This past year, we protested on over 16,800 properties. We helped draft and pass a property tax reform bill with State Representative Matt Krause and we played an integral part in the Tarrant Apprisal District (TAD) Board of Directors Election - all for free. None of these accomplishments would have been possible if it weren't for the clients that chose our team of expert realtors to help them buy or sell their property. We all owe these clients and all our incredible team a debt of gratitude. In this video: 1:27 How to prepare for your tax protest 2:30 Update on TAD election results 6:42 Real Estate Market Update - Past 8:40 Real Estate Market Update - Present 9:37 Real Estate Market Update - Future How to prepare for your tax protest The first step to prepare is to wait until your property tax value notice is received which will happen sometime within the first 2 weeks of April. If we are registered to protest for you this year, it will take us until mid-April to deliver your value notice because we need to digitize them and send them to you through email. If you are not currently registered with us, you may sign up for free at freetaxprotest.com. Update on TAD election results A couple months ago TAD had their Board of Directors Elections and we saw a few issues with the election process. There was a big push to renominate and reelect the current board of directors. There would have been no change over the next two years if this happens. We are thankful that we got involved and we asked for your help. The results were mind-blowing. With your help, 3 new members were elected: Kathryn Wilemon, Rich DeOtte and Gary Losada. We have been to every board meeting since they got elected and they are doing a great job asking tough questions, identifying the truth in every issue, and innovating ways on how to improve the system. Real estate market update If you are waiting for a good time to buy a house because you want real estate prices to fall, historically, we have not seen them fall, even through the worst of times. Interest rates and our strong housing market are keeping our inventory levels low. Inventory levels could be heading even lower. The lower the number gets, the stronger the real estate market is.   Once again, our appreciation would never be enough to repay you for all your support. If you know anybody thinking of buying or selling a house, please send them our way. It is how we fund everything that we do. You can absolutely count on us, it will be an honor to serve you.          

A while back I was contacted by a journalist with Realtor.com.  They needed an expert opinion about items that a home buyer might overlook or things that buyers frequently forget to consider. Some of these things might surprise you...  http://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/assuming-your-new-home-has-these-features-better-check-first/

It is important for sellers to consider the condition of their home from the perspective of a potential buyer because that is who we are trying to appeal to. The buyer has no previous knowledge of your house - no nostalgic feelings of home or memories of all the hard work that went into making it look really nice. They won’t know what kind of effort or money was invested into the home. Your home, to them, is now just a house, a product for sale. The buyer doesn’t especially care about your house. They are comparing your house with the last house they just saw and the next house they are going to see minutes after walking out the door.  They have a relatively short amount of time to walk through a house and decide if it is worthy of one of the biggest financial and lifestyle impacting decisions they will ever make. There is no test drive, no try-before-you-buy opportunity. They are forced to decide if your house is worthy to provide a home for (in many cases) their spouse and children after only viewing the house for an average of 8 minutes. With such little time to logically evaluate every aspect of the house, the brain relies heavily on emotion and something called confirmation bias comes into play. Buyers experience certain emotions when they consider a house. When they drive up to the house, their mind starts trying to categorize the home into only 1 of 2 groups - “maybe” or “no.”  If they first notice attractive aspects of the home or striking features, these thoughts often immediately transform into warm fuzzy feelings as they picture themselves in the home as if it is their own. If this happens, the brain naturally begins to filter out or minimize small negative aspects in order to justify its original conclusion. You’ll find people looking beyond problems to notice more positives. If, however, one of the first items that catch the buyer’s eye happens to be something unattractive, even as small as barren or overgrown landscaping, small cracks, even just dirty or peeling paint, they begin to focus increasingly on the negative aspects. Their brains begin to go out of its way to ignore positive aspects just to find more negative items to support the original inclination.  This illogical emotional experience is a strong reason why the strategy of providing an “allowance” for repairs is ineffective.  Buyers operate with a level of high expectation and a critical eye. A good strategy is to eliminate as many cosmetic issues that might catch their eye so that they have time to begin imagining it as their home before they notice an issue that might cause them to take pause.