Kopa Real Estate Blog - austin real estate

Kopa Success Story: 10721 Rathdowney

The first time I met the owner of 10721 Rathdowney was at the end of March. We stood on his back patio and he was so nervous he couldn’t stop shaking. He had lost his job in Dallas and the tenants he had at this rental property here had trashed the house. He didn’t know what to do and didn’t know who could help.

He needed the money but he didn’t know how to get the tenants to move out and he didn’t know how to sell the house without selling for a low-ball price that he was offered by an investor. Fortunately, he called us before it was too late.

The first thing we did was put a plan together. With our help he negotiated with the tenants so they would vacate the home within 15 days. During that time, we helped the owner get contractors…

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Our Commitment To Fair Housing

Would you believe through July we have had clients who were born in 14 different countries? We’ve also had clients from just about every race, creed, color and family unit you can imagine. Sometimes I say only the deli outside the UN has a more diverse clientele than we do.

With everything going on right now attention within the real estate industry is being paid to fair housing. That’s good because historically housing has been one of the worst areas of discrimination in America.

We want you to know whoever you are and wherever you came from Kopa Real Estate is ready to help you! It’s the right thing to do, it’s good business and if you are selling your home it will make you money.

The reason I say it will make you money is when…

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Why Some Sellers Sell Their Home For More Money

How To Attract The Emotional Buyer

If you ask me why so many home sellers hire us when they decided to sell my answer would be simple. When it comes to selling your home the price you receive comes down to whether or not you are trying to attract a buyer buying based on emotion or based on logic.

The buyer buying based on emotion will always pay the most for your home. What we have done is come up with a repeatable and market proven system to attract and appeal to the emotional buyers in our area.

Sellers who understand the difference have great success. Sellers who try to use logic often wind up frustrated because the real estate market and buyers don’t react the way a logical mind hopes.

One of the many ways we add value to our…

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Half Way Through 2020...What Have We Learned?

The first week of January I went to Orlando for a marketing conference. On the flight home the passenger next to me was saying he expected 2020 to be a great year. He said all the economic trends were going to keep getting better and better. I agreed but also mentioned the problem with trends is they tend to continue until something unexpected happens.

Of course, if I truly had any idea what was going to happen I would have been able to capitalize on it and I would be writing this from my own private Caribbean island. If we have learned anything in the first 6 months it is that our crystal balls are usually a little bit fuzzier than we would like.

Some of the things we have learned this year are…

• Our real estate market is resilient. Our…

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Believe It Or Not We’re In A Better Seller’s Market Than 2019

Almost every day someone calls me to ask about the market. They tell me they’ve been planning to relocate for a new job, move up to a bigger home or even downsize. Usually the conversation starts with “Am I crazy to even think about selling my home right now?”

Most people are shocked when I say “Would you believe we are in a stronger seller’s market than we were a year ago?” The overall statistics for April and May are ugly. That’s in the past as sellers removed their homes from the market and buyers cancelled contracts. These charts show the supply and demand statistics demonstrating fewer active listings and more homes under contract compared to the same weekly figures from one year ago. If you want to gauge where the market is going you…

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Why Home Staging Is Even More Important In Today’s Market

In Williamson County, real estate is still an essential business and many sellers have chosen to continue showing their homes. As you might expect we have seen the number of in person showings dramatically decrease over the past few weeks.

My expectation is once the shelter in place ordinance has been lifted, we will see showings increase but likely not to the same level as pre-Coronavirus. The reason I say that is I expect buyers will be choosier about taking a perceived risk to enter your home. Previously our goal for our listings was to make it into the top 5 homes a buyer would want to visit. Going forward I anticipate buyers will reduce the number of homes they visit in person from 5 to 3. What that means for you if you are selling a home is…

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5 Things To Think About Before Renting Your Home

When it’s time to move you might think about renting your home. Because we sell so many homes that were turned into rental properties, we’ve gathered insight into some of the things homeowners don’t think about before converting an owner occupied home into a rental property. Here are 5 things you should think when deciding between renting or selling your home.

Do You Want To Be A Landlord

I’m always willing to help anyone look at the rent vs sell figures so you can make the best decision for yourself. But before we get that far I will ask you if you really want to be a landlord and if you didn’t own the home would you buy it as an investment property.

I will also ask if you like working with people? What will you do when the rent is…

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How To Buy A Home At The Top Of The Market?

 
It’s a tough market for buyers. Many feel they are buying at the top of the market and that makes them feel nervous.

Of course, people have been telling me it’s the top of the market for 5 years and so far that’s been a losing bet. However, we know real estate moves in cycles and at some point there will be a downturn in the market. Here are a few tips to help protect you from a downturn when it inevitably happens.

Avoid Homes Missing Important Features

Something that makes real estate challenging is comparing homes that aren’t exactly the same. Many buyers get so focused on the size of the home and $/SF they don’t remember you live in the floor plan and not the size of the home.

Yesterday I met clients at a very nice home. From a…

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Should I Use A Realtor If I'm Buying New Construction?

I’m often asked, “Should I use a Realtor if I’m buying new construction from a builder”.  The answer is only if you want a solid home built that will great for resale value when it comes time for you to sell. Here are just a few of the reasons why you should have a Realtor help you when buying or building a new home.

Representation – The salesperson represents the builder and their interests, not yours. In most cases the builder’s salesperson does not hold a real estate license. That means they aren’t held to the same standards of treating consumers fairly you might expect. A Realtor will represent you and look out for your best interest.

You May Not Get What You Think You Are Getting – When you walk into a model home it’s easy to fall in…

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What You Need To Know About Property Tax Protesting Companies In 2020

It’s only January and we are already seeing hand-wringing in our neighborhood about property taxes and the companies that will protest on your behalf. Protesting your property taxes in Williamson and Travis Counties will be even more challenging this year.

Just a reminder, if you engaged one of the tax protesting companies last year you probably signed a form giving them authorization to protest for you every year. That means if your plans are to protest on your own this year or you plan to hire a different company you will want to cancel the service with the company you previously hired. Otherwise they will protest on your behalf and you will get billed if they are successful.

Something new this year is at least one of the protesting…

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