Houston Realtor Blog - Paul Silverman

The latest Houston Real Estate market report for April 2012 sales is out and shows some amazing progress in all market metrics. Single family homes posted a 9.9% gain over the previous year and townhome/condo market posted a 12.4% gain.  

Other factors in the single family market report show more signs of strength. Our total months of inventory has dropped to 5.7. Most real estate experts consider a 6-8 month supply as a neutral market. Another promising statistic is the total number of listings has dropped 17.8%, signaling fewer homes on the market.  One last impressive area of  the market is the average sales price has increased almost $23,000 or 11.2% to $223,328. 

For anyone who is considering selling or buying Real Estate in Houston and want a Houston Realtor that can assist you look for a home, please contact Paul Silverman, Certified Negotiation Expert with Heritage Texas Properties. Kindly visit our website at www.ourfirstnest.com .

As a Houston Realtor for Heritage Texas Properties, I have seen the role technology plays in the everyday working environment of Realtors. Whether it is digital signatures, internet marketing, document management or a whole variety of other tools, it has transformed the business as we know it. While these tools enable us to work more efficiently, spend more quality time with our families and provide top notch service, rarely do we think of uses for technology  outside the spectrum of Real Estate.

As realtors, we know and appreciate value of community service. As an industry, we have adopted the core value that we need to be an integral part of the communities which we help build. You can routinely find members of our community helping fund charity events, giving time and resources to the community and other helpful ways to further the dream of home ownership.

Some of the most meaningful ways of giving back to the community involve not only our skills as humanitarians, but the skills we learn as Realtors to better the lives of those around us. Recently, I had a rare opportunity to combine my technical knowledge along with a community service project. While going through my daily news feeds on Facebook, I ran across a video that one of my fraternity brothers, Darin Clark, had posted. His video was an urgent fundraising appeal to help with a lifesaving surgery. As I watched the video, I learned more about his story. A tragic series of events had left him unemployed, without health insurance and a stomach condition so severe that the doctors gave him two choices, either have surgery or he would not survive. Rather than giving in to what seemed to be a very sad fate, he came up with a great idea to draw dog comic characters for donations in the hope to raise enough money to save his life.  

Darin had a great idea and the drive to achieve his goal. He was only missing one key component for its success – a delivery vehicle for his message. Due to budget restraints and his declining health, the video he created to announce the campaign was filmed with a handheld device and while it told his story, it lacked a call to action or a mechanism for viewers to order or make donations.  Rather than ordering some of the characters for my daughter and hope that others did the same, I came up with a better way to help.

I sent Darin a Facebook message asking if I could create a website for his campaign. Within 2 hours of his approval, I had purchased the URL (website address) and had created the page on my agent website. I was able to remove all of my website information and make the page appear with no visible ties to my mine. On his page, I had a few paragraphs about his story, the video he made along with an automated form to make donating or ordering prints easier for those who could help.

Shortly after announcing the website, www.surgi-dawgs.com , on Facebook, Darin felt the overwhelming support of his friends. While the amount of money raised is nowhere near the total amount of his total medical costs or recovery, the amount of support helped save his life and give hope to someone that had given so much hope and happiness to others.

I never thought I would learn so much from creating a web page so I would like to share my lessons with you.

1.       Many of those that donated to Darin’s cause were people that he was reunited or kept up with on Facebook. The last time I had seen or spoken to him was over 15 years ago.

2.       When we use the term “power of technology” it spans far beyond just our narrow use of it in the Real Estate industry.

3.       Everyone can help. While my budget is stretched to its limits due to a wife in graduate school, private school tuition and other financial obligations, I could have easily ignored the original video and just hoped someone else would help. I knew I could contribute by using some of my talents – something we all can do.

4.       Finally, just be nice. The reason Darin’s appeal worked is not because of the web page I created. The appeal succeeded because Darin was such a kind and compassionate person to everyone throughout his life, even those hadn’t seen or spoken to him in years felt compelled to help. Sometimes, nice guys do finish first.

Many people question the usefulness of technology and social media. To some, Facebook is a time zapper, YouTube is where funny videos are posted, and agent websites are just a digital business card. Through my recent experience, I learned that all of these digital tools can be so much more than status updates or viral videos, they can be a real life saver.

