A shiny new blog… tons of great features. This will replace http://www.abouthomes inthewoodlands.com. This blog will cease to operate by the end of February 2008.

The new blog is many notches above this one. The content is more defined, the graphics are better, the information is top-notch and the services offered are superb.

So, go & check it out… if you’re interested in Houston Real Estate… this is definitely a blog you should put on your short-list!

Market reports for Houston (Memorial & River Oaks), Kingwood & The Woodlands have just been released!

Yup… not bad. For those that are thinking prices for Houston Texas Real Estate is coming down, this is a wake-up call… sure, there are deals to be had but in some areas prices are still increasing. I am actually working with an out-of-state client right now that was expecting prices to be coming down here and, in fact, people are holding their ground and selling their homes close to their asking prices.  

So, if you’re a buyer for Houston Texas Real Estate… don’t wait, it might get more expensive!! If you’re a seller, the market is still good… buyers are buying and you’ll miss the Spring rush by listing your home now.

Click on image to see full image.

 The results are in…. We sold 16% fewer homes in The Woodlands TX in November 2007 than we did in the same period last year. Average price held up well but days on market have lengthened by 5% and the discount to asking price has increased. The Woodlands TX Real Estate is still in demand… but for buyers there might be some good opportunities right now.

What a great week of mild weather we’re having in The Woodlands!!! This is a great time of year to be getting out on a week-end and doing those little jobs that have been piling up…. like improving the first impressions of your home. If you’re thinking of selling early next year, then now is a good time to be working on some of these presentation aspects.

I put in a bit of elbow grease myself last week-end… this is what the bed in the front of our home looked like before I started:  

  

If you have a homes in The Woodlands TX, you will know that things grow fast! So, every now & then you need to cut it back, trim it down or even remove it! You’ll notice in the left photo that the bay windows & the majority of the front of the home were totally obscured by plant growth. Cutting it all back presents a much nicer looking elevation from the street.

 These are the tools I used… water (imperative!), sturdy gloves, a good sharp saw & protective glasses.

I attended Gary Keller’s Mega-Agent Camp in Austin a few weeks ago. This is an annual event held in Austin every year. Top agents (at least $6 million in annual production) come from all over the country to attend. They’re mostly from Keller Williams but there are invited guests from other companies as well. (Tip… see if you can become an “invited guest” – they treat you incredibly well… your event is completely paid for and you get gifts both nights!!!)

Anyway, that isn’t really the reason I’m writing this piece…

Apart from the fact that the two days that I spent there were very educational and interesting, there were two events that really stood out for me. These were the last two items on the agenda on the last day, Tuesday the 21st August.

The last item before we closed out the Mega Agent Camp for 2007 was Gary Keller interviewing the pastor from his church. I haven’t seen many leaders of companies being this brave about their religion and what they believed in that they would make such a statement about their faith. Well done Gary Keller. I’m glad I’m in this company and I like the way you’ve built it and I like the fact that you’re not afraid to let everybody know what the foundation of your company is built on.

The second-last item before we closed was as impressive but for completely different reasons. He had about 13 people on stage. Then, one by one, they stood up and the amount of money they were earning annually from their profit-sharing checks was announced. In fact, images on a large screen showed how much they earned when they first started (super small like $250 in year 1!) and then how it increased in 2-year gaps, 2000, 2004 & 2006. The amounts earned increased with each person until the highest earning individual in the last position announced his residual income. The person with the lowest annual income in 2006 I think came in around $200 000.00 per year. The person in the last position earned close to $500 000.00 in 2006 (or just over?). That’s income he didn’t have to work for. He didn’t have to manage anyone. It just arrives every month.

Actually… the checks arrive on the 21st each month so, that Tuesday was “payday”. Three of the checks (that were mentioned, not everyone stated what their check was going to be) were around the $38 000.00, $39 000.00 and just over $40 000.00 FOR THE MONTH!

It was pretty phenomenal. Apart from the passive incomes they were earning there were a few other amazing facts… on average, they seemed to have started around 1999 or 2000 so they had only been working on this for say, 7 or 8 years or so. Then, and this was pretty amazing, most of them seemed to only have recruited about 10 people in all that time!! The “down-line” seemed to multiply incredibly from very few recruits!!

The other thing I noticed was that the people on stage seemed so, how can I put it? “Ordinary”? I don’t mean to be mean but I can’t think of anything more apt… they were not superstars, incredibly handsome or beautiful or anything like that… they were real people like you & me. In fact, the person that was the highest earner of the lot was probably the least striking person of the bunch!!!

Why did Gary invent a profit-share model? Well, real estate firms don’t offer 401k’s or health benefits or other big-company perks. So, the profit-share opportunity was created to counter that lack. For the individuals on stage, the profit-share opportunity has turned into something far more lucrative than any 401k could ever do… and, it continues to grow every year!!! And not just in a simple arithmetic fashion, the growth in profit-share payments to these individuals seems to have doubled (or more) every two years!!

