Pre-qualified or Pre-approved: What’s the Difference?

There is a difference between being pre-qualified for a mortgage and being pre-approved.

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I’d like to take a minute to address a frequently asked question: “What’s the difference between being pre-qualified for a mortgage and being pre-approved for a mortgage?” If you’ve been pre-qualified, it means your lender has only taken a cursory look at your financial information. While they’ve checked your credit score, for the most part pre-qualified means your lender has taken down your information and made a presumptive decision before they begin the rigorous process of verifying the information you’ve provided. In short, prequalified means you’ve spoken with a lender about your financial situation.

Being pre-approved shows sellers that you are serious and know your purchasing power.

If you’ve been pre-approved, it means your lender has gone through that verification process and has documented your finances. In addition to a credit check, they’ve taken the time to contact your employer and verify your income. In regard to your credit, pre-approved means your lender has looked deeper into your credit report than your score, having examined your bills to verify their accuracy and your credit history. When you are pre-approved, you are very close to being able to close on a home. When we represent a seller, we are always looking for a pre-approval over a pre-qualification. While pre-qualification indicates a lender’s best guess, when a buyer is pre-approved for a mortgage it shows the seller that the buyer is more serious about closing and knows their purchasing power. If you’d like us to answer any questions you have in a future video, or you’d like to talk to us about buying or selling a home, please contact me at (469) 338-4756 or online at sales@thepyronteam.com. I'd be happy to help you.

How Important Is the Final Walkthrough of a Home Sale?

The final walkthrough of a home sale is the buyer’s last chance to walk through the home and make sure it’s in good condition.

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The final walkthrough is a very important part of a home sale. As a buyer, it’s your last chance before closing to walk through the home with your Realtor and make sure the home is in good condition and there’s nothing changed about it that the seller should be responsible for.

Once you close, it’s very difficult to go back and correct anything.

Once you close, it’s very difficult to go back and correct anything that should’ve been corrected beforehand. If you have any questions about the final walkthrough or have another real estate topic in mind that you’d like to see me discuss, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.

Can an Agent Help You Purchase a For Sale By Owner Home?

If you are buying a For Sale By Owner property, can you still hire
a professional Realtor to represent your interests?

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Lately, a lot of homebuyers have asked, “Can you help us purchase a For Sale By Owner property?”

About 95% of homes on the market are listed through Realtors, meaning that only 5% are not. If the seller is representing themselves, a Realtor can definitely help you purchase the home.

You can definitely work with a Realtor to buy a FSBO home.

A FSBO seller is someone who wants to go around the real estate system in order to perhaps get a higher sales price for the home. When looking at For Sale By Owner properties, buyers need to be aware of the true market value of the home, as well as some of the ramifications of dealing with a seller directly.

That said, we can and do help buyers purchase homes that are listed as For Sale By Owner.

If you have any questions or need our help in this area, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

How Accurate Is Zillow, Exactly?

Can Zillow accurately pinpoint the value of your home?
There are a few reasons why it’s especially difficult for Zillow to do so in Texas.

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What can’t you trust Zillow to provide an accurate value for your home? For one thing, we’re in Texas, which is a non-disclosure state. This means a consumer website can’t publish the value of your neighbor’s home or what they may have sold it for. That information can only come through the MLS. Secondly, Zillow pulls data from public tax records and other similar sources to estimate the value of homes. Their estimate tool, the Zestimate, is merely an algorithm that calculates this public online information and is typically 5% to 15% higher or lower than the home’s actual value.

The best way to find your home’s true value is to contact a Realtor.

The best way to find your home’s true value is to contact a Realtor such as myself so we can conduct a free CMA (comparative market analysis) and accurately look at the values of the homes that have sold in your area. If you have any other questions about Zillow or you’re interested in having us conduct a CMA for your home to calculate its worth down to the penny, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We’d be glad to help.

Why Are Home Inspections So Important?

Getting a home inspection done gives you peace of mind that the home is in good condition.

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What makes home inspections so important?

We’ve had clients tell us they don’t want to spend up to $500 on a home inspection because they feel like the home in question is in great shape. Skipping the home inspection is always an option, but we don’t recommend it.

We always recommend getting a home inspection.

Home inspections benefit you greatly because they’re there for your own protection. A home inspector will check all the systems within the home that can be seen, felt, and touched, and give you a written report that will give you invaluable peace of mind that the home is in great shape.

If you have any questions about home inspections or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’d be happy to help you.

