by Elena Garrett, February 2026 1️⃣ Starting the Home Search Without Understanding True Monthly Costs Some buyers begin touring homes very enthusiastically before knowing (or even being interested in knowing about): • their loan type options and the minimum down payment and any loan points (additional lender fees) they would Read more…
by Elena Garrett, Feb 2026 If you’ve been trying to find rent-to-own homes in Dallas–Fort Worth and keep running into dead ends, you’re not imagining it. Try searching online and you’ll see the same pattern over and over again. Zillow doesn’t have a rent-to-own list. Realtor.com doesn’t either. Homes.com doesn’t. Read more…
by Elena Garrett, Realtor, Feb 2026 Why Smart People Lose Big Money by Over-Optimizing Small Fragile Things You are about to read one of the stories I repeat a lot, because this story really illustrates several inter-connected logical blind spots that home buyers whom I would call ANALYTICAL or CAUTIOUS Read more…
By Elena Garrett, Feb 2026 Buying a home in Texas doesn’t have to feel overwhelming, rushed, or intimidating. In reality, the process works best when you start with clarity, goal-setting, and strategy selection, not paperwork. This guide walks you through the Texas home-buying process in logical phases — from early Read more…
By Elena Garrett, Feb 2026 Buying a home in Texas involves signing a document called the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale). This contract is about 12 pages long and contains many legal and technical terms. This guide explains the main sections of the contract in plain English, so Read more…
This story is a real example of what can happen when even experienced investors step into off-market deals without full visibility. If you haven’t already read the full discussion of on-market vs off-market trade-offs, including what off-market deals do well and where they fall short, read that full breakdown here Read more…
by Elena Garrett, January 2026 You’re a rental investor in North Texas — maybe a few deals in, maybe a portfolio owner. You’re looking for deals that cash flow, don’t turn into rehab black holes, and let you sleep at night. 🧭 Why This Article Exists Some investors swear by Read more…
By Elena Garrett, January 2026 If you’re a buy-and-hold investor shopping in North Texas for potential deals under $250,000, you already know the hardest part isn’t finding houses. It’s finding rentals that actually make sense. Most investors spend hours each week opening listings, estimating rent, running quick numbers using various Read more…
We all know the secret to New Year’s resolutions actually coming true: make them realistic, make them specific, and break the big “life overhaul” dreams into small, manageable steps. (Because “reinvent myself by February” rarely survives past Week One.) So if you’re staring at a blank page thinking, “Okay…but what Read more…
By Elena Garrett, December 2025 Across the DFW real estate market — buyers, sellers, landlords, builders, and flippers alike — many people are still mentally anchored and longing for to the COVID-era market of 2021–2022. Not just the memories, but the expectations that those conditions were somehow “normal” — while Read more…
About Elena
Hi, my name is Elena Garrett, and I am a real estate agent with Keller Williams Central 75 brokerage in Dallas – Fort Worth. I work with both residential and commercial real estate transactions.
Reach out to me with any questions or comments on my blog.
(469) 371 4961
egarrett @ kw.com
