Receiving PCS orders can put your family on a timeline that the real estate market doesn’t necessarily follow.
You may have a report date approaching, movers scheduled, children changing schools, and plans already being made at your next duty station. Meanwhile, your Colorado Springs home is still sitting on the market.
That can be incredibly frustrating.
For military families, selling a home isn’t always just about wanting to move. Sometimes you have to move, whether the house has sold or not.
As an Army veteran and military spouse, I understand that PCS moves come with deadlines and circumstances civilian sellers don’t always face. As a Colorado Springs real estate broker, I also know how important it is to separate the emotions of a PCS from what the current market is actually telling us.
If you’re preparing to PCS from Fort Carson, Peterson SFB, Schriever SFB, the Air Force Academy (USAFA), or another Colorado Springs-area installation, here are five things to understand if your home isn’t selling as quickly as you hoped.
This is probably one of the hardest realities for military sellers.
You may need to sell your home by a certain date, but buyers don’t know about your report date, travel plans, movers, or the mortgage payment waiting for you back in Colorado.
The market determines how buyers respond to your home.
That’s why we need a strategy based on both your PCS timeline and current market conditions.
If you have several months before leaving, we may have more room to test the market. If you’re approaching your report date and carrying the home after you leave would create a financial burden, our strategy may need to become more aggressive.
There isn’t one correct answer for every military family.
Colorado Springs has a significant military population, and VA financing continues to be an important part of our market.
But VA buyers still have monthly budgets. Many try to stay within their BAH- but this is a real struggle since our BAH rates are not increasing enough!
When mortgage rates increase, purchasing power can decrease. A buyer who could comfortably afford one price range at a lower rate may need to reconsider when rates move higher.
That means today’s buyers may be comparing your home very carefully against the competition.
As a seller, you can’t control mortgage rates.
We can control how your property is positioned, presented, marketed, and priced.
Military sellers who purchased during a highly competitive market may remember homes selling almost immediately.
Today’s experience can look very different.
When buyers have several homes to choose from, they’re comparing everything:
Price. Square footage. Bedrooms. Garage space. Updates. Finished basements. Commute to the military installations. Condition. Lot size. Monthly payment. And sometimes even whether a VA loan may be assumable.
Your home doesn’t necessarily have to be the cheapest.
But buyers need to understand why your home represents value compared with the other homes they’re considering.
That’s where good marketing and constant evaluation of the competition become incredibly important.
I know this can be particularly difficult for military homeowners.
Maybe you purchased the home only a few years ago. Maybe you’ve invested money into improvements. Maybe you need a certain amount of equity for your next move.
Reducing the price can feel like you’re losing something.
But a price adjustment doesn’t automatically mean your original price was wrong.
Sometimes the market changes after we list.
A competing property reduces its price. Another home closes lower than expected. Interest rates increase. New inventory comes onto the market.
That’s new information, and we need to respond intelligently.
Before recommending a price reduction, I want to know:
Are we getting showings? What are buyers saying? Which competing homes are going under contract? What has recently sold? Are sellers providing concessions? Have mortgage rates changed?
Sometimes those answers tell us to reduce.
Other times they tell us to stay exactly where we are.
This is where military homeowners have an option that some sellers overlook.
What happens if the house doesn’t sell before you PCS?
That conversation should happen early, not three days before you’re supposed to leave Colorado.
Depending on your financial situation, loan, equity, future plans, and the property itself, one possibility may be keeping the home as a rental.
That doesn’t mean renting is automatically the right decision.
We need to look at realistic market rent, mortgage payment, expected expenses, property-management costs, maintenance, reserves, vacancy risk, and your long-term goals.
But having both a sale strategy and a potential rental strategy can give a military family options when PCS orders don’t cooperate with the housing market.
And because Faith & Freedom Realty LLC provides both real estate sales and property management, we can evaluate both options instead of automatically pushing you toward one or the other.
PCS moves are stressful enough without wondering what’s happening with your home hundreds or thousands of miles away.
If your home isn’t selling immediately, don’t panic.
Look at the data.
Watch the competition.
Listen to showing feedback.
Evaluate your timeline.
Adjust when the market gives us a reason to adjust.
And most importantly, have a backup plan before you need one.
As a veteran-owned brokerage serving the Colorado Springs military community, this part of real estate is personal to us. We understand PCS moves because we’ve lived them.
Whether the best decision is to sell your Colorado Springs home, keep it as a rental, or explore your options before your next PCS, we’ll help you understand the numbers and make an informed decision for your family.
Let’s talk before the movers arrive.
Faith & Freedom Realty LLC
Home of PCS by Vets
Buying • Selling • Relocation • Property Management
FaithandFreedomProperties.com
719-900-2770
