Selling your Texas home? Get a free Home Value Report

Why is it that some homes fly off the market and other ones grow stale? There are a few factors that contribute to a longer stay on the market.

It’s important to remember that every market is different across the state, so it really depends on where the home is. Unlike back in the 1970s when agents had to advertise their listings, now people can find any home they want to with a click of a mouse. The entire market is at their fingertips.

Some sellers want to blame the agent. However, relisting with a new agent isn’t always going to solve your problem. So why do homes sit on the market?

The first reason is the condition of a home. Your home’s condition might not be up to par. Do you need to replace the carpeting? How about repainting? Is there an odd odor in your home? There could be a hundred reasons your home isn’t ready for the market, and most if not all of them need to be taken care of to sell your home.

The biggest reason a home sits on the market is that it’s overpriced.

Secondly, location could have something to do with a home growing stale on the market. If your home is next to a train track, busy road, or is just too far outside of town, that will likely cause it to sit on the market longer.

The third reason a home may sit on the market is that the home is too unique or odd.

However, the biggest reason a home sits on the market is that it is overpriced. Even if the condition is lacking, the location leaves much to be desired, and the layout is odd, a well-priced home will sell.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help!

Selling your Texas home? Get a free Home Value Report

Is an agent who shows you a home acting as your agent or representative?

That’s actually not always the case. The Texas Real Estate Commission says that agents can work with clients in one of only two ways:

As I said, these are the only two ways agents can work with buyers. Texas has said that there are two forms that we’re required to show you, the first of which is an ‘Information About Brokerage Services Form’ and it’s actually very odd. It states that if I give you the form, I don’t represent you until we have an agreement that says I represent you. It may not sound like it makes sense, but the Texas Real Estate Commission requires us to do it.

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Agents can work with clients in one of only two ways.

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Now, if you want me to represent you, there is a five-page form that says that I will represent you and you will work exclusively with me. This form gives me the right actually represent your best interests. Every agent in Texas has to work in this way. Even if an agent takes you out to see homes, they’re not legally representing your best interests without a written agreement that says so.

On our team, the people who ask us for this representation will get cash rebates from us; I want to give you a reason to work with me. I give you cash back at closing in the form of a rebate.

If you have any other questions about the legality of representation in Texas or about our cash rebates, give me a call soon. I’d be happy to help you!

Selling your Texas home? Get a free Home Value Report

My wife and I have been in the real estate business for a long time, and we have had the opportunity to help many buyers and sellers in the process. Over my 19-year career, I’ve had a lot of clients say very kind words about me and my business.

When they are looking for a Realtor to hire, a lot of buyers and sellers like to read reviews from past clients to help paint a better picture of what working with a particular Realtor is like. We have been fortunate enough to receive many positive reviews from our past clients, and we’ve put them all in one place. If you head to www.willisreviews.com, it will take you right to our Zillow page where we keep them all.

Now, these aren’t just robots or people we paid to write over 100 5-star reviews. These are past clients of ours that have been verified by Zillow and everything they say is in their own words. Our 100 five-star reviews are double the number of what any other agent in Grandbury has. If you take a look on our site, I think you will see why we are a good choice. However, I want to take a moment to break down these reviews and talk to you about what they say about our team.

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What you see in those reviews is what you’ll get when you work with us.

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First, these reviews show that we have done a lot of business in the area and know it well. I’ve done more than 700 deals in my career. Secondly, it says that we have a lot of happy clients. Less than 5% of agents have over 100 five-star reviews, and we happen to be one of them. Our clients are happy enough to share their experiences with others about working with us. Finally, these reviews say that you can trust the service you are going to get with us. What you see in those reviews is what you’ll get when you work with us.

If you have any questions or if you or someone you know is looking to buy or sell in Grandbury, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!

Selling your Texas home? Get a free Home Value Report

There are four incredibly important tips that I want to pass along to home buyers today in order to help you all through the home buying experience.

First of all, get pre-qualified. You wouldn’t believe the number of buyers I work with that haven’t even spoken to a lender yet but want to go out and see homes. You need to get pre-qualified first. All you have to do is provide basic information to a lender — you don’t even have to submit tax forms. Getting pre-qualified lets you know whether you are looking in the right price category.

