Austin TX Real Estate - Hill Country Austin Lakeway Homes for Sale: December 2007

What kind of Care Bear are you?  CLICK HERE and take the short 2 minute quiz to see what CareBear you're most like.  I turned out to be a Cheer Bear, and there were many other Care Bears that I thought I would be like before the CheerBear.

What CareBear are you?  This might help you relate to your clients a little better.

	Cheer Bear You're the Care Bear cheerleader! Your spunky personality and optimisim lifts everyone's spirit. Though you want everyone to be happy, you stand your ground on issues you feel strongly about and this can bring disunity among your friends. Despite this, you are a true believer in working together.
Take the Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!

According to Metrotex and our North Texas(NTREIS), sales are down but prices are up.  I'll reiterate the same theory I have in the past about how these numbers are skewed a little.  With the change of the subprime market, and making it a little more difficult for people with imperfect credit to get loans, sales have changed. 

The main group this has affected is the group in the lower price range.  They already don't have much income and, on average, create more debt for themselves, they're the ones not able to buy homes right now.  With this group buying a less amount of homes, that makes room for the median sales price to inch up along with the average sales prices.  This is also why the number of sales has decreased with the averages going up.

Number of Sales: 74,918
% change a year ago: -7%

Median Price: $150,000
% change a year ago: +1%

Average Price: $202,461
% change a year ago: +4%

Active Listings: 47,874
% change a year ago: +7%

What does your market look like?

Remember, I work all of North Dallas County and Collin County including Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Garland, Rowlett, McKinney, etc... my car will take us anywhere you need to go!! 

 ARE YOU PACKED YET?!

As many of you are keeping track of, Alyssa was born on November 16.  Today is December 16, which makes her 1 month old today.  To be exact, she is 4 weeks and 2 days old... I can't believe it's only been a month.  In so many ways, it seems like so much longer.

She has definitely had a hard day.  It started out posing for pictures in which, you can see from the photo where she's propping her head up, she got a little borded...  Then, she had to get ready for the big game so on goes the Cowboy's outfit.  She got up in Daddy's chair to claim her spot, but not realizing the game wasn't for a few hours, she entertained herself in the bouncer for a while before taking a nap.

Then, like most big events, she needed to have another outfit change to pose for more pictures!!  The game still hasn't started yet and she's taking another nap with the hopes of being able to watch the Cowboys kick those Eagle tushes.

She's getting SOOOO big!!

Why does HUD still work in the 20th Century?  In a big way, HUD is on the cutting edge with having a program allowing all offers to be done online.  But then they revert backwards by only accepting original signatures in blue ink.  This is absurd!! 

So, once a bid is accepted, you have 2 business days to get the originals to their office.  Signatures, as I said, must be in blue ink.  There is a spot on the contract that asks for the name of the Broker and then the agent representing the buyer and then asks for a signature.  Each broker runs their offices differently, and my broker is one of those that says if he's going to hold your license, you represent him, and you can sign paperwork as the representative.  I've never had a problem with this with other foreclosure properties, even VA foreclosures and dealing with OCWEN. 

I'm lucky, and the HUD office is only about 20 minutes from me, so I didn't have to next day air anything for delivery.  I hand carried the contract into their office and it was accepted.  I then received a fax saying they needed my broker's signature.  I run to my office to get my broker's signature and get them the page.  I then get an email saying they could not "marry" the two documents together and the buyer's original blue signature needed to be on the same page as the broker's original blue ink... 

I called their office, but got voicemail, and left a message asking how I was supposed to get an original broker's signature on the same page as the buyer's when they already had my buyer's original signature.  They said I had to get the buyer to resign everything.  What?  Then I had to explain to them that my buyer was out of town.  They didn't care.  I explained again how I was doing everything in my power to get them what they wanted but giving me a 3pm deadline on Monday was doing no one any good when one of the signatures was unavailable.

After a few back and forth emails, she wouldn't pick up the phone and talk with me, HUD did give me an extension until Wednesday to get them the signatures...  What did I have to do?  I had to run all over town in the pouring rain with a 25 day old to get my broker's blue signature and then the buyer's blue signature to get it back to the HUD office.

To top things off, the buyer is going through Bank of America for his loan and they won't do anything without an executed contract from HUD.  I explained that HUD works on their own time frame and to please start the processing, in which they said no.  I pressed HUD for an executed contract, so what did I receive from them??  I received an email stating that I would receive the executed contract within 2 business days via email. 

What?  Why should I have to accept an email contract but they won't?  Why should we have to wait 2 business days when they've got everything and only need to sign 1 page?  We want to close this in December, and it would behoove HUD to close before year's end as well, but they act like they don't care and though they expected me to run around with a fire under my tush, they have no fire at all, only smoke.

HUD, get into the 21st Century and accept email contracts and who cares about Blue ink??  If you want to run your operation more efficiently and friendly, you should work with us who are wanting to remove the properties from your inventory!!  Get with it!!  I'm still waiting for my executed contract to turn in for the loan processing to begin...

