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Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Deal of the Week
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
The 17th Annual Red, Hot & Blue Festival and Fireworks Extravaganza
July 04, 2014 @ 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
The 17th Annual Red, Hot & Blue Festival and Fireworks Extravaganza is right around the corner! Come on over to Town Green Park for the 4th of July to witness one of the biggest fireworks dispays in the Southwest region. There will be hot dog and watermelon eating contests, live music and entertainment, childrens games and activities and family fun for everyone to partake in.
Schedule of Events:
- Thursday, July 3 at 8:00 p.m. - Houston Symphony's Star Spangled Salute at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
- Friday, July 4:
- 9:00 a.m. - 4th of July Parade at Market Street
- 12:00 - 4:00 p.m. - Splash Day Activities at all 14 pools in The Woodlands
- 4:30 p.m. - "Things That Go" Bike Parade at Northshore Park
- 5:30 p.m. - Concert in the Park and Fireworks Extravaganza
- 6:00 p.m. - Red, Hot & Blue Festival at Town Green Park and throughout The Woodlands Waterway
The 17th Annual Red, Hot & Blue Festival and Fireworks Extravaganza is free and open to everyone. Concession and game tickets will be available for purchase at the event. Don't miss out on a chance to see an amazing fireworks show, live music and entertainment and fun activities along the Waterway to celebrate Independence Day!
Source: woodlandsonline.com
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Bold and Playful Colors for Kids' Rooms
Looking for inspiration for your kiddo?
Here some of my favorite youthful paint palettes:
Here some of my favorite youthful paint palettes:
Bright Green Boy’s Room: Designer duo Robert and Cortney Novogratz took the bright green hue from the crystal chandelier and painted the ceiling a matching shade. The fifth wall is also a nice complement to the toile wallpapered accent wall.
Vibrant Blue Girl’s Room: A cheerful pastel shade of blue is perfect for a growing girl and can easily coordinate with any color.
Bright Orange Playroom: A creamsicle orange hue is ideal for a multipurpose kids’ playroom. Black and white chevron rugs add an air of maturity for the future tween hangout.
Hot Pink Tween Girl’s Bedroom: When it comes to wallpaper, sometimes less is more. A wallpapered accent wall adds a touch of edge, along with an adjacent hot pink accent wall along the window seat. If she decides she hates pink, there’s much less to worry about down the road.
Purple Kids’ Bedroom: Designer Brian Patrick Flynn used a soothing yet playful shade of purple as the palette for this toddler’s bedroom and play space. The room is made up of three areas: a sleeping spot, a large, open play space and an activity center.
Looking to buy or sell your home? Do you know someone who is? We would love to help! Contact us today or call 281-989-6934!
source: www.hgtv.com
How To Win Real Estate Bidding Wars
In many of today's strong real estate markets, home buyers can expect to face multiple offer situations. Multiple offers are a classic example of economic realities because they appear when the supply of homes for sale is limited and the demand for good-condition homes is strong. Buyers hate multiple offers because they push up home prices and create an extremely stressful home-buying experience. Knowing a few tricks of the trade can make the difference between walking away disappointed and purchasing the home of your dreams at a fair price.
How can I make my offer more attractive to the sellers?
Offer the highest price you can. Get preapproved, not just prequalified, for your mortgage and attach a copy of the preapproval letter to your offer. Make as large a downpayment as you can and provide documentation showing the source of your downpayment (e.g., a bank statement). If your current home is in escrow, provide information about that transaction. Avoid unnecessary contingencies. (Waiving your inspection or financing contingency can make your offer attractive, but it's foolish.)
Offer the highest price you can. Get preapproved, not just prequalified, for your mortgage and attach a copy of the preapproval letter to your offer. Make as large a downpayment as you can and provide documentation showing the source of your downpayment (e.g., a bank statement). If your current home is in escrow, provide information about that transaction. Avoid unnecessary contingencies. (Waiving your inspection or financing contingency can make your offer attractive, but it's foolish.)
