Georgetown, Texas Real Estate Blog Your Host: Edward Lui

These days you mention anything with the word “gas” and you can get all sorts of attention…so I’m cheating with this blog post to get some additional readership

If you searched for GAS PRICES, GAS STATIONS, GAS IS GOING UP, GAS IS GOING DOWN and/or GEORGETOWN, TEXAS I hope this blog comes up. Don’t worry, I will actually write something relevant:

My parents and my older sister, Jennie and her whole family, came down from Maryland to visit us a few weeks ago. It was nice, we stayed in a time share at San Antonio and then spent a few days in Georgetown, Texas. Well, since all things must come to an end, it was soon time for me to drive them back to Austin Bergstrom International Airport (just 40-50 minutes from Georgetown). I left at about 4-5 AM since it was an early flight and I needed to get gas. So I went down Williams Drive and thought I would hit the most convenient gas station I saw:

Wow, this looks like a very nice place. Lots of bright lights and existing vehicles tell me that this place is open! However, when I got here, for some reason the first pump would not accept my credit card. As a matter of fact, neither would the second pump I drove to. I tried a debit and a credit card and no luck. What was worse was that the pump started asking me all sorts of silly questions that took me forever to scroll through. WORD OF ADVICE: If you’re in a hurry, and you’re in a hot Texas summer, avoid gas stations that advertise the “TOUCHLESS CAR WASH” Why? It’s just another silly option that they offer and it can delay the whole gas filling process. What happened to the good ‘ole days when the only options you had was the type of gas you wanted. Now, they start trying to sell anything from soda, to oil additives to car washes at the pump!

Anyway, since I struck out at Valero with their non-credit card working pumps I hopped on down to the only other gas station that was open at this hour on Williams Drive:

Another nice looking gas station and gas here was actually a whole penny cheaper! Wow! So I saved about a quarter filling up here. Options were kept to a minimum (no brushless car wash system here) and the pumps actually worked!

So, the next time you come rolling into my part of town, go for the big name in gas: TEXACO. You’ll sweat less (by having less options to scroll through), pay less and be finished quicker!

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Yep, today is my 32nd birthday and I’ve never had a chance to blog about a birthday so I thought I would give it a shot.  Thirty-two big ones on planet earth!  Woohoo!

My wife and kids are making me a cake and I think Joshua is more excited about it than I am.  Later tonight, I’m going to my bible study, called a Real Life Group, and hanging out with some friends of mine from church.  I also took a buyer to look at some homes earlier this morning.  Nothing too exciting, but I don’t really mind “low-key” celebrations.  Spending some time with family and friends and then doing what I love (real-estate) is a real blessing.  I’m thankful that God reminds me of that today.

If you really must get me a gift though, I’m looking for a pretty awesome landscaper who can design my backyard….know of any?

…we’re also not too shabby for kids.

Texas Monthly magazine recently ranked the Creative Playscape in Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park as the best in state.  I asked my wife what she thought about it and, although she likes it, she mentioned that it was actually a little too big for our little kids and she would have a hard time keeping track of them.  Maybe a great place for the older kids…or mom’s who are a little more care-free.  Anyway, the Austin American Statesman wrote an article on it and I’ve included it below for your convenience:

Georgetown playscape ranked best in state
Texas Monthly magazine praises San Gabriel Park playscape.
By Bob Banta
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Thursday, July 17, 2008

GEORGETOWN — When Raoul Perez drove into Georgetown on an errand last week from his home in Marble Falls, he ran into an unexpected delay.

“My daughter, Adrianna, looked out of the car window and saw the playscape here and just had to stop and play on it,” Perez said as he pushed his 1-year-old son, Julian, on a swing while Adrianna, 7, explored the playscape’s maze of tunnels and towers.

Adrianna’s attraction to the 15-year-old Creative Playscape in Georgetown’s San Gabriel park is not unusual. Designed by architect Robert Leathers of Ithaca, N.Y., the facility was named favorite playground for children in the April issue of Texas Monthly magazine.

“With all the places to run and hide, no game of tag will ever be the same after your kids have played here,” said the article, compiled by a team of writers.

“I’ve seen buses of school kids from as far away as Salado,” said Kimberly Garrett, director of Georgetown’s Parks and Recreation Department. “We draw people from a 30-mile radius.”

The structure, built by volunteers in 1993 and funded with $140,000 in donations, consists of walkways, tunnels and elevated wooden bridges that are stained dark brown. Pagodas loom over the assembly of swings, firefighter poles and bouncing rope bridges.

