4 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE HIRING AN INTERIOR DESIGNER

Our favorite lender Jerry Tomlinson with Supreme Lending had some great tips he wanted to share with our clients looking at homes in League City, Pearland, and our surrounding areas.  If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Southeast Houston give us a call at 281-962-4082; we are excited to help you find a perfect home for your family!

Now, on to Jerry! –

Whether you’re styling a new room, renovating an existing one, or simply hoping to bring some fresh style to your home, putting together an aesthetically pleasing space can be a challenge. That’s when some people will start to consider hiring a professional to help them out. If you’re looking at working with an interior designer, here are four questions to ask yourself first to make sure it’s the right decision for you.

What’s your style? Do you want a Scandinavian style? Industrial? Shabby chic? Mid-century modern? Your interior designer can provide guidance if you’re not sure what kind of look you’re going for, but knowing what styles you like and dislike can offer some important guidelines to make sure you end up with a finished product you’re happy with. Here are 10 interior design style quizzes to help you narrow down what you like!

What do you need help with? You can do it yourself or you can hire a full-service interior designer who will handle every step from concept to execution, but most people need something in between. Each designer has their strengths and specialties, so it’s important to know what skills you’ll need before choosing the designer. Check out these questions before you hire a designer to make sure they are the best fit for you and your project.

Are you ready to give input? It might sound appealing to hand off a room or a home to a designer and then come back to a finished space, but in actuality, you will be answering a lot of questions and making a lot of decisions. If you aren’t ready to be decisive, it might be better to DIY your decor, so you have as much time as you need to experiment.

What’s your budget? Interior designers, like most professionals, can tailor their offering to your budget — as long as you know what it is. Make sure you’re prepared with a number or range, because many designers ask for the amount in a lump sum. Need some tips on how to determine your budget? Here’s a guide that will walk you through how to maximize your decorating budget, and tips on how to stick to it.

If you’ve answered all these questions, you probably have a good idea not just of whether or not you should hire an interior designer, but of what sort of designer you should be looking for. No matter which direction you take, best of luck putting together a home or room with a look you love!

Are you interested in financing a home purchase, or refinancing for home improvements? Please text, email, or call us. We’re here to help!

Financing a home purchase, or refinancing for a lower rate or improvements? Please text, email, or call us. Have a great day!

Jerry L. Tomlinson
Senior Loan Officer
NMLS# 188931

14841 N. Dallas Pkwy Suite 250
Dallas, TX 75254

Office: 972-447-5748
Mobile: 972-922-3742

Back to the Blog here.

A fun home walkthrough with Stephanie in League City:

More Organizing Tips with Stephanie:

Thinking about selling your home and want a free home listing consultation with Stephanie and The I Spy Realty Team?  Call our office to make an appointment: (281) 962-4082.

Interior Design in the Headlines

Relocation Information

Texas City and La Marque are located within the Houston area. If you are thinking about relocating, we can help you find the perfect home and make your move as stress-free as possible. We offer valuable insight into the area to help you through your home buying experience. Contact Us at (281) 962-4082.

Are you thinking about buying or selling?

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Pearland Luxury Homes

Below is a current list of Pearland Luxury Homes. Please bookmark this page as the available real estate listings change from day-to-day. If you have any questions about any of these properties located in Pearland, Texas or are thinking about putting your home on the market please call us at (281) 962-4082.

Click here for Pearland Luxury Homes

If you have any questions about any of the homes listed above or if you would like to schedule a private showing contact us today!

Are you looking to buy your dream home in Pearland, Texas?

If you are a home buyer, our foremost goal is to provide you with exceptional customer service. Our goals are to help you purchase the right home, make sure you don’t miss out on any homes that meet your needs and make sure you don’t pay too much for your next home. Please utilize our Pearland real estate expertise to make your home search and buying experience as stress-free and rewarding as possible.

