Register Real Estate Advisors

The Internal Revenue Service has some important information to share with individuals who have sold or are about to sell their home.  If you have a gain from the sale of your main home, you may qualify to exclude all or part of that gain from your income.  Here are ten tips from the IRS to keep in mind when selling your home.

1.  In general, you are eligible to exclude the gain
from income if you have owned and used your home as your main home for two
years out of the five years prior to the date of its sale.
2.  You are not eligible for the exclusion if you
excluded the gain from the sale of another home during the two-year period
prior to the sale of your home.

3.  If you can exclude all of the gain, you do not
need to report the sale on your tax return.

4.  If you have a gain that cannot be excluded, it is taxable.  You must report it on Form
1040, Schedule D, Capital Gains and Losses.

5.  You cannot deduct a loss from the sale of your main home.

6.  Worksheets are included in Publication 523,
Selling Your Home, to help you figure the adjusted basis of the home you sold,
the gain (or loss) on the sale, and the gain that you can exclude.

7.  If you have more than one home, you can exclude
a gain only from the sale of your main home.
You must pay tax on the gain from selling any other home.  If you have two homes and live in both of them,
your main home is ordinarily the one you live in most of the time.

8.  If you received the first-time homebuyer credit
and within 36 months of the date of purchase, the property is no longer used as
your principal residence, you are required to repay the credit.  Repayment of the full credit is due with the
income tax return for the year the home ceased to be your principal residence,
using Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit.  The full amount of the credit is reflected as
additional tax on that year’s tax return.

9.  When you move, be sure to update your address with the IRS and the U.S. Postal
Service to ensure you receive refunds or correspondence from the IRS.  Use Form 8822, Change of Address, to notify
the IRS of your address change.

** For more information about selling your home, see IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home.  This
publication is available at www.irs.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

 This information was reprinted from the September 2011 edition of the Houston Realtor Magazine (HAR) to help consumers with home selling tax information.  Realtors cannot tax or legal advice.  This is information to help consumers.

Many times when I list a home for sale one of the sellers will tell me they are the only person on the loan and the deed and so there’s no need for the spouse to sign the listing agreement with RREA.  However, in Texas, we are a community property state.  So unless you inherited the property, have it in a trust, or own it as separate property, both spouses must sign the listing agreement and contract to sell their home because it’s considered community property under the laws of Texas.

Community property is a  “marital property regime” that originated under Spanish law and is followed in many states in the West of the United States. Texas holds to this principal very strongly and it affects how you hold real estate in Texas. For any property held as community property, each spouse holds an undivided one-half interest in the property and this applies to most property acquired by the husband or wife during the course of the marriage. In Texas, when a  married couple purchases a property that will be their primary residence, we usually show ownership on property as “Joint ownership with right of survivorship” which means that if one party dies, the spouse has the right to undivided use of the property until their death (as long as all loans and liens on the home are kept current).

This policy creates some interesting situations which you should be aware of (and remember I am not an attorney so you should seek legal counsel on your specific questions and situations, these are just some general issues I have seen come up):

1. When you are purchasing a homestead in Texas (your primary residence), both spouses must sign the Deed of Trust and any other documents that create a lien on the property  (such as the Homeowner
   Association), even if both spouses are not on the loan.
2. When you sell a primary residence in Texas, both spouses must sign the Warranty Deed transferring ownership, even if only one was on title when the property was purchased.
3. A will becomes a very important “to do” when purchasing property – become of Community Property laws, the distribution of property after your death should be specified very clearly in a will
4. On Government loans, the underwriters interpret community property to also refer to the debts of both parties whether or not they are on the loan, so that must be considered when looking at debt to income ratio.
5. And remember- Texas recognizes common law marriages when considering Community Property so be very careful you understand what your marital status is!

Most of the above information was sent to me in an email from a local mortgage lender.  Some great information if you have never purchased or sold real estate in Texas!

11.  Do you use a showing service?

At RREA, we do use a showing service called Centralized
Showing.  They schedule all of the
Realtor showings on your home.  This way,
if our agents are out of town or our office is closed, Realtors can still
schedule to show buyers your home.

12.  Do you send out eFliers?

Many Realtors don’t even have a database, little less a
database of Realtors.  At RREA, we have a
large Realtor database that we can email eFliers of your home to.  This way other Realtors in the community can see
photos of your home that they may not otherwise see.  We advertise our Broker Open Houses this way,
too.

