COLORADO SPRINGS — With low inventory and lots of competition, buying a home in Southern Colorado is a challenging process in today’s market.
According to Realtor.com, the median sold home price in Colorado Springs is just shy of $450,000. I spoke with Mimi Bowden, a local realtor in Colorado Springs who has been working in real estate for 20 years now.
Her client list ranges from first-time homebuyers who are highly qualified but don’t have a lot of money for a down payment to clients who are offering 250,000 dollars over the asking price and still losing. Regardless of their budget, she is seeing a pattern of having to bid against 10-15 offers. She says finding a home in the current market is "an intricate process.”
“It’s very emotional and we try to set them up as best we can for writing the offers and the little tricks of the trade to get the offers accepted but at the same time, we got a lot of buyers who aren’t comfortable at the beginning writing this huge escalation or huge appraisal gaps or buying the house in an “as-on” condition,” said Bowden.
Bowden says buying a home in an “as-in” condition is risky because that home could then need thousands of dollars in repairs.
Mimi says low inventory is contributing to the expensive market prices we are seeing. But that’s not all. Mimi says out-of-state investors who don’t plan on living in these homes are driving up prices. She says for her sellers, it’s a dream come true, because they can be selective, and they usually go for the highest offer. However, for her buyers, it’s a completely different story.
“They’re really having a rough time. For example, a high range, I put in an offer last weekend, and we went $250,000 dollars over asking price and we still didn’t get the property. Whereas, I’ve had buyers and we’ve come in 20,000 dollars over and they haven’t gotten the property, and we’ve put our best foot forward and I think that’s the biggest thing is you just have to put your best foot forward,” said Bowden.
Mimi says we cannot predict when the market will change or if it will go down anytime soon. Her advice for those who want to buy right now is simple. The best thing to do is get a good realtor and discuss your budget with them.
She says if you want to spend, for example, $400,000 maximum, then you need to look at houses for much less because you will have to bid up in price to get the home.
