Our Story

Our story began in 1997. I was living in Los Angeles and working in tech, single and traveling constantly for work. I wanted to buy a home but wasn't sold on Southern California. I always loved the mountains, and that year I visited Lake Tahoe for the first time. To say it was love at first sight is an understatement. In 1999 I relocated to Sacramento to be closer to the lake, and within months I met my future wife, Cindy. We married in 2002, welcomed our son Ryan two years later just after buying a second home near Sunnyside, and later added our daughter Lola and youngest son Josh. In 2013 we made Lake Tahoe our full-time home.

Like many of you, we started simply as people who loved the area. For years we offset the costs of our second home by renting it as a vacation rental. We worked with several local property managers and juggled a rolodex of service providers to keep the home cared for. Getting away to Tahoe was mostly peaceful, but not always. There was nothing worse than arriving for a weekend to find a maintenance issue waiting: a hot tub that wasn't clean, furniture moved by guests, or missing linens.

Within our first year as owners, I shared two observations with my wife that would shape everything we do. After years of watching the market and wishing a better solution would emerge, I founded Criterion Properties in 2016, and in 2024 we rebranded as Mountain Getaways. The word "criterion" means "a principle or standard by which something may be judged." From the beginning, our philosophy has been to set The Mountain Standard as your go-to expert for the ongoing care, management, and representation of your property. We will always take pride in the name Criterion Properties, but Mountain Getaways better reflects the properties we manage and the communities we serve.