Rod Slifer began selling real estate in 1962. More than six decades later, the company that carries his name still finds its stories in the people who came to Colorado for a life outside.
Read the storyRod Slifer began selling real estate in 1962. More than six decades later, the company that carries his name still finds its stories in the people who came to Colorado for a life outside.
Rod Slifer was a ski instructor before he became Vail's first real estate agent. He started selling property in 1962, then opened Slifer & Company on Bridge Street in 1968. The connection between a day on the mountain and a place to live was there at the beginning.
The firm grew alongside other Colorado resort communities. Harry Frampton and Mark Smith opened their brokerage to serve Beaver Creek in 1988. The two businesses joined in 1994 to become Slifer Smith & Frampton. Summit County offices followed, then expansion into the Roaring Fork Valley and Steamboat Springs.
That history gives a homebuyer a useful starting point. A Colorado home can be a winter base, a permanent move, or a place a family returns to across generations. Understanding the difference starts with the people who know what happens around it through the rest of the year.
Matt Fitzgerald arrived in Colorado from Maine with a background in commercial real estate and a love of mountain biking. Weekly group rides introduced him to friends and mentors who helped him move toward resort real estate. A personal interest became a way into the community and his profession.
Today, Fitzgerald leads Slifer Smith & Frampton as president and CEO. His route into the business offers a concrete example of how a move takes root: through recurring encounters, shared interests, and people who gradually become part of everyday life.
For a buyer arriving from somewhere else, that is a question worth bringing to the first conversation. Where will you spend your time? What do you want to keep doing, and what are you hoping to begin?
Sara Roberts, vice president of digital innovation, came to Vail at 22 without much knowledge of Colorado or skiing. The community drew her in. Her own picture of life here includes paddleboarding at Sylvan Lake with her children, quiet time on the water, and hiking with a rescue dog.
Fitzgerald found professional connections on a bike. Roberts found a year-round community, with family life and time on the water woven into it. Their experiences offer two different accounts of belonging to the same region.
Slifer Smith & Frampton pays for staff who want to obtain their real estate licenses. Employees have moved from front-desk positions into brokerage and corporate roles. For someone hoping to build a career where they have chosen to live, that support has a practical purpose: a way to develop professionally without leaving the company.
Rod Slifer helped shape Vail from inside town hall as well as from a real estate office. He spent 16 years on the Town Council, including 11 as mayor, and served on local planning commissions and the recreation district. Selling a home and deciding how a young mountain town should grow were parts of the same working life.
Harry Frampton and Mark Smith extended that connection through East West Partners, the development company they founded in 1986 and a major force in the growth of Beaver Creek. East West Partners and Slifer Smith & Frampton share owners, with distinct jobs: the developer creates new places, while the brokerage connects those places with buyers. Their work meets in projects whose appeal carries well beyond a winter address.
In Avon, Riverfront Village brings homes to the banks of the Eagle River. One Riverfront, developed by East West Partners with BCDC and EcoVest Capital, sits beside the regional recreation trail and near Nottingham Lake. A summer bike ride can begin close to home; the Riverfront Gondola provides the winter connection toward Beaver Creek. Slifer's brokers helped bring the wider Riverfront Village development to market through sales events and their network of buyers. The setting gives that work a tangible subject: how a home connects to the life immediately outside it.
Across the mountains, Snowmass Base Village offers another example. East West Partners has managed development for Snowmass Ventures, the partnership behind the village, and Slifer Smith & Frampton handles residential sales from an office on Carriage Way. Around the homes, the plaza has a life of its own. Children play in the fountains in summer, families gather for outdoor movie nights, and The Collective adds a game lounge and places to spend time together. A buyer can come to look at a floor plan and also see the gathering spaces that make the surrounding neighborhood work.
The connection to the region also runs through its cultural institutions. Rod Slifer helped found the Vail Valley Foundation and served as its vice chair from 1985 to 2022. Today, the foundation's work includes the Vail Dance Festival and free Hot Summer Nights concerts at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. These are part of the valley's summer calendar, giving residents reasons to gather when the ski season is over.
Within the brokerage, community work has its own structure. The Charitable Foundation of Slifer Smith & Frampton, established in 2015, supports organizations including Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley and the Education Foundation of Eagle County. In 2022, the foundation also contributed grant support to Eagle Valley Land Trust's conservation work. The company organizes service days and gives staff paid time to participate. That involvement reaches into some of the practical questions behind a year-round mountain life: homes local families can afford, support for schools, and land that remains protected as the region grows.
For a buyer, the useful next conversation is equally specific. Ask an agent how they came to the valley, where they spend their time, and what changed when a visit became a life. A property's photographs can start the search. The people who know its surroundings can help give that search a direction.
Meet the leadership behind Slifer Smith & Frampton.
President & CEO
A mountain biker from Maine, Matt found friends and mentors through Colorado group rides. Those connections helped shape his move into resort real estate.
Vice president of digital innovation
Sara arrived in Vail at 22. Her life in the region includes paddleboarding at Sylvan Lake with her children and hiking with her rescue dog.
Employing broker
Chris moved west from Michigan and joined Slifer Smith & Frampton in 2008. He skis at Arapahoe Basin with his family.
Chief marketing officer
Shawna moved to the mountains after college. She bikes to Brush Creek with her family and serves on the brokerage’s charitable foundation board.
Chief finance officer
Raised in the Vail Valley, Amy returned after time in Chicago and Los Angeles. She skis Vail’s Back Bowls and volunteers with local schools.
Vice president of operations
Jill’s life in Summit County includes walks at Rainbow Lake with her yellow Labrador. She also advocates for early childhood education.
The individual stories behind Slifer Smith & Frampton.
Agent profiles from Slifer Smith & Frampton are coming soon.
Its mountain-market presence includes the Vail Valley, Summit County, the Roaring Fork Valley, and Steamboat Springs. A buyer should connect with an agent working in the specific community they are considering.
Matt Fitzgerald is president and CEO. Sara Roberts serves as vice president of digital innovation.
Start with the place and activities that matter to you, then ask about an agent's experience in that community. On Home Stories, published agent profiles can help you explore their backgrounds before making contact.
Tell Slifer Smith & Frampton what brings you here, and what you would like to explore.
Visit the brokerage website