By Tom Branch, on July 11th, 2010 We’ve had a number of agents from all over the United States contact us about a non-branded edition of our book. Many agents (especially in our local market) were concerned that their clients would contact us rather than listing with them.
In response to these inquiries, we have produced a Professional Edition where we have removed our personal branding and contact information from the cover and removed the personalized content.
We also produced two new covers.
Generic:
Personalized:
The generic book sells for $6.00 per copy. The personalized version is $7.50 per copy with a minimum order of 50 copies. The generic version will be in-stock next week. The personalized version takes about 14 days to produce, print, and ship.
Contact us for details.
By Tom Branch, on July 11th, 2010 
We’re pleased to announce that, “Avoiding Foreclosure – The Field Guide to Short Sales” is now available in Kindle format at Amazon.com. The book is also available in paperback and PDF formats at fieldguidetoshortsales.com.
Regardless of the reasons used to explain the current housing crisis in the United States, the cold reality is that more homeowners are in financial distress than at any other time in the history of residential real estate, according to the Distressed Property Institute.
Hence, real estate Short Sales. If you’re not familiar with them, you soon will be. In this book, you’ll travel the journey with a few of our actual clients and explore the Short Sale process through the eyes of sellers, buyers, investors, and lenders.
Short Sales are reshaping the way lenders liquidate homes in default. Historically, these homes and their owners would simply be foreclosed upon. Today, Short Sales are a viable alternative where everybody wins!
Source: Amazon.com
By Tom Branch, on July 7th, 2010 
4 Bedrooms | 3.1 Baths | 2-Car Garage | 3582 SF
Listed at $380,000 – Now $315,000
Homes For Sale – Plano, TX – Beautiful new construction in Frisco ISD. Island kitchen has granite counters, under mount sink, breakfast bar, stainless appliances, butler s pantry, and window seat. Two story living area with wall of windows. Designer touches include crowns, iron balusters, archways, rounded corners, art niches, and upgraded fixtures. Game and media great for entertaining. Enjoy the community pool, park and playground. Easy access to Hwy 121 and the Tollway.
Click here for current status, photos, and floorplans.
Source: CB Jeni Homes | Photo Credit – Tom Branch
By Tom Branch, on July 7th, 2010 
3 Bedrooms | 2.1 Baths | 2-Car Garage | 1961 SF
Townhomes For Sale – Plano, TX – Beautiful new construction with stone exterior. Gourmet kitchen with brkfst bar, upgraded cabinets, granite, stainless appliances, and gas cook top. Study with French doors. 8 ft Knotty Alder front door with wrought iron speakeasy. Many designer touches. Enclosed private patio with gas for BBQ. Full service HOA for low maintenance living. Ready October 2010. Up to $18k off with cash or approved lender for closings no later than October 2010.
Click here for current status, pricing, photos, and floorplans.
Source: NTREIS | Photo Credit – Tom Branch
By Tom Branch, on July 6th, 2010 Market Information for Allen, Texas for the period ending June 30, 2010
While the total number of year-over-year sales and volume are up, the median price is down about $1750.
Listings under $300k are selling in about 90 days, $500k in 180 days, $750k in 270 days and $1m+ is 540 days. I would attribute the reduction in days on market for listings under $300k to the Federal Tax Credit. It will be interesting to see what happens in the third quarter.
Source: NTREIS
By Tom Branch, on July 5th, 2010 
4 Bedrooms | 3 Baths | 2-Car Garage | 3126 SF
Homes For Sale – Richardson, TX – Beautiful new construction on oversized lot with dramatic entry. Large island kitchen with granite counters, stainless appliances, and custom Maple cabinets. Master bath with dual vanities has oversized shower and walk in closet. Designer touches include crown molding, rounded corners, and art niches. Game room and media room great for entertaining. Many energy features. Ready October, 2010.
Click here for current status, pricing and photos.
Source: NTREIS | Photo Credit – Tom Branch
By Tom Branch, on July 4th, 2010  This story began a couple of weeks ago when we noticed a marked increase in drive-by and Internet calls on a listing we had in Plano. The home was listed for just over $425k and was listed for lease with a property management company for almost $3k per month. Many of the callers were trying to verify the $1000 a month lease price!
We finally got one of the callers to tell where they had found the property. We did some investigating and found this to be the most elaborate scam we’ve seen to date.
The scam artist takes real listing data and photos and builds an account with a number of free listing websites. These accounts are in the owner’s name which is readily available in the public records. He also builds an email address using the owner’s name at one of the many free email services. Once contacted by a potential tenant, he tells them he is out of the country. He sends them a lease application with also has the real owner’s name on it. The deposit money is to be sent via Western Union as he is out of the country on a missionary trip.
We ran a search for the phone number listed on the application at Google and found hundreds of listings all over the US. Gina and I have good media contacts and we went public last week with a story airing on KDAF TV 33. Click here to see the story and related video,
Our advice for people looking for lease homes is to always use trusted websites like realtor.com or any of the websites for a reliable real estate company. We also advise people to seek assistance from a licensed real estate professional. The good news is in most cases tenant representation is at no cost to the tenant.
Source: Tom Branch and KDAF TV
|
|
Comments are closed 
