This partnership has produced the absolute best portfolio of Class A Student rental housing in Aggieland (College Station TX) AND some of the Best Real Estate investment opportunities on the planet!

Aggies, Check out www.aggieleasing.com

Investors, Check out some of these cash flow scenarios: http://www.barrackstownhomes.com/ownership-scenarios.html

Call us anytime on our new hotline at 888-567-5757 or Text us at 313-Gig-Em-Ag

Thanks & Gig-Em’

Airline Tickets – Plan in advance and visit discount websites to see if there are better deals. While these sites might charge you a service fee ($5 or so), they can easily combine flight segments from different airlines easily to give you a great deal. (bonus – get even more savings by finding promo codes before you book a trip).

Connecting Flights – You might think connecting sucks but it sure saves you a good chunk of money doing it. Consider the pros and cons and don’t write it off right away.

Always Look into Round Trip Tickets – Sometimes, one way tickets are so expensive that the round trip ticket is cheaper. Just don’t use the return trip. (I know it’s weird but I’ve seen it myself)

Fly during the slowest days of the week – Tuesday and Wednesday are the slowest flying days of the week for business travel so demand is low, and so are the fares.

Fly during the slowest time of the year

Travelers who are serious about seeking cheap fares should travel only during the slowest time of year.   That rules out holidays, as well as spring, summer and winter.  What’s left? Fall.  Traveling anytime between Labor Day and Thanksgiving should give you the best deals.

Now that you know how to get where you want to go on less $$…how about coming to College Station, TX to check out our real estate?  For information contact Linda Stribling at 979-575-0580 or email linda@century21bcs.com

Home owners recoup large percent of their initial cost on specific home improvements

according to HGTV’s Curb Appeal.  Their REALTOR offered advice on which home improvements would bring the best bang for their buck.  So when the young couple stepped up to the closing table Steve and Linda walked away with a profit in their pocket.  Thanks to their sweat equity and the REALTOR’s remodeling knowledge the sellers recouped most of their monetary investment from the upgrades they performed.  Which projects return the highest value for the cost?

Remodeling Magazine surveyed appraisers and REALTORS last summer on remodeling projects and the values that they hold in 80 markets.  Home Tech Information Systems analyzed the data and factored in regional pricing differences.  The results were published in the January 2010 REALTOR Magazine on page 21.  There were three categories of home improvements – additions, remodeling and replacements.

For those of us in the south and central United States, replacing your front entry door offers the best return on your investment.  The cost for a 20-guage steel door is $1043 – materials and installation.  The resale value of the new front door is $2496!  That’s 239% of your cost recouped…a huge perceived value.

The second best bang for your buck is an attic bedroom addition.  The general job cost is $41,000 a large price tag.  The perceived value is $40k, or 97% return on your money for the add-on.  You certainly can’t receive that matching dollar in your IRA or CD.

Another high return in construction is changing the exterior finish.  By replacing siding, you can regain 86% of your initial cost.  Further down the restoration list, a kitchen or bathroom remodel will bring 82 and 81% back to you.

This is fabulous information for home sellers or others who are staying put in their existing home for another year.  The perceived value from the buyer translates into dollars for the seller on the Settlement Statement.  They see a turn-key home that has been well-maintained and spruced up.  And buyers are willing to pay for it.

For an interactive job cost analysis featuring 80 various markets, click on the Remodeling Magazine Report.

What has worked for you?  Tell me which home improvement projects have given you leverage at the closing table below in our comments section!

Happy Sprucing,

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

Property Tax Assessment

you do? Make sure that your tax value is decreasing, as well. Brazos County mails out estimates for the year 2009 in June. That’s four months away, you exclaim. Yes, plenty of time to investigate your property’s current market value and to prepare your tax appeal, I say.

Your case for a request to lower the property’s value is not simply based on your feelings about higher taxes. You’ve heard Benjamin Franklin say it – in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. So don’t be shocked to find yourself in a recession and asked to pay higher property taxes this year.

There are several options when appealing your tax value. One is to hire representation. You could pay a licensed property tax consultant to analyze the tax records, perform an appraisal of your property, and represent you before the county appraisal district review board.

Another option is for you to do the research yourself and represent yourself at the hearing. As a property owner, you will still need an appraisal from an expert to enter evidence in your hearing. Kelly Seaton with Verdad Valuation Services
can provide you with that appraisal.

