Heating and Cooling Tips

Home Maintenance Tip -

Programmable Thermostats

You can save up to 10% a year on your heating and cooling bills by simply turning your thermostat back 10% to 15% for eight hours. You can do this automatically by installing an automatic setback or programmable thermostat.

Heating and Cooling

Heating and cooling your home drains more energy dollars than any other system in your home. Typically, 43% of your utility bill goes for heating and cooling. What’s more, heating and cooling systems in the United States together emit 150 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, adding to global climate change.

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps are the most efficient form of electric heating in moderate climates, providing three times more heating than the equivalent amount of energy they consume in electricity. There are three types of heat pumps: air-to-air, water source, and ground source.

Air Conditioners

Buying a larger room air-conditioning unit won’t necessarily make you feel more comfortable during the hot summer months. In fact, a room air conditioner that’s too big for the area it is supposed to cool will perform less efficiently and less effectively than a smaller, properly sized unit. Sizing is equally important for central air-conditioning systems, which need to be sized by professionals.

Solar Heating and Cooling

Using passive solar design techniques to heat and cool your home can be both environmentally friendly and cost effective. Passive solar heating techniques include placing larger, insulated windows on south-facing walls and locating thermal mass, such as a concrete slab floor or a heat-absorbing wall, close to the windows.

Excerpted from U.S. Department of Energy.

This is brought to you by your luxury real estate agent Utah Burden.

Investing in Real Estate

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, understands the ebb and flow. “Affordability conditions this year have been the most favorable on record dating back to 1970, but many buyers are being held back because banks are offering financing to only the most highly qualified borrowers, ignoring a large share of otherwise creditworthy buyers,” he said. “Those potential buyers represent the difference between an uneven recovery and a much more robust housing market that could stimulate additional economic activity and create jobs.”

Housing inventory dropped 1.7 percent to 3.65 million existing homes available, representing a 9.4-month supply at today’s current rate of sale.

Investing in Real Estate

Today’s low interest rates and stabilized home prices have created some great investment opportunities!  Investing in real estate has unique advantages over other types of investments:

• Interest in mortgage loans are tax-deductable.  Investors can lower their tax liability while increasing their equity.
• Renters pay down your mortgage loan.  Investors reap the benefits of rental income, which offsets your mortgage cost and build equity.
• Real Estate values increase over the long term.  Real Estate is limited and will always be in demand. 
• 1031 exchanges are available to defer taxable income when you are ready to sell.

Many investors are taking advantage of these great market conditions. Have questions? Give us a call. We are happy to help!

Home Warranties

New Homes come with warranties to protect the buyer in case of the unexpected.  But what about existing homes?  Fortunately, there are a number of companies today who offer warranties on existing homes.  Sellers can now offer their buyers a level of assurance that was previously reserved for new construction, and buyers can buy with confidence!

If you are in the market to buy or sell, ask us about the advantages of a home warranty.  You might be surprised at how much protection is offered for a very reasonable fee.

Should You Buy a Home for Sale in the Woodlands?

Should You Buy a Home for Sale in the Woodlands? 

Are you ready to invest in a new home, but don’t know whether you should build a house or buy a home for sale in the Woodlands? Well, it really isn’t surprising if you can’t make up your mind right now. After all, the economy has taken a turn for the worse within the last few years, with unpaid mortgage payments, foreclosed properties and lenders being forced into foreclosure left and right. 

However, it is now high time for you to consider buying a home for sale in the Woodlands. Since buying a home is a serious matter, though, you will still need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages first. Remember: you shouldn’t invest your money on anything unless you are 100% sure it is actually worth it. 

If you need help making up your mind or choosing the perfect home for sale in the Woodlands for you, then you can simply get some advice from a professional. A lot of lenders and real estate agents will be happy to help you make your decision on this. If you’d prefer, you can also do some research on your own instead. Just go online and look for trends in the residential real estate, or look for any available foreclosed lots or properties in the area. You can also look for articles about building a new house and about houses for sale in the Woodlands, in general. 

If you end up deciding to buy a home, make sure you bring a knowledgeable sales agent with you to inspect the houses that you like before making your decision and signing any documents. Also, make sure you only keep track of up to five houses at a time. If you look at more than that, then you will just have a harder time deciding which one to buy and live in. 

Aside from that, you should also keep an eye out for things in the houses that you might need to repair later on. If you’re lucky, you might get to haggle with the owner, or at least pinpoint something in your buying agreement that will get you a better deal in the end. 

Regardless of whether you choose to build a house or buy a home for sale in the Woodlands, you need to remember that houses will always come with imperfections, though. So, no matter where you choose to live, just be glad that you have your family with you, and you will always have a happy home.

