Now, after reading those two posts, and learning about how your Federal Government is going further into debt to give you FREE money upon buying a new home, could you please speak in English, slowly, and using small words, and tell me the reasons why you're not ready to buy?
I'm listening... uh, huh... go on... All I'm hearing are excuses and not reasons... yep, another excuse... Get off the fence, give me a call or shoot me an email, and if we can't get you into a new house before the New Year, let's get you into a new house before this FREE money is gone, which is April 30, 2010 (closed by June 30, 2010).
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Before I move onto some of the other agents featured in the book, I thought I'd add a few other comments from Donna Harris. Here is Donna, in her own words.
"I have grown my database with the Internet leads I have purchased. NAR says nationally the number (of Internet consumers) is 87 percent. I'd rather spend my marketing dollars online.
I also input my past clients into my database and my sphere of influence - actually everyone I meet or who contacts me. I have grown my database to over 3,500 prospects and clients since I started keeping track in 2004. I put them all on automatic drip e-mail campaigns.
Then, in 2006, I decided to start blogging for additional exposure. I knew that people were online, so I wanted to be there with them. Marketing is cyclical. People used to cold call, farm neighborhoods, and have magazine ads. Now almost every publication is online, because that's where consumers are searching.
Blogging provides national exposure, primarily Active Rain and Blogger.com. Search engines really like Active Rain and Active Rain handles all of the back end for you.
Consumers want information. If you provide relevant information consistently about an area - localism - you show up on the front page of the search engines."
Donna is one of the most effective bloggers I know. Donna consistently provides valuable info to her consumers. Google her...you'll find her right on top!
I'm not sure this tree knows what season it is. This tree is in Falconhead Bee Cave TX, but this is what most all the trees look like in and around Austin TX right now. It's been unseasonably warm, and the trees aren't sure to change colors and drop their leaves yet...
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Seven Oaks - Austin TX- Hill Country Real Estate at its Finest is a very unique community just West of Austin. Seven Oaks is not within the city limits, sitting between Austin and Bee Cave TX on FM 2244- Bee Caves Rd.
Because Seven Oaks does not sit within the city limits of any city, there are no city taxes. Therefore, the tax rate is low, only a mere 1.8626%.
What does Seven Oaks have to offer? Look at these pictures! Seven Oaks offers topography like no other. There are hills within the hills. There are views as far as you can see. There are natural stone retaining walls. There is privacy with gates if you want privacy, or there is a community feel if you want to know your neighbors.
The market in Seven Oaks tells an interesting story. In the average prices in and around Austin TX, most buyers look for new and newer homes along with bigger and more features within a home. That's not what the multi-million dollar buyer is looking for...
The multi-million dollar buyer is looking for pre-owned and a "deal". Home owners have been in these homes and paid such and such price for them. Builders are still building and putting more and more money into the homes, and paying today's prices for the materials, so they ask for more.
In the past six months, Seven Oaks has only sold ONE brand new home and it was in July. The other six sales were all preowned homes. The average sold home had 4.85 beds, 4.71 baths, 3.14 living areas and 6250 sqft built in 2005. This average home sold for $1,608,057.
Currently, there are 16 homes actively for sale in Seven Oaks. These homes average 5.125 beds, 5.25 baths, 4.31 living areas and 7625 sqft built in 2008. This average home is asking $2,790,906.
Yikes!Can you see the differences??
The active listings are asking more than $1M more than the average property that sold. Granted, in the past six months, there was a property that sold for $2.75M along with another at $2.1M, so there are buyers in the higher range, but for the most part, buyers are toning down what they're buying and are looking for resale homes in this price range.
This is definitely not the norm in Austin TX Hill Country real estate.
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Property Tax Arbitration - Property Tax Values - Austin TX - is the final step to take when a home owner is unhappy with their property tax value. I am an Arbitrator for the State of Texas' Comptroller's office. I find it very interesting to hear home owners' views as to why their properties are valued incorrectly.
Here's an example from a couple of weeks ago of why would you go to Property Tax Arbitration...
These home owners were given an assessment of over $1.07 Million. They went to the Appraisal Review Board at the Travis Central Appraisal District. Without any kind of deliberation by the panel chosen, they arbitrarily came up with a value of $962k plus some change. How did they come up with this number? Who knows, as there is no explanation on the recording, just a 3 second time period where the panel chair said they're going to deliberate, to when the first panelist says $962k followed by a second panelist saying he agreed "exactly".
