Austin Real Estate Team

Your offer on an Austin home has been accepted, and you've toasted the occasion with champagne (or maybe Dr Pepper). But you're not quite done. You still have a lot to do before you can move in. First and foremost, get together with your realtor and make sure that all the documents for the sale are correct. Usually they're done by the title company, but ask your realtor to check and double check them for mistakes that might delay, or in some instances, kill the sale. Even if the seller is "motivated," there have been situations where delays led a seller to back out (same thing for buyers).

Here is where the realtor earns his/her commission. When you have made up your mind and want to make an offer on an Austin home, let the realtor do all the lifting and toting. Give the realtor a list of bargaining points that you want discussed with the homeowner. Be sure that the offer is made in writing, and that the bargaining points are included in that offer. In Texas, the offer is usually accompanied by a payment of earnest money, which in most cases is not refundable unless agreed to prior to the offer. It is usually an agreed-upon percentage of the total offering price. Here's a list of things that need to be done when you make an offer.

Now that you've found the Austin neighborhood you like, time to start evaluating the homes there. Here's a handy checklist you can use as you begin your hunt for that dream home.

• When you first drive up to a house, how appealing is it?
• Does the house fit in with the neighborhood and the other houses?
• Is the landscape a plus or a minus for the house?
• When you reach the entrance does it look good?
• What's the paint look like outside?
• Check the roof, especially under the eaves, for waterstains and rotting wood.
• Do you feel comfortable when you step through the front door?
• Are there any odors such as moldiness, stale air or a (heaven forbid) smell of sewage?
• Realtors like to shepherd homebuyers, but don't allow yourself to be led away from problem areas.
  

Buying a home in Austin is one of the biggest purchases you'll ever make, and a decision that requires patience, determination and pre-planning. Keep in mind that when you buy a new home, location is everything. Where you choose to live is as important as what you choose to live in. A great home will not make up for a bad neighborhood, so choose carefully and with plenty of thought put into the decision.

Begin your decision-making by first comparing neighborhoods. Do you want to live in an older, more settled neighborhood or do you want the glitz of a new sub-division with freshly-built homes? How far from your job do you want to live? If you have children do you want good, close-by schools?

Choosing a neighborhood in Austin will be an enjoyable adventure. As you drive through Austin, decide whether you want to live within the city, or maybe look for a home in the northern suburbs. Austin is divided by the escarpment known as the Balcones Fault. Everything west of that fault is hilly countryside that stretches out into the fabled Texas Hill Country. Everything to the east of the fault is flatland, much of it situated along the Colorado River that runs through downtown Austin. The older neighborhoods are to be found in the older, flatlands of Austin. Newer neighborhoods, especially new subdivisions are west of the fault and in the northern suburbs, like Pflugerville, Taylor and Georgetown. You'll find the people of Austin are very friendly, no matter where they live, and you'll be welcome no matter what neighborhood you choose to live in.