Denver Butson

When Denver Butson ran his own successful boutique real estate firm on Court Street (from 2007 until it was acquired by an international firm in 2017), he heard on more than one occasion that when asked for a good real estate agent in the neighborhood, locals would say “go see THE POET on Court Street.” With six books published, poems on National Public Radio and in The Library of Congress, a CD recorded last year with an Italian surf rock/free jazz band, numerous collaborations with world-class musicians and visual artists, and readings and performances in concert halls and literary festivals here in the states and in Europe/Asia, Denver is one of the few real estate agents who also has a successful “career” as a poet.

Denver started doing real estate in 2004, soon after his daughter was born. Transitioning from the chaotic day-to-day of teaching writing, tutoring high school students all over the city, and running a small creative non-profit, he was looking for something closer to home, with hours he could control, so he could share full-time parenting with his wife, an actress and activist (and PTA President at Brooklyn’s PS 29 when their daughter was there). In just a few months, Denver became a go-to rental agent for dozens of Brooklyn landlords, and became known as the agent who could find apartment-seekers their next homes, treating them respectfully, intelligently, and creatively. He moved into sales (while maintaining a rental business) in 2007 when he started his own firm, VESPA Properties, in 2007. At VESPA for ten years and then Douglas Elliman for another nine, Denver rented hundreds of apartments and sold dozens of co-ops, condos, and townhouses in Brooklyn and in Manhattan, culminating in hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate rented and sold over the years. More than just numbers, Denver values the comments and respect of his clients – renters and landlords, buyers and sellers alike – who often cite his calm demeanor, his knowledge of the market, his creativity in seeing possibilities in spaces and in difficult deals, and his empathy.

Denver has lived in Brooklyn (Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and now Carroll Gardens) since 1998, has raised his now college/soon-to-be graduate daughter, here with his wife. In addition to being a writer, Denver is a musician, an avid amateur chef, a daily long-distance walker, and a very devoted father and husband. After several years working out of a Smith Street office, Denver is happy to be at Compass and thrilled that the locals can once again tell their neighbors or soon-to-be neighbors “go see the poet on Court Street.