The Value of a Competitive Market Analysis

Find Homes in the Woodlands

                                                        Homes in the Woodlands

The Woodlands has been in existence for many years. It was founded by George Mitchell in 1974. It consists of master planned communities made up of nine villages. These planned communities have a marvelous blend of nature and innovation and having a home here could be the best decision you have ever made in your entire life.  Residential development standards have always been enforced to protect the quality of the neighborhoods and reflect the importance of environment responsibility to the community.

The location of the Woodlands, Texas is Montgomery County twenty five miles north of Houston. One of the most profound places is the Town Centre. Some of the most fabulous complexes are found in the Town Centers, along the Woodlands Waterway. This place is the main venue for social activities and here you will be able to shop, eat and get entertained. At a first glance you will be astonished by the Millennium complex, located in the Town Centre which provides an oasis of peace, comfort and tranquility.

Each of the eight villages has a life of its own. The villages share many facilities like golf courses, schools, churches, shopping malls and playgrounds.  Carlton Woods Creekside Park is one of the most prestigious villages in Woodland. It has a wide variety of home styles and price ranges which most people can afford. Some of the activities you could get involved in here include canoeing, hiking and kayaking.

The Woodlands has a great mix of people of different races, religions and cultures. The most exciting thing about this place is that everyone is friendly. You can see families walking or riding bicycles together on the wooded paths, fishing in the neighborhood or playing basketball and tennis. This builds the community spirit and helps to foster good and healthy relationships.

Whether you want to buy or lease a house in Woodland, you will definitely find the best.  You will get different types of houses which you can choose from. On 10^th Shearling Court Woodland Creekside Park, for example, you will find modern mansions. These vary from 5 bedroom mansions to 4 bathrooms and several car garages. Other attractive features could include an oversized outdoor living space with summer kitchen and covered patio designed to make you feel comfortable. 

On 39^th Gauntlet Drive, Woodland player trail, you will find various villas with different features. There are stunning Mediterranean villas with tiled front porches, towering 11 ft ceilings with oversized family rooms and a huge walk in pantries. For complete relaxation, you can unwind in the master suite after a long day or relax on your private covered patio. They also have 3 bedrooms plus a study and formal dining room.

The vast variety of homes that Woodland has to offer guarantees you to have the best time of your life should you choose to live here. With good schools nearby, the education of your young ones is well taken care of. For comprehensive information on the homes in the Woodlands, contact an experienced agent in the area.

The Woodlands Carlton Woods Homes

The Woodlands Carlton Woods Homes – Where to Find Help When Buying Luxury

Real estate transactions, in general, are highly complicated processes of business in today’s day and age. So, people who are not completely devoted to it might not have the tools that they need to successfully conclude a prifitible transaction in buying or selling homes. If you are looking for somebody to help you buy the Woodlands Carlton Woods homes, then here are some tools that this realtor will need to have.

Experience and Knowledge

First and foremost, buying or selling real estate is not the same as buying or selling shoes. Trained and professional agents happen to know every single requirement needed in making transactions legal to the communities of business and law. Finding a great one who will do everything for you is sure to be worth the money. In fact, you might end up saving more money by having a good Realtor by your side.

Having a professional with you from the Woodlands itself when looking at the Woodlands Carlton Woods homes will help even more because he would know the properties there better than other agents. So, instead of wasting time browsing the World Wide Web and looking through newspaper ads, simply look for efficient agents in the locality right away and you will end up with a list perfect for your requirements in mere minutes, no doubt about it.

By going through this route, you will end with lots of energy and time left to focus on comparing the Woodlands Carlton Woods homes and studying them.

Price Awareness

The prices of real estate tend to change on a regular basis. So, whatever you might have researched last month might no longer be applicable today. Since professional agents are aware of how prices work, they will have updated listings on-hand for you to look at when you pay them a visit. You can be sure that the professionals are highly efficient if their listings are the most up-to-date. Also, prior to actually going on with any transaction, they should double-check any sources to find out whether the prices still stand anyway.

Scam Protection

If you do not have enough real estate exposure, you might end up getting used by unscrupulous agents, brokers and sellers. Since professional real estate investors know about leading developments around to get the best profits possible, you should find yourself one and help yourself out. Yes, hiring a great real estate agent would be the only answer in getting what you want out of the Woodlands Carlton Woods homes. Do the smart thing.

Homes for Sale in the Woodlands Texas

Homes for Sale in the Woodlands Texas

Are you looking for homes for sale in the Woodlands Texas ? If so, you might come across several tough decisions in the process as finding the ideal home in general can be quite overwhelming. Fortunately, the existence of the World Wide Web has now made things much easier as you can look for your dream home in the Woodlands without even leaving your current “home”.

First and foremost, you need to establish a budget, with which various online tools now exist to help you with your necessary calculations. Now, when making your personal budget, you will also need to do research on local utility expenses and other costs that a new home might potentially incur – remember that.

