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.

Selling in the Houston area? Get a market analysis report

Purchasing in the Houston area? Get full MLS access

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. 

How Accurate Is Zillow's Zestimate?

You may have heard of Zillow’s Zestimate feature—but is it accurate?

Selling in the Houston area? Get a market analysis report

Purchasing in the Houston area? Get full MLS access

If you haven’t already heard about Zillow’s Zestimate feature, there are a few things you need to know. A Zestimate is Zillow’s estimate of a home’s value. But how accurate are they really? I get questions about this all the time.

For example, many people wonder why the Zestimate is so different from what they’re seeing from their tax records or the market value.

In short, Zestimates can sometimes be inaccurate. On average, Zillow’s Zestimate is off by 5.6% from what a home will actually sell for. However, Zillow’s accuracy depends on location. In fact, on their website Zillow actually rates themselves on a scale of one to four in terms of accuracy for a given location. 

If you truly want to determine your home’s value, you’ll need professional help.

In Austin the rating is four out of four while in Houston it’s only one out of four. There are a lot of different intricacies that sometimes can’t be factored in by Zillow’s algorithm. The CEO of Zillow himself sold his Seattle home for 40% less than what the Zestimate said it was worth. 

Zillow is interesting and can give you a general idea, but if you truly want to determine your home’s value, you’ll need to get help from professionals like myself. 

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. 

Staging Doesn't Have to be Expensive and Complex

There are many great Houston area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at 832-428-6453 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

If you are looking to sell your home, your goal is to get the most money possible in the shortest amount of time. One of the best ways to add value and appeal to your home is through home staging. You have a lot of options for how you want to go about it. You could hire a professional staging company, but that comes with a hefty price tag. Most of the time, a few simple fixes is all it takes to transform a living room. 

Today we are going to go through some of our most favorite, inexpensive home staging tips or you. We hope these will help you save both time and money when it comes time to sell your home.

A fresh coat of paint is always a good idea. Neutral, warm colors work best for highlighting the natural light in your home. This will make it easier to punch up the room with some colorful accessories and pull everything together.

A common design problem facing many homeowners is that they have no real entry way, as their front door opens up to the living room. To fix this, you can add a table, some lighting, and a rug to "fake a foyer" and make it feel like the living room and entryway are two different spaces.

A patterned rug, some pillows, or bright curtains add a ton of texture and an eclectic layer to the space, which is essential to a well-designed room.

In some cases, a "make-under" is just what you need. In the case of most fireplaces, taking some accessories and clutter away enhances the look and feel of the room greatly.

You could spend well over a few thousand dollars with a staging company, or you could do these fixes yourself for around $500. That's a small investment considering the value that you add to your home by adding those pieces.

If you have any questions for us about staging your home or anything else real estate related, give us a call or send over a quick email. We are always here to help, and would love to hear from you!