Prospective homebuyers end up at my doorstep a variety of ways. Some have had their eyes on a life in The City Different for years. Some come as referrals from relatives or friends. But in the case of recent Washington, D.C. transplants Brian Guse and Theran Shelton, it was a combination of the two–with an inadvertent push from the world’s richest man.
I’ll back up.
The initial call from them was set in motion by Theran’s brother. It was January 2025 and they were in town for skiing. “I asked my brother’s gay friends for a referral on a realtor and they recommended Mark,” Theran remembers. “We developed an informal relationship planning on retiring in 2027 or 28. That’s when we started getting listings.” The timeline was comfortable, no rush.
But Washington and the Trump 2.0 era had other ideas.
A Retirement Dream Accelerated
By late 2025, the winds had shifted hard. Elon Musk and DOGE had swept in with chainsaws instead of scalpels, and Brian (who was head of a large department at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, specifically the Office of Urban Agriculture), saw his position gutted overnight. “I was the head of an office that was pretty much killed by DOGE,” he told me. Theran, who worked as Director of Human Resources for the Department of State, similarly thought it was time to get out of Dodge (and away from DOGE).
So, they pulled the trigger earlier than planned, put their Silver Spring, Maryland home on the market and started looking in Santa Fe. “We felt Santa Fe offered us so much,” Theran said. “We came here for the first time 10 years ago. We just kept coming back at different times throughout the year.”
In May 2026 they met up with me for what I can only describe as a whirlwind speed date with our city. They ended up looking at close to 20 properties in one trip. Their stamina impressed even me, and I’ve been doing this for decades.
A Dream Adobe
Initially, they thought they wanted Eldorado. But then we walked into a U-shaped Pueblo Revival in Aldea, built in 2002, they knew they found the right place for their second act in the Land of Enchantment.
With two bedrooms, two baths, a detached garage, and three sets of French doors opening into a courtyard veranda, Brian was quickly won over by what he calls the home’s quirks. “It’s like no other house we’ve ever lived in,” he said. “Or any of our friends have lived in.”
Theran fell in love with the home’s high ceilings, Vega beams and kiva fireplace. “It’s a new and different kind of house for us,” he says.
And the house’s charms extend beyond its four walls, and a Zen-like rock garden the previous owners had created practically sealed the deal for Brian. An avid gardener, Brian loved the idea of working in a completely new ecosystem. “I’m going to learn to garden all over again,” he said.
Opera, Pickleball, and 2 Happy Dogs
Brian and Theran’s move to Santa Fe is the latest chapter in a story that goes back decades. Theran grew up in Monterey, California, made his way to D.C. after school, and in the late 90s met Brian playing in a gay volleyball league. Brian grew up in St. Louis, spent three years in the Peace Corps in West Africa, did graduate school at Indiana University, and landed in D.C. via Vermont.
Now they’re all moved in with their two terrier mixes Saxon and Freya in tow. They’ve already made it to the Santa Fe Opera, been impressed by the production quality and overwhelmed by the facility’s beauty. They’re pickleball regulars at Fort Marcy Park. Even the dogs are loving their new surroundings. “They love chasing lizards and have so many nooks and crannies to explore in our yard and the neighborhood,” they tell me.
Their days now are filled with open windows and doors (they always eat outside, they told me), ski trips, and hiking adventures. They’re already planning their kitchen remodel. “I like to cook a lot and want to have a chef’s kitchen,” Brian says. They’re already planning on going to the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival in September
Welcome Home
What I love about stories like Brian and Theran’s is how they embody so much of what Santa Fe represents to people searching for their next chapter. They planned, but when life threw them a curveball, they had that pioneer spirit that said “now” instead of “later.”
Welcome home, you two. You’ve earned every sunset.
