LivPortland Network: Meet Benjamin Day - Your Guide to Colorado Springs Real Estate Market

Summary:
Join Joe and Makayla as they delve into the vibrant world of Colorado Springs real estate with special guest Benjamin Day, managing broker of Liv Sotheby's in Colorado Springs. From market trends to insider tips, this episode offers a comprehensive look at one of America's most dynamic real estate landscapes.

Episode Highlights:

• Explore the unique charm and pace of life in Colorado Springs, from breathtaking trails to iconic landmarks.
• Gain insights into the current real estate market trends and inventory dynamics shaping Colorado Springs.
• Discover must-visit spots and hidden gems for dining, recreation, and exploration in the area.
• Uncover Benjamin Day's journey from a mountain time zone native to becoming a top-producing broker in Colorado Springs.

Looking to buy or sell in Colorado Springs? Reach out to Benjamin Day  for expert guidance and personalized service. Visit LivPortland.com for more information.

Thank you for listening to this episode. Stay up to date on the latest trends and insights by subscribing to our podcast and following us on social media.

For more information about buying or selling in the Portland Metro real estate market, please visit www.LivPortland.com or contact us directly.

We appreciate your feedback, so please leave a review and let us know what topics you would like to hear more about.

Transcript

 00:00:08:13 - 00:00:31:17

Joe Reitzug

Welcome to Off the Record Talking Real Estate with Joe and Makayla. If you're interested in the Portland, Oregon real estate market and want the unvarnished inside scoop, you've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. We are here today with Benjamin Day, who is the managing broker of Liv Sotheby’s in Colorado Springs.

00:00:31:17 - 00:00:36:00

Joe Reitzug

And just a little insight. He's also my cousin. 

00:00:36:01 - 00:00:41:23

Benjamin Day

One of the reasons that I am with the brand and my friend is behind the microphone here in Portland.

00:00:42:01 - 00:00:42:23

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Did you know that?

00:00:43:04 - 00:00:46:11

Makayla Mast

I did. But it's good for our listeners to know. I think it's fun.

00:00:46:14 - 00:00:47:05

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00:00:47:06 - 00:00:52:22

Benjamin Day

If I were to lose the beard, the resemblance would be so much greater.

00:00:53:00 - 00:00:53:12

Joe Reitzug

It would be.

00:00:53:13 - 00:00:56:21

Makayla Mast

You should do one of those apps, right? It takes it off. I'd love to see 

00:00:56:21 - 00:01:03:07

Benjamin Day

Could. We could, you know, we could have top ten applications for realtors and headshot, stuff like that.

00:01:03:09 - 00:01:11:22

Joe Reitzug

About 30 days ago, we would look very similar. I had I have almost the same exact beard as you do with around the chin. Yeah. Yeah.

00:01:12:00 - 00:01:13:00

Benjamin Day

Thanks.

00:01:13:02 - 00:01:15:18

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. I don't wear it as well as you do, though, so.

00:01:15:23 - 00:01:26:04

Benjamin Day

Well, no. Yeah, I got to compensate for it somewhere. I got nothing on top.

00:01:26:06 - 00:01:47:09

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. We've been running around doing all sorts of crazy stuff around the United States for many, many decades. Mostly at family, family reunions. And your mom and dad were kind enough to host many years in Denver, and, my gosh, those were such good times. I look at those with so many fond memories.

00:01:47:11 - 00:01:55:07

Benjamin Day

Yeah, they were very good. And you hosted the last one, which was 2016. So you were just talking about that.

00:01:55:09 - 00:01:57:21

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, we went out to Manzanita.

00:01:57:23 - 00:01:58:14

Makayla Mast

so fun.

00:01:58:14 - 00:02:00:23

Joe Reitzug

It was awesome.. It was really cool Working Cousins

00:02:01:03 - 00:02:09:10

Benjamin Day

Wonder if you had one tentatively planned here for Colorado Springs in 2020. But then something happened and what? Yeah, have it. Yeah.

00:02:09:12 - 00:02:12:03

Joe Reitzug

That little fun thing. Yeah. The one thing.

00:02:12:05 - 00:02:15:16

Makayla Mast

Ben, were you born and raised in Colorado Springs?

00:02:15:18 - 00:02:34:15

Benjamin Day

I am a mountain time zone native is how I most generously refer to myself. So I grew up in Denver, south side of Denver, and I went to Colorado College here in Colorado Springs, had a two and a half year dalliance in the fly fishing industry in the Lake Highlands and started in real estate in Springs in 99.

00:02:34:17 - 00:02:41:15

Benjamin Day

So I've effectively lived in this things for the last three decades, the better part of that. So this is my 25th year in real estate.

00:02:41:16 - 00:02:45:21

Joe Reitzug

What is the thing about Colorado Springs that people need to know?

