Why Choose Brazos Valley?

Sometimes you move because you need a change of scene. You need to get out of the rat race. You feel too crowded in the same place and need to stretch your legs, physically and figuratively. Whether you just graduated school or you just retired or any life chapter in between, changing your location can give you a new perspective and breath of fresh air.

Brazos Valley is an excellent choice when you need a change of scene, whether it be the cities of Bryan and College Station or the quieter, outlying areas. Here are a few reasons to choose Brazos Valley for your next move:

More Space and Privacy

In Texas, wide open space is important, and you can certainly find that in Brazos Valley.  Properties tend to be wider, and you can even buy land in the outlying areas. Brazos Valley is the kind of place where you can look out at the stars from your porch on a clear night...and see more of them than you might in a heavier populated area. If you want a place to stretch your legs and experience some peace and quiet, Brazos Valley should certainly be a contender, especially the outlying Brazos Valley.

But Not Without City Amenities

That’s not to say that Brazos Valley is all fields and open space. Brazos Valley is centered around Brazos County, and in particular, Bryan-College Station. College Station is home to Texas A&M University and, by extension, the Aggie sports program. In the city, you can find a variety of excellent restaurants and bars, shops, communities, festivals, and activities for the whole family to enjoy. Downtown Bryan is full of colorful independent businesses. On the First Friday of every month, these businesses stay open later and you can enjoy live music and art while you shop.

It’s a Great Place to Raise a Family

By and large, residents of College Station and the outlying Brazos Valley would describe their community as “friendly.” It’s not so small that everyone knows everyone and you can’t get a moment’s peace, but neighbors smile and wave at each other and the community is very welcoming of newcomers. There are a number of great parks in Brazos Valley, as well as schools, from preschool to university. It’s sunny throughout most of the year, and a safe place to live.

Could Brazos Valley be the right place for you to have your change of scenery? It depends in large part on your realtor. An experienced realtor who has personally lived in Brazos Valley will do more than help you get the best deal on the house of your dreams. She’ll be able to tell you about all the best neighborhoods in the area, both within Bryan-College Station and without. She can direct you to the schools, parks, or places to buy enough land to stretch out. She’ll be an expert on the local market trends and be able to help you understand how they can work for you. If you’re moving to Brazos Valley for the first time, don’t go through it alone. Talk to a local realtor to help you make the most of your move.

House for Sale in College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley! Sarah Miller, Associate RE/MAX BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3030 University Dr East Ste 100, College Station, TX 77845 License #: 500065

What Will College Station Look Like in 10 Years?

College Station is the 18th fastest growing city in the country today and the 3rd fastest growing city in Texas. To the people who live here, it’s not hard to imagine why. This is a friendly, diverse city which combines the small town feel of familiarity with your neighbors and city accommodations and nightlife. Whether you’re a student, a family, or a retiree, College Station has a place for you, and people all over the country have noticed.

So it would follow that the city may experience some continued growth over the next ten years. What can we expect?

Population

As of 2016, the population of College Station was 112,141. When combined with Bryan, as the two cities are often combined, the population is nearly 200,000. In fact, in 2016, the city of College Station experienced a 2-3% growth rate, so quickly that the infrastructure almost wasn’t able to keep up. This, while challenging, is not uncommon for a college city with a well-loved college athletics program. Students move to College Station for their education and many fall in love with the laid back, fun city while here and decide to put down roots. As the infrastructure adjusts to accommodate the population, though, we can see College Station making room to become a larger city.

Business

With this added population comes added business and industry. Already, many businesses are in development and expected to open in downtown College Station in 2018. Some are new restaurants and bars while others are large office buildings. With young professionals graduating from college and the friendly atmosphere of College Station, we can easily predict a number of new small businesses opening in the next ten years, but College Station’s growth may even attract some of the bigger names to the city, or to expand their already existing presence there. There may be more recreational businesses, focusing on things like art, literature, or theatre cropping up in addition to the day-to-day businesses, and of course, sports related businesses will always be welcome in Aggieland.

Housing

New housing developments are on their way, too, and of course, the real estate market is sure to undergo some changes in the next ten years. Houses are popping up all over College Station, Bryan, and even in the outer Brazos Valley. For buyers, the housing market has become quite competitive and sellers have had their pick in these recent times of growth. But the growth in population will allow large housing developments to start to form, which is great for the real estate and residential construction industries and will provide more options for newcomers to College Station.

