Real estate in the Katy area has come alive since the middle of January, and there is a lot of good news for buyers and sellers alike.

Interest rates have gone up about four or five times since the beginning of the year and are expected to continue to rise. While that’s not so great for buyers, the good news is that interest rates are still below 5%.

The number of home sellers continues to decline, and there is less pressure from other sellers in the market. We still have about three to four buyers for every seller on the market, so there is still pressure on home prices. You have to be competitive when you put your home out there on the market or it’s just not going to sell.

Some houses are getting multiple offers & selling above list price.

We are seeing some fluctuation in home prices. It’s getting to the point that whenever a seller puts a home on the market at a price point that the buyer agrees upon, we’re seeing multiple offers again. In some cases, homes are selling above list price, which is great since they were selling below list price for the last five or six months.

Ultimately, we have a balanced market right now. We are extremely excited about what’s happening in 2017, so if you have any questions about navigating our real estate market, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Recently, a client of mine asked, “Do I need a survey when I’m buying a property?”

Need is a strong word, but I highly recommend getting a survey. In today’s market, you’re actually able to obtain a past survey from a seller. The seller has to sign a T-47 affidavit, which states that nothing has changed or been added since the last survey. Unfortunately, sometimes a change or addition can slip the seller’s mind, like replacing a fence. In my opinion, it’s always best to get a new survey done with every new transaction.

A survey is not required unless you’re obtaining a mortgage to purchase a property. If you pay cash, a survey is not required, but the boundaries of the property are still mentioned in the title commitment. The survey must coincide with the boundaries mentioned in the title commitment, so whether you are getting a mortgage or paying with cash, getting a survey done will make things go much smoother.

When a surveyor goes out to measure a lot, they make sure the building lot has not been encroached, the fence is on the property lines, and they make sure that any additions such as a pool or covered patio are not encroached on the easements.

Always get a new survey to make sure you don’t run into any issues down the road.

Although many agents recommend using an old survey, I’m not one of them. Always get a new survey to make sure you don’t run into any issues down the road.

If you have any questions about this topic or if you’re curious about a different real estate topic, feel free to reach out. If I choose your question to answer in a video, I’ll send you a gift card to Fleming's Steak House!

As always, if you’re looking to buy or sell a home, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

If you’re a home seller, accepting a contingency purchase means you have to take certain things into consideration you otherwise wouldn’t have with a normal offer. Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home Today I want to cover the basics of a contingency purchase and how it differs from a regular purchase if you’re a home seller. A contingency purchase is when a buyer for your home has a home they have to sell before they can close on your home. There are both good contingency purchases and bad contingency purchases, but I would never recommend that you accept a contingency purchase as long as your buyer’s home is not on the market. If their home is on the market, I usually investigate the buyer of the home they’re selling and their qualifications and advise my client on how to proceed from there. After you accept a contingency purchase, you have the right to accept other offers, but that typically doesn’t happen very much. Buyers tend to shy away from homes if they’re already under some kind of contingency agreement. By accepting a contingency purchase, you’re basically taking your home off the market. By accepting a contingency purchase, you’re taking your home off the market somewhat.If you’re considering accepting a contingency purchase, there are many different aspects you must weigh. If you find yourself in this situation or you have any other real estate questions you’d like to see me discuss in a future video, please don’t hesitate to call me or send me an email. If I use your question, you will receive a gift card to Fleming’s Steakhouse. I look forward to hearing from you!

Today I want to cover the basics of a contingency purchase and how it differs from a regular purchase if you’re a home seller.

A contingency purchase is when a buyer for your home has a home they have to sell before they can close on your home. There are both good contingency purchases and bad contingency purchases, but I would never recommend that you accept a contingency purchase as long as your buyer’s home is not on the market. If their home is on the market, I usually investigate the buyer of the home they’re selling and their qualifications and advise my client on how to proceed from there.

After you accept a contingency purchase, you have the right to accept other offers, but that typically doesn’t happen very much. Buyers tend to shy away from homes if they’re already under some kind of contingency agreement. By accepting a contingency purchase, you’re basically taking your home off the market. By accepting a contingency purchase, you’re taking your home off the market somewhat.If you’re considering accepting a contingency purchase, there are many different aspects you must weigh. If you find yourself in this situation or you have any other real estate questions you’d like to see me discuss in a future video, please don’t hesitate to call me or send me an email. If I use your question, you will receive a gift card to Fleming’s Steakhouse.

I look forward to hearing from you!

I’ve got a few exciting pieces of news to share with you today.

First, I have partnered with a vendor who will allow you to make upgrades and updates to your home before selling and you won’t have to pay until after closing. Let’s say you want to replace the paint in a room, the flooring in another, or do a complete remodel of a bathroom. With this program, our vendor will let you defer paying for those repairs (which will increase your home’s sale price) until the home is sold. It’s a very exciting program.

The next thing I want to talk about is a new product that is coming out to replace heavy, expensive granite and marble. It’s pretty incredible.

This product is man-made out of organic materials. It’s recyclable and doesn’t need to be re-sealed because it’s not porous. You never have to polish it either and two men can carry a slab of it easily. It’s harder than granite, won’t ever chip, and it’s basically heat proof.This new synthetic porcelain is better than granite in every way.This product is being manufactured in Europe right now and I imagine it will make its way here soon. It’s actually a synthetic porcelain, but it can be made to look like several different types of marble. The only difference, besides all the reasons we mentioned above, is that this product is much more inexpensive and much more effective.

