The Comito Column ~ Custom Building Exposed

The husband and wife team of Claude & Debbie Comito of Comito Building and Design are feeling good about the custom home building market in 2012. With recent home sales and building permits trending upwards, land costs at relatively low levels, now is the time to take advantage of the opportunity to build a new home.

Comito Building and Design has been designing and building high quality custom homes in the Pikes Peak Region for over 29 years, they have a proven reputation for excellence and an unmatched level of customer service. They utilize a unique design-build approach that takes on the process of building a home as a team, with an architect, a builder and a homeowner.  “When we take this approach, we hit our goal almost all the time of getting people what they want for what they want to spend” Claude Comito says.

Incredible Land Buys. The process starts with finding the right home site, and right now there are incredible land opportunities. Comito Building and Design is a great resource when it comes to locating a building site for your new home. They are experts in evaluating building sites and the advantages or constraints that each may present.  They currently have a handful of lots that are incredible buys in the District 12 area.

Once the home site has been selected the team works with you to design a home that fits the site, your needs and your budget. Construction costs are down 15%-20% and the team at Comito Building and Design doesn’t see that lasting much longer, again making this an ideal time to start the building process. Comito Building and Design is able to build homes from $650,000; with land prices where they are, clients are able to get Comito’s top-notch quality and thoughtful design for under $800,000.

Remodel. If you are looking to stay put and update or re-invent your current home, Comito Building and Design is available to remodel as well. “We feel we offer the best value of anyone doing what we do, because you know you are getting top quality and service at very competitive prices” Comito says.

If you are interested in obtaining additional information on the custom home building process or any of our Colorado Springs luxury home sites call us at 719.219.5421 or visit us online at Comito Building and Design.

As we enter our 4^th year of economic downturn with the resultant stresses in the housing market the temptation is greater than ever to go “cheap.” Cheap lots, cheap architects, cheap builders, cheap subs, cheap materials and components and on and on…..

Unfortunately “cheap” almost never equates to good value. While it’s true that many things involved in building cost less than 4 or 5 years ago, there is still no free lunch.

Do you really want to buy a lot that is cheap but offers no view, challenging conditions and is not in a quality area?

Do you really want to hire a cheap designer or architect or draftsman who can’t really spend the time necessary to sweat the details?

Do you really want to commission a builder that is foregoing a reasonable profit to survive but that will be gone soon – maybe while building your home? Or, one that hires the cheapest subs with little talent?

Do you really want to accept inferior lumber, windows, insulation, cabinetry, floor coverings, etc. etc. to save a few bucks? Only to be disappointed and face the prospect of replacing them too soon?

Common sense tells us that a superior home will cost more than an inferior home. A superior home, built by a quality builder with a proven track record, will be built with quality as its theme from the foundation to the final finish details. It will be built to exacting standards, according to a plan that has been carefully prepared by an accomplished architect and builder.

All of us have to find ways to cut cost and offer high quality homes for less in order to be successful. But we also must focus on perfecting performance and customer care as our reputation is on the line with every home we build. If you only want cheap, it’s easy to find – and it’s everywhere. I submit that value is what you really should be looking for.

When it comes to choosing a builder for your new Colorado Springs Luxury Home, there are so many important things to look at. The homebuilder you choose will be the one orchestrating everything that goes into building your new custom home, from early design of the home plans to final walkthrough. The relationship and trust you have in the homebuilder needs to be strong, as the process can last up to a year and sometimes longer, plus you will want that strong relationship and trust when it comes to warranty items after your home is complete. When evaluating your options it is important to look at all aspects of each company; Who is on their team? Who will be guiding you through all the selections decisions? Who will be running the jobsite? What is their experience level? How long have they been in business? What do their past clients have to say? Have you seen their product, both under construction and complete?

The National Association of Homebuilders has released a great guide to use when interviewing potential builders click here.

Remember it is always best to do your interviewing early (even before any home plans are drawn) as the homebuilder you choose can be a valuable resource when it comes to designing a home that will fit your home budget.

