In 2025, El Paso County single family homes that closed in June sold at a median of $509,950 after 37 average days on market. The ones that closed in December sold at $469,950 after 64 days.
I'm Leah Behr, a REALTOR® with the Behr & Behr Team, listing houses in Colorado Springs and across El Paso County. The order I work: pull the county's records on your address, settle the roof question, order the septic inspection if you have one, complete the disclosure, sign the listing contract, go live, then work inspection, appraisal and title to closing. I am not an attorney, a tax professional or an insurance agent, and everything below is sourced to the agency or the form that publishes it.
The July 2026 numbers, read from the listing side
The Pikes Peak REALTOR Services Corp market snapshot on ppar.com, covering all property types in the elevateMLS market for July 2026, reports 1,359 closed sales, a $460,000 median sale price and 52 average days on market. County detail comes from elsewhere. The Colorado Association of REALTORS Local Market Update for El Paso County, June 2026 edition published July 3, 2026, gives single family homes 1,083 closed sales, a $499,000 median, 44 average days on market, 99.3% of list price received and 4.0 months of supply. Townhomes and condos ran a $330,000 median and 5.7 months. CAR's July edition was not retrievable on August 5, 2026, so those stay June figures.
Those two medians sit $39,000 apart because one covers all property types across the elevateMLS footprint and the other only El Paso County single family. The figure to act on is 99.3% of list received. Sellers land close to asking, so the price you set in week one does the work.
What twelve months of El Paso County closings say about timing
Here is all of 2025 for El Paso County single family homes, per the Colorado Association of REALTORS Local Market Updates.
Month, 2025 | Closed | Median | Avg. days | % of list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 578 | $485,000 | 66 | 98.7% |
February | 651 | $480,000 | 60 | 99.0% |
March | 898 | $494,000 | 58 | 99.4% |
April | 943 | $495,000 | 45 | 99.4% |
May | 1,001 | $500,000 | 39 | 99.5% |
June | 1,057 | $509,950 | 37 | 99.6% |
July | 957 | $500,000 | 37 | 99.1% |
August | 890 | $488,250 | 41 | 98.7% |
September | 867 | $480,000 | 51 | 98.8% |
October | 748 | $475,000 | 51 | 98.7% |
November | 692 | $495,000 | 57 | 98.6% |
December | 775 | $469,950 | 64 | 98.5% |
June wins on all four measures at once, and a June closing usually comes from a contract signed in late April or May. The convention holds. CAR's new-listing counts complicate it: May 2025 brought 1,665 new listings, the busiest month of the year, against 1,568 in April and 1,356 in March. Going live in late March or April lands you in the strong window with several hundred fewer competitors. Two caveats. A monthly median reflects what sold, not what appreciated, so part of that swing is mix. And CAR's twelve monthly counts add to 10,057 against its published annual 10,084, a gap of 27 from later revisions. My arithmetic, on CAR's figures.
The disclosure form, and the difference between telling and warranting
Colorado uses the Real Estate Commission's Seller's Property Disclosure (Residential), form SPD19, mandatory use date January 1, 2026 per the Division of Real Estate. Its own language sets the standard: "Seller states that the information contained in this Seller's Property Disclosure ("SPD") is correct to Seller's CURRENT ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE as of the date signed by Seller." And then: "This SPD is not a warranty or guarantee of any kind by the Seller or by any Broker or Agent representing the Seller."
You are reporting what you know, not certifying the house. The duty runs past signing: "In the event Seller discovers a new adverse material fact after completing this SPD, Seller must disclose in writing any such new adverse material fact to Buyer." Sections cover Roof, Water, Sewer and Septic, Flooding and Drainage, Radon and Metropolitan Districts. The listing contract, form LC50, even has a checkbox at section 18.2.1 where a seller "Agrees" or "Does Not Agree" to provide the SPD at all. I have not seen declining help a seller.
Septic, the one inspection this county puts on you
Roughly 30,000 onsite wastewater systems sit in El Paso County. If yours is one, this is not a buyer expense. El Paso County Board of Health OWTS regulations require an inspection at transfer by an inspector "certified by National Association of Wastewater Technicians (NAWT) or an equivalent program approved by CDPHE and EPCPH." The acceptance document that results will "remain valid until the date of real estate closing or for a maximum period of twelve months, whichever comes first," renewable "one time for a period of up to six (6) months." Form CBS1 matches at section 10.6.1.5: "Seller must pay for and furnish to Buyer a Septic Use Permit."