You may view your county tax information at the appraisal district, 1673 Briarcrest Drive. Request to see your complete record. Note the comparable properties on the record card. See why the tax district thinks your property is worth more.

When you file for your appeal, pay attention to the deadlines and remember to show up for your hearing! Take all of your documentation from the appraisal and your notes. You may want to practice your testimony ahead of the scheduled hearing. The burden of proof is on the property owner – you have to give facts as to why your property is not worth the assessed amount. Facts, not feelings.

If at any point in the process you have questions call your REALTOR for advice and information. Hopefully a bit of research and persistence will decrease your property tax value and possibly your monthly mortgage.

Kind regards,

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

P.S. Some lenders may only credit your tax escrow for future increases(reserves the bank holds to pay your annual tax bill) and keep your monthly payments the same. Reserve the celebration until you know all the deets from your mortgage company.

1. What percentage of all Texas homes are financed by subprime loans?

a. 1% b. 8% c. 17% d. 33%

2. True or False? Average interest rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage are about what they were 5 years ago.

3. T or F? In 2007, homes priced $500k+ represented a higher percentage of the total homes sold in Texas than any previous year.

4. Of 44 Texas markets, how many had lower median sales prices from January-June 2008 compared to the same period in 2007?

a. none b. 11 c. 22 d. 33

5. How many Texas markets had more home sales in June 2008 than June 2007?

a. 22 b. 9 c. 3 d. none

6. In CNBC’s 2008 ranking of state economies, Texas came in:

a. 1st b. 5th c. 9th d. last

7. T or F? The statewide average sales price in June 2008 was lower than in June 2007 and June 2006.

8. Home many Texas properties had a foreclosure filing in July 2008?

a. 1 in every 252 properties b. 1 in 388 c. 1 in 519 d. 1 in 891

How’d you score?

1. b

2. True. The average rate for a 30 year fixed mortgage was 6.34% on 08-08-2003, and 6.52% on 08-08-08

3. True

4. b

5. c Lubbock and Texarkana had 1% higher home sales; Victoria was up 13%

6. a. Texas was also ranked first in business climate.

7. False. The average 2008 price was $2,300 higher than June 2007 and $9,000 higher than June 2006.

8. d. Texas was ranked 22nd. Nevada had the highest rate at 1 in 106.

So the next time you hear urban legends about the state of our economy, provide them with the facts! It is our responsibility to convey truth to our friends and clients.

Happy New Year!

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

Kelly Seaton

Kelly Seaton says plenty. It’s still a reliable tool to know when a buyer presents the seller with a low-ball offer or when it’s a good deal.

“In June and July when business is booming, sales data was plentiful. Last months sales were a good indicator of a property’s present value,” Seaton said. “When there is a sudden shift in market, this is not necessarily the case. More research needs to done to quantify the stability of an area’s market.”

Who should use an appraiser? Usually, Verdad Valuation sees banks and lenders as their client. Seaton also sees home owners as clients, who just want to get an idea of value on their home pre-sales, before they even become a seller. Or an independent FSBO may try to protect himself from a bad deal, seeking the opinion of an independent third party.

Great technology platforms enable Verdad Valuation to research legal land descriptions or soil types even before setting foot on the property.  “So many resources are available to us through Google Earth and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that help appraisers to examine the real estate from many facets,” Seaton said.

From local residential to rural land appraisal, Verdad taps into 20 years of experience working with industry greats like Reagan Magee of Promise Land Real Estate. Seaton is happy to open his own business  and begin serving customers.  Check out Verdad’s website for details about his work and interesting industry myths about appraisers.

Merry Christmas,

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

Increase in home value

For people living in areas where their home value has risen, the value could actually exceed the amount of principal owned on the mortgage.  In this situation the lender is under no legal obligation to remove the Private Mortgage Insurance.  Usually if the home owner has been prompt on their monthly payments and is not an exceptional risk, the lender will agree to remove the extra fees.

The hardest thing for most home owners to know is just when does their home equity rise above this magical 20%?  A certified, licensed Appraiser like Verdad Valuation can help.  Owner and appraiser, Kelly Seaton, says that it is his job to know the market dynamics of this area.

