The best feature of my home is the lushly landscaped lot . . . What's yours?

All homes are different - what do you like best?

This is a forum blog today . . . after 2 days of Memorial Partying Bliss, I realize just how much I love love love my back yard!  Over 13 years ago, I picked this lot because it is one of only 4 houses on this cul-de-sac, right across the street from the 2 lakes with waterfall and fountains.  The views from the front are beautiful!

But because of the cul-de-sac, my lot is "pie-shaped," with a small front yard but a huge (nearly 1/2 acre) back yard.  I have spent (to date) nearly $100,000 on decks, patio covers, pool (and its subsequent remodeling) and landscaping (with automatic sprinklers) and it has been well worth it.  Even though I cuss those 13 palm trees every year when I have to trim them, they're beautiful.  I have flowers galore, and it is stunningly beautiful.

Parties under the new covered patio (complete with sound system) are remarkable.  Later this week,

Smoked chicken on the Traeger

fans and lights are to be installed under the cover to give it a more festive look.  I need new patio furniture, but the old stuff will have to do for another year or two . . . I've spent the mother lode on the pool remodel!  (And the Traeger smoker, but SOOOO worth it!)

And right now, as a Realtor, I have two transactions where buyers are stalling over $1,000-$3,000.  They are so caught up in the "numbers" of the negotiations that they can't start loving their home.  And probably their "trained buyer agent" is only numbers-oriented, too.  But buying and owning a home is much more than the numbers!  What is it about that home that moves you?  Get with it . . .

So . . . what's your favorite feature?  Is it your kitchen?  Entertainment area?  Den?  What makes you love love love your home?

Does it make you want to live there until you can no longer walk, and they find you crouched alone in the corner eating cat food?  That's my vision . . . I can see it now.  Kids, leave me here as for as long as physically possible . . .

Yes, I love my home.  Great place.  My castle.  Tell me about yours . . . help me gain the insights into why people love their homes, because everyone is different.  And HGTV can't explain the unique, personal intrinsic values that everyone has in their own abode.

MORAL:  Buy a home and choose it for what you love.  As long as it's in your pre-approved budget, don't get caught up in the numbers game . . . get what you want!  Money is a strange commodity, no matter how much you have or don't have, you always get more.

OK.....your turn.  What moves YOU in your home?  Did you quibble over the last few $$$???

Memorial Day Pool Party . . . great host here in Pearland!

But I make a Lousy guest!

The pool is remodeled and summer is here (at least here in Pearland).  It's time for the annual Memorial Day Pool Party and Barbecue!

So, I've spent two days preparing for a feast!  I've soaked beans overnight so that I can add sausages and boil those deliciously.  I made two kinds of salsa, starting with fresh tomatillos, tomatoes, and various peppers from Julian's garden . . . one salsa with avocado and one without.  (Hmmm . . . every time I type the word "avocado" I remember how I lost the spelling bee on that word in school.  It seems that our teacher pronounced it "avocaldo," as though it were some type of green Mexican soup, so I spelled it like that and was disqualified.  I blame her!)

Nonetheless, the biggest prep work was the macaroni and pea salad.  I chopped celery, green onions, pickles, tiny cheese cubes, bell peppers -- red and green -- jalapeño, all to serve a 1 pound bag of elbow macaroni . . . + mayonnaise, mustard, and pickle juice!  It had to "cure" overnight . . . so it should be extremely yummy!

And three whole chickens are marinated and ready to go on the Traeger smoker . . . mmmmm . . . going to be so good.

So, since I had the "jump" on this feast, I decided to attend my dear friend Kassandra's pool party, held

one day early.  After 2-3 beers in the sun, my tongue was rambling into dark places unknown by most, and feared by many.  ("Shut up, old man," I kept telling myself, "there are women and children present.")  But on and on my tongue flapped into deep, dark despair until I realized I had to go home and go to bed.  It was 6pm and I was unpleasant company.  It happens.  I'm a light-weight.

But today is a new day.  And I'm the host of this pool party.  And I shan't drink a beer.  And a wonderful feast will be had by all, assuming they attend.

And I thank God for the right to tell this story.  And I thank my living soldier friends and ask God to be kind to those who shall have bourne the battle.   Happy Memorial Day . . . don't do what I did at someone's party . . . bury thy tongue.

So . . . am I the only one who has ever had a few beers and let his tongue get the better of him?  Or, have you, too?  What's your story?

Will the "Good Life" Be Ready When You Are?

The Life of Riley was a TV show from the 50’s starring William Bendix but the title’s origin came from an expression meaning that a person was living the “good life.” Most people envision themselves living the good life by retirement but don’t really have a plan to get there.

There’s a rough rule of thumb used to estimate how much net worth a person would need by the time they retire to generate a certain income. The target annual income is divided by a safe, conservative yield to determine the investable assets needed.

