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Finding Your Dream Home in Colorado Springs, Academy School District 20, Tip #7:  Amenities


Many listing agents in Colorado Springs do a great job of accurately describing the extras a buyer will find with a specific property.  Other listing agents simply provide the basic information required by the local multi-list service.  This is particularly true with foreclosure, bank-owned, and REO properties.

So buyers may not know that a property has such extras as: a storage shed, surround sound, a trash compactor, a very long garage particularly attractive for buyers with extended cab or longer bed trucks, built ins, cat-5 wiring, etc.

There are a few easy ways to find properties with lots of attractive extras compared to other properties at similar prices that don’t have the extra amenities.  These include:

1)    Having the buyer’s agent preview properties so that those who are “vanilla,” or limited in amenities or upgrades can be ruled out ahead of time;

2)    Having the buyer’s agent take pictures of specific extras so the buyer has a sense of the attractiveness or usefulness of the extra;

3)    Having the buyer’s agent contact the listing agent to review amenities and extras;

4)    And of course, there’s always the effort to personally tour every listing in the buyer’s price range.

Since we specialize in Academy School District 20 and our buyers’ number one criteria are typically the schools in the area of a property, we know they may not take the extra step to determine the homes’ special extras.  We do that for them either by taking pictures, or providing written descriptions. 

We also confirm descriptions provided by listing agents who may have made a property sound a little better than it really is in person.


For more information on buying in Academy School District 20, Colorado Springs, look for our other top ten tips on home buying!

Tip #1Price

Tip #2 Location

Tip #3 Lot Size and Privacy

Tip #4 Floor Plan

Tip #5 Home Inspection - Buying or Selling

Tip #6 Room Sizes

What a bear of a day!

On Sunday as I was trying to squeeze in the last of the Colorado Springs Parade Homes, I was touring a great home built by Silverwood Homes on Cheyenne Summer View.  As I looked out the sliding glass door to take in the incredible view of Colorado Springs, I couldn't believe my eyes.  A black bear was climbing over the retaining wall.  As I stumbled over my words and fumbled for my phone to take a picture, everyone else in the house just kept walking away, I guess they thought I was nuts.  Eventually, most of them turned around and joined me on the deck.  I was able to at least capture this not-so-good shot/evidence with my Blackberry.  Now it was about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and to the left of this bear is a large retirement community.  I'm not so sure having a bear in the back yard of your new low maintenance home is a good selling feature.  What do you think?

Colorado Springs Thunder Storm Caught on Digital

We just had a thunder storm roll through and my son insisted on sitting on the patio to take photos of the lightening.  To my surprise he actually caught a lightening bolt and only wasted about 10 shots (digital film - so easy to hit the "delete").  It was a good shower for the grass and plants.

Finding Your Dream Home in Colorado Springs, Academy School District 20, Tip #6:  Room Sizes

Buyers in Academy School District 20 in Colorado Springs are often fooled into thinking that a property has a lot of livable space.  This generally results when photos of the property are taken at angles which make rooms look bigger.

We always suggest to our buyers that they study the room sizes provided on the listing.  While not always to the inch-accurate, room sizes can give a buyer a perspective on how much livability the space has for their family and its very personal needs.  A buyer might, for example, see that a home has 4 bedrooms all of which are around 12 X 12.  A buyer can then relate this space to bedrooms in their existing home to determine if this square footage provides enough room for their needs.

Lot size can also be tricky.  Most listings tell the buyer how big the lot is in square feet or acre percentages.  Buyers must remember that the total square feet of the property’s improvements (house and garages; patios and decks, etc.) will be covering part of the lot’s square footage.  In addition, landscaping techniques can either add to the use of a lot or detract from it.

Some of these issues can be seen on property pictures; for example, if the picture of a yard shows a dense growth of Scrub Oak trees, the useable lot space will be much less than if the property had a dense growth of tall pines.  Corner properties can also be misleading in that the lot is exposed to two streets and, therefore, may have less private lot space.

So, we tell our buyers that the only way to know what they’re looking at is to look at it in person.  We seldom show buyers properties that they have not driven by so they know that the property provides the curb appeal and useable lot space that they want.


For more information on buying in Academy School District 20, Colorado Springs, look for our other top ten tips on home buying!

Tip #1Price

Tip #2 Location

Tip #3 Lot Size and Privacy

Tip #4 Floor Plan

Tip #5 Home Inspection - Buying or Selling

Finding Your Dream Home in Colorado Springs, Academy School District 20, Tip #5:  Home Inspection - Buying or Selling

Once a buyer and seller have agreed to a price and are officially under contract, the buyer hires a home inspector to determine the true condition of the home, not just how the house showed when they were touring.  This means that all systems (electrical, mechanical, plumbing), materials (flooring, roofing, walls, etc.) fixtures (lighting, countertops, jetted tub, cupboards, etc.), appliances, (dishwasher, microwave, etc.), and amenities (hot tub, garage door openers, etc.) are tested and inspected.

