By Tom Branch, on March 4th, 2012 
I’m often amazed at the things sellers unknowingly do to make selling their homes more difficult.
I was scheduling showings for a buyer today. We have 9 properties to view and we are starting at noon. The order was set and showings were scheduled through our showing service.
About 2 hours after I set them all up, I get a call from the showing service. The last home of the day wants us to move our showing. The want us to show it before 12:30 or after 3:30 as their baby naps every day between these hours. Sadly I was not able to accommodate their request and simply did not show the property. I was not willing to rearrange an entire showing schedule and change 8 other showings to accommodate one seller.
If you are a seller, please let your agent know about these types of scheduling issues. The agent can add remarks to the MLS so agents working with buyers are aware of these issues prior to scheduling an entire day. You cannot expect agents to rearrange their schedules around a single showing. It takes time to lay out routes and schedule showings.
Buyers are moving quickly on homes lately so make it easy to show your home. If you have a unique situation, ask your agent adds it to the MLS.
Photo Licensed from iStockPhoto
By Tom Branch, on February 26th, 2012 
The past couple of months have been crazy! Homes that are in good condition, show ready, and priced right are flying off the greater Dallas market. It’s almost like the good old days. Two of our recent listings had multiple offers within a week of going on the market and several of our buyers had to pay list or above in order to secure a contract. The buyer’s market in north Dallas area is over in the under $200k price range.
There’s been a lot of speculation as to the reasons but many first-time home buyers have been sitting on the fence waiting for rates to bottom out or the economy to stabilize.
This may last well into the normal spring sales season unless something bad happens to the economy. The run-up in oil prices and the impact on fuel prices could send them back on fence.
If you’ve been thinking about selling your home and moving up this may be one of the best times in history to do so. Homes under $200k are moving, prices are likely at the bottom, and interest rates are insanely low. We closed a home a couple of weeks ago with a 15 year mortgage at 3.00 percent and another recent closing had a 30 year FHA mortgage at 3.875 percent.
We have many resources on our website:
Home Value Request – What’s my home worth?
Seller Tips
Are You Show Ready?
Looking for an experienced team of agents with a proven track-record to sell your home? Click here.
Feel free to contact us if you have questions or need more information.
By Tom Branch, on February 25th, 2012 
This is always a hot topic and so many people are not aware of the laws and rules which govern it.
Texas attorneys can represent both sellers and buyers. Given that few attorneys are also brokers or salespersons, they don’t usually represent sellers who need to have a property marketed. The most common situation is an attorney representing a buyer. While the attorney can represent them, it is illegal for a Texas broker to share a commission with an unlicensed person or entity (other than a party to the transaction). Texas attorneys can collect a fee from the client they represent or even the seller if the parties agree (TRELA §1101.651(a) and §1101.652(b)(11) respectively). Listing brokers can reduce their commission so that the seller can pay the attorney directly without violating the Act.
The same rules apply to the referral fees. Brokers cannot pay referral fee (valuable consideration) to unlicensed persons or entities. There is an exception found in TREC Rule 535.20(a) which allows brokers and salespersons to provide gifts of merchandise with a retail value of $50 or less. Such gifts are not considered valuable consideration.
Photo licensed from iStockPhoto
Originally posted at http://www.referralagentsoftexas.com/2012/02/25/can-texas-attorneys-collect-referral-fees/
By Tom Branch, on February 13th, 2012 
If your home is listed or you are thinking about listing, you need to realize that selling in today’s market is a price war and a beauty contest. Even worse is that you often have to win both!
In many areas there are far more homes available than there are buyers looking. Add short sales and foreclosures to the mix and you will quickly see that you are in the midst of a price war. For buyers, that’s great news. We’re having sale on real estate! For sellers, it means you really have to look at the prices of competing homes and price your home accordingly. I’m not saying that you have to give it away, but if you truly want to sell, you have to be in the ballpark. The good news for sellers is that many are also buyers so the “loss” on the sale can be made up with the purchase of a new home.
