Cedar Park

• Never turn down a showing even if you’re cooking or have company or the house is messy.  Tell the Agent why the house is not at its best but let the Agent show the house. Coming back in two hours or two days might not be an option. Some Buyers have very limited time off or are in from out of town and their Agent is showing them property over a wide geographic region or the Buyers may fall in love with the Builder’s Model in a new construction neighborhood. If you turn down the showing, you may never get a 2nd chance.
• Do not leave negotiating room when you price your house. If the Buyers need closing costs, they can be added back into the price of  the house. The lower you price your house, the larger the number of Buyers who will want to see your house. Most Buyers looking at resale homes today are looking for a bargain. The best thing that can happen is that you get multiple offers.
• Your house needs to be clean and uncluterred even if it needs updating. Most Buyers buy with emotion and a dirty and/or cluttered home is a turn-off.  Take a look at some nearby model homes to see how the small bedrooms are furnished. Too much furniture in a room makes the room look small. Too much stuff in a closet makes the closet look small.
• Light is your friend! Use the maximum allowed wattage light bulbs in fixtures and open the curtains and blinds. Dark houses seem sad and Buyers buy with emotion even if they won’t admit it.
• All the documentation needed by the Buyer’s Agent needs to be readily available either online or dispayed in the house. Uncertainty makes Buyers hesitate. Is the house now in a flood plain now that the flood plain maps have been redrawn? What is planned for the adjacent vacant land? What are the HOA rules? What does the Seller Disclosure say?

You goal is to make your house easy to buy! You want to create such a sense of urgency in your Buyers that they want to skip the rest of the houses on their list and go back to the office immediately and write a offer NOW before somebody else does. That way the Buyers never see that beautifully decorated model home with all the $$$$ Builder incentives.

Despite the national news media, houses are selling in Cedar Park but not at “pie in the sky” prices.  The following suggestions will help you sell your house at a “fair” price if you are truly motivated to sell:

1. Hire a real estate agent who will be HONEST with you and then LISTEN to your agent.
2. If possible, agree to use the same agent to buy your next house or let the agent do a referral to an agent in you destination city before asking the agent for any kind of commission discount. Keep in mind that your agent needs to earn a living and has up front marketing expenses plus you want to be your agent’s first priority.
3. Price your house at your bare bones rock bottom price from day 1 with a comment directed to the Buyer that “If you need closing costs paid, please add to price.” This will get your property shown to more buyers and create a sense of urgency in the Buyer’s Agent and their Client.
4. Your house must show like a Builder’s Model Home because Builder Homes are your main competition. Have yard sales, donate unused items and/or rent storage space to de-clutter your home.
5. Ask your agent to help you with staging and furniture arrangement and put excess furniture in storage. Use throws and throw pillows to camouflage worn furniture.
6. Replace burnt out light bulbs and use the maximum wattage bulbs allowed by your light fixtures.
7. DO all those minor repairs that you have been meaning to get to.
8. CLEAN EVERYTHING. Your home needs to sparkle!
9. Remove (and replace if necessary) anything that is attached to the home that you do not want to include in the sale.
10. Offer a Home Warranty. Your Seller’s coverage is free unless you use it and your Seller’s coverage could save you money when inspections are done and repair issues are found. Chances are that your Buyer will request a Home Warranty so you might as well benefit from it.
11. When you get an offer, have your agent speak with the Buyer’s Agent and the Buyer’s Lender before negotiating and/or signing an offer. If you get more than one offer, work with the Buyer who is strongest financially even though the strongest Buyer may not have offered the highest price. Today the challenge is getting a house closed in a timely manner once it is under contract.
12. Do NOT enter into a contract to buy another house until your house is under contract and preferably past the option period.
13. Do NOT schedule the closing of your current house and the purchase of your new home on the same day. Closings are not running as smoothly as they did 2 years ago. Have contingency plans. Keep in mind that the containerized moving companies such as “Pods” or “Pack Rats” offer one month free storage.

I am starting to see very affordable prices on  homes that are in good condition in the towns of Cedar Park and Leander. Combine the affordable Cedar Park home prices with record low interest rates and the federal “tax credit” for a home buyer who has not owned a home in the last 3 years (that makes the buyer a “1^st time home buyer”) and you have a once in a lifetime opportunity. You need a middle FICO score of 620 or better to qualify for an FHA loan.

There is very little certainty in this economy because there are so many unknown factors. It may surprise you to know that a landlord’s foreclosed home in Cedar Park can cause a renter to be evicted. Here is what is known.