00:02:45:23 - 00:03:04:06

Benjamin Day

Well, I mean, it's a good base camp. I mean, I think that's probably the best way of referring it. You know, Denver right now has basically everything. Denver is not a huge city, but it has the sixth busiest airport on the planet and the second busiest in North America. There's a big concert scene. There's a big sports scene.

00:03:04:06 - 00:03:23:01

Benjamin Day

There's all sorts of shopping that you would have that's there. And then the springs is just the less type-A version, about an hour down I-25 to the south. So we're just a lot it's a it's a slower pace of life that you have here. There's far less traffic. There is a huge interface in the city with open space trails.

00:03:23:01 - 00:03:40:20

Benjamin Day

We actually have more trails per capita than Boulder does. We also have a much larger population than Boulder does. So, I mean, there's a lot of a very active outdoor lifestyle that's here. We're just considerably more casual than Denver to the north. But whenever you need that that Denver fix, it's 60 minutes away.

00:03:40:22 - 00:03:52:22

Joe Reitzug

That's so cool. That is really cool. And what are the areas that that you serve that your officers are you guys mostly just the springs or do you guys go up to Denver to sell?

00:03:53:00 - 00:04:13:13

Benjamin Day

You know, I would say over 95, 96% of our sales are El Paso County, which is where Colorado Springs is. And then we do a little bit up the pass, as we call it, in Teller County, where Woodland Park is located in Green Mountain Falls, we had a $3 million ranch that we sold last year up in Divide, which is just past Woodland Park.

00:04:13:15 - 00:04:31:09

Benjamin Day

So I mean, on special occasions will go a little bit further in other directions. But we  generally stay about a half hour from downtown Colorado Springs, north and south, and then about one hour to the west is where we go. So some of the other cities that you might have heard of perhaps would be Monument and Manitou.

00:04:31:11 - 00:04:50:22

Benjamin Day

We go Falcon to the east and some the communities that we have that we do a lot. And our Broadmoor up near the Air Force Academy flying. Yeah. Jason Campbell's Garden of the Gods downtown. We're a big area now. I mean, the Springs, El Paso County is a large county. It's, it's in Denver about Pasco County take turns.

00:04:51:00 - 00:04:51:09

Benjamin Day

So there's a.

00:04:51:09 - 00:04:53:05

Joe Reitzug

Lot that's like a huge area to cover.

00:04:53:07 - 00:04:58:07

Benjamin Day

Yeah. Geographically, it's. It's enormous. Yeah. Yeah, it's a very large area.

00:04:58:08 - 00:05:09:18

Joe Reitzug

So what are the current market trends in Colorado Springs? What's happening? Are you guys seeing more inventory come up or are you guys, you know, seeing prices start to inch back up where are you guys at with things?.

00:05:09:18 - 00:05:37:08

Benjamin Day

We had we took it on the chin in the second half of 22, like a lot of places did with a pretty major price correction. And we inched our way back entirely. So for the year, our MLS, the average price was up $3,000 over 22. It's a nominal amount. So $539k was the average price for El Paso County last year, but we were down 24% units and it was the fewest units that we had seen in recorded MLS history.

00:05:37:08 - 00:05:47:21

Benjamin Day

And that goes back to 2006. But my guess is you'd have to go back to 95 or 96 to have fewer listings. So it was kind of a nonparticipating market last year.

00:05:48:00 - 00:06:02:11

Joe Reitzug

That was what we were seeing as well. People just kind of went to the sidelines and said, Yeah, interest rates, consumer confidence, we're not going to, you know, mess with this right now. And then we got to the holidays and people were like that time to, you know, take it even slower.

00:06:02:11 - 00:06:28:14

Benjamin Day

Yeah, there's some pent up demand on both buy sides and listings sides because life goes on, you know, and what we saw is gone, what we've seen since the 1st of December. Right now we have about 1360 active listings and around 960 that are under contract. That's going to be a squeeze. Yeah. So that number that's for sale is about 500 fewer than it was the first December.

00:06:28:16 - 00:06:36:13

Benjamin Day

And the number that's under contract is about 150, 200 units more than the 1st of December. 

00:06:36:15 - 00:06:39:03

Joe Reitzug

Do you know what your months of inventory is right now?

00:06:39:09 - 00:06:55:22

Benjamin Day

Technically speaking, I mean, January is going to be the slowest month of the year for closed sales. If you measure an off a sold, we're going to be at about two and a half, 2.7 months of inventory. But when you look at it on the actives to the pending, you can see that the immediacy of the market right now is a lot tighter.

00:06:56:00 - 00:06:56:22

Joe Reitzug

Interesting.

00:06:57:00 - 00:06:59:20

Makayla Mast

What should buyers know about your marketplace with that?

