Xplode This!

The Xplode Conference in Austin, Texas yesterday was a blast. I was able to meet many people I’ve known through social media channels and blogging for years, learn from some of the best and brightest in real estate, have fun, spend some time in Austin (which I always love), and give my presentation, “Punk Rock and the New Agent” to a packed crowd of Texas Realtors®. I have to say, I was rather nervous about my presentation as this was my first time in this capacity, but it’s something I really looked forward to doing. Special thanks to Xplode mastermind, Matt Fagioli, Austin broker extraordinaire, Krisstina Wise, and the ball of non-stop energy, Amy Smythe Harris for pushing me to join the presenters and give me the opportunity to be a part of this excellent real estate conference.

Punk Rock and the New Agent

My presentation was about my experiences within the music industry and growing up listening to punk rock and bringing some of the lessons I learned there into the world of real estate. It was great fun to share my thoughts with so many Texas Realtors® and although I was a bit nervous and learned a few lessons on what I need to do better in a presentation situation, I think it went quite well. Some of the comments on Twitter were great and I thank everyone who participated or gave me feedback.

I will be posting a bit more about my presentation and covering the slides and my thoughts a bit more in depth over the next week or so. I hope you’ll enjoy them and comment, question, and suggest. If Xplode heads to your city, I would definitely recommend checking it out. The attendees had a great time and were exposed to a full day of some incredible ideas, thoughts, and opinions.

slide images courtesy of Xplode and Dina Gunderson of Creative Thunder Design

Mistakes in Bexar County tax records.

In two separate cases this week, I have found mistakes made in the Bexar County Appraisal District’s records on San Antonio homes owned by my clients. Both mistakes could lead to trouble down the road for my clients if they chose to sell their homes, so I thought I worthy to mention. In Bexar County, our property tax (also know as ad valorem tax) data is available to the public via the Bexar Appraisal District website and your San Antonio real estate agent uses it to help determine many things (one of which should not be the fair market value of your home).

Case #1: Who owns the home?

In the first mistake, the homeowner is improperly listed. Bexar County Appraisal District records show that the property transferred from the seller to the buyer (my client) and back to the seller once again a few days later. The BCAD records clearly show the seller as the owner of the home.

Solution? The homeowners will have to contact the Bexar County Appraisal District and get them to correct the owner’s information. Unfortunately, data entry is not top priority on the tax man’s list. I have seen many cases of bad data entry in the appraisal district property tax information.

On a side note, BCAD recently sent someone out to this client’s home and took some measurements. Bexar County has been increasing their research on homes recently; looking for mistakes, miscalculations, and home improvements and additions. The better their data collection, the more their tax appraised valuations will be inline with the true value of the home (ie, there are some homes that haven’t been checked in so long, their taxes are way out of line with what they should be).

Case #2: That doesn’t describe my home.

In the second mistake, the home described in the Bexar County Appraisal District does not match the home’s details. The client’s home is listed with the wrong amount of bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as being almost 1,000 square feet off the mark. As we base part of our pricing and determination of fair market value on square footage and recently sold home comparisons, this can make a huge difference. Imagine if homes in your area are selling for $80/square foot and data publicly available shows your home is 1,000 square feet less than it truly is. That’s $80,000 in value that would be missing from your home because of a data entry area.

Solution? We will use a form called a “Notice of Information From Other Sources” to show that the data is incorrect and we have supporting evidence of the correct information. We researched the problem and it looks like the builder initially entered the wrong information into the MLS and that information spread to BCAD. We will provide builder plans and other information to show that the home is indeed almost 1,000 square feet larger than the tax valuation shows it is.

Check your information on BCAD.

You should check your information and tax valuation on the Bexar County Appraisal District’s website at least once a year to be sure that the data is correct, as well as looking at any fluctuations in the tax valuation of your home. As Texas is a non-disclosure state, these fluctuations can at times seem arbitrary and flat out wrong. You have a right to protest your property taxes in San Antonio and Bexar County and it’s something a lot of homeowners don’t know (I’ll be posting about this in the near future).

photo courtesy of Corey Leopold

In the middle of somewhere.

I was out in Medina County today, showing a home at 141 Medina Magic in Helotes 78023 to a potential buyer and I spent some time marveling at the Texas Hill Country views. While I was in the gated community of Oak Country (off of Bandera Road, a little south of the town of Bandera), I figured I’d take a drive through and check out some of the homes and scenery of the picturesque hills surrounding the community. As I drove deeper and deeper into the neighborhood, the road narrowed and was surrounded by tall grasses and bushes. I felt like I was far away from everything, in my own little world.

When I took this photo, I had just made a turn around in a rather treacherous part of the road, where most of the blacktop had washed out and been replaced with rocky dirt and the incline forced me to push the gas a little harder than normal to prevent myself from rolling backwards down the hill and into a creek bed.

One of the great things about San Antonio is our proximity to the Texas Hill Country and still having land that is nearly empty, save for the homes of a few people here and there. It’s nice to get away from suburbia and city living. I just may have to go visit this neighborhood again.

Texas Pride.

