The most important date in a real estate contract is the closing date. That’s the day we celebrate and you get your money!

The closing date is one part of the contract that is negotiable between the buyer and seller. Please consider carefully the closing date you are committing to BEFORE signing a contract.

When agreeing to a closing date here are a few things to consider…

• Once a contract is signed the seller does not have the right to change the closing date without the agreement of the buyer.
• The buyer will expect you to have moved out of the house and your home to be clean so they can do a final walk through the afternoon/evening before closing or the morning of closing.
• We recommend closing as soon as possible. Every day

Congratulation, your home is under contract! The next step will be for the buyer to schedule an inspection. Here is some information to help you understand the inspection process.

• The inspection will take about 4-5 hours and you should not be home for the inspection.
• The inspector is licensed and will have access for the lockbox.
• Buying a home is an exciting and also scary time for a buyer. Often the agent, the buyer and sometimes family will attend the inspection. Please make sure to secure any firearms, medications and valuables during the inspection.

Preparing Your Home

The inspector is not supposed to move things in the house. He also will not attempt to fix anything. A few suggestions to make the inspectors

Looking back at the first half of the year and it has been very interesting. The overall market has been very good. Interest rates are about 1% below what they were at the end of last year with many clients getting rates near or under 3.5%. Something that may surprise you is the number of investors buying homes. 40% of our listings so far this year have sold to investors. Even more surprising is the amount of money being “parked” in the area. Joyce has a client from China who has bought 6 homes this year. What that means for you? If you are a first time homebuyer it is tough to compete with investors, especially if they are paying cash. For potential home sellers investors are likely to offer you a leaseback which may get you off the

Getting pre-qualified or pre-approved should be your first step towards buying a home. Here’s what the difference is between the terms.

PRE-QUALIFICATION

Pre-qualification is the initial calculation done to estimate how much you are able to borrow from a mortgage company. Sometimes this is done by a mortgage banker/broker and it is also possible to receive a pre-qualification from an online lender. To receive a pre-qualification you will provide information about your income, debts and assets. Based on that information provided the lender will calculate an amount you can borrow. For a pre-qualification there is no verification done, the lender is only going off the information you provide. There is no guarantee the lender will make you a loan

No. In some states a buyer provides the inspection report to the seller and the seller may be required to make any repairs notated on the report. In Texas a buyer is not obligated to provide the seller the inspection report and even if provided there is no requirement for a seller to make any repairs. However, a seller who rejects any repair amendment or refuses to negotiate any repairs risks the buyer terminating the contract if the buyer has an unrestricted right to terminate the contract and is within the termination-option period.   

When you are ready to list your home, contact Eric Peterson directly at 512-791-7473 or eric@koparealestate.com.

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In the 13 years I have been in the area this is the hottest I have seen the real estate market. The number of homes sold is not an indication of the market being poor. Instead, the number of sales is down for no other reason than less homeowners put their homes on the market in May compared to last year. Average sales price and the median price are both up almost 7.5% Average $/SF up over 16% compared to May 2018. The days on market increased but that due largely to one home that finally sold after being on the market for almost a year. The market is competitive for buyers. We were fortunate to help a buyer win out in a multiple offer situation with 10 other offers. Buyers should have an inexperienced agent to help craft an offer more likely to

We saw strong first quarter sales with the number of home sales skyrocketing 15% in April. 

If you would like an in depth look at the Austin real estate market call/text  at 512-791-7473 or eric@koparealestate.com.

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The Austin and surrounding suburbs real estate market is trending up and that can create problems with low appraisals. Many sellers are afraid of receiving a low appraisal. Sometimes sellers have already spoken with another listing agent before choosing to work with me. When I ask the homeowner what the other listing agent suggested they can do to prevent a low appraisal more often than not the homeowner says the other agent just shrugged his shoulders and said…”There’s nothing we can do about a low appraisal. We’ll have to hope for the best.” Not true! There are some procedures we can do to help avoid a low appraisal from killing your sale. My background in mortgage lending and working with appraisers gives me extra insight into how they establish value.

I'm excited to tell you about how we helped a family today with a Kopa Insta-Offer. With a Kopa Insta-Offer you can sell your home to us. You can sell your home As-Is...No make ready, no staging, no showings and we can buy your home even if it is tenant occupied. You get to pick the closing date and we can offer you a leaseback to make your move easier. What could be easier than that? To get a Kopa Insta-Offer for your home it's as simple as 1-2-3.

1. Give us the details of your home.
2. Schedule a time for us to visit your home.
3. Receive an offer usually in 24 hours.

We aren’t going to give you a low ball offer that’s 50% of the value of your home and we will also provide you with an estimate of what your home could sell for in

There's a saying in real estate your first offer is your best offer. It's not necessarily true.

We recently sold a home that was listed for $50,000 over the sold price of a home with an identical floor plan that sold a few months ago. Many buyers in our area are what we call the "Too Highs" meaning regardless of the price they will say it's "too high." It wasn't surprising we received 2 offers $25,000 below list price, both with an explanation that they were comparing our listing to the home that sold 6 months ago.

All Realtors have access to the same information. What makes a difference when you receive an offer (especially if the offer is low) is the knowledge and experience of your listing agent. It's easy for your listing agent