Colorado Real Estate Listings

What is the best way to get quick and easy access to Colorado real estate listings?

You could of course sign up on one of the many sites that individual brokers have these days. Yet if you have not yet committed to working with that broker, and do not want to have agents contacting you right away, what do you do?

Two sites that don't require a broker sign-in page include www.recolorado.com and of course realtor.com. For Northern Colorado, including Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Longmont & Boulder, you may wish to visit www.coloproperty.com. These sites provide access to most of the active listings, and provide the seller agent contact information. Of course, as a buyer, you don't want to be calling up the seller's agent to get further information on a property of interest to you. The seller's agent is under a contractual obligation to get the best price and terms for the seller. However, it is a good way to get a sense of the market if you are just considering moving.

These kinds of Colorado real estate listings are only helpful to people for a short time however. They will not include expired listings or sold property listings you could use for comparison purposes. Each time you wish to search for property, you have to start all over again.

Generally the next step for buyers is to interview several Realtors, and pick out their buyer agent. Your buyer agent will then make the access to current listings much easier for you. Exclusive buyer agents often have sophisticated listing programs that can be set up to look for properties that meet your specific criteria, and alert you to them on a daily basis via email. You can get quite detailed with your criteria, so that if you know a ranch, single-floor home is the only thing you'd want to consider buying, you won't waste your time pouring through listings of multilevel homes.

What about for sale by owner (FSBO) listings? Generally, because exclusive buyer agents specialize in working only with buyers and don't make any money at all unless their buyer finds a good deal on a property, they tend to have more access to for sale by owner and not yet listed properties. FSBO owners are usually trying to save money on the marketing end of their property and understand that most buyers have agents representing them. Therefore, a FSBO owner is very happy to look at the offer presented by your buyer's agent. You buyer's agent has the very best access to the best FSBO web sites. Typically they also have admin staff who constantly inventory the FSBO properties so you can have access to this segment of the market as well. In some communities FSBO properties may make up as much as 30% of all available listings-- you wouldn't want to miss out on these.

Some buyer agents in the association have even developed their own mapping software that gives and easy visual understanding of neighborhoods and what is for sale now with addresses and prices, and what sold in the last 6 months. This way, you can see price trends within specific neighborhoods, or see how much a house on a quiet street compares price-wise with the same style house a block away that is on a busy street.

Once you have access to ALL properties for sale through your buyer's agent, you can start selecting what looks good to you. Your buyer's agent will then help you cull down the list even further by sharing with you what they know about that particular neighborhood, and what is planned for the area. They can help you find out if commercial expansion or environmental hazards are nearby. They will look at the property with you to help you do a quick assessment of the property condition and about how much repairs or upgrades might cost.

Getting access to Colorado real estate listings is the first step that will bring you about 10% into the process of buying. The rest of the process is fun and exciting and comfortable if you have a great agent working for you. Call or email our association staff today to get a list of brokers for your desired area!