This process called Design-Build is what we at Comito Building and Design strongly believe in. The team at Comito Building and Design is known for our relationships with our clients, working as a team from the beginning creates greater continuity of service and ultimately a better home at better value for our clients.

As a third generation Colorado Springs Custom Home Builder, Comito Building and Design has been designing and crafting award winning Colorado Springs custom homes since 1983.  Our luxury homes in Colorado Springs are synonymous with extraordinary design, quality, and innovation.  Our team creates homes that are a solid investment for our families who live in them and a testimony to our creativity and craftsmanship.  We hope you will consider us as your resource to help you make your Dream home a Reality.

If you are interested in obtaining additional information on the custom home building process or any of our Colorado Springs luxury home sites call us at 719.219.5421 or visit us online at Comito Building and Design.

Ready to build the Colorado Springs Custom Home of your dreams, but need to sell your current home first. If you're ready to sell or already have your home on the market, you know all too well about today's selling challenges.  When buyers have so many choices, your home MUST make a positive first impression and appeal to the greatest number of buyers. 

Professional staging services are designed to do just that - and to give you a faster sale at a top dollar price.  You choose whether to do-it-yourself, follow their consultation report, or have them stage the property for you. 

The investment you make in staging is MUCH lower than the cost of a possible sales price reduction.  For more information about this proven marketing tool for your Colorado Springs Home, call me for a fantastic resource. We are happy to be your resource for anything you need when looking to start the custom building process.

 The Results Are In!
2008 ~ 18 sold ~ 94% of asking price ~ 28 DOM
2009 ~ 58 sold ~ 97% of asking ~ 34 DOM
Q1 2010 ~ 11 sold ~ 99% of asking ~ 26 DOM

Staging Statistics
Staging reduces time on the market by as much as 40% 
Staged properties average 17% higher sales prices than non-staged houses
Sellers recover nearly 200% return on their staging investment on the sale of their house

At Comito Building and Design, we believe a great home at a fair price and a wonderful experience should be the desired outcome of your custom home building process. As a third generation Colorado Springs Custom Home Builder, Comito Building and Design has been designing and crafting award winning Colorado Springs custom homes since 1983.  Our luxury homes in Colorado Springs are synonymous with extraordinary design, quality, and innovation.  Our team creates homes that are a solid investment for our families who live in them and a testimony to our creativity and craftsmanship.  We hope you will consider us as your resource to help you make your Dream home a Reality.

If you are interested in obtaining additional information on the custom home building process or any of our Colorado Springs luxury home sites call us at 719.219.5421 or visit us online at Comito Building and Design.

At Comito Building and Design, we have a designated Client Coordinator (Debbie Comito) who walks our customers through (and holds their hands if need be!) the design and interior selections process.  Additionally, Comito Building and Design likes to enlist the creative services of award winning interior designer, Jodi Bader. Having grown up in the Colorado Springs home building arena, I’ve seen Joni’s work for years with Comito Custom Homes and Nichols & Comito.   But, it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to work with her on our personal home that I truly appreciated how talented Joni really is!

Comito Building and Design has been working with Joni for many, many years.  Her experienced design eye enables our clients to truly get the style and look of the dream home they have envisioned. A look that is uniquely theirs!

And that’s just what Joni is helping Mark and I do!  She’s helping us select our tile and solid surface countertops, carpet, hardwood floors, paint colors, cabinet style, exterior colors and finishes, furnishings and window treatments.  Yes, she’s helping us take our style and preferences and turning them into reality and a home that uniquely reflects who we are! 

Debbie, our client coordinator has worked right along side Joni - guiding us through decisions that need to be made and deadlines that need to be kept in order to keep construction (and our closing date) on schedule.  A real plus to having Debbie working hand-in-hand with us is that she also makes sure our selections stay within our budget (an important component of building a Colorado Springs custom home) as well as communicating all selections and decisions to the project managers in the field.  (You’ll be hearing more about our Project Managers in future writings!)

This team approach to building a luxury home in Colorado Springs is invaluable. I am so excited and so confident in the design selections that we’ve made.  And, we have peace-of-mind knowing that we’re staying on budget and on schedule with a home that will be built exactly as we’ve planned

Our home is really coming together beautifully! Debbie & Joni have really embraced the “Urban Colorado Ranch” style we were looking for! It’s so much fun to see our home coming to life and changing weekly! We are beyond thrilled!!