A person who wanted $100,000 annual income generated from a 5% investment would need investable assets of $2,000,000. If a person had $500,000 now, they would need to accumulate $1.5 million more by the time they retire. If it was estimated to be 15 years away, they would need to save about $100,000 a year, each year until retirement.

It is a sobering example that could be depressing without a plan. It might be easy to say, “I should have started sooner” which may be true but there is still hope.
Gradually, over the next several years, accumulate rental property and allow the tenant to retire the debt for you. The equity in each property will grow from the amortization of the loan each time a payment is made. It also grows as the property increases in value due to appreciation.

Single family homes as rentals offer the investor an opportunity to meet their retirement and financial goals for the following reasons:

• The ability to borrow large loan-to-value mortgages
• At fixed interest rates
• For long terms (easily up to 30 years)
• On appreciating assets
• With significant tax advantages
• And reasonable control not offered by alternative investments.

 

The first Open House Video was created by . . .

Me, in 2003......I've had a deja vu!

I've been working on a listing on a luxury home in one of Pearland's Premier neighborhoods, Waterbury at Silverlake.  While at the final "stage and shoot" appointment, the owner reminded me that we'd met in 2002 at the house two doors down while I was holding an "open house."  He said that he and his wife were so impressed with me, that if they ever sold a home, they'd call me.

OK, they ended up buying a listing two doors from the one I'd held open, but not through me . . . so . . . I believed that to be a little typical buyer story.  But it wasn't.  They'd pre-committed to another RE/MAX agent who they bought through . . . and now, 11 years later, it's time to sell and sure enough they called me!  Great!

It made me remember the house 2 doors down, because the resales in Waterbury at that time were very difficult.  So that particular home, I leased out for the owner who'd moved to The Woodlands for a few times.  One time, we leased it to one of the local athletes (whose contract didn't get renewed and had to move).  Wow, those guys go from being super cash rich to being super cash poor, very quickly.

Nonetheless, Arthur (then my photographer) and I had gotten motivated to start videotaping open houses and putting them online so I wouldn't waste my Saturdays and Sundays sitting in vacant houses.  So we bought the first consumer-available High Definition Video Camera from Sony to the tune of about $5,000.  And we went to the house that I'd been marketing for years to shoot the first video.  It was terrible, and the sound was worse.  We made a 15-minute home tour with cars swooshing by, bought some bandwidth (about $1500 per month) -- there was no YouTube at that time -- but we had an online video!

Over time, we shortened the videos, added lavalier microphones, added lighting, refined our techniques, and now made an easier-to-develop SEO video for each listing.  So here I am going down memory lane . . . remembering that we even created a podcast show of open house homes!  Then along came YouTube and changed the game -- the game we still play.  And yes, there's vimeo too.

Anyway, want to see this gorgeous new listing at 2907 Lacewood Ct?  Terrific value at $389,900.  Click here and here's the front image:

Schedule your tour today at 832-200-5656

Have a happy and safe Memorial Weekend . . . and remember:  if buying or selling, Call The Sam Team at RE/MAX Top Realty.  Thank you for your support.  Now, how do YOU use videos?

Please comment . . . videos are the rage right now . . . what's your favorite use of them???

Crazy Realtor Wanted to go Deep Sea Fishing . . .

Our group charter adventure (without the crazy agent)

I started my first real estate company in 1978, while a junior at Houston Baptist University.  I

mentioned that in a recent RE/MAX "Broker/Owner" meeting, and my young friend Eric (also owner of a RE/MAX franchise) stated, "1978?  That's the year I was born!"  Really, Eric?

Anyways . . . in 1980 I purchased an ERA franchise (remember them) from Dale Climer (then ERA's regional owner, now a RE/MAX agent) and my friend Helen Perry, who now owns a real estate school and I'm sure she's reading this.  So, I had this ERA office and was recruiting and hiring agents right and left, but they came and went very quickly.

But a local title company and our ERA group chartered an all-day fishing trip out of Surfside via Captain Elliott.  We planned it for weeks, and had to get up the morning of the fishing trip about 3am to get to Surfside to go out on the boat about 100 miles.  I believe we had room for about 25-30 people, and we had no space left for anyone else......we were excited!  One of our newer agents (I'll call him Jack Spiller, though that's not his real name) was a middle-aged man who wore a full wig.  He had probably worked with us about 3-4 months or so, and he had himself a "trophy wife."  (A beautiful, younger blond who was clearly not matched with Jack based on looks.)

Jack hadn't had much success as a real estate agent, and seemed to be a "bumbling" type . . . but he seriously wanted to make his trophy wife very happy.  They lived in a high rise downtown (very chic for early 1980's).  Jack and the trophy had planned to go deep sea fishing with us, too.

