McCourt Real Estate Blog

I'm surprised when I hear local Realtors who do not know all of the educational institutions in the community that they work.  In our Midland community, it's important for any Realtor to know what the ATC is (Advanced Technology Center --not an alternative school as some have described it); the Carver Center, the Magnet schools along with having a really good understanding of the school district's ratings and service improvement plan.

There's so much to think about when you're purchasing residential real estate and even your home.  With the 2009-2010 school year fast approaching, I hoped it might be helpful to you to talk about what to look for from schools and neighborhoods and you look to buy, sell or invest.

Remember, the world wide web is now at your service.  The city websites can give you valauble information regarding school district boundaries, businesses, parks, and upcoming developments or decisions.  State registries, like the sex offender's registry, are also helpful as you look at neighborhoods to move to or even invest in with rental property.

Look at curriculum. School curriculum and their afterschool or extracurricular activities all influence "quality of life" for your community.  If you are moving for your family or just looking at investing in property, it is important to know what the "quality of life" value is of the area.  Schools, parks and museums all play a big part in that and are often the information sought by companies researching a move to an area.

Review near by gyms, grocery stores, and banks as they are also top of mind services that people seek in communities. 

Ask, is there a neighborhood watch in the area?  Review crime statistics to familiarize yourself with the area. And, a good Realtor can also help you know the area 'like a local'.

Everyone, it seems, has jumped onto the Facebook craze. After all, who can miss out on the over 250 million people there.  Anyone with a website would be dense not to go where the people are - no better way to make connections and gain traffic to your site and listings.

Yet, there are many who do it wrong. First, they try to make their agency or association a "person" by typing in the first word of their company under "first name" and so on.  Not only is it a waste it's in violation of Facebook's terms of service so they can delete you (and your many contacts) at any time.

Second, they don't use the Facebook business pages they use groups.  Groups have limitations and I'd like to know who at their company or agency is going to make the decision as to "who is in and who is out" when they reach their limits.

Lastly, you don't get the great demographic info that Facebook business pages freely provide.

It's one of those things I call a no-brainer.

Yet, in a time and town, when there are still agents who email blast (spam!) everyone under the sun - it's no wonder that mastering Facebook is elusive to them.

Now, here's someone who is doing this well and I'm sharing with you part of the blog post and the link from theKBuzz....

So when my wife and I recently bought a house and needed to sell our current home, I turned to the first logical choice: Facebook! Now my wife wanted to get a realtor, and so we do have one in reserve. I have nothing against realtors - in fact, we’re happy to have not only friends who are realtors but clients. I just figured, we talk about how useful Facebook is for so many organizations and situations, why not try it to sell our house?

So, we set up a Fan Page 2 days ago - and used easy Facebook Notes to explain all about the house and area, uploaded lots of photos of the house and videos of the house, and used Facebook Events to create an open house for this weekend. I invited my friends to fan the Page, and took out separate, hypertargeted Facebook ads targeting young NYC couples and also folks 64+, because our community and house is perfectly suited for both. We quickly got to 100 fans and reserved a vanity URL, so now people can easily spread the word by sending their friends to http://Facebook.com/BuyMyHouse. Finally, I offered an incentive of $2,000 to anyone on Facebook who refers a friend who ends up buying the house. This move, while definitely increasing virality of the Page, may bring up some legal issues, so I quickly changed the offer to include a $2,000 donation to the referrer’s favorite non-profit.

For the rest of the story, visit here:  http://blog.thekbuzz.com/2009/07/im-selling-my-houseon-facebook-of-course.html

What's so good for Realtors in West Texas is that we "do Facebook right" (along with many other marketing practices) so you get the most pleasure and profit for you and your clients.

If you ever want to talk to an upbeat, web savvy, networking, people focused agency - stop on by!

This year, many Texas families have put major purchases and cash outlays on hold, waiting for more positive economic signs – or at least an upward, consistent move in the stock market – to make big-ticket decisions. Real estate investments still make sense, although some of the rules have changed.

