Meet Your Neighbor: Brandon Rich

A few Halloweens ago a group of kids came to my door holding out their bags and calling out the customary greeting. Admiring their costumes, I noticed one of them was dressed in a fake tuxedo with a fancy gold stickpin in the shape of a dollar sign. “So, what are you dressed up to be?”  He said, “I’m a Rich guy.”  Well of course he was! A member of the Rich family. I met with his dad this week, who by the way is also a Rich guy. Brandon Rich, of the Southern Gables Riches. Interview by Bruce McDonald.

Bruce:  I think we’re all glad to have the Riches here in Southern Gables. What brought you to this particular place, and when?

Brandon: We moved here in June of 2006. We were living in Arizona but Carrie grew up near here, just a little to the east of this neighborhood. We met in 1997, when I came to Denver to manage an apartment community while they were going through foreclosure and she lived in the condos next to them. The property was called Waterside next to Villa Italia Mall, now Belmar.  I moved back to Arizona later that year to follow work opportunities. Carrie stayed in Colorado to finish her Master’s Degree then moved down to Arizona the following year.  We eventually got married in 2000.  We got married down the road at Lakewood Country Club, since all of Carrie’s family and friends were here and I know she always wanted to move back eventually.  I started a real estate company in Arizona and in 2006, I saw the opportunity to open an office in Denver. So one day while Carrie was back in Colorado visiting her mom, I called her and asked if she wanted to move back, and if so she should look for a place to live while she was there. She didn’t believe me but thought it was worth calling my bluff so she started looking for places and of course she knew the area, and where the good places are. That led us right here. The house was available to rent while we checked things out, and then it turned to a buy.

What are some things you like most about Southern Gables?  Well, it’s kind of a secluded area, the neighbors are nice and friendly. One of our neighbors was Carrie’s softball coach from her school years. Now she lives right around the corner.

Do you have a favorite memory with your Southern Gables neighbors?  Sure, when the kids were small, running around freely and playing together with other kids, and we got to know the families. Then during COVID, the way people got out and walked. Even with keeping our distance there was a lot of visiting and interaction outdoors, meeting new people, everybody friendly.

Can you tell us about a neighborly experience in particular?  That hailstorm. There was a terrible hailstorm a few years ago, 2017. It did a lot of damage to cars, trees, all our plants, There was a lot of cleanup to do, and people went around helping each other.

What kind of work do you do, and what kind of things do you like to do outside of that?  I work for a big property management company, running the southwest division. It’s a pretty big area to keep track of, and I travel some. I have a huge team of people working together. It’s a group of management companies actually, overseeing a portfolio of 102,000 apartments. We have specialists in marketing, capital management, training, recruiters… So you don’t have to go in and fix the plumbing? I know you’re good at that, and excavating, concrete work…  No, it’s not like having to maintain a pool. Sometimes I think that would be easier though.

And your leisure time, hobbies?  I like outdoor things: fishing, hiking, biking, golf. I’ve got a big project coming up, helping my daughter build out a van. That will take a lot of my “leisure time.” We will have a lot of changes coming up, with our youngest going off to college. It’ll be an empty nest, a big transition.

Do you have a special talent or skill you can tell us about?  Nope. Jack of all trades, and you know how that saying goes… master of none.

And how about a favorite quote or saying, advice for the younger generation?  I’ve always told my kids, “I have two goals for you: support yourself and be happy. In that order.” I think that’s a pretty solid one. In the later years I added, “And be a good person.”

Be a good person. Can’t do better than that for an ending.

Contact [email protected] to nominate a candidate for the “Meet Your Neighbor” series.