Looking back on the last decade of being a Realtor, there is one clear area that has made our profession so much easier and efficient. The technology that we use on a daily basis not only helps us keep our worlds in sync, but also provides for a better consumer experience. As we dive into the world of these wonderful tools, one of the biggest areas is the ability to go mobile and not be tied to an office. This ability not only helps us save time, gas and effort, it also helps us do our job faster, quicker and with more proficiency. 

Among the mobile agent options there is clearly the ring leader - the iPad. This small and compact business tool can serve so many functions yet the number of owners that actually know how to use them on a regular basis is slim. One significant reason is the real lack of training for agents trying to go mobile. Most of the training that is in the marketplace focuses on exposing the student to a multitude of apps with little or no instruction on usage. There are a large number of attendees at these presentations that watch the class in excitement, go home and download all of the apps and then look at them hopelessly wondering what they could do. They are in fact - appoholics, people that are addicted to downloading  apps with no clear vision on how to implement them into their daily work tasks.

So here are a few suggestions to ease the transition and turn an appoholic into an app user

1. Commit yourself to learning one new app a week. Practice the functionality before implementing in your practice. 
2. Only download 1 of each type of app unless you are looking to replace the one you currently use. There is no reason to have 4 apps that modify a PDF document when one will do the job. Often times ipad owners purchase similar functioning apps and then have no idea of which one to use.
3. Download apps for every part of your practice, not every part of your life. It’s a big enough learning curve trying to implement into your business life, mix in 20 more apps that stream sports scores, recipes, play radio, movies, etc.. and you will never learn what is most important
4. Once these goals are defined and a plan is implemented, separate your business into segments that apps could make more efficient. These areas should include email, composing contracts, digital signatures, file storage (cloud),  client presentations, video email and other applications that can improve your efficiency, gain the ability to find valuable information for your clients and impress them with your technical ability.

By following these suggestions and a dedicated plan for implementation, you can start to enjoy the benefits of going mobile. No more late night trips to the office for files, dragging around heavy bags with computers and files, printing reams of paper, and most importantly, gain the ability to quickly deliver contracts to secure property or sales for your clients.

Other factors in the single family market report show more signs of strength. Our total months of inventory has dropped to 6.6. Most real estate experts consider a 6-8 month supply as a neutral market. Another promising statistic is the total number of listings has dropped 14%, signaling fewer homes on the market.  One last impressive area of  the market is the sale of lots increased 7% year to date from last year signaling an increase in building.

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in Houston and need a Houston Realtor to help you find a home, please contact Paul Silverman, Certified Negotiation Expert with Heritage Texas Properties to help find a home for you. Please visit our website at www.houstonhomesource.net .

There is a reason that Heritage Texas Properties was awarded Most Innovative Company by Leading Real Estate Companies of the World in 2010 and why we continue to have the reputation for making education the core of our culture. As part of our commitment to our sales associates, Paul Silverman, Director of Professional Development, is expanding Heritage’s companywide education program, implemented both in the classroom and online, providing sales associates with top-notch training, cutting edge tools, and one-on-one technology assistance while delivering the best results for our clients. Paul brings many gifts to the table not the least of which is the extensive professional training that he himself has achieved – all adding to his expertise and his ability to advise sales associates on a wide range of topics. In addition to his Broker’s license, he has earned designations such as: (CNE) Certified Negotiation Expert; (MIRM) Master, Institute of Residential Marketing; (GREEN) GREEN Resource Council; (ABR) Accredited Buyers Representative; (CGP) Certified Green Building Professional; (CSP) Certified New Home Sales Counselor; (CMP) Certified New Home Marketing Professional; (SRES) Senior Real Estate Specialist; (AHWD) At Home with Diversity; and (ePro) e-Pro Certified.

Under Paul’s direction, not only will Heritage expand the scope of its training, but extend the methods and formats in which it is delivered. Paul and other high level trainers and industry leaders are creating an atmosphere that allows Heritage sales associates to customize their own high quality continuing education in ways that are relevant to today’s real estate environment. In addition to participating in established classroom opportunities, webinars, podcasts, or other advanced programs, sales associates can take advantage of innovative training modules and online tutorials, available 24/7, to be experienced on demand according to their own busy schedules.