College Station is booming, but we still have room for more! It’s a great time to live here or even start a business here. But in this competitive housing market, it helps to have a trusted realtor who knows the area to help you find the right home. It will be exciting to see what the city might look like in ten years. Come see for yourself!

Home For Sale in Bryan-College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley! Sarah Miller, Associate RE/MAX BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3030 University Dr East Ste 100, College Station, TX 77845 License #: 500065

What Should You Look For in a Real Estate Agent

As we’ve said before, it helps to have a realtor on your side when buying a home in College Station, or even selling your College Station home. When buying a home, a realtor can show you the best neighborhoods and available listings for your needs and your budget. A listing agent can help you get an idea of the current market and get your house into shape and negotiate the best deal with the buyers. But how do you find the right real estate agent? It’s a good idea to do a short interview with potential agents before you settle on one. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you search:

How Long Have They Been in Business?

Look, everyone has to start somewhere, and this is not to say that a realtor with a year of experience can’t be very good at what they do. But experience helps. The longer a realtor has been in business, the better handle they have on the real estate trends and the better insight they have into the needs of buyers and sellers. There are certain things that are gained with experience, so if you’re looking for an expert, choose someone with at least five years of experience.

How Long Have They Been in the Area?

Knowing the area in which you work is essential for realtors. They need to know not just the market prices and statistics for each neighborhood, but what each neighborhood has to offer. What is it like to live there? Are the properties there better suited for raising a family or for a young professional? How far away is the neighborhood from restaurants, schools, and nightlife? These are questions that are best answered by someone who knows the area well because they’ve lived there themselves for some time. A real estate agent who knows and loves their city will be better be able to help new residents find their place in it.

What Do Their Previous Customers Think?

This is a question that’s best posed not to the realtor themselves but to search engines and review sites. Before you make a decision, take a look at how previous customers rated their satisfaction with this realtor. Did they find their dream home, or were they boxed into settling for something far from it. Did they charge too much when helping a previous customer sell their home or not do enough to promote the property? A good real estate agent knows that keeping a good rapport with their customers is essential because they get much of their business through word of mouth. Make sure that the word about the real estate agent you’re looking into is a good one.

Finding the right realtor is not a decision that should be made lightly. Buying or selling a home can be a stressful process, and if you choose the wrong realtor, you may find yourself even more stressed. The right realtor, with years of experience in Brazos Valley, will make the experience much more smooth and help you off to the next chapter of your life.

Home For Sale in Bryan-College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley! Sarah Miller, Associate RE/MAX BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3030 University Dr East Ste 100, College Station, TX 77845 License #: 500065

5 Important Steps to Take When Selling Your Home

Wouldn’t it be nice if when you were ready to move, you could just move and not have to worry about the fuss and hassle of selling your home? Unfortunately, that’s not reality. Selling your home is a hectic, complicated process, but while it’s easy to overlook certain details, those little details are what could hurt your chances of a good sale in the long run. The next time you find yourself putting your house on the market, make sure you check off all these steps in order to make the process run more smoothly.

Boost Your Curb Appeal

You might not have done much with your yard when you lived in your home, and that was fine. You’re not a gardner. But the next people who live there might be. When moving, it’s important to boost your curb appeal so you can make a good impression on potential buyers before they even set foot inside. A nice flower bed or a new coat of paint on the exterior of the home could make all the difference, and it could even help you raise the asking price. Of course, it’s no good to have a beautiful exterior while the interior is falling apart, so make sure to make any updates needed for the interior as well.

Research the Current Market

The market has almost certainly changed since you bought your house, but you might not have had cause to look at it again until now. Do you know whether it’s a buyer’s or seller’s market? What do other houses in your neighborhood typically go for? If you set an asking price that’s too high or too low, you may turn the right buyers away, and while you can change your asking price, it’s best to get it right the first time. Do a little research to figure out a reasonable number based on your house and similar houses in the neighborhood.

Hire a Real Estate Agent

Opinions differ as to whether or not you need to hire a real estate agent when selling your home. Sure, there’s no law that says you have to and some sellers prefer to handle it on their own, but this will certainly make your life easier. Your real estate agent will already know the market trends, will post your home to all the right real estate apps, and will negotiate with the buyer’s agent to get the best price for your home. It just makes the process easier and you’ll need as much of that as you can get when selling your home.

