Real Estate Information

Ever walk up to a home, put your hand on the doorknob and say, "Yuck!"  Your front door is your home’s first impression.  An easy fix to making a positive first impression is to change your doorknob.  Make sure the lock and knob match.  Does the door open and close properly?  Is it freshly painted, and is the porch clean?

Simply cleaning and painting the front door, and replacing your hardware can make a positive lasting impression on visitors.  It’s most important to consider the front door appearance when selling your home.

The average cost of replacing a front door and hardware is under $1,000.  If you’re selling your home, you are sure to recoup this money in your sale.

I didn't mean to start a series on Rental Income Disasters; however, I'm developing one!  You either love managing property, or you hate it!  Personally, I love it!  The disasters are challenging, and I enjoy the challenge.  Yes, managers get a kick out of exchanging our crazy stories.  Oh, could I share a few stories! 

Pate and I had a few chuckles this week as we cleaned up another Rental Income Disaster.  Pate is my property management partner. This story is just another reason why home owners should hire a property manager.  Think about what you would do in the following story.  Good news for our property owner is that she was spared the stress and worry of collecting this debt.

Okay, a guy moves into one of our rentals two weeks ago.  He could hardly wait to move in!  We ran our usual credit and criminal history check.  Verified his job, and all was good.  After picking up the keys, he sends me a text telling me not to deposit his checks.  I already deposited the checks.  He then told me that his relative died, and he no longer had money to cover the checks.  Not sure how the relative passing away drained his bank account over night.  None-the-less, the checks were going to bounce. 

After telling the renter that the checks were deposited and we would collect on insufficient funds, he tells me that he can't move in.  Later the same day, he tells me that the bank says the checks are good and he's going to move in until Christmas.  He signed a long term lease-to-own.

The checks cleared my bank and we paid the mortgage on the home for the home owner.  Suddenly, the money was reversed out of my account.  The renter placed a stop payment on the checks!  The mortgage was paid; therefore, my account was down over $1,600.  Luckily, we had other funds in the bank; however, we were unsure if we would get this money back from the renter without placing a judgement on his record.

After some phone calls to the tenant, and another day later, we received the payment in full via "money order." 

Property management in College Station can be interesting!  Of course, Pate had a similar situation with his property management in Longview just a few days prior.  We had a good chuckle comparing notes and scenarios.

I went to bed thinking about what the property investor would have done had she had to deal with collecting these funds from out of town.  She may not have ever gotten the money, and the tenant may have lived in the home for the rest of the month rent free.  Who knows! 

Then I got to thinking about how quickly Pate and I made decisions about how to handle our simular situations, and try to resolve the matter without making it worse.  I believe that it is our experience of over 20 years each that lends us to making quick decisions.  I thought about the number of clients that I've worked with and contracts that I have signed.  After running some numbers in my head, I've signed well over 10,000 lease contracts.  WOW! 

Selling College Station real estate is awesome!  Right now is a great time to find some super deals investing in real estate by Texas A & M.  I had the opportunity to work with several clients this week that were looking specifically for property on the TAMU bus route. 

There are properties that are currently occupied with clients that are paying optimum market rents with reduced selling prices.  That means that if you purchase the home now, you will be earning an income above your mortgage payment.  Investing in student properties is a great way to build your future, but it critical that you work with a Realtor that understands the student investment market.

Timing is crucial to purchasing or renting property in College Station, TX.  The reason why is because the number of people looking to move in is determined by the date that Texas A & M or Blinn in Bryan start their classes.  Once classes have started, the students are not moving.  There are several months in the year that you can gain optimum rental rates and purchase price on your investment in Aggieland.

If you'd like to hear more about rental investments in College Station, or Bryan.  Please give me a call.  There are some awesome deals on the market right now.

It was a bitter sweet day listing my Grandma's home for sale. The Drews home is over 100 years old, and holds generations of family history. I grew up visiting the nostalgic home, and then later it became my home, too.

As I stood in the bedroom upstairs that overlooks La Salle Street in Navasota, I closed my eyes and listened to the cars passing by. As a little girl, I'd sleep in that pretty pink room, nestled under the warm blankets, listening to my aunts and uncles laughing downstairs. I wish I could hear Uncle Johnny telling old stories and everyone laughing.

Karla, I couldn't help but take a picture of the little place we used to sit at the top of the stairs and talk forever.  I remember Uncle Ray's little chemistry set and models in his bedroom that I could never touch.  I love the driveway before it was concrete. I want to take out the push button light switch and stained glass window at the front door. Can I put the old typewriter back on the desk in the den and see grandad typing out this Sunday's sermon again?  Would grandma make those little cookies and host another open house for the entire town?  Can I babysit my little cousins again, Brandy and Chelsie?  How about prom pictures in the formal living room, can we go back there?  Or, sitting on the front porch swing while grandma listened in on private conversations between friends! She said, "Sweet 16 and never been kissed...by the right guy!"  So many memories in this home.

