Featured Home buys of the week:

Lake Georgetown Area Private Texas Stone Home on 1 Acre $235,000!

Tue, 3 Apr 2012 13:35:29 -0500

Just north of Lake Georgetown - in North Lake. About an acre of trees, shade and decks! Lovely home with 3 bedrooms plus a study with closet that can be the 4th. Two dining areas - or use the formal as a living area instead. Nice open family, kitchen, and breakfast. Mother-In-Law plan.

But the real living space is the huge deck and outdoor kitchen. That’s the great great room!

If you are interested, please come see it and have your Realtor contact us for full details..

click here for several photos and more detailed info

Historic Texas Victorian Home on about 4 Acres

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:33:42 -0500

Built by a Confederate veteran, grandson of a Colonial Army veteran, and boyhood home of a US Senator, this historic Victorian home near Eddy, Texas offers covered front porches, hardwood floors, and gorgeous Victorian architecture on a Central Texas horse property.

The home has been lovingly restored with period-correct detail. It is unique in how well the home suits a modern lifestyle - a testimony to timeless design.

Two master suites, a gorgeous parlor, modern functioning period styled kitchen, romantic first-floor guest room, family room with old brick fireplace... every detail down to the original claw-foot tub!

This lovely home set in a beautiful grove of trees and landscaping, with horse stable and pasture adjacent, makes a perfect setting. Sit on the covered verandah and watch the moon rise. Or wake to a country sunrise enjoying coffee in bed.

Your dream home awaits... $275,000 click for more photos and info

Buttercup Beauty - Near Lakeline Blvd

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:56:05 -0500

This home has sold.

Open living Mother-in-Law Floor Plan with bonus room - 4th Bedroom or Game Room. Slate entry and kitchen floors, laminate in living and dining. Nice back yard. Privacy. A great home for a day sleeper!

County shows 2,129 sqft. Independent appraiser showed 2,083.

Please contact your Realtor and come see this lovely home in person.

$155,000

More info and photos on our property page - click here.

Home Staging = Sell Faster? More Money?

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:11:32 -0600

Home Staging - the darling of HGTV - does it make homes sell faster? For more money?

With 19 years in this business, I can say for sure that it all depends.

If you live in a house for sale - arranging your furnishings to best show off the space makes a ton of sense. This is absolutely worth the effort. (And something Focus Realty will coach you through.) So stage with what you have. Usually this will mean moving a lot of your stuff to storage or a neat stack in the garage. Less is more.

If the house is vacant, bringing in a few furnishings will help some buyers visualize. This helps if you choose a style that matches the taste of a buyer without a lot of imagination. Choose the wrong style and you might turn them off.

For buyers with imagination, having furniture in the space can add an extra mental step - moving the decorator’s couch out and seeing their own couch there. Or on the other wall. In this case, vacant was likely better.

So - choose the style that matches the unknown buyer’s taste and you win. Choose one that sets an imaginative buyer to thinking - win. Miss the unimaginative buyer’s taste and you make it harder for them. An imaginative buyer might prefer the blank canvas of a totally vacant house.

I feel that most vacant homes show best without much in them. I don’t recommend renting furniture to stage them. Spend the money on a pre-inspection and fixing as many things as possible. If you have a nice fake plant and a couple of attractive chairs we might use them to start a buyer’s thoughts.

Again, less is more. Most of the time.

If you know that a certain buyer will show up and what their tastes are and stage accordingly - then I want to buy your crystal ball!

Seriously, let’s talk before you start staging or doing anything else to get the house ready. I’m very comfortable in a “before” home. And I’ll help you get it in the best shape for the “after” photos.

What does my Realtor do?

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 06:55:06 -0500

Finds my house, right?

Not exactly. In fact, chances are good that you or someone you know will find your house.

It used to be: Realtors held all the information about which homes are for sale. They picked out homes they thought a buyer would like.

Today, buyers have access to information. Still not as complete as Realtors - yet if you have a Realtor they will share their up to the minute info with you. Instead of trying to choose which homes you might like for you, it makes sense to let you decide which interest you.

So who do I want a Realtor?

Your Realtor's job is to guide you though this complex process. The transaction itself is not fun. Think of it more like a root canal. You don't need the dentist to tell you which tooth hurts. You do need them to take care of it so you can leave with a nicer smile and no pain.

The first thing your Realtor does is explain the basics of the process. Things like when to talk to a mortgage person, help you prioritize your wants and needs, give you a basic understanding of the contract, how agents and brokers work (and the difference)... expect this in addition to answers to the questions you'll have.

Yes - they will be part of your home search. It does not matter who sees the house first - y'all are a team. What matters is finding the "one".

When you think you have found the house, your Realtor should make sure you are making a sound decision by going back over your wants and needs. Some buyers just want the pretty one. Your Realtor is the one who is not carried away by emotion and can make sure you are making the smart decision, too.

This is why you want one Realtor representing you. You need your Realtor to know that whatever home you buy, they will get paid. That removes the pressure to "sell" you a house. In most states, you'll also need to have a buyers representation agreement so they can speak openly about both the pros and the cons - truly be on your side.

You'll get help deciding what to offer and your Realtor will prepare your offer for you. In a few states a lawyer is brought in for the actual contract. In most the Realtor will fill out a state-promulgated contract form.

You'll be guided though negotiating. And your Realtor will do the talking. This is good because they are not emotionally involved in the home. They have experience negotiating real estate. And sometimes the seller might get upset about parts of an offer. The Realtor can be the one who takes the blame. If the seller thinks the agent is a jerk, but the buyers are nice people, then the transaction proceeds. If they decide the buyers are jerks - they might not sell to you.

Bet you never thought of your Realtor as a professional scapegoat! You'd be surprised how often they take a bullet for their clients.

Inspection is next. You'll be guided as to what this or that means, negotiating any repairs, or when it's better to run away to the next house.

Clearing conditions for the mortgage. This time it will seem like your agent is sitting waiting. In one sense this is true. In another, they are watching to see that the several dozen people, doing all sorts of tasks that you don't care to know about, get their parts done on time. Things will go wrong and your Realtor will step in to get things moving again. If you are lucky, you won't even know. It will be fixed before they have to tell you about it.

Your Realtor will make sure everything is set up for the closing appointment. Then they will sit by your side to assure you that the huge stack of paper you are signing is OK to sign.

After you move in you'll have questions. If your dish washer stops working, your Realtor will remind you where the power cut off switch is located. When your property tax appraisal comes in, your Realtor is who to call with questions.

In other words, your Realtor is there for you with experience and expertise. We do this every day - not every few years.

When your kid wants to learn a sport, you get them a coach. Hopefully the best available. When it comes to buying a home, a Realtor really is like a coach. So when you have that housewarming party, please remember to invite your Realtor. And don't forget to spray them with some Champaign! Or maybe a bucket of Gatorade.

Privacy of 3.25 beautiful acres & 2 bedroom cottage - SOLD

Wed, 18 May 2011 15:16:16 -0500

Clear a little space in the middle. Leave the woods all around. You get a great place for a home or weekend cottage and keep all the privacy!

2 bedrooms, a large living area, built-in breakfast bar, and a really nice kitchen make this a dream cottage.

Take 1431 just west of Cedar Park to Nameless Road, then back into the hills. This could be your country place...

$149,950 - including 3.25 acres (acreage approximate)

click here for several photos and more detailed info

Hill Country Central Texas Home on 3.25 acres near Lake Travis

Surveys - Save Money by Using The Old One?

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 10:25:34 -0500

One way that buyers and seller can save money is by using the existing survey instead of having a new one done. It saves about $450 of negotiable closing costs. IN other words, either buyer or seller might be paying for it.

Sounds like a win-win, right?

Maybe. If nothing has changed (like adding a pool, patio, room addition...) then the old survey is likely fine. The buyer is trusting the seller’s memory and honesty. Less of a concern with some properties than others. It might be possible that something in the county records changed, like an easement or flood zone boundary.

One other concern is mistakes. It is unlikely that any warranty would be transferrable with the sale of the property. So if a buyer opts for the free survey, they are taking the risk that it is correct.

A few survey terms in plain english:
Easement - a portion of a property where rights are shared. One example would be utility easements where utility providers have the right to do whatever is necessary to provide utility service to the area (dig, drive equipment, etc.). Another is an access easement across one property to reach another property.
Encroachment - where something crosses outside the buildable part of the property. Most often this would involve an easement or building line.
Improvement Across Property Line - a bigger version of encroachment where something crosses onto a neighbor’s property. For a shared fence, a few inches is no big deal. If the master bedroom is in the neighbor’s yard... that’s a biggie.
Boundary Conflict - when your survey and your neighbor’s survey come up with different lines. You both think you own the same land. If it’s an inch of back yard, who cares? If it’s the back 40 acres... oh boy.
Building Line / Building Setback - developers usually restrict homes to be at least some distance from the street, curb, or property line so everyone has a front yard. This is the imaginary line the house has to stay behind. Often 20 or 25 feet. Sometimes if the street is straight you can look down the block and see the line as every house starts exactly that distance from the road. When a builder varies even by just a foot it makes the neighborhood feel more natural.
Survey - that drawing of the various lines including the outline of the house that serves as a little map of what is where.
Plat - the neighborhood layout showing lots and streets but not each home and with less detail than a survey. Some people say “Plot” meaning plat or for a close-up of just one lot of the plat.

John Mayer’s Home is For Sale

Thu, 9 Dec 2010 07:04:08 -0600

So I got an email from Trulia (where you’ll also find our homes for sale) about their home of the week - John Mayer’s Bachelor Pad. Look at the “quality” of the photos. Poor exposures that had to be over-manipulated. They look like ghost images to me.

Imagine what I could have done with that house...

