The inquiring minds of buyers
December 3rd, 2009 categories: Home Buyer Information | views
Spring Texas home buyers have lots of questions about houses and I suppose that is a good thing. There are numerous things about a house buyers should want to know because the answers impact the market value of the house. Questions such as “How old is the home’s water heater, roof, and HVAC system?” A home that has had its main components recently replaced is worth more than a home whose components are at the end of their useful life.
There are some questions that buyers ask which have no impact on the value of the house. Questions such as “Why are the sellers selling?”, “Where are the sellers moving to?”, and “What did the sellers pay for the house?”. Buyers don’t need to know the answer to these questions to determine the market value of the house. Comps are what buyers need to be evaluating and studying to determine the home’s market value.
But buyers get hung up on these questions especially the question of “What did the sellers pay for the house?”. What the sellers paid for the house last year or ten years ago does not matter. The comps are what matter.
Sellers on the other hand are just not as curious about buyers. Sellers don’t ask “Why are the buyers buying?” or “Where are the buyers moving from?”. All the sellers want to know is “Are the buyers pre-approved for a loan and do they have the financial ability to buy our house?”.
Read also:
- Top 10 mistakes homebuyers make
- What a sellers disclosure does not tell you
- The accuracy of your Spring Texas home’s Zestimate
- Spring TX real estate – How much did that house sell for?
| Discussion: No Comments Yet, Your Thoughts Are Welcome »
What should you do?
December 1st, 2009 categories: Home Seller Information | views
The holiday season has arrived! The time of year people’s thoughts turn to baking, shopping, and spending time with family and friends. It is also the time of year I get asked from at least one of my sellers of “Should I take my home off the Spring Texas real estate market during the holidays?”
My answer this year is the same as it was last year “It depends upon your reason for selling.”
If your time frame for selling is flexible and you don’t want to be inconvenienced with showings during the holidays, then go ahead and take your house off the market.
If you have a real desire to sell then keep your house on the real estate market because there are some very good reasons to do so. Including:
- Not all buyers celebrate the same holidays
- Buyers are relocating to Spring Texas year around
- Fewer homes are on the market during the holidays means less competition
- Showings, although fewer, will be by more motivated buyers increasing the likelihood of a showing resulting in an offer
Thanks to the extended and expanded homebuyers tax credits there will be additional buyers in the market this holiday season. If you take your house off the market you could lose out on buyers wanting to take advantage of the tax credit before it expires on April 30th, 2010.
I can’t guarantee your house will sell if you keep it on the market during the holidays but I can guarantee it won’t sell if you take it off the market.
Read also:
| Discussion: No Comments Yet, Your Thoughts Are Welcome »
Airport Noise
November 28th, 2009 categories: Home Buyer Information | views
I enjoy living in Spring Texas because of its close proximity to grocery stores, museums, malls, parks and the IAH Airport. It only takes 20 minutes to drive from my house to IAH, the fourth largest airport system in the U.S.
I want convenience but I don’t want any of the negatives that sometimes come with convenience. I enjoy living close to the airport but I don’t want to hear any airport noise.
The Houston Airport System has some great maps showing the typical departure and arrival corridors for West-Flow operations and East – Flow Operations. The departures are in blue and the arrivals are in red. You can view the maps here.
The Spring Texas neighborhoods with the least amount of airport noise are the areas in white. I consider these areas to be the sweet spots because they have airport convenience and the least amount of airport noise.
Which area on the map is my house located … red, white, or blue? White. I live in the sweet spot!
| Discussion: No Comments Yet, Your Thoughts Are Welcome »
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 26th, 2009 categories: Discover Spring Texas | views
When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of delicious food and lots of it, our annual debate of which is better white bread or corn bread dressing, football, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, traveling, good times spent with family, and giving thanks.
Take a moment before you carve into the bird to count your blessings and give thanks. Give thanks to the special people in your life, give thanks for your health, be thankful if you have a job even if you don’t like it, and if your football team is having a winning season be thankful for that too.
A special thank you to my husband and family for your support during the last year. It has meant the world to me! You are the best and I am extremely blessed to have you in my life.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
BTW: If you were wondering which is better white bread or corn bread dressing? Its the white bread dressing and it also happens to be my favorite Thanksgiving dish. What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?
| Discussion: No Comments Yet, Your Thoughts Are Welcome »
Are you overpaying if you pay the home’s list price?
November 24th, 2009 categories: Home Buyer Information | views
The vast majority of buyers want a deal. They don’t want to overpay and they don’t want to pay full list price. I understand buyers wanting a deal because I like a deal too.
But what is full list price and can paying full list price still sometimes be a deal?
Paying full list price occurs when the house is listed for $158,000 and the buyers agree to pay the sellers the $158,000 price. In this scenario the sellers are receiving what I call a “net sales price” of $158,000.
In the next scenerio, the buyers agree to pay the full list price of $158,000 but the sellers have agreed to contribute $5,000 towards the buyers closing costs. The sellers are receiving a “net sales price” of $153,000 ($158,000 sales price – $5,000 contribution to buyers closing costs).
In both of these scenarios, the buyers are paying full list price but are they overpaying or are they getting a deal? To be able to determine if the buyers are getting a deal or NO deal, we would need to determine what similar style homes in the same area have sold for recently (the comps).
The comps show similar homes have recently sold for $162,000. In both scenarios, the buyers are getting a deal. Yes, the buyers are paying full list price but paying full list price doesn’t have to mean the buyers are overpaying.
The idea that paying full list price is not overpaying is difficult for many Spring Texas home buyers to understand especially first time home buyers. But before you assume you are overpaying, you need to review and study the comps. The comps and not the list price hold the answer to the question “Are you overpaying if you pay the home’s list price?”
Read also:
| Discussion: No Comments Yet, Your Thoughts Are Welcome »
Spring TX Real Estate: Market Report October 2009
November 21st, 2009 categories: Home Buyer Information, Home Seller Information | views
What’s going on in the Spring TX real estate market? Is it UP ↑ or DOWN ↓? The market is still down compared to 2008 levels with the good news being the decreases continue to … well, decrease. Considering we started the year out with sales volume decreases of almost 30% a decrease of only 15% sounds pretty darn good.
Months of inventory is sitting at 5.7 months which is a full month less of inventory than we had at the same time last year.
Not all price ranges are experiencing the same level of improvements. The over $400,000 price ranges continue to struggle. If it wasn’t for buyers relocating to Spring Texas, the activity in the upper price ranges would be almost non-existent. The economy and the stock market will need to experience additional improvement before buyers create demand in the upper price ranges.
The first time homebuyers tax credit has been the driving force behind the market in 2009. The extension of the first time homebuyers tax credit until April 30, 2010 will continue to help drive the market in 2010. The big question is will the $6,500 “move-up” tax credit be enough to drive home sales in the $200,000+ market? With the uncertainty of the economy and the high unemployment numbers, I don’t envision the “move-up” tax credit having much of an impact on the Spring Texas real estate market.
I predict our market will experience a little bit of a lull in December. The first time homebuyers who were motivated to purchase a home by the tax credit already had their homes under contract before the announcement of the extension of the tax credit.
For more numbers, check out the Real Estate Market Reports category.
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring TX mailing address
| Discussion: No Comments Yet, Your Thoughts Are Welcome »
Real Estate is local
November 19th, 2009 categories: Home Buyer Information | views
With the help of the first time homebuyers tax credit, my youngest brother, Kevin and his girlfriend, Maggie closed on their first home today. I would have loved to have been their buyers agent because I really enjoy working with first time homebuyers and they are family. But distance got in the way because Kevin and Maggie wanted to purchase a home in Watson Illinois and I am only licensed to practice real estate in the State of Texas. Bummer for me.
The role I was left to play was the role of the real estate advisor. As a first time homebuyer, Kevin had lots of questions about negotiations, the option period, inspections, and the entire process of purchasing real estate. I did my best to answer my brother’s questions but I soon found myself at an extreme disadvantage and I wonder if I was really any help at all.
