The MyHomeHouston Team Blog

Can SEO Sell A Home Faster than Traditional Marketing?

2007-06-06T21:37:56Z

Morgan Carey, also known as "webmaster" at RealEstateWebmasters.com, blogged today about a very interesting wager between his real estate agent and himself. Basically, he bet that he could sell his home online (at least generate the lead that would) faster than his agent could using traditional real estate marketing methods and the agent's sphere of influence.

"I think I can sell a house (Without any prior real estate sales experience or training) using internet marketing tactics faster than he can sell a house using his traditional methods of advertising." - Morgan Carey

What do you think? I know that SEO can greatly help the relocation market take a look at his home for sale, but do you think that it has the ability to drive enough traffic to his home for sale online to generate the lead that will sell his home?

If anyone can do it, I know that with Morgan's expertise, he could.

Hermann Park Luxury Condos Adds Fiber Optic

2007-06-05T08:53:18Z

I'm always excited to hear when real estate developments are taking advantage of the latest technologies available. The Mosaic at Hermann Park is doing just that. They have decided to adopt and become a "Certified Fiber Optic Development" through Connexion Technologies. Basically fiber optic has unlimited bandwidth, therefore further enhancing the entertainment and communication services we are all growing accustomed to. Can you imagine data being sent at the speed of light?

“Being a Certified Fiber-Optic Development brings Mosaic to a whole new level of excellence,” said Don Phillips, Phillips Development. “Some people have to see excellence to believe it. Now we’ve got the certification to prove it.”

Fiber Optic is better than Cable or DSL. Mind you that most consumers will probably not know what this means, though it does lay an excellent foundation for future technology developments.

The prices at the Mosaic at Hermann park start in the high $200's, but my clients have been seeing tremendous appreciation on their units before they are even complete. I've included some images from the Mosaic here for your viewing pleasure.

Directions

The Mosaic at Hermann Park is located along Highway 288 south of Downtown Houston and Old Spanish Trail. View this Google map to get the exact location, satellite images, and driving directions.

Useful Links

Buy in the Mosaic at Hermann Park
Read a Blog about the Mosaic - Pictures Included!

About the Author

Steve Castaneda, Realtor is a real estate consultant specializing in Houston Real Estate. He is the team leader of the MyHomeHouston team, who works in selling luxury condos in downtown Houston. The team website features a Houston MLS tool that will allow you to see properties currently for sale in the Houston market.

Westbourne Real Estate

2007-06-05T08:31:53Z

In North Houston you will find a quiet subdivision with a young community filled with a mixture of cozy single garage homes along side of newly constructed 2 car garage homes with a very affordable price entry point.

The Westbourne subdivision in Cypress, Texas is surely a growing neighborhood perfect for families looking for their first home.

Westbourne Real Estate Sales History

We keep track of Westbourne real estate so you don't have to. As you can see, the Westbourne subdivision has been experiences an upward trend in average sales price and the homes sold per year increases by a small margin. The average days on market hovers right around 2 months for Westbourne, with a noticeable increase in average sales price occurring in 2006.

Below, you will find the sold history for Westbourne for recent years.

Year	Homes Sold	Average Sales Price	Average Days on Market
2000	50	$81,971	80
2001	55	$90,596 (+$8,625)	53
2002	61	$96,500 (+$5,904)	58
2003	59	$97,770 (+$1,270)	67
2004	67	$95,116 (-$2,654)	60
2005	61	$96,746 (+$1,630)	110
2006	69	$103,498 (+$6,752)	63

Useful Links

About the Author

Steve Castaneda, Realtor, is a real estate consultant specializing in Houston Texas Real Estate. He is the team leader of the MyHomeHouston team; a team focused on providing the latest information and strategies in helping their clients make the most informed and intelligent decisions possible. The MyHomeHouston team site features a Houston MLS tool to currently see properties for sale on the market in Houston.

Tomball Texas Real Estate

2007-05-30T20:03:04Z

North of Houston is a booming town that goes by the name of Tomball, TX. This once small town is now homes to many new home communities, shopping, and good old fashioned country living.

Tomball TX real estate is now beginning to really make an impact on the real estate sales in North Houston. The major freeway that extends well past Tomball, known has Highway 249, is now being expanded and actually finished, thus encouraging even more visitors to this quiet community.

Tomball is home to its very own independent school district; appropriately named the Tomball Independent School District (Tomball ISD). With 12 campuses and a 16 student to teacher ratio, your children will get the attention and education they deserve.

Tomball has a wide variety of real estate to offer you and your family. As the community grows, many new builder subdivisions begin to appear across town and older subdivisions steadily increase in value from the new influx of buyers to the area.

Tomball Communities

The subdivisions and new home communities in Tomball range from the low 100's to well into the million dollar range, depending on the location and size of the home you desire. Notable subdivisions and areas in the Tomball area include:

Villages of Northpointe
Spring Creek Estates
Villagio
Oaks of Rosehill
Lakewood Grove
Decker Prairie

You can view Tomball Homes for Sale using the MLS tool over at MyHomeHouston.com.

Tomball Texas Schools

Tomball, Texas is zoned to the Tomball Independent School District. Children attending Tomball ISD are also subject to a higher quality of education as the teacher to student ratio hovers slightly under 16 per student.

Over a quarter of the teachers at Tomball ISD bring between 11-20 years of experience being a teacher. In addition to numerous campuses being rated as "recognized" and "exemplary", your children will be in a district with a graduation rate of over 96.7%, further acknowledging the high stands that Tomball ISD expects from its students.

Tomball Realtor

If you are looking to buy a home the MyHomeHouston team can help you with your new home in Tomball, TX. Of course, using the services of one of our buyer specialists is absolutely free to you; you will not be charged a single dime from us. With such an important decision on your mind, the stress of buying a home can be taken care of by those that do it for a living. We can help you by providing a pricing analysis of your prospective home, and coach you on an offer strategy by negotiating on your behalf.

When it comes to Tomball Real Estate, the MyHomeHouston team is here to answer all of your questions and help you make the most informed, intelligent decision possible.

About the Author

Steven Castaneda, Realtor is a real estate consultant specializing in Houston Texas real estate. He is the team leader of the MyHomeHouston team at Keller Williams Realty, who aim to provide exceptional service and provide expert guidance in each of their client's real estate transactions. You can view homes for sale using their tool for Houston MLS access at MyHomeHouston.com.

Time Running Out For Flood Insurance Discount

2007-05-24T15:07:16Z

Back in December of 2006, Harris county released new flood plain maps. Many properties in the Houston real estate market that weren't in a flood plain were now classified to be in a flood plain, therefor making it mandatory that the homeowners carry flood insurance. When the maps were released, new homeowners in the new flood plain boundaries were allowed 6 months to obtain flood insurance at non-flood plain rates. The current deadline is June 18, 2008.

Here were are in May, 2007, and this deadline is quickly approaching! If your home is located within the new flood plain boundaries, be sure to take advantage of the cheaper flood insurance offered by the National Flood Insurance Program.

Find Out If You Are In A Floodplain

To get the latest maps, be sure to head over to http://maps.tsarp.org/ to see if your property is located in a flood zone. If the map isn't working, be sure to call the Harris County Flood Control District at 713-722-7227.

You will then want to call your insurance provider and ask for flood insurance coverage and make sure your rates are grandfathered from the pre-floodplain rates. Don't worry about shopping around, because the rates are set by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

To learn more about flood plains, be sure to check out my article, Flood Plains Explained.

Steve Castaneda, Realtor, is team leader of the MyHomeHouston team at Keller Williams Realty. His team focuses on helping their clients make the most informed and intelligent decisions with their real estate transactions and strives to "Exceed Expectations!".

Debt to Income Ratio Explained

2007-05-13T09:04:38Z

Why You Can’t Buy a New Car - Yet!

By Michica Guillory, Realtor - The MyHomeHouston Team

All over Houston, people are living out their American dream and buying their own home. And all over Houston, some people are living a nightmare because they bought a new car to put into that new home…before their closing.

So, what’s the big deal? The big deal is a little thing called “debt-to-income ratio.”

What It's All About

This fancy term describes a lender’s simple way of illustrating what percentage of your income is available for a mortgage payment after your other major monthly debt is paid. This “other” debt might include student loans, car loans or even that Sears credit card that mysteriously keeps getting used.

In other words, this ratio tells a lender how much a home buyer can reasonably borrow and pay back. This ratio is determined at the beginning of your home buying process during pre-qualification.

