Real Estate in Spring, Tomball, Magnolia, Cypress, NW Houston and the Woodlands

This is my 6th post in my Tomball TX first time home buyers series.  I have chosen to discuss the Texas option fee and the home inspection in the same post.  Your option period is typically that period of time where you do your home inspections.  I have lived in four states and each state has handled the home inspection process in a different manner.  In Texas all residential contracts have an “option fee” clause. This clause allows buyers and sellers to negotiate a specified time during which the buyer can fully evaluate the house.  For this right, they buyer pays the seller a nonrefundable “option fee”. Once you have finished negotiations and all parties have signed the contract you now have a fully executed contract.  Prior to this it was called an offer but you are now under contract.  As a Spring TX first time home buyer you need to know that this is a legally binding contract.  You have probably negotiated a certain amount of days for your option.  You are now going to be in your option period.  The option days start counting the day after the contract is fully executed by all parties.

Everything is negotiable but usually you will have put $100 (plus or minus) down for a 5 to 10 day option period.  This option period gives you the time to do your home inspections.  Typically a seller will allow you 10 days but I have found that many foreclosures only allow 5 to 7 days.  These are not business days; time is of the essence and strict compliance with the time for performance is required.

You will need to quickly find an inspector to inspect the home.  I have a list of home inspectors that I can give you or you are welcome to find your home inspector yourself.  Most people only think of one or two questions to ask a home inspector.  The most common being “How much is your fee” and “When you can inspect the home”.  Below I am including a list of additional questions you might ask.

• The State of Texas does require testing and licensing of inspectors.  Ask them about their training and what kind of license they have.  
• Ask them how long they have been licensed in the state of Texas. 
• Make sure they are a full time home inspector.  I have found there are a lot of inspectors who dabble and you want someone who is making home inspections their career.   There are lots of codes they need to stay current on.
• Ask them if they also perform repairs? (If the answer is yes this may be a conflict of interest). 
• What will the inspection include?  (It should include heating, A/C systems, electrical, interior plumbing, visible insulation, visual roof, walls, ceilings, floors, windows, doors, foundation and the visible structure of the home.
• Ask them if they charge extra based on the size of the home.  I have found that most inspectors have different price breaks according to the square footage of the home.
• Find out how much they will charge if you ask for a re-inspection after the repairs are completed.
• Be sure you can attend the inspection.  This is your time to learn about your new home and ask questions.  If the inspector does not want you following him around I would suggest finding a different inspector.
• Be sure that they don’t mind you calling with additional questions after the inspection. 
• Ask for references.  Get names and phone numbers of people they have recently inspected homes for.
• Make sure you are getting a written report in a timely manner. They may give you the report at the inspection or they may want to email it to you the following morning.   Either method is acceptable.  Just remember that time is of the essence.
• If you have a particular concern about the property, be sure to ask if it will be covered in the inspection.

The inspector may not inspect swimming pools, wells, septic tanks, wood destroying insects or other environmental test.  You will likely need to arrange for those inspections separately.  Sometimes the home inspector will have developed a relationship with a termite inspector or some of the other inspectors and can schedule that inspection for you.  You will need to discuss that at the time you set the appointment.  If not you will need to set the additional inspections yourself. 

I have heard the saying that there are two types of homes in Texas one that has termites and one that is going to get them.  What I am saying here is don’t freak out if you find termites they are very common and treatment is fairly easy.  I have seen brand new construction where they have found termites.  The inspector should be able to give you an idea if there is any permanent damage.

The primary purpose of the inspection is to educate you so you can make an informed purchasing decision.  If you are buying a re-sale home I can almost guarantee you that the inspector will find something; that is what you are paying them for.  The big ticket items you will want to keep in mind are the foundation, the heat/air and the roof; almost everything else is small stuff. 

Should you find something that needs to be repaired during the inspections you can either ask for repairs or negotiate an agreed upon price so that you can do the repairs yourselves.  We will then fill out an Amendment to the contract which takes precedence over the Contract. If you remember right we had probably marked accept the property in its present condition on the Earnest money contract.  The Amendment amends the contract for any repairs or other changes that are made. 

If the repairs are more than what you want to do, or maybe you just got cold feet, you can back out for any reason during this option period and the only money you will lose is the money you put down for the option and the cost of your inspection. The earnest money will be returned to you in full as long as you provide the owner a termination letter in the agreed upon days.  Again time is of the essence!

