I was staying with my my dear friends who live up on Panorama just above that, property.

00:18:04:12 - 00:18:38:21
John Simmerman
So it was really kind of cool. You you have started a family? Of course. More than started. It's full blown at this point. We've got the dog, we've got the pony, and we've got, the two kids. Yeah. I mean, it's the part of this story is, of course, the love story, but it is, you know, making through getting through those hard times, finding a way to actually make it in a very, very difficult market to, quote unquote, make it in and, and be able to thrive.

00:18:38:24 - 00:19:00:15
John Simmerman
And, yeah, this photo also brings a huge smile to my face because I grew up on a ranch in Northern California and I had horses. I grew up with sheep and cattle and all that. So, that the rural side of the life and the experience that you guys have, you know, is, is also quite, familiar and attractive for me as well.

00:19:00:17 - 00:19:08:11
John Simmerman
And I know the pony doesn't stay at your your house. House? It has a home where it is, is housed. Is that correct?

00:19:08:14 - 00:19:28:03
Michael Lovato
At this point, yeah. She does, she does, board for now. We do have we did buy a property that has three and a half acres of, space and a backyard, a front yard, and then a pasture that we've put a lot of time and money into to get it ready. Now, as soon as we have the the structure, a shelter, she'll she'll be able to move in there.

00:19:28:03 - 00:19:37:29
Michael Lovato
And apparently she needs a friend. You would know this, these all these horse people tell you they can't live alone. And I think that's just really a good ploy to get more horses. But, yeah, they're there.

00:19:38:01 - 00:19:42:28
John Simmerman
So we always had at least two. We always had at least two horses. Yes. Absolutely.

00:19:42:28 - 00:20:03:18
Michael Lovato
Good to go verify. Yeah. So but yeah that I mean that picture is awesome. I mean we definitely realized after we moved here for one reason. We moved here to be together. And that was like, okay, number one. Number two was very close behind. That was it was a suitable place to do triathlon. But I think when we first moved here, we thought we might not be here that long.

00:20:03:21 - 00:20:21:00
Michael Lovato
And then we realized as we were here long enough that this is an exceptional place to raise children. And then when we got to that point in our journey, it was evident that we'd made a great choice. And we do have our little boy, Zane, and our our beautiful daughter, Valentine. That picture of the horse was Marilyn Monroe.

00:20:21:03 - 00:20:37:01
Michael Lovato
And then Rocco is our little Jack Russell. And we do have an addition. Cricket. She's a whippet. And then we have Bella, our cat. And then if I talk about the rest of the animals, I have to mention that we have seven chickens that are full grown hens, and we just got four baby chicks to add to the flock.

00:20:37:01 - 00:20:37:10
Michael Lovato
So.

00:20:37:10 - 00:20:59:06
John Simmerman
Fantastic. Yeah, you'll appreciate this since you have your, your, your time here in Austin as well. Is that. Yeah. During the pandemic, we had a flock of, of hens here as well. So we had, we had our six backyard chickens, here. And we just live in the downtown, area, Zilker Park neighborhood.

00:20:59:06 - 00:21:13:10
John Simmerman
So we're walking distance to Barton Springs Pool and the Zilker Park, and all that. And so, yeah, we had our delightful little flock of, of chickens that, you know, they all died of natural causes eventually, which tends to happen, you know, that. But that does.

00:21:13:10 - 00:21:13:18
Michael Lovato
Happen.

00:21:13:18 - 00:21:14:07
John Simmerman
It's good stuff.

00:21:14:07 - 00:21:15:03
Michael Lovato
Oh, nice.

00:21:15:05 - 00:21:49:25
John Simmerman
So there are we alluded to it earlier about, you know, that draw that brings people in. And you guys even mentioned, if not in that particular episode, then you mentioned it in another episode of Nightwatch curse. And and Chief Nye, what, famously or infamously had had talked about how, you know, that the thing that makes Boulder so special and attracts people in is kind of the thing that ends up stressing and challenging, the area.

00:21:49:25 - 00:21:58:06
John Simmerman
Why don't you explain it a little bit more eloquently? You know, Chief Nye was, curse in what he had said or supposedly said. Yeah.

00:21:58:09 - 00:22:17:22
Michael Lovato
Yeah. That's good. I mean, good intro, John and I think I think we oh is heard. The curse initially was that if you came here, chief Niwa Niwot means left hand. So, that's obviously around this whole area. Left hand canyon, left hand brewery, left hand water or left hand is just, on and throughout the community. But chief now.

00:22:17:26 - 00:22:41:02
Michael Lovato
So our original version that we heard was just that. Hey, once you come to the Boulder Valley and see this beautiful place, you'll never be happy anywhere else. And you'll always go away if you want to. But you come back and you'll be drawn back. And so our sort of blanket version of that was, oh, how many people we've seen this to be true, where you, you, you try and leave, you can't use you always think about those on your heart.