Conventional loans largely have a qualifying ratio of 28/36, and these two numbers represent two different facets of your debt.

The first number represents the maximum portion of your monthly gross income – that is, before taxes – a lender will allow for essential housing expenses, including loan payments, property taxes, home owners’ association fees, private mortgage insurance and hazard insurance.

The second number represents the maximum portion of your monthly gross income that the lender allows for the debts mentioned above plus your recurring debt including auto or student loans, credit card payments and other such debts that may not be paid off quickly.

Let's Run The Numbers

For this example, let’s say a husband and wife earn $81,000 a year. Here’s how a lender might calculate their debt-to-income ratio for a conventional loan with a qualifying ratio of 28/36:

Annual Gross Income = $81,000
Monthly Income = $6,750

$6,750 x 28% = $1890 allowed for housing expense or PITI (principal, interest, taxes & insurance)

$6,750 x 36% = $2,430 allowed for PITI plus recurring debt

Closing First, Car Last

So, if this family’s debt plus housing expenses remains at or below $2,430, then they can be on their way to owning a home.

But if their debt suddenly exceeds this number they may destroy their chances of getting a home loan. So, if this couple buys that Nissan Altima they’ve been eyeing since the end of football season, they can say goodbye to their dream home.

And it happens all the time. Just days before meeting at the closing table, clients purchase everything from cars to refrigerators, from bedroom sets to summer wardrobes, and they forget they’re in the process of buying a home. Dreams are literally lost at the closing table.

Realtors have a saying, “If you buy a car while trying to buy a home, you just may find yourself living in that car.”

When entering into the home buying process it’s important to set priorities, get a Realtor, make a plan and stick to it!

About The Author

Michica Guillory is a buyer specialist with The MyHomeHouston Team, and has been in the Houston real estate industry since 2001. She’s also the winner of a 2006 Real Estate Apprentice Foundation Grant, ranking in the Top Five.

Gleannloch Farms - Spring, Texas Master Planned Community Spotlight

2007-05-10T21:37:15Z

Tucked away in the tall pines of Spring in Northwest Houston, you'll discover a lovely community known for it's unique look, active community, and attention to the preservation of nature's beauty. Gleannloch Farms is a masterplanned community in Spring that includes many amenities residents enjoy each year, including 41 acres of lakes, a 27-hole golf course, hiking and bike trails, and even canoes to enjoy along with catch and release fishing.

Gleannloch Farms even features an equestrian center complete with arenas and paddocks, white tall fences, and majestic trees to provide the reminiscent feel that Gleannloch Farms was known for back in the 1950's.

Did you know that Gleannloch Farms was known for it's Egyptian Arabian horses?

Gleannloch Farms is located within the Klein Independent School District; a district known for it's quality education, clean and well kept campuses, and high marks in education resulting in excellent graduation rates. Your children will attend one of the best districts in Houston; attending exemplary schools with low student to teacher ratios.

If you are looking to purchase a home in Gleannloch Farms, you have quite a bit to choose from. There are six main builders, each offering a different home appeal, including Darling Homes, Village Builders, Ryland Homes, Newmark Homes, David Weekly Homes, and Trendmaker Homes. Prices in Gleannloch Farms starts in the high 100's and exceeds the million dollar mark for over-sized lots and large custom homes.

Gleannloch Farms Real Estate Sales History

We keep track of Gleannloch Farms real estate so you don't have to. Below, you will find the sold history for Gleannloch Farms for recent years. As you can see the average sales price is well into the 200's, and the amount of sales has been increasing steady from year to year.

You can view current Gleannloch Farms homes for sale at MyHomeHouston.com.

Year	Homes Sold	Average Sales Price	Average Days on Market
2000	86	$254,452	88
2001	132	$279,772 (+$25,320)	119
2002	126	$274,050 (-$5,722)	137
2003	184	$252,187 (-$21,863)	124
2004	196	$288,168 (+$35,982)	121
2005	198	$273,179 (-$14,990)	110
2006	276	$284,886 (+$11,707)	88
Note: The accuracy of this information may be affected by the absence of new construction sales history in the HAR listing database.

Gleannloch Farms Realtor

If you are looking to buy a home, the MyHomeHouston team can help you with your new home Gleannloch Farms. Of course, using the services of one of our buyer specialists is absolutely free to you; you will not be charged a single dime from us. With such an important decision on your mind, the stress of buying a home can be taken care of by those that do it for a living. We can help you by providing a pricing analysis of your prospective home, and coach you on an offer strategy by negotiating on your behalf.

When it comes to Gleannloch Farms Real Estate, the MyHomeHouston team is here to answer all of your questions and help you make the most informed, intelligent decision possible. We specialize in helping our clients buy and sell Houston real estate.

About the Author

Travel Tips For Visitors to Houston Texas

2007-05-09T16:40:56Z

Written by Steve Castaneda, Realtor - The MyHomeHouston Team

Houston is the 4th largest city in the United States. Since Houston is so large, I've comprised the following tips to make sure that your visit to Houston is comfortable and pleasant. If you are looking to visit Houston in the near future, you definitely owe it to yourself to plan carefully prior to scheduling your trip.

Major Airports of Houston

There are two main airports you will be glad to familiarize yourself with when planning your flight to Houston. The George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is located 23 miles North of downtown and serves well over 40 million passengers a year. This major airport is located in the North part of Houston, so if your stay will involve visiting Humble, Spring, Cypress, Tomball, The Woodlands, Kingwood, or Atascocita, then the Bush Intercontinential Airport should be your best choice.

On the Southern side of Houston is the William P. Hobby Airport of Houston (HOU). This airport is located seven miles South of downtown Houston and serves 10 million passengers a year through it's terminals. If your stay will involve Pearland, Sugarland, Pasedena, Rosenberg, or Fresno, then this should be your choice for an airport arrival in Houston.

Katy is located to the far West of Houston, so if you are going to be visiting Katy you shouldn't go wrong with either the Bush Intercontinental Airport or Hobby Airport.

Major Freeways of Houston

Houston has two main loops that it would be wise to be aware of. Highway 610, also known as the inner loop, encircles the center of Houston by approximately 6 miles from the center and includes communities like Bellaire and Memorial Park. The next loop extending outwards from the center of Houston is named Beltway 8 and is actually a toll road at some sections of the highway. Most of the North West, West, and Southwest portions of Beltway 8 are tolled at a rate anywhere from $0.75 to $1.50, depending if you are exiting the tollway or continuing your drive along Beltway 8. Expect to have to pay toll booths at every 10 mile increment or so.

The other major highways of Houston are as follows:

I-10: From East to West in relation to Houston. Provides access to the center of Houston and Katy in the Western portion of this way.
Highway 59: From North to Southwest in relation to Houston. In the north, this major highway provides access to Kingwood and Atascocita. It continues through the center of Houston, then to the Southwest into Sugarland and Rosenberg.
Highway 45: From North to Southeast in relation to Houston. In the North, Highway 45 provides access to Spring, Humble and The Woodlands. It continues through the center of Houston proceeding to the Southeast toward Galveston, our nearest beach (The Gulf of Mexico).
Highway 290: From Northwest to the center of Houston. In the Northwest, Highway 290 provides access to Cypress and continues towards Austin, Texas. Highway 290 terminates towards the center of Houston at the inner loop or Highway 610.
Highway 249: This is a Northwest Houston major highway. Highway 249 provides access to Cypress and Spring, and continues North to Tomball and Magnolia.

Shopping In Houston

Houston has it's fair share of malls for you to spend countless hours touring. The most prominent shopping district in Houston is named The Galleria. This mall includes upscale shopping such as Fendi, Coach, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. The Galleria is also known for it ice skating rink that many Houstonians have the pleasure of enjoying throughout the year. The Galleria is located just outside the Inner Loop of Houston to the West of downtown.

Things to See in Houston

Near downtown Houston, you will discover the Houston Museum District. This district in Houston includes many different museums to enjoy, including the fine arts, natural science, and children's museum. There are also many specialty museums for you to tour in your visit to Houston such as the Menil Collection.

Houston is also home to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). When visiting NASA, you can see actual space shuttles that have been in orbit around the Earth, and discover the Space Center of Houston where you will learn all sorts of interesting details about the discoveries that NASA has uncovered since 1958.

