What “As-Is” Means in a Home Transaction

Can you believe the year is almost over? Before it ends, I wanted to answer one more of your common questions.

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I can’t believe it’s already December. It’s been a crazy year to say the least. I wanted to take the time today to answer a question that I receive during almost every transaction, “What does an 'as-is' home sale mean?”

Anybody that is buying or thinking about buying a home should know going in that there are going to be defects in the home. Even if it’s a brand new home, they will be there. However, the option period allows you to do your due diligence, giving you a certain amount of time to investigate the property. If you want to back out of the deal for any reason at all—including defects found in the home—buyers are allowed to do that. 

Any seller can sell their home “as-is.”

As a seller, once you sign a contract with a buyer you are locked in. However, you are not required to make any repairs. You can choose to sell the home in its present condition “as-is.” Most of the time, however, this method only works in a strong, strong seller’s market. 

Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, you need to be crystal clear about what your options are before signing a deal and what the timeline is going to look like. When you know your position going in, the process will be a lot easier.

This will be my last post of the year, so I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all the best this holiday season. I hope your new year starts out great! If you have any questions for me in the meantime, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

3 Smart Tech Options That Bring Value to Your Home

Today I want to talk about adding value to your home. Smart technology is a great way to achieve this in today’s market.

Selling in the Houston area? Get a market analysis report

Purchasing in the Houston area? Get full MLS access

As we all know, technology is becoming more and more integral to our daily lives. This is true also of home technology, which is a rapidly growing industry.

Today, I want to share three different tech options that can add value to your home:

1. Google Home or Alexa. Using either of these, you can set your lighting, thermostat, or even play music. These are all things we can demonstrate for buyers who are looking at your home.
   
   
2. Smart thermostats. Probably the best-known version of this technology is The Nest. Using this or another similar product, you can set and adjust the temperature of your home. Smart thermostats will even learn your habits and your lifestyle to better accommodate you through the temperature in your home. Ecobee is another brand of smart thermostat. This particular thermostat actually has sensors that can detect motion and adjust the temperature according to where you are in the home.
   
   
3. Video-capturing doorbells. This technology allows you to see exactly who is visiting when they ring your doorbell. This also acts as a security measure. 

All of these things are relatively inexpensive, but they add a lot of value to your home. Tech-savvy buyers will especially appreciate these items.

Tech-savvy buyers will especially appreciate these items.

As a final note, I’d like to address people whose homes have flooded recently. If you find yourself in this situation and are wondering how to recover and make repairs, remember to think about how long you plan on living there. 

If you will be there short-term, think of your home as an investment. If you are going to be there for a medium length of time, still think of it in terms of an investment but also remember you’re still going to be living there. You want to make sure you don’t hate your living situation. 

If you plan on being in your home for the long-term, make repairs in any way you want. You don’t need to worry too much about what future buyers might like. By the time you plan on selling, you’ll likely need to replace many of the features you’re adding at the moment, anyway.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What Does the Houston Market Look Like Post-Harvey?

What does the Houston real estate market look like post-Harvey? I’ll explain today.

Selling in the Houston area? Get a market analysis report

Purchasing in the Houston area? Get full MLS access

Instead of doing my regular monthly update, I wanted to spend some time talking about the real estate market in general here in Houston after Harvey. First, I want to send out my true sorrow for those who have lost anything (or everything) in the flood. We’ve been helping people clean out their homes for the last week and the destruction and devastation is just unbelievable.

There’s a lot of work still left to do, but I’ve been starting to get a lot of questions about how the flooding is going to affect property values. I think, at least for the time being, properties will fall into one of three buckets:

1. Those that have never flooded
2. Those that only flooded during Harvey
3. Those that have flooded multiple times

Properties will fall into one of three categories.

I’ve also been getting a lot of questions about rebuilding. While it’s still uncertain how flood insurance claims are going to work and what FEMA’s role is, I will say this. If you are planning to repair and sell, you need to look at that home as an investment. You want to fix it up and bring its value back in line with the neighborhood. You don’t want to over- or underdo it though. You want to get as much money back as possible. 

If you have any questions about the kinds of repairs you should make or any other question about the post-Harvey real estate market, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.