The heavy plank walls of the tunnel and corridor system are decorated with carvings of ancient buildings and log cabins, and colored tiles painted by children line square posts at the entrance to the playscape. Shade from an oak tree gives it a shadowy, brooding, Harry Potter-like atmosphere.

It’s spooky enough to satisfy older kids but not scary enough to frighten toddlers.

“They love playing hide-and-seek and running through all the different structures,” said A.J. Green, who drove from Jarrell to let his two grandsons, ages 10 and 5, run off some energy. “We come here almost once a week.”

Longtime Georgetown resident Tom Swift, a staff secretary in the health and counseling services office of Southwestern University, managed the citizens committee that raised money and helped build the playscape. “Our priorities in building it were safety, engagement and beauty. We also wanted it to be accessible to everyone,” he said.

Swift said he knew they had been successful when the mother of a boy with cerebral palsy told him shortly after the playscape opened that the high-backed swings allowed her son to enjoy the playground with other kids for the first time in the boy’s life.

“What had been a field of weeds literally turned into a field of dreams,” Swift said.

The kids and parents who play there agree.

“I like everything about the playscape,” said Joshua Peyton Mohle, 6, who visits it regularly.

His mother, Inger Peyton, said the playscape gives parents a chance “to just chill out and play with your kids.”

Bradley Green, 10, enjoys the open-air feeling.

“I like the tire swing,” he said. “And I like just being able to run and climb and have fun outside.”

Clean Homes Sell Faster!

Are you about to put your house on the market? I’ll tell you a little insider secret for selling it faster: Keep it clean!

I know, I know, you may be thinking; “That’s not an insider secret, that’s just plain common sense!” However, I’m always amazed at how many people don’t take the time to keep their house clean while they are trying to sell it. Then they wonder why their house won’t sell as fast as others in their area!

I remember one homeowner in Round Rock, Texas whose Realtor insisted that she hire a professional to clean her house. The homeowner did not like the idea of having to spend the money to hire a professional but her house had been on the market for close to a year and her Realtor thought that a thorough cleaning would help speed things along. Smart Realtor! My company was hired for the cleaning and, believe it or not, less than two weeks later the house was sold! I know this because the homeowner also hired my company for the move out cleaning.

The bottom line is that you want your house to be totally clean and presentable for prospective buyers. The alternative is to sit on your property without a sale for longer than necessary.

On my next post, I’ll give you some practical tips for getting the job done!

Welcome Home Cleaning Services specializes in both “Spring Cleans” and Move In/Move Out cleanings in Georgetown, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville and northern areas of Austin, Texas. If you do find that hiring a professional will work best for you, please give us a call at 512-931-2095 and I’d be glad to be of help!

Maria Dorian

Welcome Home Cleaning in Georgetown, Texas

Editor’s Note: I recommend a three-step process for my clients to get their homes ready for the market: making repairs, cleaning the home and then staging the home. In the slow market that Georgetown, Texas is experiencing right now, all three are critical components to making a lasting impression with the buyers and setting yourself apart from the competition.  What about you?  Do you have any “clean home” success stories (or disasters) that you can share?  All comments are welcome!  Thanks for reading!

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Craftsman-style home by Green Builders in Georgetown Texas

A few weeks ago, I helped one of my favorite clients, Rod and Carol, purchase a home by Green Builders in my neighborhood Georgetown Village. This was very special for me because it now meant that I have sold every major builder that has been built in this neighborhood! That would include Perry Homes, Bowen Homes and Origin Homes; which are the current builders, and also some past builders like David Weekley, Lennar and Morrison. That seems like a lot of builders for a small neighborhood of around 500 homes like Georgetown Village, but as we move forward, it seems as though only Green Builders and Perry Homes will be doing the bulk of the building.

After I showed the home to Rod and Carol I jokingly told them that I liked the floorplan so much that if they didn’t buy it, I would! The funny thing is, soon after they closed on the home, a contract on this home (pictured above) fell through and it came back on the market. It was the same exact floorplan as the one I had sold to Rod and Carol! So after a few days of negotiation, I am now the future owner of a Green Builders home! The beauty of this is that it’s just 5 houses down on my same street…so no moving truck needed:)

My wife is pretty excited because we gain an extra bedroom and lots more space. It may not look very large, but it’s 2400 SF and has 4 bedrooms, a gameroom, a study and a large studio above the garage which adds an additional 400 SF.

This studio is the main reason we’re moving. I’ve been blessed to be able to work from home, but the downside is that it’s hard to focus and concentrate with 3 kids running around in the home! Now, I can bring clients to my office without having to do the “5 minute house clean-up”, I can better focus on my work, and I’ll be better able to STAY AWAY from work when I’m with the family. I mean, what good is it to work from home yet not gain any additional quality time with the family?