1. You have to live somewhere.
2. Cedar Park home mortgage rates are the lowest they have been in years.
3. Texas and particularly Austin is doing better economically than the rest of the country and Cedar Park is doing as well or better than Austin.
4. Owning a Cedar Park home puts you in a position to itemize your deductions on your federal income tax, which gives most people greater deductions (check with your tax preparer).
5. Most of the homes in Cedar Park and Leander are newer compared to Austin.
6. The new 183-toll road has made commuting to Austin much faster and more predictable even if you don’t take the toll road.
7. The IRS is offering a $7500 interest free loan to “1^st time home buyers” with a $500 per year payback over 15 years as long as the buyer completes the home purchase before the end of June 2009.
8. You only need a 3.5% down payment for a 30 year fixed rate FHA loan and properties in certain parts of Leander are eligible for a zero down U. S. Department of Agriculture loan.

If you are currently renting, have a stable job situation and plan on staying in the area for at least 5 years, contact me and let’s explore whether buying a home in Cedar Park or Leander this Spring is the right choice for you.

So far Cedar Park and Leander have not been severely impacted by real estate foreclosures. Home sales have slowed dramatically in the upper price tiers, but overall home values are not severely depressed. Let’s keep it that way. You can help your neighborhood avoid foreclosures.

If a homeowner finds him/herself in financial difficulty and facing a possible foreclosure, the homeowner is better off trying to work out a loan modification with their lender. There are three instances when a house must be sold quickly:

1. Job transfer (rental wouldn’t cover mortgage and taxes)
2. Divorce (where neither party can afford the mortgage payment alone)
3. Death or severe permanent incapacity of the owner of the home

If you know of somebody in Cedar Park or Leander in one of the above circumstances and who may be on the brink of a foreclosed home, urge them to contact a REALTOR® who is familiar with short sales (in a short sale, the house is sold and the bank accepts less than what is owed). As a general rule, a bank would rather do a short sale than foreclose and then own the house.

If you see a For Sale by Owner sign go up in your Cedar Park or Leander neighborhood, ask the owners why they are not using a REALTOR®. If you get any hint that they are in financial difficulty or may be faced with a foreclosed home, encourage them to contact a REALTOR® who is familiar with short sales. Doing a short sale requires spending hours on the phone and banks definitely prefer to work with a professional rather than the homeowner.

Foreclosures hurt the entire neighborhood and bring property values down. Help your neighbor. Help yourself. Help prevent foreclosed homes in Cedar Park and Leander!

I recently had someone call me on the phone and ask:

“My agent told me that on a Bank Owned Foreclosure Property, the Seller does not have to provide a Residential Seller Disclosure. Is that true?”

My Answer:

“Yes it is true. Now tell me why you are working with an agent you do not trust?” It turned out that he had made an offer on another REO (short for real estate owned and actually means bank owned) property and the Bank had rejected his offer and accepted a lower offer that was all cash. His offer, though higher, had been contingent on a 5% down FHA loan. As a result, the buyer doubted his agent’s knowledge and expertise.

From 9/1/07 – 8/31/08, 2086 Cedar Park & Leander homes have sold that were listed for sale in the mls. As of 10/13/08 there were 837 homes listed for sale. In the area south of Whitestone Blvd. (also known as1431) home listings under $300K are selling briskly with an inventory supply of 4.39 months. In the area north of Whitestone Blvd., houses under $200K were selling briskly with an inventory supply of 4.11 months. Above these price points, home sales slowed significantly and the higher the price, the greater the inventory supply of homes. This is the recent history but there are several changes that may impact future sales.

1.      The opening this summer of the Cedar Park Regional Medical Center plus the recent opening of Target, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, and Super HEB and Gold’s Gym should provide a definite boost to the area and the community. The northern area is gradually becoming a destination rather than just a cluster of bedroom communities for Austin.

2.      The newly announced closing of Circuit City (after only one year) will hurt unless the 1890 Ranch Shopping Center can find a new tenant quickly.

3.      The foreclosure of Portrait Homes’ New Condo Community (off Buttercup Creek Rd.) while still under construction has the potential to create a very negative impact if the lender doesn’t find a way to complete the condominiums and get them sold in a timely manner.

4.      A large part of Leander still qualifies as rural property (at least until the 2010 census) making many homes in the northern part of Leander eligible for 100% USDA loans. This means that the northern part of Leander is one of the few places near Austin where 1^st time homebuyers may find it easy to purchase.

So far the positives outweigh the negatives. As long as the economy doesn’t go into a total tailspin, the outlook for the Cedar Park and Leander is good. Move-up or relocating buyers can get terrific deals from builders, especially in the higher dollar homes and first-time home buyers can get zero down home loans on both new and resale homes in the designated USDA areas.