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If you are buying or relocating to  Tomball Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Tomball please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com and at http://www.resultsrealtytx.com/.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about the area.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Tomball TX properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS

So what kind of a home offer do you make for your Tomball TX home?  In this post I am going to discuss the items that we will need to negotiate.  In Texas we have an 8 page resale contract.  Price is what most Tomball TX first time home buyer’s think of when making an offer but there are a number of other terms that will also need to be negotiated.I am going to go through the items on our Texas contract that I expect we will be negotiating. 

Section 3 - Sale Price- I covered this extensively in my last post Tomball TX First Time Home Buyers Guide - Part 4 - What price do we offer!

Section 4 - Financing - The only way we would not mark this sections is if you were paying cash for your transaction.  If you are getting a loan we will be marking that “this contract is subject to buyer being approved for the financing described in the Third Party Financing Condition Addendum”.  We will be attaching the Third Party Financing addendum and it goes in to more detail about whether your financing is going to be conventional, FHA or VA.

Section 5- Earnest money - In our area it is typical to put either $500 or $1000 Earnest money down (depending on the price of the home).  If the home is over $250,000 there’s usually more earnest money put down.  In other states it is often 1% of the purchase price; for the most part that is not the case here in our area of Texas.  This is the place where we also decide what title company to use.  When the seller pays for the title policy they often feel they should get to choose but it is a negotiable item between the buyer and the seller.  Please note as soon as we finish negotiations the Earnest money will go to the title company we have chose and they will cash the check and hold the money in escrow.

Section 6 -Title policy and the survey - Typically in our area the seller pays for the title policy and the buyer pays for the survey.  This is however totally negotiable between the buyer and the seller.  If the seller has an existing survey this is the place where we request it.  Most lenders will allow an old survey to be used if the survey has been done within the last 10 years and if nothing has changed.  If a pool or fence has been put in then the survey will need to be re-done.

Section 7 - Property Condition-

7B- Seller’s Disclosure notice pursuant to 5.008 Texas property code (notice) - This is where we mark that you have seen the seller’s disclosures.  If you have not seen the disclosures then we will mark how many days the seller has to provide it to you and you may back out if you see something you don’t like in that amount of negotiated days.  The one exception to providing a seller’s disclosure is a foreclosure.  The seller of a foreclosure is not required to furnish the notice under the Texas Property Code.

7D - Acceptance of Property Condition -You either accept the property in its present condition or there is a place that you can ask for specific repairs and treatments.  I will be covering this in more detail when I write about the termination option.

7H - Residential Service Contracts - In today’s age most sellers will pay for a buyer to have a one year home warranty.  If there’s a pool or spa we will typically try to negotiate coverage on that also.  This is a totally negotiable item and if the seller declines you can still buy a policy yourself when we close.  As I said most sellers will pay for a 1 year warranty but foreclosures and relocation companies may not offer this to the buyer.  We will of course ask for it as all they can say is no.

Section 9 - Closing - This is where we put the closing date.  I have found that this item often requires as much negotiation as the sales price.

Section 10 - Possession - We will either mark that possession is on closing or funding or it will be according to a temporary release.  I almost always mark that possession is on closing and funding but if I was representing the seller I would come back and ask for closing plus 48 hours.  Typically in that case there is not any money involved but it gives the seller time to get out.  I have heard nightmare stories of the seller moving out and then everything fell apart.  This is something that should be negotiated at the time we write the contract but it is something that I have found often comes up later. 

Section 11 - Special Provisions - Rarely do I have to write anything in special provisions.  On our old contracts we often wrote lots of items in this section but when the contracts were overhauled years ago they left no stone unturned or very few.

Section 12 - Settlement and Other Expense - If we are going to ask for any help from the seller with closing cost this is where it will go.

Section 16 - Mediation - Typically we are always going to mark that you would agree to mediate before you will sue.  The exception on this is again foreclosures and relocation listings.  They will typically not allow you to mark “will” on this.

Section 21 - Notices: - This is a place for you to write all your contact information. 

Section 22 - Agreement of Parties - This is where the addenda we are attaching are marked.  Typically we will have marked Third Party Financing Condition Addendum and Addendum for Property Subject to Mandatory membership in a Properties Owners’ Association.