Tip: If the equity in your current home is the source of your downpayment, make your offer contingent on obtaining financing, but not on the sale of your home. If your home doesn't sell, you won't have the downpayment and you'll get out under the financing contingency, suggests Bob Stallings, broker/owner of RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, California. Finally, include a personal note about why you want to buy the home. All else being equal, some sellers are influenced by these communiqués.
My offer didn't prevail in a multiple offer situation. Can I find out why?
Neither the sellers nor their agent is obligated to reveal any information about the decision. As a courtesy, agents frequently will point out shortcomings of a rejected offer, but without disclosing details of the accepted offer. "Until a transaction is closed, it's crucial that everything remain unknown in case that property has to come back on the market," explains Carole Geronsin, a Realtor-associate with Prudential California Realty in Anaheim Hills, California. "I sold a property where [the buyer was making] a relocation transfer. A week and a half later, the company decided they were not going to transfer that executive. What would have happened if I had gone around saying, 'It sold for this amount?' You can't do that."
Can I submit an offer on a home in escrow?
Yes, but agents say you would be wiser to move on to another home, particularly if there are formal back-up offers. Even if your offer tops the accepted agreement, the sellers would have great difficulty canceling the escrow.
Yes, but agents say you would be wiser to move on to another home, particularly if there are formal back-up offers. Even if your offer tops the accepted agreement, the sellers would have great difficulty canceling the escrow.
My agent says the sellers are getting multiple offers and accepting them only by fax. How can we be certain my offer was considered?
The temptation to suppress a buyer's offer arises when an in-house offer (one from a buyer who is represented by the seller's agent or another agent from the same brokerage company) is competing with an outside offer (one from a buyer represented by a different brokerage company). Even though an in-house offer nets a double commission for the brokerage (and sometimes the agent), the agent must present all outside offers to the seller as well. Failure to present an offer is a very serious ethics violation. The only exception occurs when the seller specifically declines to consider an offer, perhaps because a good offer is being negotiated or the home is already in escrow. If you suspect your offer hasn't been presented, your agent can request a written statement from the seller acknowledging your offer. If the written statement is not provided, your agent can call the seller's agent's broker or manager.
The temptation to suppress a buyer's offer arises when an in-house offer (one from a buyer who is represented by the seller's agent or another agent from the same brokerage company) is competing with an outside offer (one from a buyer represented by a different brokerage company). Even though an in-house offer nets a double commission for the brokerage (and sometimes the agent), the agent must present all outside offers to the seller as well. Failure to present an offer is a very serious ethics violation. The only exception occurs when the seller specifically declines to consider an offer, perhaps because a good offer is being negotiated or the home is already in escrow. If you suspect your offer hasn't been presented, your agent can request a written statement from the seller acknowledging your offer. If the written statement is not provided, your agent can call the seller's agent's broker or manager.
Can I knock on the sellers' front door and tell them personally why they should accept my offer instead of the other offers they received?
If you happen to meet the sellers during a scheduled showing, go ahead and compliment whatever you like about their home. Resist that urge to pound on the front door, however. This tactic works occasionally, but many sellers strongly dislike having their privacy invaded. REALTOR® Judy Sheller of The Bizzy Blondes team with RE/MAX Westside Properties in Culver City, California, recalls one instance when an infuriated seller actually ripped up an offer from an intrusive buyer. The agents won't be too thrilled with your behavior either.
If you happen to meet the sellers during a scheduled showing, go ahead and compliment whatever you like about their home. Resist that urge to pound on the front door, however. This tactic works occasionally, but many sellers strongly dislike having their privacy invaded. REALTOR® Judy Sheller of The Bizzy Blondes team with RE/MAX Westside Properties in Culver City, California, recalls one instance when an infuriated seller actually ripped up an offer from an intrusive buyer. The agents won't be too thrilled with your behavior either.
Should I wait outside the home in my car while my offer is being presented, so I will be able to respond right away?
