One of the most important drivers of real estate values is the school ratings.

When I bought our current home in Avery Ranch Patsy Sommer Elementary which is now rated a 10 didn’t exist. I knew the school district owned land for the school and when it eventually would get built it would be great for the property values in the neighborhood.

In my opinion there are some good opportunities right now in neighborhoods that are being re-zoned to new schools.

For example this article shows the projected re-zoning of neighborhoods in the Leander school district.

Two of the neighborhoods shown in the map are projected to be re-zoned from an elementary school where the school rating is currently a 5 to a brand new elementary school.

Both…

894 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

You may remember me talking about $/SF not being a reliable metric to use when pricing real estate in Avery Ranch.

I have a great example from 2 homes we sold in the Avery Ranch neighborhood in May.

The homes are of a similar size but the home on the right was 13 years newer, in much better condition and on a beautiful private lot compared to the home on the right, which backs up to Avery Ranch Blvd.

I’m often asked “What’s the average $/SF in Avery Ranch?”

If you used the average $/SF in the neighborhood to price the 2 homes you would have underpriced the home on the right (or made a ridiculously low offer) and overpriced the home on the left (or paid too much).

When estimating real estate value it’s important to consider all aspects…

1148 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

You may remember me talking about $/SF not being a reliable metric to use when pricing real estate.

I have a great example from 2 homes we sold in same neighborhood in May.

The homes are of a similar size but the home on the left was 13 years newer, in much better condition and on a beautiful private lot compared to the home on the right, which backs up to a busy road.

I’m often asked “What’s the average $/SF in a neighborhood?”

If you used the average $/SF in the neighborhood to price the 2 homes you would have underpriced the home on the right (or made a ridiculously low offer) and overpriced the home on the left (or paid too much).

When estimating real estate value it’s important to consider all aspects of a property and not simply…

975 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

That’s right, we are buying another home and renting out our current house!

When I tell people we are buying another home they often say we have an advantage.

It’s true we do have an advantage but it’s not what you think. The advantage we had is we listened to our own advice. The same advice we give all our clients.

Here were the steps we took to buy a great home.

We were Pre-Approved

Before we started looking for a home we got pre-approved with a great local lender. Not pre-qualified but pre-approved.

We provided the lender with all our information including our tax returns. This is especially important for those of us who are self-employed and have a difficult time qualifying for financing.

An underwriter reviewed our information…

751 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post