Kristin's Blog

The New Braunfels, Texas Farmers Market ~ Have you been?

All of this activity has been going on right under my nose! It was our first visit to The New Braunfels, Texas Farmers Market this past Saturday.  What a treat!

And just like their website say's, they had it all:

• Locally Grown Fruits & Vegetables
• Fresh & Dried Flowers 
• Dairy Goods & Cheeses
• Baked Goods
• Select Meats 
• Handmade Items
• Plants & Garden Items 
• Fresh & Dried Herbs 
• Entertainment 

The New Braunfels, Texas Farmers Market is open EVERY Saturday, rain or shine from 9-1pm.  You can literally get everything on your grocery list there.  If it consists of healthy, farm raised items.  Items like eggs, lettuce, tomatoes, grass fed meats, cheese, organic honey, etc.  Awesome stuff!

Take a stroll down the aisles of The New Braunfels, Texas Farmer's Market, grab a coffee & some fresh bread for your bag.  Tap your foot along to the music while you select your frest fruit & vegetables & smile because you are about to take all these yummy goodies home!

I can't think of anything more fun than a Farmer's Market on a Saturday AM on a beautiful day in New Braunfels, Texas!

Top 10 Reason's the market seems to be picking up~

Things all around me are all hustle & bustle. I LOVE IT! Reminds me of the good ol' days! Here’s how I can tell:

10.   You show a house & find out it’s already under contract (grrrr), the agent hasn’t HAD TIME to change the status.  Oops.

9.      You put a new listing in MLS & within hours you have 4 inquiries on it & the promise of an offer before they have seen it.

8.      You have to steal one of your signs from your listing that is already under contract to put in the yard of another listing because you are out of signs!

7.      You pack a cooler in your dirty car full of snacks & water because you are always eating on the run!

6.      When your spouse asks you “What’s for dinner?” you reply, “Olives & water, I’ve got work to do!”

5.       You dream about being in a bidding war on a house with another agent & wake  up in a sweat.

4.      You pack a blank contract in your purse “just in case”.

3.       You start answering your phone with “Sorry, that house is already sold!”

2.   You change your name on facebook to “Real Estate DYNAMO!”

AND THE #1 REASON the market seems to be picking up:

1.      You rack your brain for a blog post topic & all you can come up with is how busy you are so you write a top 10 list of how busy you are!

Time is running out!  The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act

That's right, time is running out for those homeowners who don't want to get hit with a tax bill because they walked away, restructured or short sold their primary residence. 

Back in 2007, while foreclosures were increasing & the number of short sales were spiking, Congress decided to provide some sort of relief to folks in this situation.  The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 was passed & cancels the debt.  

What is this cancelled debt?  In the instance of a short sale, for instance, you owe $285,00 on your primary residence in San Antonio, Texas.  Your Real Estate agent put's it on the market & it sells for $250,000.  There's a difference of what you owe to the lender & what it sold for (in this case, $35,000) that usually would be reported as income & you would have to pay taxes on.

Thanks to The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief you will not be taxed on the cancelled debt during the remainder of 2012.  

If you owe more than what your San Antonio, Texas home can sell for or if you need help discussing your options, call, email or text me.  There is still time to do a short sale before the end of 2012.

Clear Springs Park Subdivision ~ The hill country of San Antonio, Texas

If you are dreaming of a spot in San Antonio, Texas that has views in abundance, huge lot sizes, scenery galore& friendly neighbors, Clear Springs Park might be for you!

Located at the corner of Clear Springs Park & Smithson Valley roads, Clear Springs Park is right in the middle of San Antonio, close to 1604, 281 & Highway 46!

What would a neighborhood be without views for miles, deer in your backyard & privacy from neighbors?

Most of the homes are set far back on their lots, lot sizes are between 1 and 5 acres each.  This is country living in San Antonio at it's finest, WITHOUT city taxes!

The biggest feature of Clear Springs Park has to be the animal restrictions.  You can have a horse or a donkey or even a peacock if you so desire! Clear Springs Park certainly has it all!

We hosted a customer appreciation party yesterday morning.  We had a lovely brunch with a breakfast buffett & a mimosa bar.  We held the event at the lovely Gardens at Old Town Helotes.  They have beautiful landscaping, a koi pond, the scenery is awesome & it is nestled in the heart of Helotes.  

We really couldn't have picked a better spot.  Everyone loved the venue & the food was awesome!

All the agents in my office have been contributing money monthly for weeks in anticipation of this event.  We had a good turn out & everyone seemed to have a great time! We feel it is really important to say thank you to our client's who have purchased homes from us and sent us referrals of other buyers & sellers.  

The harpist played some beautiful music & the caterer's did a fabulous job on the food! 