Search Available Pearland Properties

Relocation Information

Pearland is located within the Houston area. If you are thinking about relocating to Pearland, Texas we can help you find the perfect home and make your move as stress-free as possible. We offer valuable insight into the area to help you through your home buying experience. Contact Us at (281) 962-4082.

Are you thinking about buying or selling in Pearland, Texas?

We are local experts and are here to help guide you through your home buying or selling experience.

Connect with Us Today!

Looking for more information about Pearland, Texas?

Being from the area, you receive the benefits of learning about great neighborhoods, trends and hot spots.

Explore Our Communities

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Pearland News: Man Moves Into Starbucks?!

How Far Is Starbucks From You?

Lately, stats have proven that your home’s value can be dependent upon your proximity to the local Starbucks, Trader Joe’s or any other local grocery store as well as fast food locations. According to Zillow, things that increase your home’s value are good school districts and neighborhoods, larger square footage and its closeness to these local retailers.

Recent research shows major increases in value for homes that are “in the thick of things” as opposed to those that are out of the way a bit.

Of course, we’ve heard this our whole life. Location, location, location.

The most recent data we’ve found shows that homes within a quarter mile of Starbucks had value appreciations nearly double that of homes that are further away. Meanwhile in Detroit, homes near a brand-new opening of a Whole Foods have nearly DOUBLED in price!

A RealtyTrac study showed that homes in the same zip code as a Trader Joe’s went up by an amazing 40% during a period when the average growth for the nation was only 34%.

In all fairness, what happens in other areas around the nation doesn’t necessarily apply here in our area all the time, but it certainly makes sense when buying the next home to start thinking more about location!

There’s a definite connection between property values and it’s closeness to these new or popular retail locations around the country.

There are many factors that go into what you are looking for when considering a possible move. First and foremost is always about finding the perfect home for your family’s needs. However, a very important second factor to consider is location to popular retail locations even if it’s not establishments that you would frequent yourself. You have to keep resale value in mind anytime you are buying a home for your family, or for investment purposes. If you have questions about any of these thoughts, just give me a quick call here. I’m always happy to speak with you (if it’s at Starbucks in Pearland)!

When Is The Best Time To Sell A Home?

This is the question of all questions when it comes to real estate. As a professional agent and marketing specialist, I talk to homeowners during every month of the year that are hoping to “time the market” to sell the home for as much as possible.

The common misconception is that you will sell a home for more money during one season as opposed to another one. Unfortunately, we’ve never found any data whatsoever to support that in this area.

In some areas of the country, there are more buyers in the Summertime and in other areas, the Wintertime is the big season. But guess what??? When there are more buyers, there are also more sellers trying to sell. As a matter of fact, most of those buyers also put their current property on the market so that they can make the move.

The most ridiculous thing anyone can do when making a move for their primary residence is to try to “time the market” in lieu of making the move when the family needs change.

In real estate, we know that most people have a housing need change when they go through a life change. In other words, a birth or death in the family, a job promotion or a job loss, children heading off to college, a marriage or divorce and other things of this nature. When there’s a life change, it creates a housing need change. The last thing you’d ever want to do is wait until “the hot market” time in the area. The truth is, everything is based on supply and demand and your home won’t sell for more money when there are 5 times as many homes available for sale in your neighborhood. As a matter of fact, due to the competition, I’ve personally witnessed this having a negative effect on home prices because after all, you probably don’t really NEED to sell your home so someone will always be a heck of a lot more motivated to unload their home than you are. That creates a downward pressure on asking prices.

In reality, if you are going to be utilizing a mortgage when buying your next home, you want to time the market by timing YOUR expenses which is the interest rate. Since rates are going up and it appears that will continue to happen for the next several years, the absolute BEST time to buy a home was 3 months ago. The next best time is right now. Waiting a year or two can cause you to pay several hundred dollars per month more in the form of a higher interest rate.