“Heritage Texas Properties takes a focused approach that gives both our sales associates and clients every possible advantage,” said Silverman. “In 2012, our goal is to provide training and tools that enable sales associates to increase their productivity and map their career growth. We want to ensure that it is the best year ever for them and the clients they serve.”

Paul Silverman, Broker Associate at Heritage Texas Properties, today announced the launch of a mobile app which works on standard mobile phone and smartphones across all mobile carriers. Anyone can download the app for their phone to view all homes for sale in the Greater Houston Region.

Paul Silverman’s mobile app uses GPS, when available, to locate the individual and display listings within immediate area. Users can even search by address, city or zip code to see property details for all homes for sale in a specified area, including price, square footage, estimated mortgage, taxes, features, maps, pictures and more. The “Refine Search” feature lets users pick a range of prices, property type as well as the number of beds and baths to help them find precisely what they’re looking for.

Mr. Silverman, a Houston Realtor, partnered with Smarter Agent, the leader in mobile real estate app development, to be able to supply clients and prospects a mobile house-hunting app available across all carriers on standard mobile phones and smartphones including BlackBerry, iPhone, Android and also the Palm OS.

“With the continuing rise in the amount of smartphones along with the consumer’s search for immediate information, launching this mobile app will turn out to be a method of providing clients the quickest and most relevant information as part of their home search” explained Mr. Silverman.

When the user has questions or wants a preview of the property, the “Call” feature inside of the app connects an individual to a live person to answer their questions.

Consumers can text HOMESHOU to 87778 to send the mobile app to their cell phone or visit www.ourfirstnest.com  to download the mobile real estate search.

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in Houston and need a Houston Realtor to help you find a home, please contact Paul Silverman, Certified Negotiation Expert with Heritage Texas Properties to help find a home for you. Please visit our website at www.houstonhomesource.net .

Real Estate in Houston is off to a great start this summer. As we began the summer with several not so encouraging statistics, in June, we are already seeing some very promising signs that purchasing a home in Houston will be a great move this year. As proof that the industry is gaining momentum, here are a few promising signs:

1. Compared to June of 2010, total pending sales have increased 18% in June 2011.
2. Compared to June of 2009, single-family home sales were up 2.7 percent. 2009 is a good year to compare and contrast since we had significant market factors of Hurricane Ike in 2008 and the expiration of the tax credit in 2010.
3. The average price for single family properties purchased in June 2011 is up 3.7% from the year before. With all of the reports of declining home values, it’s good to see the Houston Real Estate Market gaining.
4. The only segments of the marketplace to show a drop in sales were Country Homes and Multifamily.
5. All market segments in homes priced above $500,000 saw increase while some of them showed double digit increases.

As the year progresses, we will have to keep a watch on foreclosures and several constriction in lending practices. Check back for more facts next month. For additional information on your location or neighborhood, please contact us for more detailed analysis.

If you need a Houston Realtor to help you find a home, please contact Paul Silverman, with Heritage Texas Properties to help find a home for you. In addition to his fifteen years experience in real estate, he also holds 10 professional designations including Certified Negotiation Expert . Please visit our website at www.ourfirstnest.com to learn more about real estate in Houston.

The latest Houston Real Estate market report is out and shows the luxury home market has made a sharp rebound. Homes in the $700,000 - $799,000 range were up 56%, $900,000-$999,999 were up 19% and homes above $1 million were up 31%. This is great news because for each luxury home that is sold, there is a trickle down effect triggering a sale at the other price points.

The market report for all other price ranges shows small decreases in sales but this is an indication in the market returning to normal supply and demand. During this same period last year, we had several factors artificially inflating the market. These included the First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit, looser lending guidelines, and lower interest rates. With sales down only 1% year to date and the average sales price increasing 3%, this shows that Houston’s market remains strong even after all of the factors helping the market in 2010 have ended. Another promising spot in the market is the sale of lots increased 19% year to date from last year signaling an increase in building.

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in Houston and need a Houston Realtor to help you find a home, please contact Paul Silverman, Certified Negotiation Expert with Heritage Texas Properties to help find a home for you. Please visit our website at www.houstonhomesource.net .