Thomas and Kathryn Holmes married 1972.  They amassed $10,000,000 in brokerage accounts and security certificates. Kathryn died and her will said her son from a previous marriage was the executor. Kathryn intended for her children to get her share of her estate.  Thomas died 9 months later (of a broken heart?). His son, Harry, from a previous marriage was the executor of Thomas’ estate.

Looks like the kids of Kathryn would get half and the kids of Thomas would get the other half.   Not so!

Because the bank accounts were structured as JT TEN and JT WROS (joint tenancy) all the money went to the husband when Kathryn died. Then when Thomas died everything went to HIS kids.

Her will gave everything to her kids and his will gave everything to his kids but….

Do you think either Thomas or Kathryn understood that the money would go to only his kids? Probably not since each had a will leaving what they had to their kids BUT the Texas Supreme Court said too bad!  They said the law is the law and ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Thomas’ kids got everything!!!

Now, go check your bank accounts. Check the bank accounts of your parents and make sure you talk with your attorney about this! This is a new ruling and your attorney may not even know about it yet.

Susan Hilton

Case in point, our house in Pebble Creek would not sell unless we found a buyer for our buyer’s house. Clay worked every angle imaginable, many of which we never would have dreamed of, and ultimately navigated us around this problem by working hard to get the previous owners of the house we wanted to buy in Woodcreek to purchase the home belonging to our potential buyers, triggering a chain reaction of buying and selling, getting everyone, multiples families, where they belong. This intricate and tricky transaction demonstrated an intimate knowledge of the local market, an ability to bring different people and ideas together, and an intrepid spirit. Clay is also a full service agent, not only selling our house and helping us buy a new one, but taking the time to work with us on financing, inspections, repairs, furnishing, and even monitoring our move when we were out of the country. He had already been paid at that point, but decided to help anyway, again going above and beyond. He is professional, appropriately aggressive, and personally engaged with his clients, at least in our case. We cannot thank him enough for all he did for our family. He really made a difference in our lives. We give Clay our highest recommendation as an agent, but the best thing we can say about him is that we consider him a dear family friend.

We would be happy to discuss our experience with Clay directly if you would like more information.

Sincerely,

Ralph & Melissa

We made a quick U-Turn and started down a side road.  After a few minutes we started to doubt the decisionand what did we see? A small sign encouraging us that the Lavender Farm was “this way”.  A little further and we again doubted our decision… and another sign.  Only a few more miles and we saw a big sign saying “Lavendar Farm”.

What a cute place!

We drove in to lavender plants on both sides of the driveway. Off to the left was a gazebo, pond and a beautiful home.  To the right was a quaint store.  My who would have thought the store would have been full!  There were about 8 people in the store in addition to the staff.

The store was full of lavendar items like candles,cookies, sachets, bath salts and more. There was jewelry,, wall items, bird houses….

Next time you want to have a picnic in the country or want a great gift or just want to do something new, try out a Lavendar Farm!

Century 21 Beal, Inc.

979-764-2100

• Foreclosure in Bryan
• College Station Foreclosure

The first Freebirds came to College Station, TX  in 1991, at Northgate across the street from Texas A&M University.  College Station now has a total of 4 locations around the vicinity of the area to help fulfill your burrito craving appetite, and there is rumor that there might be a 5^th location coming soon! (I’m betting maybe at the new HEB Center off of Greens Prairie?)

Freebirds offers a wide variety of burritos, salads, quesadillas, nachos, tacos, and kid’s menu items!!  But the big things to get when you come into Freebirds are their AMAZING burritos!  There are many sizes and types to choose from like the Hybrid all the way up the massive 7lb SUPER MONSTER Burrito. – There is also special way to eat their burritos.  The idea is to peel the foil your bird, like a banana, as you eat.   My kiddos like playing with the foil and creating all sorts of animals, objects, etc. to stick on the brick next to the walls where other burrito consumers have done the same.

 Freebirds in College Station, Texas is a place that anyone who comes to College Station needs to try!  It is a place many of my clients ask me about and often a place we stop at for lunch while we are touring houses. Once you try one, you will always want another! Let me know if you have ever eaten a MONSTER–I can’t even finish my hybird!

Raylene Lewis– College Station Expert and Realtor

979-218-2235

www.buyincollegestation.com

Every once in a while you get something by email that is just too funny not to share. Al Flores created this short FUNNY video using College Station real estate agents as the stars. Can you figure out who they are?

Thanks Al!

Susan Hilton
Century 21 Beal, Inc.
979-764-2100

• College Station Real Estate
• College Station Foreclosures
• Bryan Real Estate
• Bryan Foreclosures
• College Station Homes for Sale
• Bryan Homes for Sale

Bryan & College Station – Your real estate agents at Century 21 Beal are learning again!

The real estate sales agents of Century 21 Beal are getting ready for the annual retreat where a few days are spent away from working “in” the real estate business and instead we will be working “on” our real estate business.