When Is It Time to Buy a Home?

How do you know if you are ready to buy a home or not? I’ll go over a few indicators today.

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How do you know if you’re ready to buy a home or not?

Here’s the deal.

If you’re going to be in the same city for more than three years, then it’s probably time to buy a home.

If you rent during that time, your rent will definitely go up. Your monthly home payment will not.

Also, home prices will go up during that time frame as well. That means you may save money by buying a home now. If you don’t, you could lose out.

Real estate is one of the most solid investments you can make.

The biggest determinate for the cost of a home is actually the interest rate.

Right now, interest rates are at a good level. If rates increased to the norm established over the last 10 years, payments would be significantly higher.

So, go ahead and invest in real estate. It’s one of the most solid investments out there.

If you have any other questions or would like to begin your home search, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Closing on a Home Doesn’t Have to Take Very Long

How long does it take to close on a home? If you work with an experienced Realtor, you may be in that new house sooner than you think.

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Once you and your family have found the perfect home, how long does it take to close on the property?

The truth is, the hard part of the home buying process is finding the right home. If you and your Realtor have done a great job, you will already be pre-approved for your loan. If that’s the case, it’s really just between you and the seller to determine the closing date.

The mortgage company we work with can close a loan in just 14 days.

It is important that you work with an experienced Realtor who knows the importance of getting pre-approved. If you aren’t pre-approved, the closing process could take a bit longer.

An experienced agent will also know a great lender you can work with. The mortgage company that we usually work with can typically close a loan in just 14 days, so closing really doesn’t have to take that long.

If you have any other questions about buying a home or the closing process, just give me a call or send me an email. I may even answer your question with a video. I look forward to hearing from you!

Thinking of Moving Up Into a Luxury Home? Now Might Be the Time

If you’re looking to move up into a luxury home, now might be the perfect time to make your move. I have the numbers to explain why.

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Looking to buy a DFW home? Search for homes on the market.

If you live in a house that’s valued in the $150,000 to $400,000 price point and you’re considering moving up into a luxury home, you might be looking at a golden opportunity in our market, and I have the numbers to prove it. According to the latest statistics, if your home is located in any one of the counties surrounding the DFW metroplex, it has appreciated in value about 10% in the last year. In that same time span, the supply of inventory in the $150,000 to $400,000 price point has held steady between two and 2.75 months. That’s practically no inventory for this time of year when demand is usually the highest. This combination of factors puts your current house in a strong seller’s market.

If you act now, you’d be selling in a hot seller’s market and buying in a strong buyer’s market.

In the $401,000 to $900,000 price point, which is considered a luxury price range, home appreciation has basically stayed flat. The supply of inventory in this price point has also been much higher, from six to eight months. That’s a lot of inventory, which makes this price point much more buyer friendly.
As you can see, by moving up into a luxury home, you’d be selling in a red-hot seller’s market and moving into a strong buyer's market. In other words, you might sell your current home over list price and get a great deal on the luxury home you intend to buy. If you have any questions about this topic, please call, text, or email me. I would love to hear from you.

How to Make a Strong Offer in a Seller’s Market

In this hot seller’s market, how do you make your home offer stand out from the rest? Here are three steps I suggest you take.

The market is extremely hot for sellers right now, and as a home buyer, it may not be as easy to get your offer accepted as it has been in the past. Here are a few tips to help make your offer stand out and win you the home you want:

1. Write a compelling letter in your offer to the seller. If you and your family are really excited about this home and all of its features, let the seller know all of the specifics. Compliment the way that the seller has maintained the home, include your vision of it for your family, and make sure that the letter is personalized. I’ve seen sellers accept lower offers simply due to the fact that they would rather have a particular family live in their home than an investor or somebody that they’ve never met.

2. Have your agent personally deliver your offer to the selling agent. Have your agent meet eyeball-to-eyeball with the selling agent. Make sure they have the offer and letter in hand and have them tell the selling agent how excited you are about the home.

3. Let the seller know that you’re pre-approved. Here’s my tip: have your agent get your local, reputable lender to call the selling agent and tell them how strong of a candidate you are. Have them relay the information that your loan is fully approved, that all of your documents have been received, and that the lender is willing to do everything they can to ensure that the transaction closes on time. This will help your offer stand out, especially if the selling agent has had multiple offers from multiple lenders they’ve never heard of.

Personal touches can make all the difference to the seller.