So, here’s to HIGHER quality family time and LOWER energy bills!

If you have an experience with Green Builders please share them with me on this post! This blog is boring without any outside feedback and what you have to contribute can help somebody else!

Check out my home video for the tour:

I’m in the middle of buying my next home here in my neighborhood, Georgetown Village in Georgetown, Texas and my loan is almost out of underwriting. Then I get the call from my lender that goes something like this:

Hi Edward, there’s just one more thing they need.

Sure, what is it?

Well, the underwriters are having a hard time accepting this home as a primary residence

Ok, that’s easy…”Yes…it is.” Can you just tell them that? Isn’t this what I indicated when I applied?

Yes, but they want you to write them an explanation and “convince” them because you bought other investment homes in the past in this neighborhood and this one is only a few houses down from you.

At this point, I was a little annoyed. They were questioning my integrity! I applied and said it was NOT an investment home but would be owner-occupied, so what’s the big deal? Ok, so I own other homes in this neighborhood and I bought 3 of them last year. I’m not sure how that relates. But, if I really WAS lying, why would I suddenly stop now? So, I tell my lender

Oh, I’ll “convince” them…you can expect the email shortly.

And I send them this…

This email is to affirm my intent to occupy the home on 125 Village Park Drive as my primary residence. Although, I have purchased many investment homes in the past, in this same neighborhood, they were all purchased with the INITIAL INTENT to invest in them and rent them out. They are also all priced BELOW my current primary residence. It would seem to make sense that if my stated intent is to purchase this home on 125 Village Park Drive, as a residence and NOT an investment, that I would follow-through with this commitment, otherwise that would be considered fraudulent, dishonest and maybe even illegal. All of which I would never want any part of.

In addition to the fact that I’m qualifying for this home as a residence and not an investment, there are several other facts that must be mentioned that support the legitimacy of my intent:

1. This home is priced ABOVE my current primary residence which would classify this as a typical MOVE-UP purchase. All of my other rental homes were priced below with significant (20-25% down) cash down so that it would cash flow. This home would be a poor investment choice and could never cash flow given the mortgage and current rental prices

2. This is 4 bedrooms and my current home has 3 bedrooms; it also has 2400 SF and my current home has 2000 SF. Lastly, this home has 400 SF of space above the garage which will be converted to my home office which is one of the main reasons I am moving. I have 3 children under the age of 4 and have worked from a small study for the past 5 years in this home. If anyone has had children before, they can understand the reason for this move!

3. I purchased my current home when I was single, 6 years ago. I am purchasing this home, 3 kids, a wife and a minivan later. Yes, that sounds like a move-up to me.

I hope this helps clarify my intent to purchase this home for a primary residence. If you or the underwriters would like to call me for further clarification please don’t hesitate to call me.

As far as me moving down the street, what person would NOT want to move their belongings a short distance and find the perfect home this close by? This means less time packing and unpacking a moving truck and more time enjoying my glass of ice cold lemonade on the front porch of my new home overlooking the neighborhood park.

So, what do you think? Were the underwriters being a little overzealous or just doing their job? Do you think what they did would really prevent a liar from stop lying at that point? I mean, if a guy is going to say he’s going to occupy it and then really rent it out, why would writing a letter change that? Is this just more “busy work” or is it really effective? I’d love to hear a situation from a lender or underwriter that was similar to this, but had different results (i.e. the purchaser wrote the letter and admitted he was secretly buying the home as an investment but was qualifying it as owner-occupied)

Message to Underwriters/Banks: It’s hard enough to qualify somebody these days, give us “legitimate” buyers a break! Sheesh!

(Bet that picture makes you thirsty huh?)

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Tempting buy in venerable neighborhood: Time-honored custom home on a 1 acre lot thriving with trees. Priced at only $249,500

The Greenest feature in the home: You may have heard industry-talk of “R-values” in relation to a home’s insulation and how that helps you save on your energy bills. Well, nothing is better than the T-value. Yes, that “T” stands for TREEES. There are over 50 mature trees speckled on this 1 acre lot that provide shade to this home from every direction. If the sun rarely hits your home, it would naturally make sense that it would require much less energy to cool it in the summer. The front porch and the rear covered patio also provide additional overhang over the windows to prevent direct sunlight from shining into the home. Despite this great energy-saving feature, the interior of the home gets plenty of natural light due to recent window renovations.

