Real Estate Questions, Answered by TheKabza.com

Since August 2024, offers of buyer-broker compensation are no longer published in the MLS, and buyers sign a written representation agreement stating their agent's fee before touring a home. Compensation is negotiable and can still be paid by the seller as a concession, by the buyer directly, or split between them, but it is now negotiated in the contract rather than assumed from a listing. We quote our number before you tour.

It names your agent, the geography and property type covered, the term, the fee, and how that fee is credited if a seller offers a concession. It is a written scope, not a life sentence: ours states the cancellation terms in plain language, and we walk every clause with you before you sign. Read the term length and the exclusivity clause carefully in any agreement, ours included. More on buyer representation.

Customary amounts are local rather than legal, commonly around one to three percent of the purchase price in our markets. It is deposited with the title or escrow company, not the seller, and is credited to you at closing. It stays refundable while a contingency you have not waived is still alive, and becomes at risk once inspection, financing or appraisal deadlines pass without written termination. Deadlines govern, so the calendar matters.

No. A paid termination option is a Texas contract feature: you pay a negotiated fee for a set number of days during which you may walk away for any reason. Arizona uses a standard inspection period under its association contract; Florida and Tennessee use inspection contingencies negotiated in the purchase agreement. The protection is similar in effect, but the deadlines, fees and notice requirements differ by state and by contract form.

Your lender lends against the lower of appraised value or contract price, so the gap must be covered in cash, renegotiated with the seller, challenged with additional comparables, or escaped through an appraisal contingency if you kept one. Many competitive offers waive that contingency only up to a stated dollar cap, which limits the exposure. We model the cash consequence of each option before you sign, not after the report lands.

Sometimes. An escalation clause raises your offer by a set increment above a competing bona fide offer, up to a ceiling you choose, and it should require the seller to produce that competing offer. Two cautions: some listing agents will not accept escalating offers at all, and the escalated price still has to appraise or be covered in cash. It is a tool for a genuine multiple-offer situation, not a default.

This is jurisdictional. Texas requires a statutory Seller's Disclosure Notice on most residential resales; Tennessee requires a residential property condition disclosure; Florida case law obliges sellers to disclose known material defects not readily observable; Arizona practice uses the SPDS form. In every market we work, disclosing a known defect in writing costs less than litigating it later. We prepare the form with you and recommend counsel where an item is genuinely unclear.

From signed leases rather than asking prices: rent comparables in the same submarket, realistic vacancy and turn cost, capital reserves, insurance quoted rather than estimated, HOA and management costs, financing, and property taxes at the reassessed post-sale value, which is the most common error in Texas and Arizona pro formas. A short-term rental model also has to clear the municipal permit rules. You get the model with the assumptions open.

Often not on a primary residence. The IRS exclusion covers up to $250,000 of gain for a single filer and $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, generally where you owned and lived in the home two of the previous five years, with conditions and exceptions. Rentals, second homes and depreciation recapture work differently. Read IRS Topic 701, sale of your home and confirm with your CPA; we are not tax advisors.

It depends on price band, condition and local inventory, so you get a written estimate after the valuation walkthrough instead of a headline average. Plan on seven to fourteen days of preparation, photography and pricing before the listing goes live, because presentation costs less than a price reduction. We also order title, survey, HOA resale documents and payoff early, so paperwork does not become the reason a closing slips.

Caps and return deadlines are set by state law and differ across our markets. Arizona limits a deposit to one and a half months' rent and requires return within fourteen business days. Texas and Florida set no statutory cap, with Texas requiring refund and itemization within thirty days of surrender and a forwarding address, and Florida running its own notice-of-claim timetable. We hold deposits in a separate trust account under the current statute.

Pet policies, pet rent and pet deposits are negotiable, but assistance animals are not pets: under the federal Fair Housing Act a reasonable accommodation for a service or support animal is required despite a no-pet policy, and no pet fee applies. Screening criteria must be written, disclosed and applied identically to every applicant, and some cities and states add protected classes such as source of income. See the Fair Housing Act, US Department of Justice.

Tenant screening, lease preparation, rent collection, maintenance coordination against an approval threshold you set, statutory notices, move-in and move-out condition reports with dated photography, periodic interior inspections, renewals, and a monthly owner statement with every scanned invoice plus a year-end tax package. Rent and deposits sit in a dedicated trust account, reconciled monthly. Our plan starts at 8% of collected rent with a thirty-day exit. See residential property management services.

A like-kind exchange of investment real property runs on two clocks that start when the property you sell closes: forty-five days to identify replacement property in writing, and one hundred eighty days to complete the purchase, subject to your tax return due date. A qualified intermediary must be engaged before that first closing. See IRS guidance on like-kind (1031) exchanges; we coordinate, we do not advise on tax.

TheKabza.com is a full-service residential real estate agency headquartered in Austin, Texas, working across Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Phoenix and Scottsdale, Miami and Nashville. We represent buyers, sellers, renters, landlords and investors, and we run property management and investment advisory in house rather than referring them out. We take one side of the table at a time and do not practice dual agency by default; where state law allows an intermediary arrangement, it requires your separate written consent.

Six metros, each with resident agents: Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Phoenix and Scottsdale, Miami and Nashville. The agent who tours a property with you is the agent who negotiates it. If you need a market we do not cover, we will say so and, if you want one, make an introduction with any referral arrangement disclosed to you in writing first. See all six market areas we cover.

Commission is negotiable and is not set by law or by any association. Our published plans start at 1.5% for listing representation and 8% of collected rent for management, but the number that governs is the one written into your agreement in dollars before anything is listed or shown. Buyer-side compensation is stated in your representation agreement. We add no administrative or transaction fees, and no vendor pays us a referral fee without disclosure.

An automated estimate is an algorithm reading public records; it cannot see your renovation, your lot orientation, your HOA rules or deferred maintenance. We deliver a written valuation packet listing the comparable addresses used, their close dates and terms, the adjustments made for condition, view, age and finish, and the comparables we excluded and why. You can drive the street and check it. Request one at home valuation.