Open House Ready

Selling your home can be an exciting yet stressful time during your life. The way your house is presented during the open house can make or break an offer from a potential buyer. Here are a few tips that can make an open house a bit easier and even lead to a great offer. 
Boost curb appeal -  Sometimes people won't even stop by to view the inside pf your home because they think it probably isn't even worth looking into because of the outside presentation. A few ways to improve the outside of your home is by Washing your front windows, mowing the lawn, power washing siding and walkways and even repainting the porch floor. 
Get your house spotless - not only do you need clean counters and shinny floors. you also need gleaming windows and a scrubbed grout. This is probably one of the cheapest and easiest things everyone in the family can help with. 
All clutter must go - all clutter must go, and that's the end of it. This could also lead to a loss of a sale. Not only is it to much clutter, it also makes your home seem smaller. So if you are serious about selling get rid of all excess and unnecessary things in the house. Using an offsite storage or borrowing storage from a friend or family member can make this transition easier.  
Open your closets - It is almost guaranteed that your visitors will peek inside closets and pantries. Use this as a selling point for your home. Even if this means storing some things in boxes or offsite, aim to have about 25 percent of open space. This will give an impression that the areas are spacious. 
Extra rooms -  If you have an extra bedroom that you use as a dump for everything else or it's simply vacant, clean it up! Think if things your potential buyers would like to see like an office apace or an extra guest bedroom. 

most importantly, enjoy the process. Even though it may seem like a lot of work, it is definitely an experience to enjoy. 

100% Intersection of Dallas TX

The Dallas area has a great example of expanding urbanization. It has been one of the tastes growing major metropolitan areas for more than a decade now.  It is one of three US metropolitan areas that added more than a million new residents between 2000 and 2010. Dallas is definetly a great place to live for both singles and families because there is so much to do. From all the great museums, tourist attractions, parks, and lakes dallas has a great amount of things to do.   Dallas- forth worth had a 23.4 growth rate coming second to Houston. The economic advance of Dallas's growing population depends upon public policies that favor housing affordability and urban expansion. If Dallas continues it's course it could possibly pass the Chicago poppulation by 2050 and could even challenge Los Angeles later in the century.    Due to it being a state bordering Mexico, the latino population in Dallas has grown substantially. Over all Latinos account for 43 percent of the growth.  

Great Apps for Homebuyers

Technology makes a lot of our every days activities easier and more convenient. Nowadays there is an app for everything, even for those in the market for a new home. There are mobile apps that allow you to search listings, calculate mortgage cost and even informs you of businesses and attractions nearby. Here are a few apps that I think are helpful and easy to use. 
Realtor.com, Trulia.com and Zillow.com all essentially do the same thing and provide the same services and are completely free. They all help you search for properties for sale. You can search for properties by zip code, price, features and even the age of a home. You can also search for listing activities such as open houses, new listings, and price reduction updates. Realtor.com is a favorite for realtors because it is updates every 15 minutes. 
There is also an app that can help you with realtor terms when searching for a home. Buying or selling a home can be complex so it it important to be able to keep up with real estate terms. This app has more than 3,000 real estate terms where you can quickly access them. This can be very helpful when you are speaking to someone about things like liability clauses and acceleration. Lastly, my favorite is the AroundMe app that uses your gps signal to identify where you are and shows you a list of nearby business and attractions including the distance from your current location. This is very helpful when looking for a home in a place that is unfamiliar to you. 

Do I Pay With Cash, Debit Or Credit?

Knowing which payment method to use is sometimes something I find myself confused about. I feel that when I actually pay with cash I feel the value of the money I am spending rather than just swiping my little plastic debit card without a care. So lets weigh out the pros and cons of using with cash, debit, or credit. Cash is a great way to  avoid overspending. We can choose a specified amount we are willing to spend and carry it with us and stop spending when we are out of cash. However it does carry the risk of being stolen or lost. Debit cards also provide easy record keeping and almost every accepts this as a payment method making it very convenient. Unlike credit cards, you automatically debited and don't have to pay at a later date. It is important that you make sure you know your checking account balance before using the card because it can decline or you can be charged an overdraft fee by your bank. It is also important that you check into your bank's fraud protection program to get a good understanding of your debit card security incase it is lost or stolen.  Credit cards are another payment method that can be used to build your credit when used safely and responsibly. If you do choose to pay using a credit card you can reduce the amount you end up paying in interest by making more than the minimal payments each month. If possible is would be a great idea to pay the whole balance to avoid paying interest at all. Many credit cards offer reward program that can be used towards travel, purchases and even cash back.   Also, most credit cards offer protection on purchases and come with fraud liability protection, meaning they won't hold you accountable for any fradualent charges on your card as long as you report them in a timely fashion. In conclusion there is no right or wrong choice of payment. You can choose to use one or a combination of all three. Weighing out the pros and cons of each is a good start to help match the best ways to make payment and seeing which one best fits your lifestyle.