I’ve been living in San Antonio, Texas since 2006 and have an obvious love for the state and the city. Not only do I enjoy it personally, but from a business perspective, you just can’t go wrong with Texas. Look at any “top ten” list these days and you’re probably going to see a mention of Texas; whether it’s San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Austin, or even some of the smaller cities, Texas truly is a force to be reckoned with. The future of Texas’ jobs, economy, growth, and real estate are always being touted as indicators of the state’s strength and value to residents and businesses. This video, put together by Platinum Top 50 highlights some of the great facts and statistics about Texas and more specifically, San Antonio. If you have any questions in your mind about the future of San Antonio and Texas as a whole, watch “Texas Rocks.”

Long time readers of this blog will already know that San Antonio Rocks.

photo courtesy of vxla

Data Gold Mine

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HUD User website is a gold mine of statistical data on economic and market conditions. Whether you’re an investor looking to see what current and projected rental market conditions are or just someone who loves data on housing, jobs, and population; HUD’s Regional Economic and Market Analysis has reports on many areas of the country including San Antonio.

Reading through the San Antonio Comprehensive Market Analysis (PDF file), I found much of the data to be inline with conventional thought about San Antonio – our population is growing and our value in housing for investment or personal living purposes remains strong. Although the data is based off of statistics from October 1, 2008 (and prior), projections in the report extend to October 1, 2011 and most of the projections for 2008 to present are inline with what we’ve been seeing (job growth thanks to the military and economic conditions such as affordable housing, growth in population keeping pace with our local economic growth, and a relatively stable housing market).

The San Antonio report is definitely worth a read if you’re looking for data on our local area. When you’re ready to dig down deeper in localized markets, visit the San Antonio Housing Market Report section of this site for real estate data by zip code.

photo courtesy of jimmothy05

Where does the law say that?

A recent visitor to the site asked me if I happened to know where they could find the statute that makes Texas a non-disclosure state. I didn’t know, but I was curious to know now that someone had asked me. As I’m not a lawyer and can’t cite paragraph and subsection for most laws, I was wondering how I would find this information. I set out on the internet and did some googling and wasn’t coming up with much… until I stumbled across the Texas State Law Library. A free public resource, the Texas Law Library serves both the legal world and the public in their legal research needs.

Pouring through the pages and pages of Texas State Law and searching in vain to find where the non-disclosure status is created, I was starting to get a little lost, so I decided to use the ask a librarian link and see if I’d get a response. Not only did I get a quick response, but Tamsen Conner, a Reference and Electronic Services Librarian at the Texas Law Library, provided me with a link to the exact section of the law that creates the non-disclosure status and also included an interesting article from the St. Mary’s Law Journal that discussed the code in depth. Quick response and very detailed information – thank you Tamsen.

As this post deals with the law, as usual, I must tell you that I am not a lawyer and can not advise you on legal matters. The librarians at the law library are also not lawyers and their correspondence contains a similar disclaimer. If you need legal advice, hire an attorney, but if the laws and statues fascinate you or you need to quote a law for whatever reason, check out the Texas Law Library and be sure to say hello to Tamsen for me.

If you’re wondering where the law was, it is contained in the Tax Code – §22.24(d). Now you know!

photo courtesy of rexboggs5

Wurstfest turns Fifty!

While some in San Antonio will tell you that Fiesta is the greatest local event, I have to admit, I’m more of a Wurstfest kind of guy. Having spent so much time in Germany during my rock and roll days, I have a special appreciation for good German beer and I don’t care what flavor sausage it is, I’ll eat it. Two of my favorite things, in one festival – how could I go wrong? The annual Wurstfest, held in New Braunfels at Landa Park, turns fifty this year. Running from October 9th to November 7th (Wurstfest always opens the Friday preceding the first Monday of November) this year, Wurstfest began in 1961 as a one-day event, but has since expanded to it’s “10 day salute to sausage.”

This year, the Wurstfest Association of New Braunfels has added new castle entrances at the main gates as well as a new seventeen by seventy-five foot mural on the Wursthalle celebrating fifty years of food, fun, and tradition. Painted by artist Brent McCarthy, “Fenster ins Wurstfest” (Window into Wurstfest) shows many of the familiar sights seen by revelers at the annual event. (There was a link to a coupon, but it appears Wurstfest has stopped giving them out and removed the coupon from the site.)

Texas becomes latest state to join the foreclosure fray.

Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbot, sent a letter to twenty seven mortgage companies in Texas on Monday, demanding they halt foreclosure action in the state. Joining with other states who recently have launched their own moratoriums and investigations, the Texas Attorney General is asking lenders to hold off on foreclosure action until October 15, 2010, while the state and mortgage companies work to identify so-called “robo-signers” (employees who signed off on foreclosures without reading the documents or knowing what they were signing – often thousands in a single month) and verify that Texas companies that handle mortgage loans are in compliance with Texas foreclosure laws. Other items they will be looking for include; affidavits signed by individuals claiming personal knowledge of facts or claims that the signatories had reviewed attached documents when they had not and falsified notary documents where notarization took place without the signatory being present or before the documents were even signed.

If you are currently facing foreclosure.