These personal touches can make a world of difference when submitting your offer, and the seller will be more willing to work to make the deal a win-win for both sides. If you have any other questions about buying or selling a home in this hot market, please don’t hesitate to shoot me a text, give me a call, or send me an email. I look forward to speaking with you!

4 Things You Should Know About Home Inspections

Getting a home inspection is one of the most important steps in purchasing a home. Today I’d like to go over some of the most important things you should know about the home inspection process so that you’ll know what to expect.

You get to choose your home inspector. Typically, an experienced Realtor will have a list of three to five home inspectors that they’ve worked with in the past. This list is a great place to start, but you’re also more than welcome to search the internet and find somebody on your own. Ultimately, you’ll want to choose somebody that you’re really comfortable with. All inspectors must go through a licensing process, so you’ve got a lot of options to choose from.

A home inspector’s job is to point out structural and mechanical issues in the home you’re considering buying; they will not point out cosmetic problems. Things like heating and air, plumbing, and the foundation will be on the top of the inspector’s list, but they will not point out issues with things like paint or carpeting.

Inspectors will not report cosmetic issues.

The inspector works for the party that is paying for the inspection. This means that you won’t want to use an older home inspection that the seller may have had or an inspection from another buyer that had considered buying the home. You want to find an inspector that you’re comfortable with and have them work just for you.

Inspectors are not responsible for the condition of the home that you’re considering buying. They cannot go inside walls or look underneath carpeting; they can only inspect what they can touch.

A home inspection may not cover 100% of the home you’re considering buying, but the inspector will look at hundreds of items before you purchase the home and give you a pretty good sense of whether the home is in good shape.

If you have any questions about home inspections or about real estate in general, please give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

What Features Do New Homes Have That Yours Does Not?

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The new home vs. resale home debate is something every buyer goes through. What every buyer might not know, however, is the number of upgrades that new homes are being built with today. We wanted to highlight some great new home features today that your current home probably doesn’t have, so you can have an idea of what to expect if you plan on buying in the future.

First up is the tankless water heater. These heaters are built on the outside of the home. No more worries of coming home to a leaky attic from a busted water heater. With one of these tankless heaters, the water is on the outside. If there is a problem, it will be on the outside as well. These heaters are much more energy efficient because the water isn’t actually being heated until it is being used inside your home. No more running out of hot water in the morning.

Another system of your house that you probably don’t have access to is your plumbing lines. In the old days, when you had a water leak, you had to go out in the yard to find it. It was a big hassle. Today, homes have pipes that run through a conduit to an interior central location. You can just turn the pesky pipe off from there.

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These are just a few examples
of new technology in homes.

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Another great feature home builders are putting in homes is large patios. They help you stay out of direct sunlight when it’s nice out, and with the press of a button you can bring the party inside. You can also install a solar screen on the outside of your patio to turn it into an indoor room. There’s even a timer on the shades that you can set.

These are just a few examples of the technology available in newer homes. The number one improvement over the years, though, is energy efficiency. We are renting a 1,800 sq ft. home right now and the energy bill is consistently over $300. In contrast, our new home is 4,100 sq ft. and last month our bill was $123. We are energy hogs, and this home is just much more efficient at holding the temperature inside.

If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.

Why Do Appraisals Matter to Colleyville Buyers and Sellers?

If you're looking to SELL your DFW home: Get a home evaluation

If you're looking to BUY a DFW home: search for homes on the market

Most people know that appraisals are important to buyers, but they are also important to sellers. Why? One thing many people don’t know is that when you sell your home, you really have to sell it to three different people.

First, the buyer’s real estate agent has to be convinced that the home is worth looking at. Then, the buyer has to like your home the best out of similar properties in your area. Finally, the appraiser has to be convinced that the home is worth what the buyer has agreed to buy it for.

What happens if you and the buyer agree on the price and the property doesn’t appraise? There are four main options:

1. The buyer can walk away from the deal.
2. The buyer can up the contract price to match the appraised value. The buyer needs cash on hand to do so and, unfortunately, many buyers do not have the money to up their offer.
3. The seller can come down to the appraised value.
4. The buyer and seller can meet somewhere in the middle.

Basically, if the home doesn’t appraise, you will have to renegotiate with the buyer.

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If the home doesn’t appraise, you have to renegotiate with the buyer.

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Knowing that the appraisal is going to be very important, is it better to overprice or underprice your home? The best thing to do is price your home according to what similar homes in your area are selling for. That way, you don’t leave any money on the table and the buyer won’t offer too much money for the home, which means the property will appraise.

If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!