Tiffany & Tonya Sharkey's (tsharkey) Blog

Be ready to buy If you find what you're looking for in a home, you should be prepared to make an offer quickly. Even if homes are staying on the market a little longer in your neck of the woods, it only takes one other interested buyer to snatch the home or create a bidding war. You can help the ...

Not just the house After you've made the decision to buy a home, it pays to prioritize your needs and wants. It goes without saying that when you do this, you'll consider standard home features, like number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, living areas, kitchens, and outdoor amenities. ...

Spend some time in your kitchen The kitchen could be the most important room in a house. Maybe it's the warmth and pleasant smells, maybe it's because there's always activity, or maybe it's something else-whatever the case, many of our memories from our homes originate in the kitchen. Buyers are ...

Different kinds of real estate Web sites From the way consumers acquire information about properties and neighborhoods to the way agents market themselves and their listings, real estate, like so many other industries, has been fundamentally altered by the Internet. There are tens of thousands of...

Home warranties After you buy an existing home, let's face it-the last thing you want to worry about is a broken big-ticket item like the air conditioner or oven. For this reason, it's a good idea to get a home warranty plan (also called a residential service contract). The general idea behind a ...

Understanding the lingo - comps So, you're selling your home and every single Texas REALTOR® you interviewed to list your home has mentioned "pulling comps". Not wanting to appear uniformed, you just nodded your head and played along. So what is a comp? Simply put, a comp, short for comparable, i...

Selling a vacant house So you've accepted your new job and have moved on to your new life in a different city. The only problem is that your previous house hasn't sold yet and now you're faced with the prospect of selling a vacant house-a sure way to look desperate, lose money, and ensure the pla...

Finding the right neighborhood     Picking a neighborhood that fits your lifestyle and desires is an important part of the homebuying process. It can be challenging, though ... there are so many things to consider. For a lot of people, quality schools top the list of desirable neighborhood amenit...

Twelve tips to sell your home    The Sharkey Peek Group There are few things more frustrating to a seller than a home that sits on the market. It's stressful to keep a house in showing condition, and not selling can cost you lots of money. Use these tips as a quick guide to better your chances at...

Fresh paint can make a difference There are many factors that can affect the sale of your home. Many of these, like interest rates, number of buyers, and amount of competing inventory, are simply out of your control. There are, however, things that you can do to improve the chances your home will...