Take Lots of Pictures

Get your home in the best shape it can be for the staging, and then take pictures that show it in the best light. These pictures should be well-lit and professional, something that will immediately attract the attention of buyers when they search for listings online. You might even hire a crew to film a virtual tour of your home. Most buyers start their search online, and virtual tours are a great way to help them feel connected to the house before they even move in.

Remove Personal Details When Staging

First of all, if you have any pets, time to move them out of the house, along with their toys, food bowls, and certainly their dander. Family photos and posters in the kids’ rooms should come down, too. The goal of a home staging is to make it so that the buyer can see themselves living there. That’s difficult to do if the house is still specific to your family. It should look appealing, but also a bit like a blank slate. Like anyone could live there.

Next, just open your house and watch the potential buyers be wowed. Your real estate agent will take care of much of the marketing as well as the negotiations, which leaves you more time to focus on your big move. 

House for Sale in College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley! Sarah Miller, Associate RE/MAX BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3030 University Dr East Ste 100, College Station, TX 77845 License #: 500065

3 Mistakes People Make in Buying a New Home

Buying a new home can be exciting, but if you also feel intimidated by the prospect, that’s because...well, it is intimidating. Buying a new house isn’t cheap, and then you have to live there for at least several years. It’s important to make the right choice, or you could quickly come to regret it. In fact, a sense of trepidation when it comes to buying a new house is probably healthy. It forces you to be cautious. But not everyone is cautious when buying a new home, and many mistakes can be made. Here are a few common pitfalls to avoid when searching for your dream home.

Unrealistic Budget

Have you ever laughed at people on real estate shows who have a long list of things they “need” in their home and a relatively small budget? Unfortunately, this problem is more common that you might think. Of course everyone wants to work within close distance to work, near the heart of town, and in a great neighborhood. Of course everyone would like to have enough rooms for everyone in the house to have their own and then a spare room for guests, and no one wants to have to share a bathroom. But the question is, can you afford that? And that’s not something that every buyer knows. That’s why it’s a good idea to look at listings months before you start to move so that you have an idea of what you can afford. Your real estate agent can help present a realistic image of what you’d need to pay for what you need, as well.

Waiting Until They Go to Sign Before Getting Pre-Approved

Many homeowners get their mortgage pre-qualified before going on the house hunt to give themselves an idea of what they can afford. But they then wait to get pre-approved until it’s time to sign on the house of their dreams. This can cause some problems, because pre-qualification only tells you the kind of mortgages you may be eligible for, while pre-approval gives you an in-depth estimate of the budget you can expect. If you’re already attached to your dream home, only to find out you can’t afford it, it can be devastating. It’s a good idea to get pre-approved before you make any decisions, even emotional ones.

Trying to Go It Alone

Many people searching for a new home will choose to save money by not hiring a realtor. Not only does this put them in for more work than they might have expected—thorough research of the market and negotiations with the homeowner or listing agent—but it makes it much easier for them to be taken advantage of. A real estate agent, like any other agent, is someone to have in your corner to make sure that you find your dream home for the best deal. You can tell them what you want and they can tell you where in the city you can expect to find all of that within your budget. A real estate agent can also advise you if your budget needs to be bigger or your wish list needs to be smaller. A realtor will make the entire process much easier, and, well, foolproof.

Make sure you know what you’re getting into when you search for your first home. After all, you want to ensure that you really love the place where you’ll live for years to come and that the mortgage payments won’t choke your bank account. A professional realtor who is an expert in College Station and the Brazos Valley area can help ensure that you find the right house, without the regrets. 

House For Sale in College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley! Sarah Miller, Associate RE/MAX BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3030 University Dr East Ste 100, College Station, TX 77845 License #: 500065

3 Best Winter Activities in College Station

One of the best things about living in College Station is that while it offers the friendly, laid back atmosphere of a small town, it’s also a college city with plenty of activities to enjoy. Throughout the year, there are fun events like live music, museum exhibits, sports, and shopping excursions. In January, Santa’s Wonderland and Christmas in the park may be closing, but that doesn’t mean the winter fun is over. Here are just three of the events and activities you can try in College Station this winter.