Section 23 - Termination Option - In this section you can put an option fee amount and a number of days.  Typically this will be $100 and 10 days but again this is totally negotiable.  This gives you the unrestricted right to terminate for the amount of days that we negotiate.  This is the time to get your inspections done.  I will be discussing this in more detail in my next post on home inspections.  I always mark that the fee will be credited to you at closing.  Time is of the essence for this paragraph and strict compliance with the time for performance is required.  During this option period you may back out at an time and all you lose is the option money.  The earnest money you put down will be refunded to you.

As you can see there are lots of items for the Tomball TX first time home buyer to negotiate.  I never fail to be amazed at what can end up being a hot button.  I recently had someone buy one of my listing who could not agree on the Title Company on a prior home that they made an offer on.  That one was amazing to me.

My job is to ensure that as a Tomball TX first time home buyer you have the tools and information you need to make an informed decision. I will help you prepare the offer. Then I will present it to the seller on your behalf and try my best to get it accepted at your price and terms!  My next post will be on the option period and the inspection.

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If you are buying or relocating to  Tomball Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Tomball please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com and at http://www.resultsrealtytx.com/.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about the area.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Tomball TX properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS

I’m often asked by my Tomball TX first time home buyers “How much under the listing price should we offer?” This is an excellent question. As I had told you at the end of part 3 (the home search) we will run comparatives going back 6 months to see how the home is priced compared to other homes that have sold in the area. I have found that Tomball TX sellers price their home differently for different reasons. 

1. Ridiculously Overpriced!
Often these sellers have an unrealistic expectation of what their home is worth.  I have found these sellers usually shop real estate agents until they find one that will agree to list at their ridiculous price.  These homes can be 10 to even 30% overpriced. These sellers may need a “dose of reality” for a few months before they begin to realize that their home is way overpriced as compared to others in the area.  If we find a home that is overpriced like this and the listing is new on the market I have found it is sometimes better just to move on.  The longer an overpriced home is for sale, the more likely we can get the seller to face reality and sell at a fair price.

2. A Little Overpriced!
These sellers usually fall into 2 categories:
1. The sellers that feel their home is worth every penny of their asking price.
2. Those that want to leave a little “negotiating” room.
These homes can be 4-10% overpriced. When running comparatives I find many homes that are just a little overpriced. 

3. Priced At Fair Market Value These sellers have carefully and realistically studied other homes for sale. They have priced their homes very competitively. These homes usually sell within 4 weeks at or very near the listed price.

4. Priced Below Fair Market Value
These homes are priced below value. Perhaps the seller wants a fast sale. Perhaps the real estate agent recommended too low of a price. These homes usually sell within 7-10 days, at or above the listed price. There are usually competing offers.

At this point we will want to discuss how the Tomball TX home is priced and decide what we want to offer.  You want to be careful in this step that you don’t make such a low ball offer that you offend the seller.  If the home is ridiculously overpriced then yes the seller may get offended but so be it.  If the home is priced fairly you don’t want to come in so low to offend the seller.  Most sellers have left some room to negotiate and so it is okay to be a little aggressive but not so aggressive that it is offensive.  I remember a listing I had where a low ball offer came in and they also asked for my clients’ stainless steel grill and a bed.  That was years ago when stainless steel grills were still VERY EXPENSIVE.  During the negotiating another offer came in and he jumped at the other offer as these people had totally offended him.  My seller was very attached to that grill (it was a standalone grill and was not attached to the house). Asking for the grill was way over the top as far as he was concerned.

Bank Protection
Even by carefully studying homes for sale, it’s sometimes difficult to establish Fair Market Value. If you’re obtaining a new home loan, you’ll be protected by the Professional Bank Appraisal. Home lenders want to make sure that you don’t over-pay for a home. If the home does not meet value in the eyes of the bank appraiser, you’ll be informed. At that time, we can re-negotiate the sale price or void the agreement and refund your earnest money deposit.

My job is to ensure that as a Tomball TX first time home buyer you have the tools and information you need to make an informed decision. I will help you prepare the offer. Then I will present it to the seller on your behalf and try my best to get it accepted at your price and terms!  My next post will be on the terms beside price that we will be negotiating.

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If you are buying or relocating to  Tomball Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Tomball please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com and at http://www.resultsrealtytx.com/.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about the area.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Tomball TX properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS

Now that you are pre-approved and have decided on the area you want to live in it is time to start searching for your Tomball TX home.  At this point you are going to have a list of homes that you have identified from your web search.  We can then schedule a time that works for both of us to look for your home.I don’t recommend looking at more than 10 Tomball TX homes at a time.  I have found if you look at more than that it becomes difficult to remember what you have seen.  You are going to want to bring a notebook along so you can take notes as we go.  If you can tell that a home is not going to work then it is best just to move on to the next home. 