00:22:41:04 - 00:23:00:03
Michael Lovato
And so the other side of that, if you really kind of dig into what he said was also that that love for this valley would be its ultimate undoing and that we would exhaust the resources, probably assuming way back in his day and you'd burn, you know, burn it out and kind of use it up and it would it wouldn't be as nice.

00:23:00:05 - 00:23:20:28
Michael Lovato
And I think, you know, we've, we've luckily got I think the people in this community that have got behind some lawmaking and some policy to, to preserve it fairly well and to do I think if I'm, you know, putting my opinion a pretty good job of, of putting a barrier around Boulder so that it isn't consumed by the Denver suburbs, it comes darn close.

00:23:20:28 - 00:23:41:02
Michael Lovato
But we do have, you know, we do have that. And so from my standpoint, the curse really, I like to look at the nice part, which is it's such a special place where we live that when you go other places, even if you are happy and if you do love it where you are, you're always going to still have that fondness and that memory of of the special place that was your home in Boulder.

00:23:41:05 - 00:24:09:02
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And and of course, you're referring to the, the boundary line, that, the city leaders, you know, sort of drew around Boulder, back in, I believe it was the 1950s and really sort of imagined. We need to preserve this open space around. And it's one of the things that has, really helped preserve a big part of what makes Boulder so incredibly special.

00:24:09:05 - 00:24:37:25
John Simmerman
But at the same time, it's also someone, one of the constraining factors of, you know, the city itself. And one of the reasons why it is so expensive to live there, because it does drive prices up in the sense that, compared to some of the other communities nearby, that we just kind of had the unlimited ability to expand and, and continually to have that horizontal expansion, and annexed more and more land in, it's there's that pressure and tension there.

00:24:37:25 - 00:24:59:17
John Simmerman
And we can talk a little bit more about that in terms of, you know, the challenges that go along with that. But, you know, we're looking at a population of only 100,000 people. You know, I think, yeah, the current count is just around 106,000 total people. I can't remember the exact number of square miles. Can you recall what that is?

00:24:59:19 - 00:25:02:03
Michael Lovato
It's like something like 25, I.

00:25:02:03 - 00:25:30:24
John Simmerman
Don't know, it's going to take like 20, 26 or 25mi². So, I mean, it's it's not a very big place. I mean, that's what yeah, that's the wonderful thing about the place too, is especially and I've got several friends that have grown up, as children right there in, in Boulder. And they, they remember of what it was like as a kid to be able to roam and be able to get on their bike and be able to get to anywhere you need to get to, plus the bus system, there is really, really quite good and quite convenient.

00:25:30:26 - 00:25:48:09
John Simmerman
And so, you know, one of the folks that I've interviewed, you know, she remembers just getting on the bus and they're able to go, you know, wherever she needed to go. So it's it's a really special place in that. And one of the things from an active towns perspective that I talk about is it has a very unique.

00:25:48:09 - 00:26:24:20
John Simmerman
And I mentioned it earlier. It's the quintessential active town. There is a culture of activity that really permeates throughout the entire area, and you have a lot of like minded people that are choosing to move there because it supports an active lifestyle. I'm sure you and Amanda brush up against that all the time. You know, in the business with, llevado properties of people wanting to come to Boulder because of that lifestyle, because of the access, the access to nature, because of the access to the trails, because of the culture of activity.

00:26:24:23 - 00:26:39:19
John Simmerman
Talk a little bit about that, because I know that that's part of the special sauce that makes it special. But it's also part of the special sauce that makes your business. And, you know, in representing both buyers and sellers, you know, that's part of it too.

00:26:39:22 - 00:27:00:27
Michael Lovato
Yes. A yeah, great question. I mean, great point there. It's for us, I would sort of start with we, you know, our tribe of people generally are going to be people that are active. And that doesn't mean elite athletes, it doesn't mean world class. It just means you appreciate a dog walk or hike, a run, a swim, sometimes a gravel bike.

00:27:00:27 - 00:27:23:12
Michael Lovato
So generally speaking, there are quite a few of our clients and the referrals we get and the connections we make that are in that same tribe. And it's it's a big competitive industry here in Boulder to be in real estate. And we recognize that we can't work with everyone, and we don't want to work with everyone. And I think that for us, we we generally do really well with people that we click with.

00:27:23:12 - 00:27:45:26
Michael Lovato
And, life's too short with people too short to work with people you don't. So, so there's definitely that with our business. We work with a lot of active people. We also because the content we create, the podcast is called love where you Live and, you know, the interviewees, the conversations we have there with people that are often Olympians, but also, just runners that own businesses or any of that.

00:27:45:26 - 00:28:15:22
Michael Lovato
So I think that for sure. Yeah, we we do draw in those people that love to be outdoors and enjoy the activity, that our, our county and our city offer. So without a doubt and it's just if you're not into that, like, if that isn't your thing, if being outdoors is not your main priority, that we still see people that want to be here because of the smaller town, the 106,000 or less, also the beauty.

