Georgetown, Texas Real Estate Blog      Your Host: Edward Lui

Guess who’s the next lunch sponsor at Champions School of Real Estate?

Well, tomorrow’s the big day!  I’m sponsoring lunch for the students of the Principles of Real Estate II class on Monday.  This is the first time I’ve tried something like this, and I still don’t know what I’m going to do with the 20 minutes of time I have alloted!

Why am I doing this?

a.  I have so much money that I like to buy free lunches for rookie agents

b.  I am practicing my speech-giving skills

c.  I’m starting a revolution and I need a few volunteers

(Hint:  The answer is C)

Slow down there tiger, I don’t mean that type of revolution.  I mean a REAL ESTATE REVOLUTION!

At Mars Hill Realty Group, I’m offering real estate agents a revolution from the traditional real estate norms that plague our industry.

A revolution from the public distrust of real estate agents.

A revolution from the myriad of confusing marketing options available.

A revolution from ineffective negotiation expertise.

A revolution from poor pricing and predictive analysis skills.

Want to learn more?  Visit our brokerage website at www.MarsHillRealty.com or read our latest blog article on what makes us different from other traditional Austin real estate companies.

- Your Favorite HOMEboy,

Edward

In today’s economy, people are pinching pennies any chance they get. In my line of business, that means more and more sellers trying to sell their home without the expertise or skill of a real estate agent. Central Texas has been home (no pun intended) to the most stable real estate market despite the crash the rest of the nation has experienced, yet I still see plenty of For Sale By Owner signs on yards across Georgetown, Round Rock, and Austin. No community is immune to the temptation of saving money.

Not only is the owner potentially saving thousands of dollars from paying the agent’s commission, with the internet at our fingertips, there are great websites like ForSaleByOwner.com that help owners sell on their own. So it must be pretty easy and money-wise to sell without a licensed real estate agent. Or is it?

The founder of a popular for sale by owner Web site used a real estate broker to help sell his 2,000-square-foot, two-bedroom New York apartment after it lingered on the market for six months. Colby Sambrotto, the founder and former chief operating officer of ForSalebyOwner.com, tried to sell the property himself by listing it online and through classified ads, but after six months of it sitting on the market, he sought the help of a real estate broker. The condo soon attracted multiple offers and ended up closing recently for $150,000 more than the original asking price.

It’s like Dieter Zetsche (CEO of Mercedes-Benz) buying one of these for his daughter:

In other words, he got a much better product and paid less.

Contrary to popular (and unsubstantiated) belief, real estate agents can save you time and earn you more money than you realize. Contact your local REALTOR today if you are thinking about selling your home and if you don’t have one, contact your favorite HOMEboys!

Read the full story here.

If you bought a new home recently, a good way to lower your taxes is to file for a homestead exemption on your primary residence.  This is something I mentioned in a previous article about protesting taxes and could save you a few hundred dollars a year.

Williamson County is a good resource if you need more information about this exemption and you can click here to go to their website.

You can also download the 2011 application below.

homesteadexemptionapplication

Here’s more information provided by Independence Title Company:

Homestead exemptions remove part of your home’s value from taxation. If you want to receive a homestead exemption for the taxes on your home, the home must first qualify as a residence homestead on January 1 of the year in which you are applying.

There are two requirements:
1. You must own your home on January 1. (If you are over 65,and/or
disabled the January 1 ownership and residency are not required.)
2. You must use the home as your principal residence on January 1.

A state law that took effect on September 1, 2011 has changed proof of residency requirements for homeowners applying for the property tax homestead exemption.
(CLICK HERE) to download more information.

Your Favorite HOMEboys

Edward and Edwin

Trying to find a home with an in-ground pool in the heat of Texas summer is like the holy grail for real estate shoppers. To get a recently built home, with mature landscaping, and over 2700 SF (according to tax records) at $275,000 is nearly impossible.

Until now. Let me tell you about 3644 Fossilwood Way located in Mayfield Ranch in Round Rock, Texas:

1.  There are many homes that try to “squeeze” into this price range by offering a pool, but skimping on the landscaping.  From the moment you drive up to this home, your eyes will be immediately drawn to the meticulously chosen native plants that line the front yard in a very natural setting.  This landscaping design not only minimizes the amount of yard that needs to be cut, but also the owner’s water usage.  Landscaping involves more than just well-chosen plants, but also good utility of stones, rocks and pathways that wind through the yard.  This home also has a beautiful walkway made of flagstone laid on top of crushed granite that connects the front and back yard.