Spirit Ice Arena

Spirit Ice Arena is open year round, but there’s just something special about going ice skating in winter. There’s public skating as well as figure skating lessons and exhibitions and hockey tournaments for the sports lover. They offer an annual Spirit Sensational Winter Camp where the kids can make friends, do arts and crafts, and learn how to skate. But if you’re not a kid, don’t worry, there are classes for you, too. There’s also a date night every Thursday, so you can enjoy a chilly but romantic evening with your special someone at Spirit Ice Arena.

Vinclusive

On the weekend of January 19th and 20th, you can enjoy a luxurious weekend of wine hosted by College Station’s own winery, Melissa Hof. Vinclusive allows participants to take part in the pruning and blending process...and to bring home the wine that they helped to make. They offer a daytime package, which includes both the pruning and blending workshops and lunch at Vintage House Restaurant, and a luxurious weekend package, with all the perks of the daytime package plus a 2 night stay at The Villa Bed and Breakfast, gourmet breakfast, and a four course dinner. If you need a brief winter vacation without leaving home, whether for you and someone special or just yourself, Vinclusive is a great option to keep in mind.

TAMU Basketball

Aggieland football season might end in January, but basketball season is still going strong. From January through March, come to the Reed Arena to support Texas A&M’s men’s and women’s basketball teams as they go up against rivals like Ole Miss, Alabama, and Texas. This year, the men’s basketball team reached the top 10 of Associated Press’s Top 25 poll of college basketball teams, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. The women’s basketball team is going strong themselves, but there’s still much more of the season to come. Will Anriel Howard break the Texas A&M career record of 19 double-doubles (which she’s already tied with Danielle Grant and Kelsey Bone). Will the men’s team keep their ranking, or even rise higher before the end of the season? This winter, you can be there to find out.

If you’re moving to College Station this winter, we’re happy to have you here. These are just a few of the activities you can enjoy in the winter months here, along with our terrific restaurants, parks, and museums. For more information about winter activities going on in town, talk to your local real estate agent. She’s an expert when it comes to College Station and Brazos Valley. She can help you find the best goings-on this winter...and the properties closest to them. 

House For Sale in College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley!

3 Things to Know About Buying Land

Sometimes living in the city can be a little too much, and you need to get away. Maybe you have a dream of building your own home on your own land, or you want to start a farm. Maybe you’re just particularly outdoorsy and the idea of having multiple acres in which to sprawl out appeals to you. However, the decision to buy land should not be made lightly. It’s not all sunshine and green grass, and there are some things to consider before you sell your apartment in the city and buy a few acres of land in the country. But if you’re prepared for everything that comes with it, buying land can be incredibly rewarding.

The Further You Get from the City, the Cheaper Land Will Be

Real estate is always at its most expensive in the heart of the city, so it’s common sense that the further you move from the city, the more affordable real estate will become. This goes for land. While buying land and building your own home will probably be more expensive than buying an existing home, land purchased well into the country will be considerably more affordable than land purchased right outside of the next city. However, this distance brings with it expenses of its own, like commuting costs to work or school that may make up the difference.

Take All Expenses Into Account

There are the obvious expenses to buying land: the cost of the land itself and building supplies for the new home. Then there are the expenses that creep up on you after you’ve already settled into the land. Commuting costs will almost certainly go up if you have business in the city or kids that need to be taken to and from school. And the more land you have, the more maintenance will cost to keep it in good shape. Property taxes will vary, of course. All of this should be taken into account when you start to budget and save for your land purchase.

With Land, You’re In it for the Long Haul

Many homeowners enjoy buying a house, flipping it, and selling it again to get a return on investment (ROI). This is easy enough to do in the city suburbs, but it’s not a very realistic goal to have when buying land. You can profit from being a landowner, but it takes a much longer time to do so, sometimes as long as 10 or 20 years. Especially if the land is vacant, you have to consider how long it will take you to get through all of the paperwork and approval to build property. If you’re buying land, you should be interested in living there for some time. This is why it’s convenient if you’re considering going into farming, or creating a family home...but not so convenient if you think you might be moving out of state in a few years.

Brazos Valley is an excellent place to buy land. There’s a wide variety of beautiful acres to choose from, and it’s within close enough distance to cities like Houston and College Station that you’ll be comfortably secluded without being cut off. Before you buy land, make sure you’re prepared for all the benefits and challenges that come with it. Talk to your local realtor to help you know what to expect. 

Lot For Sale in College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley!