Hans Rosielle GRI

As a real estate agent living in Falcon, Co I often run into a lot of misunderstanding about this wonderful area, just North East of Colorado Springs. What is Falcon? Falcon is an unincorporated area in El Paso County. From days long gone Falcon was one of the many stops for the railroad. Traveling along Highway 24 you will find little communities spaced around 9 miles apart. These were the watering stops for the steam engines. The confusion comes mostly from the fact that when you want to send mail to any of the addresses, you have to address it to Peyton. Peyton is a little town just 9 miles North of Falcon.

People who want to buy a home in or around Colorado Springs, often skip Falcon, because it's considered too far East. Let's start by saying that "too far East" is relative. It all depends on what your reference point is. E.g. if you take Garden of the Gods as reference point, it could be true. However, if you take the Powers corridor (Powers being a major traffic artery on the East side of Colorado Springs) the earlier statement is not necessarily true. After all, too far depends a lot more than strictly distance. Commute times could be a factor as could be the distance to the place of work or Downtown or hospitals etc.

An example to show that Falcon is not all that far is the fact that it's relatively close to Peterson Air Force base as well as Schriever Air Force base. Each is about a 10-15 minute drive from the center of Falcon which is considered to be around the intersection of Woodmen Rd and Meridian Rd. From this same intersection it's about 30 minutes to Downtown Colorado Springs. It takes about 12 minutes to get to the Big Box stores on the East side of Colorado Springs.

You may wonder, what is the benefit of living in Falcon? For one, it's a small community that has started growing in the last 10-15 years. Currently about 13,000 people live in the area, at least half of which live in modern subdivisions. The rest of the Falcon residents live in a more rural setting. As Falcon is part of El Paso county, the sales tax rate is considerably lower than in neighboring Colorado Springs. Falcon is host to the second longest golf course (Antler Creek) in the United States. You still find mom and pop stores and restaurants in this area together with a few large stores like Safeway and Walmart. In general it's quiet with some exceptional views of both the mountains and the prairie. Living in Falcon is living away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, yet still close enough for those that seek crowds. Two of the main subdivisions (Meridian Ranch and Woodmen Hills) both boast trails and recreational centers with state of the art fitness equipment and pools.

Falcon offers for anybody a solution. If you want to live in a stick built home in suburbia Meridian Ranch or Woodmen Hills is your choice. If you'd like a little more country with large lots, Paint Brush Hills would be a good option. And if you would like horse property, either stick built or manufactured homes on 2.5 acres or more, just East of Highway 24 will give you a broad range of options.

Stay tuned for more information. The next blog will talk a little more about the developments that currently are taking place in the area, amongst which the possible incorporation of Falcon and a large symposium for non-profit service providers in the area.

If you are looking to move to the area, please visit http://www.propertymill.com to search for homes.

Anyone ever wondered why listing agents ask for showing feedback? Anyone recognize the following feedback?

- Buyer not interested,
- Home didn't suit their needs
- Love the house but they don't want to spend that much

And I'm sure you can find more of those, not to forget the agents that just don't give any feedback at all. In a positive view you can say that these agents have figured out that it's better not to say anything than fairly useless information.

In this day and age with the market as it is, it becomes more and more important to give GOOD feedback. As a group of professionals (if we can call ourselves that), we depend on each other to get homes sold. I regard it as a professional courtesy to give the best feedback possible so as to help the listing agent sell the home. If the home is cluttered, say so. If the home needs paint, say so. If you, the agent, feel the home is overpriced, say so. If you feel that the home needs updating, be specific.

We are all so busy that we just don't have time to help others by giving good feedback, NOT. When you treat this as a business,giving good feedback is part of it. You'd be surprised how that will help building your image as well. I'd rather negotiate a contract with someone I know is knowledgeable about what the possible shortcomings are to a home than with someone who is ignorant as to why certain homes are priced the way they are and takes a general approach to market prices.

Sure it is important to have the buyers' feedback as well. But please give us the courtesy of getting yours as well. After all, you are the professional, right?

As an industry we all benefit from helping each other. As I have heard it described: "Get by giving"
In todays world, a lot of sellers get to read the feedback directly as it is given by the showing agent. If they wanted to change agents, who do you think they'd pick? The one that gave constructive feedback or one of the ones in the examples above?

It may not yet be too late to add another resolution for 2011: I will give constructive feedback on every home I show so as to help the seller and the listing agent get a good picture of the competitiveness of the home in the market, in the process learning myself a great deal on what is important when selling a home.

I just had to delve into the old literature when my mind was challenged this morning by a post from a Facebook friend. My friend asked the world: "What have you learned lately?"

Recently I attended a training on how to become a speaker/trainer. It was a great experience and I can recommend anyone that feels that they have an inkling of talent in that direction, to pursue this. Not only can it be a very rewarding career choice, it also is a great venue to help lots of people at the same time. Helping other people is, in my believe, far more valuable and rewarding than the dollar amount that is put on it by some.

