Chris Tesch College Station, Texas Real Estate

Do you want to know how to maximize your money at the closing table? It's easy to lose when you list your home! Picking an agent will either make you money or loose you money at the closing table.

You've decided to sell your home and it's time to pick a Real Estate Agent to list it with. How exactly are you going to choose? Everyone, including your neighbor, and your great Aunt Thelma has their license so who do you pick? I've seen some very creative ways that people pick. One woman recently sent an email out to a bunch of agents and chose the first one to get back with her. I've seen people list with friends that are also working at a fast food place until they get their career up and running. Another creative way is to go to the Internet and pull up a site and see who's featured. After all, if they know how to get featured in this website maybe they'll know how to sell your home. Probably not good strategies when selling the bulk of your net worth.

Let's look at some strategies to choose a good agent

Is the agents website easily accessible? Is it search engine optimized coming up in the first few pages of an internet search for, let's say, College Station real estate? Not necessarily the company name such as RE/MAX rankings, but the individual agents. How well does the website feature the properties listed?

Does the agent use excellent advertising? Putting your house on the MLS with appealing photos and descriptions is necessary, but a great agent will back that up with an advertising strategy. Not necessarily newspapers, cable channels or open houses (though they can be used to some avail) but optimizing your listing on Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, Hot Pads and a host of other web sites that really pack a punch!

Is the agent with a recognized brokerage name that's national? I know many clients have come specifically because I'm with RE/MAX and they are selling their home with another RE/MAX agent in their hometown.

Does the agent have a good reputation in the area? In an area as small as ours agent have a reputation of either being easy to work with or hard to work with. This can make or break your sale. The Buyer's Agent will work harder times to make a sale work with a listing agent that is easy to deal with.

Does the agent have adequate experience? I'm not necessarily talking about years in the business. An agent that only does five transactions a year for the last 10 years doesn't have as much experience as an agent that does 50 transactions a year for the last 5 years.

Does the agent use good photos with their listings? Study the agents listings, whether they have one or fifty and see exactly what that agent brings to the table. A great agent will either invest in excellent cameras with wide angle lenses or other tools to really show your property off to it's best potential OR will hire a professional photographer. I use a professional architectural photographer myself. Yes, it does cost the listing agent money but it gets their homes more exposure, more showings sold faster and for more money.

The top photos are the professional versions. Below that are examples of my best attempt at my own photography of one listing. Compare the difference and you'll see exactly why using a professional can be a great idea.

Does the agent use appealing (and accurate) descriptions of the homes they have listed? It's definitely entertaining to read some of the listings and your homes listing shouldn't be out there to amuse. Common themes are calling the house something like a "cream puff", misspellings in the description (how many minuets from a grocery store DO you need to be? I've never danced there so I don't know!) or just plain strange descriptions. One very notable listing from a few years ago enticed buyers with the verbiage "Tall ceilings for easy living and tile floors for no cleaning".

In short, it pays to interview agents and to find the agent that will market your home aggressively and get it off the market in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of hassle!

Visit my website for more College Station Real Estate tips.

For years condos have been a favorite of mine for parents investing in student properties. No maintenance on the exteriors, no mowing and community common areas such as pools are perks with condos. This year, however, condo financing has suffered.

FHA, long the leader in low downpayment mortgages all but pulled out of condo financing. The rational is basically that home owners association fees can be steep. People with condos could be foreclosed on just because they are behind in their home owners associaiton dues. This, in and of itself, could threaten other people in the condo complex with larger home owners association dues as the HOA struggles and has difficulty affording even basic services. Now that FHA has pulled back with condo financing many conventional investors are pulling back as well. One of our condo financing experts in College Station recently told me that only one company whe dealt with was financing condos and that they would make people just through quite a few hoops to get one.

Having no idea of how long this virtual moritorium on condos will last leaves me suggtesting alternatives to condos to everyone. After all, you don't want to be done with the condo in three years only to find it virtually unsalable. Resale should be a large focus when buying.

What is a parent wanting to invest in property here to do? A serious look needs to be made at townhomes. Some offer the same amenities as condos but are as easy to finance as single family homes. Do keep in mind though that some projects calling themselfves townhomes are actually condos.

Use an experienced Realtor for these transactions as there can be many pitfalls. By using an experienced agent and making excellent decisions you can have a great investment here in College Station.

For the second time in the last five years Bryan and College Station have been recognized as places where real estate is selling for under what the values should be. This means that there are definate bargains here in Aggieland. Houston was the only other city in Texas that got this designation. With the prospects of tremendous job growth and undervalued real estate it's a wonderful market to be in. The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M believe that our appreciation rates will be higher than ever in the next few years.

