Buying and/or Selling a House in Dallas / Rockwall County - Programs Offered to YOU Save Money!

I'm excited to share with you the amazing 2011 Buying & Selling program our full-service real estate boutique is offering! d + b real estate understands that the current state of our economy isn't the best right now and we feel that our clients deserve a "Break" ... after all, we have families too and are looking for ways to $ave MONEY! As a boutique brokerage, we can freely offer our clients this fabulous 2011 Buying & Selling programs! So without further adue, here they are ...

1. The "Movin' on Up" Program When you SELL your current home AND BUY a larger home with me, you will save 1.5% off the total sales commission on your sale.
For Example: Your family of 3 is expecting a 4th! Your 1,800 square foot starter home in Rowlett is quickly becoming too small! What you really need is a larger 4 bedroom home with over 2,500 square feet. So, you sell your $150,000 home and buy a larger home that costs $200,000. The new home costs more than the home you are selling...soooo...the good news: YOU QUALIFY FOR The "Movin' on Up" Program!  In this instance, you will save $2,250.00!!
2. The "Hometown Hero" Program
Are you a Firefighter, Paramedic, Police Officer or Teacher? If you are, then d + b real estate thinks YOU are a HOMETOWN HERO! As a former high school Teacher, I know the hard work, hours and even the risk you face while on the job! As a way to say THANK YOU for the services you provide to our community, we'd like to help you $ave MONEY when buying OR selling a home! You'll receive a $500.00 credit at the closing table! Use it to help pay for your closing costs or as a way to keep more cash in your pocket for fixing up the new house: painting, furniture or maybe use it for that sweet new equipment for the media room.

*And YES, if you're a HomeTown Hero who is Moving On Up, I will honor both programs for you :-)

Hang In there ... we know that the past few years haven't been easy for anyone. Layoffs happen. Salary cuts happen. LIFE Happens. Just know that you've got a local Dallas/Rockwall County REALTOR who is happy to help you $ave MONEY and that we know every dollar counts!

Let us help save you money in your real estate purchase. When you call to make an appointment for a market analysis of your neighborhood or a home buyers consultation, make sure to mention our 2011 Buying & Selling programs and we'll get the ball rolling! We're also happy to recommend quality loan officers, home stagers or other vendors to help you achieve your goals. Just give me a call at 214-422-0729 or send me an email at Sam@SamIAmHouses.com

Rowlett Girl Scout with a Cookie Goal for Overseas Troops

Mmmmm, Girl Scout Cookies! Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Samoas ... ahhh a lil' taste of heaven! ... Who doesn't love Girl Scout Cookies?!? Well, if you're one that doesn't like them, that's ok, but I urge you to still read on. You see, Lake Ray Hubbard has a Rowlett neighborhood Brownie (Girl Scout) that has this amazing goal that's as big as our beautiful lake!

Miss Stephanie is a 3rd grader at Liberty Grove Elementary in Rowlett. Like all girl scouts & brownies, she set a goal for the amount of cookies she wanted to sell. Her goal is ... wait for it ... 2,011 Boxes! That's right, 2,011! Now here's the kicker, her goal is not just to sell 2,011 Boxes but Stephanie's goal is to sell 2,000 for the "Gift of Caring" program that allows the girls to collect donations of cookies for Military Personnel serving overseas! You see, Stephanie's best friend, Emily, told her about all the yuckie food her dad ate while he was overseas serving in Afghanistan. Stephanie decided that all the soldiers then needed to have good food & really, what's better than Girl Scout Cookies?!? (smart girl!) So with that, she made her goal ... figuring her family would order 11 boxes & the rest of her goal was for the Soldiers!

                                                       

I'm so inspired at this young girls' caring, unselfish nature & her desire to have "good food" sent over to our troops, giving them a sense of home! Unfortunately, this Friday 28th is the end of the Pre-Order, BUT not to freat, you can still pick up some boxes & even buy boxes for our overseas troops at your local grocery store. 


If you'd like to join me in helping Stephanie with her amazing goal, which I hope you do, you can email her mom directly with your order  april.e.wilson@gmail.com or you can order Online (of course) ... Go to: Troop 2 Troop In the "Donation" Info Box, please note "Stephanie W - for the Troops" in the Comments Field & select Troop 334 on the Drop Down Menu.

2010 Housing Market Around Lake Ray Hubbard

Sunset over Lake Ray Hubbard

2010 has come & gone, like the sun setting over the beautiful Lake Ray Hubbard. I was recently asked how the real estate market in the lake area fared last year. I figured if she was curious, a few others might be as well. 