Years ago, when a seller countered more than one offer, the buyers' agents would rush the counteroffers to the buyers, get their signature, then race back to the seller's home or the seller's agent's office. Whoever returned first with a signed document would win the race and open escrow. To improve their chances of purchasing the home, buyers would wait in their cars outside the home while the offers were being presented to the seller. That way, they could sign any counteroffer and be the first to return it. New provisions in most counteroffer forms have eliminated this silliness by stating that no counteroffer is in effect until it is signed by the buyer and accepted by the seller. This practice allows the seller to wait until all the counteroffers have been returned before making a decision.
Years ago, when a seller countered more than one offer, the buyers' agents would rush the counteroffers to the buyers, get their signature, then race back to the seller's home or the seller's agent's office. Whoever returned first with a signed document would win the race and open escrow. To improve their chances of purchasing the home, buyers would wait in their cars outside the home while the offers were being presented to the seller. That way, they could sign any counteroffer and be the first to return it. New provisions in most counteroffer forms have eliminated this silliness by stating that no counteroffer is in effect until it is signed by the buyer and accepted by the seller. This practice allows the seller to wait until all the counteroffers have been returned before making a decision.
I have lost seven homes in multiple offer situations. Should I blame my agent?
The answer depends on why your offers weren't accepted. Buyers always jump to the conclusion that it's the agent's fault. If you're writing offers on houses in the $350,000 range, and all your offers are for $300,000, you're not going to get those houses. You need to be realistic. On the other hand, your agent needs to know how to operate in this market.I have been in transactions where had an agent been more savvy and more aggressive, the client would have got the property. I recall one situation when a buyer's agent called after the seller had accepted another offer and said his buyer wanted to bid higher. "I said, 'I told you we had multiple offers and you had to come in with your best price. You didn't do it. Now it's too late. That is the fault of the agent.
The answer depends on why your offers weren't accepted. Buyers always jump to the conclusion that it's the agent's fault. If you're writing offers on houses in the $350,000 range, and all your offers are for $300,000, you're not going to get those houses. You need to be realistic. On the other hand, your agent needs to know how to operate in this market.I have been in transactions where had an agent been more savvy and more aggressive, the client would have got the property. I recall one situation when a buyer's agent called after the seller had accepted another offer and said his buyer wanted to bid higher. "I said, 'I told you we had multiple offers and you had to come in with your best price. You didn't do it. Now it's too late. That is the fault of the agent.
Top Things to do in Houston
Top Things to do in Houston
With summer officially underway, here are some great
ideas of fun things to get out and do!
With summer officially underway, here are some great
ideas of fun things to get out and do!
Space Center Houston
For an authentic look behind the scenes at NASA, the NASA Tram Tour travels into working areas of the Johnson Space Center.What to Do
Highlights include astronaut training for the International Space Station, the development of deep-space missions, and the latest space robotic technologies, which are playing an important role in the exploration of Mars.What to See
Visitors also can view spacecraft, spacesuits and other artifacts from our nation’s space program, as well as look to the future at the Saturn V Complex in Rocket Park.
Downtown Aquarium
Here, landlubbers can take a tantalizing tour of colorful, captivating undersea landscapes as varied as a sunken shipwreck and tanks full of red-bellied piranhas, venomous stingrays and a shiver of sharks.What to Do
The aquarium also has plenty of land-side attractions, including Ferris wheel rides, white tigers and a rain forest with colorful birds.What to See
Don’t miss the Louisiana Swamp, with gators, alligator snapping turtles and spotted gar!