Next, you need to look for homes for sale in the Woodlands Texas; you can do this by looking at several neighborhoods, points of interest, and major roadways. Then, use the Internet to navigate through the available homes for sale in the Woodlands Texas in today’s market based on how many rooms they have, what the layout and features are like, and other factors you deem important. All you have to do is input certain keywords regarding prices, home types, and locations within your search engine of choice to get the information that you need. It is also possible to do research on certain neighborhoods, if you wish, as well as find information on public services and schools, and other essential information on each area.

After finding several homes for sale in the Woodlands Texas that meet your personal desires, you can get an appraiser to evaluate your house of choice and look at it for you. You can hire companies of real estate on the Internet to deal with your entire home-buying procedure actually, and to make sure that everything else runs smoothly, as well.

Regardless of where you may currently be living, using the World Wide Web to find homes for sale in the Woodlands Texas will not be a hard task. As a matter of fact, the entire procedure is easy to do from work or from home and many real estate firms online will even be more than willing to do all the work for you, provided you tell them what you are searching for. So lay back and relax and find your dream home with ease today.

How to Find Great Homes for Sale in the Woodlands

When you are house-hunting with kids in the ever-changing landscape of the real estate world of homes for sale in the Woodlands, comfort and security should always take precedence over other aspects, such as a big backyard or modern amenities like dishwashers and microwaves. What should be far more important is the neighborhood your children will be growing up in and the services that are nearby, most importantly the schools.

All of this can be extremely stressful for most parents, but this article will help to alleviate your stress and give you a good starting point from which to start looking for homes for sale in the Woodlands.

1. Start at the bottom. The most important thing for your child is the school that they attend; your house should always be within the schools area. Keep in mind that your children’s education will have a significant effect on their future, which means that it would be best for you to pick the schools you’re interested in and then aim to find homes for sale in the Woodlands near that area.

2. Tour the grounds. Before you commit to the school you’ve picked, it’s always a good idea to have a look around the campus of the prospective schools. Taking your child along will also give them an idea of which school they would like to go to and often enough, the deciding factor that determines which house you pick is based on which school you pick.

3. The area. It’s always a good idea to get a feel for the area before you move in. Take a weekend to go look around the areas that you’re interested in and get a hands on feel for the area. Pay attention to cleanliness, the state of the buildings, and the types of homes you’ll be near, is everything neat and tidy? All of these factors will help keep your houses value up.

Learning the area where your child could be growing up is of crucial importance, so take a wander through on a school afternoon to see the environment your child will be living in, as well. Are there other kids playing in driveways that could be potential friends for your child? And last but not least, make it a point to come back at night; this will help you to get a truer feel for the neighborhood. Is it full of loud parties, hooligans and drugs? Does there seem to be an inordinate amount of activity going on, with people walking the streets, or loitering on street corners? Or is it a quiet peaceful area where you can raise your child in peace?

Despite your stringent screening process, (which is entirely necessary) there will still be an abundance of homes for sale in the Woodlands within your price range. At this point, it all comes down to personal preference. Review all the information you’ve gathered in order to decide which neighborhood is best to raise a child in. After all, your child’s happiness – and your own – are paramount to create a happy home.

The Woodlands Texas Luxury Home Market

From Mega Agent to Broker—always dedicated to her career and clients

Jutta “Utah” Burden

From Mega Agent to Broker—always dedicated to her career and clients 

by pamela hammonds 

You might not remember when The Woodlands was considered “country,” but when Jutta (pronounced Utah) Burden moved with her husband to the area over 30 years ago, that’s exactly what it resembled. “I couldn’t believe he was moving me out there,” she said, laughing. 

But change is exactly what motivates Jutta. She moved to America from Germany in 1966 and left behind her homeland and family. Fully embracing her new home, she went on to run a successful travel agency in The Woodlands, with three area locations. 

Twelve years ago she parlayed her love of The Woodlands—its homes, families, amenities, shopping—into a second successful career as a real estate agent. Today, as a broker associate of Keller Williams, she has taken the extra step to learn as much as she can about the industry. “I wanted to be the best, to distinguish myself in this business, so I could best serve my clients,” she said. “My business is centered on service, service, service.” 

Jutta holds many achievements and designations, including prestigious membership in The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. “But I’m just as happy selling first-time homeowners their houses as I am selling a multi-million dollar property,” Jutta said. 

If you’re looking for that perfect home to call your own, your first call should be to Jutta. She’s not just a sales agent, but a broker associate with industry knowledge to best serve you. 

Call: 832-482-2047 or 713-515-7847

UtahBurden.com

Keller Williams  Broker Associate

1401 Woodlands Parkway The Woodlands, Texas 77380