Kopa Real Estate Blog - kopa real estate

It's Not As Spooky As You Think

Almost every day I get calls or have people attend our seminars thinking they can’t sell their house because of what they are hearing in the news. I assure you we are still helping people like you sell their homes and If what you are hearing has stopped you from making a move contact us to talk about your plans. Many people have benefited this year from scheduling a buying power and home improvement audit. I’ve found that even if what I tell them isn’t what they want to hear it allows them to make better decisions and move forward with their life. I’m not saying it’s easy but in the end our clients always say it’s worth it to move on to a better place.

Who Is Moving Right Now?

One of our recent clients were the original owner of their home. They…

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Why You DON'T Want A Hungry Agent

Sometimes I’ll hear someone saying they want a “hungry agent”. In reality hiring a hungry agent is your biggest risk in this market.

The number of homes in our area being listed and sold is down about 30%. Realtors are leaving the business left and right because there aren’t enough homes for everyone. If you’re looking for a hungry agent you will have a lot to choose from.

What you don’t realize is how much that will hurt you. When listing your home, the biggest risk you have is hiring someone who will tell you what you want to hear so you hire them. When an agent is that hungry you have to wonder if the advice they are giving is benefitting you or them.

I recently had a buyer’s agent on a sale tell me she personally needed that deal to…

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Why The Market Is Like A Microwaved Frozen Burrito

Lance Lambert, real estate editor at Fortune Magazine, called Austin the most interesting real estate market in America.

Prices went up like a rocket and came back to earth, but still up 43% since March 2020. Some people can’t get over missing out on timing the market. The truth is few people did because even those who sold at the top had to buy in the same market at the top.

If I told you in March 2020 your home would be worth 43% more in 3 years you would have been over the moon happy about that. If you’ve allowed yourself to get stuck because you missed out on the peak perhaps a change in perspective to thinking about how much better off you are than 3 years ago will help you get unstuck. Otherwise using 2021 and early 2022 as your baseline…

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How To Transfer Your Over 65 Exemption

Does the school tax ceiling transfer when a person who is age 65 or older or is disabled or is the surviving spouse (age 55 or older) of the individual moves to another home?

A percentage of the school district tax ceiling may be transferred.

The ceiling on the new residence homestead would be calculated to give you the same percentage of tax paid as the ceiling on the original residence homestead. For example, if you currently have a tax ceiling of $100, but would pay $400 without the ceiling, the percentage of tax paid is 25 percent. If you move to another home and the taxes on the new residence homestead would normally be $1,000 in the first year, the new tax ceiling would be $250, or 25 percent of $1,000.

To transfer the school district…

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Selling Your Home This Summer? Start Now!

It’s hard to believe, but summer is already around the corner. Here in the Austin area, our home-selling “season” kicks off in spring and reaches its peak in the summer. It’s our busiest time of year, although this year things will be a little different.

With interest rates up, demand has slowed compared to last year. Prices remain high and sellers still have the upper hand, but buyers have a bit more leverage and homes are taking longer to sell on average. This season, homes that are attractive to buyers and marketed aggressively will sell fast and high. Here are the strategies we’re using to position our summer sellers for the best result possible.

I have to give myself a little grace here because I haven’t gotten much sleep lately and I’ve…

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When Will The Market Be Good Again?

After 497 people told me they were going to wait to move until the market is good again, I realized I wasn’t doing a good job. 

You see, I am a “Professional Mind Maker Upper” and people count on me to consult with them so they can make the best decisions for their lives and their families. There’s a saying “Garbage in and garbage out” meaning if you don’t use accurate information, you won’t make good decisions. I was letting people use bad information without taking the time to ask more questions and explain some of the data that’s available about the real estate market. 

I have to give myself a little grace here because I haven’t gotten much sleep lately and I’ve changed a lot of diapers over the last few months so it’s possible I simply…

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4 Mistakes Home Buyers Are Making

I'm primarily a listing agent so I'm seeing buyers every weekend at our open houses. I'm also talking to agents and I'm seeing the offers that they put in every day. These are the four mistakes that I'm seeing buyers make in March of 2023.

Making Bad Offers

The first mistake I'm seeing is putting in “bad offers”. What I mean by that is a lot of buyers are out there and they're thinking they're going to make low offers. And you know what? A lot of sellers are actually negotiable right now.

Sellers are willing to come down on their price if they see that it's a good deal and you're a solid buyer. However, I've noticed that many buyers are submitting offers at a low price with unfavorable terms that are unrealistic to both myself as a listing…

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24 Open House Visitors At Our 1st Open House of 2023!

Early indications are the Austin area housing market is heating up again for the spring.

Each week we get a slightly better view of the 2023. Of course, in between when I am writing this on February 2nd and when it hits your mailbox things may have changed so get in touch with us to find out exactly what’s happening at that time.

Here are some of the early signs of a stronger real estate market this spring.

Open Houses And Showing Activity

We had 24 guests at our first Open House of the year which is much higher than I expected. The owners asked for buyers to remove their shoes. Here’s a picture I took of outside the home that shows how many people were inside at that time.

That home went under contract in only 6 days. With the…

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What To Expect From The Housing Market In 2023

The 2022 housing market has been defined by two key things: inflation and rapidly rising mortgage rates. In many ways, it’s put the market into a reset position.

Last January I talked about how we needed to watch the inventory of homes for sale and interest rates. As the Federal Reserve made moves this year to try to lower inflation, mortgage rates more than doubled. At the same time, we saw huge jumps in the number of homes for sale. This was a double whammy for the real estate market and had a cascading impact on buyer activity and ultimately home prices.

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates In 2023?

Interest rates shot up to over 7% and as of the end of 2022 have settled back closer to 6%. Moving forward, experts agree it’s still going to be…

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Things Are Getting A Little Spooky...Should You Be Scared?

The other day I saw someone describe the real estate market as being scary.

We are heading towards something nobody has ever been through. There’s never been a time with so many events happening all at once. We have both headwinds and tailwinds for the economy so in near future things are murky. It’s understandable some people will think it’s spooky out there in the real estate market.

Perhaps that’s true in the short term. In the long run the thing I know is people will always be buying, selling or renting real estate.

Part of the reason things seem spooky is with social media there are so many people trying to make a name for themselves or trying to get clicks by promoting that we are approaching doomsday.

Here are some of the things the…

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