Representative Larry Taylor was the main speaker at a March 5, 2012 luncheon for the Houston Real Estate Association. He is the author of House Bill 4409 otherwise known as The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) reform legislation. Representative Taylor currently serves as the board’s House Co-Chairman alongside Senate Co-Chairman John Corona (R-Dallas). Rep. Taylor told the group that for 35 years everything worked fine. Then we started having five hurricanes a year in Florida. Finally Hurricanes … [Read more...]
Lease Purchase a Houston Home but be Careful
The problem with the agreement is that a buyer may be asked to sign a contract which has been written to highly favor the owner. The Texas Real Estate Commission does not have standard forms for a lease purchase agreement. This means that an attorney or the owner themselves write the contract. The contract is a unilateral or one-way contract. The buyer has the right to buy but not an obligation to buy. The seller is obligated to sell the property to the buyer. Definition of a lease purchase agreement An … [Read more...]
Short Sales offer Bargain Prices to Homebuyers
If you are looking for a bargain buying a home and you have plenty of time. Then a short sale offers the opportunity to acquire instant equity in a home. In a short sale, the lender allows the home to be sold for less than the mortgage balance. As a result, prices often are affordable. But short sales are complex and can take a lot of time. Short sales are complicated because the final price must be approved by the both the home seller and the seller's lender. So short sales require extra time to move from an … [Read more...]
Charting Buffalo works to solve Houston Flooding
The Harris County Flood Control District hosted the first of four community meetings at the Tracy Gee Center, Wednesday, February 8, 2012. Anticipated attendance for the well-organized community meeting was expected to be around 200 people. The actual number attending was more like 500. Those of us who did not show up early had to wait outside for an hour while the first 300 were allowed in. WHAT IS CHARTING BUFFALO Charting Buffalo is a study that covers 32 miles of Buffalo Bayou from the Barker Reservoir to … [Read more...]
USDA Map Shows What to Plant in Houston
All of the Houston area falls into zones 8b (15-20 degrees) or 9a (20-25 degrees), with zone 9b (25–30 degrees) along the coast. Global warming is hitting not just home but garden for much of the country. The color-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets is being updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century. It is the first time since 1990 that the U.S. department of Agriculture has revised the official guide for the nation’s 80 million gardeners, and much has … [Read more...]
New Home Construction will increase in 2012
Dr. Ted C. Jones Chief Economist for Stewart Title rates the Houston job market as tops in the United States. Houston added 87,000 new jobs last year with 9,100 jobs added in November 2011. Home sale have been going up for the last 4 months. According to Dr. Jones, Houston has seen the bottom of the market. The current median price for a home is down 25.8% from 2006. There is an increase in multi-family homes as rent prices are increasing. We are building half the number of homes needed by the population and … [Read more...]
2012 HARP Program Eligibility Calculator
The federal government has made changes aimed at making it easier for many borrowers who owe more on their home loans than their houses are worth to refinance into lower-cost mortgages. There are several criteria that must be met to qualify for the updated Home Affordable Refinance Program, though. For instance, your current loan-to-value ratio (the amount of your loan, divided by the value of your home) must be greater than 80 percent. The real estate Web site Zillow.com has introduced a calculator to help … [Read more...]
Riverstone
Riverstone is going strong after 10 years of development. The Fort Bend community has posted record-breaking sales this year, with 2011 sales of new homes increasing 35 percent over last year. Riverstone is located just southwest of Houston in the heart of thriving Fort Bend County. Riverstone is located just miles from the upscale Galleria area and easily accessible to all major employment corridors. Riverstone’s main entrance is located on Highway 6, approximately three miles south of US-59. "This year's … [Read more...]
USDA Program
One of the biggest difficulties many first-time home buyers face is a lack of down payment and the necessary funds for closing costs. However, even with the widespread availability of "no-money-down programs" evaporating in the credit crisis, one national no-down payment program still remains: USDA Rural Development home loans. Helps Homebuyers in Rural Harris County Guaranteed by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), this program might make you think that you have to buy farmland or live "in the … [Read more...]
GREATER HOBBY AREA REAL ESTATE / SUBDIVISIONS
The Hobby Area is located just outside the Inner Loop on both sides of Highway 45 South. Home buyers are driven to the area by its mid-century charm. The area is known for its gently rolling hills, and parks. Houstonians living inside the Inner Loop drove here in the 1950’s to shop at Gulfgate a major shopping center at the time, and to fly to exotic destinations from Hobby Airport. The area flourished with the development of Johnson Space Center in the 1960’s. The opening of Houston Inter-Continental … [Read more...]
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