Colorado House Buyer

Military families tend to move around a lot. If your next military assignment is taking you to a Colorado Springs military base, then consider yourself lucky as stunning panoramic views and a fantastic alpine desert climate is what you have to look forward to.

The City has a long military tradition. There are a few Departments of Defense posts, all within easy reach of each other. There is Fort Carson, The North American Defense Command, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Peterson Air Force Base, an air base called Schriever, and the national United States Air Force Military Academy. All these installments are located where you’ll find the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains.

Usually, military families don’t have time to search weeks and months for the ideal house. Colorado Springs realtors all boast to offer military relocation services and experience. Truth be told, very few of them really understand what military relocation is all about. Here are some things that a realtor should be familiar with which will make choosing the right one a lot simpler.

What the Realtor Must Know

The ideal realtor who offers military relocation services should know the Colorado Springs area like the back of their hand, as well as the different local military installations and they must be able to identify and appreciate what you need. As previously mentioned, chances are, there won’t be lots of time to make decisions and choose a house. Swift and informed decisions will have to be made. Because the realtor is ultimately trying to help you make the best choices for your family, they should be able to quickly evaluate your needs and the type of home, neighborhood and conveniences your family is looking for. If you have children, then the realtor should be capable of showing you the best school districts and safe neighborhoods that are located in close proximity to where you will be stationed.

Not only should they know the basic things, but also important are other factors that as a homebuyer, you must be made aware of. There is a list of reasons that Colorado Springs is a great place to reside. Just ask Money Magazine, Forbes Magazine or the other mediums that have voted it “one of the best places to live or purchase real estate”. The City experiences over 300 days of sunshine a year, beautiful spots such as Pikes Peak or Garden of the Gods can be enjoyed year round, great neighborhoods and world-class shopping and dining are at your finger tips.

A great realtor should be able to include a quick tour of the Pikes Peak area to help you familiarize yourself with it as well as “sell” you on the idea of living there. After all, the average person is not usually enthused about frequently packing up and moving. You should look for an expert in fulfilling your needs which all starts from the first stage of short listing to the actual tours and the bidding process as well as contract signing. The ideal Colorado Springs realtor should be proficient in the unique issues that military families have.

Colorado Springs has been fortunate in that it has not witnessed the big swings that other markets have had. Colorado Springs has been lucky enough to have a slow, stable and strong growth in its housing market. In fact, Colorado Springs has had an average growth rate of 7% since 1992 and has not had the massive declines that other parts of the country have experienced.

However, there is a down side to the housing market in Colorado Springs. Property owners have been looking for brokerage options in selling their homes. The frequency of homes in the Colorado Springs area being bought and sold is exponentially more significant compared to the national average. This is due to the fact that there are many military related jobs as well as a mobile workforce associated with companies such as HP and Boeing. Since homeowners aren’t usually a fixture to the years of appreciation that properties accumulate, the high brokerage commissions are severely felt. Sellers therefore believe that their only alternative is to skip agent fees altogether by putting their property up as For Sale by Owner. However, there are other alternatives available, one of which is to utilize a flat fee listing on the Multi Listing Service (MLS).

Often times, listings are sold by buyers’ agents who sometimes work with a listing agent. Whether the listing agent sells directly to the buyer or works with the buyers’ agent, the commission rate is typically the same. Even when the buyer did not have an agent, the seller may not see any savings.

A MLS listing allows the seller to see some profit as the agreement with the listing agent is to list the property for a small, flat fee. The seller is responsible for showing the property and handles negotiations with the agent as the middleman. If the buyer’s agent is responsible for the sale, only the buyer’s agent is paid but the listing agent is not paid at closing. If a seller finds some aspects of selling a house difficult, a MLS broker can agree to take on additional functions for more money at closing but this is usually less than 1%.

Other than savings on commission payments, a huge benefit to using MLS for selling property in Colorado Springs is the effective exposure. Buyers and their agents can find data with MLS feeds and internet sites. A for sale sign is never sufficient in pulling in interested house hunters, especially, given the fact that many of them are not residents of Colorado Springs.

The MLS for Colorado Springs outreaches to neighboring areas such as Woodland Park, Falcon and others. Sellers are finding that the flat fee MLS listings offer is effective in selling anything from an urban to suburban property and a single family home to a condominium. No matter the type of property, the fact that a seller can save money by avoiding those steep commissions as well as gaining exposure to buyers, makes this alternative the best to hiring a broker. It is expected that more and more sellers will use this medium in the future.