Custom Real Estate Blog

What are the key ingredients for a great childhood? 1. One-on-One Time in the Kitchen . The time it takes to prepare a meal is the time we have some special moments with our kids .  Making cookies together is a sure way to get their undivided attention! 2. Neighborhood Pals.   Give your kids a safe place to play and develop the friendships that stick with us for a lifetime.  There is no better feeling than finding out one of your friends from school lives just a few houses down the street! 3. A Guest Room!   Give Grandma & Grandad a place to stay when they are in town.  Big breakfast with everyone sitting around the table, those are some precious moments! 4. Adopt a Family Dog!   Your new family member will love playing with the kids in the backyard or going on walks around the neighborhood.  Protection, companionship, puppy kisses... that's the good life. 5. Don't Pay for Storage Anymore! Put all the extra family "stuff" you...

It's not an exaggeration to say it, as we can consistently deliver on this based on our local housing market.  It's science, with some math mixed in.   Sooo let's dive into the adventure that is...Getting a Free Pool. Hypothesis:  Prove that it is MUCH CHEAPER to buy a pre-existing home that already has a pool, instead of buying a home then adding the pool.  Especially in the winter! First off... How much does a new pool cost? Well, I found a local company on Google that has an online calculator for quotes.  I stayed away from Angies's List, Home Advisor, etc who had pricing guides that were wildly inaccurate.  But based on the estimator at Custom Outdoor Trends in Rockwall, an average pool with a spa costs 50-70k based on the different choices I made pretending to be a pool shopper.  Let's use 60k as our verified plug and play number for the purposes of this exercise. The Buying Options We Tested: Fixer-upper that alread...

Stop paying for the convenience of living in an apartment. Break out of the box and find a real home for you and your family.   Plan Your Escape...Make the Leap! Step 1 See Into The Future Allow us to run a data based simulation of your must-haves.  This will give you a 360 degree look at what your ideal home will cost and where/when you can find it available. Step 2 Get Pre-Approved This is based on current market standards for tenant criteria to save time and money.  Also see how you rank against other prospective tenants!  We do this to limit potential surprises, so rest easy and enjoy your pathway to leasing a home you will love.  Step 3 Let's Go Shopping! See real homes that are currently on the market! Walking through actual homes is the last step on the way to boosting your confidence prior to making a decision to terminate your apartment lease.  We can even show you homes that aren't currently for lease....

Low Appraisal Worries?                                                        When you are selling your home, the winning bidder’s lender will have an appraisal done to make sure the house is worth as much as the loan.  If a home is deemed to be worth less than than the offer amount, the sale of your home would be in jeopardy.  The banks are loaning the money, so they want to be safe.  Let’s take Albert the Appraiser for example… He gets an email to go evaluate the value of the home you just put under contract after a massive bidding war.  To him, it’s one of three houses he is going to appraise today so he goes online to start finding similar properties for comparison.  There are 5 or 6 houses that have sold recently so he records the data on size, rooms and other amenities.  He reviews the pictures of...