A friend of mine, whose two daughters are grown and gone, would like to remodel a home in the neighborhood, sell his present residence, and then move in to the remodel. He’s uncomfortable investing a ton of dollars on the remodel that he may need for day-to-day expenses, and he’s afraid there’s already too much inventory now on the market to list his home for sale.

“The remodel may be closer,” he confides. “There are a lot of people out there now willing to work for a lot less than they were two years ago. If the drop in labor costs reaches a point that it equals what some of my investments have lost, it’s close to a wash. I might as well do it.”

Borrowers who currently own their home typically have three options when they decide to purchase a new principal residence. They can sell the current residence and pay off the outstanding mortgage, make the property into a second home, or convert the property to an investment property. In the past two years, more people have been unable to sell and have been forced to consider the two other options.

However, unless you have a lot of cash, those two options are not as easy to execute as they once were. To ensure that borrowers have sufficient equity and/or reserves to support both the existing financing and the new mortgage being originated, Fannie Mae is updating the policies for qualifying borrowers purchasing a new principal residence and converting their existing principal residence to a second home or investment property.

Perhaps the most stringent new rule requires borrowers to have a reserve amount set aside equal to six months of principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI) payments on both homes when converting the primary residence to a rental or a second home. Previous guidelines did not include reserves on both homes.

Lenders do have some leeway in the case of a second-home conversion. Lenders may consider reducing reserves of no fewer than two months for both properties if there is documented equity of at least 30% in the existing property. The value can be derived from an appraisal, automated valuation model (AVM), or broker price opinion (BPO), minus outstanding liens. The previous guidelines did not include a required equity percentage.

If the owner wishes to convert the primary residence to a second home, the current and the proposed mortgage payments must be used to qualify the borrower for the new transaction.

If the current residence is converted to an investment property, Fannie Mae will continue to permit up to 75% of the rental income to be used to offset the mortgage payment. Again, the new twist is the needed documented equity of at least 30% in the existing property. The rental income must be documented with a copy of the fully executed lease agreement, and the receipt of a security deposit from the tenant and deposit into the borrower’s account. If the 30% equity in the property cannot be documented, rental income may not be used to offset the mortgage payment.

If the current principal residence is a pending sale, but the transaction will not be closed (with title transfer to a new owner) prior to the new transaction, both the current and the proposed mortgage payments must be used to qualify the borrower for the new transaction. This sometimes happens unexpectedly when an escrow is delayed or when an employee is transferred to a new location and buys a new home before the previous home sells.

Who can afford to pay cash for an additional home without first selling their primary residence? Surprisingly, more than four out of 10 investment buyers and more than three in 10 vacation-home buyers paid cash for their properties; with large percentages indicating that portfolio diversification was a factor in their purchase decision, according to recent study by the National Association of REALTORS®.

All cash for real estate? I guess this is finally proof that somebody thinks it’s a good idea.

By Tom Kelly

I was watching television this morning as our local weather experts shared that we are again having a triple-digit week.  In fact, today, is supposed to be a record breaker in the Permian Basin as we break our record of 103 degrees today!

What's funny is that humidity in our area is also high...something extremely unusual for the dry West Texas weather.

This blog is designed to present actionable tid-bits that makes your life better, saves you money, brighten your day and delivers valuable info.

When we're talking "triple digit" weather, I know that lowering your air conditioning cost has to be somewhere on your mind. 

Welcome to Liz Plaisted! She's the newest member of the McCourt Real Estate Team!

There are seven simple reasons why customers choose Liz Plaisted – she’s friendly, outgoing, dependable, dedicated, trusted, other experienced realtors support her, and she has a large network of contacts. But when it comes to real estate, Liz knows that she has a lot more to offer......click here for more info about Liz!

Or visit her website SOLD ON THE BASIN!

Here are McCourt Real Estate we are a bunch of dreamers and more.  We go past the point of being all about just daydreaming and put action behind our dreams.  We are visionaries and we support positive focused, active dreamers who come and join our team.

We were the first to bring you the 360 Virtual Tour.  Now, watch as we dream a little more, looking to the Netherlands on the possibilities of Real Estate.

Amazing, right? If you're involved in real estate and don't feel you're at a place where dreaming's encouraged...then stop in for a glass of tea and see McCourt Real Estate!