Whenever I receive a low ball offer I have to hold back my gut reaction of wanting to call the buyer’s agent and say “Is your buyer CRAZY? How could they offer so little for such a great real estate property?”

I know that getting upset with the buyer’s agent is not going to get my seller’s house sold. So instead I calmly call the buyer’s agent and seek first to understand. As I am hopeful that the reason I received a low ball offer is because of a misunderstanding of the comps, the Spring Texas real estate market, or the cost of upgrades that need to be made to the home. Read More »

If your Spring Texas home is on the market for between $270,432 and $206,350, you need to say “Thank You” to the FHA. Because yesterday, they just made it possible for more buyers to qualify to purchase your home.

As the requirements for subprime loans have become stricter and 100% financing loans are being eliminated, the popularity of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans has been increasing. FHA loans require only a 3% minimum down payment, FICO scores do not apply, they have higher allowable debt ratios than the debt ratios imposed on conventional loans, and the interest rates are competitive with conventional loans.  All good reasons that make a FHA loan a great choice for the first-time home buyer with little money saved and less than stellar credit. Read More »

If you ask a seller what’s the first question he has about selling his Spring TX home, he will tell you its “How much am I going to net?”.  Its not “How long is it going to take for my house to sell?” or “What do I have to do to get my house ready to sell?”.  Its simply SHOW ME THE MONEY.

And why wouldn’t it be the first question. Especially since the majority of reasons why people sell their homes and move are due to lifestyle decisions. Not because someone or something is making them move. They are moving simply because a different area or house would fit their lifestyle better. Read More »

Again today, I saw another Spring TX home that is being advertised as VERY MOTIVATED SELLER. But what exactly is a very motivated seller? Is a motivated seller a seller that wants to sell? And if that is the definition aren’t the majority of sellers motivated? 

I can not say that all sellers are motivated. Because there are those sellers that say “if I can get the price I want for my home I will sell it and if I can’t I won’t”.  Its easy to spot the homes with the non-motivated sellers. They are the overpriced and non-staged homes.

Read also: Staging your Spring Texas home

Read More »

The other day I received a call from a seller who has had his Spring TX home on the market for two years. He was thinking about changing his Realtor and he wanted me to come and talk with him.

When the seller told me his house had been on the market for two years, I wondered what could be so terribly wrong with his house that it hadn’t sold. Because even in today’s Spring Texas real estate market, two years is a long time for a house to be on the market.

At my first meeting with the seller, I asked a lot of questions. I wanted to know about the showing activity, the feedback from the buyers who had viewed the home, and why does he think his house has not sold. Read More »

When I am out showing Spring Texas homes to buyers I am frequently asked “Can we see the garage?”  Sure no problem, I say. Until I realize that I have just spoken too soon. The home that we are viewing has a detached garage and there is no key or garage door opener to be found. 

I used to think that it is only a garage and just because we were unable to view it is no reason for my buyers to delay writing an offer. I was wrong. The garage has become much more than where we park our cars. In fact drive down the streets of any Spring Texas neighborhoods and you are bound to see more cars parked in the driveways than in the garages. Read More »

In other states, how much a home sold for is considered public information and is available through tax records. This is not the case in Texas. Texas is a non-disclosure state which means the price the home sold for is not recorded. The Deed of Trust is the recorded document but it only contains the borrowed amount and not the sales amount.

Since Texas is a non-disclosure state, Zillow.com is NOT a reliable source for sold information. Zillow.com relies on public county records as their primary data source for their Zestimates which creates challenges when sales data is not in the public county records.

So how do Spring Texas home buyers know how much to offer for a home? Read More »

Numerous articles have been written and seminars held addressing the needs of the first time home buyer. But very few to help you, the FIRST time Spring Texas home seller. You have one real estate transaction under your belt as a buyer, but what you need to know as a seller is so very different than that of a buyer. 

So if this is your first time at selling a Spring Texas home, here are some things you should know:

1.  Sellers Disclosure Notice - Texas law requires you to provide a sellers disclosure notice for the property. The notice is a disclosure of your knowledge of the condition of the property as of the date completed and signed. Read More »

You followed all the tips and staged your Spring Texas home to sell. It is now on the market and you are impatiently awaiting that first call from the showing service saying that the buyers and their Realtor are on their way.

To get the most out of every showing of your Spring Texas home, follow these tips:

1. Convenient - Make the showing of your home as convenient as possible to buyers. Buyers have many homes to choose from and if they can not get in to view yours they will just move on and find another home.
2. Comfortable - Although the buyer is a guest in your home, make them feel comfortable. Don’t expect them to remove their shoes. Leave the house. The buyer can not freely look at the house and envision it as their house with you still there. Read More »