00:06:59:23 - 00:07:17:14

Benjamin Day

They need to shop with the strategy first and foremost. You know, Colorado Springs has a lot of great views and a lot of great access to trails and open space and those sorts of things. And that can be the eye candy that's listing a house. You know, you want to make sure that what you're looking at is reality is the best thing that's there.

00:07:17:19 - 00:07:45:18

Benjamin Day

One of our big phrases is to go slow so that we can go fast and spending a good hour of quality time before you get going. It's a ninja statement, Joe, but that idea of the strategy session I think is so helpful. You know, I mean, this weekend I was out with buyers and we had a good hour and a half that we spent on Tuesday last week, and we went out and looked at two properties on Saturday and we're waiting for a counter on one of them.

00:07:45:18 - 00:07:52:09

Benjamin Day

We've got an offer that's out. So I mean, we want to make both time well spent so that they know what they're looking for properly.

00:07:52:11 - 00:07:58:19

Joe Reitzug

Right. And that's a good reminder. Colorado Springs is the home of Ninja, which is.

00:07:59:00 - 00:08:10:04

Benjamin Day

Fort Collins is. But liv is the home of Ninja for Sotheby's International Realty. So we're the ones who are big pals with Larry Campbell. So. Yeah.

00:08:10:06 - 00:08:21:10

Joe Reitzug

And Larry's such a great guy. They do an amazing job there. And boy, they're just a powerhouse with how how they push that message out. And I think it's a great message for our industry.

00:08:21:10 - 00:08:41:04

Benjamin Day

liv made the commitment with us as managing brokers that we went through a three year certified ninja management program. And so we got all of our certifications done last July. So every managing broker throughout liv has gone through. So we're, we're, we're kind of drank the Kool-Aid with three hands, if you can, you know. But yeah.

00:08:41:06 - 00:09:00:08

Joe Reitzug

I went through that about ten years ago and got certified. Obviously, my memory fades, so I haven't, you know, taught it in forever. But that was one of the best things that I ever did. And the people that went through it and dedicated them themselves to it sure got a great foundation.

00:09:00:08 - 00:09:17:01

Benjamin Day

So, you know, the big part about it for us is that we want to help realtors not have jobs but have a business and that there's something and ability that they can have to it and that they can exercise something to it rather than just whatever the forces of the marketplace actually are. So just on the realtor side of it, that makes better realtors.

00:09:17:01 - 00:09:20:09

Benjamin Day

When realtors are happy, their consumers are happier.

00:09:20:11 - 00:09:33:11

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, Yeah, exactly. You mentioned that your price points about $540k on average. Yeah. Affordable city probably drops at about 375 400 I'm guessing about there.

00:09:33:13 - 00:09:56:06

Benjamin Day

I mean, the big advantage that we have is that we have a very low property taxes in Colorado relative to other locations, but it's being offset that we're now one of the top five states for insurance rates, you know, right up against the front range for against a lot of national forest. Yeah. And then we have this thing called hail.

00:09:56:08 - 00:10:01:02

Benjamin Day

I can't remember if that ever interrupted a family reunion or not, but they're pretty much pretty.

00:10:01:02 - 00:10:06:01

Joe Reitzug

Already say it did It was like baseball size or something. You guys get massive hail. 

00:10:06:01 - 00:10:11:04

Benjamin Day

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get that Texas stuff in Colorado. Yeah.

00:10:11:06 - 00:10:12:01

Makayla Mast

I did not know that.

00:10:12:02 - 00:10:19:11

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Crazy. yeah. Well, all that beauty and everything has to be offset by by something, right?

00:10:19:13 - 00:10:23:03

Benjamin Day

It is. We, as we've said for years, tis a privilege to live in Colorado.

00:10:23:06 - 00:10:45:05

Joe Reitzug

I'm coming to town looking to buy a home. I'm on a survey out there, and the thing that I always like to talk to people about besides, you know, their real estate needs and what they're doing is where are the best places to go get a good dinner? Colorado Springs. I mean, you're sending someone I'm coming to town to buy a home.

00:10:45:05 - 00:10:52:19

Joe Reitzug

I'm you know, you and I have gone through a full day and I'm like, okay, Ben, you got to hook me up. What's the go to restaurant for you?

00:10:52:21 - 00:11:03:11

Benjamin Day

Well, I've got go tos, but we have to get custom with it. So what did you have last night and what are you in the mood for? Like, what is your go to? And we'll see if we can match that up.

00:11:03:13 - 00:11:08:01

Joe Reitzug

To something that people aren't going to find anywhere else but Colorado Springs.

00:11:08:03 - 00:11:33:07

Benjamin Day

Okay. Well, having a memorable I would go a block from our office where I'd walk up Kiowa and I'd go underground to the Rabbit Hole, and that's literally what it's called. And it looks like an old glass subway station. And you walk down stairs and there's fun Rabbit art that's all over the walls and there's rabbit. But they also are known for doing amazing things with vegetables.

