By Strategic Property Advisors
Touring a home in Colorado Springs gets a lot easier once you know the handful of things worth noticing here. A house that's been built and kept well for this climate tells you so in small ways, from how the yard sheds water to what's on the roof, and all of it is visible on an ordinary walkthrough. We've toured enough properties to know which details say a home has been looked after. Here's what catches our attention on a first pass, and what each of those things usually turns out to mean.
Key Takeaways
- Where the water goes matters more here than almost anywhere, because Front Range clay reacts so strongly to it.
- A roof's age and impact rating are worth asking about on every tour here.
- Radon is common enough here that a home with mitigation installed has one less item to negotiate.
- Touring out in Black Forest or Monument shifts the questions toward wells, septic, and winter driveways.
What Should You Check First When Touring a Colorado Springs Home?
Check the ground before you check the house. Much of the Front Range sits on clay soil that expands when it takes on water, which is why drainage does more to protect a Colorado Springs home than almost anything else you can see from the driveway. The
Colorado Geological Survey maps how widespread that soil is across the region, and once you know to look, a property tells you in about five minutes how well it's set up for it.
The Grading and Foundation Cues Worth Noticing
- The ground should fall away from the foundation on every side, and a yard that runs flat or tips back toward the house is what we flag most often.
- Downspouts stopping at the foundation instead of carrying water clear of it are cheap to fix, though they say something about how the home has been kept.
- Down in the basement, notice whether the floor is a structural system or a slab poured on grade, because builders working in heave-prone ground often choose the former on purpose.
How Do You Judge a Roof on a Colorado Springs Home Tour?
Two questions get you most of the way: how old is it, and what's it rated for? We sit in one of the busiest hail corridors in the country, so a roof's history tells you about the condition of the house and about what insuring it will cost every year afterward. Sellers almost always know the answers, and how readily they offer them is informative on its own.
Roof Questions to Ask on the Spot
- Ask when the roof went on and whether it followed a hail claim, since a post-storm replacement usually brought new gutters and flashing with it.
- Ask whether the shingles carry a Class 4 impact rating and ask to see the documentation, because it affects both how the roof holds up and what carriers will quote you.
- Look at the skylights, vents, gutters, and window wraps, since those softer metals show hail long before shingles do.
What Should You Know About Radon Before You Tour?
That it's ordinary here, and entirely fixable. Colorado sits in the EPA's highest radon zone, and
El Paso County Public Health reports more than four in ten homes tested across the county came back elevated.
Because it's so routine, a system already in place is good news, and it's easy to spot once you know its shape.
Signs a Home Already Has Mitigation
- A white PVC pipe running from the basement or crawl space up past the roofline, paired with a small fan in the attic or on an outside wall, is a mitigation system at work.
- The small U-shaped gauge on that pipe should show liquid at uneven levels, which is the quickest way to confirm the fan is pulling.
- The county health lab on West Garden of the Gods Road sells short-term test kits for around $15, so confirming it on a house you're serious about costs almost nothing.
What Changes When You Tour Outside the City Limits?
The utility questions do. Homes in
Black Forest,
Monument, Peyton, and Cascade often run on private wells and septic rather than city service, which changes what you're evaluating on the tour and what you'll budget each year, and one local rule shifted recently in a way that puts more of it on the buyer to raise.
Acreage Questions That Don't Come Up in Town
- El Paso County no longer requires a certified septic inspection when a property changes hands, so ordering one is now something you ask for rather than something that happens on its own, per the county's onsite wastewater page.
- Ask to see the well permit and a recent flow rate, since permitted use and gallons per minute together decide how you can actually live on the land.
- Notice the driveway's length, grade, and which way it faces, because a north-facing drive holds snow for weeks after a south-facing one has dried out.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many homes should I tour before making an offer?
Fewer than most people expect, once you're touring with a clear sense of what you want. Buyers tend to calibrate around the fifth or sixth house in a price range, and that's what makes a confident offer possible.
Should I bring an inspector to a showing?
We'd rather you didn't. Use the tour to decide whether you love the house and the setting, then bring a licensed inspector during your inspection window, when they can open panels and take their time.
Are older Colorado Springs homes riskier than new construction?
Not riskier, just different. An older home near downtown has settled into whatever the soil intended, while a newer home further out often carries a metro district levy and less history to judge it by.
Reach Out to Strategic Property Advisors Today
Knowing what to look for turns a tour from a feeling into information, and that shift is what makes an offer feel easy to write. Our team has walked homes across Colorado Springs, Monument, and Black Forest for more than thirty years, and we'll tell you straight when something deserves a closer look.
If you're touring this fall, reach out to
Strategic Property Advisors, and we'll build a showing list worth your Saturday. Start with the areas we know best on our
neighborhoods page, then tell us which ones sound like the life you're building.
