Move to San Antonio Texas

We decided to move to San Antonio, Texas. I heard some really special things about San Antonio. I remember, like it was yesterday. My daughter was a new-born, Hurricane Katrina was headed to the Texas and we were planning to move from California. We were moving closer to my wife’s family so we decided to move to San Antonio.

Move to San Antonio

I pretty much have lived in Southern California all my life and in the summer of 2005, we were on the move to San Antonio. The most impressive thing I noticed upon arriving in San Antonio was there so much land, lots of green land without buildings. I felt excited because I remember seeing nothing but buildings, houses and crowds of people where I use to live in California.

Record Growth in San Antonio
Recent surveys states that one in every 14 Americans now live in Texas. A few years ago, before the economy slowed, home builders were setting records with so many new homes built in San Antonio. The competition among new builders kept home values pretty stable and that is probably why Texas, and particularly San Antonio, did not have too many problems when the economy went south, as did my former home state of California, which suffered plenty until the economy got better.

The Good
• Texas has NO STATE TAXES. That is one reason many retirees move to San Antonio.
• The traffic in San Antonio is very mild if you compare it to where I grew up in California.
• I really like the schools and Teachers in San Antonio. My 13 year old is taking dual-language classes, I don’t remember that option in schools that I attended in California.
• My neighbors and the store clerks I meet, often make me realize that southern hospitality really does exist.
• Move to San Antonio and you can purchase a 4 bedroom home with a spacious yard, for less money than homes in some of the worst areas of Los Angeles, California.

The Not so Good
• I have become comfortable with the weather since our move to San Antonio, but I must admit, it gets hotter in San Antonio than I remember growing up in California.
• Yes, Texas property taxes are high because there is no State Tax.

We are happy with our move to San Antonio
While San Antonio is the seventh largest city in the US, most San Antonio residents don’t even realize it because it still feels like a friendly small town. San Antonio is big enough to provide all the “big city” activities, but small enough not to have a stressful “stop-for-several-minutes” rush hour problem.

Before you start your move to San Antonio

Before you start packing to move to San Antonio, please request your Free list of Homes for sale, including new homes, foreclosures and rental homes @ www.SABankRepo.com .

You can still find a good deal on a home and find southern hospitality when you move to San Antonio.
#RealEstate
#SanAntonio

April 28, 2018April 28, 2018

How Much to offer on a House in San Antonio

How much to offer on a house in San Antonio is a hot topic in my family. My family relocated to San Antonio a few years ago. My wife and I had been long time Realtors in California. When we moved to Texas, we basically had to start over and take classes to get our Texas real estate licenses. We wanted to buy a home as soon as possible. It did not take long to find a home we liked.

How much to offer on a house in San Antonio

Even with our experience, we overpaid for our first Texas home! We found a home that fit what we were looking for. We called the Realtor’s office on the For Sale sign. Since we did not know the San Antonio values, nor have access to the San Antonio MLS (as we were still taking our classes to get our Real Estate License), we depended on the same Realtor that represented the Seller.

That was a mistake. Although the Realtor did nothing wrong, it was obvious, we felt we were not given any advice that would favor us. On our behalf, the Realtor contacted an independent Appraisal company. The Appraiser’s price came in at the same price we offered. That alone should have cautioned us, but we proceeded to close the deal.

How much to offer on a house in San Antonio

New Found Knowledge, too late. Soon afterward we got our Texas Real Estate Licenses and had access to the MLS and decided to review our Appraisal. We discovered that some of the comparable homes the Appraiser used were not from the subdivision we purchased in, but from another more expensive subdivision. That is how the sales price came in to the price we offered, on the Appraisal. The Appraisal influenced our offer. We figured we overpaid by as much as $10,000. We vowed to not let that happen to any clients we represent.

How much to offer on a house in San Antonio

Initial Thoughts… We recognize some homebuyers save money for a long time before purchasing a home. Often the home search process can take several weeks or longer. Then you finally find that home that works for you and you decide to make an offer. You are not sure how much to offer on a house in San Antonio.