Houstonians also are proud to have many new stadiums for their professional sport teams. The Minute Maid Park serves our own Houston Astros, while the Toyota Center houses the Houston Rockets, and the Reliant Center is for the Houston Texans. Each stadium is newly constructed and provides the latest amenities in technology to all visitors. Minute Maid Park is said to not have a single bad seat in the house!

In Summary

As you can see, there are many things to see an do in Houston. If you are looking to visit Houston just to see what Houston has to offer or if you are thinking about relocating and buying your own piece of Houston real estate, the MyHomeHouston team is here to help you with all of your Houston needs. We would be happy to point you in the right direction, or provide a list of upcoming "things to see" in Houston for your next visit.

About The Author
Steven Castaneda, Realtor, is a real estate consultant specializing in Houston Texas Real Estate. He is the team leader of The MyHomeHouston Team; a team that strives to help their clients make the most informed and intelligent decisions with their real estate transactions. The MyHomeHouston Team website features a Houston MLS tool for viewing properties for sale in Houston, guides on buying and selling real estate, and tools to see the pricing trends of communities in Houston.

How to Sell Your Home On Your Own

2007-05-09T10:38:34Z

By Steve Castaneda, Realtor - The MyHomeHouston Team

When we meet someone looking to put their home on the market without the help of a real estate professional, we seek to help by offering advice in hopes of building a great relationship. This is simply because we believe in the laws of reciprocity: if we help them sell their homes themselves, somewhere down the line they may meet someone that doesn't want to sell their home without representation, and our name may come to mind. It's a win for the seller since they get free advice in selling their home themselves, plus we may get a referral some day in the future.

In this article you will learn about the property disclosures you must take into account, how to get your home exposed online, and security risks to take into account when holding showing tours. You will also get some useful advice on preparing contracts and where to close on your home. If you are thinking about putting your home on the market without the help of a real estate professional, this article may help you tremendously.

Your Disclosure To Prospective Buyers

According to Texas Property Code, you must disclose the current condition of your home to all prospective buyers. The form you will use to disclose all information is called the Seller's Disclosure Form*. This is a four page disclosure that will ask you a series of questions about your home, and is provided to the buyer to initial and sign prior to purchasing your home. Be sure to be completely honest and up-front in this disclosure; since you are selling your home on your own, if the buyer decides to sue you for not disclosing a major defect or repair in your home then they will go straight to you instead of your real estate agent.

Getting Your Home Exposed

First and foremost, you must place a for sale sign in your yard. This is obviously the easy part, but be sure that all repairs and cleaning has been performed before putting your sign out as you could very well attract a buyer that day. You want to make sure your home is ready to be shown, and that you will not have to tell the buyer to postpone their tour. They may move on to the next property and pass your home on their list.

There are plenty of free sites to put your home online to be exposed to prospective buyers looking to buy in the Houston market. Some of these sites are Google Base, Trulia and Zillow. For a fee, you may even place your home on MyHomeHouston.com, which currently attracts over 200 visitors a day looking for properties in Houston. You will also want to be sure to place you home for sale on Craiglist, which is basically a national classifieds website.

During this stage of the process you must be patient; realize that over 80% of buyers use real estate agents to buy their next home because it's free. If you are selling your home without representation, chances are that you won't be listed in the local MLS database as well. Real estate agents are not searching through online websites or for sale by owner (fsbo) catalogs to find homes for their buyers. They are searching their Houston MLS database on homes that are listed with other agents, which have their commission already negotiated with the sale.

Security During Showings

When showing your home to prospective buyers, realize that they may or may not have a real estate professional to pre-qualify them, and test their motivation to buy a home. Chances are that you will have a lot of "lookers" that are curious about the homes for sale in your area. When allowing prospective buyers to tour your home there are some key steps to take to make sure you do not put yourself at a security risk.

Make sure that the front door is left open at all times.
Having the front door open at all times ensures that in case of an emergency, you will have an easy way to exit the home. You will most likely not know the individual(s) entering your home so it is wise to take safety precautions at all times.
Do not show homes at night.
Showing homes at night is not only a security risk, but also it does not allow the buyer to see your home in it's true light. Insist to all prospective buyers that showing tours are only to be performed during daylight hours.
Do not enter any closet areas or rooms first. Always stay behind the prospective buyer.
Standing behind the buyer will allow you to see what is going on at all times. Again, you will not know the buyer personally the minute they show up for a tour so be sure to take personal safety very seriously during these meetings.
Turn on all lights prior to the showing tour.
Nothing is more awkward than standing with a complete stranger in a dark room. Turn on all the lights before they arrive to your home.

Get Contracts Signed and Close

Since you are not represented during the sale of your home, it is very important to either hire a real estate attorney or real estate agent to at least write up contracts for the sale of Houston real estate. The promulgated contracts by the Texas Real Estate Commission are created to protect both yourself and the buyer in case of a discrepancy or conflict. It is also important to close at a title company to ensure that a legitimate escrow agent and notary is handling your transaction from start to finish. They will also ensure that your home doesn't have any prior liens before selling and will issue a title policy to the buyer so that if any problem arises with the title after closing they will not come to you. Rather, the buyer will take the matter up with the title company that issued the title policy in the first place - as the policy was to insure the buyer that the home was purchased free and clear of all liens and judgments.

Conclusion

In the end, selling your home without representation is quite a daunting task but financially rewarding. If you do decide to take this transaction up without help of a real estate professional, we would be happy to provide any advice we legally can and to help you get your home exposed the right way. In the future, if you ever meet someone looking to buy or sell Houston Texas Real Estate you might think of the MyHomeHouston team and to us, that makes all the difference.

*Form can be sent to you by calling 281-664-8339 and referencing the form in need.

Floodplains Explained

2007-05-03T20:58:52Z

After finding that perfect home for you and your family, undoubtedly you will have to seek to acquire a homeowner's insurance policy on your home. Just like any other financed asset, your lender will require you to have insurance on your home to protect their investment. Getting insurance on your home is usually a simple task; one must contact their local insurance agent and request a formal quote. However, what happens if your home is situated in a floodplain? Did you know that your lender may require you to get flood insurance on your home, even if this home wasn't in the floodplain 5 years ago?

What Are Floodplains?

Floodplains are established by determining the areas that flood when creeks, bayous, and river waters exceed their banks. In most cases, floodplains are determined by their chance to flood in the future, hence the 10, 100, and 500 year floodplain references. Many times these terms can be confused as the risk of flood is determined over a long period of time. The Harris County Flood Control District in Houston has broken these floodplains down into one year increments, and given a chance of possible flooding based on a one year time frame for each floodplain.

10 Year Floodplain - 10% chance of flooding in a single year - 95% chance of flooding in a 30 year mortgage.
100 Year Floodplain - 1% chance of flooding in a single year - 26% chance of flooding in a 30 year mortgage.
500 Year Floodplain - 0.2% chance of flooding in a single year - 6% chance of flooding in a 30 year mortgage.

As you can see, when the percentages are broken down into the yearly level they are much easier to understand. It's also important to know that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) sets the rates for flood insurance and it will not differ between insurance company to insurance company. They will first determine the floodplain you are located in, then using your elevation cetificate that optionally comes when purchasing a survey, will determine the yearly rate for your flood insurance. If you are in need for flood insurance, it is best to speak with your local insurance agent to determine the cost incurred for obtaining a property located in a flood plain.

Is It A Bad Choice?

Buying a home in a floodplain (also referred to as a flood zone) is not necessarily a bad decision if you are deciding to live in an area that is prone to flooding. Many areas in and around coastal cities are located in various floodplain areas. Does this make buying in a home in a floodplain a bad decision? Absolutely not! It simply means that homes in this area are more susceptable to flooding and necessary precautions must be taken. Home owners will have to obtain additional insurance to protect themselves in case of a flooding emergency.

On the contrary, if you decide to purchase a home in the 10 year floodplain, you must understand that this home is very likely to flood during inclement weather. Be sure to review the pros and cons of purchasing a home in a floodplain with your real estate professional to ensure that you are making the most educated and logical decision in your next real estate transaction.

Steve Castaneda, Realtor, is the team leader of the MyHomeHouston team who specializes in helping consumers buy and sell Houston Texas Real Estate. He has been servicing the Houston community since 2005, and focuses on educating his clients to the most informed and intelligent decision possible. The MyHomeHouston team website enables consumers to get insights into the Houston Real Estate market and also provides access to see property listing using their Houston MLS Search.

HAR Site Down Today

2007-05-03T16:08:43Z

Today, the Houston Association of Realtor's site came down today, with no reports of exactly what happened. Since late on the 2nd of May, the consumer site for HAR began having technical difficulties, along with the agent sites, neighborhood reports, and even IDX feeds agents frame on their sites.

