The Loan Officer Is Key to Closing on Your Home

We’re excited to announce our partnership with Chris Motal from Loan Depot. After all, the loan officer is a key player in your real estate purchase.

When you purchase residential real estate, the lender or loan officer you work with can be very important. 

When you sign an agreement to buy a piece of property from a seller, you are agreeing to a roadmap. The purchase agreement says that you are going to do all of the critical things from the inspection to the appraisal in order to close on a certain date. 

In my opinion, the lender is the most important person in this process. We are here to guide you through this process and help you but ultimately, closing is up to the lender or loan officer. 

That’s why I couldn’t be more excited to introduce you to our new partnership with Chris Motal of Loan Depot. Chris is going to serve alongside us and help our clients.

"Chris and his team have great people, great products, and great values."

Chris and his team have great products, great people, and great values. They are just plain fun to work with. 

Even if you have already bought a house, Chris and his team can help you. If you plan on making some changes, renovations, or remodeling, let Chris and his team know. He has an amazing product suite that you can use to fulfill any of your dreams. 

Whether you are moving up, down, or across town, let Chris know. “I have a great loan product that’s perfect for this market with great rates and a low fee structure,” says Chris. “And I’ve got one that I’m really proud of: a zero down VA renovation mortgage.” 

If you are a veteran and want to buy a home with zero down, you can get the home of your dreams as well as up to $35,000 to renovate the property before you move in. 

If you have any questions, you can reach Chris at 512-485-7970 or cmotal@loandepot.com. As always, if you have any real estate questions, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

5 Things You’re Doing to Sabotage Your Listing

Seeing a home sit on the market can be frustrating, but there are a few ways to help get it moving. Here are five tips that could make the difference in selling your home.

Seeing a home sit on the market for too long can be a frustrating and confusing ordeal. 

As a seller, there a few key things to check when you notice that your home isn’t moving as quickly as you’d like it to. 

First of all, you want to look at the price for which you’re listing the home. Both over- and underpricing your home can have undesirable effects. When it comes to overpricing, the result could be that your home will receive fewer showings, sit longer on the market, and may compromise your final sales price.

At the same time, underpricing your home may leave you with less money than your home is worth. 

Luckily, there are a number of things we can do to help to help you maximize your return. 

If your price isn’t the problem, consider taking a look at the condition of your home and how, or if, you have it staged for potential homebuyers. Homebuyers want to see a clean, uncluttered home with good curb appeal when they turn up for showings. Staging your home is one of the best ways to make it look its best in showings and photos alike. 

In our highly digital age, listing your home is a much different experience than it once was. This brings us to our next point, which is marketing. Is online content about your home accurate? Is it painting a good picture for potential buyers? Proper marketing is one of the best ways to generate demand for your property. 

"Even if your home is otherwise perfect, it simply won’t sell if it can’t be shown."

Another factor that can impact the amount of time a home spends on the market is convenience and showability. Having your agent readily available to show your home is extremely important to ensuring that potential buyers don’t feel hassled by the experience of visiting the property. Even if your home is otherwise perfect, it simply won’t sell if it can’t be shown. 

The last thing that can help to move a home off the market is style and finish. For example, if all the other homes in the area come equipped with certain updates, like granite countertops, but yours does not, buyers may overlook your home in lieu of a more recently renovated property.

If you want more information, have questions, or have any real estate needs in our Central Texas area, feel free to get in touch by sending me an email or giving me a call. I look forward to hearing from you.

The Key to Pricing Your Austin Home for the Highest Net Profit

You've probably heard that old real estate myth that when you sell your house, you should price it above market value to 'leave room for negotiation.' I have two examples today that show why that's a terrible idea.

When homeowners sell their house, one of the most common questions they have for real estate agents is how to price it properly to sell. I think many people believe the myth that in order to sell something, you need to elevate the price to 'leave room for negotiation.' It sounds logical on the surface, but it can actually be one of the worst things you can do.

