Platinum Top 50 Annual Awards
Our team continuously strives for excellence, and recently, two of our agents were recognized for their hard work and achievements. We are proud to congratulate Hillary Smith and Jeremy Smith on being named Platinum Top 50 finalists this year! PT50 is the most prestigious award, recognizing res
Why Choose HomeSmith?
I know there are thousands of realtors to choose from. When my clients move to other metro areas, I’m often tasked with finding them their next realtor. Naturally, I’m looking for a realtor like myself in many ways because I believe myself to be among the best. Here’s what I’m looking for, and
A Ridiculously Buyer Favored Process
We work with a lot of people moving to Austin from other states. Although I’m by no means an expert in the contract processes elsewhere, I have had the opportunity to make some observations and say that the Texas real estate contract forms are much more in the favor of the buyer than other plac
Which Way Are Things Going To Go?
Everything that’s happening in our world right now is so unprecedented. None of us know what to expect even for the next month. For that reason, I’m reading ten times as many articles and watching the stats more closely than ever before — as often as I can get updates. I think we’re all just looking
What Do Open Houses Actually DO?
My seller clients sometime ask me “are open houses worth it?” It’s often said that it doesn’t do much and realtors only hold them because it benefits themselves not their clients. While there is SOME truth to this, I’d like to offer some alternative commentary. I’m a high volume realtor, consis
The 2020 Bi-Annual Awards
In these pandemic times, there are no formal award ceremonies, but advertising our resume accolades is still a big part of a realtor’s job. The logic is that an agent that is successful at selling so many homes for other people will also be the best equipped to sell my home. He/she will bring t
Covid19 and Past Recession Impacts on Real Estate
I don’t have to be the author in order to acknowledge really great content when I see it. Often merely being a curator is the most helpful thing I can do. I follow a lot of newsletters and blogs related to Austin real estate, and this article is a head above the rest, worth sharing. With permis
The HomeSmith Awards
Under quarantine, you find yourself embarking on more non-essential exploratory tasks than normal. You’ve no doubt seen countless realtors with row after row of awards and accolades in their signatures. It’s just our special way of saying, “Work with me, I’m a winner! I’m really experienced!” T
HomeLight Achievement
We’re grateful to HomeLight for recognizing and awarding our hard work. Real Estate agents earn this award when they rank in the top 5 percent of agents in their area based on historical real estate transaction data. Each year, HomeLight awards agents at both the local and national levels for ex
Coronavirus and Real Estate
So, I was in the large group of eye rollers for the past few weeks while everyone’s been clamoring that the sky is falling. Now I see how coronavirus is affecting my own business, and how recession is almost inevitable. I see that the societal pain this is causing is quite possibly a more fearf
Comparison: Solar Panel Systems
Solar panels are a big part of the homeowners equation for many people. We recently put solar on our roof, and I thought I’d share our research with you to make it a little easier if you decide to jump in yourself. First of all, just note that they’re usually only going to put panels on a south-
Here’s our list of top Austin places to visit and things to do
South Congress– Great restaurants, shopping, and walk a little south to see the bats at the South Congress bridge (March through November and people start gathering around 5:30pm). Plan ahead and you can do a boat tour of the bats. (Side note: there’s a mass bat exodus in RR too, just off I-35
Appraisal Addendum
In a seller’s market like this, it’s really common to see buyers willing to pay over appraised value as they’re tripping over themselves for the most prized properties. In these situations, for years now buyers and buyer agents have been looking for ways to formalize their creative offer struct
Freakonomics: Are Real Estate Agents Selling You Short?
Although I’ve heard great things about it for years, I’m finally getting to go through Freakonomics. It unpacks so many interesting topics at the intersection of economics, culture, crime, and behavioral science. The chapter on “What do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?” deals
One Resource Everyone Austin Buyer/Seller Needs
I want to make sure I put my absolute favorite resource into your hand. I send this to everyone, use it almost every week, and post an updated version every year. This gives you all of the information you need to see how the various areas around Austin are appreciating with information broken up b
Real Estate FAQ’s, vol. 1
How long does it take to close on a house? Prior to TRID changes (which came down from Dodd Frank legistlation) that happened a few months ago, we could close most loans in 30 days after an offer is accepted. Now it typically takes 40-45 days to close. Although I don’t see it very often, I
The Truth About New Builds and Realtors
“I don’t need a realtor to go buy a new build home.” -This is actually true. The salesman at the model home can take you through the whole process without ever seeing a realtor. To me though, the questions isn’t whether or not it can be done or not, rather it’s whether or not you might have mis
Your “All In” Austin Realtor
This post was written primarily to introduce myself to realtors in other cities, who have clients moving to Austin. If, however, you’re a buyer or seller already in Austin and are looking for a realtor, then I hope this post can at least be useful in learning a little more about me. What
Texas Favors Buyers: Understanding The Option Period
If you went to any type of investment market (say stocks, bonds, etc.) and asked if you could lock in the current price and take it off the market for 10 days before you decided for sure that you wanted to buy it, and in exchange for this option to buy you would give them $150, what do you thin
Never Lose Another Bid!
I’m taking a little risk in writing this, giving away some trade secrets for free. My assumption though is that mostly only my own clients and friends are the ones reading this blog, and a limited amount of other realtors (the competition). Honestly, I don’t know why all realtors don’t know and us
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