With that, the home owners knew they needed to take things further, and they filed for Property Tax Arbitration with the State of Texas Comptroller's Office. The home owners read my blog post about Property Tax Arbitration that explained the process, but instead of choosing me to be the Arbitrator, they chose me to represent them.
We met a couple of times to go over what happened at the Appraisal Review Board, as well as at the house so I could see the condition to be able to compare the property to the ones the Travis Central Appraisal District was looking at. We then went and looked at three homes that were currently on the market since there wasn't much sales history in the immediate neighborhood.
Two weeks ago, we met with the Travis Central Appraisal Districts' Chief Appraiser to come to an agreement. After meeting for about 45 minutes, I helped these home owners go from $1.07M to $962K down to $850k! They did the first adjustment on their own, but between the $962k and the $850k, I helped them save approximately $2240 for the year. From the original appraised value, that's a savings of almost $4800.
Some people don't think Arbitration is worth it, but $4800 is not chump change, and neither is $2440! Because the new value was in favor of the home owner, they got back $450 of their $500 fee for filing for Property Tax Arbitration. They were up over $5200!!! I would love to have an extra $5200 in my pocket each year!
If you question your Property Tax Values and you can't get a satisfactory result from the Appraisal Review Board, don't be scared to take it to the next level. I can either represent you for the Arbitration, or you can choose me to be the unbiased, mutually accepted Arbitrator to preside over your case. I work with Property Tax Arbitration cases in the Austin TX and Dallas TX areas.
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Hey Austin Mortgage People, do you want to grow your businesses or not??
Last week, I received an email from a mortgage "professional"saying that she read my blog and thought it was funny and informative, and would I be willing to meet with her so we could do business in the future.
As always, I responded very promptly with the following email: Thank you for your email.I am actually looking to add some new mortgage professionals to my back pocket.I don’t know how much of my blog you read, but I’m a fairly new transplant from Dallas (Richardson) and gave up a very lucrative business with being the #1 agent in my office, to come here and completely start over.It’s frustrating and daunting, but I’m working on it…
With that, I’ve met with several different mortgage people over the past few months, and I “thought” I had a good group of three to refer people to, however, that has not been the case. Yes, they are good mortgage people and have gotten my deals closed, but the most important thing I want in a mortgage partner, besides customer service to my clients and feedback, is reciprocation.
My mortgage guys in Dallas understood this and they always referred me buyers almost as much as I referred them buyers. I understand I would have the bulk of the buyers, but I shouldn’t be the sole source. They had their own marketing and social networking going on and in place that yielded them leads and referrals, and with a “I pat you on the back, you pat me on the back” type of mentality, we exchanged referrals back and forth and helped grow each others’ businesses.
Since coming here, all I’ve done is give give give, and have received nothing.As I said, yes, they got the deals closed, but they have all looked at Realtors as their source of business and have never put into place a way to generate their own business, even though, during our interview process, each one made it very clear that they had several ways of generating outside business. I even sat down with one of them for two hours to show him some of the ways I utilize the internet and that he could do the same thing. I usually charge $150 a session for those consultations (I’m also a TREC approved instructor and teach prospecting and internet classes for MCE), yet I did it for free as I thought he would take the information and generate new business.
With that brief synopsis of what I expect, if you feel you are a mortgage person who would work well with me as a partner, helping to grow each others business, please feel free to call me.I see your dad is the branch development manager so I’m assuming there is some kind of marketing in place, but I wouldn’t want to assume.
Warm Regards,
Guess what? No response!!!
Can you believe I received no response whatsoever? This mortgage person contacts me, wants to do business, but why do you think she never responded? Me? I think she was/is just another mortgage person wantingwanting and wanting more from me, the Realtor.
Why do (some) mortgage people feel they are entitled to just sit back and make the Realtor do all the work to generate business and then expect them to hand over their business? Take a number and stand in line... and get over yourself!!
Realtors: What do you think of my pre-interview before meeting with her?
Mortgage Professionals: How would you have responded to my email?
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Can you believe it?? I'm 2 years old today!! Many of you were around when my mommy was pregnant, and she kept you posted about me even while in labor at the hospital. Back in the day, I was known as BabyHarris, but now I'm known as Alyssa Nicole Harris.
I'm writing this today because she's in denial. She can't believe two years have already gone by.
Seriously, compare me 2 years ago to the me today... I was tiny at just over 7 pounds, and now I'm a big girl at a whopping 26 pounds!
