Jack Stapleton - Professional Realtor

Fellow Realtors and Homeowners,

I have a home listed in Star Ranch. Part of Star Ranch is in Hutto and the other part is in Pflugerville. The cost of these homes are 220k+. Star Ranch is a new community and still selling new homes. The builders in the community are Perry and Wilshire Homes. The listing that I have is at 537 Wiltshire.

My listings usually sell in less than 60 days. I take high quality photos, build custom websites, do weekly open houses, list the home on thousands of websites, and even put the home on the local Realtor tour.

The Builders are selling their new inventory for 220k and up. They have sold 11 new home sites in the first 6 months of 2010. While only one resale home was able to sell and it was a short sale.

The home has been on the market for six months at 199k. This is 30k less than the new homes. The home is spotless and was only lived in for six months. They were transferred back east unexpectedly. They installed 2in blinds, and put in a sprinkler system and the carpet and paint shows like a new home. The builder does not installed blinds or sprinkler system so this is an upgrade. The home is on a premium lot, and has the same upgrades than the new homes are selling for, and is all side side brick.

My clients recently got an 45k appraisal hike from Williamson County. I went to a tax hearing on behalf of my client and the ONLY sales comp in the past six months was RESALE short sale. The comparable sale was less than a block away but falls into Travis County. Williamson County would not use the comp because it was not in the same county. There are NO other resale comps in the sub so Will Co uses the NEW home sales.

My listing is in the city of Hutto and in Will Co, but homes across the street are in Pflugerville and in Travis Co. The Builders advertises their new home inventory in the MLS as Pflugerville and Travis County. This attracts buyers. The unknowing buyer then wants to see the other available home sites in the subdivision and the builder sells them Hutto homes at the same price as the Pflugerville Homes.

I was able to get the tax office to reduce the tax assessment to the original purchase price of the home. Again, the home was sold less than a year ago and has been vacant for the past six months.

The Star Ranch builders also advertise that a HEB grocery store and other shops are scheduled to move into the community. Perry Homes this past weekend had a grand opening for their new Model Home so I went to the grand opening and handed out fliers to my listing and held my listing open. Nobody came to the open house, and I read something about two months ago that said the HEB idea is off the table, but they are still advertising it. This is a big deal becuase the only other grocery store is four or five miles away.

When people are looking for homes around Round Rock and Pflugerville they limit their search to Round Rock and Pflugerville, they don't look in Hutto. This totally excludes my listing from coming up. I called ABOR and asked them if I can list the home in Hutto and Pflugerville being homes on the same street are in Pflugerville. They said no. I am not going to do it without their permission because it is an ethics violation. I have gone to the Williamson County Property tour, and the Pflugerville Property tours and handed out fliers about the listing. I have went to Hutto and talked to all the agents in Hutto about the listing. I went to all the new home sites who are low on inventory in Pflugerville such as Avalon on Kelly Lane and handed them flyers and let them know it is like-new and vacant and available.

At the current list price the home is 30k under the new homes which are selling like crazy. The home shows better than the new homes, we are offering a 4% commission to the buyer agent, and priced under the sellers breakeven.

Suggestions?

Hello All,

I am sure all you know Zillow very well. Some Agents love it and some dont. I really have no opinion other than they are a tool. ;)

Anyway, I got a call on my cell phone this afternoon from a buyer who wanted to know about a property that I had listed. I of course thanked her for the call and asked her the address. She told me the address was 2424 Falcon in Round Rock. I paused for a few seconds. 2424 Falcon? I never had anything listed on Falcon. In fact the street does not ring a bell. Lucky I was sitting in front of my computer with the MLS open when she called so I did a quick search and found that it was a listing at the office that I used to work at and listed by one of my favorite agents around. Now I was really confused. I asked her what website she has been looking at and she said Zillow. I quickly went to Zillow and sure enough, it shows ME as the listing agent. As I was looking at the pictures of the home I realised I had done an open house there the previous year. Where did Zillow get that I am the listing agent. Just then I noticed the source of the Zillow Agent Information said Postlets. There was the AH HA moment. I always create a Postlets page for each home that I do an open house and use the HTML to dump into Craigs List. This means that Zillow grabs the listing agent informatoin from Postlets rather than a credible source like the MLS or Realtor.com.