Houston Museum of Natural Science
There’s a reason the Houston Museum of Natural Science is one of the most attended museums in the United States.What to Do
Head to Hermann Park, where the museum assembles a captivating collage of scientific and historical artifacts, including dinosaurs, rare gems, spectacular shells, an African ecosystem, and the museum’s resident mummy, Ankh-hap.What to See
It's worth taking a visual journey in the Wortham IMAX Theatre, or observing over 1,500 butterflies in the Cockrell Butterfly Center.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
This museum is world renowned for its nearly 60,000 works of antique and modern art gathered from nearly every corner of the world.What to Do
Visitors can enhance their visit by joining ongoing gallery talks and tours, or they can learn more about various pieces using their mobile devices.What to See
Take a look at displays as diverse as 2,500 Years of African Art, Indonesian Gold, Americana, European masterworks, modern masterpieces, and a breathtakingly expansive sculpture garden.
Houston Zoo
Featuring a collection of more than 4,500 animals, the Houston Zoo shares its efforts to preserve wildlife with the public.What to Do
Attend special "Photo Days" throughout the year so that shutterbugs can take advantage of a variety of light, weather, and horticultural conditions.What to See
From its newer Galapagos tortoise and jaguar exhibits, to its popular red panda (known as the "world’s cutest animal"), the zoo provides hours of interactive adventure.
The Children's Museum of Houston
Parents' magazine ranked The Children's Museum of Houston as the nation's No. 1 children’s museum.What to Do
Here kids can build robots, race boats, use a make-believe debit card to buy groceries, or take a wet, wild adventure into FlowWorks. There are also plenty of safe, interactive things to do for kids under two.What to See
Kids can test-drive 24 different jobs such as becoming mayor or anchoring the news. If you have kids, this is one museum you have to add to your list of things to do while you're in Houston.
Kemah Boardwalk
The Kemah Boardwalk is where rides, shops, music and Texas-sized tastes all come together along the beautiful Galveston Bay. Located just 20 miles from downtown Houston, this bodacious strip of fun is a great way to cool off in the sea breeze.What to Do
Explore an aquarium full of Caribbean sea life, ride a riotous roller coaster and enjoy the views from the top of a huge Ferris wheel. There's plenty of shopping and fun food, as well as water to splash in.What to See
Summertime features "Rock the Dock" music performances on Thursday nights.
Water Wall
Located adjacent to The Galleria, the Water Wall is a towering work of art that inspires hearts.What to Do
Be on the lookout for love - this is one of the city’s most popular places for proposals and weddings.What to See
Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, the multi-story structure was built to be a "horseshoe of rushing water" opposite the Williams (formerly Transco) Tower. This beautiful fountain is 64 feet tall and sits among 118 oak trees.
The Galleria
This national icon of shopping sophistication is the top shopping destination in Houston with over 24 million visitors a year.What to Do
Underneath The Galleria’s spectacular glass atriums, this ode to consumerism has more than 375 fine stores and restaurants, a renowned ice rink and two Westin hotels.What to See
It’s the perfect venue to peruse all the leading names in fine apparel, jewelry and gifts, including Neiman Marcus, Cartier, Gucci, Tiffany & Co., Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, Ralph Lauren Collection, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Nordstrom.
Hermann Park
Located in the heart of Houston, the 445-acre Hermann Park is the city’s most significant public green space, hosting more than six million visitors per year.What to Do
While in the park, visitors can feed the ducks, rent a pedal boat for the lake or take a train ride. The park even has nature trails, and a Japanese garden.What to See
See almost all that Houston has to offer in one spot - the park is also home to the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston Garden Center, and Hermann Park Golf Course.
To visit the attractions above that charge admission, make sure to use a Houston CityPASS ticket booklet. You'll save nearly half off combined admission costs and skip most main-entrance ticket lines, giving you more time to enjoy each attraction. Houston CityPASS includes admission to Space Center Houston, Downtown Aquarium, Houston Museum of Natural Science, and your choice between the Houston Zoo and an All-Day Ride Pass at Kemah Boardwalk, and a choice between Museum of Fine Arts, Houston or The Children's Museum of Houston. Some special exhibits are not included with the CityPASS and may require an extra fee.
CityPASS can be purchased online or at any participating Houston attractions. Use Houston City Pass and discover these top places to visit and things to do in Houston.
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