escapeso's Blog: All Categories

Change is the norm in today’s busy life and in our real estate market in Austin, Texas change can be fast, unexpected, and daunting. So, what happens when an unplanned or a strategic change requires your reconsideration of your current location of your current residence? How do you deal with the potential to move to another city or neighborhood? What should you do to divest of your current real estate in an equitable manner? What are the considerations necessary to sell your current home, investment property or condo?

If relocation is a function of a company transfer or because you are taking a new job, then the process can be easier. The employer may have relocation services to offer, so be sure to ask about these. The services often include… Read Full Post

We have some pretty intense meetings at the Austin City Council.  But they always involved heated words and not guns.  I hope this is not a sign of things to come.  He was apparently facing a foreclosure that would have been solved by the zoning case.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/05/owner.suicide.ap/index.html

Smile. Look them in the eye. Don’t cross your arms. Don’t get too close.  Use their body language. Don’t blink too much.

Everyone has something to say about how you present yourself. But sometimes I wonder if we can go to far.

I wonder if they don’t sometimes wonder if the guy looking them directly in the eye the whole time is well a little scary. If the the guy who smiles so much maybe just doesn’t have enough of a clue to know when he shouldn’t smile. If that guy who never blinks might be a robot.

I have known about all these little body language things for many years. I think we have all heard about them at some point or another. Hey, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to tell me that when you smile, it relaxes people. But we don’t always do it.…

Negotiating can be tough.  It is more an art of applying techniques to each unique transaction rather than cut and dry responses.  With home sales, each home has a person behind it with emotions that can be triggered either positively or negatively.  Whether I am the agent for the buying or selling end, I try to advise my clients with facts rather than emotions.  I have run into other agents who get quite emotional and defensive about a transaction, and I can understand that inclination because some deals can just become so frustrating, but as the agent, it is best to take a step back and provide professional consultation instead of escalating your client's emotions.  These are some negotiating techniques to keep in mind as options rather than letting a…

Austin job stats were released showing Austin to have strongest job market in 6 years. The demand for labor is outstripping the local labor supply. The last time Austin saw such low unemployment was during the tech boom. The job growth has stayed above 4 percent for the last year. This is in sharp contrast to the rest of the nation. Since August 2006, the area has seen job growth of 29,500 jobs. Over the same time period, the nation saw a decrease of 4,000 jobs --the first decrease in 4 years. Local companies have not had a difficult time finding workers for entry level jobs. But for higher paid jobs that require more experience and education, it has been difficult to find qualified applicants. With the country at large seeing job… Read Full Post

As we learn more about the sub-prime "melt-down" of 2007, the selection of a good lender is apparent in its importance as a key step to success. A new home buyer must pay careful attention to this selection and a good REALTOR will facilitate the process and add to your success. Your realtor can provide you with some web sites for information and a list of some proven lenders. These referred professionals will explain their financing programs and options to you, but do not hesitate to ask your realtor for additional background and information.  The loan process is complicated so do not hesitate to ask a lot of questions.

For example, a pre-approval letter is an excellent tool to use as you prepare for your house search. What is a pre-approval letter? It is…

The Fed cut interest rates by .5% today. Although a rate cut was expected, 0.5% was at the upper end range of what was expected. This is good news for a troubled national housing market. The stock market responded with a 300 point rally.

The rate cut is important for its financial help, but such an aggressive move is also an indicator that the Fed plans on addressing the current issues in the credit markets. Another bit of good news is that the Fed released a statement after the meeting saying that more rate cuts were on the way.

While the rate cut doesn't spell an end to the current housing problems it certainly helps. Borrowers with fixed rate arms that are set to expire are facing increased mortgage payments. By cutting rates, it will allow…

Recently people have been interested in a lot of the more exotic loan programs from no interest loans to negative amortization.  There has been some negatives associated with these loans with the changes in the mortgage industry.  So I wanted to take some time to talk about the almost forgotten 15 year loan.  Some people see the 15 year loan as drab and boring compared to all the fancy loans out there, but there are a lot of benefits of the 15 year fixed-rate loan.

For one, you pay the loan off in half the amount of time you would with a 30 year loan.  So if someone is currently 30 years old, they would pay off the loan when they are 45 instead of 60.  Because it takes half the time, people frequently think that the payment on a 15 year loan is twice as…