Texas Hill Country Blog

PRODUCT VERSUS MARKETING DRIVEN
June 21, 2010

Practically everyone living in America today   has grown up with television and its marketing schemes and those younger are now growing up with the Internet and all of its marketing.  In the current real estate market companies such as ours get multiple calls daily from vendors trying to sell us the next best website, search engine ranking, or print media advertising.  After a while they call again and offer us the ‘new’ price deal on their brilliant products.  As a buyer or seller of real estate, you may also be overwhelmed by a real  estate companies marketing as opposed to just getting the answers you want.REALTORS have always been leaders in advertising and promotion in their efforts to sell property.  Efforts have always been made to put a property in its best light to public.  Today’s internet society takes away from some of the promotion as interested buyers have so many avenues to learn about a specific property.When markets are doing well it is so much    easier to ‘hype’ a property.  Buyers expect the information and want the info to make a fast decision before a property is sold.  When the markets turn downward buyers don’t want or need the ‘hype’.  In the current market, the facts become important.  Buyers want all  of the available information to make an informed decision.  They want to work with informed agents  who know the market and give them the best advice.  Buyers will always pay for value.  That value is what they establish in their mind by having all of the choices and all of the information available to them.A variety of four-color magazines, pictures, virtual tours and adjective prone vocabulary cannot sell a property that is over-priced.  Some real estate companies continue to use these same marketing  techniques that worked 3-4 years ago, but the buyers are no longer buying into this fluff marketing.  Today’s buyers want and expects solid data, real  information, and in a timely manner. 

So if you are a seller, this is the buyer you are trying to reach.  Price your property to compete in this marketplace and you will see results.  Price too high and you’ll still be trying to sell two and three years from now.  Price right to create value and buyers will recognize this fact and stand in line to purchase your property.  It sounds easy, but it is very complicated to find that right price in today’s marketplace.  It takes an experienced professional working in the trade daily and knows the markets movements.  You don’t find this with those companies who still rely on the mass marketing of the print media or the internet.  They still think they can fool a buyer into a value, and it doesn’t work anymore.

Don’t be fooled…Sherman D. Durst

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR IN THE HILL COUNTRY
June 11, 2010

        When you buy a home or land in the Texas Hill Country, prices can range from slightly to   significantly different as you move from one to county to the next.  The price can also vary in each county depending upon the location of the property in the respective county.        Prices will always be lower in Mason than in Llano which is less than Gillespie County.  As you move further away from the population areas of San Antonio, Austin, Houston, or Dallas, buyers begin  placing values on driving time as well as the amount of leisure time they are able to spend at their weekend property.

        If the circumstance is a permanent home purchase, buyers place certain values on distance back to major shopping areas in Austin & San   Antonio as well as the amenities of living in a  community that provides the basic services of hospital care, shopping, dining opportunities and more.  The communities with more to offer will   always see their properties sell for more money.

      Each Texas Hill Country town has something to unique to offer which allows buyers the  opportunity to shop from a large selection of properties.  Many times buyers visit Hill Country real estate offices stating that they are looking at Georgetown, Kerrville, Brenham and Fredericksburg.  This totally confuses local REALTORS      because we already know the many differences of the communities, and the variation in available real estate.

      In a REALTORS mind, first the buyer should visit the communities they are considering to live in and not worry about real estate until they have chosen a community.  Why buy in an area because the property is cheap if you don’t know for certain that you will like living there or if the community doesn’t offer the amenities that are important to you and your lifestyle?

      One of our jobs as REALTORS, is to point out to the buyer that possibly they are doing their research in the wrong manner.  In addition, the REALTOR can explain to Buyers the price point differences in housing and why.   All real estate is local, meaning it is not logical to compare a home or ranch in Georgetown to one in Fredericksburg.  Likewise you can’t compare the two towns to each other, they are greatly dissimilar.

       When you start the search for your dream property, first decide where you wish to live since this is the most important part of the search.  Once you have decided, there will be plenty of properties and price categories to select from.  

