EVAN LAM PROOF & MEET DENNIS VINH

Evan Lam and Dennis Vinh pride themselves on their unique approach to real estate. The two met in 2016 when they were working for the same brokerage and quickly realized they had a similar business philosophy. After the brokerage they worked for was purchased by a national firm, the focus changed from real estate to recruitment, so Evan and Dennis decided to partner together so they could offer their clients the type of service that came naturally to both of them. In 2019, they founded Colorado Key Properties and haven’t looked back since.

Dennis shares, “Evan and I operate in real estate differently than I’ve seen other people; we love customizing how we approach our business to each individual client. We could produce more sales if we had a more systematic way of going about business but we don’t think that’s necessarily the best approach, so we’re always willing to spend extra time and think outside the box to make sure every client has the best result.” Evan agrees, sharing, “We don’t really focus on how much money we can make, which is a huge difference in how we do business. We’re happy with our income, but it’s not the primary driver of what we do. Our focus is on creating a service that people rave about; we believe in quality over quantity. We would both turn down business to avoid overextending ourselves before we’d give up the quality of our service.”

Evan was born in Hawaii and moved to Boulder with his family when he was nine. Dennis grew up in Westminster and moved to Boulder in 2004 to attend the University of Colorado. Evan was inspired by his uncle to get into real estate in 2008. “He was a real estate agent and a firefighter, and he had a lifestyle that was inspiring to me. I liked the idea of real estate because you can choose your own destiny and you’re not limited by what a company pays or the services you can offer.” Dennis began working in restaurants as a teenager and continued after college, but helping manage his parent’s investment portfolio inspired him to go into real estate in 2015.

Evan and Dennis enjoy showing their clients how real estate can be accessible for everyone. Evan shares, “I love working with first time buyers, since a lot of people we work with don’t realize home ownership is something they can participate in. I’m also an investor myself, so I enjoy helping people make investor-minded decisions.”

Dennis echoes Evan’s sentiments, “That’s exactly how I feel. I really enjoy doing the first sale for clients, because that’s when they see the reward of their actions and investments and the ability to grow their portfolio and live a better life.”

One of the aspects most important to Evan and Dennis is being able to customize their real estate deals. They both feel strongly that what they do is not a “one size fits all” approach. Recently, Dennis worked with clients on a complicated transaction selling two condos and purchasing a replacement property. The end property was an old 1900s farmhouse in Niwot, which had been owned by one family, so not much was known about the property. Dennis’ clients had grand ideas for what they wanted, which required a lot of extra steps from getting surveys to talking with mineral, oil and gas lawyers to working with the county and city. “Overall, all three deals took about six months, and we didn’t know if everything was going to work out until the week before it went through. It was fun and complicated and completely out of the norm.”

Another unique aspect to their partnership is that even though Evan and Dennis have their own clients, they talk every day and know about each other’s clients. Evan shares, “We’re constantly going back and forth with each other, and it’s nice for our clients because we’re very similar people.” Before they started their own brokerage, Evan was on a rock-climbing trip to Greece when he got an email from a client. “I began replying and before I could hit send, Dennis responded to the client exactly what I had already typed. At that moment, I knew I could enjoy the rest of my vacation, knowing my clients would be taken care of.” Dennis adds, “Even though Evan and I built our real estate careers independently of one other, we saw teaming up as a benefit to our clients. Every real estate deal is so different and this way they get twice the perspective, resources and contacts.”