That was eye-opening to me. I’m convinced. My mindset has changed. Now I will not only work on selling real estate, I will also try to introduce this opportunity to others. If anyone reading this would like to know more, please call me (832-483 8655) or email me lance@theoscargroup.com. If you’re thinking of joining Keller Williams but want some more information, check out this page. There are two videos on there, one describes the “profit-share” opportunity and another discusses the Keller Williams culture. It goes without saying that of course I’d like to be your sponsor into this great company!!! I’m happy to discuss with you my experiences up to now. I am also happy to announce that I already have a personal recruit and the profit-share checks have started coming in!!! Just like they said they would!!

I’ve been working on www.thewoodlands-houses.com now for over a year. In that time it’s grown from a small site trying to squash as much information as I could onto 15 pages (all I was allowed on the “FREE” product from my provider) to now where there is so much information on I’m not quite sure how many pages… I’ll have to count them one day.

So… you can find all the schools in the woodlands, all the churches in the woodlands, other service providers and so on. It’s becoming an incredibly useful resource for people relocating to The Woodlands. Imagine someone from California relocating to The Woodlands… they’ll want to know, probably before anything else, about the schools in The Woodlands. Then they’ll want to check out the homes for sale in The Woodlands, then, possibly they would like to investigate a church like Woodsedge, the shopping, the sporting activities and so on. You get the point… they need a lot of information before they head out to come and tour The Woodlands.

Our website is focusing on providing as much of that information as possible. Why? Well, firstly we want to become the number one source of such information for all buyers looking to move into the area. Secondly, this helps our sellers. If we can attract the buyers, we can really help our sellers to sell their homes in The Woodlands in a shorter timeframe. 

But… we’re not done yet!! We’re working on adding all pre-school information and we are really keen to build on the local golf course information. We’d like to list all the local golf courses. I’m sure there will be a lot more information to add as time goes on!!!

I was showing homes to some clients of mine the other day in a lovely little area close to The Woodlands called Carriage Hills. We went into the one home, looked around and then looked out into the back yard and this is what we saw:

I took this photo through a window and it flashed back a little but isn’t she beautiful?! In Carriage Hills the deer are plentiful and so tame… late afternoon and they’re just walking around.

Latest new home inventory released from David Weekley for The Woodlands on 2nd May 2007. These homes are ready for move in! No waiting…. please contact Karyn Stephan 832-641 0515 (Lead Buyer’s Agent with The Oscar Group) to see any of these new homes. Or, call Lance @ 832-483 8655 for more information.

David Weekley Homes – The Woodlands
Plan	Community	Price	Address	Stories	Bedrooms	Baths	Garages	Estimated Completion
Grover	Dulcimer Woods	$299,990	23 Tapestry Forest Place	1	2	2	2/Front	Ready For Move In!

David Weekley Homes – The Woodlands
Plan	Community	Price	Address	Stories	Bedrooms	Baths	Garages	Estimated Completion
Collette	Terrace Mill	$549,990	63 S. Terrace Mill Cir.	2	4	3.5	3/Front	Ready For Move In!

 

This is the story from HAR:

All Categories March 2006 March 2007 Percent Change Total property sales 8,042 7,267 -9.6% Total dollar volume $1,471,571,858 $1,442,635,610 -2.0% Average single-family sales price $192,194 $205,815 +7.1% Median single-family sales price $143,170 $150,590 +5.2% Active listings 41,948 47,872 +14.1% Pending sales 5,506 5,653 +2.7% Months inventory* 5.2 5.5 +5.2%

* Months inventory estimates the number of months it will take to deplete current active inventory based on the prior 12 months sales activity. This figure is representative of the single-family homes market.

Interestingly… number of deals went down by almost 10% but the average price of a single-family home still goes up by just over 7%!!! Not bad in this market.

Why did number of sales go down in March? Easy one… sub-prime lenders crash & burn and many, many deals fall by the way-side.

  

28239 Nancy Lane – $191 000.00   

 

  28243 Nancy Lane – $239 500.00

 

28264 Nancy Lane – $239 000.00 

 

28267 Nancy Lane – $289 000.00

DETAILED INFORMATION ON ALL FOUR HOMES HERE INCLUDING MORE PHOTOS, VIRTUAL TOURS & DIRECTIONS

This part of Oak Ridge North is beautiful, quiet and well established. The schools are great, the access to the I-45 is about 2 minutes and you’re only about 5 minutes from The Woodlands Mall – closer to it than most of the people actually living in The Woodlands!!!

Come to this rare event, 4 fantastic homes in Oak Ridge North (a wonderful part of town) on show at the same time for your convenience. Meet with professional local realtors, mortgage consultants & insurance specialists. Spanish-speaking realtor available.

VISIT ALL FOUR HOMES in OAK RIDGE NORTH TO QUALIFY FOR A PRIZE DRAW!!

CALL LANCE @ 832-483 8655 OR KARYN @ 832-641 0515 for more information.