Kevin wanted to offer the sellers 90% of the list price for their home and he asked me if I thought that was reasonable. My response was ”What are similar homes in the area selling for? In the Spring Texas real estate market homes that are priced correctly for the market sell for 96% to 98% of list price”. My brother, didn’t want to know about the Spring Texas real estate market. He wanted to know about the Watson Illinois real estate market. Real estate is local and what I know is the Spring Texas real estate market.
It did not take long for Kevin to figure out I was going to be of very little help to him in his purchase of a home in Watson IL. He was going to have to rely upon his Realtor for the answers to his questions about the local real estate market.
I don’t suspect Kevin will call on me again to be a real estate advisor for Watson IL. But hopefully he will call on me again to be an advisor for a different subject because older sisters are wiser. At least I think so.
Congratulations on becoming first time homeowners, Kevin and Maggie!! Rick and I wish you much happiness in your new home.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
Old Town Spring celebrates the holidays
November 17th, 2009 categories: Discover Spring Texas, Events and Activities | views
Last Saturday I attended the 28th annual Old Town Spring’s ”Home for the Holidays” celebration. I don’t know whether it was because it was a gorgeous sunny day with a high temperature of 80 degrees or people were ready to get into a holiday mood but whatever the reason there were a lot of people in Old Town Spring for the opening week of the “Home for the Holidays” celebration. If you did not get a chance to go last weekend you have plenty of time as it continued through December 20th.
For those who have never been to Old Town Spring , it is considered the birth place of Spring TX back in the 1800s. Today, Old Town Spring is a quaint town of 150 speciality shops and restaurants.
During their ”Home for the Holidays” celebration the town is decked out with lights, ornaments, garlands, and bows. Santa is in his house ready to hear little girls and boys wish lists, a smaller scale train takes the kids for a ride around the square, strolling musicians entertain, and the shops have their holidays goods out ready to tempt you.
If you get hungry after all that shopping, I recommend you order the fried pickles at Puffabelly’s. They are delicious!
| Discussion: No Comments Yet, Your Thoughts Are Welcome »
Should the homebuyers tax credit been expanded and extended?
November 15th, 2009 categories: Home Buyer Information | views
By now the ink is dry on the law extending and expanding the homebuyers tax credit. What I want to know is what you think.
Do you think the homebuyers tax credit should have been expanded and extended? Do you think low interest rates are enough of an incentive to stimulate demand for the real estate market and the tax credit should not have been extended and expanded?
Satisfy my curiosity by taking a moment to vote and letting me know what you think.
Details on the extension and expansion of the homebuyers tax credit
| Discussion: No Comments Yet, Your Thoughts Are Welcome »
Rugs – Are they hiding something?
November 13th, 2009 categories: Home Buyer Information, Home Seller Information | views
Rugs serve many purposes. They can help pull a room together or add warmth to a cold floor or hide all sorts of nasty stains or cover a thread bare carpet. The purpose a rug serves is as different as the homes they are located in.
When I work with home sellers I encourage them to pick up their rugs and store them away while their house is on the Spring Texas real estate market. Partially because rooms look larger without the rugs and secondly I want to know if there is a stain, red wine or something else, hiding underneath.
The Texas Association of Realtors sellers disclosure does not require the sellers to disclose carpet stains or thread bare carpets. Although the sellers are required to disclose if they are aware of any defects or malfunctions in the floors. Are carpet stains or a carpet in bad condition considered a defect or malfunction in the floor? Probably not.
Although I would prefer the condition of the carpet or flooring that’s underneath the rug not to be left up to interpretation as to whether it should have been disclosed. The buyers are eventually going to see the condition of what lies beneath the rug. It is just a matter of when. Will the buyers see the true carpet condition before they place an offer on your house or will it not be until right before closing when the buyers are doing their final walk-thru?
To avoid a potential last minute issue, I recomend you let buyers see your house as it truly is red wine stains on the carpet and all in the very beginning.
Read also:
| Discussion: 1 Comment »