Overall, 2010 was a good year for both sellers and the buyers. Unlike 2009, the average sales price was higher and homes were on the market for less amount of days. In addition, sellers received a higher percentage of their listing price ... the average was 96%! ... and in most sales, the buyer received a good portion of their closing costs paid by the seller, not to mention the amazingly low mortgage rates that were out there! Here's a quick glance of what went on in the cities that surround Lake Ray Hubbard.

• GARLAND, TX: There was an astonishing 1,098 home sales in 2010, however, 607 of those were Foreclosures. It was great to see that in the last 3 months there were 281 sales. They averaged being on the market 103 days. Since there is such a mixture of houses in Garland, with homes that were built back in the 1940's to homes that were built in 2010, the sales price of the homes were between $30,000 to $272,900.
• ROWLETT, TX: 2010 ended with 657 homes being sold and only 108 of them were Foreclosures. Home Sales in the last 3 months slowed considerably with only 97 being sold and were on the market an average of 93 days. Rowlett houses bought ranged between $57,000 to $849,000 with the seller getting close to 98% of their listed price.
• ROCKWALL, TX: For the year, Rockwall had a total of 489 houses sold and 93 of those were Foreclosures. Between September - December, there were 128 houses sold. Houses in Rockwall went from $74,900 to $750,000  and were on the market for around 106 days.

If there is a neighborhood that you're curious about, simply send me an email (sam@samiamhouses.com) or a facebook message (www.facebook.com/SamIAmHouses) and I'd be happy to share the information with you. Please know that I am never too busy to help you or your friends/family that you refer to me and I would honor the chance to earn the business!

Garrett IS Named Cowboy Coach

In case you've been living in a cave or don't live in the Dallas Metroplex, Jerry Jones fired ... oh what's his name ... oh yeah, Wade Phillips, and as of yesterday, named interim Head Coach Garrett as the New Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys! I'm not sure it was a shocker to anyone really that Garrett would be the head coach ... after all, he did a heck of a job with the last remaining games - going 5-3 and those 3 loses were by a total of 7 points! But a real shocker to everyone is what Jones said in the announcement (make sure you're sitting down for this one!): "Jason will have the final say on any person that leaves the coaching staff or comes to the coaching staff," Jones said. "There won't be a player on this team that Jason does not want on the team. ... That's the way we're going to operate." Excuse Me?!? Did he just say that Jason actually gets to make decisions that all other Head Coaches of other NFL teams do??? Woo Hoo! The Cowboys just might have a chance to dominate the NFL like they did in the '90s with Jimmy Johnson & Barry Switzer!

If you can't tell, this lil' Realtor gal is a huge football fanatic! If you're not, no worries ... here's some insight into Jason Garrett that you can throw out at any party or conversation that will make you look like an uber football fan:

• Jason Garrett was a backup quarterback for Troy Aikmen back in the '90s & is the 1st Coach in Cowboy history to have also been a player!
• In 2007, Garrett came back to the Cowboys as the Offensive Coordinator & later became the "Assistant Coach" after he showed his loyalty to Jones by turning down other Head Coaching positions
• AND, the most craziest is that ... Garrett has been with the Cowboys 20 out of the 22 years that Jones has been the owner!!! 

Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning - AMAZING!

Okay, so we all know that it's a MUST to have clean fresh carpets if you're getting your house market-ready to sell and it's definetly something all buyers look for. Although I'm personally not doing either, I did like most people, survive the holiday invasion of family and friends ... however, our cream colored carpet wasn't so lucky! We found a few wine drops & chocolate spots along with the foot traffic that had built up. Now because I have a 20 mth old lil'dude, I'm quite picky about the chemicals used in our house.

< Enter Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaners ... Angels Singing >

Let me start with the technician, who come to find out is actually the DFW Franchise Owner. He was unbelievably friendly, thoroughly went over the cleaning process, let my lil'dude test out his super "broom", and even helped me move a few pieces of heavy furniture. Though it was explained to me and I read up on it, quite honestly, I'm not quite sure how the whole "oxygen" thing works ... but I do know that with Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaners, there are no harsh chemicals or sticky residue because it's the Oxygen that breaks up the stains, they use very little water too so the dry time was around an hour and the carpet pads weren't soaked, the machine they use doesn't tear up the carpet, and best of all, my house carpet looks amazing!!!

I am forever more singing the praises of Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning & oh so highly recommend them! If you're in the DFW Metro-plex, basically any where between Ft Worth & Rockwall, give Mark (franchise owner) a call, 469-585-7691, to schedule your cleaning and to find out what deals they're offering (he added 2 hallways at no cost to my cleaning). You can also go to the main website, www.oxifresh.com , to find a location by you.

So don't Just Clean Your Carpets - Oxi Fresh Clean Them! And as always, if you're thinking of buying or selling your house, I'd love to work with you or help in any way!

~Cheers