Living in Serenada: Among many Georgetown residents, this neighborhood is considered a desireable place to live for three good reasons. First, it’s located close to Williams Drive which gives you quick access to major roads. Second, it’s one of the original custom home neighborhoods in Georgetown so you won’t find many “cookie-cutter homes” here and availability of homes is more scarce. Case in point, at the time of this writing there is only half the amount of supply (3 months) in this neighborhood compared to all of Georgetown. Lastly, you can still find wooded acreage homes here without spending twice as much and driving twice as far. This home has a desireable location, with easy access to major roads and sits on one wooded acre. With over 2500 SF and 4 bedrooms and a custom built workshiop it just might be one of the best values left in this market.

If you’re familiar with Georgetown Texas real estate, you’ll notice that lots like these are selling for $150,000 just down the road. Here’s your chance to own a custom home on a one-of-a-kind lot for under $250,000. Would you like a private showing? Contact Edward at 512-554-9594 or Nancy at 512-818-4892

Other Features:

Two Bonus Rooms
If you’re like most families, you typically need another room for a study, playroom or library. This flexible floorplan has a large room towards the front of the home that is perfect for that extra space. Need another living space? There is also a second, smaller bonus room located off the garage.

Large Living Room
The first thing you will notice when you walk into the room are the thick wood beams lined across the ceiling. The space is saturated with natural light and is larger then most modern living rooms. It is located adjacent to the kitchen for a nice, open floorplan perfect for entertaining.

My Georgetown

Hi, My name is Maria Dorian and I proudly live and own a business in Georgetown, TX. In the past 5 years I went from working part time waiting tables to owning a growing residential cleaning service.

Shortly after, while at church, my then 3 week old son had a dirty diaper in the middle of service. Go figure right?! Who knew this would end up being a blessing in disquise. While in the nursery changing the diaper, I overheard a lady talk about her sister who cleaned houses. Like a ton of bricks, it hit me. There it was.it! My next thought was, “Wow-I’m supposed to be cleaning houses.” Still blows me away to this day as cleaning houses was just so…random! Needless to say that I believe that the incident was God’s way of leading me to start my own business.

Want the latest updates on Georgetown Texas Real Estate, news and latest developments? Sign up for the blog by clicking the link below:

I have a younger brother named “Edwin.” Yes, I know I’m “Edward” and he’s “Edwin.” Ha ha ha.

Well he lives near Anaheim, California and is studying for his real estate license. I’m pretty excited that he’s doing that and I hope he is able to get enough business to transition out of his full-time work.

I entered into the real estate business by just jumping in with both feet. However, the other option is to gradually build up enough business to fully transition over like Edwin. Even though it was scary for me to do that and I didn’t make my first sale for a couple of months, I think the learning curve shot up very quickly for me. It was either “do or die.”

Well, maybe “die” is a little too dramatic.

More like, “do or flip burgers.”

Edwin: (If you’re reading this) BLOG, BLOG, BLOG - that’s my first tip. I wish I would have started blogging about Georgetown, Texas in my first year of real estate rather then waiting until year four. That’s the best way to expose yourself to a large audience quickly. If they like you, they’ll read you and you’ll probably like them. If they don’t like you, you probably don’t want them as clients anyway. Hey, it’s the truth!

On another note, this week I’ll be introducing a friend of mine on this blog, Maria, who also started her business by just jumping in with both feet. I think you’ll enjoy reading her story and writing style.

What about you? Are you a “jump in with both feet” type of person or do you think a slower transition would work better for you if you were to start a business? I’d love to hear your story!

What’s today’s mortgage rate? That, my friend, is the million dollar question.

Ok, so I’m buying a house: the “cat is officially out of the bag.” I tried to keep it low-key because i wanted to surprise my in-laws. I wanted to wait for them to visit me and find renters in my current home! I would have LOVED to see that! So, I’ll write about this homebuying experience later.

For now…what’s today’s mortgage rate?

I locked my loan for 6.375% because I was told that rates went up today on the 30 year fixed. However, later this evening I was told by another lender that rates went down! So what gives? Like any resourceful, diligent young real estate agent I decided to Google this. I Googled “daily mortgage rate history” and “mortgage rates” to get to the bottom of this.

I found three articles:

This one says that rates are unchanged - http://www.reuters.com/article/gc03/idUSN1043138120080710

This one says that rates are higher - http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/10/real_estate/mortgage_rates/?postversion=2008071013

This one says that rates are lower - http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/bankrate-mortgage-rates-fall-weeks-row/

Can you figure this out? First one to give me an answer gets Starbucks on me…