By Tom Branch, on January 19th, 2012 
I was out speaking with some buyers yesterday and they were talking about living in Allen in a home on a golf course. Allen has lots to offer but the only golf course within the city is Twin Creeks.
Located in west Allen, Twin Creeks is a wonderful master planned community. The 18 Hole championship course was designed by golf legend Arnold Palmer who wrote, “The Golf Club at Twin Creeks could be one of the best courses in the State of Texas, and the most peaceful 18-hole course I have ever designed. The golf course is of a traditional nature and is very much in harmony with the natural landscape.”
According to the course website:
The Golf Club at Twin Creeks offers an award-winning golf course that winds its way around two natural, free-flowing, tree-lined creeks. Known for its “peaceful” setting and as one of the most naturally preserved golf courses in the state, Twin Creeks has become a favorite of Collin County.
Click here to see all Golf Course Homes in Twin Creeks Allen TX
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Have questions or need more information? Contact us at 214-227-6626.
Photo: Copyright 2007 Realty Revolution LLC
By Tom Branch, on January 18th, 2012 
While we’re right in the middle of winter, a number of new clients have indicated they are looking for a pool home in Plano. Some buyers are telling me they will put the pool in after closing.
My best advice for buyers looking for home and want a pool is to find a home where the pool has already been installed. You can always update a kitchen or make other changes to the home. Installing a pool is a guaranteed way to lose money. A pool that costs $40k to install is worth about $17k when it’s done. Let someone else take the loss.
The good news is there are plenty of pool homes currently on the market and that number should grow as we enter into the spring sales season.
Click here to see Pool Homes in Plano Texas | Click here to see all Pool Homes in Dallas Fort Worth
Have questions? Contact us at 214-227-6626.
By Tom Branch, on January 16th, 2012 
“Are referral fees legal in Texas?” We seem to get this question all the time. There are two kinds of referrals. One comes from unlicensed people and the other from licensees.
Referrals From Unlicensed People
The Texas Administrative Code (TAC) 535.20 limits payment to non-licensed people to $50. Some people will try to skirt the law by purchasing gift cards or paying directly on behalf of the referral source. The rule clearly states, “the term valuable consideration includes but is not limited to money, gifts of merchandise having a retail value greater than $50, rent bonuses and discounts.”
Note that it’s not illegal for the consumer to accept the payment but the payment of consideration exceeding the amounts specified in 535.30 is grounds for a licensee to have their license suspended or revoked.
Referrals From Licensees
The Texas Occupations Code 1101.651 allows brokers to share fees and commissions with salespersons (agents) they sponsor and other brokers. TAC 535.131 clarifies this to include the sharing of fees and commissions with out of state and foreign brokers.
The bottom line is that referral fees paid to non-licensees cannot exceed $50 in cash, goods, services, rebates, etc. Referral fees paid to other brokers are acceptable and subject to the agreement between the brokers.
Photo licensed from iStockPhoto
Originally posted at http://www.referralagentsoftexas.com/2012/01/16/are-referral-fees-legal-in-texas/
By Tom Branch, on January 14th, 2012 Standing Watch
Aspens in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains north of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Click photo for larger view.
Photograph taken on January 3, 2012 at 1:54 PM with an 18mm lens. The only post-shoot processing was a little sharpening and conversion to black and white.
Photo Copyright 2012 – Tom Branch
By Gina Branch, on January 13th, 2012 
New Year’s Day 2012 was cool and crisp and snow-covered as we wound our way to the top of the mountain 18 miles outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Above 12,000 feet the air is very thin and I could feel myself starting to breathe heavy. When you’re used to being near sea level, this increase in altitude has a definite impact.
 I was excited to try my hand at skiing again, but since it had been 25 years, ski school was a must. After half a day, I was ready to head downhill, at least a small hill. Most of the skills came back just like riding a bike.
The view from the chair lift was beautiful. Many of the snow covered trees were still green and the fresh snow glistened in the sunshine. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the journey to the bottom was invigorating.
I can’t think of a better way to ring in the New Year than pointing the skis downhill and feeling the cold breeze on your face. The Ski Santa Fe facility was near perfect with short lift lines, reasonable prices, a nice cafeteria, a great ski and snowboarding school, and breathtaking scenery.
The best part was sharing the experience with my husband and close friends. I can’t wait to visit again!
Click here to see more photos of the trip to Ski Santa Fe.
By Tom Branch, on January 9th, 2012 
Lately, there have been a few online postings that referral fees should be illegal because they add cost to the consumer. I’ve read all the arguments, yet I’m not sure how they arrive at that conclusion.
I could see the argument, if I were to raise my cost to the consumer on transactions where I have agreed to pay a referral fee. While this may happen from time to time, I believe the vast majority of brokers see it as the cost of doing business. I either pay to advertise, farm, or some other means of acquiring new clients or I pay a referral fee to an out of area broker who has a client needing to buy or sell a property in my area.
While I don’t work relocation business, relocation companies collect referral fees from brokers who accept their relocation clients. Why is a broker-to-broker referral any different?
The bottom line is that unless brokers raise prices on transactions involving a referral fee, there is no additional cost to the consumer.
Photo: Licensed from iStockPhoto
Originally posted at http://www.referralagentsoftexas.com/2012/01/09/do-referral-fees-add-cost-to-the-consumer/
By Tom Branch, on January 7th, 2012 Want to know what mobile users see when they visit your site? Pick up your smart phone, open your browser, and type in your URL. If you do not have a mobile-ready site you’re in for a huge surprise!
With a large percentage of the market moving onto mobile devices, you simply must have a mobile version of your website these days. Mobile website design is completely different from full-size browsers. There are severe limitations in screen size and bandwidth capabilities of these devices that must be considered.
My suggestion is to keep it simple! Mobile users want easy access to information. For real estate agents, that means easy access to MLS searches and contact information. We also include a link to a mobile version of our blog.
If your site is running on WordPress, there are a number of plugins available that will detect mobile devices and send users to the mobile verison of the site. One of our WordPress-based sites uses Plugin Buddy Mobile to create a mobile version of the site. Other than creating and uploading a mobile banner, this was a 10 minute set up. The limitation for real estate agents is access to a mobile-ready IDX solution.
We chose to develop a stand-alone mobile website using a simple PHP script to detect mobile users and send them to the mobile website. This choice was driven by our access to the RE/MAX of Texas mobile-ready property search. While we could have purchased another mobile IDX solution, the cost is prohibitive since not only do we have to pay the IDX provider, we also have to pay our MLS another monthly fee to feed the data to the provider.
You may also want to register a .mobi domain name and set up an m. subdomain for your websites. Mobile users will often try using the .mobi top level domain (www.thebranchteam.mobi) or m. subdomain (m.thebranchteam.com) when they’re looking for a mobile version of your website.
Mobile computing is not only here to stay, it’s going to become an even larger percentage of your web traffic. Is your website mobile friendly?
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