The lesson here is that you should check your listings past and present to make sure you show as the listing agent. Many buyers use that site and the moment someone else creates a postlets ad for Open House, or any other reason, you are demoted as the listing agent.

Very Sincerely,

Jack Stapleton Jr.
Broker® CRS, GRI, ABR, ePRO, EcoBroker.
Texas Real Estate License Number; 576129
California Real Estate License Number; 1731941

Austin Suburban Properties
7719 Wood Hollow Drive Suite 105
Austin, TX 78731

512.264.5115 - Cell
208.460.6353 - Fax
Jack@JackStapleton.com - email

www.JackStapleton.com - blog
www.AustinSuburbanProperties.com - website

One thing that I took away from GRI (Graduate Realtor Institute) was DISCLOSE DISCLOSE DISCLOSE. I also found a new love for disclosures and perfect contracts. I like things to be "perfect" and pre-GRI my standard buyer contract was around 30 pages and post-GRI my contracts inflated to about 80 pages. My final listing contract after the deal has closed easily is over 130 pages. My compliance manager says my paperwork is the best she has ever seen.

I closed a deal a few months ago with a cash buyer. I provided my client all my standard disclosures, advised them, and this was an older couple, and this was their fourth home. They had been looking for more than a year, and had gone through four agents. From start to finish I had found them their dream home in less than 14 days.

About six months after the deal had closed; I got a call from the buyer. He asked me the name of his insurance company because he had hail damage. I remember the client talking about getting a binder from an insurance company, but there was nothing built into my business system to cross check.

I contacted the insurance company and they provided me with the name and number of Old Republic. They knew exactly what I was asking, and they would not return my calls after that. It was clear that they saw a lawsuit coming a mile away.

My clients got an insurance policy, and paid for the shingle overlay, which in reality was less than what his deductible would have been, but the fact remains, had the buyer obtained financing for this home, the title company would have insured he had insurance on his home. This started me thinking, do cash buyers get the attention they deserve?

I believe that from the perspective of a Realtor, the service is the same. But, it is my opinion that fro m the title company, it is not. What are your thoughts?

08.21.2008

Tech Tune Up

What is Tech Tune Up? It is a yearly Real Estate Technology Conference in Rock Rock Texas. It is brought to you by the Williamson County Association of Realtors.

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The Tech Tune Up event is the perfect opportunity to learn more about Blogging, Social Networking, SEO, Virtual Tours, everything techie and certainly gadgetie.

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Presale tickets are on sale now. Visit us at http://www.techtuneup.org!

See you at the event!

Door Opens at 8:15am

The grand Boulevard of the Round Rock Ranch Subdivision is called Round Rock Ranch Blvd. Both ends of Round Rock Ranch Blvd connect with Gattis School Road about a half a mile apart. Round Rock Ranch Blvd is horse-shoe shaped with many off shoots where homes are nestled in quiet cul-de-sacs.

At both Ends of Round Rock Ranch Blvd are gated communities. Both of these gated communities are known as The Enclave. Although the Enclave's are a portion of the Round Rock Ranch Subdivision, they have their own HOA board. The homeowners of The Enclave pay dues to both the Enclave and the Round Rock Ranch Subdivision.

Both Enclaves' consist of three streets. Briarton Dr, connects Round Rock Ranch Blvd to the Gate of the Briarton community. Briarton Drive does not have any homes on it. Beyond the gate are only two streets. Briarton Lane North and Briarton Lane South. On these two streets are a number of homes that make up this small community.

The Enclave at the other end of Round Rock Ranch Blvd is Rosenborough. Rosenborough is a mirror image of Briarton. Rosenborough Dr connects the Gate of the Rosenborough community to Round Rock Ranch Blvd. Beyond the gate are Rosenborough Lane North and Rosenborough Lane South. The streets and homes on Briarton and Rosenborough are very similar.

