We’re coming out of the worst storm I have experienced in over 30 years of living in Texas. We are hearing of pipes bursting and water leaks all over the Austin area.

Many homeowners will be worried about home values being affected when selling a home with previous water damage. Whether you are planning to put your property on the market next month or in 5 years here are a few helpful tips to make your real estate transaction easier and let you sell for top dollar.

No Discount For Homes With Water Damage In Today’s Market

When you search for how to sell a home with water damage, you’re going to find hundreds, maybe thousands of blog posts written by companies that want to make a low-ball offer for your home.

For anyone planning…

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Everywhere I go people want to tell me the housing market is about to crash. Maybe the market will crash, maybe it won’t. If it’s true we are in a bubble and we will see a crash here are some of the reason we may see real estate prices pop.

Inflation and Interest Rates Going Up

There’s no doubt homebuyers are motivated by the historically low mortgage interest rates we are seeing. Many buyers are able to lock in 30-year fixed rate mortgages at 2.5% or better allowing them more buying power to stretch the price range of their home search.

Interest rates typically rise when inflation increases. With all the money being pumped into the economy it isn’t not hard to imagine we will see inflation once we see the pandemic coming to an end.

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You might be shocked to hear real estate prices in our area are up 5-10% since the beginning of December. Almost everyone who is calling me right now thinks their home is worth $50,000-$100,000 LESS than what it would sell for today. Today, someone asked me what has caused prices to go up. There are many factors and I thought I would share what I told her with you.

  1. Record low inventory of homes for sale. Many potential sellers decided to hold off on selling last year. We have a dramatic inventory shortage of homes for sale.
  2. Few new homes available. In many neighborhoods you couldn’t buy a new home if you wanted to build. They are completely sold out of lots.
  3. Tesla, Oracle and Apple building coming to life. The surge of buyers…

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The #1 question people ask me is “How’s the market?” Real estate statistics mostly tell you where the market has been. It’s like driving while looking through the rear-view mirror. If you want to know where the market is heading and drive while looking through the windshield you will want to follow the 4 most important housing market indicators. These are the statistics I look at when talking with someone about buying or selling a home.

Months Of Inventory

Months of inventory tells you how long it would take for all the homes that are currently on the market to sell if no additional homes were listed. A market with 4-6 months of inventory is generally considered a market balanced between buyers and sellers.

When the months of…

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If you are planning to sell your home you may be approached by a buyer or a Realtor to sell your home off market. An off market sale is where your home is not widely advertised in the Realtor database called the Multiple Listing Service or MLS. Some agents also call off market listings pocket listing or their silent market.

You might be wondering if you should sell your home off market is right for you. Here are some of the pros and cons of selling your home off market.

Pros Of Selling Your Home Off Market

Your Neighbors Don’t Have To Know Your Home Is For Sale

If you would like to sell your home more discretely an off market sale may be a good option for you. Your friends and neighbors don’t have to know you are selling your home…

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Between Covid and all the people relocating to the Austin area we are seeing an increase in offers on our listings from buyers who are making offers sight unseen. First off let me explain when we say sight unseen that means the buyer has not seen the home in person.

Whenever we have an offer on a home from buyers where all the decision makers have not seen the home in person our clients ask me what they should do. Sellers are always worried a buyer will make an offer sight unseen and then back out prior to closing.

When we are giving advice about sight unseen offers there isn’t a simple, one size fits all answer and here are some of the things we talk about with our clients to help make a great decision.

Is Anyone Else…

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99% of the time being a Real Estate Broker specializing in an area is a huge positive. Understanding the different buyer profiles in our area, differences in the types of homes and what buyers are willing to pay for is an advantage to both myself and the clients I represent.

1% of the time it works to my disadvantage because I know something about a home that will be seen as a negative to buyers. I always want to be upfront and honest with our clients. Over the years I have found I attract savvy clients who appreciate being told the truth.

When you are interviewing Brokers to be your listing agent you will be tempted to hire the agent who recommends the highest price. It’s human nature that you will like the agent who tells you the highest…

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Many times I will hear someone say “The Realtor made me price my home for $500,000” and that’s not the way I look at it.

The approach we take when talking about pricing for your home is we are a consultant. Although I certainly can tell you what price I recommend or I can tell you what I would do if I was in your situation my job isn’t to make that decision for you. My job is to give you so much information and advice that together we can arrive at the best decision for your situation.

Most agents only have 1 pricing strategy but in reality there are 3 ways you can price your house.

Aspirational Pricing

The first way to price your home is what we call “Aspirational Pricing.” This is a strategy where we are priced well above the…

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