Kellie Shorthose is a Realtor with United Real Estate in Houston.
Every week, we ask a Houston real estate professional for their thoughts on the top three stories from the week before.
This week, we talked with Kellie Shorthose, a Realtor with United Real Estate in Houston who has been an agent since 2005.
Houston Agent (HA): Syndication sites, such as Zillow and Trulia, grow more and more popular with each passing month; have you found much success with syndication and online marketing, or have you found other methods more successful in finding new clients and closing sales?
Kellie Shorthose (KS): Yes, my level of business has increased, and actually I was thinking the other day about the increased number of calls and emails I’ve been receiving from syndication sites and other online marketing. I always ask how they found me in order to know where my advertising budget is best used.
By advertising my listings on multiple sites, my sellers are receiving more exposure, thus generating more calls and emails about their properties and resulting in having great success in closing the sales. Not only have my listings received more exposure, I have met buyers that have located me from those sites; and in my experience, those clients are typically ahead of the game and have a good sense of what they are looking for in a home because they have conducted their own research online.
HA: The housing market in Houston is undoubtedly on the rise, but there remain homeowners from the boom years who are still underwater on their mortgages; what would you recommend to clients who were interested in buying a home, but were still underwater on their current mortgage?
KS: I have had clients come to me with this same issue, and after spending some time with them to better understand where they are coming from, I always look at the numbers to see just how “underwater” they are. By offering comparables and providing a closing cost estimate, this gives the client more knowledge of where they stand, then I can make recommendations as to what some of their options are.
Some options would be:
- Bring the additional money to closing to pay the balance of their mortgage.
- Stay in the home and continue paying on their mortgage while saving money that could be applied to any unpaid balance of their mortgage once their home is sold.
- I may recommend speaking to a loan specialist to see what programs are available to help them get to a position where they can sell and purchase another home, and if they are unable to sell at that time the loan specialist may offer other options such as refinancing or loan modification.
- And, I always recommend maintaining good credit.
Homeowners can contact a real estate professional to get an idea of where they stand with their mortgage and what their home is worth.
HA: Our year-end material was quite popular, where we looked ahead to what 2013 will bring to real estate; what are you most looking forward to in this new year of business?
KS: Well, since I began my career in real estate in 2005, I have experienced the market at its peak (where I barely had room to breathe) and I have also been through the slower period, but always kept moving forward. For 2013, I see a busy year for real estate professionals, because everywhere I look there’s new construction, whether it’s commercial or a new residential community, in addition to the multiple marketing reports on increased home sales.
Personally, I’m looking forward to meeting new clients from online marketing and helping them with their real estate needs. I focus on my clients and keep their best interest at heart, at the same time keeping balance with my family. Real estate requires long hours and weekends, not to mention the continuing education and volunteer work, but I couldn’t imagine another career as fulfilling as this.