Buying real estate in Aspen and
the Roaring Fork Valley

Our Best Advice

It’s not a normal market, and we’re not your normal brokers. We’re a back-road driving, hard-listening, fast-moving, strong-hearted, smart-thinking bunch. Use us as your guides to this valley, its communities, properties, what your money can buy, and what will forever remain priceless.

 

working together: whatever you want us to be.

In the past, most real estate agents in Colorado worked for the sellers. Today, real estate brokerage offers more options.  You can choose one of the following relationships:

Transaction Broker.
This is the most common form of brokerage relationship. We guide you through the real estate process without being an agent or advocate for you or the seller. It’s open. You’re not legally responsible for our actions.  A written contract is not a requirement. As a transaction broker, we disclose any adverse facts we know about the properties you’re considering. We do not disclose your bottom line price position to the seller.

Buyer’s Agent.
We represent the buyer and only the buyer.  There is a separate buyer agency agreement that you and we sign which identifies the kind of property you want, the extent of our fiduciary responsibilities, and an expiration date for our relationship.

Seller’s Agent.
This is the relationship the brokers at Berkshire Hathaway have with the owners of each of their listings.  A seller’s agent works solely on behalf of the seller. Almost all of our listing agreements have Transaction-Broker addendums that allow us, as individual agents, to fall back on that relationship with the seller and the buyer when we find ourselves working with both parties.

When we meet in person, we’ll discuss brokerage relationships in more detail with you and mutually select the alliance that makes the most sense. Then, we’ll sign a statement acknowledging our discussion and your choice.  This is not a contract. This disclosure statement does not bind you to BHHS | Aspen Snowmass Properties in any way – it just acknowledges the particular relationship we’ve established. We keep it on file, as required by the Colorado Real Estate Commission.

 

Your pace

Our schedule is your schedule. We’ve been known to land a home in one shot, but if it takes days and miles to find that one property, we’re in. You have our full attention from day one, until the day we take you home. Our cars are comfortable and a well-stocked picnic basket is always in the trunk.

 

Buy Strong

Make your offer as clean as possible, with minimal contingencies. Seek the diamonds in the rough others are overlooking. We’ll help you visualize the potential in a property that may need some work but which may represent an opportunity to exponentially increase a home’s value. When financing, get prequalified with a local lender (we know good people) and submit that approval with your offer.  Ease the seller’s mind. Let the sellers see you as not just buyers, but people. Write them a personal letter: you, your family, what you love about the property.  Submit it with your offer. It has impact.

 

navigating Negotiations: Local Customs

Don’t crumple if the seller rejects your first offer. Second offer? Move on? We will help you figure out the best next step.  It's important to know that many sellers are more bullish today, with many properties selling at better than 93% of their list price.

 

Beyond Square feet

The market is more complicated these days. Price per square foot doesn’t tell the whole story. We’ll talk about valuations and give you comparisons and deep analyses of every segment of the marketplace.

 

securing your offer

Typically, your offer to purchase is presented with a 5% deposit as “earnest money."  This is usually wire-transferred to a local title company within two days of the agreement and placed in an interest-bearing account for your benefit – until the closing.

 

paper chase

When the seller accepts your offer, the closing will probably happen within 30 to 60 days. Buyers often have contingencies which allow time to review title work, surveys, secure an appraisal, and order an inspection. It’s paperwork, it’s our homework. No excuses, we’re on it.

 

the money

You have choices about if, how, and where you finance. Though the days of easy money are gone, many new options have opened up. Experience has shown us who the best local and national lenders are. In the arena of financing options, we’ll save you time and Advil.

 

the long distance closing

We’re all worldly these days. When you’re not in town, we’ll continue to handle every detail of your transaction – like, dealing with the title company and the preparation of your loan documents and settlement statement; transferring utilities; seeing that you have a recorded deed and a title policy. Our goal here is not just to keep things on track, but to surpass your expectations during the closing – and years after.

 

trust

We won’t sell you any property we don’t believe in. Period end of story.