00:28:15:22 - 00:28:35:18
Michael Lovato
So even if you don't like going into the mountains, a lot of people like to see them. And we have very beautiful scenery. And so and then you just have others, like I get so slanted on, people are all wanting to be outside and exercise or enjoy the the outdoors that I forget that there's this whole group of people that come here because we have excellence all around in other ways.

00:28:35:20 - 00:28:36:25
Michael Lovato
Which is pretty cool.

00:28:36:28 - 00:28:57:12
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And I did pull up, the, the landing page here, for your, your, your, your podcast and, this is, this is on, buzzsprout Aecom, the landing page for Buzzsprout, is do you have an actual website for the, the the podcast, or is this a good place for folks to land on?

00:28:57:14 - 00:29:15:29
Michael Lovato
I mean, I would just go to I sort of steer people. We have it on our YouTube, which we're kind of trying to freshen up the look of the podcast there, but ultimately, really to find it, I would just go wherever you download podcasts so I don't have a site, maybe I should, but if if you yeah, if you want to find the podcast, you put love where you live.

00:29:15:29 - 00:29:24:11
Michael Lovato
Boulder County, if you listen on Spotify or iTunes or Amazon or any of the other millions that are out there, we buzzsprout links it to all of that. So.

00:29:24:11 - 00:29:46:21
John Simmerman
Right, right, right. And in fact, let's pull up the the YouTube version of this as well, because I think that's a good thing since we're here on YouTube. I mean, we gotta give YouTube some love here. And so, yeah. So here's, here's your, podcast, version. You've got two YouTubes and so we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll take a look at the live Lovato properties YouTube as well.

00:29:46:21 - 00:30:08:02
John Simmerman
But we do have, this one here, which has, quite a few more videos on it, 111, videos. And this is where, the podcast lives out on YouTube, which is fantastic. And if you click on the videos here, you can see some really cool stuff. And I just watched this video here, the pros and cons of living in downtown Boulder.

00:30:08:05 - 00:30:20:07
John Simmerman
And that was a lot of fun to to see that you were producing some of that content as well as it was. Good to see you. Now, did you film that yourself or did you have a camera operator, filming you as you were watching?

00:30:20:10 - 00:30:44:03
Michael Lovato
Yeah, I've got a videographer. I've got an expert. That's one of those. Who? It's John. It's who, not how. Right, I don't I there's a great book out there that I when I read that, I immediately realized that I don't need to be an expert in those areas. So, I hired, Courtney to do that, but she, you know, we create, I create the content, she and I collaborate, but it's it's, it's my sort of brain and her creativity.

00:30:44:06 - 00:30:59:28
Michael Lovato
But our YouTube, like, the reason for the YouTube, like, I'm actually doing a bunch. We have, we're hitting the whole county. We're trying to do deep dives into each neighborhood in Boulder, deep dives into what it's like to live here. We want to offer a. We basically think about the questions that people ask us, hey, what school district should I be in?

00:30:59:28 - 00:31:22:05
Michael Lovato
What's the best elementary? What do you have here for middle school? High school, neighborhoods, parks, all the stuff? And how do I afford Boulder if I can't live, you know, here, where's the best place? Or if I've got a ton of money or if I want to be by the mountain? So the the goal of this channel is to really just answer those questions that our people have asked us, and that we have conversations about all the time.

00:31:22:08 - 00:31:47:27
Michael Lovato
And then and then naturally, like the the podcast, which is super fun because the podcast is also and, what I'm cleaning up is to have not sometimes I have doubles and so it's an audio only on YouTube, and then a video version that takes a little cleaning up. But, as we get that going, really what's cool is you can you can hear the perspective of someone else, and we try to ask what are the drawbacks as well.

00:31:47:27 - 00:32:09:10
Michael Lovato
We try and really get a well-rounded. So it's not just sugarcoating. I have a lot of people that say, these are my issues or this is what it was like, and now it's not, or this is what I see as a drawback, but it's really fun. And and and John, like, you know how cool it is with these this platform is you'll hear from people that you just otherwise don't know and reach it out from California.

00:32:09:10 - 00:32:22:12
Michael Lovato
Hey, I'm thinking about moving there. I heard your podcast. I love the insights in the conversation. So it's really been a fun, both the YouTube channel and the, and of course the, the podcast.

00:32:22:13 - 00:32:49:02
John Simmerman
Yeah, the audio only podcast. Fantastic. And you can so we do have the two channels. This is the, the channel of auto properties. And so you've got, five videos out there already. I subscribed, I think I'm the first subscriber to this brand new channel. You are quite welcome. Looking forward to seeing more and more content. And we can already see the gist of what, some of these things are doing, some more deep dive, stuff into some specifics of around the area.

00:32:49:09 - 00:32:53:20
John Simmerman
So that's really cool, exciting to see. And yeah, I love it. It's good stuff.

00:32:53:23 - 00:33:08:17
Michael Lovato
Yeah. That one. I mean, to be fair, that one two. And this is kind of like the experts. I have a coach, I have a business coach. And and I have and we kind of dive in a lot to how video can help us with our business. And that one, all those five properties are tours of homes specifically.