One flag. The regulations posted on the county site carry unfilled amendment dates, reading "Most recently amended March xx, 2026" alongside the prior adoption effective July 7, 2018. I could not confirm which text is in force, so call El Paso County Public Health at 719-578-3199. Order the inspection before you go live. A failed soil treatment area runs $30,000 to $40,000 by Colorado contractor figures published in January 2026, and week zero is a cheaper place to learn it.
Who customarily pays what at an El Paso County closing
Colorado has no statewide real estate transfer tax, and the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights at Article X, Section 20 barred new ones. Twelve municipalities were grandfathered, none in El Paso County. You do pay the documentary fee under C.R.S. 39-13-102, "one cent for each one hundred dollars" of consideration above $500, plus the county's flat $43 recording fee, in effect since July 1, 2025.
Cost | What form CBS1 (Jan 1, 2026) does with it | Local practice |
|---|---|---|
Owner's title policy | Section 8.1: seller selects and pays, or buyer selects and pays | Usually seller |
Closing services fee | Section 15.2 checkbox | Usually split |
HOA status letter | Section 15.3.1, no checkbox: "must be paid by Seller" | Seller, by the form |
HOA record change fee | Section 15.3.2 checkbox | Usually buyer |
Local transfer tax | Section 15.4 checkbox | None applies here |
Tax proration | Section 16.1.1, "Taxes for the Calendar Year Immediately Preceding Closing" | Preceding-year option |
Septic inspection | Section 10.6.1.5, seller pays where required | Seller, by the form |
Read the middle column twice. Almost every line is a blank in a state form, which makes it negotiable rather than law. Only the status letter and the septic paperwork are fixed on the seller by the printed form. How district levies build a bill is in what your property tax bill really says.
What the 2024 compensation change did to your listing
The National Association of REALTORS settlement practice changes took effect August 17, 2024. Offers of compensation can no longer be published on an MLS, and NAR's FAQs require listing agreements to disclose conspicuously that compensation "is not set by law and is fully negotiable." Colorado's LC50 prints it in capitals: "COMPENSATION CHARGED BY BROKERAGE FIRMS IS NOT SET BY LAW AND IS FULLY NEGOTIABLE."
The mechanics live at LC50 section 7.1.1.1. If a buyer's brokerage procures the buyer and the sale closes, "Seller's Brokerage Firm may enter into a compensation agreement with buyer's brokerage firm to contribute from the Sale Compensation an amount of ____% of the gross purchase price, or $_____." The money moves through your listing brokerage now, rather than sitting in an MLS field. What did not change: you may still contribute, and per NAR's FAQs seller concessions may still be communicated on an MLS. If a selling guide says Colorado sellers no longer pay any part of a buyer agent's fee, that is not what the state's listing contract says.
Two tax questions to answer before you sign anything
I am not a tax professional. Ask a CPA before you list.
Gain on the sale. Per IRS Tax Topic 701, you may exclude up to $250,000 of gain, or $500,000 filing jointly. You must have owned the home at least 24 months of the previous five years and lived in it at least 24 of those months. Filing jointly, "either you or your spouse must meet the ownership test while both you and your spouse must meet the use test individually." Generally you are ineligible if you excluded gain on another home in the prior two years. What breaks it: a long stretch as a rental, a second sale inside two years, a spouse who moved out early.
Nonresident withholding. If you have already left the state, form DR 1083 from the Colorado Department of Revenue, revision 10/01/25, applies. The withholding agent, usually the title company, takes "the lesser of: 2% of the sales price... or the net proceeds otherwise due to the transferor." Nothing is withheld where "the sales price... is $100,000 or less," or where you sign one of the listed affirmations, including Colorado residency.
The repair list, and why the roof outranks the kitchen here
The Colorado Division of Insurance reported on February 11, 2026, from 20 carriers covering about 80% of the market, that hail is 26% to 54% of a homeowner's premium depending on county, against 0.9% to 24.6% for wildfire. KOAA, reporting the county breakdown on February 16, 2026, put El Paso County at 52.5% hail. Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway, February 11, 2026: "We can't change the weather in Colorado, but we can and should help consumers in high risk areas fortify their roofs because that will help lower everyone's premiums."