Just yesterday I was working on a very similar shot:

Very difficult to light. Honestly, I’m not satisfied with my result. But compare a Focus Realty image with a Beverly Hills home listed for about 3-4 times as much!

Beautiful photos sell beautiful homes ! TM

By the way, if you are interested in buying John Mayer’s home in California, give me a call. I’m willing to travel!

UPDATE: Mischa Barton’s house:

Outdoors - easy light. Why is so over-manipulated?

This week’s Trulia home of the week (2/10/2011)

So let me pull a pool - this one in harsh lighting with sunlight and deep shadows:

I’m sure Mischa’s pool is nicer in person, but which photo makes you feel like you are really there and which looks pretend? I think it is better to help a buyer feel like they could really be living here instead of a “hey - you’re dreaming” image.

I don’t have a photo of a living room with a bed in it. Or a bedroom with a full living room in it...

A good referral for me this week would be someone wanting to sell a house with a bedroom in the living room or a living room in the bedroom. Or both. A master bath with a fireplace and a couch would suffice.

Or anyone who wants their house to look so good it sells - no matter what price range.

I appreciate your help,

John

Radiant Barriers

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:22:01 -0600

A radiant Barrier helps reduce cooling costs by blocking radiant energy from entering the attic of your home. If your house was built without it, there is an after-build product my friend Danny at RoofCrafters offers.

Learn more by following this link to their site.

Email Danny here.

The longest referral-only real estate practice in the world!

Fri, 6 Aug 2010 11:25:02 -0500

There are very few referral-only real estate brokerages in the world. John Stapleton has been working on a 100% referral basis since 1997 - likely the longest-running referral-only practice in the world.

Many Realtors strive for referrals. The difference with referral-only is that the broker cuts himself off from other ways of finding new clients. The future truly depends on the satisfaction of the firm’s existing clients.

“Keeping the client’s goals first is the key. When they know we’re working to sell their house - not hunting for our next customer - clients tell their friends about us.” says Broker John Stapleton.

New Home Builder Intimidation Kit

Sun, 1 Aug 2010 10:09:24 -0500

Imagine you are a home building superintendent. You have a home at frame stage, ready for the buyer’s first walk-though.

Here comes their Realtor.

He’s the Broker / Owner - not just some agent.
He’s carrying a 48” freshly oiled Teak Stanley Level.
He has a large marble and a golf ball in his pocket
and reading glasses hanging from his shirt.

This guy’s gonna be trouble. Every little imperfection is gonna get nitpicked.

Do you think you’re going to ride your crews a bit harder on quality with this home?

I’ve helped a lot of families though the new home building process. Shopping, negotiating, home design, option selection, which upgrades increase resale and which hurt, lot selection, walk-throughs... the whole process.

One of the most valuable things I do is simply make the right first impression on the person managing the actual construction of your home.

As one family, you might refer a friend or two to the builder. So maybe they see a future customer connected to you.

As a Broker, the builder knows I will be back. And I’ll be telling my next client about the experience you had, good or bad.

Realtors represent over 90% of most builder’s sales. They like to make us happy. Some agents are happy if they get paid and sadly, it ends there.

Some of us actually do our job to oversee the process and do everything we can to help our clients get the best quality the builder can muster.

For me, it all begins with a first impression. And a bottle of Teak oil...

Feedback from agents who show your house

Wed, 7 Jul 2010 09:57:13 -0500

A common practice in real estate is asking for “feedback” - comments from the agents who showed your house to their buyers who did not make an offer. the idea is to know why they didn’t buy it. The price is too high. It smells like wet dogs. The hot pink vinyl tile floors have to go....

The sad thing is that nearly all feedback is stuff your agent should already have noticed and asked you to fix. And you should have done it.

BEFORE those disappointed buyers ruled out your house.

The truth about feedback:

either your agent didn’t have the guts to tell you,
or you didn’t follow the advice you’re paid for

So when your broker tells you something you didn’t want to hear, remember that it is for your own good. Some things only a true friend will tell you.

And when you get that precious advice, follow it now. Don’t wait for the most eager buyers to rule your house out and hope they tell you why. Most likely it’s something you and your broker already know.

Your best source of feedback should be from your broker - before you put the house on the market.

Flush the toilet before taking the photo, please

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 10:56:01 -0500

If you’re looking for a house to buy, I’ll bet you look at the pictures first. How’s this for a show stopper?
I see photos of homes for sale every day. Most are poor to amateur quality. Some are OK. This one? Let’s just call it a new poster child for bad real estate photography.
I admit being a bit over-zealous about photography. I even named my practice Focus Realty. If one is trying to sell something, it should look good. It should make a good first impression. A great photo does that.
A bad photo? Well, how do you feel about calling me right now so we can go see the home pictured above?
I think a good Realtor should be competent in every area of marketing properties. That includes architectural photography.
Agents should have at least a bit of common sense. Or attention to detail. Or whatever you want to call what it takes to walk over and flush the toilet before snapping a photo. Or the sense to choose another photo if you forgot.
Want photos that actually HELP sell your property? Just give me a call.