Secondly, you should only work with one Realtor. Many buyers click on properties online and before they know it, they get five to 10 Realtors calling and emailing them back. When you only work with one Realtor, that Realtor will work hard for you. They will get to know you, what you’re looking for, and what’s important to you. Ultimately, working with one Realtor is really to your advantage.

You should also research your Realtor. Ask them how long they have been in the business and how long they have been in the area. Ask how many sales they do each year. A lot of Realtors get into the business thinking that they will make a lot of money up front, so there are a lot of first and second-year Realtors out there just hoping someone will come along so that they can get a deal. You should work with an experienced Realtor who knows which pitfalls to avoid during a real estate transaction. You should also look for past client testimonials to get an idea of what it will be like to work with your Realtor.

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Only work with one experienced Realtor when buying a home.

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Finally, use a Realtor that will give you a cash rebate at closing. It just so happens that I do that. We give back part of our commission to buyers who agree to work with us. Sometimes, that’s several hundred dollars, and sometimes that rebate can be a couple thousand dollars. It depends on the property you buy. Not many Realtors do that, but you can click here to learn more about our cash rebate program.

These four tips will ensure a smooth buying process for you. If you have any other questions about buying a home, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Selling your Texas home? Get a free Home Value Report

People often ask me what we do differently for home sellers that other Realtors don't do.

Before I get to that, let me just say that I personally have more than 19 years of experience and I've done more than 700 transactions, so I have a lot of experience with both buyers and sellers. This helps you when we get a deal and we're working on a tough issue. You can even see what my clients have to say about me on my review site.

So what do we do differently? There are two things. First, we provide a full-service MLS listing at a discounted price to save our sellers money. We help our clients save anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000, and even more in some cases. We offer everything that other Realtors do, we just don't charge that high 6% fee.

We also pay other Realtors the 3% that they're used to getting, but we take a discount on our side, which helps our sellers save several thousand dollars.

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It boils down to saving our clients money.

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The other program we offer that no one else offers is called an Open House Advantage. What this means is that if a seller wants to do their own open house or they want to look for a buyer themselves and a buyer comes to them, we'll still represent that seller. We walk you all the way through the contract, we do the negotiations, and we write the contract. We help the buyer, but we don't represent them; we represent you, the seller. We're still working for you.

In that case, you only pay our commission, and not the other 3% buyer commission. This helps you save quite a bit of money; I once helped a buyer save $20,000 this way.

So when you ask what we do differently, it basically boils down to saving sellers money. If you have any more questions about how we save our clients money or you have any questions at all about Texas real estate, give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you.

People often ask me what we do differently for buyers that other Realtors don't do. People know that we run a different kind of real estate company but don't understand the particulars.

One thing we do differently is help buyers save money by offering a cash rebate. I give money back to buyers at closing for using me as your buyer representative. With 19 years of experience and more than 700 sales, I've seen everything there is to see in a transaction. You want a buyer's agent who knows what they're doing, has the experience, and has been through the difficulties and turmoil of many deals.

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Nobody else gives a cash rebate at closing like we do.

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When it comes to the cash rebate, we make an agreement to work together, which gives me the permission to represent your best interests. In Texas, agents can't represent your best interests unless they have your permission to do that. When we put that in writing in a buyer representation agreement, I also put my buyer rebate in writing. At the closing table, you get a rebate out of my commission that goes directly to your expenses.

Nobody else is offering this, and we've done it many times. It's real cash and it comes right out of my commission. We do it all the time and we'd love to do it for you, so if you'd like it, be sure to ask for it. Not everyone gets the cash rebate!

If you'd like to hear more about this offer or you have any questions about real estate, give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you.

Everyone knows that there is an abundance of Realtors in every city. Picking the right one can be difficult if you’re unsure about what to look for. So how do you distinguish a good Realtor from all of the others out there?

Look for certain unique incentives. For example, we provide cash rebates to buyers when they agree to work with us. We’ll give back anywhere from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, good on anyone’s listing as long as the seller pays our 3.5% fee. This is something that most other Realtors will not do.

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Work with a reputable local lender.

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If you’re a seller, find an agent that will provide you with a full-service MLS listing. This will ensure that your listing goes on all websites, including Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia. While most Realtors will charge a 6% fee for this, we do it free of charge.

If you need any help finding the Realtor that’s right for you, please feel free to reach out to me by giving me a call or sending me an email. I’d love to help you in any way I can!