Blog Review: Great Colorado Homes

By Stevie Duffin Updated on 3/19/2014

“I’m always nervous to tell people that I’m a REALTOR® when I first meet them because I don’t want to be judged through the perspective of their last real estate experience.”

Andrew Fortune is not shy about sharing his feelings, and he has many. The Colorado Springs area realtor uses his fledgling (albeit robust) blog on GreatColoradoHomes.com to tell you the truth, no matter how personal that truth may be:

“When I first became a REALTOR®, I started working for one of the major brokerages and I was disheartened when my class instructor said, ‘you may think you’re not a salesperson, but get over it. Every REALTOR® is a salesperson.’ . . . I hate sales pressure and pushy business practices, so i decided to take a different path with my real estate career. It was my bad experience with past REALTORS® that motivated me to get into the real estate business in the first place.”

So what did he do?

“I decided to ignore all the sales training and focus on easier ways to inform buyers of ALL their options, rather than pushing to close deals. I was nervous because many industry leaders were sending signals that I would fail if I was not aggressive to close deals.”

These excerpts come from a recent post by Fortune titled A Buyer’s Realtor Should Not Be A Salesperson.

Fortune founded his entire career on the anti-salesy principal and is consequently and unsurprisingly very capable of selling himself as a laidback, no-frills professional. I even noticed that he has no official About section on Great Colorado Homes, but imagine that anyone who reads at least one blog entry would get a very clear idea of how Fortune operates.

In the entry Don’t Be Afraid Of The Mortgage Loan Pre-Approval, Fortune coaches the reader through one of the most exciting nerve-wracking parts of the home buying process: mortgages!!!! (Please forgive this author, who is partial to mortgage loans). It’s actually really reassuring:

“When you talk to a loan officer, you should be treated as a valued customer, so DON’T BE SCARED! You are a highly important asset to their professional success.  If you feel intimidated by the loan officer that you are talking to, move on to the next one.”  

With h2 headings like “A Good Loan Officer Will Treat You Like Royalty,” and “Looking At Homes Online is Fun!” Fortune brings a low pressure vibe to the table, and it’s a breath of fresh air. If home buyers – first timers especially – are feeling the real estate tension, GreatColoradoHomes.com is the place to kick back, get educated, and take it all one step at a time.

Adding to the dimension of fun is Fortune’s sense of humor, which comes to life in the images and GIFs he regularly incorporates into his entries. In a GIF used for the Don’t Be Afraid post, a relieved borrower graciously and aggressively embraces a Washington Mutual loan officer (pictured left). The use of GIFs is not something I’ve seen in many real estate blogs, and I could definitely get used to it.

I could get used to Andrew Fortune, too. With some creative and honest nurturing, he has turned GreatColoradoHomes.com into a comforting safe haven for the nervously buy-curious. If you’re looking to get your real estate on in Colorado Springs or Denver, I highly recommend you stop by Fortune’s blog and experience the lighter side of home buying.