13.  Do you send out direct mail?

Some Realtors do not want to spend money on direct mail
campaigns that could help you sell your home faster.  At RREA, we use direct mail to show buyers
what homes we have for sale.  For
example, if you have a $200K house for sale, we would likely mail a just listed
postcard to homes in the $150K range that have a potential to move up.

14.  Did the Realtor show you a net sheet?

A net sheet is the industry term for showing the seller what
they will net at closing.  It does not
have to be an official document, but your Realtor should discuss with you what
your home will likely sell for and how much you will walk away with at the
closing based on different offers you might receive.

15.  Do you provide web site reports?

Web site reports show the seller how many online views their
home has received.  These reports can be
pulled from Realtor.com, HAR.com, and the showing company so that you can see
the activity on the property.

16.  How do you ensure your company website has good search engine optimization?

At RREA, we ensure good SEO because we key word tag all
photos, videos, and blog posts.  We do
not have a static website, it is updated with content daily so that the Google
search engines check for new content on our site every hour and index it.

17.  Does the Realtor use Print to Web Technology?

This is new technology that many people (including Realtors)
do not understand.  We use QR Codes,
which is a print to web technology, on our yard signs.   This
allows potential buyers to use a smart phone with our yard sign to view the
video of the home they are parked in front of.
We use mobile optimized pages, not web pages, to house this
content.  We also use print to web
technology in advertising and marketing pieces which include our watermarked business
cards.

18.  Do you offer a Seller Service Guarantee?

This is important.   You are signing a six month listing agreement with a Realtor and you
need some kind of assurance about what they are going to do to advertise and
market the property.  The number one complaint about Realtors is that they do not do anything to sell the home.  Not true at RREA!  We continuously work hard to sell your home
and we give you a seller service guarantee!

19.  Do you offer help with home staging and vendors?

Most Realtors who have been in the business for any length
of time have a list of vendors they like to use and refer people to.  Many of them have home staging designations
as well.  Even if they don’t have home
staging designations, they should be able to tell you what needs to be done to
make the home more appealing to buyers.

20.  Are you available and can you hold a deal together?

Basically, you want to know that you can reach your Realtor
when you need to get in touch with him or her.
If they are a part time Realtor, they may not be available during the
day.  And if they’re not good negotiators
they might not be able to keep the deal together for you.  You want a Realtor you can talk to when you
need them and who can find their way around deal breaking problems.
To see the previous Top 10 Questions a Seller Should Ask
their Realtor, visit http://rrea.com/blog/top-20-things-to-look-for-in-a-realtor-brokerage-part-i
.  Whenever you are ready to sell your
home, use this as a guide to help you choose the best Realtor for your selling
needs.  You can call our office at
281.288.3500 to speak to one of our highly trained Realtors that would love to
help you sell your property.

by Eric Bryan, BryanSuarez Property Presentation

A little interior design, some decorating, marketing, real estate, and set design all rolled in to one.  Imagine wearing all those hats!  A properly trained real estate stager does just that.  So, where does it all fit in?

 To stage real estate properly, the designer must have a good understanding of spatial considerations, color, architectural and furnishing styles, the real estate market, and organization concepts to name a few.  In addition to these very technical understandings is the ability to use these techniques to create environments that speak to a wide range of buyers.  As with the advertising industry, stagers, realtors, and sellers have a product to market as well.  In the advertising industry, prior to the public seeing an ad, hours of planning and concept consideration have been done.  When we purchase something due to an ad that appealed to us, we are purchasing the result of research about us, the product, the products’ competition, and market trends.  Also, hours of design time have been spent to create a look that stands out among the crowd of competition, and makes an impression on its target market.

 It is no different with real estate staging.  Once a property is put on the market, it becomes a product of that market.  As a product, research must be done.  Who is/are the competition?  Who is the target market? What does the target market want in a property? What does this property have that the others don’t?  What is this property missing that the others have?  What do I like about this property?  What would make me purchase this property?  These are some questions that a real estate stager would ask themselves within the first few minutes of visiting the property.  Imagine the work that goes into the actual staging of the property.

 The goal, then, is to create an environment that attracts buyers.  It is as simple as that.  Not to create an environment that attracts the owner, realtor, or stager alone, but one that appeals to the largest number of buyers.  This can only be done through research, careful planning, creative ideas, and hard work.