While this may seem like a bit of a reprieve from foreclosure for the 10,946 homeowners in Central Texas who have been notified of foreclosure in the last month, I strongly recommend that if you are currently facing foreclosure in San Antonio, do not allow this news to give you a false sense of hope. While something may come out of this and some foreclosures may be halted or prevented altogether, there are no guarantees. Continue working with your lender in seeking out a solution – whether it is a mortgage modification, a possible short sale, or allowing the home go to foreclosure. It is frustrating to say the least, but without direct communication between the lender and yourself, you are only guaranteeing the foreclosure.

As this news is developing rather fast, I suggest you stay on top of your lender and follow up with the Texas Attorney General’s website for more information as it becomes available. Facing foreclosure is very daunting (I know from personal experience) and I hope for those readers out there that might be facing foreclosure that they can stay strong and get through this. I know I thought it was impossible when in the middle of it all.

photo courtesy of crowt59

Texas is a friendly state.

For those of you who’ve never lived in Texas, Texans are a pretty helpful and friendly bunch. We’ve got strong opinions about a lot of things, but it still amazes me how many people say “hello” or stop to give you a hand (I grew up on the East Coast, where this Southern-hospitality type of stuff isn’t as common, so pardon me for my amazement at people being good neighbors). I’ve had women follow my wife and I to our car to tell us where to buy a certain product for cheaper, a man stop to tell me the grill I was about to buy was an excellent choice, and my neighbors are some of the friendliest people I know (first house I’ve ever lived in that the neighbor popped round to give us a welcome to the “neighborhood” gift). I love Texas and I never knew just how great of a state it is until I lived here.

We have a lot of roads under construction here in San Antonio.

Anyone that lives here knows we love our roadworks. Its a constant thing here in San Antonio as they attempt to improve the quality of the roads and take into account our continued growth. Where there are roadworks, there are dangers. Holes, steel plates on the road, accidents, flying debris from various construction vehicles – it takes a toll on our cars and trucks. Sometimes, those things bring about the dreaded situation. It’s rush hour and you’re broke down in the middle of a highway. What’s a commuter to do?

Enter Texas Roadside Assistance.

No matter what the emergency; flat tire, out of gas, stuck in the middle of the road – just whip out your driver’s license. On the back (in very small print) is a magic number to help. Texas Roadside Assistance. Just call the number – (800) 525-5555 and help is on the way. They’ll send a tow truck, a police man, whatever you need to help you out of the situation and keep traffic flowing. If you need a tow, you will pay for it, but not much comes for free these days. It’s a great idea to keep motorists safe and traffic moving, but its a little know number here in Texas (in fact, emails have circulated around about it and most people write it off as urban legend or too good to be true (see Snopes.com for an example).

Thank you Texas.

Texas Roadside Assistance – (800) 525-555 (on the back of your driver’s license just above the bar code)

photo courtesy of mulmatsherm

This post was originally published on February 20, 2009 on one of my other blogs, San Antonio’s Rockstar Turned Realtor®. In re-posting it here on RErockstar.com, I hope to encourage you to read my other blogs as well as bring some content to these pages that you may have missed.

Do you have to tell the buyer?

Death is a topic that most people don’t want to talk about in general and in real estate, it’s no different. I’ve been asked a few times about the details regarding death and disclosure in the state of Texas (more specifically, in San Antonio) when buying and selling a home. Questions such as; “This home seems cheap for this neighborhood, did someone die here?,” “It says ‘estate sale‘, does that mean that grandma died in the house?,” or “Do you know how they died?” are common, especially if there’s some indication of death, such as an estate sale

The Texas Property Code covers this in Section 5.008(c):

Section 5.008(c) A seller or seller’s agent shall have no duty to make a disclosure or release information related to whether a death by natural causes, suicide, or accident unrelated to the condition of the property occurred on the property or whether a previous occupant had, may have had, has, or may have AIDS, HIV related illnesses, or HIV infection.

When a seller (or someone else) dies on or in a property, there is no requirement to disclose – as long as the death is related to natural causes, suicide, or unrelated to the property’s condition (if it is related to the condition of the property, you should be disclosing the defect, regardless of the death). However, the Texas Property Code does not mention homicide (murder), and this becomes a gray area that is often discussed in real estate law circles.

Disclose, disclose, disclose.

It is my opinion that disclosure is the best course of action when it comes to death. I am not an attorney and therefore can only tell sellers and buyers in San Antonio what the Texas Property Code states (and refer them to a real estate attorney who specializes in these issues), but when in doubt – disclose. I’ve never heard of a case where a seller runs into trouble because they’ve disclosed too much.

My view is that you’re better off disclosing the death now, before your neighbors do. Neighbors like to talk and tell potential buyers info they know about a home. No one wants to be surprised by the news of a death on the property, so if you disclose it up front, you eliminate that potential awkward situation when the buyer comes back to you and says “I hear someone died on the property.”

If you’ve experienced a death in your home or on your property and you wish to not disclose the fact to your agent or any potential buyers, I suggest you speak with a qualified real estate attorney beforehand to be sure you don’t run afoul of any laws.

photo courtesy of astimewise