Between the Lanes North and Lanes South is a beautiful walking trail, the streets are private, quiet, and the lots are smaller and very low maintenance. There is a large field, often used to play soccer by the neighborhood kids, which separate the Rosenborough side from the Briarton side.

The Round Rock Ranch Subdivision and the Enclave's are one-half mile from the Toll-45 freeway, two miles from Dell, and the Sears Call Center. These homes are a part of the Round Rock ISD. The subdivision is assigned to the new Cedar Ridge High School and Ridgeview Middle School, both terrific schools.

At the main entrance of the subdivision is a stable with horses sitting on a large field adjacent to a large pond. Both of these features are owned by local resident that runs the stables and gives horse riding lessons, and pony rides to children. The Round Rock Home Owners Association has a Social Committee and is very active. The HOA pays for a yearly Ice Cream Social, Easter Egg Hunt, Earth Day, Halloween Party, and even a Christmas light competition.

The subdivision has two great amenity centers, both with large, clean, well kept swimming pools. The amenity centers have swing sets, jungle gyms, pick nick tables, large fields, and even pull up bars. Both of these HOA-owned parks are contained within the subdivision are private, and not on busy streets.

Currently there are two homes for sale in the Briarton side of the Enclave. There is 1711 Briarton Lane South and 1806 Briarton Lane North. Both of these homes are listed by Jack Stapleton at Sky Realty. Jack Stapleton has sold numerous other homes in this community in the past, and also owns property in the community.

1711 Briarton Lane South Round Rock Texas 78665 is listed for sale at $144,900. This is a single story, three bedroom home. It is a smaller energy efficient home just over 1,500 sq ft. The home was built in 2003, all-side brick, and has been well maintained. The home is extremely clean, shows great, has hard tile in the kitchen, is a mother-in-law plan, and the current owners have enjoyed living in their home and in their community. 1711 Briarton Lane South is the perfect home for someone looking for a low price, low maintenance, and low utility bills. When you walk into 1711 Briarton you are greeted with a warm fireplace, living area, kitchen and dining area. The floor plan was well thought- out and all the space in the home is usable. The master bedroom is off the living area, and the other two bedrooms are down the hall, great for kids as the parents can watch TV and have access to the entire home and not disturb the kids in the evening. If you, or somebody you know is looking for a three bedroom home, in the mid 140's, in a terrific community, have them call Jack Stapleton at 512.264.5115. Here is a virtual tour of the property. Visit the website to view pictures and additional information for 1711 Briarton South North Round Rock Texas 78665.

1806 Briarton Lane North Round Rock Texas 78665 is listed for $175,000. This is a single story home, three bedrooms, with a separate office. The home was built in 2001. The home is four side brick, located in a gated community, has upgraded countertops, and hard tile in the wet areas. The back yard has fruit trees, and a multitude of edible plants and beautiful blooming plants. The backyard has a terrific view of the horses and large pond in the distance. When you walk into the home you are immediately greeted with a formal living and dining area. To the right is two glass paneled French doors that lead into a large office. As you walk further you enter a large living area with tiled fireplace, open kitchen, and breakfast area. View the virtul tour, or view the property page on the Jack Stapleton website.

Round Rock Ranch has traditionally maintained its property values. Round Rock Ranch has around eight hundreds homes and most often has between 10 and 15 homes for sale at any given time. Time is well below the city average. Apache trail is street that connects Round Rock Ranch Phase 1 and Round Rock Ranch Phase 2. Apache trail is about a quarter mile long, and had hundreds of trees that line both sides of the street. It is one of the most beautiful streets in Round Rock. During the spring the trees going into full bloom and pink flowers line the streets.

If you are looking for the absolute best subdivision in Round Rock, take a drive through Round Rock Ranch. If while you are driving through you have any questions, contact me, Realtor Jack Stapleton at 512.264.5115.