00:33:08:19 - 00:33:23:08
Michael Lovato
And so ultimately when we when we looked at mashing them together, I wanted to put it all on the same page. But apparently from a standpoint of expertise, you should you should keep the, showing the listings that we're actually trying to help people sell on a separate channel. So that's.

00:33:23:08 - 00:33:48:29
John Simmerman
Good. Good. That's actually pretty good advice, too. And one of the things that I learned, sort of early on with the Active Towns channel here is it's not the greatest idea to mash together. Profile videos of various links with long form, podcast episodes and I. But I was too far down the road, you know, and I'm up over 500 videos at this point, so I'm like, okay, no, I'm keeping them together.

00:33:48:29 - 00:34:13:06
John Simmerman
So whatever. Just deal in dealing with it. Let's pop on over to the website here. So Llevado properties here you guys are. You've got your stuff going on. You will get some featured, listings here. And again, introduction of the family and again, that beautiful, photograph that we have of the family. Refresh my memory, it was Amanda that got into to real estate first.

00:34:13:06 - 00:34:14:21
John Simmerman
Is that correct?

00:34:14:24 - 00:34:37:28
Michael Lovato
That's correct. Yeah, yeah. She was I mean, it was like, I think 2006, we had, well, 2005, we'd been here for years. And she was in one of her, one of her early moments of, I don't want to do this for a living anymore. Like, I'd like to get a career. And I never forget in 2005, she said, Michael, let's go to this, class.

00:34:37:28 - 00:34:56:18
Michael Lovato
It's a free class on how to do loan origination or help people get residential mortgages. And it was advertised in a daily camera. So we zipped out there to, take the class. And immediately day one, she's like, I don't like this is too many numbers. And I was the opposite. I thought, this is kind of fun. We started doing it.

00:34:56:18 - 00:35:22:16
Michael Lovato
And so we she immediately jumped out. I started doing as a supplement to the income. I started learning the business. Now this was all pre, pre financial crisis pre-crash led by housing and led by a lot of issues. And in oh seven and so I mentioned that because we were you know we were unregulated. I got taught I started doing a little bit of mortgage origination.

00:35:22:16 - 00:35:50:15
Michael Lovato
And she immediately said, you know what? I'm going to get my license. And she went in to get her her real estate license. And and then both of us did those jobs in 06070, a really part time, very part time, because we got again drawn back and started having more success in our career as triathlete. So put that on the on the shelf until, our daughter was born and every sponsor that Amanda had dropped her, they said, oh, you got you're pregnant while you're.

00:35:50:17 - 00:35:55:21
Michael Lovato
These were different times. They were just like, see you later. You're out. And she said, well, that's fine, I'm done. I'll move on.

00:35:55:23 - 00:36:26:04
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And on the, the Boulder, about Boulder page on the website, this kind of encapsulate what you were saying earlier is that Boulder is home to a lot of different people. It's not just the athletes, although they're leading the list here, but also the active parents and education and many, many other things. Technology, plenty of technology, folks, in the city, it really is an attractor to, you know, people who really, I think, appreciate a high quality of life.

00:36:26:04 - 00:36:47:28
John Simmerman
And it really does, you know, support that when you guys have been, you know, on this, obviously. So you talked a little bit about the real estate crash of 2008 and going into that and then the rebound and really Boulder just kind of skyrocketing in terms of values. What does that meant for you guys from from a business perspective?

00:36:47:28 - 00:37:19:24
John Simmerman
And because I know that there's probably plenty of people who would love to make Boulder home their home, including many, many triathletes. Yes. Yeah. And sometimes that's a hard reality to like, you know, understand that it's not going to be possible for everybody. Talk a little bit about how you guys handle that, because I'm sure, you know, it might be a little bit of having a hard discussion with maybe even some friends or family that want to live there.

00:37:19:24 - 00:37:30:19
John Simmerman
But the realities are kind of challenging. And when you're looking at, you know, price tags of, you know, 1.1 and 1.3 on up million dollar properties.

00:37:30:21 - 00:37:51:16
Michael Lovato
That's a that's a great question. And it's I think the the. So first off, in a in a real quick mention at the recording time of recording this podcast that we now is the best time to buy a boulder if you are actually looking the best job I've seen in a long time, that doesn't mean the prices are affordable for everyone, but we have currently.

00:37:51:16 - 00:38:09:13
Michael Lovato
This week we have four and a half months of inventory, which is a huge amount of inventory for Boulder. We haven't had that in a long time, and so that also means a lot of people that are buying right now are getting great prices. On the properties, this is a very unique time. But that's just more specifically to our current market.

