Why Hasn't my House Sold Yet???

...Well there are 4 Prongs to getting a home sold: Price, Condition, Location, Marketing.
1. Pricing your home correctly is more important than ever in this market. It is still a buyer's market so attracting more qualified buyers is crucial. You will have missed opportunities if your home is overpriced for your neighborhood. Now with all of the mortgage reform, the price of the home must pass the appraiser...their processes and standards have become much more stringent.
2. Condition...There are many homes on the market today so yours must win the beauty contest to be sold. The home must have great curb appeal, be clean and uncluttered, and staging doesn't hurt either.
3. Location...this is one of those things that we can't change but directly effects whether or not someone will be attracted to your home...next to a busy street, power lines, landfill...whatever someone might not find appealing.
4. Marketing...In addition to your agent putting your home in the local Multiple Listing Service, your home should be advertised in at least 30 different internet listing portals, great photos, and perhaps a virtual tour.

For more information or help with listing your home in San Antonio, go to my website at www.HollyGHomes or email me at hollyg@kw.com.

Home for Sale in Greenshire...Schertz, Tx

This home is spacious and beautiful! go to www.HollyGHomes.com for more info.

Home For Sale 2824 Red Bud Cir in Schertz Tx

Spacious Home in the peaceful subdivision of Greenshire. Listed at $220K with 2635 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a 2 car garage with shady mature oak trees in the front and back yard!!! For more information and photos go to

http://www.propertypreviews.com/realestate/13616/2824_red_bud_circle_schertz_tx

or www.HollyGHomes.com

Updated Home in Long's Creek $123K!

New AC, water heater, flooring, countertops, cabinet hardware, appliances, updated bathrooms...what else could you want for this price?

For more info, go to my website www.HollyGHomes.com

Hollywood Park Homes

Current homes for sale in Hollywood Park, San Antonio Texas 78232.

For more information or a free San Antonio home search go to my website www.HollyGHomes.com

8K Tax Credit - Time is Running Out!

If you are a first time home buyer or have not owned a home in the past three years, you should be able to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit. There are a few guidelines that go along with this credit. The credit is 10% of the price of the home and not to exceed 8,000 dollars, personal income should be $75K per year or less/$150K per year for married couples or less AND you must live in the home for at least 3 years after purchase in order to NOT have to pay the credit back.

The big takeaway for the moment is that time is getting short! You must close on your home by November 30,2009 to be able to file for this credit on your income tax forms.
Interest rates are low and home prices are still affordable so don't wait to find and purchase your home if you don't have to.
For more information about this topic or for a free San Antonio home search, go to my website
www.HollyGHomes or email me at hollyg@kw.com.

Buying a Home in San Antonio VS Renting

Many would be home buyer's are sitting on the fence in a rented home or apartment thinking they should wait until the economy gets better before buying a house....well I think they should be more educated about their concerns.
Waiting because of a fear of loss or reduction in income stream is the only valid reason I can think of for waiting.
With property values steady and interest rates still low, the possibilities of a mortgage payment being the same as or about the same as a rental payment are quite good.
Running a rent vs buy comparison, most people are way ahead of the financial game by buying a home and having that investment as the years pass...and they have an asset they can sell at the end of those same years of money out the window...make sense?
For more information or a free San Antonio home search go to www.HollyGHomes.com or email me at hollyg@kw.com.

First Time Home Buyer's Tips

If you are a first time home buyer here are a few tips that will help you make the right decisions on what house will be the smart choice and fit your budget.

My number one thing for any home buyer to do seems to be #4 on other lists but here is my list:

1. See what you can afford. Create a budget for your household to see what monies you have
available in your budget for a mortgage payment and still have money left over to continue
putting some money in savings with a bit left over for a hamburger. Remember that a
mortgage payment consists of principal, interest, property taxes, and insurance. Once you
know how much payment you can stand and lender or Realtor can tell you how much house
you can afford.
2. Check comparable sales prices for the neighborhoods you like through an MLS search...
your Realtor can help with this. Your Realtor will also be checking the comparables on sold
homes in the neighborhood you choose to help advise you on the offer price that makes the
most sense.
3. There will be closing costs involved you must prepare for which is separate from the
down payment you have saved up.
4. Don't forget that there will be maintenance costs associated with owning a home...light bulbs,
AC filters, wear and tear on the home and appliance break down.

For more information on buying your first home please email me at hollyg@kw.com or go to my website www.HollyGHomes.com

Time is Money...Even When Buying a Home

Surely you have all heard the phrase "Time is money"...well it is true even when you are trying to pick the moment to purchase a home and it's all about interest rates and home values.

Currently we are in a buyer's market where there is an abundance of homes on the market and not enough buyer's to buy them...which has done a number on home values and pricing. Interest rates have also plummeted to all time lows making home mortgage payments more affordable.

As you know the pendulum swings both ways and the market will recover....house values will recover and interest rates will rise (no one knows exactly when this will take place) and we are beginning to see the start of that here in our San Antonio Real Estate market.
So what does this mean to you in dollars if you wait too long to purchase a home? Extra dollars spent each month on interest...how much? For example a note on a $100,000 home with a 3.5% down payment and 30 year fixed rate of 5.5% would have a P&I payment of $547.92....after waiting if the rates increase to 6% with everything else being the same the P&I payment will be $578.57....a difference of $30.65 per month (every month).

This does not take into account the probable rise in home values.