We also suggest to our sellers in Colorado Springs, that they have their homes inspected prior to listing.  This way the seller is more aware of the condition of the home and material defects of the home and aren't surprised during the inspection phase when they have a buyer.  If there are problems, the seller can decide if they want to make the repairs before listing the property, so it is seen in its best condition.  However, because Colorado is a full disclosure state, if defects are discovered that the seller chooses not to repair, the seller is then obligated to disclose these items to future buyers on the sellers' property disclosure.  So, it is a toss up if an inspection is the right thing to do.  If the property is properly maintained and the sellers' have the funds to make repairs, then an inspection is probably the bast course of action. When a property is pre-inspected, and repairs made, this is a good selling point and is identified as such in the MLS for the buyer's agents to see.  It also allows the seller to negotiate a higher sales price.

When properties are pre-inspected, it can often save time and money on the part of the buyer during the inspection phase of the negotiations.  If the inspector is properly licensed, they may be a good choice for the buyer to re-inspect the property and may offer a discount to the buyer.  We don't always recommend this to our buyer, it really depends on the inspector and the quality of the original inspection, but it may be an option.

For more information on buying in Academy School District 20, Colorado Springs, look for our other top ten tips on home buying!

Tip #1Price

Tip #2 Location

Tip #3 Lot Size and Privacy

Tip #4 Floor Plan

I am a big fan of Gary Keller ever since I saw him speak at Family Reunion in 2007.  He started Keller Williams Realty using a different business model that has proven to be very successful and as a result, has allowed Keller Williams to grow in today's market while other major companies are shrinking.  Gary's book, THE SHIFT, provides real estate agents advice on how to shift tactics in a down trending market.  Mark Hall from Vancouver provides some key points from THE SHIFT.

Nancy Murray

Murray Knoll Parners
Keller Williams Clients' Choice
Colorado Springs
719-964-4810

Finding Your Dream Home In Colorado Springs, Academy School District 20, Tip #4: Floor Plan


Picking a floorplan that works for your family is one of the first steps to finding a new home in Academy School District 20.  At the most basic level, knowing if you are looking for a ranch style floor plan, two story, or tri-level.  Most homes in Colorado Springs have basements suitable for finishing as liveable space.  Many homes have bedrooms and recreational areas in the basement, which is often a pleasant surprise for buyers coming from other parts of the country where the high water table or rock foundation prevents building homes with basements.

When defining the search criteria for our clients it is very important to identify the floorplan "must haves."  For instance, if all the bedrooms must be on the same level or if the office must be on the main level, these are criteria we can often build into the search to eliminate the homes that don't meet these criteria.  This helps to make the search more efficient from day one.  

When setting up a custom property website populated from the Colorado Springs MLS, buyers have the opportunity to sort through the properties, “Save or Tag” homes as “Favorites, Possibilities, or Rejects” as well as save notes for each listing.  We encourage our clients to use all the special features of their property web sites to tag homes as they sort through them.  When they tag a home as a “reject” then as changes occur to this property, it doesn’t show up on their website again.  However, favorites do, so they know when updates, such as price changes, occur to their favorite properties. 

As buyers sort through their properties they will notice that sometimes the builder's name and model is identified.  If the home is newer construction they may be able to research the builder's floorplans online.  Once they find the floorplan online, they can study the floorplan for room loaction, room size and room description. 

Unfortunately, most listings do not have a floorplan listed nor included with the Colorado Springs MLS, so determining the layout of the home is not always known prior to visiting the home.  When several pictures are provided with the listing, sometimes the layout can be deciphered from the pictures, but not always.  So, when there are specific requirements for floorplans, sometimes the only way to know if the home meets your needs is to physically visit the home with a qualified real estate agent like Murray Knoll Partners.


For more information on buying in Academy School District 20, Colorado Springs, look for our other top ten tips on home buying!

Tip #1Price

Tip #2 Location

Tip #3 Lot Size and Privacy

Colorado Springs, Safe City for Kids

As if you didn't need another reason to move to Colorado Springs...

According to Men's Health Magazine, Colorado Springs ranks #8 as the safest city for kids.  The ranking is based on accidental death rates for kids ages 5 to 14 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), number of car-seat inspection locations per child (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), sex offenders per capita (state and national registries), percentage of abused children protected from further abuse (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), and the strength of child-restraint laws and bike-helmet laws (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety).

"It's the happiest time of the year!" Today's the first day of school!

My boys are getting a little tired of me singing/humming that familiar Staples tune.  Remember that commercial of the dad pushing the cart down the isle pulling all the school supplies off the shelf in jubilation while his kids walked behind him with the biggest frowns.  Today was the first day of school for Academy School District 20 in Colorado Springs.  Hard to believe, but the school buses were on the streets and the school signs were flashing yellow.  My boys start tomorrow because today was the first day for 6th and 9th graders for middle school and high school.