00:38:09:15 - 00:38:38:09
Michael Lovato
Someone might be listening to this in a year or two, and it's different. So if I just address that, I think why I also started the podcast or, sorry, the YouTube video series is if you come here and you say, I really want to be in this area, well, Boulder is amazing. And the closer you are to the epicenter, to whatever you call that, that center of Boulder, be it Pearl Street or Chautauqua or the Flat Irons or Sunita's, it's it's it's more the more expensive it is.

00:38:38:09 - 00:38:56:29
Michael Lovato
And so if you if you're if I'm looking at myself 25 years ago and saying, I'm a starving triathlete, I don't have a lot of money, but I want to be in the epicenter. I would just I would the advice that I would give and I would happily receive back then is just start to widen the search, just increase that diameter of acceptability.

00:38:56:29 - 00:39:20:05
Michael Lovato
And you, you know, don't be hooked on having to ride a cruiser bike to Foolish crags or, you know, Ozo or box car like, don't get stuck on that. Get stuck on, buying property, investing in Boulder County real estate. Go to Longmont, go to Lafayette, go to Lewisville if you can afford that one still. But look at the areas that are still absolutely incredible.

00:39:20:05 - 00:39:44:15
Michael Lovato
You have. You have. And this is why we're doing this series, is what is it like to live in Longmont? Well, there's a lot of incredible stuff there. And guess what? A worst case scenario, 25 minute drive to some of the amenities that you want in Boulder, be it a pool or a training group or a track. And so I think for us, we really say, pay the price and get a very small, you know, probably underrepresented property.

00:39:44:15 - 00:39:59:14
Michael Lovato
Somebody doesn't have a lot and pay a lot for it or get a little bit more and pay a lot less and get a little bit further away. So that's really where we go, John. It's just it's it's still awesome. It's just don't people prefer it? Some people prefer to be a little bit further away from us here.

00:39:59:16 - 00:40:01:24
Michael Lovato
As I say in The epicenters. That makes sense.

00:40:01:27 - 00:40:22:24
John Simmerman
Yeah. No, absolutely. And when I think back to my decade that I spent there is that, you know, I had a combination of living walking distance to the South Boulder Rec center for like three years and a couple of years of being walking distance to the east Boulder Rec Rec Center. That was the first house that I owned, which was right across the street from Frazier Meadows.

00:40:22:24 - 00:40:46:16
John Simmerman
And so I was right there in South Boulder and, but then bought a property in Longmont, had a property in Longmont for a couple of years, and then finally ended up with, a house that, that I owned, walking distance to the, the downtown historic downtown area of Niwot. And so I was an unincorporated, you know, Boulder County in Niwot.

00:40:46:18 - 00:41:05:06
John Simmerman
At that time, I actually owned a health club. So I, owned and ran a fitness center and health club in, in Iowa called Niwot Health and Fitness. And that was around for 3 or 4 years. And so that all predated me pulling up stakes and moving to, to, to Hawaii for ten years. But, yeah.

00:41:05:06 - 00:41:33:18
John Simmerman
So I think about that and it's like, yeah, I, you know, I had a little bit of everything I was in, in the, you know, in the the Boulder City area incorporated, as well as Boulder County unincorporated. But all that time feeling like I've got access to all these very, very special as I like to call them, activity amenities or, or active towns, you know, activity assets that really are super, super beloved by us.

00:41:33:18 - 00:41:54:06
John Simmerman
You know, all the trails, all the pathways, the access to the, the quieter country roads where you can get a long bike ride in. And I think that's part of what really does make Boulder City, as well as Boulder County, really incredibly attractive for people wanting to have an active lifestyle.

00:41:54:09 - 00:42:13:29
Michael Lovato
Yeah, 100%. And we and you mentioned Iowa. We're huge fans of Noah. But I mean, you've said that there's each of those has everything. They have the same like if you look at what is awesome about active Boulder. Well, rec centers, guess what? They have a they have a amazing YMCA in Lafayette that most of our professional athletes are training right now.

00:42:13:29 - 00:42:29:23
Michael Lovato
Julie Gibbons crew, they go to Lafayette. So if you're there, boom, you got it covered. Similarly, when she was coaching back in, you know, most recently before she moved, she was coaching at the Longmont RECs, you know, rec center and the pool there outside. And then so it's like, okay, you got that covered. What about trails? What about paths?

00:42:29:23 - 00:42:48:27
Michael Lovato
Crushed gravel running on those. Now what has some of the best loops around to run on gravel bike on. Right. And then you I think Coal Creek Trail is again in Lafayette. It connects Lewisville and and and all the trails Davis Mesa, they're outside of Lewisville. If you go to superior you got some of the my favorite running trails there.

00:42:48:29 - 00:43:08:26
Michael Lovato
And so I think that realistically, when you look at active towns, those towns are absolutely killing it every much, every bit as much as Boulder is. And so the difference is, if you want to walk, as you said, to Pearl Street versus walking to South Public Road in Lafayette or Main Street in Lewisville or France for your eating.