If you are a first time home buyer, you also need to consider the deadline of December 1st to close on your home purchase to be able to take advantage of the $8K tax credit(that you don't have to pay back).

Get with your Realtor to discuss what time frame would be in your best interest if you are considering buying a home but sitting on the fence. Please feel free to email me hollyg@kw.com for more information or go to my site for a free San Antonio Home search www.HollyGHomes.com

Great Deals Offered on New Home Construction

The days of new home builders giving great incentives to purchase their inventory are not over yet. Some builders are allowing large sums of money to be applied to choice upgrades for the home or applied to closing costs. I also know of a couple of builders that are willing to pay your electric bill for 2 years...imagine that!!!!

Between the extremely low interest rates, great pricing on homes, incentives to purchase and don't forget about the first time home buyer Up to $8,000 tax credit (no you don't have to pay it back) it really is a great time to buy a home...especially here in San Antonio!

Don't forget that having a Realtor represent you in buying a new construction home will not cost you anymore for the home...don't buy without having a Realtor represent your best interests.

For more information on New Home builders and their offerings or a free San Antonio home search go to www.HollyGHomes.com or email me at hollyg@kw.com.

Buying a Foreclosed Property Needs Patience

With the current state of the housing market there are plenty of foreclosures out there for sale...VA foreclosures, HUD foreclosures and bank owned. The perception of many buyers is that a foreclosure is going to be a "great deal" and that is not always the case.

I have seen plenty of these listings overpriced compared to it's actual market value sometimes due to the homes condition and sometimes related to the amount of money that the bank would like to recoup.

Condition of a foreclosed property is a serious issue...many prior owners took out their anger and frustrations about their situation on the poor house they had to abandon. I have witnessed missing appliances, cabinetry, flooring, electrical outlets and wiring, light fixtures and faucets not to mention damage to walls/ceilings/closets/plumbing/HVAC systems...these folks were mad!

So let's talk a bit about why you need a heavy dose of patience to purchase one of these fine units. Normally when your agent makes an offer on a property for you, an answer of yes/no/counter can be expected usually within the next 24 hours. Getting an initial response about your offer usually takes a minimum of 3 days. Should your offer be accepted, there are bank drafted contracts and addendums to sign off on and get to the title company...another 3 to 5 days. Your agent should check with the listing agent to see what the rules are for that specific listing in terms of how many days are allowed for the buyer to get a home inspection and what happens should that turn up serious defects. Most all foreclosures are "as is where is" with only the option to back out of the contract (hopefully with the earnest money tendered). The closing date you ask for in the contract should take into consideration the slow nature of closing these homes...45 days sometimes is enough but not always. Once the inspection is done and the buyer decides to stay with the home contract, then the appraisals, surveys, HOA docs are all ordered and the lender works through thier processes. Communications through the title companies to the seller are also slow...most title companies will inform all parties ahead of time that the seller may take 48-72 hours to sign off on everything up to and after closing. Another fine thing to know since keys to any new home are not given to the buyer until all parties have signed off and the transaction has funded.

Perhaps I have oversimplified a bit but anyone considering purchasing a foreclosure needs to understand that the whole transaction will take a lot more time to close and a lot more patience.

For more information on foreclosures or a free San Antonio property search, go to www.HollyGHomes.com or email me at hollyg@kw.com.

$8K First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

In case you haven't heard me talk about this before (almost impossible) there is a first time home buyer's tax credit of up to $8,000 that does NOT have to be paid back with a few restrictions. The home must be purchased by December 1, 2009. As long as you have not owned a home within the last three years you qualify as a first time home buyer. This is a credit that can be taken when you file your 2008 tax return to go toward what you may owe...and get what's left back to you! Your CPA can help with all of this.

So with the historically low interest rates, this tax credit, and home prices being what they are, would be home buyers are beginning to jump off the proverbial fence and starting their home search. With all of this renewed activity, we shall see how the market continues to percolate.

For more information on this topic and more or a free San Antonio home search go to my website www.HollyGHomes.com or email me at hollyg@kw.com.

Building Green Homes In San Antonio

It's all about reducing our carbon footprint while we are here...right? Imagine Homes is one of the few track builders to win awards in this arena. Their hard work starts with contributing as little as possible to the landfills, flows into their spray foam insulation, shows in the choices of sustainable products and low VOC materials...right down to the energy efficient appliances and water saving dual flush toilets.

Woodside Homes is also getting into the action by building 3 homes to test and measure the benefits of energy efficient building materials over a 15 month period. One home is going to be the ultra efficient home to include solar panels, spray foam insulation and energy efficient appliances and materials(30K over the price of todays normal home). The second home will not have solar panels but will include all other energy efficicient building materials(only 20K over normal). The third home is the control home and is built to normal standards. It should be very interesting to see the reports after this 15 month study.

Don't forget that you can always retrofit your current home to be a bit or a lot greener.

For more information or a free San Antonio home search go to my site at www.HollyGHomes.com or email me at hollyg@kw.com.

Lower Interest Rates for Home Mortgages...Again!

Exciting news about the interest rates...hot off the presses.

Rates have dropped almost .75%. So with good credit and so on....qualifying buyers can get a Conventional rate around 4.375 or a VA/FHA around 4.5%!!!!!!! Can I say WOW?!?

We have a great Real Estate Market here in San Antonio but this should really shove it over the top... not to mention help stimulate the economy for the rest of the nation.

For more information on this or a free San Antonio home search visit my website www.HollyGHomes.com or email me at hollyg@kw.com.