SterlingResidential.com | Buying & Selling Residential Properties in Texas | Houses for Rent Houston Area | Humble Atascocita Kingwood & Spring Texas Realtors | Sterling Residential®, Realtors® | Real Estate Broker: Get results with a Realtor®

Weekly Market Conditions

Local Activity Reports

Weekly Market Conditions View local data and download free local reports online.

Get your market information from a local source.

Find Out More

What's Your Home's Value?

Buyer & Seller Resources

Free Report Accurate home pricing in a changing market is critical.


Request a free neighborhood market activity report online.

Find Out More

Houston Metro Links

Local Information

Scenes from Texas Learn about Houston culture and lifestyle

Information about activities, destinations, events, employment, government, community, recreation and more....

Find Out More

Texas Consumer Disclosure

Texas Agency Information

Consumer Information Learn about Texas agency and know who is working for you.

Information about brokerage services

Find Out More

Better Business Bureau

Membership Information

BBB Online Reliability Program Logo Sterling Residential, Realtors

Houston BBB Online Reliability Program Member.

Read the BBB report

Get results with a Realtor®

Posted: 3 January 2006 by John Huval

Realtors® achieve results
Whether buying or selling, many things contribute to a successful real estate closing and nothing contributes more to your purchase or sale than hiring a Realtor®. When you hire a Realtor®, you get professional experience and results that pay off at closing. And that’s why seven of every ten buyers and sellers rely on a Realtor® – to achieve results.

Realtors provide essential service

Results begin with professionalism
In Texas, real estate brokers are licensed by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC), maintaining their licensing status through education and testing. Realtors® go beyond the legal requirements and abide by the National Association of Realtors®’ professional Code of Ethics – a professionalism applied daily on behalf of their clients.

The client’s advocate
A Realtor® performs many duties, but it begins with the advocate’s role. In Texas, when you hire a Realtor®, you hire a fiduciary working on your behalf in an agency relationship. Bound by ethics to treat all parties fairly and honestly, the Realtor® you hire is working for you. As the client, you benefit from the advice and opinions of a professional- experience and knowledge you don’t get when you go it alone.

Realtors® are managers
They manage the calendar, maintain records, and keep communications open. Supervising the process, they keep everyone informed of schedules and deadlines. Your Realtor® is working the clock daily, whether scheduling appointments, coordinating meetings, talking to brokers, fielding questions, or troubleshooting problems. Rest assured, your Realtor® is managing the process towards a smooth closing.

Realtors® are negotiators
Negotiations involve more than price, and your Realtor® knows the various terms and conditions to consider when writing or responding to an offer. They understand the give and take of negotiations and are looking for agreement between the parties on terms acceptable to each side. Having an objective intermediary working on your behalf makes good sense at this critical time. When it comes to negotiations, you can count on your Realtor® to keep the deal moving forward.

Realtors® are consultants
Working with a Realtor® gives you access to critical market value information and the experience to analyze your pricing strategy. Beyond price, Realtors® consult with you about negotiations, inspections, repairs, financing, contracts, and more. Whether determining an offering price, or analyzing the latest counter-offer, working with a Realtor® gives you the security of having someone looking out for you.

Realtors® are networkers
While the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is the most visible part of the market, a real estate sale involves much more than the MLS. Local Realtors® associations are networked communities sharing information to increase market effectiveness. Realtors® are employing new technologies to distribute MLS listing information, including websites, online communities, and wireless devices – bringing information about homes to an ever broader market. Whether employing the latest internet or wireless technologies or attending networking events, Realtors® are the most effective conduit for market information.

Realtors® are facilitators
In today’s market, most sales involve two cooperating brokers bringing buyers and sellers together. Cooperation with other brokers is essential, and most agents facilitate the process by offering compensation to brokers bringing you an offer from a ready, willing, and able buyer. It’s the cooperation between Realtors® that makes it possible for consumers to buy and sell homes in the broadest market possible.

Realtors® are your partners
And finally, Realtors® are invested in the purchase or sale of your home, working with you at every step. Whether managing the calendar, negotiating offers, analyzing market trends, suggesting repairs or improvements, reviewing closing documents, or troubleshooting problems, Realtors® are on the job. And that’s the true value of a Realtor®: the peace of mind you get from an experienced professional working for you.

Back to top

Latest Blog Postings

Why should I pay asking price if the housing market has dropped 15%

Today’s Houston real estate asking prices are derived from local market conditions based on comparable sales prices paid by home buyers in a particular neighborhood. Despite recent sales volume declines, prices are holding steady across Houston. While that may not be true for all Houston area neighborhoods, there hasn’t been an overall 15% drop in Houston home values. The housing supply is growing — tending to favor home buyers — but it hasn’t increased enough to force home sellers into large double-digit price reductions.

Read Full Entry

Do Realtors share blame for mortgage mess?

A Houston Chronicle Real Estate discussion posted a few weeks ago asked if Realtors share blame for the mortgage crisis unwinding across the country. Citing dual-licensed Realtors (those holding real estate and mortgage brokers licenses) as part of the problem, some forum participants pointed to the potential conflict of interest between real estate and mortgage brokerage as a reason for the mortgage crisis, while others stated that dual-licensed Realtors couldn’t adequately perform both jobs as agent and mortgage broker. Both could be valid points — yet, the number of Realtors holding a both a real estate and mortgage license isn’t large enough to have contributed to the mortgage crisis in a significant way.

Read Full Entry Compass Point Blog

Houston Market Conditions

Buyer & Seller Resources

June 2008: Houston median house price buoyant despite slower sales

While most housing market indicators have been tracking negative for months, Houston’s median home price for existing single-family housing is positively buoyant despite steady declines in sale volumes in recent months — the median price increased 1.5% in June 2008 when compared to last year. Houston’s residential real estate housing market sales were lower again in June 2008 with a year-to-year sales decline of 15.1% — the slowest June sales volume since 2004. Nationally, sales were down 15.5%. Sales declines were across most property and price classes with the single largest declines in homes priced between $80,000 and $200,000. Pending sales were down over 20% indicating that sales declines will continue. Inventory supply and DOM are up almost 10% in year-to-year comparisons.

Read Full Entry Find out more