2.  If you’re a shopper in this price range, something else you’ll notice different about this home is that it’s only built in 2004 and it’s a relatively new home that has been well taken care of.  What that means to you is that you don’t have to buy a home, and already start planning for your next renovation project.  The floorplan is very modern and all the spaces are well-proportioned and the flooring and paint upgrades have been well chosen.

3.  This isn’t an ordinary pool that was picked out from a catalog and just plopped in the yard!  In fact, the owners had it custom designed for the backyard and you will have a view of this pool from almost every room in the home:  Living, Kitchen, Breakfast, Gameroom and two bedrooms.

When you step out here, your first inclination may be to jump in the pool, so let me point out a few things that this pool may distract you from.  The deepest point is in the middle of the pool and it’s shallow on both ends…this is perfect for a game of water volleyball.  If you have young children or just want to wade in the pool and relax with a good book, there is also a sun ledge, an ultra-shallow wading area.  This pool can be for fun as well as exercise or therapy.  If you want to do laps, you can do that too by just turning on the swim jet and swimming against the current.  After spending hours in the pool, it’s nice to know that your largest organ, your skin, didn’t just absorb lots of unhealthy chlorine.  That’s right, this is a salt water pool, which results in minimal maintenance costs and leaves swimmers with skin and hair softer then when they came into the pool.  Say “good-bye” to smelly chlorine that lingers on your body after you swim.

This home is the entertainer’s dream: A high-end pool set in a natural surrounding with an outdoor kitchen to handle all your grilling needs.  This home isn’t too old, where renovations and updates are in order…on the other hand, the home has upgraded window treatments, flooring and paint to give it a very modern and cozy feel for the next homeowner.

Click here to download disclosure-survey-floorplan

For more pictures of this home, click on the photos in the gallery below:

Looking for information on Georgetown Texas Homes For Sale? Visit my website or call me anytime!! Want the latest updates on Georgetown Texas Real Estate, news and latest developments? Sign up for the blog by clicking the link below:

I recently announced on my Facebook Page, that I was starting an independent real estate brokerage and was naming it Mars Hill Realty Group.  Well, after 2-3 weeks of receiving over 450 logo designs from about a dozen top graphic designers, I’ve narrowed it down to these 3:

LOGO C:

LOGO B:

LOGO A:

Which one do you like the best?  Feel free to comment below and vote on my Facebook page!  That link is www.YourFavoriteHomeboy.com

7/17/09 UPDATE – Check out the results below:

Williamson County, Texas – No more “Sans” thanks to “Three Legged Willie”

Ever wonder why our home county is named “Williamson”? Most people would guess that it was named after some prominent resident who resided here or did some great thing in the county’s history. In fact, it was named after a man who never even lived here! Our county’s namesake is Robert McAlpin Williamson and although his connection to Williamson County doesn’t go much further than the name, his life makes for quite a story.

He was born in Georgia sometime between 1804 and 1806. Orphaned by the death of his mother and the abandonment of his father before his first birthday, he was raised by his grandmother in Milledgeville, Georgia. He studied law and was admitted to the bar by the time he was twenty. He must have been a peculiar site in Georgia courtrooms, as five years earlier, he had contracted a form of arthritis that left his right knee locked at a 90 degree angle for the rest of his life. Since the leg was perfectly healthy (other than the fact the knee wouldn’t unbend) the decision was made not to amputate the useless appendage. Instead a wooden leg was attached to the knee, giving him the nickname “Three-Legged-Willie.” Apparently he didn’t much care for the name since no one was willing to use it to his face.

Despite his odd deformity, something he obviously never saw as a limitation, he joined Stephen F. Austin’s colony in 1827. Some stories claim that the move was not of his own choosing. By those accounts, he was on the run after injuring a rival suitor in a duel over a young lady. Once in Texas, Williamson expended his considerable energy in founding and editing several newspapers and serving as the first public prosecutor for what later became Travis County. Never held back by his deformed leg, Williamson was an excellent rider and marksman and was soon appointed a Major in the Texas Rangers. He fought Comanches on the frontier and the Mexican Army at Gonzalez and San Jacinto. He helped to write the first constitution of the Republic of Texas and served as a Supreme Court Justice and Circuit Judge. (District Judges rode circuits within their districts and simultaneously served as Supreme Court justices.)

