October 13th, 2008
What’s going on with the Spring Texas real estate market? Is it good, is it bad, is it time to sell, is it time to buy?
Real estate is LOCAL and its fairing better in some cities than in others. The Long Beach CA real estate market is different than the Hoboken NJ real estate market which is different than the Houston TX market which is different than the Katy TX market which is different than the Spring TX real estate market.
Anyway you get the picture. Real estate is LOCAL.
The only real estate market that I am going to discuss is the Spring Texas real estate market because that’s the one I know.
The interruption caused by Hurricane IKE skews our September numbers. Thus comparing September 2008 to September 2007 does not provide an accurate picture.
Instead I am comparing September 2008 YTD to September 2007 YTD which in my opinion is a better representation of what is going on in the Spring Texas real estate market.
- Sales ↓ - 17.7% decrease in YTD Sales with 2,459 sales YTD 2007 sales versus 2,023 sales YTD 2008. A decrease in sales is not surprising considering there are fewer qualified buyers.
- Median Home Price ↓ - Down 1.4% from $146,000 to $144,000. GOOD NEWS is that home prices are holding steady and only experiencing a small decrease.
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October 10th, 2008
Last night, Tim Novak, Executive Director of the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, hosted Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors “Night at the Museum”. Approximately 30 of my fellow Realtors and myself took advantage of a wonderful opportunity to learn about the ONLY Fine Arts Museum outside of the Houston Museum District.
The Pearl Fincher Museum which officially opened its doors on March 29th, 2008 is located in a 10,000 square foot facility that previously housed the Harris County Cypress Creek Library. The Museum’s current exhibit on loan from the Houston Museum of Fine Arts is African Gold from the Glassell Collection.
The exhibit which runs through November 2nd consists of objects made by Akan artists living in Ghana and neighboring Cote d’Ivorie. Ghana was once known as the Gold Coast and gold was used as a basis for trade. The works of art in the exhibit date back to the 19th and 20th centuries.
One of my favorite pieces was the bracelets that the Akan artists produced in the shape of watches for decorative rather than functional purposes. They were worn by men and women and displayed wealth and symbolized the power to control time.
The idea that someone thought they could actually control time amazed me because I gave up on the notion that I could control time a long time ago.
My next favorite collection of the exhibit were these weights. They are brass castings used as counter - balances for weighing gold. I have always been intrigued with items used in the exchange of goods and the currency of other nations.
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October 8th, 2008
Fall in Spring Texas sounds a little weird doesn’t it? But what should I expect when my city is named after a season.
I grew up in the Midwest and Fall was one of my favorite seasons. I use to marvel in the beauty of the leaves as they changed colors, I enjoyed walking in the woods and listening to the rustling of the leaves, and the distinct smell in the air of burning leaves. These were the sights, sounds, and smells that told me Summer was over and Fall was here.
In Spring Texas, there are signs everywhere that tell me its Fall. My calendar says its October, stores are having sales on their Fall clothing lines, the local nursery is stocked with pumpkins, the newspaper is loaded with advertisements for Fall Festivals and the real estate market is slowing down.
But it doesn’t feel like Fall to me. Our temperatures are still in the mid 80s with the night lows being in the 60s. I am still wearing clothes from my summer wardrobe and I have not reached for a sweater nor a jacket yet. And my yard still requires mowing which it usually does until November. No matter what the signs say around me it is not Fall to me because it just doesn’t fell like Fall.
I have lived in Texas for 14 years now and although I do still miss the Falls in the Midwest I will not be moving back any time soon. Because I know that after Fall comes Winter and Winter in the Midwest means bitter cold, snow, ice, and bone chilling winds. While Winter is Spring Texas means NO snow, rarely ice, lots of sunshine, and average high temperatures in the mid 60s with lows in the mid 40s.
I LOVE Winter in Spring Texas. Even Winter in Spring sounds weird.
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October 3rd, 2008
If you thought you missed out on the lower minimum down payment for FHA loans, don’t worry due to a postponement you still have time. The minimum down payment for FHA loans which was scheduled to increase from 3% to 3.5% on October 1, 2008 has been postponed. The revised effective date of the increase is now January 1, 2009.
The media has done there best to scare home buyers into believing that they can not get a loan because the credit markets have dried up. But in a discussion I had today with one of our local Spring Texas mortgage lenders, she said “I am looking for loans. We have money to lend”.
But are the curret interest rates any good? I asked that question today and the answer was “the interest rates are good. FHA loans for a 30 year term are averaging around 6%”. They are not quite as low as they were a couple of weeks ago when the government announced their take over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but they are a far cry from the 10% mortgage interest rates of the early 1990s.
Good news for Spring Texas home buyers!!! Low interest rates and low minimum down payments are still available for at least a couple more months. Plus with 6.9 months of inventory the Spring Texas real estate market is considered to be a buyer’s market. If you are a buyer your best opportunity for low interest rates, low minimum down payments, and low prices is right now.
If you want to take advantage of the current financing and buying opportunity, give us a call at 281.300.3141 or 281.804.8626 and we will be happy to help you.
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September 29th, 2008
Health insurance and homeowners insurance … both are coverage we know we need but rarely take the time to understand. That is until we need it.
Hurricane IKE’s recent roll through our area sent a lot of Spring Texas homeowners scurrying for their policies. Unfortunately some homeowners were taught a painful financial lesson that they won’t soon forget.
9 things you should know about homeowners insurance?
1. Two Deductibles- Unlike automobile insurance, your homeowner’s insurance has two deductibles.
The first deductible is for wind/hail damage and it is a % of the rebuilding cost. The lowest percentage available is 1% with the deductibles of most insurance companies being 2% to 5%.