My real estate mentor years ago gave me some wise advice.  She told me to never sell a house that I couldn’t resale.  I have taken her instructions to heart and as we go through theTomball TX homes I will be looking for anything that would make this home hard to re-sale down the road.  There are many things that can make a home hard to re-sale.  What does the home back up to?  It can be hard to re-sale homes that back up to businesses or roads.  In our area a 2 bedroom one bathroom home would be another example of being functionally obsolete.  Almost all homes in our area have at least 3 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms.

In the Tomball TX area where the master bedroom is located is a big deal also.  Most buyers prefer either a one story or the master bedroom downstairs.  If you buy a home with all bedrooms up you just have to realize when you go to re-sale the home it might take a little longer and you will probably not get as much for your home.  On the plus side you probably got a good deal when you bought the home.  I have to admit we did not realize this when we bought here almost 13 years ago and coming from the north all of our bedrooms are upstairs.  Back then my husband was a day sleeper so I don’t know that we would have bought with a master bedroom downstairs anyway.

Once you have narrowed down the homes that you are interested in we will want to compare these homes to other homes that have sold in that area in the last 6 months.  Sometimes this will tell you that the home is priced good and other times it might tell you that the home seems to be a little over priced for the area.  Recently I did comparatives for a client and we found that the home was fairly overpriced; in doing the comparatives we found another home that was priced good with similar square footage. In this case my client ended up buying the comparative.  Doing a buyer’s comparative analysis will then give you the information you need to make an educated offer.  My next post will cover what price to offer for your Tomball Texas home.

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If you are buying or relocating to  Tomball Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Tomball please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com and at http://www.resultsrealtytx.com/.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about the area.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Tomball TX properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS

This is my second in a series of post for first time home buyers in Tomball TX.  Now that you are pre-approved for your home loan the next step is to start searching for your home. I have found that most buyers like to start looking at homes and familiarizing themselves with the areas online.  The town of Tomball is not very large; the Tomball ISD borders are much larger. The Tomball ISD border is located along SH Hwy 249 to the north and south and FM 2920 to the east and west.  Tomball ISD even extends in to Montgomery County.

There are lots of websites that you can go to search for homes for sale but we are blessed in the Houston area to have an INCREDIBLE Public MLS site through the Houston Association of REALTORS® (HAR).  We tend to take this site for granted but as I have blogged and met people across the United States I have realized how fortunate we are to have such an incredible public site.  HAR has won many awards for this site and they are constantly improving it. You may search directly at www.HAR.com or if you are working with me to find your new Tomball TX home you can click here to go in to the site.  By going in under my name any questions that you have will be immediately directed to me.

In this busy age that we live in I have found Tomball TX first time home buyers often want to be set up to have new listings sent to them automatically. It doesn’t matter whether you are looking for a single family detached Tomball TX home, a home on acreage, a town-home or even vacant land; this automated search can do the work for you. You will learn about listings new to the market even before most REALTORS®.  You are notified of new listings within 24 hours of them going on the market.  The listings for the most part have directions so you can also explore subdivisions to get an idea of where you want to be.  Please click here for the automated form.  I have tried to make this as specific as I can.    I am able to put filters on your search and have learned all kinds of tricks to tweak your Tomball Texas home search so we only pull up the specific type of home you are looking for.

* * * Please note: If you are already looking at homes or land with another REALTOR® and have signed a Buyers Representation Agreement with that REALTOR® please do not use this automated search. It would be a violation of the Code of Ethics for the National Association of REALTOR® for me to be assisting you in this circumstance. * * * If you have an agent and this is not set up for you just ask your REALTOR® to set it up. 

You are probably wondering why I put the First time home buyer Tomball TX website search as number 2 in my series and not number 1. I have found with today’s ever changing mortgage environment that it is more important than ever to get pre-approved for your loan ahead of time; especially if you are a first time home buyer and are not familiar with the process.  If you wait until you are ready  to buy and you find some kind of a hiccup that needs to be worked on then it is too late and could cause you to have to wait longer to buy your first home.  By getting pre-approved (as much as 6 months prior to buying your home) it gives you time to take corrective action.  I also can’t tell you how many first time home buyers I have worked with who were not searching in the correct price range and that can be very discouraging.  Not to mention that by starting early you can start narrowing areas and decide what you want in a home.

