If you have been sitting on the fence and waiting for the If you have been sitting on the fence and waiting for the mortgage interest rates to go lower before purchasing a Spring Texas home, the time to ACT is NOW.

Last week after the FED announced they would purchase $600 Billion of Mortgage-Backed securities backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae, the mortgage interest rates declined.

The move by the FED was designed to help increase the availability of credit while lowering the interest rate. And it certainly has lowered the interest rate. Not just by a fraction but by 1% from 6.5% to 5.5%.

Unlike a retail store that advertises a price for a certain period of time, interest rates are unpredictable and move on a daily basis. And to make matters worse, there is no one out there that can accurately predict how long the mortgage interest rates will stay at the low to middle five-percent range.

Thus if you are waiting for a good time to buy a Spring Texas home, the time is now. Get out there and  purchase: 

• before the home mortgage interest rates increase
• before the FHA minimum loan down payment increases on January 1st, 2009
• before the first-time home buyers tax credit disappears on July 1, 2009

$10,000 discount on selected homes, $15,000 decorator allowance, $10,000 towards closing costs, $2,000 gift card  … all of these are forms of incentives Spring Texas home builders are offering to attract buyers. But does a big discount equal a good deal on a home?

The builders certainly want you to think so. And home buyers, you want to think you got a good deal too. Because nobody wants to overpay for a home. And after all, if the home builder tells you its a good deal it has to be a good deal. Right???

WRONG!!!! Here’s some food for thought. Maybe the builder is offering BIG discounts on his remaining Spring Texas homes because nobody else wanted them. Maybe the reason they have not sold is because the homes are over-priced in comparison to other homes available on the real estate market.

Or maybe the home is in a less than desirable location (such as backing to a busy road, backing to commercial, close to a railroad track, or close to an airport). Maybe the homes have not sold because of its lot characteristics (such as power lines in the back yard or the size of the back yard is small.)

Maybe the builder is offering a BIG discount because the selections in the homes are customized. But not customized in a good way. They have been personalized to the extreme (such as green carpet or a red tile backsplash when the other houses in the neighborhood have tan carpet and beige tile backsplash).

All of these are reasons why BIG DISCOUNT DOES NOT EQUAL GOOD DEAL. Because they all affect the future resale value of the homes.

There is only one way to know for sure if you are getting a good deal on the purchase of your Spring Texas home. Get a knowledgeable Realtor to represent you in the purchase. He/she will be able to advise you as to how the home’s location, amenities, color selections, and lot characteristics will affect the home’s future resale value. By analyzing the prices of recently SOLD comparable homes, your Realtor will negotiate a good deal for you and not just a good deal for the builder.

Read also:

• How to get the best deal on your Spring Texas home purchase

It seems like every couple of days I hear about the government bailing out this company or giving this other company a loan. I am to a point that I want to know what I have to do to get a government loan.  Because after all if the government is giving out money …. I want some too.

You probably have not heard that you may qualify to receive an INTEREST FREE LOAN from the government. Why?  Because bad news SELLS and GOOD news well it is just not as exciting.

Now, I don’t qualify for the interest free loan since I am not considered a “first-time home buyer”. So I am still going to be waiting for my money.  But if you DO meet the government’s definition of a first-time home buyer, you can get a 15 year interest free loan up to $7,500. I know its not as good as FREE money since the money has to be paid back. Although, it is still a sweet deal.

The interest free loan is called the “first-time home buyer tax credit” and it is part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The Recovery Act was designed to give housing a shot in the arm and a reason for buyers to purchase a home.

Read More »

FALSE. All real estate sites DO NOT have the same listings. In addition to real estate sites missing active home listings, their listing data contains OUTDATED PRICES and homes no longer on the market.

Say it isn’t so Batman. Well, I am not batman but it is the TRUTH. A recent survey performed by WAV Group for Roost.com identified the inaccuracies in listing data between various real estate sites.

In the sample of missing listings in Dallas, Zillow was missing 64% of the listings, Yahoo was missing 54%, Trulia was missing 46%, and Google was missing 31% of the real estate listings. If you are looking for a home, that’s a lot of homes that you are not getting an opportunity to choose from.

Why are the real estate sites missing listings? The missing listings and inaccurate prices has to do with the source of the real estate sites listings. The most accurate source of real estate listings and prices is through the LOCAL MLS.

The above mentioned sites DO NOT receive a direct feed from the LOCAL MLS. Thus causing the major real estate sites to compile listings from numerous sources including advertising publications, agents, and direct feeds from brokers. Since the major real estate sites do not have direct feeds from ALL brokers nor the listings from ALL agents, its inevitable that they are going to be missing listings.

The cause of inaccurate listing prices is due to some of the same factors. The advertising publications are not notified of listing price changes and in turn the real estate sites are not notified. We, real estate agents are just as guilty. We adjust a price in our local MLS but don’t take the time to adjust the price at ALL the real estate sites where we have posted our listings.

So if you are a Spring Texas home buyer looking for the most complete and accurate source of listing data where do you go? Search for homes on real estate sites that receive a direct feed from the local MLS. These sites include our real estate site, broker sites, and the consumer site of our local (Houston Association of Realtors). All are powered by the local MLS which is the most reliable source of listing data.

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.

Read also:

• First time home buyer tax credit …. What is it and how to get it

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.

Read More »

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.

Read also:

• 4 Reasons to get pre-approved before shopping for your Spring Texas home
• Spring Texas home search - Not all sites are created equal
• How to get the best deal on your Spring Texas home purchase

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.

Read also:

• Selling your Spring Texas home - 9 mistakes to avoid
• When selling Spring Texas homes - more photos = more money

DOM or Days on Market - what does it really mean?  The simplest definition of Days on Market (DOM) is …. its the quantity of days a property has had an Active status in our multiple listing service.  DOM is a statistic that is open to interpretation as to what it really means.

The average days on market for Spring Texas homes is approximately 90. So what does that say about a home that has been on the Spring Texas real estate market for more than 90 days?   Ahhh … that’s where the interpretation of the statistic comes in.  

If the home has been on longer than the average DOM does it mean -

A) something’s wrong with the home?  NO. Although this could be a reason, there are numerous other reasons why the home is still sitting on the market.

OR

B) the seller will accept a low ball offer? Again NO. Countless buyers believe that the longer a home has been on the market the more willing a seller should be to accept a low ball offer. If the seller is in a dire financial situation this may be true. But there are many reasons beyond financial ones that create a need for a homeowner to want to sell his home including downsizing, upsizing, or job change.  

There are probably as many reasons as why homes sit on the Spring Texas real estate market longer than the average as there are colors in a box of Crayola crayons. And I am not talking about the small little box of 8 crayons. I am talking about the super duper jumbo box. The box with the crayon sharpener in the back.   Read More »

There is no denying that our real estate taxes in Spring Texas are higher than in other states. But you shouldn’t ONLY take into consideration real estate taxes when considering whether its affordable to live in Spring Texas.  

For 18 consecutive years the nonpartisan Tax Foundation has published an estimate of the combined state-local burden of each of the 50 states. And they have just released the State and Local tax burden estimates for 2008 and our big state of Texas came in as the 8th lowest state in state-local tax burden.  And this rating of being in the top 10 lowest states in state-local tax burden is not a flux. We have enjoyed this ranking for the last four years. 

We, Texans, pay 8.4 percent of our income in state and local taxes, compared to New Jersey at 11.8 percent, New York at 11.7 percent, Connecticut at 11.1 percent and Maryland at 10.8 percent. What’s the national average? Read More »