I remember when Katrina and Rita hit New Orleans.  The Astrodome was full of people looking for homes.   Boy was our real estate company ready to help the people from New Orleans.  I had a couple come into the office both had new Cadillac’s and wanted a $500,000 home.   I am thinking wow here is the start of something great.   Their first question was how much money are we going to get back at closing?   I said in Texas you don’t get money back at closing the state considers that mortgage fraud.   They said in Louisiana we get money back and we want a minimum of $25,000.  I ended up selling no homes to people from New Orleans.  

I have many crazy stores about when I was doing foreclosures for banks and mortgage companies after the mortgage crisis.   I went to one home in Missouri City that had a flatbed trailer outside with items from the house piled up on it.  I walked into the house, no problem there all the doors were gone as was much else of the house.  There was a gang there that literally was stripping the house of everything.  It looked like it was starting to lean.   The leader told me there is a strip of carpet over there make sure no one steals it.  I asked where are the doors, he said they were in another city.   I called the mortgage company and said I was not taking the deal.   Note, I called the mortgage company not the police.  One who wants to live a long life does not turn gangs in to the police.   The untold rule is call the police if it is the owner, and walk away if it is a gang.  

I had another foreclosure that was located next to a bayou.  The home had a pool which was filled with black water.  There was a pool house located nearby with items taken from the house on the shelves.   I had a lady working with me on this foreclosure.  She walked into the pool house and screamed like she was being killed.  I looked over and saw a big black snake had slithered from the wall and was going between her legs.  He slithered about 25 feet and disappeared into the pool. 

With sellers the big lie in Houston is that it only got 4 inches of water in it or only one room flooded.   I beg and plead with sellers to redo their sellers disclosure to protect them.   If I know there has been a problem it is going on the sellers disclosure or I am not listing it.     If you are a seller don’t bring a television crew in your home to show how much water got in the house.  Then put the home on the market saying only one room flooded.   Or do a great job repairing the home and forget to paint the pocket door which shows water 2 feet high. 

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t drink it for them.   This can be changed to you can set up a closing for a buyer but you cannot control them.  I tell all my buyers do not buy a tooth brush on credit till you close or change jobs.   I had a closing at 2:00PM where my client showed up in bright shiny new truck with double wheels in the back and long bed.  A thing of beauty.  Unfortunately he bought it on the way to closing.  The mortgage company ran his credit just before closing, saw the truck and canceled the loan.   I had couple I was working with where the wife hated her job.  I begged her just stay with the job till we close.   She ignored my advice and quit 3 days before closing, the mortgage company found out about her quitting her job and canceled the loan.

Some crazy things people do

Don’t wear a tank top that shows off your tattoos

Don’t tell the realtor you are going to have to have the dog tranquilized in order to show the home  

Don’t brag about this is where they found the body

Don’t sit out naked by the pool without a cell phone to notify you of a showing scheduled

Don’t use your realtors address for your home address

Don’t ask me to lie for you

Don’t expect to sell a home if you have a BBQ pit in the front yard

Don’t ask me to pick up your dry cleaning on the way to our appointment

Don’t talk bad about realtors and expect me to represent you

As the business has become ultra-complicated and cut throat.   I guess the fun now is getting together with our fellow realtors and telling our stories.     We realtors are like an al-anon group talking about what crazy things are happening in our lives because of Real Estate.    You have to be a Realtor to understand just how crazy the Real Estate business is out there.   

Our common bond which ties us all together.   A love of the business , a genuine caring about people, and the belief that we are helping make people’s lives better.

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It used to be there were 3 keys to being successful in Real Estate. You had to have a 4 door car preferably expensive foreign, a nice wardrobe, and as your leaders told you fake it until you make it. Well folks let me tell you the computer has changed all that. You now have to be on top of the latest tech, know your market, communicate in the medium your client desires, and learn more than you client about their needs.