All about Texas Roadhouse

Texas roadhouse is by far one of my favorite restaurants. From the yummy warm bread rolls you get at the beginning to the yummy juicy streak during the meal, I always love my experience there.   It all began 21 years ago  when Kent Taylor opened the first Texas Roadhouse in Clarksville, Indiana.  Texas roadhouse has a very western theme. Kent’s goal was to own not just a family restaurant and not just a steak but a place where everyone, of all ages, could come and have a great meal and great fun for a great price. Everything at Texas roadhouse is handcut and handmade. You definitely get a bang for your buck here because you get excellent customer service and great food for a great price.   Roadhouse is also known for their fun environment. They have line dancers, a jukebox and super friendly servers.  Roadhouse is located all over the united states and even internationally. They are soon to open two new stores in Kuwait City and in Taipei this month. They will also be opening a new store in Miami Florida at the beginning of 2015.  Texas Roadhouse is all about giving back to the community. They are actually a great supporter of  Habitat for humanity International. Habitat is a Christian housing ministry who is devoted to building simple, decent, and affordable housing to address the issue of poverty housing in the world. This is only one of the many great organizations that Texas Roadhouse supports. 

Subleasing

What is a Sublease? A Sublease is when one or more individuals sign a lease and can no longer fulfill the terms and agreements of the lease so they sublease the apartment or rental property for that period of time. This is very common in college town like here in College Station where people sign year leases but are out of the town for internships or are gradating. A Sublessor is the person who originally signed the lease and the sublessee is the person who is taking over the lease. When someone signs onto a lease under someone else they are taking over the lease for the amount of time stated in the sublease agreement. 

What is necessary to complete a sublease?

Once you find a sublease most property managers have subleasing paper work both parties will need to fill out. There is usually also a sublesse charged by the apartment complex.It is up to both patties to decide who will pay the fee or if they will slip the subleasing fee.   he sublease contract will state rate rents and will also  include when the sublessee will move in and out. 

What other ways can I cancel my lease? 

A lease is a bonding contract and most properties don't offer cancelation. The lease will contain reasons that would allow you to cancel your lease which is usually only for military leave. Subleasing is a great way to getting out of your lease without breaking a contract and avoiding fees and collections. 

Sadye's World

Howdy,

My name is Sadye and I am the loudest and proudest member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2015! Whoop! However, I will be graduating in December of 2014. I am a first generation student here at A&M so this definitely has been a bumpy road for me. I lived in Detroit, Michigan till the age of 2 and lived in Dallas thereafter. I am a Finance major and plan to pursue a career in commercial banking with Guaranty Bank & Trust. I plan to start as a credit analyst and thereafter become a loan officer. Outside of work and school I enjoy traveling to Dallas to visit my family and friends. My niece was just born in October so I can't stay away for long. I recently picked up cooking as a hobby so i've been doing a lot of experimenting haha.  I also truly have a passion for animals. It saddens me to see how many pets are abandoned and left in shelters to be killed. About a year and a half  ago I adopted a furry friend and he has brought so much joy to my heart. He actually had one more day to live before he was put down (so sad) . I am more than happy that I made that decision because he is truly an amazing, loving and smart guy! Some things I really look forward to knock off my bucket list are going on a cruise, visiting London and going sky diving with my best friend (which is my biggest fear). I look forward to learning all the different aspect of real estate and hope for a great semester. 

America's Team has a new home.

Growing up, I remember sunday fun day always meant fajitas on the grill while watching the cowboys alongside all my family. It's a tradition that even today we celebrate so when we heard about the new stadium we were supper excited.The Dallas Cowboys AT&T stadium was built in 2009 and is located in Arlington,TX. Fans with seats anywhere in the stadium are able to see the massive HD video board that is 90 feet above the center of the field. It is 160 feet long by 71 feet high and is one of the largest HD video boards in the world.The stadium seats 80,000 people making it the third largest stadium in the NFL. The Cowboys stadium doesn't have your average bolted in chairs like other stadiums. The seats are actually adjustable and can be moved closer together to add seats which makes the stadium able to hold 100,000 people for special events such as the super bowl.The stadium is not only used for profession football, it also host other activities such as concerts, basketball games, college and high school football, and even soccer matches  The stadium was designed by a Dallas architectural firm called HKS, Inc. They Anticipated the total cost to be $650 million however the stadium's current construction cost is 1.15 billion making it the most expensive. One of the biggest criticisms of the Cowboys stadium is that it is currently the only NFL stadium that is not accessible through pubic transportation, including bus, light rail and ect.. This leads to a huge amount of frustration and confusion with traffic. I haven't had the chance to actually go inside of the stadium yet but I have seen the virtual tours and am definetly excited to attend a game here one day. I plan to have a sunday fun day here with the family soon.