After ending his career in the Texas judiciary, he ran for and won office in the House of Representatives and later in the Senate in the Republic of Texas. After the annexation of Texas, he served as a representative in the state government and it is here that we come to the story of how Williamson County came to bear his name. In 1848 the state legislature, responding to a petition from 107 residents of western Milam County, decided to split off what is now Williamson County. The question came up as to what they should call what is now our home county. The most favored name seemed to be “San Gabriel” for the river that runs through it and was an early center of settlement. An objection was raised by Representative Williamson who stood up and irreverently exclaimed that, “We’ve already got enough San’s in Texas!” One of his legislative colleagues responded by proposing that since he disagreed with the name San Gabriel, they should just name the new county for Judge Williamson himself. The motion carried and today we live in Williamson County rather than San Gabriel County.

In an effort to separate some of my networking and business posts from my personal facebook profile, I created a Facebook page!  Please check it out and become a fan by clicking here! Or you can search for “Edward W. Lui – Your Favorite HOMEboy” on Facebook.

I plan on using my Facebook page for “micro-blogging” and posting links, short updates, local listings/real estate deals and other helpful information to my “fans.”  One of the nice things about my Facebook page is that I can talk “real estate” with people who have signed up to hear about it and not blast my information to just anyone.  Please join the discussion anytime and feel free to ask questions yourself.  I would love to have some interaction with my readers!

If you haven’t joined Facebook revolution yet, you might as well do it now:)  As far as privacy is concerned, nobody can see your profile and personal information without first being approved by you.  I think it’s a great social networking site, that will be sticking around for a long time and provides a great way to connect with the people you really want to.  What do you think?  Do you have a facebook profile yet or do you think this is just a fad that will go away?

I hope you’ll check out my Facebook page, and if you find it to be helpful, sign up as a fan!

~your favorite HOMEboy

Those of you who live in Georgetown Village have probably noted the old cemetery next to the entrance of Phase I. I’ve always had a fascination with cemeteries as there lie the repositories of the last remains of people who lived and experienced another time.

Not wanting to disturb the dead, or get arrested for trespassing, I overcame my innate curiosity, until one Saturday when I noticed someone inside the fence cleaning up all the brush and grass that had accumulated. I figured that if he could be in there working, I could at least step in to have a look around and ask a few questions.

The man was Rev. John Gurley, a local Baptist preacher, who said that he cared for old cemeteries that no one else was taking care of. He said that it was a way of paying respects to his parents who were buried too far away for him to care for their graves. By the time I got there, he had cleared away most of the brush that had clogged the cemetery. He told me that an armadillo had dug down into one of the graves and that he had had to replace some of the bones that the animal had disturbed. There are numerous unmarked grave stones scattered around the area, based on their small size, the Rev. Gurley said that most appeared to be young children, a sobering reminder both of the material poverty of most of the early settlers and the fact that not too long ago many parents buried more children than they raised to adulthood.

The mysterious two gravestones: The two graves stones that do have inscriptions are enclosed in a small wrought iron fence in the middle of the cemetery, the one that a burrowing armadillo had disturbed was Cretia Lord (Jan 23, 1846 – Nov 15, 1902). The other person buried there is her infant son, David (Aug 25, 1872 – Jan 25, 1873) who appears to have died from Scarlet Fever, a common killer of children in that age. I little digging on the internet found that Cretia’s father, Joseph Martin Fish, born in Germany, was a veteran of the war of 1812. Cretia’s mother Nancy outlived her daughter by two years, passing away in 1904.

Cretia’s husband, Leroy B. Lord also outlived her, passing away in 1911. He is buried in the IOOF Cemetery behind Southwestern University. Besides being sheriff of Williamson County 1868-1869 he was also a relatively wealthy man. In a 2001 proceeding of the Georgetown City Council in which permission was given to begin development of Georgetown Village, that whole area was referred to as the “Leroy B Lord Survey.”

I’ve always found history to be most interesting when I find a personal connection and now I have one with the lady whose mortal remains lie in the cemetery at the entrance to Georgetown Village. If you live in the Village, then your house stands on land that once belonged to that lady and her husband.

What Documentation Is Needed to Apply for an FHA Loan?

Buying a home can be a trying experience. From negotiating a price to home inspections; whether it’s your first or fifth time there always seems to be surprises. Being as prepared as possible to meet with a lender will help make qualifying for an FHA backed loan a more pleasurable experience.