At Comito Building and Design we believe the team approach to designing and building custom homes is one of our greatest strengths.  In not only saves time and money but it creates greater continuity of service throughout the process.   We also believe a great home at a fair price and a wonderful experience should be the desired outcome of your custom home building process.

As a third generation Colorado Springs Custom Home Builder, Comito Building and Design has been designing and crafting award winning Colorado Springs custom homes since 1983.  Our luxury homes in Colorado Springs are synonymous with extraordinary design, quality, and innovation.  Our team creates homes that are a solid investment for our families who live in them and a testimony to our creativity and craftsmanship.  We work with many of the top Realtors in the county.  We hope you will consider us as your resource to help you make your Dream home a reality.

As you’ve read, Mark and I are building a custom home with Comito Building and Design.  Many of you are familiar with the large, award winning custom homes by Comito Building and Design, but after months of research and planning, Comito Building and Design is excited to now offer smaller custom homes priced from the $700,000s.  Our home is part of this new collection of custom homes designed for homebuyers who are looking for smaller, less expensive custom homes without compromising on individuality, quality, experience, or style. 

As the Marketing Director for Comito Building and Design, it’s always exciting to see the foundation go in and the walls go up but as a homeowner, I have to tell you that the real excitement is just getting started!  In the last few weeks we’ve been busy with interior and exterior selections with Joni Bader (Comito Building and Design’s award winning interior designer) making selections to create a home that’s uniquely ours.  We’ve also met with Home Run Electronics for the wiring of our new home (Mark really loved this meeting).   

While this is very exciting for us, it could also have been a very overwhelming experience if it weren’t for the Comito Building and Design Client Coordinator, Debbie Comito.  Debbie has attended absolutely every appointment with us as we selected the decorative interior features and exterior finishes of our Colorado Springs Custom Home.  Debbie has painlessly guided us through the selection process.  Her extensive product knowledge and her honest approach to our budget have been extremely helpful.  She’s helped us to make good design choices while being mindful of our budget to make sure that the selections we made would provide us with years of lasting enjoyment and financial success. 

To date, we’ve finalized our exterior stone, stucco and paint colors. On the inside, we’ve selected our cabinets, countertops, floor coverings and tile. We could not be more excited - this home will truly be one of a kind and a reflection of our Colorado Contemporary style!

Stay tuned for more and don’t forget to follow our weekly video blog on our home building process and experience!

A third generation Colorado Springs Custom Home Builder, Comito Building and Design has been designing and crafting award winning Colorado Springs custom homes since 1983.  Our luxury homes in Colorado Springs are synonymous with extraordinary design, quality, and innovation.  Our team creates homes that are a solid investment for our families who live in them and a testimony to our creativity and craftsmanship.

You’ve decided you want to take advantage of today’s incredible home buying conditions. You’re excited about the idea of building your dream home every time you watch one of Lauren’s weekly videos. BUT you have a house to sell!  You’ve heard ALL the stories and read ALL the articles that talk about the less than stellar real estate market conditions. BUT, Did you know that over 7300 residential, single-family homes SOLD in El Paso County in 2010!  People are still buying homes of all ages, all styles, and all price ranges!

How are these people getting their houses SOLD?

Pricing…

Pricing your existing home correctly from the very start is the single most important thing that can be done to ensure a successful sale - one that is quick and puts the most money in your pocket.

Homeowners are often tempted to set the initial list price higher than fair market value because they think they can simply lower the price later if the property doesn't sell.  In addition, the expectation is that the offers received will be low. Most people don't realize, however, that setting the price too high in the beginning can drastically increase the time it takes to sell and typically achieves a final sales price that is well below market value.  Low offers will be received at any list price in today’s market conditions.

The higher the list price, the more buyers will automatically exclude your property from consideration. By pricing your property at fair market value, you increase the number of potential buyers and offers that can be considered.

A listing generates intense interest during its first two weeks on the market, but activity drops dramatically in the third week and beyond - subsequent price reductions notwithstanding. A property that is priced too high will not get the necessary attention during this critical period of peak activity.

Some buyers are wary of price-reduced property, thinking something might be wrong with it or that it may still be priced too high.  This, including extended days on market, may even show distress.

Statistics clearly indicate that the longer a property is on the market, the lower the final sale price will be. Properties that sell in the first four weeks typically achieve the closest sale price to their fair market value. This discount increases every week thereafter! By pricing your home correctly from the start, you greatly increase your chances of selling your home faster and for more money.

Choose a Realtor with the knowledge and experience to choose the best list price for your property.

Comito Building and Design works with many of the top Realtors in the county.  Building throughout the Pikes Peak Region, consider us as your resource to help you make your Dream home a Reality.

A third generation Colorado Springs Custom Home Builder, Comito Building and Design has been designing and crafting award winning Colorado Springs custom homes since 1983.  Our luxury homes in Colorado Springs are synonymous with extraordinary design, quality, and innovation.  Our team creates homes that are a solid investment for our families who live in them and a testimony to our creativity and craftsmanship.

If you are interested in obtaining additional information on the custom home building process or any of our Colorado Springs luxury home sites call us at 719.219.5421 or visit us online at Comito Building and Design. 

After months of planning and pricing in the Design Build Process, our new custom home in Colorado Springs is well underway.  As homeowners, we are excited to stop by our home site and see our home (which is in the framing stage) starting to take shape.  The excavation, foundation and backfill are all complete, and the framers are busy building the main level walls. On the other side of the process, as the Colorado Springs custom homebuilder, we’re excited to set roof trusses by the end of this week so we can get the home dried-in and protected from the winter weather which seems to be hitting this Colorado Springs custom home site every week! 

This part of the process, has been the most exciting so far – now that the walls are framed, we can actually see how our home will look, how the rooms will layout, and our actual views from every window in our new home in Colorado Springs. We can now envision our life in our home - entertaining guests, holidays with family and friends, kids and dogs in the backyard. This is what home is really about and this stage really brings the design we created to life.

Stay tuned for our view on the building process with Comito Building and Design.

A third generation Colorado Springs Custom Home Builder, Comito Building and Design has been designing and crafting award winning Colorado Springs custom homes since 1983.  Our luxury homes in Colorado Springs are synonymous with extraordinary design, quality, and innovation.  Our team creates homes that are a solid investment for our families who live in them and a testimony to our creativity and craftsmanship.

So, you’ve worked your entire life, have lived in many homes, and now you’re ready to build “your home” – the home of your dreams – the one that perfectly suits your lifestyle.  You’ve saved, you’ve talked to your friends and family, you’ve listened to the media, and you know that rates aren’t going to get any better. But, you still have one nagging questions – How?  How do we start the process of building our own custom home?

The answer is CONGRATULATIONS and IT’S SIMPLE! You are now ready to experience a process many can only dream about.

First, think global. What area? Where do you really want to live? Do you already own your home site or do you need assistance in selecting the ideal neighborhood and the perfect home site for your new custom home? What price range are you comfortable with? (Are the two compatible and realistic?) Remember, everything starts with the home site.

It’s important to make sure that your chosen home site will accommodate your dream home and your budget. Typically the home site should be no more than 20%-25% of the overall budget. Of course, there are exceptions.

Get professional advice (a “builder’s eye”) before you start the purchase of your homesite. An honest, professional builder can guide you through the questions related to topography, utilities, construction costs, and any site challenges that may have to be overcome.

Next comes the really fun part – the design of your new Colorado Springs luxury home! But, that’s another topic for another week….

If you are interested in obtaining additional information on the custom home building process, consider Comito Building and Design.  A third generation Colorado Springs Custom Home Builder, Comito Building and Design has been designing and crafting award winning Colorado Springs custom homes since 1983.  Our luxury homes in Colorado Springs are synonymous with extraordinary design, quality, and innovation. 

For additional information on the building process, contact Comito Building and Design at 719.219.5421 or at http://comitobuildinganddesign.com/contact.