In our neighborhood everybody talks about the ways in which home values are affected in the community. Maybe it is new apartments being built, sometimes it’s cars parked on the street, many people are concerned about cars being broken into, for others the hot button is landscaping and how the community is maintained.

When I talk to our neighbors the conversation often turns to some of these issues and how they are affecting our property value negatively. They talk about all the visible things that may potentially affect home value in a neighborhood.

In reality there is a hidden killer of home values that very few people know about. The hidden killer is the average agent that listed your neighbor’s house.

Let me tell you why.

Because when

This is a popular question whenever we do our home selling seminars. The short answer is no.

When estimated a sales price for your home we want to compare your home to other similar homes that have sold recently. From there we want to make adjustments for specific features and benefits about your home and add in market knowledge from our side and where we expect the market is going.

The reason a tax value may not be accurate is the value of your home is established early in the year based on sales largely from the previous year. As I am writing this message some of those comparable sales are close to 2 years old and since we are in an appreciating market they may not accurately reflect what is happening in the current market.

If you

If you are like me whenever you are buying a product or service you want to know what guarantees you will receive and how you can cancel the agreement. For some reason when people are selling their home they don’t think about getting a guarantee. Perhaps it is because some people think the real estate market is so good that every home will sell quickly.

In reality, about once a week we receive a call from a person trying to sell their home. Their agent isn’t performing and the seller isn’t happy. Their home isn’t selling and it seems like promises were made by their agent and not kept.

The seller wants to hire us to sell their home but unfortunately in most cases the seller has signed an agreement with the agent that doesn’t allow for the

If you can’t decide between selling your home now or waiting until next year let me give you a 3rd option…what’s called a delayed entry pocket listing.

We are contacted almost every day by buyers and other Realtors asking us what homes we have coming on the market soon. Often a buyer will see one of our homes that isn’t a good fit and ask us what we will be selling that would better work for their family. A pocket listing allows us to keep your home in mind in case someone contacts us that would be a good fit for your home.

What if we had a cash buyer for your home or someone with a flexible move in date? Would you be willing to sell now if they paid the price you want for your home?

A delayed entry pocket listing means we have an agreement

If you can’t decide between selling your home now or waiting until next year let me give you a 3rd option…what’s called a delayed entry pocket listing.

We are contacted almost every day by buyers and other Realtors asking us what homes we have coming on the market soon. Often a buyer will see one of our homes that isn’t a good fit and ask us what we will be selling that would better work for their family. A pocket listing allows us to keep your home in mind in case someone contacts us that would be a good fit for your home.

What if we had a cash buyer for your home or someone with a flexible move in date? Would you be willing to sell now if they paid the price you want for your home?

A delayed entry pocket listing means we have an agreement

Selling your home isn’t like selling a toaster on Craigslist or selling your car at the CVS parking lot. There is often a misunderstanding of what as As Is contract means.

I had a client whose AC wasn’t working when the buyer performed their inspection. When the HVAC tech arrived at the property, he told my client she didn’t have to repair the AC because real estate contracts are As Is.

Technically the tech is correct but there is a big difference between what happens after going under contract on your home with an As Is contract and how things play out in the end. 

When a buyer makes an offer for your home they will check off if the contract is As Is or if the buyer is requesting any specific repairs and treatments. By far the

Can You Sell Your Home In The Fall? You Can This Year!

Every year I keep track of trends and make notes to avoid making the same mistakes again. Last year I made a note that sellers needed to have their homes priced to sell by the end of July. Even though our market isn’t as seasonal as you might expect we can’t blame buyers for wanting to take a break and get out for a last summer vacation when it’s 105 degrees.

This year has been different. We have never seen the amount of traffic at our listings, the number of buyers visiting open houses and the offers from motivated buyers in Augusts as we did this year. Perhaps it’s simply supply and demand or buyers are motivated by the drop in interest rates this year. Whatever the reason, based on the

Almost every time someone invites me to their home to talk about putting it on the market, they say they have a “friend in real estate” they are considering hiring as their listing agent. It’s not surprising; with 13,160 members of the Austin Board of Realtors everyone knows several Realtors. In fact, if you don’t have any friends in real estate, I’d be worried you didn’t have any friends.

As one of my friends says it’s called Show Business not Show Friends for a reason. Here are a few ways hiring your friend to sell your largest financial asset can cost you big money.

Understanding The Contract

Would you believe the average real estate agent may only sell 2-3 homes per year? This is why before you hire any agent you should ask how many homes

Every year I keep track of trends and make notes to avoid making the same mistakes again. Last year I made a note that sellers needed to have their homes priced to sell by the end of July. Even though our market isn’t as seasonal as you might expect we can’t blame buyers for wanting to take a break and get out for a last summer vacation when it’s 105 degrees.

This year has been different. We have never seen the amount of traffic at our listings, the number of buyers visiting open houses and the offers from motivated buyers in Augusts as we did this year. Perhaps it’s simply supply and demand or buyers are motivated by the drop in interest rates this year. Whatever the reason, based on the number of buyers and agents calling us to ask about coming soon

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

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