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A Few Things To Know About Ranch Real Estate
Here are some things you should know about ranch real estate in Texas.
Today I’m excited to talk about a subject I love: ranch real estate.
First, I want to discuss how it can be used as a hedge against inflation. Inflation is a sustained increase in the prices of services and goods over time. On the real estate side, the increase in a home’s value over time is called appreciation.
As a homeowner, you can use that appreciation to hedge against inflation. If you’re buying a home today, the price is fixed, so you’re hedging against future inflation. Although inflation always rises over time, so does appreciation. However, the value that you paid for the ranch does not change. All real estate is a way to hedge against inflation.
Second, you might be wondering, “What exactly is a ranch?” Here in Texas, a ranch can be on 50 acres or several thousand and can be used for whatever your interests are, whether it’s hunting, fishing, or swimming.
“Make sure you team with a great ranch real estate broker.”
If you’re not into any of that, ranches are also great places to bring your bikes, ATVs, and your family. You can find ranches with small homes or 10,000-square-foot lodges. Depending on what your lifestyle is like, you can even have an airstrip on your ranch.
One of the great things about buying a ranch in Texas is our agricultural and wildlife tax exemptions. Your ranch may fall under one of those depending on how you use it. If it does, your taxes are almost zero, which is a beautiful sight to see. It keeps your carrying costs at a minimum, and it’s also a good way to grow wealth for future generations. Texas real estate on the ranch side has not dipped in years, and it isn’t predicted to do so for years to come.
However, if you want to buy a ranch, you should seek out an agent with experience buying and selling ranch properties. There are little details to pay attention to, like water rights, easements, surveys, boundaries, and more. If your agent isn’t experienced in this kind of transaction, it could come back to bite you. Make sure you team yourself up with a great ranch real estate broker like us.
If you have any questions about buying a ranch or anything else related to real estate, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
How To Get Your Home Organized for a Spring Sale
Here are a few helpful tips for organizing your home for the spring market.
If you’re planning to sell your home this year, I have some tips to help get you organized this spring:
1. Pack early. Decluttering and depersonalizing are important steps to getting your home ready for sale. If you can pack a lot of that stuff ahead of time, you’ll get your home organized and make it more appealing to buyers in the process. You may want to consider renting a storage pod or dumpster to donate or get rid of unused items in your home while you prepare it.
Walk through your house and think about if you use things regularly, if you can store them ahead of time, or if you can just donate them to a number of different organizations in the hill country like HCFS, HCDB, or Junk King.
“Tuck away those important items and keepsakes while you sell.”
2. Make sure your house is spotless. I’m talking about five-star hotel cleaning. You may want to bring in a professional service to make sure those windows, baseboards, and every nook and cranny is clean.
3. Put away private items. If you’re going to be selling and showing your home, make sure you tuck away crucial items like jewelry, keepsakes, and medicines.
4. Don’t neglect the outside. Make sure your home looks great from the curb by pressure-washing the exterior and maybe adding a fresh coat of paint.
I work with a company called Olive Branch that’s all about getting organized. Reach out to learn more, and I’ll get you connected with the company’s owner.
If you have any other questions about getting organized, getting clean, or selling your home this spring, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email today. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
When Is the Best Time to Enter the Market?
Five tips to help you decide when the right time to move is.
Buyers and sellers often ask when the right time to enter the real estate market is. We’re currently experiencing a crazy market, so I’m sharing a few things to consider to help you decide when the right time is for you and your family to enter the market:
1. What’s your motivation? Usually, people buy or sell a home because something major has happened in their lives. That could mean they’ve been married, had a baby, retired, are relocating for a job, etc. The other question to ask yourself is what your finances look like. Have they dramatically increased or decreased? Is that another motivating factor?
2. Every market is different. We live in and love the Hill Country, and right now, our market is very strong. Many people are moving here from other cities or states for our higher standard of living. However, you need to evaluate your specific market at the time you’re thinking about moving.
You also need to consider the interest rates. Though we’ve enjoyed great interest rates recently, we’re starting to see them rise. Rates will impact your sales price and buying price point.
“Many people are moving here from other cities or states to get a better quality of life.”
3. Seasonality. You may have a personal preference of when you want to buy or sell. For example, you might want to move in the summer when your kids are out of school. As far as the Hill Country goes, our market is fairly strong throughout the entire year, except maybe from Thanksgiving through mid-January.