 Staging real estate means to enhance a property’s best features, increasing the perceived space, convincing prospective buyers that this is their home and it is ready for them to move in! Staging is obviously more than just the placing furniture, accessories, or lighting to beautify the space.  This is marketing a product to gain a faster and more profitable sale.

http://bryansuarez.wordpress.com 

There is a formula to selling in this market:  Passion + Technology = SOLD.  It is working for my sellers.  Allow me to elaborate.

First, the house must be findable and appealing online because that is where 87% of the buyers start their home search.  This is essential to maximizing the value of your home in a timely manner.  It is not enough to simply add your home into the Multiple Listing Service. It is no longer enough to simply have “curb appeal,”  it must have “google appeal” as well and be search engine optimized and key word search-able for the scarce qualified buyer to find your home.  Professional quality pictures and video tours help turn visitors on the web pages into offers on your home.  As a Social Media Pro and ePro Realtor, I have geared my training to help me improve my web marketing and website to showcase listings with photos, videos, and information about the property that is trickled out to over 40 websites.  Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn also add to the listing’s “web footprint” and increase the odds of the right qualified buyer finding it.  I don’t leave the sale of your home to chance, I put it in front of buyers as well as the Realtors in the North West Houston area via e-fliers. 

Bottom line – my online marketing is proven to sell houses. I offer online home tours via videos and comprehensive real estate news and data and distribute this information through multiple channels. I am committed to cutting edge technology that improves your bottom line in real estate transactions.

Relocating to the area? With the tools for your research on my website, you can make a decision on a home without traveling or with a few days visit. I have recognized and responded to today’s consumer by staying on top of the market and the internet technology that ensures their home stands out from the crowd in any market. That’s why I can honestly tell my clients that Passion + Technology = SOLD.

Second, Passionate about Real Estate.  One of the ways I chose to drive traffic to my website is by writing my blog.  I have been awarded “The Best Real Estate Blog in Texas” according to The Mays Business School and Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. 

To sell in this market, you must have a Realtor that knows the market and knows that in a down market, marketing and packaging matters.  Don’t let my use of technology intimidate you if you’re not a social media bug, just use it to sell your home.  I continue to use the traditional Realtor marketing techniques as well.  My marketing plan is proven to work even in a down market.  If you need to sell your home, call me for the help it is going to require to sell in this economy.  I’d love to help you and since I am a relocation specialist, I can help you relocate to anywhere in the world.  Of course, I think Texas is the best place to live.

During the month of April, I closed $1.3 Million Dollars, making me a Million Dollar Producer in one month.  This is a huge success.  My clients can tell you I add value to their transactions.  I work for my Sellers to negotiate the highest and best offer for their properties.  For my Buyers, I help them negotiate their best deal and renegotiate any repair work that needs to be done after inspections.  I give my clients full disclosure, keeping them in the loop with the title company, mortgage company, and updates from Co-op Realtors.  My clients always get honesty, fairness, and accountability from me.  I give my Sellers weekly updates on my customized marketing plan that is proven to work even in a down market.  I use reasonable care and disclose all material facts.  I have an undivided loyalty to my clients and hold their confidentiality close to heart.  I give houses an objective evaluation when I list them, offering staging advice and opinions.  Throughout the year I offer Valuable Free Services, like Free Professional Staging and Free Home Warranties.  I always give Price Counseling and even do market analysis for my Buying Clients so that they can rest assured they are not overpaying for properties.  When you are my client, I work for you and I act under your instructions.  Sometimes my opposition does not like that I represent YOU so well, but I work for your best interest.  I am dedicated to my full time career in real estate.  As a full service Realtor, I can help you buy, sell, or lease properties.  I moved a Million in inventory this month and I can prove my marketing plan works!  Call me today to help you Buy or Sell your next piece of real estate in Texas or anywhere in the world.  I want to be your Realtor for Life!

I wish you all a wonderful and Happy Easter!  Spring is such a busy time for selling real estate.  I am grateful for this holiday weekend to spend time with my family and friends and take a break from the busy season.  I am thankful for the resurrection of Jesus and the hope that Spring brings to us.  I see flowers beginning to bloom and green growth on the trees and look forward to warm and sunny days ahead.  I will be back in the office on Monday, but for today I am busy stuffing eggs and looking for Easter Bunny tracks!  Happy Easter & God Bless!!