After calling HAR technical support, there is on estimated completion time for this outage to be repaired, but they are aware of the problem and working to resolve it as quickly as possible. I will be sure to keep you abreast of any news that transpires.

- Who spilled their coffee on the servers?-

UPDATE AS OF MAY 4, 2007: HAR sent out an email early this morning with the following information:

Late Wednesday night, a virus threat was identified to the servers that operate the HAR.com Web site. In a precautionary move, the Houston Association of Realtors locked down those servers, which took the public HAR.com off-line, as well as thousands of member and company Web sites hosted by those servers. At no time was there any risk to anyone who accessed the Web site.

We cannot anticipate at this point how long it will take to repair the system, but we will post regular updates on the HAR.com homepage, as appropriate.

On a side note, has your associations site ever had long technical difficulties and how did that effect your business?

Steve Castaneda, Realtor, is a Houston real estate consultant that specializes in Houston Real Estate. He is the team leader of the MyHomeHouston team, a real estate group focused on leveraging the latest technology and giving excellent service to their clients.

Investing in Real Estate - Renting Versus Flipping

2007-05-03T12:01:32Z

One of the most stable investments anyone can make is in residential real estate. Investing can be your chosen path to that nest egg you've always wanted to have for your family to retire on, or it can be a side hobby for extra income when you need it. Whatever the purpose, real estate investing is one of the best shelters for your capital should you choose to start making strategic moves to increasing your net worth.

Make Your Money Going In

If you've read many of the books currently available on real estate investing, you'll hear that a sound approach when constructing your offer on a piece of offer is to make your money going in. I agree with this approach, and would also like to add that this is the most vital concept for you to grasp as a real estate investor.

Your job is to reduce the amount of risk you will encounter when under going your real estate transaction. The best way to accomplish this goal is to make sure you know your numbers. What is the cost of acquisition, cost of re-selling, cost of repairs on the property? Make sure on your analysis of the property that you factor these numbers plus your required profit into your offer. Doing so will enable you to have the peace of mind that your offer will make this transaction a "win" for you. You will also be empowered to say "no" when a counter-offer is sent in response to your offer and it violates the investment criteria you've set forth.

Renting A Home

I will always be an advocate of renting out an investment property, as long as there is a history of properties with similar features, amenities, and condition successfully renting in the area. When renting a home, you get to take advantage of three distinct sources of income:

Income acquired through debt paydown.
Income through appreciation.
Passive income through rent and positive cashflow.

This trinity of income will enable you to be at the most leveraged position for your investment portfolio. As you accumulation of income producing properties grow, so does your net worth, passive income, and hopefully at some point in your investment career, passive positive income.

Flipping A Home

Quickly reselling a home is another strategy widely used to generate quick cash. I personally will use this method to save up a substantial down payment on a rent-able property at a later time. I advise for my real estate investors to flip a home if they do not want to deal with property management issues and are looking to generate capital at a much faster pace.

When flipping homes, it's always best practice to have a significant amount of capital to pay for homes in cash. However, most investors are not ready for this strategy so creative financing will usually come into play. For financing an investment property, it's important to make sure that you team yourself up with a great mortgage professional that knows your intentions with investing in real estate and guides you to the right programs for repeated and long term use.

Two Routes to Investing in Real Estate

Investing in real estate is a great opportunity for you to create a nest egg for you, and your family, to retire on at an early date. If you are proactive and intentional about your approach in residential investments, while teaming yourself up with a great real estate and mortgage professional, you can ensure yourself a great investing experience for years to come.

Steve Castaneda, Realtor, is a real estate professional specializing in Houston Real Estate. He focuses on helping his client investors make the most informed and intelligent decisions regarding their investment in Houston Texas Real Estate. He is also part of the MyHomeHouston team whose website features a Houston MLS tool for viewing properties for sale in Houston, Texas.

What Is Curb Appeal?

2007-04-19T21:25:30Z

I had a weekly feedback call with one of my sellers today, and the topic came about that brought two specific questions:

What is curb appeal?
How do I improve curb appeal?

I gave my normal response to this question, and answered generally around the first impressions that a buyer will get upon driving up to your home. After the call, I sat for 10 minutes wondering how I could better answer this question and how I could better service my clients with higher quality advice.

A google search will bring up About.com's article about curb appeal, and how to improve it. One particular comment from the author, Janet Wickell, struck me:

"Decide right now to stop thinking of the property as a home. It's a house—a commodity you want to sell for the highest dollar possible."

This is such a simple message yet effective when delivered to your sellers in a non-emotional, straight up approach. I feel that there are simple items that real estate professionals can advise for their clients to pay attention to when working on curb appeal:

Keep the yard mowed.
Keep the front street free of any obstacles, such as vehicles.
Clear the front porch area.

What do you think would be some ideas you could touch upon with your clients in order to help your client get the most positive feedback from prospective buyers?

Steve Castaneda, Realtor, is a real estate consultant specializing in the Houston Texas Real Estate market, and focuses on providing a high level of service, excellent communication, and a strong dedication to each and every one of his clients.

5 Simple Repairs When Preparing Your Home To Sell

2007-04-18T22:37:41Z

Selling a piece of real estate can be a very eye-opening experience for most homeowners; you begin to get non-emotional feedback about the pros and cons of your home from prospective buyers. You are putting an asset to your family for the public to see, and in doing so, are exposing visitors to your personal lifestyle. Since most homeowners are not home during home showing tours, prospective buyers are left to speculate and assume details about the maintenance and condition of your home that may or may not be true. In my experience, there are five key items to ensure these initial impressions are as positive as possible. It is important to visit these items during the initial preparation before putting your home on the market.

Show 12 Inches of Foundation

In Houston, it is simply a matter of time before many homes are accompanied by the presence of termites, typically subterranean termites. There is one easy, yet effective technique to eliminating a majority of the risk of a termite infestation for your home. Showing at least twelve inches of foundation around the perimeter of your home will provide a peace of mind to both you and prospective buyers, as everyone is assured that even if termites begin to build tunnels up your foundation to reach wood, they will turn back down to the earth after 6-8 inches of not reaching anything.

Having at least 12 inches of visible foundation will also convey to your prospective buyers that you are knowledgeable about the options you have in preventing termites, and see that you actually care about the condition of your home. You will be surprised at how this subtle and simple technique can completely change the assumptions a buyer has made about your general maintenance to your home in past years.

Clean All Windows

You will find that many buyers will enjoy a home that allows the gorgeous rays of sunshine to enter and flourish throughout the kitchen, living and dining areas. This will also illuminate many naturally dark rooms, while making these rooms appear larger. The benefits of a naturally well-lit room can be completely compromised by windows caked with a layer of dust. Be sure to clean your windows very thoroughly to ensure that the optimum amount of sun is entering your home, and to ensure that if a buyer does peek through the window, they are not greeting by eight-legged friends that seem to populate areas that are neglected.

Spruce Up The Porch and Doorway

First impressions are vital to selling real estate. Prospective buyers will make an assumption on whether they feel inclined to purchase your home even while walking up to your door step. It is crucial to visit the first part of your home that buyers will see; the doorway, porch, and doorway trim and exterior. Take a broom and sweep away cobwebs, brush off dust and dirt that may have accumulated along your porch due to inactivity, and take a damp rag to your door trim, knob, and any metal column, support, or veneer pieces. This will indirectly portray to a new buyer that you made it an extra point to have your home presented in it's best light, and these efforts will enable buyers to make positive assertions even before entering your home.

Replace Light Bulbs

Have you ever been to a friends home and a light didn't work? What kind of message do you think this gives the visitors to your home? Simply replacing the bulbs in all light fixtures with the highest recommended bulb (check your fixture for details or call the manufacturer) will enable buyers to explore freely in all rooms and closets, therefore allowing buyers to feel more at ease with learning the features and amenities that your home has to offer.

If a buyer opens your master bedroom closet, only to find that there is no light to aid self-exploration, how will they ever know that you had walk-in closets? They may walk away from the room without ever knowing this wonderful feature that is always desirable to today's home buyers.