I never get the "easy" deals... 

Starting January 1, 2008, Texas will begin to collect fingerprints for all new licensees and license renewals.  This is for both sales agents and brokers.  The fingerprints will be used for the FBI to do background checks on everyone.  This is being done based on concerns many people have brought up with the state in the past.

If your license expires in January or February, you can go ahead and renew your license now and not have to worry about the fingerprints until the next time you're up for renewal.  However, any license that expires March and beyond will be subject to the fingerprinting.

Fast Facts on the Fingerprint Requirement from the TREC website

Here are some brief points to sum up the new fingerprint requirement:

• Fingerprints that an applicant or licensee may have submitted for any other reason, such as previous employment or for a state issued license, will not be acceptable for TREC licensure.
• You will need to schedule your fingerprint appointment on the web or by telephone.
• The fingerprints must be in the FBI's required format and must be taken at an authorized DPS site. Currently, there are 70 locations statewide where electronic fingerprints can be taken.
• If you are renewing your license, you should get your fingerprints taken at least ten (10) days before your license expiration date to avoid any renewal delay and assure continued licensure.
• If you have received a renewal card referencing the FAST Print Pass form, you can renew your license without getting fingerprinted if you renew prior to January 1, 2008.
• The FAST Print Pass form for electronic fingerprinting be available January 1, 2008.

But, I guess with the minor inconvenience we'll all go through, we should all be a safer industry and not mind... unless you have something to hide!

 Sellers are being relocated and are going to miss this beautiful house they call home.  Come make it your home for the new year!

CLICK HERE for the Visual Tour!

Fabulous House in Fabulous Condition! There are 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 Living Areas and 2 Dining Areas. The views of the back are priceless with many trees offering year round privacy. The entry has 16 ft ceilings & gives a grand entrance into the house. The rooms are split. The master features a FirePlace and TV Niche, & bath has double vanities, oversized shower, and huge walk-in closet with seasonal racks. The Study can double as 2nd living area. Moldings, Designer Paints, wood floors, Bose surround, covered patio, and so much more...

Remember, I work all of North Dallas County and Collin County including Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Garland, Rowlett, McKinney, etc... my car will take us anywhere you need to go!! 

 ARE YOU PACKED YET?!

Yesterday was a HUGE day for 19 day old Alyssa!  She had her very first real estate appointment and turned in her first contract.  It was a HUD home.  She even stayed patient as she went to Bank of America with the buyer to get an updated approval letter to submit with the package.  The loan officer didn't have authority to give us a new approval letter, and Alyssa kept her cool. 

We did get an approval letter, and then off to HUD to turn in the contract so we didn't have to Fed Ex it overnight, since it was just across the street.  Boy was she center of attention in the lobby working so hard!

So, if you're keeping score, Alyssa is now 20 days old and we have two new executed contracts in hand and two new listings.  Hopefully, we'll have two more listings from the appts last week, but won't know until next week.

She's been quite busy in her short life in the real estate world!

She's growing so fast!!

I can't believe it, but I've had a listing that went under contract in July and was supposed to close on August 15... and it just closed on Friday, November 30. 

Let's put that into perspective shall we?  In July, I was barely in my second trimester.  By the time it closed, I had a 2 week old baby girl.  Yes, Alyssa is already 17 days old as of today!

This deal was a nightmare, and I should have received the buyer's agent's commission along with mine since I did all the work.  He set his buyer up with one of his lenders... that lender tried FHA, and decided in September that she couldn't get it done.  I suggested one of my lenders... the buyer's agent said he had another lender and will have her go to that lender...

That second lender tried conventional and kept giving us all the run around.  She called the buyer on multiple occasions telling her to get ready for closing, and then she wouldn't return calls for a couple of weeks.  Yes, weeks, not just days... 

I kept asking and asking if I could please have one of my lenders look at her file.  He finally gave in when I told him my seller was not going to extend the contract again until we had more information from a lender whom I knew and trusted to tell us the full story.  In the mean time, I received about 10 other offers on this house.  The seller didn't want to entertain any of them because none of them would net him what this other contract was netting him...

Fast forward to November, and I finally got the buyer to talk with Tom Burris. Thank you, Tom!!  Tom had her jumping through more hoops and she claimed she got written up at work because of all the phone calls, but did Tom get the deal done?  Of course!!  If only the buyer's agent would have listened to me months ago, this buyer could have spent Thanksgiving in her new house.  Granted, she'll get to spend the rest of the Holiday season in the new house, but she also lost about $1500 in the mean time because my seller needed to be compensated for all the delays.

Even though I didn't "represent" the buyer, it sure seems like I did the job of both buyer's and seller's agent on this one.  Good news for Tom is that the buyer's agent was so impressed that he's already giving him referrals for more deals.  And now Tom owes me for all the extra business he's going to get!!

Bottomline, when the agent on the other end of the transaction is trying to help you, don't balk at the help.  Accept all the help you can get and appreciate that help because that might be money out of your pocket if you don't.