This song by Miranda Lambert sums up all of the thoughts and feelings of revisiting an old home that holds memories.  Do you have a home like this held in your heart?

Yesterday, I received a phone call from a lady that has been renting her home in College Station for two years.  In two years, she has received 5 rental payments from her tenant.  Now, that's a prime example of someone that needs a property manager!  We'll be listing her home for sale after the eviction process is complete!  I felt so sorry for the owner!  She just didn't know how to file an eviction, lives out of town, and was at a loss as to what to do. 

In nearly 20 years of property management, I have only had to follow through with a handful of evictions.  Most of the time, I can make it very clear that there will be a judgement on the delinquent client's record for non-payment of rent if they don't move.  Almost always, the tenant moves within a few days.  A new tenant is promptly procured, and in some cases, we can even collect the delinquent tenants past due amount by making a payment arrangement. 

If no payment arrangement is made, and the prior tenant makes no payments within 30-days, then the bad debt is reported on the tenant's credit.  At some point in the future, when they get ready to move again, or buy a house, they often show up in my office to pay off the debt to clear their credit report. 

This is just one of the services that our management company does for our owners.  We diligently collect rent and bad debt.  This is just one of the reasons  a home owner that is renting property should hire a management company.  It's a small fee to pay, but well worth the service.

I wish that I could have helped my new client out several years ago.  Staying on top of her property would have saved her from the mounds of repairs that the home needs now.  We could have collected her rent.  She could have held onto her asset without frustration and throwing in the towel. 

Often, small investors become frustrated when they self manage a property.  Before that becomes you, contact my management company, and let's talk about how we may be able to help you maximize your income, and minimize your vacancy.  Reliable Management manages property in Bryan and College Station, TX, and also Longview, TX.   

I always look forward to getting the Sunday newspaper.  Our hometown paper is The Eagle.  My son, Chase, always gets the paper on Sunday morning.  Bright and early, he's torn into the sports section and sets the Home Finder aside for me.  Usually, I just want to make sure that my homes for sale that are advertised in The Eagle showed up just the way that I wanted.

This morning's Brazos Valley Home Finder had an article about home ownership and maintenance, "The Maintenance Mindset."  The article hit home to me today.  Seems like everything has fallen apart at once! 

A hot water line leak in the slab caused major trouble for the Scott house.  Wood floors buckled from the hot water that spread throughout the house for days before discovery.  Cabinets mildewed, sheetrock and paneling was torn into by the plumber in order to find the water lines to cap off and re-run.  That was just one of the issues that we've tackled this year with our aging home.

Replacing floors, I decided to knock down a few walls in the process.  You know, open the rooms up!  Instead of going back with wood floors, I thought we needed to try something new, and opted to install slate flooring.  New flooring meant new baseboards, and trim.  By the way, slate is the toughest flooring to work with when picking a wall paint.  We tried over a dozen different samples of paint to pick the perfect color.  Thanks to Sherwin Williams anniversary, we saved 40% on our paint materials.

Had I not known contractors to take care of these repairs, I don't know what I would have done.  As a Realtor®, I have a pool of resources for repairs.  If your home is in need of repair, painting, cleaning, or landscape, feel free to give me a call.  I'm happy to share the name of several contractors that I know and respect. 

I'd insert some before and after pictures of the flooring; however, I seem to have a problem figuring out how to insert the photos on my new blog!  Ha! Ha!  In the end, I'm happy with the slate floor, and the new paint.  Now to tackle the cabinets!! 

I'm so excited about launching the new Real Estate BCS website today!  It's so easy to search for property, and the website looks great!  Thanks to my web developers for working so hard to get everything just right. 

We're still working on the links, content, and some of the stealth sites.  We're also adding video.  You can follow the progression of some of our remodeling projects.  We'll take you through before, during, and after a remo.  I'll also report on prior sales and rental prices compared to after remo sales and rental prices. 

You'll gain an understanding as to what properties are worth remodeling and flipping, and which ones aren't worth the time and money. 

Currently, we're remodeling Cripple Creek Condos at 904 University Oaks Drive in College Station.  This property is the perfect student property.  I'll blog more on that in the upcoming days.  At the launch of this website, we're about halfway through remodeling three units. 

Please let me know what you think about my new website.  If there are links or information that you'd like to see on Real Estate BCS, please let me know.  I'd like this website to be a usable resource for the community.

Thanks for reading and visiting!

Kathy

I'm often asked if this is a good time to buy a home. Some clients are concerned that home prices may fall further than they have already. They are assuming that the best course of action is to wait for the bottom in the market and then buy. The problem with this approach is that you don't know where the bottom is until you see it in the rear view mirror, meaning until you've missed it!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability. Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows. Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life. It's important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial "comfort zone." To that end, it may be more important to lock in today's relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today's market.