I need a realtor.

[caltotexas]

Oh, and yes we did fly down in Jan to look around the area, and Naima and her husband made us feel at home and we covered a lot of ground for the little time we had.

[canuckmom]

I am hoping I can make a recommendation - we were assigned a realtor when we were relocated (corporately), and he was excellent.

Part of a husband and wife team, they have been in the business for many years and are very knowledgeable about the cities north of Dallas - Plano, Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Murphy etc...

Check out their website at Plano Texas real estate listings, home buying, selling and relocation information - NUMBER1EXPERT(tm).

Our realtors name is Gerald Robertson - Martha's husband (see website)

Good luck!

[Melanie777]

Originally Posted by caltotexas

Hi Melanie777. We are in the exact same situation. We are relocating from CA to the NE Dallas suburbs. We are working with a very honest, genuine and reliable realtor who you can trust. She has gone out of her way to inform and educate us about the differences between the various cities that only someone local can. All in all its been an extremely pleasant experience. We are buying site unseen but i have no doubts we are making the right choice. Should be in contract soon, and started looking only last week. Let me know if you have any specific questions, but as i said, she has been a godsend to us, in the middle of all the moving stress.
Moderator cut: sorry, not enough posts tyo make specific recommendations

Can you send me a pm?

[Melanie777]

Originally Posted by dmorris

Melanie777
We were in your shoes two years ago and have made a fatal mistake. We did everything from out of state - made several trips but did not allow to time to really get to know the communities. We did a lot on the internet too and we actually got a GREAT home. We love our home but we soon learned we had made a huge mistake on the community in that it was not a good match for what we wanted long-term. We had some very highly recommended realtors with decent reputations but frequently they were unable to answer specific questions due to what they called "steering laws." I have learned more from people on the forum in regards to communities than I ever did from the realtors due to the laws. They often would tell me to go to greatschools.net for school ratings or just provide very superficial info due to "steering laws." I am not saying they are not helpful because there are likely some great ones out there but only you know what you know what works in regards to a community. We had some of my husband's colleagues give recs but in looking back, I would never ever buy in a community without knowing much more about it. I know it sucks to rent especially when you have a family - moving is hard which is why we didn't rent and then buy. I just couldn't imagine making our kids move schools again and again but guess what? Now, we are likely moving but have lost all equity due to the depreciating home/market. I hope you can pull it off - to just move once and get it all right but this is a huge area and if there is anyway you can rent first, I would wholeheartedly recommend it. Best of luck - use this forum to answer questions on communities. You get many viewpoints and end up with many opinions and doors to look into if that makes sense. I sure wish I had found this forum before we had taken the plunge.

Thanks for the insight. We will definately be making use of this forum and other sites as well. I think we are fortunate to be able to go out in a week and half, just to check out neighborhoods. Hopefully it becomes clearer after that trip, otherwise I don't know.

[tbone9900tx]

naima on city data..enuff said

[msburrogs]

My husband and I just bought our home in October and we couldn't have asked for a better realtor. I will send you a PM but here are a few things we loved about her:

-The home we ended up buying was one she found for us. We would have never found it had it not been for her!
- She is not pushy. She wants to help you find a home you will love. She always told us if we didn't like a place from the moment we walked in, to just tell her and we'd walk right out. That's something that I never heard before from other realtors!
- She is young, but extremely knowledgable. She knows what she is doing and will try to get as much of the paperwork done for you as she can. As first time homebuyers this was especially helpful for us.
- We were always able to get in touch with her. Not that we would call her at 10:00 in the evening, but if we did I know she would have answered.
- The effort she puts forth in making sure you get what you want, at the price you want, in the area you want, etc....is remarkable. She truly cares about finding you the perfect home.

My husband and I went through three realtors in a two year span and she was a breath of fresh air compared to them. She would research the MLS and email us listings every week. She wanted to learn about what we were looking for in a home and also show us homes that were "outside the box" so to speak. Not saying that all realtors are bad, but the ones we were working with before her would wait until we had time to research homes and then insist that we have 4 or 5 picked out at a time before they would set aside a day to take us out to look at them.

I've already recommended our realtor to a few friends and coworkers. If anyone else would like me to PM her name just let me know!

[BrianBemis]

I can recommend a Realtor if I know your price range. The best Realtors work specific price ranges. Also I would suggest finding someone that REALLY knows the area and what is happening with that market. Properties in Frisco vary from properties in Allen etc. There are many other factors that you might want to consider. Schools might be the first criteria if you have children. I would suggest doing some major internet searches and getting reviews. I live in Plano and my daugher (9) is in Frisco ISD schools. We like their system because they teach one grade ahead of the other schools. I would personally live in Frisco ISD and Allen ISD. That doesn't mean the other ones are bad, it's just my personal preference. Next criteria would be price. Housing prices are lower in some of these areas and have actually gone up in other areas. I am amazed that one subdivision will be up 20% in value and another one may be down 20% and in the same price range. I think a lot of this has to do with the foreclosures in that particular subdivision and what has happened. [mod] against TOS, please read them! [/MOD] I would caution you on anything that you buy right now at a low price COULD go up in value very fast in the next two to three years. If that happens and the value of your home goes up around $50k your assessed value will go up and your property taxes could go up substantially. At around 2.7% of value it could raise your payment by a couple hundred dollars if in a specific price range. Another option is for sale by owner. I am seeing that prices could be as much as 10% lower by buying from an individual owner.

[compSciGuy]

Originally Posted by BrianBemis

I live in Plano and my daugher (9) is in Frisco ISD schools. We like their system because they teach one grade ahead of the other schools. I would personally live in Frisco ISD and Allen ISD.

Could you elaborate on the differences in teaching between the Plano schools in Frisco ISD and whatever other baseline schools you are using?

[lsh770]

Hello there,

I saw you had great experience with your realtor and we are in the market for a house in Mckinney and wonder if can pass on your realtor's info. Thank you so much!

Sue