Because if you offer:
• Offer too low: You may lose the chance to buy that home because another offer may come in higher or worse, because the seller gets upset and refuses to even consider your “too low” offer with any reply at all.
• Offer too high: When your offer is immediately accepted, You may wonder if you should have offered less.

How much to offer on a house in San Antonio
Suggested Research … You can ask the Seller’s Realtor for answers but I recommend you use a Buyer’s Agent to represent you. The more you know, the more confidence you will have about how much to offer on a house in San Antonio.

Helpful things to know:
• How long has the Seller been trying to sell?
If the home has been on the market a long time, has the price been reduced, or could there be problems with the house.
• How much does the Seller owe?
If the loan amount due is same as what you want to offer, you may be wasting your time.
• Why is the Seller selling?
Is it a necessary move, financial hardship, employment relocation?
• Does the Seller live in the house or is it vacant?
If home is vacant, and seller is paying mortgage out of pocket, could be a motivated Seller.

How much to offer on a house in San Antonio
Determine the Subdivision Values

Ask your Agent to provide you with comparable Sales within the Subdivision
• Comparable sales from 12 months ago
• Comparable sales from 6 months ago
• Comparable sales within 3 months ago
Determine if the neighborhood trend is stable, going up or going down?

How much to offer on a house in San Antonio
Do Your Homework and call Les Earls (210) 442-9886.
Unlike the mistakes I made, I encourage you to ask more questions, do your research, and use that knowledge to make your offer. This is not an exact science, but with the right information, you will know how much to offer on a house in San Antonio.

#RealEstate
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April 28, 2018May 4, 2018

Don’t be a Fool when Listing your Home in San Antonio

Don’t be a fool when listing your home in San Antonio by a real estate agent who is merely flattering you with an inflated price. Yes, you want top dollar for your home. Respectfully, good real estate agents will present facts about recent sold homes in your neighborhood to justify a fair market listing price. Unfortunately, some “self-serving” real estate agents will list your home for sale, even when they know your home will not sale at the price you want. You must be wondering “why” a real estate agent would list a home at a price that won’t sale.

The Dangers of Overpricing when listing your home in San Antonio

The problems of trying to sell a house priced too high are numerous. Most real estate agents will want to avoid getting into a listing that is doomed to fail. However, I will tell you 2 reasons a “self-serving” real estate agent will still list your home, even when they know it will not sell at your asking price, and none of these reasons will benefit you!

Listing your home for sale to beat out other real estate agents

The main reason a “self-serving” real estate agent will ask you to sign a listing contract with them, even if the price is too high, is to simply beat out other real estate agents for your home listing contract. As a home seller, you want top dollar and whichever agent tell you the highest listing price that your home will sale, will often determine which agent gets your listing. Other real estate agents may present a lower but justified listing price, but often home sellers end of listing their home for sale into a long term contract, for the higher price.

The self-serving real estate strategy is: After a month or two, after no homebuyers have made any offers on your home, the home seller will be asked to reduce your asking price to the fair market price you should have started at in the first place. The heartbreak is that your home may have already been sold if you started with the right price when listing your home for sale.

Another reason why a real estate agent accepts a Listing price that won’t sale is:

Putting a sign in front of your house attracts home buyers. Home buyers do not know the asking price until they call the listing agent. The listing agent can collect information from these home buyers and then sell them other homes, like the homes your home is competing with. Yes, overpricing your home will help sell your competition’s homes!
This strategy is profitable to the “self-serving” real estate agent, and not so much for the home seller that is listing your home for sale at an unsellable price.

The most common reason a home does not sale is Over Pricing a Home.

When you price your home too high, you’re not fooling anyone. Informed buyers know the home values in your neighborhood. And if they don’t, you can bet the real estate agent that represents the home buyer does. Most home buyers today will not even bother looking at your home if the asking price is clearly high compared with other similar, homes for sale in your neighborhood.