So did I become a speaker? Well, the answer to that question is not a straight yes or no. I did not get hired by the company giving the training, so that would be a no. Is that a bad thing? Not really as that is what prompted me to write this. If I want to come back and amend my character to what this certain company expects of me, there is a fair chance I could work for them. Which would jeopardize my integrity. Mind you reader that the company I am referring to fully adheres to the definition of integrity. There is no doubt in my mind it is a very integer group of people. Our ideas on what their speaker should be like may just be to far apart.

Integrity:
1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.
3. a sound, unimpaired, or of perfect condition: the integrity of a ships' hull.

So here is why this blog. In our society we use words like honesty and integrity fairly often. Not only do we use these words, but we also abuse them. The real estate industry has an image that is not often described as immaculate. Part of the problem is our behaviors when we are "doing" real estate.
In Colorado Springs and surrounding areas, in short called the Pikes Peak area, just like in the rest of CO we use a system of cooperation fees. These are fees that are paid by, in general, the seller, to the company of the agent that represents the buyer. It is safe to say that this system is used throughout Northern America.

You may wonder what that has to do with integrity. If everyone uses this system it is widely accepted after all. Seller pays, buyer agents receive. No problem, right?
WRONG!
Why? Because it puts pressure on the buyers' agent to advice the client to buy the home that offers a lower commission and is right for the buyer, compared to the home that generates more agent income but is not as right for that same buyer. An argument can be made that in the buyer agency agreement this is provided for in the language that discusses fees. Which is absolutely true. However, and here integrity comes into play, a lot of agents tell their prospective buyers that they don't have to worry about those fees, as the seller pays these most of the time. Not to mention that in negotiations the seller basically strongly influences the outcome because the buyer's agents' income is affected when they negotiate too hard.
Another moment when integrity comes into play is when the listing agent generates the buyer. Even though that is after all the object of the listing agent (generate a ready, willing and able buyer) they still feel compelled to charge the coop fee. Does it make it right that every one else does this? I can't answer that question for anyone but myself. In my company, Property Mill Real Estate Group LLC, we don't charge a coop fee when we provide the buyer for one of our listings. This saves the seller thousands. And when working with buyers we charge a fixed fee, to prevent negotiations being influenced by the income desire of the agent.

These are just a few thoughts. I'm hoping that by changing the fee structure in real estate we can jointly change the image that people have of us. Let's stop maintaining the image that we are all money hungry agents overcharging our clients. Remember, a lot of agents get into the industry because they have the perception this profession is easy, and so does the rest of the public.
So we either demonstrate to the public that our profession is far from easy or we bring our fees down to where it reflects the easiness the public perceives. My take on it is that if we make the fee structure warrant a truly independent representation of the client, we are going to be on track to create a better image.

Hans Rosielle, GRI
http://www.propertymill.com

Last week, on a Saturday, I received a call on my cell phone at about 5:30 PM. I have always been of the opinion that if you're doing something, be it with clients or family, don't answer the phone. I am not and refuse to be one of those agents that feel that we should be available 24/7, no matter what time of day or night it is. Don't get me wrong, I used to be exactly that way and I would advertise it to the public. Until I came to the conclusion that, if I wanted to be a professional, I should act like one. Your doctor or attorney is not available at every whim of their clients. Why would a real estate agent be? For me the change was fairly easy as I do want to stay married to my wife. As I'm certainly not a bigamist, marriage to my work is not an option. I work to live and not the other way around. Does that mean I'm less passionate about what I do? Certainly not. I've just implemented a few rules for myself. One of them being that I don't answer the phone after 7PM. If it's really important, the caller will leave a message and I may still call back within minutes.

So there it was, the phone rang and I was not doing anything with my family or clients at that time. I answered the phone. The caller was a very nice sounding lady (and having met her now, she truly is very nice) who asked me if I could help her and her husband buy a house. As the conversation went on I learned that they are an older couple who really want to find a one level home in the Colorado Springs area, so they don't have to walk stairs anymore in their Fountain home. As it went, they also wanted to list their home as soon as they found their new home. I know, that's the world upside down in real estate world. You sell first, then buy, but hey, that's not a conversation to have on the phone. So I asked if they would meet with me. I could come see their house, and maybe give them an idea of the value and further explore their needs and then see if there is a future of us working together.

What really surprised me when I asked that question was that, not only was she happy to have me come over, but that I was the first agent that had actually suggested that. Obviously she had called several agents and not one of them had offered her to consult them on their plans. The housing market in Colorado Springs, CO is not all that good that agents can just let business pass by their door. Our most recent statistics over October 2010 show a decline in closings of 19% compared to the same period last year, as it also did in September. Nothing to write home about, even though our inventory level is lower than the national average.

I've been wondering about why then nobody made an appointment. And the only feasible explanation I can come up with is that the clients indicated that they want to buy before they sell. Yet that seems still odd as a lot of the customers need at least some, if not a lot of, education on the process. I guess I'll just stop breaking my head over it and delight in the fact that obviously there is so much business out there, that my competition can afford it to not be on their best game when a call comes in.

If you're a customer, try it out some day. If you don't want to go through this, than just call me. You can find me at http://www.propertymill.com.

If you're one of those agents that is doing so well that they can afford not being on their game, wait for future announcements. I may be able to help you get your game back.