This means we don’t meet at the Galleria on Fridays anymore and spend the day shopping. We spend our time now in preparing to meet clients, writing contracts, or on learning. We don’t look at learning as that evil thing the Texas Real Estate Commission requires us to do every two years. We also don’t depend on that in house or virtual assistant to do everything for us. Because when we meet with our potential clients now they have conducted their own research on the internet and know the market. We can’t talk in terms of acronyms, fake it, or say my assistant knows the answer.

Venture Capitalists are financing new start-ups which will make the Real Estate transaction less stressful for the consumer. Independent Real Estate Brokers will be competing with new brokerage models such as Compass and Opendoor. Brokers and Realtors will have to invest in new technology and specialize in areas of Real Estate. The Super Star Realtors of last year will be replaced with Real Estate Teams today.

With a team if one member is busy, another team member can fill the gap. Each team member has a specific job function rather than being responsible for the whole transaction. This puts more eyes looking at all aspects of the transaction. The buyer or seller is included in the team and has access to emails and documents flowing between team members.

Man-Edge Properties has a team well versed in the Real Estate Business. Our goal is to constantly work to find ways to solve the stress in a real estate transaction. To take the information we learn today and find out how to apply it to our system for the benefits of our clients. The Man-Edge team is composed of realtors who have different skills that they bring to the table. Our agents listen to speakers discuss what is happening in Real Estate now, new technology, and economic trends. Timely issues such as ordinance 19 are discussed by our team with experts, so we can provide you with the right advice.

You will be part of a connected experience in which data is digitally communicated through many mediums to insure a successful stress free transaction for you.

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The Houston City Council was debating how you determine which homes should be allowed to be repaired after Hurricane Harvey and changes to new home construction in flood zones. A big problem is in defining flood risk for a home in Houston where according to the Harris County Flood Control District 204,267 structures flooded during Harvey. Of these structures 150,521 were outside the 100 year flood plain.

Real Estate Broker Bill Edge changes to the Chapter 19 maybe a government infringement on the most basic family need, stability in housing. Many home owners whose homes could be affected by the new ordinance do not want to move or do not have the money to raise their home. These people who have suffered through flooding could be prevented from repairing their homes.

He went on to explain that many owners do not want a buyout. They do not want to leave the home they have lived in for decades, the neighborhood where they grew up, and the place where most of their memories took place.

Allowing a homeowner to continue occupying their home in a floodplain should be their decision. These owners know when they want to buy insurance, the insurance company can charge a higher premium because of the higher risk. They may not even be able to purchase all of the insurance they need.

The realtors found issue with recovery czar Marvin Odum who told the Houston Chronicle. “We’re not going to negotiate on, OK they can flood a little bit.” The Realtors questioned what standards are used to determine if a home flooded. Is a homeowner going to be prevented from living in a two story home that received less than 4 inches of water. How many people in flooded homes never left their home? I know of some and I bet you do also. Are these good people to be thrown out of their homes.

How do you define substantial damage and improvement. Are we to call a home worthless merely because it is old and the land value has increased greatly over the years. Who really can determine the value of the home other than the homeowner. To them it is priceless. If they are willing to keep making the repairs and go through the problems of ownership, what right does the city have to tell them this is not allowed?

Beach front owners in Galveston were confronted with ownership problems after Hurricane Ike. Ike eroded the beach to where some of the homes were told to move their homes because they were past the vegetation line. Carol Severance, a homeowner who was told her home could no longer occupy her property sued the state. In 2010, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in her favor. George P Bush said recently I don’t believe the state should take land in the event of storms.

There needs to be some compromise which protects the homeowner and also helps solve the flooding problem. The mayor correctly believes we cannot ignore the flooding problem. Everyone is in agreement on this issue. We asked that any decisions be delayed until the economic and social benefits of all changes could be studied in detail.

Council member’s Greg Travis and Jack Christie proposed amendments to Chapter 19 which were more favorable to homeowners and builders. The realtors who spoke were firm in their belief the city should study the flood issues more before reaching a decision. That the economic and hardship issues facing Houstonians because of Harvey are going to continue to be felt for years to come.

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1. Harris County Flood Maps will no longer be the sole source for determining a home’s flood risk. Texas A&M University has developed a new website for home buyers searching to see if a home floods in Houston. Dr. Sam Brody designed a website that shows the risk of homes built in Harris County. The website is located at Texas Coastal Atlas.

2. Flood Insurance will become the normal thing for all home purchases. Mayor Parker constantly told Houstonians I don’t care if you live on the highest hill in Houston buy flood insurance. About 15% of the homes flooded by Hurricane Harvey had flood insurance. At least 3 times that number were in the flood Zone and should have had flood insurance. Flood insurance costs for homes that have not flooded runs about the cost of a two day weekend stay in Galveston.

3. Many homeowners have found out that the water level showing on the walls is lower than the actual flood level in the home. Moisture readers that detect whether water is present in sheetrock or wood cost upward from $36.00. Everyone should own a meter so that they can determine mold risk for themselves.

4. Hurricane Harvey pointed out that a home does not have to flood to cause problems for the owner. If the subdivision floods and your home is on a hill high and dry. Guess what. The electricity will be turned off because the flooded homes are fire risks. The streets may have two or more feet of water in them for days. You are going to have to wade through the water like everyone who flooded and seek shelter. Your home has just dropped in value like the homes that flooded because of these factors.

5. The city will finally change building regulations because of flood risks in Houston. There are two groups of people descending on city hall now. One group wants no homes to exist in the flood ways and areas which flood. Their thought is why should taxpayers have to keep paying money for these homes that flood. The other group wants existing home owners to be grandfathered and allowed to make the decision of whether their home has to be raised a personal decision. The easy decision is going to be what happens with homes built in the future. The city will adopt standards for all homes insuring they are built above the flood zones.

6. The Army Core of Engineers, the County, and the City are going to have to work on solving the flooding problems. Another dam will have to be built, rivers, areas behind the dams, and bayous will have to be dredged and deepened. New subdivisions and commercial developments will no longer be allowed to seek variances to keep from building required detention ponds.

Hurricane Harvey pointed out the need for home buyers and sellers to use an experienced realtor. Your Amazon echo or on line website is not going to be able to tell you what really happens during a storm or help arrange for repairs. The website cannot give you advice on how far you can drive on a street before you reach high water and have to park your car and walk.

A realtor will say to a buyer in good conscience I cannot let you buy this house because of the flood risk. A home owner will be given an honest estimation of what their alternatives are so they can make the correct decision when selling a home that flooded.

I like to think that I am first a problem solver, second a social worker, and third a realtor. If I can ever be of help call me at 713-240-2949.

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It was unimaginable. People are calling it “historic” and “unprecedented.” Over a five-day period in late August 2017, Hurricane Harvey dumped 50 inches of water on Houston and its suburbs. An area containing almost half the state’s population was underwater, with no way to evacuate, and no end in sight. Yet in spite of these devastating circumstances, this event gave us the chance to show the world the spirit of Houston..

When the rain let up and people could finally see the extent of the devastation, magic happened. All of the freeways entering and exiting Houston were under water. This water level made it impossible for emergency vehicles to get to the people. With tens of thousands of people stranded, it was up to the people of Houston to rescue their neighbors. Houstonians rose to the challenge, grabbing every type of flotation device they could to get out into the neighborhoods and communities that were flooded to rescue people. In addition to boats, canoes and kayaks, I even saw people floating in kids swimming pools, gathering up their neighbors and getting to dry ground. When possible, those without boats used their own pickups, dump trucks, construction vehicles and high water trucks to rescue people. The TV stations directed rescue efforts, while our mayor encouraged people to keep helping. The sprit of Houston shone in this time.

Soon people started pouring in from surrounding communities. The people of Louisiana were here before the storm was even over, bringing their “Cajun Navy” and the knowledge they gained after Katrina. Having lived through this horror themselves, they vowed to do all they could to prevent the same level of catastrophe here. We thank, once again, the people of Louisiana for their help and quick response.