If you have any questions for me about either of these topics or anything else relating to real estate, give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been invited to be a part of a new national pilot program. What is this new program? How does it work?

Instead of you having to physically sign paperwork at the title company to purchase your home or have a power of attorney sign for you, this program allows you to sign via the Internet. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection and a computer and you can sign from anywhere in the world whenever you purchase a home.

Now all you need is a Wi-Fi connection to sign for a home.

This program is just getting off the ground, but I’m very excited about it and I’m privileged to be a part of it. I’d love nothing more than to tell you more about it, so if you have any questions about this program, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I look forward to speaking with you!

I just learned about a new program called the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), and I’m excited to share the details with you today.

HECM is a purchase program that enables those of retirement age, 62 or older, an incredible opportunity to purchase a very nice home and never have to make a mortgage payment.

Let’s say you’re 68 years old and selling your home to move to a different one, and now that your home sold, the different home you want to purchase costs $175,000. That would require an $84,836 premium to close. With HECM, you could purchase that $175,000 home with just $84,836 and never have to make another mortgage payment.

This is the best program for the retirement age group I have seen to date.

As another example, if you were 78 years old and wanted to purchase a $400,000 house, it would require just $159,013 and you would never have to make a monthly mortgage payment.

There are no income requirements for this program, and it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen for people of this age group in all my years of experience.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me with a phone call or a quick email. I look forward to hearing from you!

When buying a brand new home, it’s best to hire a Realtor to represent you. Here’s why.

It’s always best to have a Realtor represent you when selling a home, but what about when buying one? There a few reasons why you want a Realtor representing you while looking to purchase a home.

First, here are a few facts on what you are getting into when buying a brand new home.

Whenever you buy a brand new home, the salesperson is not a licensed Realtor, so they are not obligated to abide by any laws or code of ethics that Realtors have to. New home sales agents are representing the seller and the seller only.

The builder of the new home might also have a stake in the mortgage company that you get referred to, and the builder might also own a piece of the title company you go through.

So, throughout the entire transaction, the builder has total representation in every aspect of that transaction.

Now, when you have a Realtor representing you, the first thing they are going to do is get the builder to disclose all the information so you have that going forward. For example, there may be things that will end up costing you money down the road that may make you want to back away from that property.

If you’re looking to buy a home, hire a Realtor to represent you.

A Realtor is also going to know things that are negotiable in a contract. There are things the builder would try to put all on you and see what they could get away with if you lacked representation.

If you are not aware of some of the expenses that come with this kind of transaction, you would be the one paying them. That’s why it’s so important to have a Realtor representing your transaction, not to mention they can usually get you a better price. A Realtor will know the builders, and will know that some of them negotiate better than others.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when buying a brand new home, the builder’s attorneys write the contract, so the contract is tilted in the buyer's favor. Having representation will help to rework the contract to be more in your favor.

If you have any questions about buying a new home or a resale home, please give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help!

When a buyer gets a home inspection done, is a seller required to fix code violations? Recently, a buyer did an inspection on one of the homes that we sold, and my seller asked me that question. The answer is no.

A code violation is basically a safety update regarding your plumbing, electrical work, installation of appliances, etc. that have been updated since the home was built or since the last code update.

You don’t have to automatically correct code violations unless you have agreed to do so for the purchaser. Some code violations are more important than others, but most buyers will want electrical issues taken care of especially.

Some code violations are more important than others.

If an inspection is done and that report is presented to you, if the sale falls through, for the next four years you are required to provide any potential buyers with a copy of that report. That’s why it’s best to always disclose everything you know about the property, as it will show up in the inspection report.

If you decide to correct the code violations, but for some reason the transaction doesn’t go through, keep your receipts and make notes on the inspection report to show what you have corrected.

If you have any further questions about inspections or repair issues, please feel free to reach out to me with a phone call or by shooting me an email. As always, please keep sending me your questions. If I use your question for my video blog, I will send you a $50 gift card!

Since winter is nearly here, it’s important to remember that the winter market in Houston is still very good—it always has been and it always will be. In fact, December is often the second-highest closing month of the year in real estate here. Why?

People want to buy a home and be living in it by January 1st to take advantage of the homestead exemption. If you buy a house any later, you may not realize the tax exemptions for that particular year.

Another important thing to consider is your landscaping, especially since we have a lot of grasses here that tend to go dormant in the winter. There are several ways to work around grass turning brown.

For starters, you could just leave it as is because you’ll be on even footing with just about everyone else on the market right now. Another option is to buy winter grass or rye grass, which is very inexpensive. It’s a grass you can seed now that’s very hearty throughout the winter months. When the heat comes, it dies off, so you don’t have to worry about it coming back ever again. You can pick it up at Lowe’s or Walmart.

Homes are sold first on emotion.

If we have a hard freeze and your landscaping isn’t protected, it’s bad news. If you’re thinking about selling in the winter, I recommend that you watch your plants very closely. If they die or get freezer burn, replace them with something that won’t freeze as easily. It may be easier to cover your plants initially to prevent this.

On cold days, make sure your thermostat is set at 72 degrees. This is just a little bit warmer than the outside most of the time, and people tend to like walking into a home with a warm feeling. If you have a fireplace, lighting a fire is a great way to add a homey feel, too.

Remember, homes are sold first on emotion, and second by logic. That first emotional step is the most important step. If you have any other questions about selling your home in the winter, give me a call or send me an email soon. I look forward to hearing from you!