Apex Properties Blog and News:

Happy New Year! I hope you had some amazing holidays with friends and family.

HAR has published the initial report for month end December. What a year it was! We definitely saw a huge uptick/recovery from 2024 with overall transaction count up significantly in 2025.

In December, average values stayed absolutely stable compared to the same month last year. This is an interesting data point considering total active listings are up nearly 20% year over year.

With this level of inventory, it is CRITICAL to make sure your Real Estate agent is helping you make sure your house stands out above the competition.

Apex Properties Group closed out the year with 143 buying, selling, and leasing transactions on behalf of 111 wonderful clients.

If you have a goal to sell your home and/or buy a new one in 2026, I encourage you to call me as early as possible, and I will help you make a game plan.

I will help you prepare your home to achieve the highest possible price, and make the journey to the finish line as smooth as it can be!

Every few months, something happens to me that fully illustrates a Real Estate lesson worth sharing.

I am so angry there are people calling themselves "Real Estate Professionals," who advise people so poorly, or not at all.

My hope is that if I can help ONE OF YOU not go down a bad road, then this short story is worth it.

I went to a listing appointment somewhere in West Houston pretty recently.

The couple's home had previously been for sale for over 6 months and it wasn't going the way they hoped.

They had selected a family friend as a Realtor and clearly didn't check the track record.

They were frustrated by the lack of work ethic and effort on the part of the agent.

So they made a plan to interview FIVE new agents, to make sure they didn't make the same mistake again.

I met them at the house to show them what we would do to get the home sold.

I brought my pre-listing walk through checklist to make notes and help them get the house ready.

I show up to the house 5 minutes before go time.

All the grass is dead / dying.

Huge tree roots are snaking over the front yard.

The front brick above the garage is covered in green mildew.

There are 2 massive wasp nests in the covered porch ceiling.

The driveway and front walkway are in desperate need of a powerwash.

Front door is totally beat up and needs to be refinished.

They answer the door.

The smell of cat piss hits me like a brick to the face. About 5 minutes into the walkthrough, I carefully and kindly recommended a deep cleaning once the cats had been removed and they asked me, sincerely, "You can smell cat pee?"

One of the kitchen cabinet doors was hanging off a hinge looking broken....

The entire upstairs carpet was over 20 years old...and likely a huge source of the cat pee odor.

You get the idea.

I'm going to spare you...but the rest of the walkthrough went like that, every single place I went in this house...something to stop a buyer from wanting to own it.

It was like they designed a buyer experience to ensure they never sell.

They told me their previous agent said not to do anything and it would be an easy sale. 2 weeks tops to get a buyer.

That was in early 2025.

They proceed to tell me they don't want to do anything to the house now because after getting a piece of feedback a few months ago that the house was "too dark" they spent $9,000 to have the house repainted white inside.

Get this. They painted all the walls stark white.

The original ceiling color was a creamy off white.... that now looks like a sea of YELLOW.

It is WILD to me how people will spend a bunch of money on something that doesn't solve anything at all...in fact sometimes it creates yet another problem. For example....if they had painted the walls with accessible beige or agreeable gray...the ceiling would actually still look white. Now...a buyer is going to think they need to paint every ceiling surface in the house....because it looks like someone painted the ceilings yellow.

So, they've wasted $9,000 and more than 6 months of their lives and their frustration is high.

Their solution now?

Talk to 5 different agents, with 5 different track records, and get 5 differing opinions about how to sell this house.

I could see the desperation in their eyes...combined with skepticism because of their distrust of Realtors. They don't know who to believe at this point.

I asked them if they'd had a chance to read my client reviews and look at my track record to prepare for our meeting.

They had not. :(

Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Capital, has a great book called Principles, where he lays out the strategies that he used to build a company that manages $100 billion in assets.

One of the key aspects of Bridgewater's culture is they always look to the credibility of the person that has an opinion or idea. They weigh that opinion based on how credible the person has proven to be in the past.

They determine credibility by RESULTS.

If you want advice from someone, but you don't check to see how credible they are, how do you know you're getting good advice?

Don't go looking for someone to tell you something that feels good...that will get you nowhere. A good doctor will tell you the truth. A good lawyer will tell you the truth. A good Realtor will tell you the truth.

So the lesson here?

If you're thinking about selling a house...

...call me please.

HAR has published the initial report of market data from November.

Prices are still holding up at 1.7% above November 2024.

We seem to have entered into a period of stability on listing inventory just over 37,000 available properties. This has held pretty steady for a couple months. It will be interesting to see if this swells next spring, or if the sales volume keeps taking properties off the market.

This is the sign of a growing city. Prices steadily inching upwards, even in the face of growing inventory.

2026 looks like it is shaping up to be a year with a lot of volume. I am excited to have so many followups scheduled with many of you from January to March to help you get on the market and sold.

If you're thinking about making a move this coming year, please reach out to me this weekend!

I'd like to get you on the calendar to do a 30 minute pre listing walkthrough so we can help you get your house ready!

At least once per week, I visit a house that a client plans to sell and I help them take a look at their home through the eyes of a buyer.

We walk together room by room and assess if there is anything that could be done to maximize the home's value.

I am mostly looking for cosmetic issues that could be easily resolved with one of our trusted service providers.