During this time, I was fighting to prevent flooding in my own house. After securing my home, I jumped in with the rescue efforts. I saw police and emergency vehicles come from around the state and surrounding states, helping the people of my city evacuate. Seeing this first hand changed me in a way I cannot put into words.

Throughout these rescue efforts, there was no chaos, yelling or panic. People patiently waited for rescue, while rescuers banded together with complete strangers and no real leadership to get people out of the water and to dry ground. As a realtor, I had the advantage of knowing what areas were more likely to have high water. This allowed me to help the drivers navigate the flooded communities to get to the people that needed help, without risk. When we found stranded people, they greeted us like relatives with smiles and hugs. These are people who had lost everything, their homes, their possessions, and even their livelihood, yet they greeted us warmly. Once in safety, many of the younger people we rescued jumped right in with the rescue efforts. Rather than looking for a warm place to sleep and a meal, they looked for a way to help.

I also saw Social Media playing a huge role in these rescue efforts. When emergency phone numbers were overwhelmed, families were posting on social media that they were stranded, and we were able to find them. I spoke to one family who tried to call 911 over 50 times, as well as the Coast Guard. Getting no response, they posted on Facebook, and within an hour were rescued. A stranger who happened to have a high water vehicle read their post and got them out. This happened over and over again.

Hurricane Harvey gave Houston the chance to show the world what makes our city great. We are a community with people who love each other, even strangers, and have a strong work ethic. This is the spirit of Houston, and it will get us through the days after Harvey. Houston will continue to be a welcoming, friendly community where you can build the American dream surrounded by people and a community that will support you.

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Volunteering with HIREBA and committees of the Houston Association of REALTORS® serves to remind me that we as REALTORS® can make a difference in people’s lives. I like to think that the number one trait of a good REALTOR® is caring about people. In our society we so often forget it is not about the money we earn in life but the lives we have made better that makes for a meaningful life.

The Houston Independent Real Estate Brokers Association (HIREBA) functions as a learning center designed to further advance the professional development of the already highly-skilled and experienced broker. The group meets twice a month for a breakfast meeting featuring a speaker. Agents have the opportunity to network with industry professionals from leading real estate brokerages while letting them know about our new listings.

At HIREBA we work tirelessly to educate and solve realtor problems while protecting the public from costly government decisions regarding home ownership. Our members and affiliates are the backbone of the Houston Real Estate Community.

Services HIREBA offers it’s members:

• Legal updates
• Houston Market updates
• Multiple Listing Service updates
• Technology news
• Legislative updates
• Governmental updates
• Continuing Education courses
o Legal
o Ethics
o Property Management
o Technology
o Photography
o Computer Fraud

The REALTOR® membership of HIREBA represents more than 118 brokerage firms. Our members represent both residential and commercial specialists, each with an average of more than fifteen years experience in real estate.

Affiliate membership is open to a select number of service providers in mortgage and banking, title insurance, property and errors & omissions insurance and other real estate service fields. Affiliate members keep REALTOR® members updated on changes in their fields and actively participate in HIREBA meetings and events.

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If you really want to showcase your home and wow buyers.   Then you need a 360 Degree Video which allows buyers an online experience that closely resembles the in house experience.   This technology gives the buyer the ability to view the house from every angle.   With a touch of a mouse the buyer can zoom in on any feature such as the cabinets or flooring to see more detail.

This great technology became a must for every seller when matterport servers began supporting 360 degree links for solutions for real estate.   The market for these videos expanded when You Tube began in March 2015 to give support for 360 degree videos.

I use ex IBM geek Carl Lawrence the authorized provider of Tour Factory in the Greater Houston Metro-plex.   Tour Factory uses a multi-media presentation program for Realtors® which consists of you- tube video, virtual tours, 3D matterport presentation, flyers, syndications to multiple portal, drones, and social media.  My favorite features of The Tour Factory Internet Marketing Program is the weekly report to buyers and sellers.    My clients really love getting this report, they also like that their home shows up high in the goggle rankings because of Tour Factory use of you tube video.