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If you are buying or relocating to  Tomball Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Tomball please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com and at http://www.resultsrealtytx.com/.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about the area.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Tomball TX properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local

I remember being a first time home buyer and the mystery that surrounded the transaction.  This is the first post of a “Tomball  TX first time home buyer series”. I hope this series will help to alleviate some of the home buying mystery.The VERY FIRST step in the process is to get yourself pre-approved with a good lender.  I’m not talking pre-qualified; I’m talking pre-approved. There is a difference between the two.  In the days where anyone could get a loan this was not a big deal but those days are over.

What is a Pre-Qualification?

A prequalification is simply a meeting between a loan officer and a customer to determine what the mortgage needs of the customer are.  Income and assets are not verified.  The credit report may or may not be pulled.  The information is not submitted to an underwriter.  The lender does not receive enough information to make a credit decision.

What is a Pre-Approval?

Pre-approval includes a complete loan application.  A credit report is pulled and asset and income are verified.  The information is submitted to underwriters for “credit only” decision.  Once you have been pre-approved your credit package can be used with any property.  Final loan approval will be subject to the underwriter approving the property only.  A pre-approval is normally good for 90 days.  The borrower receives a written pre-approval letter.  A true approval requires this income and asset documentation and credit reports are required on all loan types.

Being pre-approved in Tomball TX gives you an edge when you start looking for your home.  If you get in to the situation where there is more than one offer on a home it is often the person who is further along in the loan process who will get the home.  I have even had the situation where the other offer was a little more but my seller preferred the person who had a true pre-approval. 

The rules have TOTALLY changed in the mortgage industry.  The products that lenders had for first time home buyers in Tomball TX last year, maybe even last week are no longer available to the consumer which makes getting pre-approved for your loan more important than ever.  Once you even think that you might be interested in purchasing a home you should call a lender. Even if the news is not good by going through the process you will know what you need to start working on and you can make a game plan to get your credit in order. 

The days of a real estate transaction being dependent upon the creativity of a loose lender are finished.  Down payments are back again and FHA loans are sometimes the only game in town with VA loans being about the only 100% loan. With all of this in mind getting yourself pre-approved before you ever start looking is more important than ever.  

I am also attaching some Do’s and Don’ts you might consider putting in to action when you start thinking about purchasing a Tomball TX home.

Do’s

• Do make all your payments on time. Your credit will be checked again right before you close.
• Do continue saving money. There are always additional expenses once you move and you will be glad for that savings.
• Do make deposits into your bank account on a regular basis. If you have any unusual deposits for large sums of money document them as the lender may need to verify the source.

Don’ts

• Do not co-sign for any loans for friends or family. That debt would be held against you.
• Do not decide this is the time to change banks; you can do that after you move in.
• Do not open ANY new accounts. Even though the new account has a $0 balance it may still affect your debt to income ratio.
• Do not buy a new car or new furniture!!! Wait until after you are in your new house then go shopping otherwise the debt could affect your debt to income ratio.
• Do not lender shop over the Internet. Each lender pulls a credit score and multiple hits on your credit report can cause your score to drop dramatically.
• Do not pull your own score and then decide you will check why accounts are still open or have balances. I did this myself and then had to write a note at closing to explain why I had all these hits on my credit

This is a Tomball TX first time home buyers series and as I add additional post I will add the links.  Please feel free to visit my prior post.

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If you are buying or relocating to  Tomball Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Tomball please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com and at http://www.resultsrealtytx.com/.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about the area.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Tomball TX properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS.

George Mitchell Nature Preserve now has an entrance from Creekside Park in The Woodlands.  The access if from Rob Fleming Park.  As you can see from my pictures it is a relaxing way to get back to nature.  I live fairly close to the George Mitchell nature preserve and I’m thrilled to have a nature preserve so close.  It is my understanding there is another entrance from Flint Ridge but I am not familiar with it. The cool thing about this nature preserve is that it is open to the public.  I spoke to a park ranger recently who told me all The Woodlands parks and open spaces are open to the general public.  So you do not have to live in The Woodlands to take advantage of all the parks and recreation facilities that are open in The Woodlands.

We have been pleasantly surprised at how few bugs we have encountered.  With Spring Creek running along much of the trail I thought it would be a mosquito magnet but parks and recreation must be keeping it sprayed as it is very comfortable.

It is all natural but there are flag markers so you can tell where the trail goes. You can still see some of the ravages of Hurricane Ike.  It is interesting to see how the forest grows around the damaged trees when they are left in their element.

The George Mitchell Preserve is located in the newest village of The Woodlands Creekside. If you are coming from Gosling turn west on Creekside Forest and stay to the right.  If you are coming from Kukyendahl go east on Creekside Forest and you will see the preserve on your left. Dogs are welcome but they must be on a leash.  There’s a sign with rules and regulations as you enter the preserve.

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If you are buying or relocating to  The Woodlands Texasand need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about The Woodlands please visit my websites at http://www.agentwithresults.com/ and at http://www.resultsrealtytx.com/.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about The Woodlands.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Woodlands properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS.

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© Marchel Peterson. All photographs and/or written content produced by Marchel Peterson. All rights reserved and may not be reproduced or reprinted without express written permission of Marchel Peterson, owner/broker of Results Realty.

For the last several days I have been showing in a very popular area and I have been amazed at how hard the seller’s have made it for me to show their home. I am working with out of town buyers so we have been looking at a lot of homes. For the most part I have been making my showings with almost a 24 hour notice. Several of the sellers changed my showing time which then throws my sequence off. I have been tripping over myself back tracking through areas that I have already left.

They have also been changing my 2 hour showing window to a 1 hour showing window. When you are showing 10 to 15 homes it is so hard to try and work a showing schedule around this tight of a window. Several times I have had to call and extend my showing time. Typically I’m good at judging my time but I’m finding this one hour window very difficult to deal with.

Yesterday afternoon I scheduled appointments for this morning. I was trying to show between 9:00 and 11:00. For one of the homes I was called back by the showing service and told that my showing was declined as they were only accepting showings after 12:00 PM. I went ahead and scheduled for noon but then had to cancel because we were finished with the homes we were looking at long before that 12:00 time. I just now called again to schedule for this evening when we are showing both Mr. and Mrs. Buyer. For this particular home there was also a two hour notice that was required so I again barely fit it in the time slot. This time it was at least accepted.

I guess the most incredible showing that I have run across lately was a seller that was only allowing showings on Sunday between 1:00 and 4:00. The particular Sunday that I tried to show their home they decided not to show it that day. My feeling is they are obviously not motivated and with so many homes on the market: next!
Now I do understand when I call at the last moment and a showing is declined. Invariably as we are driving around my clients will see a sign in the yard and want to see a home. When that happens I don’t’ have a problem with rescheduling at a later time. In that case I’m the one being a bit inconsiderate but I always feel like it is worth a try to show the home.

I realize that it is a pain to have a home on the market. I moved many times with children and I remember having to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. My solution to this is for the seller to wait until we arrive to leave. I don’t have a problem with a seller leaving through the back door as we are arriving at the front door. I do have a problem with the home not being accessible to show (especially since for the most part I have been giving a 24 hour notice).

I would like to make one last note. The seller does need to leave. It is very uncomfortable to look at someone’s home with the seller looking on. I have also found that they usually open their mouth and insert their foot.

Please Mr. Seller make your home available to show.

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If you are buying or relocating to Spring Texasand need help from a professional REALTOR®, Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332.

If you would like information about Spring please visit my websites at www.AgentwithResults.com  and at www.ResultsRealtyTX.com. The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about Spring. If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Spring properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS.

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Have you noticed with the Internet how small our world has become?  I was recently on Facebook searching to see if a particular friend had a Facebook account.  Her last name is Christian and I noticed that on the first page I pulled up I had at least one mutual friend with EVERY person on the page.  Out of the 10 names that pulled up I had one mutual friend with four of the facebook profiles that pulled up, two mutual friends with three, three mutual friends with two and with one we had 8 mutual friends.  These people were located from New York to LA and I did not know any of them.  How wild is that.  I have 326 Facebook friends with probably ¾ of them coming from my Active Rain friends and the others from personal friends and family.  I guess if I had thousands of Facebook Friends I could see this happening but this REALLY surprised me since I don’t have thousands of Facebook Friends.

I just heard about the 6 degrees of separation written by John Guare.   Another name for Six degrees of separation is the “Human Web”.  “This refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth.”