Clean Carpets

When a buyer is touring your home, you want them to be thinking of the abundance of space your home has to offer. You also want them to soak in the possibilities your home has for their family, from large kitchens to spacious living areas perfectly suited for entertaining. The flow of this important thought process will be immediately deterred by a large stain in the middle of your formal dining area, or a dark track of dirt from the front door to the kitchen. It simply boils down to the thoughts on the minds of your buyers while they are carefully scrutinizing the possibilities of purchasing your home. You want to keep them as positive as possible to ensure a high probability of a fantastic first impression.

These five simple steps will ensure that your home is shown in it's best light and it's first impression to prospective home buyers is a positive, long-lasting one. Attention to detail conveys to buyers that you have taken careful consideration in the preparation of putting your home on the market. In doing so, you enable buyers to concentrate on the features that matter and not the distractions derivative of poor maintenance and a lack of attention of your home.

Steven Castaneda, Realtor, is a Houston real estate consultant with Keller Williams Realty specializing in offering his clients an excellent level of service, guidance, and attention to detail. He has been consulting on Houston Texas Real Estate transactions for over 2.5 years. His site features a great tool if you are looking to find homes using the Houston MLS.

Responding to Emails - Immediately or Daily?

2007-04-12T09:41:58Z

Today, I read an interesting post at the National Association of Realtors Technology Blog. Chris McKeever was pointing how how he loves the opportunities that emails, being accessible from practically anywhere, provide for him in his business.

As a REALTOR, you are in the service industry. If you were your own client, which of the above two would you appreciate more? A single, delayed, response with the information, or two emails, one acknowledging that you got their request and the other returned in a timely manner with the relevant information? I know which I would rather have.

I find myself to be very tech-savvy compared to others around my office, and find that I attract clients that are the same way.

In no way am I saying that customer service is not one of my priorities, though I feel that a quick emailed response to a question sent is not always the best thing to do. I do advocate returning all emails on a daily basis, and returning emails that are very urgent immediately.

What I will not do is send a response back immediately to a general question. Why? For two main reasons: Doing so will possibly throw me off of a particular mode I am in at the moment. This is usually lead generation mode. Second, doing so trains in the minds of my clients that you will be there to answer that email 100% of the time. If I am always firing off emails to clients on a moments notice, they will begin to expect this same behavior in the future and this is not always the case.

As real estate agents, we must learn to allocate our time among various clients. There may be days that have been in meetings all day, showing homes half the day, and have simply not had a chance to sit and check our emails as our normal routine intended.

When days like this arise, and you are the type to send emailed responses very quickly on a routine basis, the clients that have come to expect this of you begin to wonder, "What's going on? He's not emailing me right back for some reason today..."

This has happened to me before, and is the reason I choose to be selective in my response times to various emails. I'm curious to think what you, as a real estate agent, have learned in the past in scenarios such as this one.

When do you respond to emails - Immediately, or Daily?

Steven Castaneda, Realtor, is a real estate consultant with Keller Williams Realty specializing in Houston Texas Real Estate. He has been consulting on Houston Real Estate transactions for over 2.5 years, and focuses on coaching his clients to make the most informed and intelligent decision possible with their real estate investments. His site features a great tool if you are looking to find homes using the Houston MLS.

Katy TX Real Estate

2007-04-10T11:33:57Z

Katy has become one of the fastest growing upscale suburbs in West Houston. Katy's Country charm mixed with its posh master planned communities, acclaimed Katy ISD, current and future shopping centers, and upper class residents has made it one of the most sought after suburbs in the Houston area.

Katy Texas Real Estate

Katy TX Real Estate features a wide variety of communities to create a home and family with a large complex subdivisions with numerous sections and additions with a splash of country living. There are master planned communities located in Katy, with the most popular being Cinco Ranch.

There are many communities for you to tour if you are looking for a home builder or home for sale in Katy, TX. You will surely want to stop by:

Cinco Ranch
Wood Creek Reserve
Grayson Lakes
Seven Meadows
Firethorne
Grand Lakes

These subdivisions and master planned communities offer a variety of features and amenities to suit a wide variety of needs, with price ranges from the $100's to over custom homes valued at over $1 Million.

Katy Schools

The Katy Independent School district features 16 campuses scattered across Katy, with a little more than 48,000 children attending this wonderful and diverse educational program in Katy. Katy also has on average some of the most experienced teachers, with experience per teacher averaging around 11 years experience as an educator. There is also on average 15 children per teacher, so each child will get the personal attention they need.

Katy Realtor

If you are looking to buy a piece of Katy Real Estate, the MyHomeHouston team can help you with your new home. Of course, using the services of one of our buyer specialists is absolutely free to you; you will not be charged a single dime from us. With such an important decision on your mind, the stress of buying a home can be taken care of by those that do it for a living. We can help you by providing a pricing analysis of your prospective home, and coach you on an offer strategy by negotiating on your behalf.

When it comes to selling your Katy TX Real Estate, the MyHomeHouston team is also here to help you with a free in-depth market analysis of your home. We can provide the tools and strategies that when implemented and held accountable, will result in the sale of your home.

When it comes to Spring TX Real Estate, the MyHomeHouston team is here to answer all of your questions and help you make the most informed, intelligent decision possible.

Steven Castaneda, Realtor, is a real estate consultant with Keller Williams Realty specializing in Houston Real Estate. He has been consulting on Houston Texas Real Estate transactions for over 2.5 years, and focuses on coaching his clients to make the most informed and intelligent decision possible with their real estate investments. His site features a great tool if you are looking to find homes using the Houston MLS.

Should Agents Upgrade To Windows Vista?

2007-04-09T22:14:32Z

At the end of January, Microsoft released a much anticipated edition of their Windows family. This version is said to have a drastic increase in security, performance, and looks. Real estate agents who have a computer most likely use Windows XP Home or Professional. Do real estate agents need to upgrade to Vista at this time?

Probably Not

Windows Vista is a great looking product. You’ll be surprised to hear that Vista’s main competitor it’s predecessor Windows XP. Microsoft’s main challenge is convincing it’s current user base to move up to the next version of Windows when XP has probably been working just fine for them.

Real estate agents should always stay on the edge of technology. However, one should be wary on investing in technology that cannot be held accountable for a positive return on investment. In other words: If you are going to invest in technology for your business, you have to hold the technology accountable in terms of productivity and efficiency.

Is Windows Vista going to improve your business at this time? Probably not. If you maintain your main business computer (if your a single agent) or your team’s computers routinely, then an upgrade will not be able to justify the expense.

If your computer runs slow it may just need a good cleaning by a qualified computer technician. Be sure to make sure your computer is running top notch on it’s current hardware, before deciding to upgrade for not satisfying your technology needs.

Personally, I will surely try it out to post my thoughts on Windows Vista. I will not, however, be installing Windows Vista on my main real estate computer used daily.

Agent Technologies - Toshiba Tablet PC M400 Review - My Daily Laptop

2007-04-09T21:43:11Z

What an exciting week it’s been! As you may have noticed, I hinted to a purchase in my last post about a new Tablet PC. I bought my first laptop computer this week, and decided that my first should be one built to last a while. After reading review after review at sites such as CNet, and Newegg, I finally pulled the trigger and clicked, “confirm order”. Mind you I sat there looking at it for about 15 minutes, but I did press it!

I decided to purchase Toshiba’s newer Tablet PCs, the Portege M400. There are quite a few reasons that influenced my purchase. First of all, I needed a laptop that would allow me to be mobile. I had a laptop in the office that I had received as a gift, but the battery simply did not hold a charge, and every replacement battery I purchased died after 2 weeks. That kind of brings the whole mobile thing out of the picture if you need to have the laptop plugged in to work, doesn’t it?

I also wanted a Tablet PC because I felt it would be great to have my clients sign real estate contracts digitally. We’ve been doing it for years at grocery stores, malls, and various other locations. Why not in real estate as well? After Bill Clinton signed the Digital Signature law in 2000, it all became legal.

Lastly, I needed a Tablet PC that was going to be Windows Vista ready. I also wanted it to be able to take advantage of all the unique eye candy that Vista will be able to offer, plus the performance enhancements of having a dual core computer. The Toshiba Portege M400 allows for all of these features to take place. I’m really surprised that it came with a dual core cpu; that just makes the purchase all the more easier.

After making the purchase from Newegg with a final cost of $1610 with shipping, which by the way is my only source for buying computer components, I eagerly awaited its arrival. It came 2 days later as promised, without a scratch. I quickly began to boot up the pc, and marveled at its “new laptop smell”.

