Tax Breaks for Homeowners So you’re a homeowner, you better read this list of tax breaks for homeowners! Working on taxes made me think to share some helpful Tax Breaks for Homeowners. This is just meant to be a helpful place to start as I’m not an accountant so double check with a professional when preparing your taxes. 1.       Mortgage Interest Deduction- Tax Breaks For Homeowners This is probably the top tax break for homeowners to take advantage of.  When you first start paying your mortgage a very large portion of what you are paying is the interest and you can deduct all of that on your taxes. Your lender will issue you a 1098 so you know exactly how much you can deduct. 2.        Mortgage Insurance Premiums- Tax Breaks For Homeowners If your mortgage loan-to-value ratio is great... 03/25/2013

Staging Your Home For Sale Staging your home for sale is one of the final steps in getting your home ready for sale. Staging your home for sale goes beyond just de-cluttering and painting. You want to highlight your home’s strengths, downplay its weaknesses and appeal to the greatest number of buyers. Staging your home for sale includes arranging furniture and creating a mood in your rooms. Here are a few easy to follow tips when staging your home for sale: Furniture Groupings When Staging Your Home for Sale When placing your furniture float it away from your walls. Place your furniture so that it creates cozy conversational areas and allows for a natural traffic flow throughout the room. This will make a room seem friendlier and open it up and seem larger.   Musical Furniture When Stag... 03/24/2013

How Do I Get My Home Ready to Sell? I want a quick sale at top dollar! How do I get my home ready to sell? When this topic comes up sellers start to ask “do I really have to do that?” “Is it really necessary to do this?” Well I have to ask them “do you really want to sell your house?” I usually get a puzzled look and the seller says, “well yes that is why I am listing it.” My response is, “well then yes, you really have to do all these things.” Yes I understand you are wanting to sell so you don’t want to put a ton of effort or a lot of money into your home at this point, however if you want a quicker sale and to sell your home for top dollar I’d suggest doing the following 4-steps to get your home ready for sale. I promise they are not as painful or costly as you might think. Step 1 Ho... 03/23/2013

Should I Get a Home Warranty? Should I get a home warranty is a question many buyers, especially first time home buyers, will ask their real estate agent. Although I am sure that some agents will disagree with me, I personally have home warranties on my properties and always inform my clients of them. In the end it is their decision if they want one or not but I do want to make sure that they are at least educated when it comes to a home warranty. What is a Home Warranty? A home warranty is a service contract with a company that covers the repairs and replacement costs of home appliances, major systems and possibly other components of a home such as the structure. Items covered will usually include plumbing, electrical, heating/cooling systems and major appliances such as your hot water... 03/19/2013

Tim Tebow is Coming to Corpus Christi! Time Tebow is speaking at “Celebration of Collaborations” Wow, I was super excited to find out that Tim Tebow is coming to Corpus Christi. Tim Tebow, the New York Jet’s backup quarterback, and winner of the Heisman Trophy in 2007 is coming to my city how cool. As you can tell I am a huge fan of Time Tebow. I loved watching him as the quarterback for Florida and although I’m not a huge fan of professional football I still watch him on occasion. Yes, I follow him on Facebook ha-ha. Besides being a great football player Tim Tebow is also a great and caring person. He does a ton of charity work, and he truly cares about others. He even has his own charity the, Tim Tebow Foundation, that benefits orphans and special needs programs. His charity work is w... 03/16/2013

St. Patrick’s Day Fun Facts Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Before you start partaking in the St. Patrick’s Day festivities check out these St. Patrick’s Day fun facts. St. Patrick wasn’t Irish…what? Maewyn Succat, St. Patrick’s birth name, was actually born in Scotland to an Italian Father and a Scottish Mother. Around the world 5.5 million pints of Guinness are consumed. That’s a lot of Guinness! Get this though; on St. Patrick’s Day that amount consumed more than doubles as more than 13 million pints are drank. Now that is an insane amount of Guinness!!! St. Patrick’s Day is considered the luckiest day to get married, unless it is on a Saturday. According to the proverb if you marry on a “Saturday for no luck at all.” Be on the lookout for a Leprechaun because legend has it that if you catc... 03/15/2013