I recently took our son to have Lasik surgery done about an hour from our house.  While sitting in the waiting room I met a retired school teacher who was one of the computer teachers at my son’s High School during the time he attended and another gal who was friends with the owner of a stable where we use to keep my daughter’s horse and she was in a small group with a friend of mine in my subdivision that I have started doing a small group with.  She even knew about some Easter baskets we had made for foster children.  At that time we talked about six degrees of separation.  I have to wonder if maybe it is even less than 6 degrees.

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If you are buying or relocating to Spring Texasand need help from a professional REALTOR®, Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332.

If you would like information about Spring please visit my websites at www.AgentwithResults.com  and at www.ResultsRealtyTX.com. The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about Spring. If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Spring properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS.

Subcribe in a reader

My thoughts on Memorial Day have been an evolving experience.  As a child I remember thinking WOO HOO Memorial Day is here and we are out of school for the summer.  I do however remember that my parents always went and decorated graves so I did know it was a time to honor our dead.

When our children were little I still had those thoughts of Memorial Day.  I did however expect it to be a holiday where my children got out of school.  We lived a few years in another state and when my children had to go to school on Memorial Day I was appalled and ended up calling the Superintendent of the school district.  (In retrospect I was appalled that they had to go to school on a National Holiday but at that point didn’t really know much about why it was a holiday).

That was when I found out of the origins of Memorial Day.  It was actually started as a Northern Holiday after the Civil War.  It was after World War I that it officially became a holiday to celebrate those who died not just in the Civil War but any war.  It was in 1971 with the National Holiday Act it became a three day weekend celebrated on the last Monday in May.  I was surprised that the school district we were in at that time did not have the day as one of their recognized holidays.  That may have changed as we left that area 12 years ago.

My nonchalant attitude about Memorial Day continued as our children graduated from High School.  In our school district graduation would always take place on the Saturday of Memorial weekend.  Our son graduated in 2004 and immediately joined the Army.  This was when I really learned the meaning of Memorial Day.   He ended up serving 3 years of Foreign Service with two of those years being over in Iraq.  I must say this will bring the meaning home to you.

As I was preparing this post I did some research and came across this History of Memorial Day.  Wow did this post go along with what I just wrote.  I was writing about my own nonchalant attitude and then read in this post “As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.”  It appears that my nonchalant attitude was more the norm than the exception.

Our son just got out of the Army May 2^nd.  That has made me very introspective about this Memorial Day.  We were one of the lucky ones as he came back without injuries.

We are not necessarily a military family but do have a long record of serving our country.  My Dad and all of his brothers were in World War II at the same time.  (That’s my Dad second to the right.)  Two were in the Army, two were in the Air Force and one was in the Navy.  My family was blessed; they all came home.  My Uncle Myrl who was the one way to the right in the picture was the only one who stayed in the reserves and he ended up getting killed in the Korean conflict.  The rest of the brothers all lived to old age; my Dad is the only sibling whom is still living.

My husband’s Grandfather served in World War I.  In our Game room we have a picture of his unit before they deployed and under it a picture of those that came back.  I have not actually counted how many came back but it is about half of those that left.   I also have a flag with 48 stars in a ceremonial container that was given to my Great-Grandfather.  He fought in the Civil War but my Mother told me he lied about his age to get in.  In that same room I have a picture of our son while he was in the Army and a picture of my Dad from back when he was in the Army. This is in the room where I have my elliptical machine and I have been trying to exercise 4 to 5 times a week so these have become a visual reminder for me of my family serving their country.  These visual reminders have made me realize how fortunate our family is that they all lived through their service.

Thank God we don’t have as many casualties in this war as in previous wars but we have a huge amount of our soldiers who are coming back injured and maimed.  I just had an email come across about a local soldier who has lost both legs and they thought also both arms and burnt over 56% of his body.  His family is asking for as many soldiers and veterans as possible to send him a birthday card.  You can go to “Chandlers Watch” and get the address.  This is a recent post so you still have time to send a card.

My nonchalant attitude about Memorial Day has disappeared!  Freedom is not FREE!  We owe a debt of gratitude to those whom have paid the ultimate sacrifice so we can be free.  We also owe a debt of gratitude to our returning soldiers. 

In doing my research for this post I ran across an idea I really like.  Perhaps we need to go back to our traditional celebration of Decoration Day on May 30th.  We could always have our three day weekend over Armed Forces Day which is the 3rd Saturday of May.  This would be a way to put the emphasis back on what Memorial/Decoration Day was meant to stand for.