Sam Thomas's Blog

Understanding the value of your home is important for a variety of reasons. You may be considering selling your home and want to know how much it is worth in order to set a competitive asking price. You may also be refinancing your mortgage and need to know the value of your home to determine the...

Sometimes you get to know a professional in a business environment by working together with clients, referrals, projects, etc. When you get to work with a professional on a personal basis, stuff gets real. This became especially true when we had a family member pass away and we found out we neede...

You don't have to break the bank to celebrate the holidays in style—even in this season of inflation. Prices may be higher on everything from food to gifts to decorations, but there are still plenty of opportunities to eke out extra savings. For example, according to the U.S. Environmental Protec...

Over the past few years, a real estate buying frenzy bid up home prices to eye-popping amounts. However, as mortgage rates have risen, buyer demand has cooled. 1 Consequently, home sellers who enter the market today may need to reset their expectations.The reality is, it’s no longer enough to sti...

Deciding whether to jump into the housing market or rent instead is rarely an easy decision – especially if you’re a first-time homebuyer. But in today’s whirlwind market, you may find it particularly challenging to pinpoint the best time to start exploring homeownership.   A real estate boom dur...

       Mortgage rates have been on a roller coaster ride this year, rising and falling amid inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty. And even the experts are divided when it comes to predicting where rates are headed next.1This climate has been unsettling for some homebuyers and sellers. ...

             The process of buying a new home can be both exhilarating and exhausting. But the journey doesn’t stop when you close on your property. On the contrary, you still have quite a bit to do before you can begin the process of settling into your new place. Fortunately, you don’t have to d...

     Surrounded by wildlife, beautiful landscapes, mesmerizing sunsets,  numerous parks and campgrounds, Lake Lavon is a 21,400-acre lake in northeast Texas, at McKinney. Four million people visit Lake Lavon every year. The lake is nestled in southeast Collin, County, Texas, on the East Fork of t...

        No matter what’s going on in the housing market, the process of selling a home can be challenging. Some sellers have a hard time saying goodbye to a treasured family residence. Others want to skip ahead to the fun of decorating and settling into a new place. Almost all sellers want to mak...

The last two years caught many of us off guard—and not just because of the pandemic. They also ushered in the hottest housing market on record, with home prices rising nationally by nearly 19% in 2021, driven primarily by low mortgage rates and a major supply shortage.1But while some had hoped 20...