00:11:33:11 - 00:11:38:01

Benjamin Day

So they're they have a lot of great appetizers that way.

00:11:38:03 - 00:11:39:03

Joe Reitzug

That's cool.

00:11:39:05 - 00:12:01:02

Benjamin Day

Yeah, that, that's, that's a really good one. And then if you're a person who's like, okay, I really want the high brow service that's here. And obviously we have the Broadmoor, which is a five diamond, five star, and you'll be delighted when you go there. You want to go with you. It's our office favorite that we have. Here is a place called Ambli.

00:12:01:04 - 00:12:21:10

Benjamin Day

And if you want to show, like the America of what you can do with drapes, like, it's amazing how they have set the ambiance in that place and the quality of the attentiveness of the service and the menu changes constantly. So sometimes they do a basic menus and then, you know, they're changing it up for the spring. So yeah, got a lot of good options.

00:12:21:10 - 00:12:30:08

Benjamin Day

And then in Colorado Springs, there's always tacos like Tacos Make friends in this town faster than ice. Yes.

00:12:30:10 - 00:12:54:00

Joe Reitzug

I love it. I love it. So a different question. When I'm coming into town, I've only got a day. What are the two or three spots that I need to go see and doesn't have to be in Colorado Springs? But a short drive away is fine as well. I'm guessing it's mostly nature or beautiful absolute scenery type things, but where would you go if you had a day and you could only go to two or three things?

00:12:54:05 - 00:13:23:00

Benjamin Day

I think if you're seriously into sports, I'd go to the United States Olympic Museum. That's right Downtown. That's about a third of a mile from our office.  And that's a new signature building that we have downtown that has like the scoreboard from Lake Placid. wow. A lot of real amazing treasures that are inside the. So the U.S. Olympic Committee in the United States, the Olympic training center headquartered here in Colorado Springs, it's hard to go and see much at the Olympic Training Museum, but at the training center.

00:13:23:02 - 00:13:45:11

Benjamin Day

But the museum is extremely accessible for about anyone. And it's the Paralympic Museum also. So you go up on an elevator and it's ramped the entire way down, which is super, rather than go to Garden of the Gods, which is a drive thru park, I would probably go for at least a mile hike over in Red Rocks, which is right below Manitou, and it's like Garden of the Gods without cars.

00:13:45:12 - 00:14:04:21

Benjamin Day

And so there's lots of great trails and good views that you have that are right there. And then, you know, if you go to the Olympic Museum, I poke around downtown, we have a whole mess of great little shops, restaurants, boutiques and places like that. Some good bookstores, great place to spend a few hours.

00:14:04:23 - 00:14:09:02

Makayla Mast

Very cool. And so would you recommend visiting in the winter or in the summer?

00:14:09:04 - 00:14:38:09

Benjamin Day

I think either is pretty good. I mean, right now it's 58 degrees and sunny outside. You got eight inches of snow on Friday. So, I mean, the Colorado weather's very hard to get your choice from. Our hottest month of the year is going to be June. And July and August are really nice. Usually have thunderstorms that cool things off in the afternoon and it just makes and you know, they blow right through one hour of violence and lightning and then it's, you know, really nice and 78 degrees.

00:14:38:11 - 00:14:41:00

Benjamin Day

So I think either season is going to be pretty good for you.

00:14:41:06 - 00:14:55:21

Joe Reitzug

Nice to know. But I can't wait to visit. Hopefully we can get the family together out there sooner than later. And we really appreciate your time. Ben. Yeah, I didn't tour consultant, ninja master, top producer. You're all of it, buddy.

00:14:56:00 - 00:15:10:19

Benjamin Day

Hey, you've been a you've been an important part of the journey. I mean, when I first started thinking about doing this business, you're driving your maxima to some listing appointment, and I called you, and you were giving me the whole lowdown on what I needed to do next. So that was back in 99. So thank you.

00:15:10:20 - 00:15:28:01

Joe Reitzug

That was a long time ago, buddy. But yeah, you have killed it. And thank you so much and thank you for so much for being a part of our network and anyone listening that that has a need to place a client in Colorado Springs. Ben Day is your man. So thank you and we really appreciate it.

00:15:28:04 - 00:15:31:19

Benjamin Day

I can help a lot around Colorado too. I love being air traffic control.

00:15:31:23 - 00:15:37:01

Joe Reitzug

So outstanding. Nice. All right. Thanks. Thanks for your time. Take care. All the best to the family.

00:15:37:02 - 00:15:39:13

Benjamin Day

All right. Cheers!

00:15:39:15 - 00:15:52:12

Makayla Mast

Thanks for joining us today. If you're interested in finding out more about Joe, myself or the Livportland team, you can go to Livportland.com. Thanks for giving us a listen and see you next time on the Off the Record podcast.