When we help people sell their house, we analyze what's currently active on the market, home sales that are pending, and recent sales to give them a number or range for the current market value of their property. That's the first step. The second step is to determine the marketing and pricing strategies.

Consider West Lake and Lakeway as an example.

In Lakeway between the $1 million and $2 million price points, there have been 38 properties that sold in the last 365 days. Of those 38 homes, 17 elevated their price to leave room for negotiation and sold for an average of $1.358 million. The other 21 sellers were more aggressive with their pricing and averaged $1.329 million, which is $29,000 less.

Remember, the value of the property and the pricing of the property are two very different conversations. Just by elevating their price, those 17 sellers netted almost $30,000 more on average.

In West Lake, we can look at homes in the same price range and see that the sellers who priced their homes aggressively made $125,000 more on average than those who elevated the price of their home to leave room for negotiation. This is just a small example of what we see all around the Austin area.

In West Lake, sellers who priced aggressively netted $125,000 more on average last year.

As part of the selling process, we'll help you make sure you price your home well to maximize your bottom line. It's something we enjoy doing, and we know that the numbers don't lie. We even use special software that helps us analyze pricing to help you find the best price for your home. To boot, we've added a third office in San Antonio to help serve you at an even higher level.

If you have any questions about pricing your house to sell or you're thinking about buying a home in the Austin or San Antonio area, give us a call or send us an email. We'd be happy to help you.

What We do Differently to Sell Your Home

There are many great Austin area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Value Report so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (512) 590-0850 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

To get your home sold quickly and for the most money, you have to do things a little differently. What do we do differently? The best way to demonstrate it is to go through the 3 things that will stop your home from selling for top dollar and demonstrate to you how we solve those problems.

1. Condition 
The condition of your home is key. Nobody can picture themselves living in a dirty or cluttered home. We like to get in there and have your home professionally staged. If there are any other problems, we have a long list of service providers that can take care of anything.

2. Pricing 
Pricing is a thing that you control. Pricing too high, however, will make your home look expensive and unappealing. We study homes in the market every day and can give you all the information necessary to make an informed decision of where to price your home so it will actually sell, and not just sit on the market with a high price tag.

3. Marketing

There are 2 kinds of marketing. Most agents employ the passive, traditional approach. They hold open houses, put signs in the yard, and put your listing up on the MLS. Most agents use this approach because they don't have the time or money to go the extra mile. The kind of marketing that we do is pro-active, and aggressive. We don't wait for the buyer to find your property, we go out to them and have agents who speak with hundreds of prospective buyers daily trying to find the perfect match for your home.

It just so happens that the three things that could keep your home from selling are our three biggest strengths. That's why we are on track to sell 200 homes this year while the more conventional agent sells 5-7 homes a year. The traditional model just isn't good enough for you, or your home. Our strategy gives us, and you the advantage. In this market, that's all we need.

How to Properly List Your Home for an Efficient Sale on the Market

Hello everyone, welcome to my video blog where I'll be updating you every few weeks with pertinent real estate advice and information on the market. For this first installment, I want you to learn how to properly list a home for an efficient sale that will net you the most money in the least amount of time. 

• For a proper listing, allow us 1-2 weeks to get your home staged and marketed.
• This includes calling contractors, photographers, and anyone else necessary to make your home look desirable.
• After deciding on a good price for your home, we will have a preferred stager come out and set up your property in the most appealing way possible. This person will not be fixing your home, but will move around furniture, declutter, etc. 
• A contractor will also be part of our team to come in and suggest any repairs or painting that might be necessary.
• After all the necessary staging arrangements have been made, we send a professional photographer in to take photos of your newly polished property. (Our agents do not take these photos, we hire a full-time photographer to take these)

This entire process of staging, decluttering, marketing and listing all takes about 1-2 weeks depending on the amount of work needing to be done on your specific property. 

Feel free to call anytime to consult with me about this process. I will gladly field any questions you might have.
You can reach me at (516) 686-3862 or email me at shawn@culhaneproperties.com

I'll see you next time!