Another concern when listing your home in San Antonio is the home buyer’s bank appraisal

Lately, we have noticed too many last minute renegotiation of final sales prices in escrow before closing. The reason is the bank’s appraisal value is coming in too low. The appraisal value must be the same or a higher value than the price agreed upon or the home buyer will not get the loan. Bank appraisers are determining values by comparing recent sold prices in the same neighborhood.
This is quite a dilemma because, unless the final price matches the appraiser’s price, the home buyer may not get the home loan. Without the home loan, there will be no sale and the seller starts over. Lately, too many sellers have had to lower their final sale’s price to match the bank appraisal and to complete the sale.

Don’t be a fool when listing your home in San Antonio

If you want a free market evaluation online, without obligation, simply click link “request my home value now” .

Sellers, consider viewing your home as a home buyer or an appraiser does, review recent sales of homes in your neighborhood carefully and choose a listing price that will attract home buyers and won’t cause a problem with bank appraisal values. Don’t be a fool when you are listing your home in San Antonio.

#RealEstate #SanAntonio #SellingYourHome

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September 16, 2014May 3, 2018

Bexar County Property Taxes- Protest Tips for 2018

Protesting your Bexar County property taxes is not rocket science.

I just received my new 2018 proposal for my Bexar County property taxes and I bet most of you San Antonio homeowners will get yours too. They never seem to go down without protesting.

I will provide you with some tips that will help you prepare to win a property tax reduction, if you decide to go for it.

Tip #1: Imagine you have decided to sell your property and you just accepted an offer from a buyer. Your buyer hires a professional home inspector to check everything inside and outside your property. Are you concerned?

Are there any issues or damages in your property that you might repair or replace to get maximum value for your home? Walk around your property. Do you have any interior or exterior settlement cracks?

Is the interior or exterior paint faded or outdated? Is the air conditioning and heating system running smoothly or does it need maintenance? Is the flooring throughout the property in good condition, or should it be replaced?

What is the condition of the windows? Are there any cracks? When is the last time you checked your roof? Is your roof worn, missing tiles or leaking?

How about the plumbing, does it need maintenance? If you have a pool, does it need new plastering or filtration system?

Which of these items would you want to address, if you wanted to sell your property at maximum value?

Tip # 2: If you have any issues or damages, take plenty of detailed pictures. Make multiple copies because you will need them should you decide to protest your Bexar County property taxes.

Tip # 3: Next call licensed contractors to give you written estimates for repairing or replacing the damaged items. Many homeowners go to property tax hearings to protest their Bexar County property taxes with multiple invoices from licensed contractors, for their roof replacement, interior and/ or exterior painting, flooring replacement, air conditioning and heating system replacement costs, plumbing estimates and foundation repair estimates if needed. Providing proof that their assessed Bexar County property taxes should be lower.

Tip # 4: When your new proposed bill for your Bexar County property taxes comes to you in the mail, complete the attached form, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (Form 50-132).

Tip # 5: Make sure you fill it out and most important, write on the form “MAIL ME THE EVIDENCE PACKET.”

You need to request the EVIDENCE PACKET! The evidence packet has all the proposed values in your neighborhood, so you will have access to all the information the tax assessor representative will use to prove your property tax assessment is worthy. And you can use the same information to prove your assessment should be lower. I recommend going in person, dropping off the Protest Form and Grabbing the Evidence packet while you are there. The Evidence Packet is a very useful tool should you decide to protest your Bexar County property taxes.

Tip # 6: I have created (3) videos about my most recent experiences. Watch the video I created when I prepared my Bexar County Taxes Protest @ https://youtu.be/dyLxlpyFVRA

Tip # 7: Watch the next video I created for protesting my 2017 Bexar County property taxes @ https://youtu.be/EsWd9s27h7o

Tip # 8: Watch video – what happened at my Bexar County property taxes protest formal hearing in 2017 @ https://youtu.be/5r9n_3NdExY

If you read this and you have watched the (3) videos I created, you will have an idea how to prepare, should you decide to protest your Bexar County property taxes.