While nobody can precisely predict the future of the economy in any country, it’s safe to say that rates will never go any lower than they’ve been lately. After all, for all of us still living and breathing, we’ve never seen anything like this before throughout our adult lives.

It may be wise to find that new place sooner, rather than later. If you feel like your family deserves a bigger home and could really utilize the extra space, now is the time for us to start casually looking around with no commitment of officially making a move. But for my clients, I want to ensure they don’t wait until rates are way up again and it prices them out of the ability to secure a larger home for the same monthly payment they have now.

Give us a call if our team can help!

Tim LaBorde

713-965-4561

tim@directedrealty.com

Local News:

Your House Didn’t Sell…Now What? Still Want to SELL?

expired home

By now you have heard several reasons why it didn’t sell from everybody in town.  They are saying it is everything from location to price, the condition or the market, or even the Agent you selected.

While they may be right, they may also be way off base.  What if the real reason why it didn’t sell was how it was marketed to buyers?

Don’t be discouraged, this can be a challenging market and selling a home in the Houston area is quite competitive. If your listing has expired and you still want results, before you put your home back on the market, take a step back and review your situation.

It’s time to stop wondering why it didn’t sell and figure out how to get it sold.

What is the biggest challenge you have selling your home now?  Finding a buyer, right?

It should be obvious that finding an ideal buyer will be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.

It will take more than just the traditional, passive marketing. It’s not enough to stick a sign in the yard, blast the listing to a bunch of real estate websites, and hope for a buyer to show up.

Where should you begin?  If you want to sell your house, start by making a commitment to do what it takes to market your house to get it sold.

With the right marketing system, the home sale you want is still well within reach.

Yes, your home still needs to be priced correctly, be clean and be in good condition.  It must also be readily accessible to other agents…but that is not enough.

More than 93% of buyers are searching the internet to research and buy their homes. The significance of powerful internet technologies to market your home is very important. Outlined below is my extensive and exciting Real Estate Internet Marketing System which can be implemented to give your property the utmost exposure!

Here are some ideas you can use to market your home to sell it:

First, set up a Single Property Website that includes a Virtual Tour.

A Single Property Website is a separate website that is completely dedicated to the online marketing of your property. It is a full, multi-page website that includes a virtual tour and photo gallery of your property along with all the property information including map, schools, Walk Score, and weather. A printable flyer, documents, and a mortgage calculator must also available.

You will also need a Virtual Tour.  This is not just a slow, panoramic view of each room, but a tour with upbeat music, and slides interacting and giving information.  Ideally, this will be not just 1 video, but several different videos (10 or more) featuring different angles and different rooms. You need to make sure all videos are listed on Youtube with the correct SEO tags to ensure your videos get listed on page 1 of Google etc.  Other videos should be included to pique their interest in your area such as community attractions showing what is going on around town, neighborhood reviews spotlighting places of interest, and developing some backlinking.

Next, you will need a Listing Flyer with designs to promote your property and entice buyers to schedule showings.

In addition to the above, you should also blog about your home, vlog it, and occasionally do a podcast and get your home up on slideshare.

Another important tool you must use is Social Networking.

Social Networking is the latest real estate marketing trend with the ability to connect and communicate with others in a fast and efficient manner. Your property can be posted on virtually any social networking site including Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Instagram and hundreds more for free!  A summary of paid ads on these platforms (PPC with targeting) is covered in more detail below.

Facebook and Instagram are probably the most important here.  You will need a fan page for your home.  In addition, you will need to promote ads on your house and do several dark posts targeting different crowds and areas.  In order to get the most bang for your buck, you will need to be sure to utilize the custom audience and retargeting features.

Other options include Craigslist Ads and ActiveRain Blog.

A professional and attractive Craigslist Ad for your property will allow you to generate buyer leads. Property can also be posted on ActiveRain, the largest community of Real Estate Professionals, giving it exposure to a massive audience of buyer real estate agents.

Don’t neglect to set up a Lead Management and Showing Feedback System.