00:43:08:26 - 00:43:24:20
Michael Lovato
Lewisville, if you if you want to walk to Pearl Street, or if you want to have, you know, as Anita's out your door or jog out the door about tinnitus, then you have to be in Boulder. But, realistically, there's there's no loss, right? It's just a difference as you move to those communities, I think.

00:43:24:27 - 00:43:47:09
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Shifting gears back to your podcast, I, I've just been absolutely enjoying, you know, listening to the podcast, I tend to listen to podcasts when I'm walking around in my neighborhood, hear what I'm trying to get away from editing videos and, and, and, and podcasts, and, and I just, I love the, the mixture of folks that you have on here.

00:43:47:12 - 00:44:09:21
John Simmerman
Obviously you've got, you've got David Roach who, you know, recently just had a breakout season, you know, running, doing ultrarunning, both at Leadville and the Lovlina 100. And then you also had, Megan on as well. You guys talked a little bit about the story and how you guys, you know, know them, so well.

00:44:09:21 - 00:44:13:27
John Simmerman
And, and and of course, they're I think they're literally next door neighbors. Right?

00:44:13:29 - 00:44:17:09
Michael Lovato
They're they're yeah, they are fantastic.

00:44:17:12 - 00:44:32:17
John Simmerman
Talk a little bit about your guests on the podcast and, and how the idea comes up and what, what you're really trying to tease out in this discussion about the love affair that is loving where you live in Boulder County?

00:44:32:20 - 00:44:48:25
Michael Lovato
Yes, I know, and you know what? When we came up with the idea to do this, to do the show, like like we do it, it was, hey, I really want this to be about Boulder, you know what I mean? That's why it's called love, where you live. Like, I really, we really want to showcase is Boulder County is Boulder Valley.

00:44:48:28 - 00:45:10:22
Michael Lovato
And so and and also, you know, like with your active towns like it's people because the town's not speaking for itself. And so what's cool is you've got this overarching, you know, theme of Boulder Valley. But the conversation opportunities are limitless, right? You just you have no end in sight to who you could talk to. So we sort of went with that.

00:45:10:22 - 00:45:29:08
Michael Lovato
And and initially when I first thought of, hey, let's get going, I wrote a list of about 20 people. And then it was it was like, okay, well, with each conversation, I have John on there and John says someone's name and I'm like, gosh, I got to write that down. Please introduce us. So that was really fun.

00:45:29:08 - 00:46:09:04
Michael Lovato
And I've had people say, you've got to interview X, Y, and Z. This person would be perfect. And, and, that's magical, right? To connect and meet new people. I love that and hear stories. And so, so for me, that's been like just really, really neat and, and I think at first I did also look at it, John, and be like, wait a second, I don't want to invite someone that doesn't have an Olympic resume or a world championship or a masters Somalia or any of these accolades, and I didn't want them to come and feel inferior or out of place or like they don't fit in.

00:46:09:08 - 00:46:27:10
Michael Lovato
I wanted everyone to feel like, do you live here? Do I like you or I do like Boulder? Then check check check. Come on on. And so but but so I, I made this effort to not have too many but but if you look through the list, there's still a lot of world class athletes on there. And and it it is still my tribe.

00:46:27:10 - 00:46:51:19
Michael Lovato
It is still the people. Like I have a whole host of people that have said yes, no or maybe that are still on that accolade. Yeah, I'm sorry that short list of Olympians are world champions. So the Ironman title and and so all this to say, I, I love it. I love talking about these and our format. For those of you that haven't heard it is grab someone like like David Roche and say, look, where did you grow up?

00:46:51:21 - 00:47:10:29
Michael Lovato
What brought you to Boulder? What are you doing in Boulder? What do you like about Boulder? What do you dislike? Boom. And that's and so you can really and it's not a it's a little bit of a of a outline. But if we don't go down that outline I'm happy to, to just learn about you and how you interact with Boulder.

00:47:11:00 - 00:47:11:26
Michael Lovato
I hope that makes sense.

00:47:12:02 - 00:47:28:26
John Simmerman
No, no, it totally does. And again, I, I look at I'm scrolling through the the list of them right now and and like oh wait. Or in fact let's pull this up so we can actually look at it both together. You know, I'm scrolling through this and I'm like, oh, I know this person. I know this person. Oh, oh yeah.

00:47:28:26 - 00:47:50:10
John Simmerman
Mark Plotinus, that's my physical therapist. And oh, by the way, yeah, he was also he's also a, a world champion marathoner as well. You got Renee there. I mean, it's so much fun. Oh, and Trini Willerton, Trini is, of course, the, founder of. It could be me. I serve on the board of directors for. It could be me as a nonprofit trying to work hard.

00:47:50:10 - 00:48:11:18
John Simmerman
She's just doing an amazing job working hard at, trying to create safer streets and roads for everybody, around the country. Really fabulous stuff. And it's it's it's really a delightful listen to be able to, you know, kind of hear the stories. And every single time I tune into one, even though, you know, I may know Erin Carson.