Unusual Design and Software Preloading

I began to notice something that quickly bugged me. In my history of building computers, I really enjoyed running a clean system with an efficient system tray (the less icons on the bottom right of your pc was always a good sign for me; computers run more efficiently that way). The Toshiba Portege M400 comes preloaded with tons of software, albeit some not really necessary, but the system tray looked horrendous. I lucked off, being that I know how to be rid of these pesky processes running in the background. However, for the agent that is looking to just boot up a computer and get going? Those processes could slow down the performance of the laptop itself, and it may cost money to have their local techie to remove them. It took quite a bit of cleaning but finally, I’ve gotten them down to the bare minimum.

That Pesky DVD Player

The only other thing that really bugs me about the Toshiba Portege M400 is the DVD. The DVD is located on the right side of the laptop, and it sits flush. The only piece of it that is not flush is that actual button to open the DVD player. If you’ve ever owned a laptop, you know how these DVD/CD trays feel very fragile (I wouldn’t ever put too much pressure on it). Simply having the button protruding from the rest of the laptop is ridiculous. When I have the laptop in Tablet mode, the DVD player sits at the bottom of the orientation of the laptop. This means that if you sit the Tablet in vertical mode resting against your arm while taking notes this button can be EASILY pressed. I can imagine someone unlucky (let’s hope not me), that will accidentally open the DVD, only to swing the Tablet some direction and accidentally damage the DVD/CD tray. I feel that the button to open the DVD should be flush with the entire laptop, so that any accidental mishaps can be avoided.

My Conclusion So Far

As you can see, these are my first initial impressions of the Toshiba Tablet PC Portege M400. I will continue to use it daily, and learn its pros and cons so that I can deliver a great review very soon, after using it daily in the life of a real estate agent. Overall, the Portege M400 is a great laptop with fantastic features. There are just some design flaws, and software preloading that keeps this laptop from being perfect for the real estate agent.

Search for the latest prices for the Toshiba Portege M400 over at Pricegrabber.

Agent Technologies - Mio Digiwalker C310x Review

2007-04-09T21:39:00Z

I did the unthinkable; I made a compulsive purchase. About three weeks ago, I was at my B&M Circuit City and happened to stroll by the GPS display. They seemed to twinkle and beep at me just as the casino slots do at those theme parks for adults. I paused, and began to inspect the new arrivals, prices, and sales that were going on at the time. I actually had an appointment nearly 45 minutes from my office that day, so I thought that a GPS should come in quite handy. Indeed; the miniscule device performed quite well despite my lack of knowledge of the area.

I bought the Mio Digiwalker C310x, a new device that just hit that market as i was told, mostly due to it’s size, features, and sleek look. This unit ran me $429.99, and it surely has paid for itself in saving me from humiliation while on a showing tour.

The Mio Digiwalker C310x is a portable car naviagation system that comes preloaded with the entire US Map. It also features turn-by-turn guidance and an MP3 player which I have yet to utilize. It is a pocket sized device running on Windows CE and uses Tele Atlas maps. The actual unit I purchased comes in a sleek white design with an integrated antennae.

Initial Impressions

Upon opening the box, I was easily able to put together the car suction cup adapter which took a few tries to get right. It also has a pivot head that will allow you to adjust the GPS to a passenger copilot or straight on for everyone in the car to conveniently see. Startup was simple, and it booted up and the GPS was locked on within a few minutes.

I began to play with routing and discovered the finding locations was actually very easy. The system actually will stop making you type in the address once it narrows down the street to a select number of streets you could possibly choose. All the buttons to press are moderately sized, and may give those with larger hands a difficult time to use comfortably. None the less, it worked perfectly for me and the GPS signal wasn’t lost through the city of Houston.

The routing feature worked well, but did take some getting used to. Sometimes the Digiwalker would repeatedly request a really inconvenient route to take, mostly in part because it was technically the shortest route possible. The lack of traffic integration is to be expected at this price, but it could come in really handy in the future.

Battery life is really excellent on the C310x, in my opinion. I use the unit daily, and have it plugged in sometimes, but I haven’t had the thought come across my mind that the Digiwalker had short battery life at all. I actually have the unit plugged in every once and a while, with it probably 80% of the time unplugged from it’s in-car charger. The only feature I wish was automatically enabled was the automatic shutoff. Out of the box, the Mio will stay on even while unplugged if you don’t manually turn it off. There is a setting in system options to turn it off at pre-determined time intervals (such as in 10 minutes of inactivity).

Summary

It seems that Mio is a new player in the field and their GPS device works as intended. The C310x is being used daily and I will be sure to records my moments of awe, and woe, as days progress with its use. For now, as a real estate agent, I can’t see how I ever got around town without a GPS device. Let alone that all my clients are amazed at it’s size; it’s a very convenient tool for showing tours and locating that hard to find property just around the corner.

Update: According to one of my TechforAgents.com readers, Jack, you can now get the Mio Digiwalker C310x for $299 at Circuit City. Aren’t price reductions grand?

Gmail and Greasemonkey

2007-04-09T21:33:17Z

When I first started to use Gmail as my main email provider, I was saddened to learn that I could not put my signature below every email I sent out. My email signature is used to provide my contact information to recipients, and also as a constant reminder for referrals. Having my email at the bottom of all messages was not the way I wanted my emails structured, so I migrated over to using Outlook. Greasemonkey has brought me back to using Gmail.

What is Greasemonkey?

Greasemonkey is a Firefox Add-on that according to Aaron Boodman (the creator):

Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript.

Hundreds of scripts, for a wide variety of popular sites, are already available at http://userscripts.org.

You can write your own scripts, too. Mark Pilgrim’s definitive Greasemonkey guide, diveintogreasemonkey.org will show you how.

In lamens terms, Greasemonkey allows you to customize a page via Firefox, a web browser, beyond what the site has capabilities for at that moment. You can customize the way a web site performs under your Firefox browser to the way YOU want it to work without hindering the functionality of the site.

What does this have to do with Gmail? After installing Greasemonkey, you can install scripts that will customize the features of Gmail and make your life much easier. These customizations vary from new skins for a new visual appearance, changing the way labels appear, to even moving your signature to the bottom of every email. That last script was the one I was looking for.

Scripts That I Use

I’ve customized Gmail to work the way I want it, and would like to share with you the scripts that I use when using my Gmail account.

To install the scripts, you must first be using the Firefox web browser from Mozilla. Then you must install the Greasemonkey Add-On (successful installation can be seen when you see a little monkey in the lower right and corner of Firefox). When visiting the pages for the following scripts, each as a “install script” button in the upper right hand corner of the page. Simply click on this and each script will give you a prompt to be installed. Finally, visit your Gmail account to see changes. Links that will direct you to where to download Firefox and Greasemonkey are at the bottom of this article.

Gmail Air Skin: This nifty script allows you to visually change Gmail to be a bit more simplistic and appealing. It’s not really necessary, but I personally favor the new look.
Gmail Signature Float: This script allows you to move your signature at the bottom of your message instead of the bottom of every email. It allows allows you to exclude the “–” that automatically goes above each signature to signify the end of your post. I typically like to say, “Thank you,” or “Your help is appreciated,” here, so I decided to use this script as well. Thanks goes out to Tim Jarrett for taking the time to create this script!
Gmail Spam Count Hide: This script excludes the spam count from the “Spam” tab. I use this script because I don’t really care to see how much spam I’ve caught (it is Spam afterall), and it’ll be deleted after 30 days anyways so why bother?

I am always in search of new scripts that can help improve my experience with Gmail. If you use a script not mentioned here, be sure to drop it in your comment and I will definitely try it out.

You can download Firefox here and the Greasemonkey Add-on here.

Online Social Networking for Real Estate Agents

2007-04-09T21:29:36Z

We are now at a time where, according to NAR, 80% of consumers are finding their home online, and the newly added lead generation source for real estate agents is taking shape. One of the ways to generate referral business is through online social networking. I define online social networking as any online site that allows for real estate agents to gather online and network amongst each other.

I have personally been a member of various online networking sites for real estate agents in the past, and really like the concept because not everyone is inclined to walk up to someone and say, “Hello.” Through a innate, uncontrollable shyness, or simply a lack of motivation, most real estate agents that I meet rarely take on the task of networking with other real estate agents.

Online Social Networking alleviates this tendency to by shy, as the meeting between agents is not face to face. Rather, many times agents engage in conversation through a message posted by one agent, or through emailing an agent directly. Both attempts to make contact are not direct and in person, which allows many “non-networkers” to get out there and meet some new people.

