The Steve Houck Team at Real Estate Partners, LLC

Those of you who have read my blogs or (Rants) as I like to call them, are used to me addressing problems that people or government agencies have caused. Today is the 4th of July. I decided that I would not work today. Instead, I would spend the day relaxing with family and contemplating the bles...

several years ago, a Realtor friend called me to tell me that she had listed a home for some former clients of mine. They called her because, even though they thought the world of me,they thought that I was too busy to handle their needs. This was a wake up call for me. Nothing will kill a thrivi...

As Realtors, our results are not necessarily from the information that we give,but from the questions that we ask. If it has a stove/ oven in the room, it must be a kitchen. If it has a tub or shower, it must be a bathroom. No need to point this out.   We need to know how to ask the right questio...

several times lately, I have received several offers that didn't pan out. When I asked the other Realtor how they arrived at their offer figure, they said that the buyer came up with that number. Well, in my experience, there are two scenarios that always show themselves:1) the price that the buy...

As I understand,the new rules for closings, that were supposed to take effect Aug. 1st, 2015, have been postponed a couple of months. No matter, it's coming. The days of 30 day closings will be over. It will be 60 days, if we're lucky. The closing settlement statement will be simpler, but that's ...

  Steve Houck ·   Buyer/ seller myth #12. "I don't have a thing to worry about, I got a termite certificate when I bought my house". Guys, a termite certificate will probably say that you don't have termites or termite damage, as of now. If there are termites or previous termite damage, then it ...

" I can buy my home with an unfinished bonus room or unfinished flooring and finish it myself later"If you are a professional tradesman, this may be true, but watch out! I ran into a couple who had purchased a home from a very good, reliable builder. It had an unfinished bonus room, which, they l...

Home buyer myth #5 "I don't need to pay $325 for a professional home inspection. My uncle Charlie has had 5 houses built and knows everything about house. He'll look it over for me." First of all, very few real estate offices, if any will accept a report from anyone other than a licensed home ins...

Home buyer/seller myth #10. "I can save a lot of money using a limited service agency. They will just charge me $500 to put my house in the MLS and I can sell it myself" Once again, Guys, if it was easy, I wouldn't have a job! People outside of the business have no idea where to price their home,...

Home buyer/seller myth #11. "I don't have anything to worry about, I already qualified for a mortgage ". Read the papers, folks. It says that you qualify assuming several things. One of them is, no changes in finances. Don't ever make any major purchases while you are under contract, before it cl...