St. Patrick's Day Weekend in Corpus Christi What is going on the weekend of March 15th-17 in Corpus Christi? This St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Corpus Christi is filled with fun Irish and non-Irish activities, great food, green beer and lots of laughs! St. Patrick’s Day Weekend in Corpus Christi Friday March 15th Corpus Christi Beach Fest 2013 Music Festival Spring Breakers join in on Beach Fest for some great music, a 5K run, an attempt to break the record for the largest “Harlem Shake” flash mob and a whole lot of fun! Starts Friday, Saturday & Sunday at 10 Am and ends at 11 pm each day. General admission is free with a donation to the Corpus Christi Food bank or you can choose to pay $50 for a VIP pass. This festival includes stages set up at McGee Beach at Cole Park and continues alo... 03/15/2013

Corpus Christi Street User Fees The latest news on Corpus Christi Street User Fees Corpus Christi street user fees were discussed last night at a town hall meeting. Now the street user fees has been in the works for some time and any decisions on the rates were postponed last month as citizens and local businesses felt the fees were unfair and wanted more clarification before it was voted on. What are Corpus Christi Street User Fees? It is a fee that the Corpus Christi City Council has proposed to collect from residents and local business owners to pay for needed street maintenance. It will be added on to water bills. Why are Corpus Christi Street User Fees Being Proposed? Since the city of Corpus Christi doesn’t have an adequate street maintenance program and the streets have been negl... 03/14/2013

How much are your Real Estate fees? How Much Will Your Realtor® Cost You When Selling Or Buying a Home? "How much are your Real Estate fees," is a popular question that comes up with clients and the answer varies whether you are seller or a buyer. There are a variety of ways that commissions can be structured but I’ll go over the basic ones that a seller or buyer would need to be concerned with. How Much Are Your Real Estate Fees To Sell My House? As a seller you sign a listing agreement with a specific brokerage. Although you probably have an agent from that brokerage working with you, your contract is with the actual brokerage or broker-in-charge not with that agent. Within that agreement there will be a section that discusses commission. The commission is paid directly to the broker ... 03/13/2013

Bring Spring Into Your Home! Spring is in the Air: Ways to Bring Spring into Your Home! Flowers What screams Spring more than fresh flowers in different rooms of your house? Flowers are an easy way to brighten up your home and bring great fresh smells in. Arrange your flowers in a fun, colorful vase to add a splash of bright, spring colors to a room. Swap Out Your Curtains & Linens Waking up to sun light pouring through my windows reminds me that daylight savings time is in effect and that it is spring time. Switch out your darker, heavier curtains for light weight or even sheer curtains that allow the sun light to come through your windows and brighten your home. I even go as far as to change our bed linens from a maroon and gold to an ivory and bright green for spring! Change in your ... 03/11/2013

No Blue Angels and No Corpus Christi Air show I’ve always been a fan of air shows. I love looking at the aircraft from the past and seeing how aviation how progressed to the aircraft currently flown today. I love how you can feel the rumble given off by the air crafts, the excitement and “oohhhs” and “ahhhhs” from the crowds. The tricks that the performers are able to make the aircraft do just amazes me. Most of all I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the jet noise! Yup the Blue Angels are always my favorite. Luckily I grew up in Annapolis, MD where they flew around for several days practicing and performing every year. With all of that said it is no wonder that I ended up marrying an F-18 pilot in the Marine Corps! Sadly this year there will be none of this. No looking at fun aircraft, no crowds, and n... 03/10/2013

Daylight Savings Time 2013 Don’t Forget to Change Your Clock! Daylight savings time has its pros and cons. I look forward to more sunlight and longer days but I dread the initial time it takes me to get used to that hour less of sleep and waking up before the sun is up. Springing forward for daylight savings time reminds me that spring is just around the corner so that is another pro. So why do we do daylight savings time? To make better use of our daylight of course! Studies have shown that people like to enjoy long summer evenings. For those of you like me that have heard energy conservation is a reason nope sorry that is just merely a rationalization. However the amount of energy consumed each day does decrease with daylight savings time. Could this be because the sun is out longer o... 03/09/2013

Weekend Events Corpus Christi March 8-10th Wondering what to do this weekend in Corpus Christi? Well here are a few ideas! Weekend Events Corpus Christi Friday March 8, 2013: Fulton’s Oyster Festival Attend the Fulton’s Oyster Festival for good times, delicious food, live music and more. Don’t miss the eating contest, a painting contest and a shucking contest. The festival benefits the Fulton Volunteer Fire Department and runs from Thursday March 7th through Sunday March 10, 2013. Gates open at 5 pm on Friday and 10 am on Saturday and Sunday. The cost is $3 for those ages 12 and up. The Wizard of Oz “The Wizard of Oz” continues to show at the Harbor Playhouse this Friday March 8th and Saturday March 9th. The show starts at 7:30 pm and costs between $6-$16.     Weekend Events Corpus Chri... 03/08/2013