ActiveRain.com - Real Estate Referrals

ActiveRain was started in June of 2006 and has been a “water hole” for many real estate agents across the United States. You are likely to get referrals here, rather than leads for business to the consumer directly.

The “ActiveRain Real Estate Network” is a free online community for real estate professionals run on behalf of its members. Our goal is to create a valuable resource of information and ideas for real estate professionals and their clients. We aim to help empower people by providing tools to help promote business and connect with peers all over the country.

I really like that ActiveRain gives you the ability to start a blog for real estate consumers or amongst other agents. The blog is hosted at ActiveRain, but any start is a good one. If you’ve been procrastinating with start a blog or just didn’t know where to start, ActiveRain can surely prove useful to you.

Do you really get referrals? Well, that depends on your ability to network of course! I became a member of ActiveRain in 2006, and began posting my thoughts in a blog and commenting on other agent’s blog posts. Just a week ago, I received a message from a real estate loan officer in California whose sister is moving to Houston. Wow! Have my efforts paid off? I’d say yes.

MySpace.com, Facebook.com - Real Estate Lead Generation

The first thought that comes to mind when you think of Myspace or Facebook is probably that it’s filled with youngsters. That was my first thought as well. I did a bit of digging and learned about a company named, comScore who (according to Wikipedia):

comScore is an internet marketing research company that provides marketing data and services to many of the internet’s largest businesses

In 2006, Mediaweek reported that comScore’s study released that 68 percent of the 55 million MySpace users are 25 and older, and now the age group of 35-54 now make up more than 40 percent of the site. Even Facebook has 15 million users - 50 percent of whom are 25-plus. For a real estate agent looking for new clients, those are not bad demographics at all.

So how does one actually go about getting business in these online social networking websites? I feel that the answer to this question is to simply drive traffic where you know leads can be converted. Both Myspace and Facebook drive traffic to my real estate website, and that site was built to convert leads. When posting messages to friends and speaking to others about the happenings in your (and their) life, be sure to drop a line such as, “Hey, I listed 123 easy street yesterday. Have a look!” or “Did I ever tell you I was in real estate? Take a look at my site!”.

You will most likely be dropping messages by friends and family, and these people are your network and sphere. I see no reason why this message left on Myspace or Facebook shouldn’t be considered as a “touch” or “contact” for lead generation purposes, so why not dedicate some time to it? The average person will know at least three people throughout the year that is looking to buy or sell a home, so you owe it to yourself to stay in touch with those you already know.

Join MySpace
Join Facebook

Network, Network, Network!

I think one of the most overlooked source of business for real estate agents is their network and sphere. If you are new in the business, or a veteran, you should make sure that your lead generation efforts include staying in touch with your past clients, friends, and family to make sure you are there to help them with their real estate needs. Be proud to be a real estate agent; you deserve it!

Spring TX Real Estate

2007-04-09T21:21:45Z

Spring is located in the North/Northwest area of Houston, and is home to the Klein and Spring Independent School District. Many Houstonians call Spring home, with it's tall majestic pines and complex systems of creeks running through much of this vicinity of Houston. Spring Real Estate is located between Highway 249 and Highway 45; perfectly placed for convenient access to major thoroughfares into central Houston.

Spring is part of a rapidly changing real estate market in Houston. Parts of Spring feature untouched land, growing more expensive as the years pass. Other parts feature a bustling city lifestyle, and a central hub for shopping for anyone visiting the North part of Houston.

Living in Spring, TX will allow you to enjoy being in the center of both the Woodlands Mall, and Willowbrook mall. You will also be able to enjoy a wide variety of parks, nature, and a living that only North Houston can offer.

Spring Real Estate

Spring, TX Real Estate features a wide variety of communities to create a home and family in, with small subdivisions where everyone knows everyone, to large complex subdivisions with numerous sections and additions. There are master planned communities located in Spring, with the most popular being Gleannloch (Sometimes mis-spelled as Glenloch) Farms located along Spring Cypress Road and Champion Forest Drive.

There are many communities for you to tour if you are looking for a home builder or home for sale in Spring, TX. You will surely want to stop by:

Gleannloch Farms
Champion Forest
Terra Nova
Cypresswood Forest
Glenn Haven Estates
Memorial Northwest
Oaks of Spring Creek
Sterling Gate Estates
Stonegate Court

These subdivisions and master planned communities offer a variety of features and amenities to suit a wide variety of needs, with price ranges from the $90's to over $1 Million. Spring is also featured as a community for families, situation in a reknown school district among many Houstonians. The Spring/Klein Independent School Districts are a great jurisdiction to own a home in, as many families look to provide the best educational system to their children.

There's a great tool for viewing Spring Homes For Sale over at MyHomeHouston.com. You can also view all homes for sale by using the Houston MLS tool.

Spring Schools

The Klein Independent School district features 35 campuses scattered across Spring, with nearly 40,000 children attending a great educational program in Houston. Klein also has on average some of the most experienced teachers, with experience per teacher averaging 13.5 years. There is also on average 16 children per teacher, so each child will get the attention and personal touch that only a focused educator can provide.

The second school district located on the eastern end of Spring Real Estate is the Spring Independent School District. Spring also features a fantastic teacher to student ratio, with their average at just shy of 16 students per teacher. There are 29 campuses in Spring ISD, with an enrollment of a little more than 31,000 children. Spring is also a school district in Houston that is known for their excellent curriculum and clean campuses.

Spring Realtor

If you are looking to buy a home the MyHomeHouston team can help you with your new home in Spring, TX. Of course, using the services of one of our buyer specialists is absolutely free to you; you will not be charged a single dime from us. With such an important decision on your mind, the stress of buying a home can be taken care of by those that do it for a living. We can help you by providing a pricing analysis of your prospective home, and coach you on an offer strategy by negotiating on your behalf.

When it comes to selling your home in Spring, TX, the MyHomeHouston team is also here to help you with a in-depth market analysis of your home. We can provide the tools and strategies that when implemented and held accountable, will result in the sale of your home.

When it comes to Spring TX Real Estate, the MyHomeHouston team is here to answer all of your questions and help you make the most informed, intelligent decision possible.

The Woodlands TX Real Estate

2007-04-08T00:56:08Z

The Woodlands has become quite a development. This master planned community is also it's very own city, located to North of Houston between Houston and Conroe. Many still consider The Woodlands a part of Houston due to it's close proximity to Houston's complex system of highways, but local residents will tell you that The Woodlands is all-together a new lifestyle all on it's own.

If you are the type of person that enjoys tall, majestic pines and a proactive preservation of natures wonderful sceneries, then The Woodlands may be the perfect place for you to live. The Woodlands has preserved more than 5,000 acres in "green" space.

The city of The Woodlands has it's own rules and regulations regarding the removal of natural flora, thus preserving the look and appeal derivative of this wonderful community's name. The Woodlands is a sanctuary to it's residents.

The Woodlands Real Estate

The Woodlands Real Estate is a master planned community that features both residential and commercial zoning to allow for it's own shopping centers, restaurants, and amenities required in daily living. The architecture in The Woodlands is also very unique to the area, offering luxury and an overall clean appeal to it's visitors and residents alike.

The Woodlands calls it's sections, "The Villages".

There are many villages for you to tour if you are looking for a home builder or home for sale in The Woodlands, TX. You will surely want to stop by:

East Shore
Sterling Ridge
Carlton Woods
Creekside Park
Creekside Park
Cochran's Crossing
Indian Springs
Panther Creek
Grogan's Mill

These villages offer a variety of floor plans to suit your families desires, which price ranges from the $100's to the $1 Millions. The Woodlands also offers amenities such as active adult communities and senior and senior and assisted living. It's important to first establish the community you'd like to live in, then focus on that village in The Woodlands. Master planned communities tend to be rather large; getting focused and proactive before looking at homes always helps buyers of The Woodlands TX Real Estate make more informed, intelligent decisions.

The Woodlands Schools

The Woodlands is located in the Conroe Independent School District, and has won many accolades that goes to show you just how much The Woodlands cares about the education of it's children. Your children will attend a school district known to have a great educational system and has been recognized by the Texas Education Agency for their strong leadership and progressive curriculum.

The Woodlands Realtor

If you are looking to buy a home the MyHomeHouston team can help you with your new home in The Woodlands, TX. Of course, using the services of one of our buyer specialists is absolutely free to you; you will not be charged a single dime from us. With such an important decision on your mind, the stress of buying a home can be taken care of by those that do it for a living. We can help you by providing a pricing analysis of your prospective home, and coach you on an offer strategy by negotiating on your behalf.

