COLORADO SPRINGS — Even with a slowed economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, Colorado continues to grow at lightning speed, putting a strain on the housing market, and keeping local real estate agents on their toes.
For Realtor Aidan Pena, the curveballs started coming fast.
“I had no clue COVID was gonna hit,” Pena said. No foresight of that.”
He only became a licensed Realtor in January, not giving him much time to brace for the COVID-19’s impact.
“It slowed down the market a little bit, but my team is strong, we pushed through it,” he said.
In fact, even in these uncertain times, one thing still is certain. Houses are hard to come by in Colorado Springs.
“We have about 650 listings, so not that many when you consider we have about 700,000 people living in the Springs now,” Pena said.
Even while other markets might be down, that’s not the case here.
“Colorado Springs was ranked as one of the top three cities for real estate in the entire nation.”
Last week, U.S. News and World Report ranked Colorado Springs the fourth best place to live in the country. On top of that, the city has another major attractor that isn’t so dependent on the economy.
“Military obviously,” Pena said. “Their stationary duties are being released, they’re able to move now.”
So how fast are homes selling?
“This is the first day on the market [for this house]; already have a contract on it,” he said.
One open house was all it took.
“Yup one day on the market,” he said.
With all that in mind, Realtors here can’t let COVID-19 get in the way of getting people into homes.
“Open houses are a little different,” Pena said. “We usually can have a couple groups in. But for showings, we try to limit it to one group at a time.”
Taking all the precautions to keep the market moving.
“Our team… we like to set up hand sanitizer, masks, gloves sometimes, wipe down surfaces,” he said.
