Homes for sale in Colorado Springs have some interesting differences from other areas of the country, and I thought I would describe some of them here.
#1. Colorado Springs homes usually have some kind of usable basement, and as a result, square footage published on most real estate web sites, and by the Realtors, includes the basement. This can make a big difference if you are coming from, say California, where earthquakes preclude such things. A 2,000 square foot ranch style home here will like have an additional 2000 square foot basement, often finished, making it a 4,000 square foot home. Also, our dry climate makes the space much more usable than say, the Midwest, where summer humidity can make for mold problems in basements. Our MLS is set up so we can search based on total square footage, finished square footage or "above grade" square footage, but most of the public access sites do not have this ability, so it can be confusing sometimes.
#2. Colorado Springs homes run on the newer side. Almost half (47.7%) of the 6,342 homes for sale here (as of May 22, 2008) were built since 1998. Only 25.9% were built prior to 1978. So our homes tend to be fairly current with energy code and building technologies, such as roofing materials, windows, etc.
#3 Colorado Springs homes use different materials than some other areas. Brick is a little pricier here, so stucco and stone, and Masonite type siding products tend to be more popular. Painted siding is not a favorite from a maintenance standpoint, as our strong sun and wind tends to require repainting every 5 years or so, but it is still used a lot because of the lower cost. We do not see as much vinyl siding as you’d expect. I have never heard a real good discussion on this, but it may have to do with hail and wind vulnerability.
#4 Our yards tend to have fewer and smaller trees than some other areas of the country. This is generally because of climate issues (it takes a lot more time and effort to get them to grow in our dry climate), but also because of soil conditions. Many areas have poor soil, and without soil augmentation and lots of TLC, the trees just don’t want to grow. We plant them with every new house, but after 5 years, they are often barely beyond saplings still. Sometimes trees are deliberately left out to preserve a Pikes Peak view. My home is 15 years old, and we have some sizable trees now.
#5 Most (53.8% currently) of our homes offer (or claim to offer!) a view of the mountains. The rest often still have a great view from the neighborhood for an evening walk, but not from the house itself.