 Let us know if we can help, Sherman D. Durst

WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO
June 9, 2010

 We get calls all week long asking about the  market.  When we get these calls the caller usually has been listening to the news of CNN, FOX, CNBC, CBS, etc. hearing conflicting reports that they feel like they don’t know what to do.The DOW’s up, the DOWs down, now it’s moving sideways.  Should I buy gold or silver? Or is it too late? Greece is pulling everything down, now China’s got problems, the EURO is up and then it’s down, PIIGS are the problem and what is going on in real estate?  Real estate sales are up, confidence is up, but there are so many for sale signs on homes?  In Fredericksburg    Realty’s 45 years of business there has never been more confusion.  This short column can in no way give you the answers for the world or even our own country regarding the many financial markets, but we can tell you why real estate is the place to be, especially in the Texas Hill Country.The Gillespie County MLS covers Gillespie, Blanco and Mason counties, in addition, we have sales in Llano, Kerr, Kimble, and Kendall Counties.  As of Monday, May 17, 2010, 176 properties have sold in the entire MLS compared to 122 this time last year.  For the entire MLS the dollar sales are double over last years $25,000,000 to just over $50,000,000 for this year.  For Gillespie County only 2009 had 69 sales compared to 99 in 2010 thus far and $16M in dollars sales in 2009 compared to $28M this year. The record year of all time for sales was 2006 when 274 properties had sold year to date for $63M in the entire MLS and in Gillespie County there were 210 sales for $42M.  While sales are down from these highs, they are actually doing very well in this area considering what we hear from Phoenix, Detroit, Florida, California and Las Vegas.  So if you have cash and you aren’t happy with the .05 per cent you are getting at the bank or you don’t trust the news media, Washington or Wall Street, then what you should consider is investing in Texas Hill Country Real Estate.  There are a few bargains to be found, there really aren’t any ‘real steals’, but that is a testament to the stability of our market, the equity of our market, and the conservative nature of borrowers  & lenders.

We don’t have those wild fluctuations where values went up 30-60% in a year or people doubling their money.  Consequently prices haven’t dropped 70% either.  If you are looking for a home there are many choices in every price category.  It is a great time to be a buyer with low interest rates and so many choices to pick from.  If you wish to be in the country, land offers many opportunities not only the enjoyment of ownership, but a place to go to get away from everyday life, to picnic and hunt, build a cabin or a permanent home.  City building lots and rural land residential tracts are important buys right now.  We feel there has never been a better time to buy for your future home.                                  

Since 1965 Fredericksburg Realty has been helping buyers and sellers with their real estate needs.  We don’t know much about Wall Street or Washington, except we don’t like what we see and hear.  So we are glad to be right here in the best place in the world….

Texas Hill Country Fredericksburg, Texas….Sherman D. Durst

Tags:
Fredericksburg, texas, Texas Hill Country, local events, fredericksburg realty, tx, hill country, 2007, Fredericksburg Texas, Gillespie County, 2008, Texas Hill Country Real Estate, sherman d. durst, race horses, november, Hill Country Real Estate, Fredericksburg property for sale, Changes in the Hill Country Real Estate Market, Bed and Breakfast operations, You Get What You Pay For, Wildflowers, wildflower, wieser, Wall Street, tourism, The True Market Value of Your Home, The Real Estate Buying & Selling Process of Today, Texas Hill Country Real Estate Market, Terms, Tax Deductions, tax credit, Summer Market Slows Fall Market Soon Begins in the Texas Hill Country, Spring Season, Spring Breakers Have Arrived in Fredericksburg, september, Selling your home? Spring Cleaning Tips, Selling the Texas Hill Country, Seller Credits, sauce, Sales Up, REALTOR, Real Estate Sales in the Texas Hill Country, Real Estate Sale, Real Estate is Local, real estate investment, Real Estate Home Buying, Real Estate Buyer Fears, Real Estate Buyer and Seller Benefits, Real Estate Advertising is Changing Are you with the program? Texas Hill Country Real Estate Advertising, Real Estate Ads and Promotions, Real Esate, Quarterhorses, Pricing Your Home For Sale in the Texas Hill Country Market, Price, parades, Music, Motorcycles, mortgage loans, May Real Estate Market in Fredericksburg Hill Country of Texas, Mason Texas Real Estate, Make this Your Place..., lower rates, Location, Land Prices in the Texas Hill Country, jelly, january, interest rates, income tax, How to Sell Your property, Horses, Horse Property, horse operations, horse farms, homes sales, Home Buyer Credits, hill country, Hill Country Lenders, higher rates, Harley Davidson, German Music Rain, Fredericskburg Realty, fredericksburg realty, Fredericksburg Texas Real Eatate, Fredericksburg Texas property for sale, Fredericksburg Texas MLS, Fredericksburg Texas & Gillespie County Real Estate Sales are Up! Fredericksburg Realty Sails On!, Fredericksburg Realty Real Estate, Fredericksburg Real Estate Horse Farms, Fredericksburg real estate, fischer, first time home buyer tax credit, first time home buyer, festivals, february, Experience and Knowledge in a Declining Market, Engery Credits, december, credit score, Condition, buyers representation, bluebonnet, Beer, Baby Boomers, and The Realtor your Hire, 1031 exchanges