Found 20 blog entries tagged as real estate broker.

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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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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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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Let’s get into it and talk about the most recent sales statistics for the Austin real estate housing market. In May there were 4,033 sales which is up 40.5% from last year. This is a misleading statistic. Of course, we know last year many sellers held off putting their homes on the market and so the number of sales from last year was artificially low. If you look at the last two years the sales in May were essentially flat from May, 2019.

The pending number of sales was down 33.8% from 4,370 in 2020 to only 2,895 homes under contract in May, 2021. That will probably mean when we get the final statistics for June sales those numbers will be well below last year and many of the headlines will talk about how the sales market is dropping,…

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That seems like a silly question to ask but every day home sellers decide to sell for less.

In April I was having lunch with a friend at The League in Avery Ranch. My friend said the real estate market must be hot because his neighbor didn’t even need to list his home and they sold it off market for $900,000. He was surprised when I said his neighbor could have sold it for at least $200,000 more if they put it on the market.

You can’t blame most home sellers for not keeping up with real estate prices. In many cases homes are selling for significantly over recent comps that sold only a month before. We are in an area where the demand is higher than the supply and it can be unpredictable how much someone may pay for your home.

That’s why…

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One morning last September I received a call from the Arlington, VA police department informing me that my aunt passed away. Although she was 82 it was pretty unexpected because I spoke with her only a few days before then and she seemed to be doing great.

My aunt was one of the earliest women to receive a law degree from Georgetown University and had a distinguished career working for the US Customs Office. Right until the end her mind was sharp as ever.

For years I had been encouraging her to sell her home and move into one of the independent living options nearby because in my opinion she would have benefited from being around more people. Understandably my aunt was set in her ways and wanted to remain on her own until the end.

Because…

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The Williamson County Appraisal District just mailed out the Notice of Appraised Value for 2021. Look for your notice in the mailbox or search your address on the WCAD website.

Prepare yourself before you open the envelope because you are going to be shocked by the value. Especially for those who own rental properties with no Homestead Cap you will see huge jumps in the value you will pay taxes on this year.

When you see your value if you think to yourself “If someone would pay that much for my home, I would sell it” let me tell you something even more surprising…Your tax value is probably $125,000 or more below what your home can sell for in today’s market. That’s a conservative estimate because there’s a home we will be selling that I…

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Because we offer free home staging and help coordinate make ready for landlords our company attracts a large number of homeowners who call when they decide to sell a rental property. This year more than ever we are getting calls from landlords who want to sell properties with a tenant living in the home prior to the lease ending.

Why Are Landlords Selling?

With the eviction moratorium landlords are concerned about tenants not paying rent. We have had several landlords contact us who are ready to throw in the towel because despite not getting rent they still are required to pay property taxes, insurance and make repairs. Several others are selling because the tenants won’t move out after their lease has expired and they have been given…

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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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