As Rachel and I were getting ready to go to bed early the night before the big fishing trip, as we had to be at Captain Elliott's by 5am, we got the strangest phone call from Jack and the trophy.  Jack mumbled to me that his wife wanted to speak to me, and she tore the phone away from him and shrieked into the receiver:

"WHY WON'T YOU LET MY HUSBAND SELL HOUSES???"  (she was crying and screaming)

"WHY WON'T YOU LET MY HUSBAND LIST HOUSES???"  (Rachel could hear her across the living room)

She screamed her questions through (what I believe to be seriously drunken) sobs over and over again. Rachel and I were horrified and just stared at each other!  What in the world???

We had a great time deep sea fishing the next day . . . Rachel put her line out and caught a 75 pound ling fish and won the prize (the first catch of the day)!  Mitch Gaspard, my long-time friend, attorney, and avid fisherman, caught many king fish.  (He's gone fishing this weekend to Louisiana.)  Our friends Ronnie, Tanya, and Eddie Cheese caught so many red snappers we had to divide them up so as not to be over our limit.  We had a marvelous time!

We never saw Jack and the trophy again.  He never came back.  However, about 3 months later, he called me one day and said that he'd gotten a job working for Mac Haik Chevrolet, and wanted to bring a fleet of new Chevys over to demo to our agents.  Really, Jack?  No thanks . . . (now if he'd been selling Cadillacs . . . hmmmm . . . )

So it's Memorial Weekend and I wish I was fishing; thus, I'm remembering "the one that got away!"  Yes, there are lots of "crazy agent" stories out there.  I know that much of my reading audience is Realtors . . . so what's your craziest agent story?  (Rachel and I laugh about this one to this day!)

Memorial Weekend is coming up . . . and I need a vacation . . .

But take a moment to remember and give thanks

Yes, it's Memorial Day . . . and here in Houston and Pearland, it's the "transition" period from Spring to Summer.  It's time to go to the Beach, or get in the pool.  (I've remodeled my pool with new heater, gas line, flagstone coping, sparkly plaster, colored LED lights, automatic fill line . . . and now it's time to use it!)  I even have my little RV trailer parked down in Galveston so that I can go to the beach anytime I want, too.

But I don't do it.  Instead, I'm working like crazy in this frantic real estate market, which is chock-full of issues -- high prices, low appraisals, low inventory, high demand, tight lending -- all the things that keep me on my toes . . . and not on vacation.

"You work too hard, Mr. Ferreri," she says, "you should take a vacation."  Great for her to say, but hard for me to do.  Why do I work myself so hard that by the time I take a vacation, I'm too tired to enjoy it?  I'm a workaholic . . . it's an addiction.  But this is all off point.

It's Memorial Day . . . which means a few days off for most of us.  But what about the brave men and women who've died in the Armed Forces?  What about those who risk life and limb in some of these God-forsaken places that they're stationed in?  THEY need a vacation -- a break from all that.  I should shut up and quit whining . . . working hard in this country is far easier than what our brave service men and women risk every day in some horrible places on earth.  For them, I am thankful.  For them, I celebrate freedom!

And so . . . as I enjoy my newly remodeled pool . . . my little RV . . . and my day off . . . I will stop and remember what Memorial Day is really for.  And give thanks that there are brave soles who willingly die for me to have freedom and a day off.  I hope you'll stop and remember them, too.  And enjoy your day off . . . and the accompanying BBQ.

God Bless all of you for reading . . . God Bless all of our service men and women . . . God Bless America.

Think all Listing Agents are The Same??? Read what happened just yesterday . . .

Lazy Realtor causes Seller to Lose -- Read this before you list!

You won't believe how this played out!  When you list your home for sale with a Realtor, that agent has a duty to present all written offers to you.  In today's market, "multiple offers" are becoming the norm.

Don't hire a lazy Realtor

So, our buyers team places an offer on another Realtor's MLS listing on Sunday.  The listing agent told Jose (our buyer agent) that although his offer looked to be the best one, that she had already sent another to the seller for signatures in Las Vegas, but they had not yet signed it! The next day, the lower offer was signed by the poor sellers, who probably didn't even know of our higher, better offer!  Did this lazy listing agent care??? NO!  She just wanted any offer accepted because multiple offers cause a lot of work!  Sheesh!

Yesterday, also, we processed 4 listings with multiple offers -- one is still not accepted and more offers are forthcoming.  Yes, it would be much easier to simply refuse any more offers; however, our duty to the seller is to present all offers until the seller tells us to stop.  This can lead to "bidding wars" with sales prices going OVER the list prices, which is a great benefit to our clients, the sellers.

Proven Marketing Strategy

MORAL OF THIS STORY?  A good listing agent can get you the most; a lazy listing agent can cost you money.  What kind of listing agent do YOU want to hire?

Note:  When you hire TheSamTeam to represent you in the sale of your home, we won't stop until you tell us.  We'll always work in your best interest, and we have the resources and skills to handle multiple offers.  Our proven marketing strategy has helped us sell over 8,000 homes.  Call 832-200-5656.