I talk and talk and talk all day. I say hundreds of words already, and mommy and daddy have to watch what they say around me because I repeat everything! I read books all day, everyday. I can't get enough of them. Daddy is sick of them, but when he doesn't want to read with me, I have him get me some "Pispashios" and we sit together in his Lazyboy chair and eat them together.
I invited some friends over yesterday. We went to the park and had a blast! I'm still finicky with cake, so I got a Birthday Rice Krispie Treat! I love my MiMi's Rice Krispie Treats! The balloons on the top were from my mommy's baby shower before I was born.
I got lots of new things so I can take over more of the house, which is my mission! I already control three rooms! Elie Jane also had a lot of fun opening presents with me.
You see my MiMi in the background? She was a little confused as to why I was standing on the table opening presents, but I was safe.
These two years have gone by fast and I've learned a lot. If you see my mommy, don't remind her that she's getting old. I saw another gray hair, and I don't think that's a good thing...
Happy Birthday to Me, and a pinch to grow a few inches!!
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Falconhead West - Bee Cave - Austin TX - has a lot of new construction homes for sale in all different stages right now. In a series of posts, I'm going to show you pictures and describe a little of what is going on.
Many people will never have the opportunity to build a brand new house, and many who do, never pay attention to the process it takes to get that house to stand there for many years to come. Falconhead West in Bee Cave TX used to be a Ranch, called Spillman Ranch. Much of the land was just acres upon acres of trees.
Now, we're ready to pour the foundation! In Falconhead West, where the average sized home is about 3500 sqft, the typical slab pour is approximately six concrete trucks. They bring them in one at a time, pouring the concrete in an even fashion. The sixth truck is mostly the "top off" truck to make sure it's level throughout.
The slab usually sits for a couple of days before they immediately start putting up the frame. They measure the house from several different places and then start laying out the wood.
Within a few hours, it could already look like this...
The first floor frame can usually go up in a day or two. Sometimes it amazes me how I drive by in the morning and there is no frame, and by the time I drive by in the late afternoon, voila, there's a frame!
Check back often as I continue my building series of New Construction Homes for Sale in Falconhead West - Bee Cave - Austin TX.
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Falconhead West - Bee Cave - Austin TX - has a lot of new construction homes for sale in all different stages right now. In a series of posts, I'm going to show you pictures and describe a little of what is going on.
Many people will never have the opportunity to build a brand new house, and many who do, never pay attention to the process it takes to get that house to stand there for many years to come. Falconhead West in Bee Cave TX used to be a Ranch, called Spillman Ranch. Much of the land was just acres upon acres of trees. Here is my first post in this series about New Construction Homes for Sale in Falconhead West - Bee Cave - Austin TX.
Once the fill dirt has had a chance to settle, they go in and start adding where the plumbing and sewer lines will go. It's best to do a soft set first before the slab is poured so you know everything is lined up correctly. It's hard to move plumbing around after the fact.
Then, they break the footprint up into large square sections. They wrap each section in what looked like big black trash bags. Around each section are trenches, better to hold the concrete with, my dear... (sorry, bad imitation)
No, the slab is not poured yet... more patience...
Across the sections and within the trenches is where the cables are put. This is called a post tension cable slab. The cables are actually within those blue tubes running the length and width of the slab and pulled really tight as the slab is poured and dried. This creates a more sturdy structure.
Check back often as I continue my building series of New Construction Homes for Sale in Falconhead West - Bee Cave - Austin TX.
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Falconhead West - Bee Cave - Austin TX is finally going to get their community park!
A few weeks ago, in the middle of the community, a playscape area was started. The ground was leveled and the stone barrier was made into a playful shape... and then last month, it all disappeared...
Where did it go? Why did they stop the construction of our community play area?? No one knew... until now!
Falconhead West has been approved for a 400 sqft Pavilion in addition to two Playscapes, a large one for older kids and a smaller one for younger kids. I guess they originally started building it before final approval.
The only negative is that there will be no parking lot, but I guess street parking will be fine. I live less than a quarter mile away, so we'll be walking or riding bikes!
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
This blog is to help educate Buyers, Sellers and even other Realtors across the country. Each market is different and the way Real Estate is done is different. Austin Real Estate is completely different than Dallas, California and Florida and everywhere else in between. Some times there will be other things besides real estate as I like to rant and rave as much as the next!! Come back often! Donna Harris, REALTOR® with RE/MAX Promote Your Page Too
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
These home owners were given an assessment of over 
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;)