A loan officer will need several pieces of information, both personal and financial, to help you qualify for an FHA loan. The information is required of both you and a co-borrower if applicable. Bring this information with you to your first meeting with the FHA loan officer.

• Your Social Security number
• The addresses of all the places you have lived in the past two years
• The names and addresses of all the places you have worked in the past two years
• Your Gross Monthly Income (before taxes) or your current job or jobs
• Pay stubs from the past four weeks
• W-2 forms from all employers for the past two years
• Personal tax returns for the past two years
• Information about all current bank accounts
• Bank name and address
• Account numbers
• Current available balance
• Average balance over the past six months
• Information regarding all current loans
• School loans
• Credit cards
• Car loans
• Any other loan – Information should include; account numbers, loan balance and minimum monthly payments
• Information regarding any other real estate you own
• The approximate value of your personal property including; jewelry, cars, bonds, etc
• Self-employed individuals will be required to furnish a business balance sheet and current income statement
• A certificate of eligibility is required for Veterans

Additionally, you should be prepared to pay for a credit check and property appraisal.

Being fully prepared for your first appointment with a loan officer will ensure fewer surprises on the road to home ownership.

(Article courtesy of www.fhaloansource.com.  Interested in advertising or posting content on www.GeorgetownCustomHomes.com/blog that will be beneficial to my readership?  Please contact me for details.)

As a cleaning service owner, I’m often asked about what products work best to clean various surfaces.  There are many great products that work well and can be purchased right off of the shelves at the local grocery store.

For now, I would like to discuss a few products that can be used for dusting and bathrooms. Next time I will discuss some great products to use to get your floors and kitchens sparkling clean.

What products are good for dusting?

Swiffer Dusters, especially the extendable types as they do a great job of picking up and holding dust. Lambswool type dusters also work well.

When dusting, always start from the top of your room and work your way down. The last thing you want to do is to beautifully dust your room just to get it all dirty again when you clean your ceiling fan! So, make sure to dust your cobwebs and ceiling fans first and then dust the rest.

Follow up dusting by polishing your wood furniture with a product such as Pledge, Howard’s Orange Oil, or your favorite Lemon Oil to give surfaces a nice finish and to ensure the dust stays off as long as possible. The product you ultimately choose to polish your furniture will depend on your furniture’s surface and how you would like the final appearance to be. Oil based products such as Howard’s will leave your surface shiny but be aware that some products such as Murphy’s Oil Soap may leave a buildup over time.

The absolute best way to keep dust at a minimum is to frequently change your filters on you’re A.C. vents.

What products should I use to get my bathrooms looking good?

When deciding what product to use to clean bathrooms, first determine what needs to be cleaned: General dust/dirt, soap scum and or hard water.

General Dust and Dirt: Any all purpose cleaner will work with warm water and soap. Our favorite soap is Ivory as it leaves surfaces super shiny.

Hard water: Hard water is heavier than soap scum so if you have both, you may need to remove hard water layers in order to get to the soap scum layer underneath. Products such as Ajax, Barkeeper’s Friend and Lemi Shine work great on hard water build up.

Tip: Lemi Shine can be purchased in the dishwasher isle and although it is intended for dishwashers, it is probably the best product out there for removing tough hard water build up. Lemi Shine is an all natural product, in a salt form, and it will not discolor your faucets.

Soap scum: To remove soap scum, try Easy Off Bam, Comet, and Scrubbing Bubbles. The best way to tackle soap scum is to spray your product and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes before wiping it off. Let the cleaner do as much of the work so you don’t have to!

To get a really nice finish, after you scrub your surface, rewipe it with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Give it one final rinse and presto! Soap scum will be history.

What products should I use to get my mirrors looking great?

To get mirrors looking great, we like to use Essentials from Arm and Hammer. The best way we’ve found to clean mirrors is to wash them using soap and warm water then follow with your favorite glass cleaner.

What works for toilets?

For toilets, we like to use The Works as it is an acid and cuts right through heavy hard water. If you are looking for an all natural alternative, Lemi Shine also works great.

With any product you choose, please test first in order to avoid damage to your surfaces!

And of course, if you find that you do not want to do the cleaning yourself or simply can’t, please give Welcome Home Cleaning Services a call! We serve the following areas:  Georgetown, Texas; Round Rock, Pflugerville, Hutto, Taylor, and parts of North Austin.

Editor’s Note: The next time you have a Georgetown, Texas home for sale and you need it cleaned, give Maria a call!

www.WelcomeHomeCleaning.com