Every single time I do this, I find things in the house that the seller didn't know was going on. They can be minor things like an old water stain, or visible drywall tape seams, or they could be more major issues like mortar cracks, or benign mold growth that would still cause a buyer to completely back out of a deal if not dealt with beforehand.

The good news is I also have all the contacts you'll need to make sure the house is totally ready to sell.

Of course I think taking excellent care of every single part of Real Estate Transaction is worthwhile (and we have processes for all of it) but if we help you start with the best house we can, you're a step ahead of the marketplace.

If you're thinking of moving at any point in the future, call me and let's talk about your plans.

I can help you prepare your house in the time you want so you can get the result you want.

Another month, another report that the Houston Housing market is up yet again from last year.

List prices are up .5% to $423,955 and there are 900 ADDITIONAL pendings compared to this month last year. Next month is setting up to destroy last November as well.

This makes sense since there are also 11,200 MORE listings available and the city is adding new residents every month.

This means the market is still cranking along in Houston and I am very much looking forward to this next year and what will happen with our Real Estate industry.

You can read the full report here.

The FRESH Report is IN!

Average list prices are again UP almost 1% from a year ago.

This is interesting considering we're heading into the section of the year where Real Estate takes a little longer to sell, so sellers are definitely optimistic. It should be interesting to see if the buying public agrees and if it also translates to a bump in final sale prices when the full October Data is released in the next week or so.

If you're thinking about moving next year, and you'd like to get your home ready, reach out to me anytime and let's schedule a pre listing walkthrough!

I talk to dozens of people every day and one of the most common questions I get is "How is the market?"

I will also occasionally hear people tell me things like, "It's a bad time to sell" or "It's not a good market."

These types of statements are really rooted in very short term memory type of thinking. The basic definitions of Real Estate define a normal market as having around 5 or 6 months worth of inventory. If you look at the summary of last months Houston data you'll see we are right above 5 months inventory right now.

The challenge for most people is they recall a time in the not too distant past where we had a very abnormal market (with less than a 1 month supply of inventory) and they're comparing it to this one.

Yes it was much easier to sell a house in 2020-2022, but that level of demand in combination of lack of supply wasn't normal at all. So, many sellers would call that time a "good market."

The truth is, it was just a different kind of market.

The basic truths of Real Estate don't really change. If you need to sell a house there are several things you can do to make sure you maximize your sale price and shorten your marketing time.

If you have a phenomenal interest rate right now, that could completely alter your plans related to Real Estate, despite any life changes that may normally affect your Real Estate holdings.

The single most important thing to consider when making a Real Estate plan, is talking with a professional about your short and long term goals, and making the plan based on principles that will serve you in the long run.

I invite you to reach out to me anytime to have that conversation, even if you don't need to sell something any time soon.

I care far more about you making a good long term plan than any short term sale.

The FRESH Report is IN!

The average list price is UP 2.1% from a year ago.

This is interesting considering we're heading into the section of the year where Real Estate takes a little longer to sell, so sellers are definitely optimistic. It should be interesting to see if the buying public agrees and it also translates to a bump in final sale prices when the full September data is released in the next week or two.

We are currently sitting at nearly 40,000 properties for sale across the city, so our inventory has grown dramatically over the last 4 years. Between sales and rentals there are nearly 50,000 active residential listings in Houston.

I looked back at this same month's email from 2021 and we had 33,000 FEWER listings than we do today.

This highlights the extreme importance of making sure we do everything possible to help our sellers get their homes ready for sale so that they stand out in the marketplace.

The average sale price (which had been sliding a percentage point or 2 this last couple months) is actually now UP just over a half percent from last year. This market is STILL hanging on in stable territory.

The biggest driver of downward price pressure is the growing supply of inventory for sale, which is now sitting at a 5.4 month supply and yet sellers are still seeing prices hang on!

Overall, you can see how the population growth of Houston is driving ever more home sales, even as people think the market is not as robust, we still sold 800 more homes in August 2025 than the same month last year!

Another month, another Fresh Report!

So, (if you're a homeowner) I'm pleasantly surprised to show you that the average list price is UP just under 1% from a year ago.

The final tally for the month end SALES prices will release in another week or so and we will find out if the actual sale prices held up or if they continued their minor slide we've been seeing the last 2 months.

You can see we are WAY up in listing inventory from last year with 29% MORE listings on the market for a total of nearly 40,000 Homes for sale.

Which leads me to the situation for buyers. Rates appear to be easing a little bit as the average 30 year fixed rate is down to about 6.29% The rise in inventory has given buyers 3X more homes to choose from than they had a couple years ago.

This means you have way better options as a buyer and if you truly need to move in a certain timeframe...there is very likely to be a house that is a great fit for you.

As a seller that means you definitely have more competition out there, but I have good news for you:

As I look at listings every day it appears that many (most?) agents are not truly helping their sellers prep their homes for sale. They're showing up and taking photos with little or zero preparation.

If you have a great agent that knows what buyers are looking for, it is still VERY possible to beat the competition and go under contract in a short period of time, and for the most money possible.

I have walked through 3 houses this week with sellers that plan to sell next year and we're making a plan to have their homes ready to sell between January and March, and we will sell them, for top dollar!

If you're thinking of selling next year, please feel free to call or email me back and let's set up a time to take 20 minutes and look at your house together so you can maximize your sale price!