I for one am a supporter of Colorado’s decision to do away with Entry Only Listings. Entry Only Listings put real estate brokers and homeowners in bad positions. This is exactly why Congress Realty has always made themselves available to receive and present offers to our clients, well before Colorado’s decision. Other Flat Fee companies who refuse to make themselves available to other brokers to receive offers are officially out of business. Every broker, regardless of service level must present any offer received per the state of Colorado.

Difference b/w Entry only versus Congress Realty’s Flat Fee Listing:

Entry Only – Broker inputs the listing into the MLS and then disappears forever. (what most flat fee broker’s still try to get away with)

Congress Realty – Once we input the listing, we are available to answer questions from the seller. In the event an offer is presented, a broker or buyer can fax or email the offer to our office and we will fwd the offer to the seller as a PDF attachment within minutes of receiving the offer.

We take every precaution to ensure we stay in compliance with Colorado’s new operating procedures.

We’ve handled a lot of short sales and foreclosures.  Nothing close to this size, however.  Lenders put way too much debt ($1.7 billion) on Intrawest’s high-end resort properties at places like Whistler in British Columbia and Steamboat in Colorado as the market peaked.  (Intrawest is owned by hedge fund Fortress)  They counted on expensive condo sales to help pay down the debt.  It turns out people cut back on second home purchases when the economy goes into a major recession.

Needless to say, the owners are way, way under water.  They are trying to negotiate to hold on, since they basically have no equity left in the deal and holding on is like a free option for them if the market does come back.  My guess is that this one is going back to the lender.

Documents that fall under Rule F in Colorado include Purchase Contracts, Addendums, Sq Ft Disclosures,  Counter Offers, Agency Disclosures, etc… So what is a rule F form? The first thing to keep in mind is that this only applies to Colorado and has nothing to do with any other state, thus, if your property is outside of Colorado, you can completely ignore this entry.

Taken from the CO Dept of Real Estate Website:

F-7 Commission Approved Forms

Real estate brokers are required to use Commission-approved forms as appropriate to a transaction or circumstance to which a relevant form is applicable. In instances when the Commission has not developed an approved form within the purview of this rule, and other forms are used, they are not governed by Rule F. Other forms used by a broker shall not be prepared by a broker, unless otherwise permitted by law.

So what does this really mean?
It means the state of Colorado produces specific documents that they force CO Real Estate Brokers to use when the particular document applies to that situaion. In basic terms, the state feels they can better protect everyone if they force Real Estate Brokers to use pre-printed contracts approved by the state. It is very important to keep in mind that this only applies to Real Estate Brokers. Two unlicensed parties can still draft a contract without the use of a Rule F form if no broker is involved.

Congress Realty has added the Pikes Peak MLS to its coverage area this week. The Pikes Peak MLS system covers all of the Colorado Springs area and Woodland Park/surrounding areas. With this new addition, we are able to provide our Colorado Flat Fee MLS sellers wider exposure and coverage. Our List now feature will be updated with this new coverage area and MLS forms very shortly. We are very excited about our continued growth within the state of Colorado.