Spring Break in Corpus Christi 2013 Get Ready For Some Fun Times! Ohh boy it is the time of year for Spring Break in Corpus Christi! Prepare yourself for Corpus Christi to be swarmed with college students from around the country. Corpus Christi is one of the top and most popular spots in Texas for Spring Break. One of the reasons Spring Break in Corpus Christi is so popular is because you essentially get two distinct destinations in one. You have the part of Corpus Christi that is on Padre Island where visitors are welcomed to beautiful open Gulf beaches and then you have Corpus Christi on the mainland that treats guests with beachfront on the Corpus Christi Bay. Both areas offer an array of hotels, condos and clubs. The mainland also offers many tourist attractions such as the Texas St... 03/07/2013

I love my "greeting committee!" After all they make my house a home! After trying to figure out what to blog about for a little while I decided to take a walk to the mail box and see if time outside my office would help inspire me to come up with something to write about. It is a beautiful day here…the perfect temperature, sunny with the normal Corpus Christi breeze. It wasn’t the outside though that gave me something to write about it actually came to me when I walked back through my door. As I opened my front door I was given a warm welcome by what I refer to as my “greeting committee!” You are probably wondering what I am talking about. Her “greeting committee?” My “greeting committee” is made up of my two adorable and loving beagles! They wag their tails, start wining and shower my ... 03/04/2013

Buy or Rent? From a Military Perspective One of the most commonly asked questions my military clients ask me is “Should I Buy or Rent?” As a military spouse I have asked the same question each PCS. I take a lot into consideration and offer my military clients the same advice of what to consider when making a decision on “should I buy or rent.” Here are just a few things I consider. Should I Buy or Rent? Buy if you plan for a way “out” One of the first things I remind military clients is that you are looking at typically living in a certain location for about 3 years. This is a short time period compared to what most people recommend you would need to buy a house and sell it and make a profit. Of course you never know what will happen with the market and I have seen people sell their hou... 03/03/2013

Rancho Vista in Corpus Christi, TX Rancho Vista is a 300 acre master planned community located in the desirable Southside area of Corpus Christi, TX bordering Oso Creek with views of King Ranch. Rancho Vista is a wonderful family friendly neighborhood conveniently located to all that Corpus Christi has to offer. Rancho Vista is popular amongst military moving to the area as is about 10 minutes from NAS Corpus Christi and about 45 minutes from NAS Kingsville. Upon entering the neighborhood you are greeted with a substantial monument tower entranceway that leads to the heart of the community that encompasses some of your community amenities. You’ll find four distinct neighborhoods within Rancho Vista all with their unique home styles. Rancho Vista Homes As there are several neighborhoods ... 03/02/2013

So since it is Monday I thought I would get back to my motivational Monday posts and write about what I feel is an inspirational article. There are a lot of positive things about the current real estate market showcased. Of course they mention a little gloom but I like to focus on the positive! Looks like the market is definately showing signs of improvement. I encourage you to go out and get your buyers to take advantage of these record low mortgage interest rates! Mortgage Rates Record Lows Julie Schmit of USA Today just posted an article called "Mortgage rates fall to new record lows." The great news it that mortgage rates are at record lows. To be exact they haven't been this low in about 60-years! Although some feel that interest rates have decreased because economic growth has de... 05/07/2012

This is a little different of a post for a virtual assistant but I thought I would share since I am a military spouse and know a lot of agents on AR help out military families! Preparing Your Kids for a Military Move Preparing for a military move is fairly complex. You have to deal with the same things as a traditional non-military move but also so much more. Often times there isn't much time to plan or the military member is away for the planning so it falls upon the shoulders of the spouse to take care of. What I have learned from experience is that nothing is ever easy with a military move but you will get through it. Most civilians probably think that military families get used to moving and it becomes easy since military members are typically transferred every few years. Well I can... 05/04/2012

Spring is here! Happy Spring to everyone! When I think of spring I think of baby birds chirping, flowers blooming, warmer weather, longer sunny days and ohh yeah spring cleaning. Spring is a time of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. It is the perfect time to look at the year you have had so far. Are you on track to make it a great year? Have you met the goals you set for this point in the year? Are there things you need to change in your mindset or maybe you need to re-adjust your game plan? I mentioned Spring reminds me of Spring cleaning which might make you think of cleaning out your house. Well it can also be the perfect time to clean out your contact list. Sometimes agents are hesitant to contact their database because they do not have a reason to make contact. The first day of Spring... 03/20/2012