When it comes to The Woodlands Real Estate, the MyHomeHouston team is here to answer all of your questions and help you make the most informed, intelligent decision possible.

How To Price A Home

2007-04-08T00:45:18Z

A home will sell for two reasons: price and exposure. In the real estate market for the 21st century, exposure has taken a new turn with the advancement of many Internet technologies for real estate. Be it as it may, the real estate industry's new exposure tools will not help a home sell if the home is not priced correctly. When considering putting your home up for sale, it is very important to first analyze your real estate market on a subdivision level, not a metro-area level, to derive the features and amenities that are driving the value in your neighborhood. You must then establish a pricing strategy in accordance with your financial and timing needs.

Identifying Selling Needs

No two real estate transactions in today's world are identical. As a homeowner, only you can derive your needs with selling your home. We will call this your "win" in your real estate transaction. Be careful; the years of owning your home can cause a strong emotional attachment and can cloud logical thinking. This is absolutely normal, and fortunately, there are professionals available across the nation to help bring a logical, non-emotional approach to selling your home. These professionals are known as real estate agents, and each can be a vital tool in making sure you get the most amount of money for your home in the least amount of time, and with a minimum level of stress.

You will want to focus on your timing needs first. Do you want to sell your home in 30, 60, or 90 days? Are you looking to have a contract by that date, or to be closed and moving into your next home? Always remember that in typical real estate transactions, buyers will take approximately 30 days to close on a home. This time period involves getting inspections, negotiating repairs, and securing financing with their mortgage professional.

Are you going to need a certain amount of equity after closing on your home? If so, lets understand this number from the very beginning and make sure that this need will be satisfied out of the sale of your home.

Understanding Your Local Market

The next step to selling your home is to make sure that you have leverage. Leverage is the key ingredient to winning in a real estate transaction. When selling a home, leverage is achieved by pricing your home at a market price that will attract the most amount of buyers for your area. Homes can be priced one of two ways: negotiation and market. Pricing for negotiation will result in exactly what a seller expects: negotiation on the asking price. Pricing at market will allow your home to be exposed to the widest range of buyers and enable the seller to have a leveraged position in the real estate transaction.

There are three types of market research that one must analyze when pricing a home: sold, expired, and active properties. First, the sold history for your subdivision for the past year will give great detail on the selling trends in the neighborhood. By analyzing the sold price per square foot of homes with similar features, amenities, and condition, you can easily identify your selling range in relation to price per square foot. Price per square foot allows you to level the playing field and compare apples to apples. A homes square footage is a basic unit of real estate, and all homes will be priced according to the size of the home. At this point, you will want to gain an understanding as to why homes are selling in the per square foot range that they are being sold in. Once this step is complete, we can have a higher level of understanding as to which homes are desirable and getting the most money, and which are the exact opposite.

After you have made conclusions as to why homes are selling in the range that they do, you can then test these conclusions on homes that did not sell, or expired properties. This is done to make sure that the conclusions derived during the analysis of sold properties are accurate and applicable to your real estate transaction. Remember: Not all real estate transactions are typical and your conclusions may not be able to explain exactly why a home did not sell. You can usually assume that if your conclusions can logically explain why 3-5 homes have not sold in the past 6 months, then your conclusions are accurate enough to be considered factual.

Find Your Homes Selling Range

Now that we have an understanding as to why homes are selling in the range that they are, we can then look at the features and amenities of your home and identify the price per square foot range that will be most suitable for your home's asking price. For this information, we are going to look back at the one year sold history of your neighborhood.

It is important to be realistic and logical in this step of the pricing process. If your home is 1500 square feet, look at what other homes within 200 square feet are selling for per square foot. You will also want to take into consideration the other main features that buyers are interested in: bedrooms, bathrooms, year built, and unit stories. After you have pinpointed homes that are similar to yours, see the maximum and minimum price per square foot that they are selling for to give your home a possible selling range. Don't be surprised if this is a large price range. We are simply identifying the range at which similar homes are selling for. We will then take your needs to determine what part of this selling range your home should be priced in.

Price According To Needs while Analyzing Competition

Do you remember earlier when we identified your win in your transaction? These rules for selling your home, usually timing and required equity, will help you determine the most appropriate price entry point for your price per square foot selling range. You will want to make sure that your final asking price will satisfy all of your needs.

Let's say for example that you must sell your home in 90 days. Your main concern is to make sure that you receive an offer within these 90 days, and are perfectly fine with closing 30 days later. You also want to make sure that you will net at least $25,000 from the sale of your home after paying all selling expenses. The next step is to look at the amount of inventory for homes with similar features to your home. The most important factor to look at is the number of bedrooms. In the past twelve months, how many homes were sold that had the same number of bedrooms as yours? How many homes are there on the market now with the same amount of bedrooms? When you know these two numbers, you can derive the amount of inventory available. If there were 12 homes sold with 3 bedrooms in the last 12 months, that means there was on average one home sold per month. If there are six homes available, it is safe to say that there are 6 months of inventory.

For our example, we must receive a contract on a home within 90 days. If there are 6 months of inventory available, then it is accurate to state that the current level of competition will take a toll on your final asking price due to your 90 day requirement to receive a contract. You must make sure that your home is more attractive than your competition, especially now that we know that we must receive a contract in 90 days and there is 6 months of inventory available.

Using this same logical approach, you can determine where your home must be priced in your selling price per square foot range. Make sure that you stay non-emotional and realistic when finalizing these numbers. You want to make sure that you can satisfy all your needs when selling your home. If your final asking price is reduced due to a high level of competition, and this reduction causes you to not net the equity you need, then you will simply lose by putting your home on the market. Be sure to understand this concept and be assured that you are making the most informed, intelligent decision possible. Selling your home can be a very tedious journey; you will want to make sure that your time invested will be able to satisfy your selling needs or else your efforts will be wasted.

Get Help

As you can see, pricing your home is a very detailed and thorough process. It's good to know that there is help available across the nation from real estate professionals that are looking our for your best interest. When selling your home remember that seeking the advice from a real estate professional is not obligatory in nature; you are not required to go into a business relationship with that professional unless you feel completely assured that your needs will be satisfied at the end of the transaction. Worst case scenario is that you will be more informed about the options you have when selling your home. What do you have to lose?

Cypress Texas Real Estate

2007-04-05T13:40:46Z

To the Northwest you'll find a part of Houston filled with a bustling city lifestyle, yet also with an environment filled with tress, parks, and towering trees.

Cypress real estate features homes that are built in master planned communities and subdivisions with an appeal to those wanting large, mature trees and a landscape to enjoy on those breezy summer days.

You will also find that Cypress is located in one of the best educational districts in Houston. This is of vital importance to not only your family, but with your home's ability to appreciate in value as well.

Master Planned Communities

Master Planned Community - a large scale development designed to offer home owners an attractive and convenient lifestyle within the confines of the community. Most master planned communities are developed with residential and commercial zoning to allow for it's own shopping centers, restaurants, and amenities required in daily living.

There are many master planned communities for you to tour if you are looking for a home builder in Cypress, TX. You will surely want to stop by:

Fairfield
Bridgeland
Cypress Creek Lakes
Coles Crossing
Stonegate
Steeplechase
Copperfield

These master planned communities offer a variety of floor plans to suit your families desires, which price ranges from the $100's to the $1 Millions. It's important to first establish the community you'd like to live in, then focus on your Cypress home within that community. Master planned communities tend to be rather large; getting focused and proactive before looking at homes always helps buyers of Cypress Real Estate make more informed, intelligent decisions.

If you are looking to find a Home for sale in cypress tx, you can search at MyHomeHouston.com - a site specializing in Houston Real Estate.

Cypress Texas Schools

Cypress, Texas is zoned to the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District. This school district has received numerous awards and has achieved an "exemplary" status in many of it's 65 schools.

Children attending Cy-Fair ISD are also subject to a higher quality of education as the teacher to student ratio hovers slightly over 15 per student. With over 38% of teachers in Cy-Fair ISD having more than 11 years of experience, plus a graduation rate of over 90%, children attending the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District are assured to have high quality education.

Steven Castaneda, Realtor, is a real estate consultant with the MyHomeHouston team at Keller Williams Realty in Houston, Texas. He has been consulting on Cypress Texas Real Estate transactions for over 2.5 years, and focuses on coaching his clients to make the most informed and intelligent decision possible with their real estate investments.