Carl takes 3 photos of every image in the home. The first photo is done with normal metering.   The next two photos are done under exposed and over exposed.   These 3 photos are then merged together to come up with an image that replicates what the human eye can see.   A camera cannot match what the human eye can see without this process.   The resulting photo will show windows with views, less shadows, and more uniform colors for the walls.

The main thing is to get people convinced they want to go out and look at the house.   360 degree photography will give you an advantage over other sellers in your neighborhood.   You only get one chance to make a first impression.   Make sure it is with a Houston Realtor® who uses 360° Virtual Tour.

Have a question about a property? Want to learn more about the Greater Houston Area? Ready to tour your favorite homes today? Contact Inner Loop Realtor Bill Edge now.

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The luncheon started with the Robin Williams impersonator delivering a non-stop series of jokes. He managed to make us think Mrs. Doubtfire was in the room with us.   Next up was a Michael Jackson impersonator who literally danced everywhere while putting on clothes and taking them off.   Then the King appeared, probably the finest Elvis impersonator around. The King himself would have been proud to hear him sing some of our favorite Elvis songs. The luncheon ended with Houston’s own version of Dolly Parton. Visualize Dolly Parton being about 5 inches taller and you have an idea of what was coming. A larger than life performance that had the meek running for cover. Dolly was everywhere going from table to table and sitting in men’s and women’s laps.   Dolly had everyone energized with her fun performance.   Finally after two glasses of wine I had to leave.

Most of Houston’s top realtors were there but you would have never known it. Normally we are hiding in corners talking on the phone, or texting messages as we talk with each other.   Not this day, you probably did not see two realtors out of the crowd of 200 using their phones.   What you did see were some realtors dancing in the aisles and doing a pretty good imitation of dancing with the stars. Nobody talked business and everybody left thanked Stewart for providing us with a wonderful floor show. Yes there was a wall with each of the top realtor’s name on a gold star.   On this day the rock star realtor was Stewart Title Company not Inner Loop Houston Realtor Bill Edge.

Have a question about a property? Want to learn more about Houston Real Estate? Ready to tour your favorite homes today? Contact Bill Edge now.

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I take pride in what I wear and drive. I show up in my appointments in a Chevrolet Volt. First impressions are important but so are your values. I drive a Volt because one it is an American Car and two it is electric. I wish I could say this about my clothes also. But most of the American designer clothes I wear are probably made in Asia or Europe.

They do say clothes make the man. The first impression of my clients is important to me. I know that the initial impression I make may be the only memory the prospect has of me. I start by picking a pair of shoes from my 41 different shoes. I read somewhere that people remember your shoes more than what you say. So new trendy shoes are the norm unless I am dealing with baby Boomers. I have reached an age where I feel safe in myself or put another way I am too old to beat up over my clothes choice. So red shoes, multi colored wing tops, blue suede, and everything but black and brown or my staples. For you baby Boomers Allen Edmond black and browns are at the ready. For a shirt it is white, blue, grey, stripped polo shirt with a white collar or the new in color light green. The pants are always solid color with a jacket of solid color. The sports coats are solid color for the most part with a few which have subdued lines.

Houston realtors in my opinion should dress for the area they represent. A New York agent may be expected to wear a black suit in summer. But a realtor living in a southern city should dress appropriate for the climate. That means seer sucker and linen suits in the summer and wool in the winter. For those agents who think custom high dollar suits showcase success. A 1986 study quoted by Market leader said that “conservative and casual clothing styles are more likely to portray a more reliable and self-controlled personality. Dressier clothing on the other hand, conveyed an unfriendly personality and created a sense of unease in other.”

In the end it is not what I wear or what I drive but what I can do for you. Your goals, your needs and your wants or what I care about. And I still have a BMW to drive when the mood hits me.

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