This year’s retreat will have speakers and events covering the following topics:

• Pricing your Brazos Valley Home using the Absorption Rate Analysis in our quickly changing real estate market

• Farm and Ranch – how to better market our farm and ranch properties

• Commercial Real Estate – how to market and sell commercial real estate in Bryan and College Station

• Century 21 – online marketing on a national scale

• Realtors Preparing for the Future – investments and retirement

• Effectively Managing a work and home life

• Tax planning for the real estate sakes agent and the real estate investor

So, know a real estate agent at Century 21? Know that your Century 21 Beal Realtor is the BEST trained real estate agent in town!

Susan Hilton

century 21 Beal

979-764-2100

Rhonda Fry and other agents from Century 21 Beal were out on property tour last week and these funny photos were taken.  Sometimes real estate is a stressful profession and it is great that while we do our job we get to have a little fun along the way!

Who knows – she may even be participating in the March of Dimes Jail & Bail?

Susan Hilton
CENTURY 21 Beal, Inc.

979-764-2100

Let’s begin by discussing exactly what a contingency contract is.  A  contingency contract is what you use to buy a new home when you need the equity from your current house to make the purchase. It is exactly the same as a standard contract except for the fact that it includes an addendum for the sale of another property by the buyer. For that reason, we will focus on the content of the addendum for this article. It is important to note, however, that ALL parts of the contract can affect the seller’s willingness to accept an offer.

The first question many people have is , “When can I submit a contingency offer?” The answer: Whenever you want. Will a knowledgeable seller take a contingency offer before your current house is under contract to sale? Probably not. For that reason, it is important that your first priority is getting your current house under contract. In this case, it is generally a good idea to leave yourself a fair amount of time before closing so that you have time to negotiate a contract on your next purchase. It may also be wise to include a lease back to give yourself a couple of days to move.

Ok. your current house is under contract. Now what?! The best thing you can do is get a Realtor to help explain to you how a contingency contract works. There are too many scenarios to cover in this article. Suffice it to say that the wording in the addendum protects the buyer if the contract on their current house falls through.

On the other hand, it also protects the seller by allowing them to continue showing the property. IF another offer is made on the house, though, the original buyer has “dibs.” That is to say that they have an opportunity to put down more earnest money (the amount can be negotiated) to give up their contingency and continue forward with a standard contract. If the buyer chooses to do this, the seller must stay with their offer even if the second offer was much higher.

 This may sound bad for the buyer, but generally by this point in time you have a pretty good idea if the sale of your previous house will go through. At this point, if you’ve played your cards right, The sale of your previous house closes, the purchase of your new home closes, the new house is yours, and everyone is happy.

It is important to note that seemingly minute details in a contingency contract can be responsible for the success or failure of the whole deal. For this reason, I STRONGLY advise you to contact a Realtor if you find yourself in this situation. They have the experience and the knowledge to help you through this process and to make sure that you are protected.

The First, and most important step, is to contact a Realtor. Simply doing this can save you the trouble of having to worry about the following four steps. If you insist on continuing alone, you must then CLEAN your house, PRICE your house, and STAGE your house properly to ensure it sells in the optimal amount of time. The final step in the process is often the most difficult. This is not because sellers are not motivated, but simply that they don’t always have the correct tools to get the job done properly. This step is ADVERTISING.

Advertising a house for sale is largely a numbers game. By that, I mean that the more people who see your property, the better. In order to advertise effectively, you must look at how consumers find houses for sale. A large percentage of home buyers contact Realtors to help them find a home. Realtors use a system called MLS, or Multiple Listing Service, to market their listings to other Realtors and potential buyers. This is yet another reason why it is important to speak with a Realtor before selling your house.

 Another great way to make your home available to the masses is the  internet. This is a fantastic way to reach a large audience, but it can be difficult entering your information in many websites to produce the results you want. If you are listing your house with a Realtor, it is important to ask them how they plan to market your property online. Many Realtors use numerous websites, and even social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to advertise their listings.

The other mainstream way to advertise a property is with signs and fliers. These can be very effective if designed properly. In order to be effective, you need to have a professional looking flier with pictures and important information about the house. Finally, you need to have a way for the potential buyers to contact you. It does you no good to have a great flier if the buyers can’t get ahold of you to buy the house.

Selling a house can be unnerving, but if you contact a Realtor, clean, price your house well, stage it to sell, and advertise properly; you are sure to find success.

Pricing is affected by many factors. Just a few of them are how much houses in the area have sold for in the past, how much money you NEED to get, how much money you WANT to get, and how fast you need to sell your house. It is important to remember that pricing will be different for each house as well as each seller.

Many people think that the average sales price for their neighborhood is a good place to start. This is often a good idea, but make sure to base your price on average sales price per square foot, not average total sales price. From there, you can add to the price for improvements, decrease price if you are in a hurry to sell, make allowances for repairs, ……..the list goes on seemingly forever. 

The bottom line is that there is no simple formula to follow. This is why it is imperative that you consult with a Realtor to ensure that your house sells quickly at a good price. Your Realtor will guide you through the process based on your personal needs and wishes. Pricing is one of the reasons that a large majority of people trying to sell their own house end up contacting a Realtor. Save yourself a lot of head ache and let a Realtor guide you through the difficult parts of College Station home sales.