The Pros and Cons of a Pocket Listing


As a method of selling your home, a pocket listing offers both advantages and disadvantages that I want to discuss today.


What is a pocket listing? What does that mean for you as a seller? A pocket listing is a listing that the seller has agreed to sell but has not made the choice to officially list it for sale yet. You won’t find these types of listings on the regular MLS or on the Internet. The seller, though, has visited with a real estate agent and told them that they’d be interested in selling the house if the agent can find them a buyer. There are both advantages and disadvantages to selling your house this way. One advantage is that you can maintain your privacy throughout the sale. Another advantage is that because the home doesn’t spend a lot of time on the market, you only have to deal with a small pool of buyers and avoid a surplus of showings. These factors generally make this selling method the most stress-free. Do we use pocket listings? Absolutely. We help many clients sell their house before it even goes on the market. We do that through something called an “off-market property list.” As soon as someone tells us they’re interested in selling their house, they’ll go onto our off-market property list and we try to match that house with home buyers we’re working with who we think might be interested.

Pocket listings can be a very valuable tool to get your home sold.

One very clear disadvantage to pocket listings is the limited amount of exposure they offer. Because it’s not a regular listing, a pocket listing won’t get the benefits of a full marketing package. A related disadvantage is the house will also probably have less foot traffic. If fewer people (and agents) know that your home is for sale, there will naturally be less activity surrounding it. Depending on your circumstance, pocket listings can be a valuable tool in helping you get your house sold. If you have any questions about this or any other topic, feel free to reach out to us. We’re here to help!
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Location: Temple, TX, USA

What Are the Pros and Cons of a Fixer-Upper?

Many people love the idea of a fixer-upper, but there are four things you should know before you buy one.


Have you ever thought about buying a fixer-upper? Many more people are getting into this portion of real estate thanks to shows like HGTV's Fixer-Upper, which takes place in Waco. Can anyone do this successfully and profitably? Absolutely, there are a lot of people who do. However, it's possible to buy a fixer-upper that turns into a disaster. If you're considering buying a fixer-upper, there are some crucial things to remember.

 First, not every house is going to be a diamond in the rough. Some simply need too much work just to make them livable. Consider location and condition, because you want a house that will maintain its value or increase in value over time. If the house has been very poorly maintained, the cost of reviving it could be extremely high. Just because a house needs a lot of work doesn't mean you should pursue it.

 Next, remember that you have to get a home inspection. I can't tell you how important it is to bring in a professional inspector to look at the bones of the house to really get a good idea of what you're getting into. Any serial flippers will tell you stories about a project turning out to be way more than they expected. You can't always prevent it, but the inspection will go a long way.

Not every house is a diamond in the rough.

 Then, if you're thinking about moving or removing walls, you might want to bring in an architect or engineer to the house to evaluate some of these things. You don't want to be surprised by these things down the road after the renovation has begun.

 Finally, consider who is doing the renovating. There's nothing against doing it yourself if you've got the experience, but if you don't have experience renovating houses or doing handyman work, then you'll need to consider the cost of delegating those items to a professional. Make sure everyone doing the work is experienced and won't get overwhelmed.

 If you have any more questions about taking on a fixer-upper or a major renovation, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have or put you in touch with a great contractor for any projects you're thinking of.
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Location: Temple, TX, USA

4 Reasons to Buy a Home This Fall

Buying a home in the fall is a smart idea for a number of reasons. One of these is that you’ll face less competition for homes from other buyers.


A lot of people look at fall as a bad time to buy a home. In reality, there are pros and cons to buying no matter what time of year you’re looking. When we look at the fall market specifically, there are four big advantages:

1. Lower prices. Prices usually rise in the spring and summer months, then flatten out in the fall and winter. You don’t see a lot of skyrocketing sale prices during this time and things tend to slow down a little bit.

2. Less competition. When you sell in the fall, there are fewer buyers out in the market for you to compete against. A lot of people who have been in the market have either already purchased a home or are waiting until next spring. Less competition gives you a better chance at finding your perfect house.

This is a great time to get a good deal.

 3. The holidays are right around the corner. A lot of sellers don’t want to have their homes on the market during the holidays. If you are looking to shave a little bit of money off your purchase price or move quickly, fall can be a great time for you to accomplish these things.

4. There could be some year-end tax credits. When next April rolls around, you can write off some of the closing costs and your mortgage interest to offset your tax bill a little bit.

If you have any questions for us about buying a home in the fall, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We would truly love to hear from you.
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Location: Temple, TX, USA

What if Your Appraisal Comes in Short?


If you’re buying a home and the appraisal comes in lower than the sales price, what should you do? Here are your four options.


Today I’d like to answer a question that I get frequently from clients, which is, “What should I do if the appraisal on the home I’m buying comes in short?” Obviously, this is a situation that we don’t want to happen, but if it does, you have four options:

1. You can cancel the contract. Most contracts today are written in a way that if the house does not appraise for the sales price, the buyer can terminate the contract and get their earnest money back. This isn’t the preferred scenario for a lot of buyers, but it does occasionally happen.

2. The parties involved could put up more cash. For example, if the house has a $100,000 sales price and the house appraises for $95,000, often the lender may not be willing or able to make up that $5,000 difference. In these circumstances, that difference needs to be made up by the buyer and the seller. The seller could offer to lower their sales price, the buyer could put up more money, or the two could compromise. As long as the difference is made up, the sale can continue.

If the appraisal comes in low, you have four options.

 3. You can change the terms of your loan. Depending on the loan that you’re trying to get and the lenders you’re visiting with, this may or may not be a possibility. However, in certain circumstances, it may make sense to take out a second mortgage on the house you’re buying. By having two liens on the property, you can sometimes satisfy the concerns that lenders would have in the event that the property does not appraise. Again, your ability to do this will depend on the lender and property type you’re dealing with, so I would encourage all buyers to speak with their lender about this option.

4. You can challenge the appraisal. This is probably the option that we go with most often. Appraising a house is not an exact science; you’ll never be able to find homes that are exactly the same as the home you’re buying or selling in comparable sales. For this reason, when an appraiser is looking at comparable properties, they’re putting forth their own subjective opinion to arrive at a value for the property. If the appraisal comes back low, what I would do as an agent is reach out to the appraiser and share facts with them that they may or may not have considered when determining the value of the property in an effort to get them to raise their value back up to our sales price. I’d say this strategy works about 60% of the time.

If you have any other questions about your options in the event of a low appraisal or any other questions about buying or selling a home in our area, feel free to reach out to me by phone or email. I’d be happy to help you!
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Location: Temple, TX, USA

5 Important Things to Know About Home Inspectors


There are plenty of home inspectors out there. Before you hire one, you should have a clear picture in your mind about what exactly they do.


There are all different kinds of home inspectors out there. Though each one is a little different, they still share a lot in common. Here are five items you should know about any home inspector before you choose them:

1. You can choose your own home inspector. Through our experiences, we have met a number of great home inspectors that we could refer you to. However, at the end of the day, it’s up to you as a buyer who you want to choose.

2. Inspections are intended to point out adverse conditions. The idea of a home inspection is not to show every nick on every wall, although most inspections will note them. The point of a home inspection is to look for the problems that could cause health and safety issues while you're living there. The inspector is looking for adverse conditions in the way the home is built or functioning.
Inspectors are looking for adverse conditions.
3. Home inspections are only going to cover the basics. If there is an issue with your A/C system, plumbing, or electrical system, the home inspector won’t be able to go into as much detail as an expert could. The inspector will likely tell whoever paid for the inspection that there may be an issue. The inspector will then flag the issue. If there are any concerns, the inspector can refer you to a licensed professional.

4. The home inspector is working for whoever is paying them. When we represent buyers, we encourage them to pay for their own inspection, even if the seller offers. You want the inspector to be clearly on your side in the process.

5. Inspectors aren’t going to be responsible for the condition of the home. Their job is to go in there and note what they find. That’s about it. They won’t be changing or fixing anything. Their job is to go through the home, look for deficiencies, note them, and pass on the information to whoever is paying them.

If you have any more questions for us about home inspections or anything else related to real estate, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.
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Location: Belton, TX, USA

Does Professional Photography Make a Difference?




One topic that’s been highly debated among sellers and home professionals alike is professional photography and whether or not it makes a difference when selling a home. 

 So, what’s the answer?

 To find out, we looked at a recent study done by real estate photography company, IMOTO. They evaluated 700 homes for sale in this study. Half of those homes (350) used their professional photography services, the other half did not. All of the homes were in the same zip code, and were also similar in size and condition.

 The results they found were not surprising, to us at least. They found that the homes using their services sold 50% faster and 39% closer to their asking price than the homes that did not. This is a pretty major difference.

“
It all depends on who you hire
and how you use your photos.

”

Additionally, the statistics department at Latter & Blum, a New Orleans real estate company, evaluated those same houses and found that the houses that utilized the professional photography services saw 118% more traffic online than those that didn’t.

 Of course, it all depends on who you hire and how you use your photos to really maximize their effectiveness. Our team has a professional photographer on staff to help your home get the most exposure possible. We’ve seen similar results to this study in our homes.

 So, does it make a difference? Absolutely. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Location: Temple, TX, USA

How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time



Have you or anyone you know in Temple ever thought about what goes into buying a home and selling a home at the same time? It’s not as simple as it sounds.

 It’s one of the most common questions we receive. Can you look for houses first before putting your current home on the market, so you can know where you’re moving before putting your house up for sale? Is this a good strategy?

 If you’re going to look for a new house first, you will typically put in a contingency offer, meaning, the offer you put in is contingent on you being able to sell your home. As a seller and a listing agent, I can tell you that most sellers aren’t very excited about getting these contingent offers, strictly for the reason that the deal might not work out. But you can make the offer more attractive.

 As a buyer, you likely need to be more aggressive with your offer if you have contingencies. You probably need to make a higher offer to make the seller willing to take that house off the market for you.


