Colorado Real Estate Agent Doles Out Advice

Angie Adams has been a real estate agent for 27 years in the Pikes Peak region, which means she’s learned the Colorado Springs housing market has more ups and downs than a Broadmoor mansion with front and back staircases.
During a red-hot market several years ago, she listed a house for sale and, the next day, was presented with an offer from another real estate agent who delivered it to her home — tucking it underneath her doormat sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

Fast forward to today, when sales have slowed and homes for sale are abundant. Buyers might find 40 homes that match their desired price, location and amenities; three or four years ago, their choices would have been limited to maybe six or eight, Adams said.

“Buyers used to narrow down their choices much faster,” she said. “They don’t now. They want to see more. There’s just more to see.”

In fact, the number of homes listed for sale in July soared to more than 7,000 — a record high for a single month. Home sales, however, fell by double digits last month from a year ago.

At a time when a downturn has created opportunities for Colorado mortgage borrowers and heartbreak for sellers, perhaps nobody understands the market better than real estate agents — especially the veterans.

For Adams, a mortgage broker associate with ERA Shields Real Estate in the Springs, today’s market means delivering blunt news to sellers that the price they want to ask might be unrealistic given the fierce competition, while spending hours and hours with buyers who want to see all the homes that fit their price range, not just a handful.

“I don’t want to appear like my head is in the sand or I’m not aware of what’s going on,” Adams said. “That doesn’t serve me or my clients very well. But certainly, it’s a challenging market.

“And it speaks to the fact that as a buyer and seller’s representative,” she said, “we need to be very realistic. And, candidly, it speaks to the fact that buyers and sellers also need to be realistic.”

A HARD SELL
Even when Adams tries, however, some sellers don’t listen. She puts them in the “yes, but” category. When she explains why they must lower their asking price to compete in the market, Adams often hears something like: “Yes, but my house has a beautiful yard,” or “yes, but my house has a three-car garage,” or “yes, but my views are better.”

“It will sink them,” Adams said. “The ‘yes, but’ typically means they’re pricing it over the marketplace.”

The toughest part of dealing with sellers has become the time after the for-sale sign is stuck in the front lawn. In the past, that was like ringing a dinner bell. Now, the result sometimes is few showings, little interest and no offers.

“I’m preparing them now to wait,” Adams said of representing some sellers. “And that’s probably the biggest disappointment.”

But she won’t represent everybody. Part of today’s housing market means telling sellers when the price they want to ask is just too high.

Adams said she’s walked away from some listings when potential clients wouldn’t take her advice on the asking price. Other times, she concedes, she’s accepted a listing even when the price was too high.

“As agents, I don’t think we do that enough,” she said of walking away. “I’m not good enough to sell property $50,000 over the market.”

SLEEP ON IT
A few years ago, mortgage loan applicants she represented who wanted to purchase a new home would walk into a builder’s model and be treated nicely, Adams said.

But when she took a househunting couple to a builder’s model recently, they were showered with cookies and bottles of water and plenty of attention. After the couple left, the builder’s representatives kept calling.

“Not that they haven’t been nice, they always have,” Adams said of the builder. “But they were very, very accommodating. It was apparent they had a product they wanted to sell.”

SOURCE: The Colorado Springs Gazette