Holidays...To Sell Or Not To Sell?

I had a client not too long ago ask me if he should try to sell his Houston home during the holidays?

I believe it is a great idea to sell your home during the holidays season and here is why:

• People who are looking at houses during this period are more serious buyers.
• Most home sellers take their homes off the market thinking that people are spending their money elsewhere which means there is less competition for the sellers and fewer homes for the buyer to choose from. In turn, higher chances to get a good offer on your house.
• After the holidays, many home sellers will put their houses back on the market and the inventory of homes will increase which means buyers will have more homes to choose from and most probably you might get less money for your house because you might need to drop the price to compete with the other houses in the market.
• People take lots of days off during the holidays and serious home buyers have more time to look at houses.
• Houses always feel more warm and show good with the Christmas decorations.
• Many people have their lease over by the end of the year and would like to move and spend the Christmas in their new home.

These are just some of the reasons I believe it is a good idea to sell your house during the holidays.

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Houston is such an amazing city! So much to do...so much to see! For those of you moving to Houston, check out this video! 

Houston Home Buying Process Made Simple in 7 Steps

Moving to Houston or living in Houston and thinking of purchasing a home? Here is the Houston home buying process made simple in 7 steps...

Step 1: Make sure that you can qualify for a loan. 

This step is very important for couple of reasons;
First, you will know if you can get a loan (pre-qualify or pre-approval) and for how much and if not qualified, at least you will know what you need to work on to be qualified in a few months.
The second reason, most Houston home sellers require that the buyer sends the pre-approval letter with the offer, otherwise, they are not going to consider the offer.
Third reason, so that you can have some expectations on how much down payment you will need to pay and closing costs, so you can plan accordingly.

I can’t tell you how many times people went out for months looking for a house and then they found out that they are not qualified when they wanted to submit an offer; I also can’t tell you how many times people lost a great deal because their offer was not considered without the pre-approval letter and other buyers got the house. You must have a pre-approval letter if you are serious about purchasing a home and most Houston Realtors, myself included, will not proceed with the process until the client has one.
You can contact a Houston mortgage lender for pre-approval or contact me for a list of lenders in the Houston Area. I have lenders I highly trust and recommend.

Step 2: Start looking for houses. I will set up a page based on what you are looking for as far as how many bedrooms, bathrooms, price range, location, size, school district, etc and you will receive alerts on all the houses that meet your searching criteria for you to look over and review. After reviewing them thoroughly you can then decide which ones to delete or to save as "possibilities." I highly suggest and my clients actually do this, is to take a day to drive around and look at the homes on your list and take that time to check out the neighborhoods, etc. By doing this you are able to eliminate or keep many of the homes you have on your "possibility" list and this is a great time saver when it comes to the actual day to look. Once you are ready we can go view the houses you like on the list.

I will not talk in details here about the remaining steps as I will be working with you and guiding you through the whole process step by step but here they are:

Step 3: Making an offer
Step 4: Have inspection
Step 5: Remove contingencies, if any
Step 6: The loan process
Step 7: Closing & Key for your new house

If you have any questions please call me at 281-326-HOME and please visit us at www.davidthelocator.com I look forward to hearing from you soon!

DavidTheLocator: Picking The Right Houston Neighborhood

DavidTheLocator: Picking The Right Houston Neighborhood: Picking a Houston neighborhood that fits your lifestyle and desires is an important part of the homebuying process. It can be challengi...

Picking The Right Houston Neighborhood

Picking a Houston neighborhood that fits your lifestyle and desires is an important part of the homebuying process. It can be challenging, though … there are so many things to consider.

For a lot of people, quality schools top the list of desirable neighborhood amenities. It may surprise you that being in an area with good schools is important even for people without children because good schools mean a higher resale value.

As unpleasant as it may be, the Houston crime statistics or crime statistics of any area are important, too. Take your time and do your research on this one … there are plenty of resources out there, including local law enforcement resources, Web sites, even neighborhood Internet groups.

You may also want to consider transportation issues, such as how living in an area is going to affect your day-to-day errands, your commute, and the ease of access to public transportation and major thoroughfares.

Some people want to be in close proximity to healthcare facilities. Others find that having quick access to shopping centers or their favorite grocery store or restaurants is a top priority. Still others may value features such as public pools and parks, access to bike routes and jogging and walking trails.

The point is that everyone's list will be different. The key is to find a neighborhood that scores well in areas you deem important. That's a good place to focus your search efforts.

If you're able to find everything you're looking for in a neighborhood, good for you! However, if you're like many people, you may have to make some sacrifices. A neighborhood you're considering may score well on most of your checklist but not meet every single one of your criteria. That's when you have to decide if one missing attribute can be offset by the presence of another.

 For more information please visit our website at www.davidthelocator.com. We look forward to assisting you in anyway we can!