He said, “I know when property values have risen or declined.  Together we can find the current value of your home and remove the PMI payments.  Faced with our data, most mortgage companies will eliminate the PMI with little trouble.  The savings from dropping the PMI pays for my appraisal fee within a matter of months. Then, you can enjoy the savings on your mortgage from that point on.”

Verdad Valuation has more information like this at their website.

Merry Christmas,

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

Appraisals from Seaton

“Having a recent appraisal of your home can be very useful at the negotiating table,” said Kelly Seaton, owner of Verdad Valuation Services. When interested parties see an appraisal, an inspection, a survey, or a map of the home, these serve as additional tools that cut down on the time it takes to close.

Seaton says Verdad Valuation can complete a residential appraisal in as little as one day if necessary, where a narrative appraisal for a rural property could take one week. It all depends on how much sales data is available and how much time is necessary to adequately research the survey, title, and sales of comparable properties.

In addition to answering questions like “how much is my house worth”, Seaton suggests a few other things to consider prior to listing your home. Certain upgrades and remodels may improve the curb appeal, but it may not increase the property value enough to justify your time and expense. You can call him for consultation on which improvements bring the best bang for your buck.

Verdad Valuation steps in and helps make those decisions with you. “While your Century 21 Realtor is detail-oriented and forward-thinking, an appraiser has no vested interest in what amount your home sells for,” Seaton said. “An appraiser’s fees are based on time to complete the report, not a percentage of the sales price.”

Visit Verdad’s website at www.verdadvaluation.com for more details on property values.

Happy Fall,

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

It’s like the Dallas Cowboys training camp…

Runningback Marion Barber works hard makes lots of money but there’s no story. Not a peep about him. But if Tony Romo sneezes or Jessica Simpson coughs, BAM there’s your media frenzy. To coin a phrase used by Emmitt Smith about monkeys in the media.

So the hype about the next Great Depression (it’s all caused by Dubya Bush remember – catch me on another day to get me worked up about that unintelligent urban myth) from yesterday is gone today. The hype to make you oogle on Google is just that – to make you stop and stare. The media wants to get you excited to grab your attention to increase media viewership to sell more ads to make a buck. Make cents? Ha, ha.

Don’t be snookered into believing that the media are the authority on mortgage lending. They are the authority on how to grab our attention to increase…blah, blah. TALK WITH YOUR LOCAL LENDER. Don’t speak to someone who doesn’t have an office near you. The “lending crisis” is because big-wigs far away want to control business in your backyard. And they don’t even know what your backyard looks like, sells for, or smells like.

Don’t get worked up on a comment from a part-time reporter from Good Morning America. TALK WITH YOUR LOCAL REALTOR. The “foreclosure crisis” is because big-wigs far away gave money to people who weren’t capable of making a monthly payment. The large lenders gave unqualified consumers too much credit. Literally. Mortgage factories over-extended themselves in risk by giving credit, otherwise known as trust, to already debt-laden consumers. Doesn’t sound like good business practice to me…

If you make a mess in your office, you would have to clean it up. Your cute dog poops in your neighbors yard, who should clean it up? It’s your responsibility. Be accountable for your actions. Where in society did our ethics change to make the government responsible for cleaning up messes. Hurricane Ike? “Federal government come save me.” Billion dollar lending mistake? “Federal government come save me.” Every time we ask the government to step in we abdicate another constitutional right (ok, ok there’s another story for another day).

So who should clean up our credit crunch? Well the Fannie Mae leaders saw the handwriting on the wall back in April. Franklin Raines retired as CEO and Timothy Howard resigned as CFO in May 2008. Retired with their pretty pension plan and retirement package. Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron pocketed nearly $19.8 million in compensation last year. And the replacement David Moffett will receive only – ONLY – $1.4M in salary and perks this year. AIG is doing it right, a bit too late. CEO Martin Sullivan was replaced in July by Robert Willumstad. Last week AIG decided to sell off assets to repay an emergency loan from the federal government.

Let me ask the question again…who should clean up our credit crunch? You are actually paying for the clean up. Your hard-earned tax dollars are being reallocated from great programs and infrastructure to cover the as… Uhm , mistakes of Franklin, Timothy, Richard, Martin, and scores of other “leaders” – read THEIVES – who have taken us for a ride.

So there, now you know how I feel, tell us your thoughts on how to fix our financial conundrum. For my opinion on home sales, let’s meet at Starback’s some afternoon

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR