Happy Star Wars Day everyone! Plus what's happening with Houses in Colorado Springs

​I don't usually send out a personal update, like ever, but I thought it would be nice to just say a few words, since I felt like it!

Real estate in Colorado Springs is on fire, as you probably know, but if you don't, and I don't think anybody really knows how intense the seller's market here is, until you're actually in it, submitting offers, or receiving them. Then you finally get to see just how nuts people are getting for a house here, and in a lot of the country right now.

I have a Star Wars workout for kids I've been waiting to do with my son!

Rates are also being kept artificially low by our government, until 2023 I believe, and right now they're at like 2.85% (Zillow told me).

And it's like musical chairs here, with no speculative buys. What I mean is, no one is doing fix n flips, or investments, right now, in Colorado Springs, because there's not enough ROI for that, with so many buyers circling to find a chair to sit in before the song ends.

It is a market of listings that get 5-20 offers, or more, and often go for 20-30k over asking, or more. It's a market where buyers who have all cash, or at least enough to cover any appraisal gap in price, are usually the winning house bidders.

And the value just keeps rising here. And what does that mean? Does that mean that we're getting closer to a housing bubble? Are we on the edge of a market crash?

My short answer is I don't know. I've spent a lot of time looking at real estate, locally in Colorado Springs, statewide, and nationally. I've been watching our economy, watching what investors are doing with speculative risk options versus treasury bonds, watching the cost of lumber, and why it's on the rise, listening to economists' and other real estate agents' observations, and after all of that, you know what?

I don't know.

My longer answer is this: Whatever the rest of the country is doing, and even doing away with whatever the rest of Colorado is doing, Colorado Springs is doing wonderfully well. We have a mayor who is focused on building our city's economy, we have alluring tax incentives for businesses, we have 5 military bases with a constant stream of income from the work that generates here.

We have Pikes Peak (that view, whooeeee), we have hiking, we have a dog lover's state, we have off-roading, we have growing commercial areas, constant new build growth, Amazon's distribution center, SouthWest Airlines, businesses popping up to take advantage of the population growth, like Scheel's In-N-Out, Krispy Kreme, Top Golf, and more.

We have the Olympic Training Center. We have athletes who come here specifically to train in our altitude. We have all the seasons. We have the dry climate. We have a libertarian attitude in our politics.

Colorado Springs used to be a little known secret, but the word has gotten out, and it's grown a lot bigger, and a lot more expensive, and I don't see any reason for things to stop growing. The natural beauty of the city's landscape isn't going to change, and the job availability for anyone with experience in IT/cybersecurity and security or defense based jobs is good.

A house in the Springs I could afford three years ago I couldn't afford today. How nuts is that?

I do think we're going to level out in the growth, to a more steady increase in home values. I don't think this insane increase will last forever, but I do think it's going to last a bit longer, maybe 3-5 year? I don't have any reason to believe that, but I feel like there's nothing stopping this sharp increase in home values for a while.

What does that make your home worth today? How much is your dream home worth now, compared to what it was a few years ago? Do you have a dream home you keep an eye on? If not, it's fun! Mine is at 9140 Mountain Rd, in Cascade.

If you're interested in finding out what your home is worth now, ask me! I'm happy to look into it, lots of people are shocked to learn how much of an increase they've had in equity.

If you think someone else would like to know what their house is worth, share this post with them. I'm happy to share what I know!

Oh, and May the Fourth Be With You!

 - Kevin Bond