The lead management system will help you to track and maintain communication with prospective buyers. Text Messages and Emails need to be sent out immediately for the fastest response time to potential buyers.  You must send out information on a continual basis to the potential buyers so they will stay engaged and interested in your property or they will move on to another.

The showing feedback system will help you obtain and compile crucial feedback from property showings for instant analysis.  This will be key in continued targeted marketing.

Yet another beneficial marketing tool will be a pay-per-click online ad that will bring in more leads, as well as using Real Bird, Listing Book, Barter Town and e-properties.  Your property needs to be syndicated to every real estate listing service available – several hundred.

You need High Impact Marketing so your home will be seen by nearly every potential buyer in the market.

Those were several online marketing ideas.  Don’t forget about a more traditional avenue though: there is plenty of helpful information online about how to run an effective open house.  You need to make a plan for the proper creation and placement of marketing signs and test for the optimal times to be able to drive the most lead traffic to your property.  Then you also want to spend some time learning how to qualify your buyer, as you’ll have random strangers driving by and then coming in to look through your home.  As an agent, I’d always suggest keeping safety in mind and having someone with you if you decide to go that route.  The safety of our agents is always a top priority for us and we discuss best practices regularly in our office due to article like this: https://kdvr.com/2019/08/07/denver-real-estate-agent-survives-attack-by-man-during-open-house/

You can do it yourself by using my tips listed above or you can call me – Tim LaBorde – at 713-965-4561.  Send me an email at Tim@DirectedRealty.com…

… and I would be happy to discuss how I can get your home SOLD with a plan like this plus even more.  To find out why your home didn’t sell and to get moving toward the goal of selling your home, give me a call AND start packing!

What others are saying:

“Tim has a strong character and work ethic.  He can make deals happen.  I know he takes great care of his clients.” – Emil R.

“You are the best sales person, I’ve interacted with others but I see you are definitely committed to your clients.” – Claire N.

“Tim’s thoughtfulness and integrity has been impeccable.” – Leah C.

Of all the individuals I have had the pleasure of serving with, I found Tim to be among the most competent and professional. Tim was also very good at creating solutions to problems. – Chris M.

Tim LaBorde

713-965-4561

Local News:

Renters Beware! Houston Home Prices Expected To Rise Again


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The Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced on 7/10/19 that a rate cut is expected.  This historically leads to higher prices of assets, particularly homes as the cost of money becomes cheaper due to the impact of lower long-term interest rates.  If you’re sitting on the sidelines today thinking you will buy a home next year, that home price today could very well increase an additional $20k+ by this time next year.  Call us… We can help!

Click here for the news clip.

Back to our Blog here.

Federal Reserve Chairman Testimony via Yahoo! Finance

Newest Listings in Pearland $300-$350k

If you have any questions about any of the homes listed above or if you would like to schedule a private showing contact us today!

Are you looking to buy your dream home in Pearland, Texas?

If you are a home buyer, our foremost goal is to provide you with exceptional customer service. Our goals are to help you purchase the right home, make sure you don’t miss out on any homes that meet your needs and make sure you don’t pay too much for your next home. Please utilize our Pearland real estate expertise to make your home search and buying experience as stress-free and rewarding as possible.

Search Available Pearland Properties

Relocation Information

Pearland is located within the Houston area. If you are thinking about relocating to Pearland, Texas we can help you find the perfect home and make your move as stress-free as possible. We offer valuable insight into the area to help you through your home buying experience. Contact Us at (281) 962-4082.

Are you thinking about buying or selling in Pearland, Texas?

We are local experts and are here to help guide you through your home buying or selling experience.

Connect with Us Today!

Looking for more information about Pearland, Texas?

Being from the area, you receive the benefits of learning about great neighborhoods, trends, and hot spots.

Explore Our Communities

I hope that you enjoyed this post!

Find More Valuable Information and Read Our Blog!

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