The second deductible is for “other perils” which would be fire, lightening, theft, and smoke damage. Insurance companies offer a fixed deductible with the lowest typically being $1,000.
2. Flood Insurance is separate- Flood insurance is NOT included in your homeowner’s insurance policy. The policy has to be purchased separately.
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September 17th, 2008
Around 3 am in the morning of Saturday, September 13th, I was awaken by the sound of Hurricane IKE roaring through our town of Spring Texas. I was not able to return to sleep the rest of the night as the sound of the howling of the wind and the beating of the rain kept me awake. The whole experience felt as if I was on a dingy in rough seas because the rain fueled by the wind made it sound like waves were crashing against my window panes.
Our electricity was knocked out around 1:30 am Saturday morning but the water, gas, and my land line were all still working. Later in the day, cell phone service went down. During hurricane Rita’s descent on our area, our electricity was only out of service for about an about which made it possible for us to receive the majority of our news updates by watching the weather channel.
Not this time. With no power, we called our family members in other states for updates on the location of the storm. We did have an additional and unexpected source of news. Somehow during the mist of a hurricane, the local paper, our Houston Chronicle was able to be safely delivered to our front yard. By the end of Saturday, hurricane IKE passed but not first without making its presence known.
We live in a community that was established within the last five years and as such the majority of the trees are 25 feet or smaller with the average size being about 12 feet tall. Thus the damage that was felt in our subdivision was minimal as it was limited to down tree limbs and some newer trees were left standing at a 45 degree angle.
The older more established communities in the Spring Texas area received major tree damage with some of the trees causing significant damage to the houses they fell on or went through and older property line fences were completely knocked down. Billboards were split in half, traffic signals went out along with the electricity, and pieces of fiberglass signs were scattered across the roadways. Read More »
September 11th, 2008
All day today, my husband and I have been making preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Ike in Spring Texas. I am sure we are probably like a lot of other residents that wait until there’s a high probability that a Hurricane is coming our way before we prepare. Today was that day and the Hurricane … it’s name is Ike.
First decision of the day is do we pack up and leave or do we stay? If we lived on Galveston Beach or closer to the coast, it would be a more difficult decision for us. But in Spring Texas, we are located about an hour and 15 minutes from the coast. Far enough from the coast not to experience storm surge so we are staying. After all the old adage is “Run from water and Hide from wind”.
We are going to be on the dirty side of Hurricane IKE which means we are going to get dumped on with rain along with experiencing winds gusts that are projected to be 85 miles an hour. Not an ideal environment to be journeying out to a restaurant for meals which means we need to stock up on FOOD. We didn’t need a lot of food but enough to make it through at least three days and the food was to be non-refrigerated.
Out my husband went in search of food. Looking for food the day before a Hurricane is projected to make land fall is similar to foraging for food out in the wilderness. You have to take what you can find and be happy with it. What did my fearless hunter of food bring home? Potato Chips, Ho Hos, Potted Meat, and Bread. My only question was “Potted Meat? What in the heck is Potted Meat?” With shopping crossed off the list, next action item to tackle was Gas. Read More »
September 11th, 2008
The topic for this post “Spring Texas home sellers missed opportunities” is courtesy of my husband, working partner, and fellow Prudential Gary Greene, Realtor, Rick Ratchford. Rick is an exclusive Buyers Agent meaning he only represents buyers and not sellers. I on the other hand represent both buyers and sellers but that’s a topic for a different post.
In his role as a buyer’s agent, Rick has in length discussions with buyers about their desires and needs in a home. He sets up an automatic email notification based upon specified home criteria for his buyers. So his buyers will be notified when a new home matching their criteria is added to the real estate market.
How does all this automatic email notification of new listings to potential buyers translate into missed opportunities for Spring Texas home sellers?
Its in the photos or in this case should I say lack of photos. Far too many times to count, Rick has seen email notification of new listings contain ZERO, ZILCH, NADA photos. Buyers purchase with their eyes. They do not write down the MLS number of the new listing and go search for it every day just to see if the listing agent has finally added photos.
Spring Texas home sellers you only have ONE opportunity to capitialize on pent up demand. If your listing agent is not on top of her / his game its gone. NO PHOTO AVAILABLE = NO SALE
If you are interested in purchasing a Spring Texas home, contact Rick at 281.300.3141 and he will set up an automatic email notification for you. You will then be one of the first to know when a new home is added to the market that matches exactly what you are looking for.
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If you are interested in selling a Spring Texas home, contact Jill at 281.804.8626. She will make sure that you do not miss out on pent up demand.
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September 7th, 2008
Yesterday I was at a closing with my buyers who were purchasing a Spring Texas home when a discussion arose about a St. Joseph statue that the sellers had buried in the front yard. The sellers believed that if you want to sell your home, you bury a St. Joseph statue in the yard, say a prayer, and before you know it the house will be SOLD.
Now for a little background on the sellers home, it had been on the market for 270 days which is 3X longer than the average days on market for Spring Texas homes. Its initial list price was $233,000. During the 270 days it was on the market it had been reduced three times. When my buyers and I viewed the home it was on the market for $194,500 or 16.5% less than its original list price.
The home was built in 1984 and although it had some recent updates of flooring in a couple of rooms and new kitchen counter tops and backsplash its window treatments and wallpaper dated the house. The house showed dark because of the heavy window treatments and the upstairs carpet was severely in need of stretching. I almost forgot to mention the blue carpeting on the stairs and in the upstairs gameroom.
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