Have questions about real estate? You’re not alone. Whether you’re buying your first home, selling a property, searching for a rental, or working to improve your credit, navigating the process can feel overwhelming without the right information.
Our FAQ section is designed to give you clear, straightforward answers to the most common questions we hear. We’ve organized everything into helpful categories—buying, selling, renting, and credit repair—so you can quickly find the information that matters most to your situation. No matter where you are in your journey, we’re here to help you move forward with confidence.
Buying Questions
The process is different for everyone, but the general flow of a real estate transaction from the buyer’s side includes first getting preapproved by a lender, and then making an offer, working through the option period, having the home appraised, and finally closing.
The ‘option period’ is the period of time, generally 7-10 days after an offer is accepted, that the buyer may inspect the home and decide if they want to process with the transaciton. Typically, a 3rd party inspection company is hired, along with Pest Control, Foundation Experts, and a number of other contractors to know exactly what state of repair the home is in.
All listing distributions such as Zillow, Trulia, and even our own website pull home listings from the South Texas Multiple Listing Service. All property data is the same accross all platforms.
This depends on a number of different factors, including time it takes for the Buying to be fully approved for their home loan, how long various parts of the process takes, such as the option period and whether extensions arre afforded, and when actual agreed upon closing date was on the contract between the buyer and seller. Generally 30-45 days is how long the process takes from an accepted off to closing day if everything goes smoothly.
Selling Questions
When selling a home you must be sure that your home presents itself in the best possible light. Making sure clutter is at a minimum, freshly painting rooms, installing new carpeting, or ensuring odors are non-existent are just a handful of things that should be done before listing your home for sale.
The list price is the price a home is currently listed for sale at. The sale price is the price a home was sold at. A top Realtor should be able to suggest a list price that ends up being very close to the final sale price. Though markets vary at different times of year, we aim for the final sale price to be within 5% of the list price that’s being offered on.
When selling a home, it’s important you disclose to potential buyers anything you are aware of in your home. If you’re aware of defects with a roof, appliance, or home in general, you’re always going to be better off being honest and upfront. If you’re aware of defects, whenever possible, fixing them before going on the market is best. This can avoid potential issues and/or lawsuits once your home is under contract, after inspections, and even years after you have sold your home.
There are a handful of methods that Realtors use to determine the value of a home. The most common method to determining the value of a home is by completing a comparative market analysis. A comparative market analysis is an in-depth evaluation of recently sold “comparable” homes in the past 6-12 months.
Renting Questions
A standard application w/ application fee(determined by the owner) is all you need to get started. Your Gomez Properties Agent has all of the forms necessary to get you going in the right direction
Typically, you would not pay Gomez Properties to help you find a Rental. We’re paid by the lease management company to connect you with the rental.
This is entirely dependent on the home owner or company you’re leasing from, on a home to home basis. Your Gomez Properties agent can help you find out whether a particular rental is pet friendly or not.
The majority of our leases on the market are for one year or longer. Sometimes, we may be able to ask for a shorter lease, depending on the homeowner and current market
Mortgage Questions
Any standard Mortgage Calculator can give you a rough estimate of your price range, based on how much down-payment you’re willing to put down, interst rates, and other basic factors. Our Preferred lenders can give you a more rounded estimate of how home you can afford based on your financial situation.
Between the time you’re getting pre-qualified, to the time that you’re closed on your home and have you new keys, you should not open up any new lines of credit, or close old ones. Notorious ways to get denied an approval at the last minute are to purchase a new car, or finance furniture weeks before the prospective move-in. Refrain from this.
Income ratio: Your total monthly housing expense divided by your pre-tax monthly income. Debt ratio: Your total monthly housing expense plus any recurring debts, i.e., car payments, monthly minimum credit card payments, and other loan payments, divided by your monthly income.Standard loan underwriting guidelines suggest a max 28 percent income ratio and 36 percent debt ratio, which may vary based on personal finances, loan program, and down payment.
There are a number of ways you may qualify for a home if you have bad credit, but you may be expected to put down a heftier down payment and be given less option when it comes to your loan type. Having good credit makes the process considerably easier.
Credit Repair Questions
Generally speaking, there are five tiers of credit score. A ‘good’ credit score is anything above 670.
Your credit can be brought down a lot faster than it can be brought up, so it might help to review these things that can hurt your credit: Not paying bills on time, Filing for bankruptcy or foreclosure, Applying for too many credit accounts, Carrying high balances on your credit cards, and Ignoring questionable negative items on your report.
Credit repair is the process of addressing any questionable negative items that could be hurting your credit profile. If the bureaus and your creditors can’t verify these items are fair and accurate, they are required to remove them.
Of course. You just need to contact the bureaus and your creditors to address any errors on your credit. That being said, this process is time consuming and confusing. Working with a reputable credit repair company can help you remove these items from your reports quickly and efficiently.