Unless you’re an investor, a home purchase is still an emotional decision. Homes that create emotion not only sell, they sell for more. If you’re selling, you and your agent need to create that emotion. Homes that are in good condition, properly staged, always ready for showings, and properly marketed do sell. Want to know the good news? They sell quicker and for more money!
I alway tell sellers if nobody walks in the front door, the home is either overpriced or poorly marketed. If buyers walk in the front door and will not make an offer, it’s because they don’t see the value for the price. There are two ways to fix it–put some make-up on the home or lower the price!
My advice is to take the time to get your home ready prior to putting it on the market. It’s a price war and a beauty contest out there.
Photo licensed from ShutterStock
By Tom Branch, on January 25th, 2012 
There is an alarming trend among many buyers of real estate these days. We’re seeing more and more people who want to “place bids” rather than to “make offers” on a home.
Real estate is not eBay. While some real estate is sold in an auction format, the vast majority of sales are not. I realize that in some markets buyers are in full control given the volume of short sales and foreclosures, but in many places the markets are balanced and in some places there are seller’s markets.
In the north Dallas suburbs, there is a severe shortage of good properties under $150k. Last weekend I was out with some first time homebuyers who had been looking for weeks. We found a home the first day it was on the market. By day 3 there were multiple offers and my clients actually had to offer more than list price in order to secure the contract. It’s a seller’s market for good homes under $150k.
I’ve seen buyers totally upset when their low “bid” was not countered while a more reasonable offer was negotiated and accepted. That’s not to say that a lower offer is not appropriate at times such as with an overpriced property. However, throwing in a bid at 70 percent of market value on a hot property is usually a waste time.
Many investors use this approach but don’t really care if hundreds are rejected while they look for the one seller who will sell at that price. The average home buyer will quickly become frustrated using this method.
Many of our younger buyers have grown up bidding online and to some extent bidding has become part of America’s landscape. While I suspect this trend will continue in consumer goods, I don’t think it will last in the housing market and certainly does not apply to seller’s markets.
My advice is to know what kind of market you’re looking in and use an appropriate strategy rather than always going in with a “bidding” strategy.
Photo licensed from iStockPhoto
By Tom Branch, on January 23rd, 2012 
In Part 1 we discussed how rental price impacts occupancy rate and the impact that can have on annual cash flow. In Part 2, we’re going to explore how rental price impacts the quality of applicants.
Let’s say you have a rental property where the fair market rent is $1500 a month. If you list the property at $1600 a month, not only will you receive fewer applications, we’ll argue that those applications will be of lower quality.
Applicants with good credit and clean backgrounds do not have to overpay for a rental home. Since they can easily qualify, they will spend the time to not only find a well-maintained rental home, they will not pay more “just to get in.”
At $1600 a month, you’ll likely find that your applicants have credit or background issues. They want a decent place to live, understand they have issues, and are willing to pay more. It’s no different than a mortgage applicant who is willing to accept a higher interest rate because they have credit issues.
In some cases the extra cash flow may be worth the risk. That’s a call you have to make based on the total application.
Our recommendation is to price the home at market value to attract the largest number of quality applicants. One bad tenant can eat up lots of time and destroy a property. That little bit of extra cash flow just isn’t worth it in the long run.
Have questions or want to work with an experienced real estate team on purchasing or managing investment properties? Contact us at 214-227-6626.
Photo licensed from iStockPhoto
By Tom Branch, on January 22nd, 2012 
Gina was out showing homes this morning. When she returned she told me about a house where the owner had filled the holes in the bottom of the brick. While this might seem like a good idea…it’s not for a number of reasons.
Most building codes require builders to leave weep holes along the bottom row of bricks. These holes allow any water that might get behind the brick to drain. If the water gets trapped behind the brick, mold can form and the water may damage the supporting structure behind the brick.
When the home is sold, these plugged weep holes will be caught by the inspector and most buyers will want them opened up again.
The homeowner in the right-hand picture above has used expanding foam to seal the weep holes. This will be almost impossible to correct later depending upon the amount of foam injected into the weep holes.
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