00:48:11:18 - 00:48:22:07
John Simmerman
I've known Erin for many, many years. I'll listen to it. I'll learn something new, you know, and that's the wonderful thing about this type of format is the end of learning something new every single time.

00:48:22:09 - 00:48:44:03
Michael Lovato
Yeah. Hey, you know what? And I love, like, Erin Carson. One of the things that was so cool about Erin Carson, too, was she said it in a way that I felt like was really, beautiful because a lot of people come and, you know, Austin suffers from this greatly, where people say, whoa, it's all these outsiders and all this changed, all this growth and all this progress.

00:48:44:03 - 00:49:16:20
Michael Lovato
And people will say that about Boulder. Oh, well, now it's it's not like it used to be. And they have all the adjectives and all the, you know, negative connotations to this person moving here are that happening and this. And I can't get around on and on. And I think that instead of that what Erin, at least what I took away from Erin's thought was, was just that, you know, when you look at all these people, like most everybody that's here in Boulder, to some extent or another, worked very hard to be here, be it, to to scrape the money together to stay or to earn the money, to be able to afford it,

00:49:16:27 - 00:49:32:28
Michael Lovato
or to be world class or to work in the industry. It's like it's just a really nice way if you just look at it and say, we all worked hard to be here, however that looks to you, and just we all got here and it is someone like Erin who is who came here as a college student, right?

00:49:32:28 - 00:49:48:19
Michael Lovato
And now she's and now she's on whatever chapter she is that she's gone through. We all have that in life. And I think it's a really nice way to look at your town and not get beat up about how how much change, negative or positive that it's been through. So to me, that was really special.

00:49:48:21 - 00:50:18:10
John Simmerman
So again, you you're scrolling through and we're looking at, the list of characters and some of them are literally at the top of their career right now athletically and other types of career paths and then others are classics. When you look back to like that top that first list of like 20 people. Is there somebody is there a white whale that you haven't got that you'd just love to get this person on that you but it just hasn't happened yet.

00:50:18:12 - 00:50:34:05
Michael Lovato
Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm still waiting. There's a bunch of people that aren't on yet that said. But, and some of them had said maybe. And no one's really said no yet, but actions, you know, it's like with me, John, you could have said I said no because I took months to get on. So my actions were saying no.

00:50:34:07 - 00:50:50:15
Michael Lovato
And so people say no. They say, yeah, yeah, yeah, let me know. But I still want to talk to Julie Gibbons because I think Julie Gibbons has a great story. Both her upbringing and her, movement to Boulder. Rachel Joyce has said, yes, these are good triathletes. I'm going in kind of. She's another just an incredible individual.

00:50:50:15 - 00:51:11:24
Michael Lovato
They're both so fun and well-rounded. But on that athlete vein, there's a guy called Ivan O'Gorman, lives in Niwot. He's a bike fitter to a lot of world, class athletes. But his stories from Ireland, I love people that moved here from other countries. They're such fascinating. You know, it's a major change. I've got well, I've got a handful of others.

00:51:11:26 - 00:51:25:24
Michael Lovato
John McKelvie. This is a name not many people know. Unless you're living in town. He's been a real estate agent in town since, the 80s. And he his. You'll get this one. His claim to fame early on, he was a body double for more for Robbie Williams when more.

00:51:26:00 - 00:51:27:22
John Simmerman
Really? Oh my gosh.

00:51:27:24 - 00:51:44:06
Michael Lovato
Yeah. He was he was on his way to California to try and do something out there. He got stuck in Boulder, due to, you know, Chief Niwot, but like, that's another one that he's on my list and he's and he's worried, he's like, oh, but you have, you know, you have all these people he he sort of, you know, I said, but John, you're awesome.

00:51:44:06 - 00:52:02:15
Michael Lovato
Like your stories are every bit as good and every bit as fascinating is as, you know, Emma Coburn's on the list. Kerry Goucher, my my daughter's swim coach is on there. She was, you know, they have some good athletic ability. It's the list is lengthy. I have here in about an hour. I've got another Olympian coming on.

00:52:02:15 - 00:52:07:04
Michael Lovato
She's from Australia, Sophie Lane. So lots of fun stuff is coming up. John I love it.

00:52:07:09 - 00:52:09:04
John Simmerman
Yeah yeah yeah.

00:52:09:06 - 00:52:17:11
Michael Lovato
And I'm going to put in you know what? You can put anyone out there if you have an introduction or someone you want to hear on. Yeah, yeah I'll take your recommendation.

00:52:17:13 - 00:52:32:02
John Simmerman
I'm going to I'm still working on Ryan Van Duzer. I need I know that you, want to get him on, you interviewed, Dana, who's one of his very best friends, and, I put the bug in his ear, so he's he's mulling it over and thinking about it. I think he's.

00:52:32:02 - 00:52:47:11
Michael Lovato
Busy. I don't know, it's funny because he. Because we do have so many good friends. And Dana, of course, is is one of his best. And I picked him recently again I said, and I told Dana, I said, Dana, just like, we'll have some fun. This guy, you know, what's funny was he. And he should make him listen to this.

