SHOWINGS

Depending on how anxious you are to find a home determines how we schedule showings to see homes.  If you are coming to North Colorado Springs from out of town for just a few short days, we will dedicate full or half days to view homes.  If they are in the same part of town, for example, we can typically see 2-3 homes per hour.

If you live in town and want to see properties as they pop on the MLS, we can usually accommodate short notice, but sometimes the sellers can’t, so keep this in mind.  The more notice we have for scheduling showings the better.

Many sellers require confirmation of the showing, which adds time to the scheduling process.  Sometimes they require 24 hour notice, particularly if the occupant is a renter, or two hours to allow them to pick-up and prepare for the showing.  In most cases, the seller will not be at the property during the showing, and ideally, there will not be any barking dogs or escape artist cats.  If you have severe animal allergies, please let me know before we start showing.

Depending on the neighborhood and price range you are looking at, there may be distressed properties on the market.  Bank owned properties are sold like resale properties except the seller is a bank.  Short sale properties are a bit more difficult and can take anywhere from 2 months to 8 months to close.  You will receive a copy of the MLS for each property you see.  I usually 3 hole punch the MLS sheets so you can put them in your buyer notebook.

When we walk into a property we will make sure it is vacant first.  Because I am responsible for your safety, we will view the property together.  This is very important for bank owned properties that are not in very good shape.

Make sure to wear comfortable slip on shoes.  Many occupied properties will ask us to remove shoes or wear booties to keep from tracking dirt onto the floors.

If you decide that you don’t like the home before we even unlock the door, it is still important to go in and do a quick check – first to verify your opinion, second out of courtesy for the seller, and third to allow me to leave a business card.

After we go into each home I will ask you for your opinion of the home.  I will want to know specifics for feedback to the listing agent and if it is high on your list we will want to give it a rank of 1,2 or 3 and file it in the buyer book under “favorites,” the others go under “rejects.” As we look at more homes that you like, you will start to bump properties to “rejects” so that we only have the top 3 under “favorites.”  Then when you are ready to make an offer, you only have to remember, and/or visit, the top 3 properties.  I have found that this is a very efficient way to view properties - you only have to remember 3.