We are really excited about the next one & already have tons of ideas in mind! We really were so glad we have such awesome clients & wanted to say thank you to them.  We hope they enjoyed themselves! Until the next one!

Need a photographer in San Antonio, Texas? Jimmy Stewart photography is fabulous!

Jimmy Stewart is an amazing photographer.  He has photographed a few of my listings for me & the pictures always turn out excellent! I admit it, I am a horrible picture taker! I never got the knack of it & I just decided to leave it to the professionals & that's exactly what Jimmy is!

When I showed a recent client the photos of his home he said "How come you didn't show us this house!!!???" I knew I had hired the right photographer for the job!

Jimmy is personable, he's talented & he's affordable!  You can check him out here & I will leave you with some awesome samples of his work:

If I can't be your first, I want to be your THIRD Realtor in San Antonio, Texas!

Sellling your home in San Antonio, Texas can be tricky.  There are many different variables, circumstances, scenarios, etc. 

When it comes to choosing an agent, if I can't be your first, I want to be your third & i'll tell you why....

The conversation with your first agent might go a little something like this...

Mr./Mrs. Seller - "You know we don't really need to sell....", "Let's just put it on the market at xxx & see what we get......", "If it doesn't sell, we will decide then what to do....."

Realtor #1 - "OK! sign here!"

So, guess what?  The home didn't sell.  Your listing has now expired & you hate Realtor #1 because no one even came to look at it & you haven't heard from them in months.  You decide to move on to another agent.

The conversation with your SECOND agent might go a little something like this......

Mr./Mrs. Seller - "You know our last agent was awful.....", "He just put a sign in our yard & we never heard from him again....." "You know we realllllllllyyyyyyyyyy don't have to sell, but we will reduce the price by $2.00......", "If it doesn't sell, we will decide then what to do......."

Realtor #2 - "OK! sign here!"

So, guess what?  Again, the home didn't sell.  You hate Realtor #2 now & are having serious de ja vu.  You now decide to give it one more chance.  This time with an open mind about your price & your future house plans. 

Enter lucky Realtor #3! You talk candidly with your third Realtor, discussing your "Plan B" if the home doesn't sell, look closely at the research on your neighborhood the agent has done & decide to price your home aggressively based on how long you want it to be on the market, what your goals are in getting into your new home, etc.  etc. etc. etc. etc.  You might even be ready to just "get it over with"!

When you decide to sell your home, at first you might not be too serious, you might not "need to sell" or perhaps you are just trying to put a price out there & you will "see what you can get".  If you aren't given then information you need from the agent as far as pricing the home, marketing, absorption rate's & feedback, move on. If you do not think the agent in front of you want's to sell the home as badly as you do, move on.  If your agent seems more concerned with "having a listing on the books" then move on!

Find yourself your THIRD agent, first! 

If it sells too quickly it was UNDER-PRICED to begin with! Pricing your home to sell!

This is what my seller said to me yesterday when discussing his price point.  I said "Excuse me?" & he repeated it, nodding his head up and down.  I quickly thought of my most logical response to this myth & said "What do you feel is a reasonble amount of time on the market before it sells?" "Well, I don't know" he said "but under 10 day's is too short!"

I quickly went into the process of selecting a price. 

First, I talked about our competition, our competition that let's us know where we stand in the grand scheme of things & determines our absorption rate.  The absorption rate tells us what has sold on the market, how many homes are currently available & how long it should take to sell this home. 

Second, I talked about pricing it right from the beginning & used them as an example.  Everytime we went out looking when they bought from me, if a home had been on the market for a considerable amount of time their first question to me was "What's wrong with this home?".  Most times I pulled up the history on it & sure enough they had it priced too high from the get go, gradually moving it down inch by inch to a more reasonable price.

Third, is our list to sold price percentage which helps us determine where homes were when they went on the market vs. how much they sold for.  Clearly this tells us how realistic folks are being from the get go on their homes.

Fourth, what is the price range for our neighborhood & what price range is getting showings more than others?  I pull a report from our Centralized Showing Service that shows us what homes are getting the most amount of action based on a certain criteria.  When it comes right down to it, $5,000 can make a big difference and you want all the action you can get, right?

I am not in the business of putting an overpriced home on the market & letting it sit there for 6, 9, 12 or 24 months, not my style.  I like to come to an agreement on the price point of the home based on the above criteria & let is sell. That's our goal, right?  In my opinion if a home sells in one, two, three or even 14 days, it was priced right from the beginning. 

Pricing it right from the beginning isn't hard to do. 

There are a variety of things that can come into play when determining the price of a home but when it comes right down to it there are only a few that matter when it comes to getting it sold, in my opinion.  Location and price. 

You can't change the location, but you can make your price very attractive without "giving it away".