00:52:47:13 - 00:53:06:02
Michael Lovato
I was at where. What the heck was I? I was, recently at oh, my gosh, I was in steamboat on spring break with my kids. My whole family was there. And I'm standing there on the outside of the place where we're staying at my friend's place, and a guy and his wife comes walking by and they're like, going for a little run in a little bit.

00:53:06:02 - 00:53:22:10
Michael Lovato
And they walk in and we just start chatting because that's what me and my friend Peter do. We chat. So we're chatting with this guy and he's like, oh, where do you guys live? Boulder. Oh really? Do you know Ryan Van Duzer? I'm like, I was like, what? Sure. I mean, not really, but yeah, like of course.

00:53:22:10 - 00:53:43:06
Michael Lovato
And he goes, well, I live in Michigan and I've been following him and I love his stuff. And he's like, I think. And and I'm like, well, that that's a sign right there. I got some random stranger and he goes, you remind me of him. I said, well, I don't know about that. I said, this guy's got like, you know, he's got a, a pretty awesome, everything.

00:53:43:06 - 00:53:57:15
Michael Lovato
Right? Like all his vibe, the stuff he does for the community, the videos, the the travels, the biking, the everything he does. Incredible. And he's got just a very, to me, very positive and great energy. So I was like, well, that's a compliment. But get him in there, John. I'm going to get it.

00:53:57:15 - 00:54:12:15
John Simmerman
I'm, I'm, I'm working on him. I'm working on him. And, and I will say this, you know, he recently just, released a mini documentary about his life and his time growing up in Boulder and all that. So we'll we'll put some pressure on him. We'll make that happen. Yeah. For sure.

00:54:12:18 - 00:54:23:23
Michael Lovato
Tell him he could get a couple dozen fresh eggs. I can buy them from my daughter who's in charge of the business, and pay them in. It's in, you know, organic farm fresh eggs from the back.

00:54:23:24 - 00:54:45:14
John Simmerman
Yeah. There you go. There you go. Yeah, he's he's vegetarian, but I think he does eat eggs, so. Yeah. Yeah, that's good to know. I mean a lot. Yeah. Fantastic. Either way it's good pressure Michael. Is there anything that we haven't yet discussed that you want to make sure to leave the audience with either about Michael Navarro, the the business, the podcast, any anything at all?

00:54:45:17 - 00:55:07:15
Michael Lovato
I mean, that's a good question, but I don't think so. I, I love I mean, I hope it's evident that I love our community. I love being involved in the community. I love, sharing it with everyone. If you ever see me around you, either online, Instagram, website, YouTube, Facebook, or walking down the street, please, please say hi.

00:55:07:17 - 00:55:25:25
Michael Lovato
I I absolutely love to connect with people virtually or otherwise. Like it's it's a lot of fun, for me. So please reach out. That's that's what I think. Really? You know, I think I'm a true extrovert in that way, in that, you know, how I gain energy by being around people and a lot of people, they get drained.

00:55:25:25 - 00:55:44:04
Michael Lovato
So I'm happy. I always have time for you. So please just know that and otherwise. Yeah. If you're, you know, come check out Our Town and if you know anyone that I should know on my podcast or in business or in sport, please. Yeah, please share their, name with me. I'd love to grow the, grow the relationships.

00:55:44:06 - 00:56:05:14
John Simmerman
Fantastic. I love it. And again, that is Lovato properties.com pop on over. Also head on over to the YouTube channels for, the videos that you're producing about the city as well as the other, the Lovato Properties page, so that you can do some deep dives on some of the listings. Check them both out and be sure to subscribe.

00:56:05:18 - 00:56:09:19
John Simmerman
Michael Lovato, this has been so much fun. Thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns back.

00:56:09:20 - 00:56:12:00
Michael Lovato
Of course. Thank you John. Yeah, it's a pleasure.

00:56:12:00 - 00:56:26:13
John Simmerman
He thank you all so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Michael Lovato. And if you did, please hit give it a thumbs up. We'll leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, be honored to have you subscribed to the channel. Just click on the subscription button down below and be sure to ring that notification bell.

00:56:26:20 - 00:56:48:20
John Simmerman
And again, if you're enjoying this content here on the Active Towns Channel, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an Active Towns Ambassador. Super easy to do. You can just click on the join button right here on YouTube, as well as navigate over to Active towns.org. Click on the support tab at the top of the page, and there's several different options, including making a donation to the nonprofit, becoming a Patreon supporter.

00:56:48:20 - 00:57:10:06
John Simmerman
And patrons do get early and have free access to all the video content. And again, thank you so much for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers! And again, just want to send a huge thank you to all my Active Towns Ambassadors supporting the channel financially via YouTube memberships YouTube super!

00:57:10:06 - 00:57:19:20
John Simmerman
Thanks. As well as making contributions to the nonprofit and joining my Patreon, every little bit adds up and is very much appreciated. Thank you all so much!