5109 Ravensdale Ln. : Affordable Home for Sale @ $170K!

This property has not been listed with the MLS yet! It is a steal at $170k. Priced 12k below Travis Tax Appraisal!

Paul B. Perez, AHS

Licensed Realtor®

Premier Realty

Main: 512-380-1469

Understanding your Home Purchase!

Just press play! You may want to keep the cursor on the pause button as it plays a bit fast.

So you want to buy your first home.... How much can you Afford?

So you want to buy your first home but don't know where to start... The first thought that comes to mind for many first time buyers is to jump on the internet and start looking at what's available.
"How much can I afford?"
This is probably the first and most important question you should ask yourself.
"How do I figure that out?"
Call a loan officer is my advice!
"But I don't want to call a loan officer; I heard it could affect my credit!"
If this sounds like you then read on. Loans now days are issued on DTI or Debt to Income Ratios coupled with your Credit Rating.
"What's a DTI?"
Debt to income is exactly that. How much you are obligated to pay divided by how much you bring home pre-tax.
For instance, You make $2,400 per month, but you are obligated to pay $500 per month on minimum balances due on your credit card, car loan, etc. In this situation your DTI would be 500/2400= 20%.
***Only the balanaces reflected on your credit report need be used to figure your DTI: cable bill, gas bill, and electric need not be figured in!***

The next step is a bit more complicated. I am going to adding more to this self-qualifying in the near future so keep in touch....

Affordable Housing Specialist

Two days ago I finished my last module to become an Affordable Housing Specialist. There are all kinds of programs out there to help almost anyone get a place to call home. There is a program here in Texas that will contribute 5% of the price of the home to help pay for down payments and closing costs. This program is a grant and does NOT have to be paid back.

Can you believe that there is also a program that requires you to be denied from other lenders in order to qualify for up to 105% of the cost of a home. In other words, there can be NO Down Payment! Over the next few posts I will show you the programs and where to go to for more information.

Not overlooking out vets, the Texas Vet program offers our Vets a great opportunity to borrow upwards of 400k for a home with interest rates as low as 4.25%!

Visit often to see what we can do to help you own a home of your own.

Adventures in Real Estate: The Early Years

I started my adventures in real estate when I was 23. At the time there was a huge buzz about California and my dad was in my head selling me on a dream of moving from Texas to open a brokerage firm of our own. It didn't take long to realize that I didn't know too many people that qualified for a loan which required a six figure income. Not to mention that I wasn't going to be able to work with my Dad.

While I was obtaining my license in California I attended Rio Hondo Community College and went to The Mullhearn Academy. The Mullhearn Academy was run by a slew of California's brightest; including David Wick, Tim Rush, and the legal forms lady(I'll remember your name and come back to edit it!). Dave, as we called him, was a great teacher who taught us the day to day about being an agent. One of the funniest things he said at the beginning of the course was "Go get yourself into a world of debt!" This was very contradictory to what anyone has been taught. He immediately combated everyone's astonishment with "It takes a good reason to motivate people into doing what they have been capable of doing their entire lives!" At that time I didn't fully understand what he was trying to say!

Bruce Mullhearn was the man though. He had started his business about 20 years prior to that and told stories that would blow your mind! He was from Newcastle, England. He had an amazing model for a Real Estate Brokerage firm that spand across the Los Angeles Valley into at least 8 offices. I was able to work for Bruce in the evening as a Recruiter; I was able to learn his various techniques from educating prospective Realtors, to recruiting them, to arming them with appropriate tools and knowledge to become top producers. In California it was a bit to easy for the average joe to obtain his or her license. Simply attend a weekend crash course for three classes and a test review and if you were lucky you would pass. This realization left an unsettling feeling in my stomach, if not for any other reason but personal accomplishment. I mean how could anyone respect a weekend warrior as a professional in their respective field? Eventually I relocated from California to Austin Texas. I quickly realized that Austin was to Texas as Los Angeles was to California. On the other hand, Texas education was not for the weekend warrior. Here you have to pass five classes and pass two tests! Alas, an easy weed eater in my book. Yet still there are a few lucky folks that get through and embarrass the rest!