CPR News reported the same day that a fortified roof in El Paso County averages $388 a year in savings, while KOAA put the statewide range at $82 to $387. Both trace to the same Division data. For a seller the hook is that CBS1 gives the buyer a Property Insurance Termination Deadline, so a roof carriers dislike can end your contract. Whether a given carrier declines a given roof age is underwriting I could not source to any public document, so I will not claim a threshold. Background is in why hail drives Colorado Springs homeowners insurance.
On cosmetics, the NAR and NARI 2025 Remodeling Impact Report of April 9, 2025 put a new steel front door at 100% cost recovery and a closet renovation at 83%. The work REALTORS most often recommended: painting the whole home at 50%, new roofing at 37%. Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, named the gap: "what remains intriguing is the disparity between the joy experienced post-remodel and the actual cost recovery." Those are national figures. A pre-listing kitchen remodel rarely returns its cost. Paint, the roof and the front door usually do.
The lookups I run on a seller's address before we price it
All free. All limited.
- Pikes Peak Regional Building Department permit search, pprbd.org/Search/Permit. Free by address, and it shows whether a finished basement was ever permitted. Limits: plan images for another address need a subscription from about $19.95, and PPRBD covers Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Fountain, Monument, Manitou Springs and Calhan, not every nearby jurisdiction.
- El Paso County Assessor property record search, elpasocountyassessor.org, for recorded characteristics and the tax districts your parcel sits in. Limit: assessor square footage and finish data are sometimes wrong, and correcting an error beats arguing during an appraisal.
- El Paso County Treasurer mill levy tables, treasurer.elpasoco.com/mill-levies. Limit: it gives the certified levy, not whether a district has debt left to issue.
- Metro district records. SB21-262, signed June 28, 2021, requires districts to keep a public website with financial and debt information. The limit worth naming: its buyer-notification piece covers sellers of newly built homes from January 1, 2022, so a resale seller is not covered. SPD19's Metropolitan Districts section still asks.
Run PPRBD first. An unpermitted basement found by a buyer's agent in week three costs more than the same finding in week zero, when you can still permit it, price for it, or disclose it. My sorting of the submarkets is in how to pick a Colorado Springs neighborhood, and the attached-housing picture behind that 5.7 months of supply is in condo and townhome living downtown.
Where the published data ran out on me
No price-cut share is published for El Paso County. Realtor.com's July 2026 housing report, released August 3, 2026, put the national share of listings with a price reduction at 20.0% and Denver-Aurora-Centennial at 30.9%, and did not break out Colorado Springs. A local brokerage blog published 43% here on July 10, 2026 with no source named. It may be right. I will not repeat it as fact.
If this were my house, the sequence I would run
Pull the PPRBD permit history and the assessor record before anyone talks price. If there is a septic system, book the NAWT-certified inspection that same week. Get a roofer up there for a written age and condition statement a buyer's insurance agent can use. Then price against what closed, not what is listed.
Fill out SPD19 slowly, using "do not know" honestly where it applies. Decide your buyer-broker contribution before the first showing, not during a multiple-offer week. If the calendar allows, go live in late March or April, which in 2025 put sellers in the June window without May's crowd. On what the automated estimates miss, I took those apart in tracking Colorado Springs trends with the Zillow estimate.
Leah Behr is a licensed REALTOR® with the Behr & Behr Team at The Platinum Group, Realtors in Colorado Springs. She lists across El Paso County, from Fountain and Security-Widefield through Falcon, Black Forest and Monument, and would rather hand a seller a permit history in week one than explain a surprise in week five.
General information only, not legal, tax or insurance advice. I am not an attorney, a tax professional, a licensed inspector or an insurance agent, and nothing here is a determination about any property or any seller's tax position. Forms, county regulations, market figures and tax thresholds change, so verify with the Colorado Division of Real Estate, El Paso County Public Health, the county Assessor and Treasurer, the Colorado Department of Revenue and your own CPA. Behr & Behr Team is committed to Equal Housing Opportunity. All information is deemed reliable but should be verified independently.