Once the buyer has found the house they love, the motivation to sell their house is extremely high. As time drags on and the possibility of losing their dream home becomes more real, typically the motivation increases. This usually entails accepting a lower offer or lowering the price. 

 With a contingency offer in this case, the family might be paying more for the home they want (to make their offer more attractive) and accepting a lower offer on their old home (because of increased motivation to sell). That can cost you a lot of money! Too many times you also see buyers get their hearts broken even with an aggressive offer due to contingencies. 

 So what’s the best way to do it? Let’s get it on the market and get a good price first, then we can negotiate enough time for us to find a house that works great for you.

 If you have any questions on this topic, please reach out to me via phone or email. I’d be happy to help!
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Location: Temple, TX, USA

Is Spring Really the Best Time to Sell?



One of the most common questions I’ve received over the years is about the best time to put a home on the market. 

The easy answer is springtime. Spring is probably the busiest time of the year for real estate; there are more sales than any other time of the year, there are more home buyers in the market than any other time; people are just thinking about real estate when it comes to spring. 

As we get into the summer, you’ll actually see activity slack off a bit and spike back up right before we go into fall, due to things like parents trying to get their kids into different school districts before the school year.


Fall and winter are slow especially as we near the holidays. As you can imagine, people don’t want to be moving over Thanksgiving or Christmas! 

The answer’s not that easy though, as there are some things to consider. While spring may be the best time, you are competing with a lot more houses on the market. At the end of the year, competition will be much lower, making it worthy of consideration. 

Our team is consistently working every month of the year. Even with the market slowing, our team has a track record of selling in the slower months, so if you have any questions, please reach out to us!
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Location: Belton, TX, USA

Three Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Home



I’ve helped hundreds and hundreds of families buy and sell homes, and I see a lot of people make the same mistakes over and over again. Some mistakes hurt them in the buying process, and others will doom them down the road. Today I’ll be discussing some easily avoidable mistakes.

  1. Consider all of the extra costs of buying a home. You’ll have to pay insurance, HOA fees, title fees, inspection fees, taxes, and more. These expenses will hit you at a later date, so prepare to pay more than you expect. Form a budget and stick to it.

Ryan Smith PQ.4.6.16.jpg

  1. Purchase what you need - not what you want. Do you need a pool or a home theater? Or do you need a three-car garage with a shed in the backyard? Listen to what your family needs, and you will be much happier in the long run.
  2. Don’t buy a home for the decor. This sounds crazy, but I’ve seen people do this. Some people really are amazing decorators, but you have to see through this and not get too emotional. Think about what you need in a home and not what you want to see.

If you have any questions about this topic, please reach out to me. I’m always willing to talk real estate with you!
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Location: Temple, TX, USA

Is It Better to Buy a Home or Invest in a 401(k)?



The other day I was speaking with a friend, and we were debating whether it was better to invest in a 401(k) or a home. They are both great investments, but one has to be better than the other, right?

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons to invest in a home over a 401(k):

  • Your expenses are fixed because your mortgage won’t change.
  • It’s a forced form of savings.
  • There are really great tax advantages.


What are three particular disadvantages to investing in a home?

  • You do invest a lot of your assets into a home.
  • You’ll have recurring monthly expenses that you wouldn’t have with other investments.
  • Stress can get in the way - but our team can help!

Overall, there are many benefits to homeownership as well as investing in a 401(k). I know people that have spent a little less on a home so that they can save more for retirement. It’s not a bad idea, and perhaps we should discuss this if you’re interested.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me!
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Location: Temple, TX, USA

What Are the Benefits of Belonging to a HOA?



Many people ask me, “Are there benefits to joining a homeowners’ association?” There are some pros and cons when it comes to belonging to an HOA, and I’ll go over a few of those today.

First of all, one of the biggest pros is that the HOA will provide a consistent feel throughout the neighborhood. If you drive through a neighborhood for the first time and like how everything looks and feels, the HOA protects that experience. In order to do so, there are a few rules about how many cars can be in the driveway, what colors you can paint the house, and things like that. Again, these rules are here to maintain a consistent look and feel throughout the neighborhood.

Next, the dues they charge are used to improve the area. The point of those membership fees or dues is to reinvest them into the neighborhood to make it a better place to live. I can think of a couple places in Temple that are putting in swimming pools or parks thanks to the HOA money.


Finally, another major benefit is that the homeowners’ association property value. Both of the pros mentioned above contribute to your property value. Some neighborhoods have nicer amenities than others, and if your home is in a good neighborhood that continues to improve thanks to the HOA, you will make more money when the time comes to sell your house.

There are a couple of cons to consider. For example, you can’t do whatever you want to your property if you belong to an HOA. Again, there are rules and restrictions to keep the neighborhood consistent. If you don’t want to follow those rules, the HOA might not be for you.

Also, it will cost you money. You will have to pay membership fees or dues. The good thing is they go back into the neighborhood, but if you don’t want to have that added cost, you might want to reconsider the HOA.

Overall, I think there are extremely strong benefits to belonging to a homeowners’ association. If you have any questions about today’s video, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!
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Location: Temple, TX, USA
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