With higher than ever appreciation values will you make a mint on your property? NO! We are still not California with ridiculous appreciation in short times. In the last few years our appreciaton rates have been 3-5% per year. We're looking at appreciation rates raising to about 7%. A stable market in the price ranges lower than 200K and lot's of first time homebuyer interest it's a great time to buy!

First time buyers please take note. The $8,000 tax credit requires that you close on your home by December 1st. There are programs to help you tap into some of that tax credit to help with closing costs as well. Take advantage of tax credits, low interest rates, and an undervalued market now.

Here's a link to the Bryan/College Station MLS

Many parents, wanting to buy a College Station home for their students, visit the idea of a condo or townhome. As with anything there are some very positive points to consider and some other negative points on these issues.

First let's talk about what the difference is between condos and townhomes. The major difference is that condos always have associations and the homeowner doesn't actually own the land beneath the condo, the association does and you typically only own from the studs in. The exterior is owned and maintained by the association. Townhomes may, or may not have associations formed to maintain community resources. With a townhome you own the land that it sits on and the entire structure.

The down side of Condo associations is that there is a monthly fee. This fee can range, in College Station Condos, from $65 a month to over $200. There's no set answer on what these fees cover unless you look at individual associations. Most will cover exterior landscaping and insurance on the common areas. A good many will cover exterior maintenance on the roof and sides of the building. Some will have pools and a very few will cover things like internet service and water. Each association varies.

The down side to a townhome is that the maintenance typically is not covered. You may find yourself with the nicest property on the block with other properties to the right and left of you not nearly as well maintained. Also many share roofs with the other townhomes so eventually roofs may become mismatched.

With a College Station home you are always going to be responsible for lawn care, maintenance of the exterior and interior and all insurance. Keep in mind that the City of College Station conducts periodic checks of areas to ensure that residents are mowing their grass and other upkeep items. Getting a letter from the city warning of an impending fine if the situation doesn't improve is typically the parents first indication that the property isn't being maintained as well as it should be.

Any of these options can be the right choice for you and your student. The first thing you need to do when deciding to buy a student property is to think about what appeals to you the most. If you're not in Texas and maintenance needs to happen on your student property a condo might be the best bet. Also if you really want an easy care solution a condo can be a very good choice.

Want a glimpse of all the College Station real estate for sale? Go to my website and click on "Search Listings". When you buy I'd love to help!

So, you've bought the house of your dreams and moved in. What's the next step? Remembering that one day, whether you realize it or not today, you'll be selling. Increasing the value of your home isn't just a blitz right before you list it. Protecting and increasing the value of your home starts the day that you write the offer.

So you've closed now. What is the number one thing to do as soon as you've bought the home? If I could tell you that in one day you could make a change to increase the value of your home by possibly up to 20%, decrease your utility bills, and reduce your stress while helping the entire ecology of our area would you be interested? You can! Quick, plant trees!

In any area this holds true, but in our area it's of prime importance. Bryan and College Station, actually all of Brazos Valley, has traditionally been used as farm land. Trees in fields aren't a great value, as they provide unneeded shade and reduce the area given for crops or livestock. Therefore many were eliminated. The remaining trees in many cases, are Post Oaks. Post Oak trees are beautiful trees and very hardy, when given a natural enviroment. They are, however, very resistant to change and to human intervention. Pouring a slab close to their root system, watering them with clorinated and processed water, putting a tree house in them or driving over or near their root systems are all huge problems for these gorgeous natives. In other words, as homeowners, we don't play nice with them. They tend to die within a year of a new property being built on, leaving you with a big empty space in your yard.

Here's some quick statistics on the value of a tree:

Dr. Roger S. Ulrich of Texas A&M University stated that "in laboratory research, visual exposure ot settings with trees has produced significant recovery from stress within five minutes, as indicated by changes in blood pressure and muscle tension."

The USDA Forest Service states "Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and can save 20-50 percent in energy used for heating"

The Management Information Services/ICMA states "Landscaping, especially with trees, can increase property values as much as 20 percent."

According to the US Department of Agriculture "The net cooling effect of a young, healty tree is equivilant to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day."

"A mature tree can often have an appraised value of between $1,000 and $10,000," according to the Concil of Tree and Landscape Appraisers.

Dr. E. Greg McPherson, Center for Urban Forest Research states "if you plant a tree today on the west side of your home, in 5 years your energy bills should be 3% less. In 15 years the savings will be nearly 12%."

Wow, lower your blood pressure, decrease your utility bills and increase your property value in one fell swoop! Definately a recipe for success!!!!!!!

For more information on local tree farms and resources visit my website.