4. Sellers should always put their best foot forward. Even if you’re putting your house on the market in the winter, make sure your landscaping is spruced up. You’ll leave money on the table if your house isn’t in top condition. Work with a real estate agent that will help you decide what’s needed before selling.
5. Money isn’t everything. This is my most important tip today. It’s not all about getting the most money for your house. It’s more about making sure you’re making good life decisions both for your finances and family. Real estate is many different things; it’s physical, it’s difficult to move, and it’s emotionally stressful. Ensure every piece fits together well before jumping into the market.
If you have questions about when the right time is to enter the market or anything else, call or email us. We would love to speak with you. Also, let us know what you want to hear about in our future blog posts. We want to make videos that are helpful for you.
5 Tips To Help Buyers Navigate Our Seller’s Market
Here are five methods to help you increase the strength of your offer.
If you’re a homebuyer in today’s market, you know how tough things are currently. Inventory is low, and demand is sky-high, which means that you’ll likely have to compete with others to get it. But it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Here are a few tips to help you navigate the difficulties of this hot seller’s market and find success:
1. Get your pre-qualification letter. Not only does having this letter handy when you find a home make your offer stronger in the seller’s eyes, but it also gives you an idea of what your house payment is going to be and how much money you’ll need upfront. Whether you’re ready to buy right away or in the near future, now is a great time to speak with a local lender.
“Communication is key in this difficult market.”
2. Add more earnest and option money to your offer. When you’re making an offer, instead of just putting forward the normal amount of earnest money, be a stronger player in the game and exceed the seller’s expectations. When you’re competing against other buyers, a larger earnest money deposit will help you stand out.
3. Consider the seller’s position. Work with an agent who has strong communication skills so that they can contact the listing agent to find out what the seller is looking for. For example, do they need a leaseback or a certain closing date? Knowing the answer can help you craft an offer specific to the seller’s needs. Communication is key in this difficult market.
4. Be compassionate to the seller. Beyond just anticipating your seller’s needs, be compassionate to them. They’re in a difficult position of their own.
5. Put your best foot forward. Sellers have to sort through a lot of different offers on their properties, and they might not come back and ask the competitors to submit their highest and best offers. That means you need to lead with your highest and best; the seller wants to see who is serious.
In the end, don’t get discouraged. Yes, this is a challenging market, but if you partner with a strong agent who knows the market, you’ll be able to find the house you’re looking for.
If you have any questions about buying a home or how to strengthen your offer, don’t hesitate to call or email us. We’d love to hear from you.
What’s Happening in Our Market?
Here’s what you need to know to navigate our current market.
What’s happening in our real estate market? Everyone knows things have been pretty crazy lately, but what does that mean for you? Today we want to take a look at our local market and let you know how you can best navigate it.
The defining feature of our market is our low inventory. Because of it, we’re in a very strong seller’s market, and we have been for some time. You pretty much have to go back to the last crash to find a time with plenty of inventory. After 2008, builders stopped building as many homes to hedge against another downturn, and we’re still feeling the effects today. The pandemic has only exacerbated the issue since people from the cities have been flooding into the Texas Hill Country.
“Buying a home in the Texas Hill Country is a very stable investment.”
To put things into perspective, we currently have just one month of inventory available. This means that if no new homes entered the market, our total supply would run out in 30 days. The Texas Hill Country generally has between eight and 12 months of inventory, but things have changed since 2020.
Because our seller’s market is so strong, many buyers want to know if they’re overpaying. Let us put it this way: Our area never has big dips in home values. Houses appreciate slowly but surely, and when a downturn hits the rest of the market, values level out instead of crashing. This makes buying a home in the Texas Hill Country a very stable investment. On top of that, we’ve been outpacing our normal rate of appreciation for the last two years, and there’s nothing on the horizon that makes us think that will change anytime soon.
The bottom line is that now is a great time to buy. As homes continue to appreciate, the sooner you buy, the better. For example, houses increased between 10% and 12% in 2021, and we anticipate this year to be the same. We know it’s frustrating to buy right now, so make sure you hire an experienced real estate team to go to bat for you.
If you are looking to buy or sell or have any real estate-related questions, please call or email us. We’d love to help!
