On Tuesday, November 3rd, Texans will go to the polls to vote on 11 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. Four of these relate to real estate so I want to make sure folks know what is going on. Since this is an off-year election, turnout is expected to be low. Please take a few minutes to stop by to vote on Tuesday. Amendment #2 -- Simply put, this amendment requires that property taxes for residential homesteads be based upon the value of the property as a residence. Currently, a property can be … [Read more...]
Archives for October 2009
September 2009 Housing Statistics
The September housings statistics were released today (the national numbers are provided by the National Association of Realtors while the Texas numbers are from The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University). Nationally, approximately 45% of the buyers so far this year were first-time homebuyers taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. Distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) accounted for 29% of the national sales in September. … [Read more...]
Foreclosure Alternatives
In the first in the foreclosure series, I reviewed the foreclosure process in Texas. Ideally, a homeowner will never have to go through that whole process. However, that is simply not the case. Most folks who miss a mortgage payment are never able to catch up because missing even one payment indicates a major change to the financial situation of the owner. It is vitally important to start looking at options once the first payment is missed so that, if needed, action can be taken quickly to avoid foreclosure. Here … [Read more...]
MLS Stats for Distressed Property
I just wanted to post a few statistics from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) relating to the foreclosure post from last week. While most people are not in jeopardy of foreclosure, the property values of all homes are adversely affected by them. As of today, October 13, 2009, the percentage of distressed properties listed for sale in the MLS accounts for 7.2% of all listings. Of these, 3.3% are foreclosures and 3.9% are short sales. When you look at the number of homes that have sold so far this year, the … [Read more...]
Texas Foreclosure Process
The real estate market in Texas has held up well compared to other parts of the country. The national media is full of stories about foreclosures, short sales, loan modifications, and the like. But what about Texas? Fortunately, we have not been hit hard. Unfortunately, there are people who are losing their houses. This topic is a rather large one, so I'm going to break it up into a series of posts over the next few weeks. The first part will be on the Texas foreclosure process. Foreclosure laws are set by the … [Read more...]
Squatter Moves In
I found this one in a recent issue of The Real Estate Professional. A vacant house in Jupiter, Florida had been on the market for two years. In January, a woman and her children moved into the $750,000 house, removed the sign, and put the utilities in her name. The problem was that she never bought or leased the house. She not only moved her furniture into the 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house, but she also decorated it. It wasn't until several months later that the listing agent bothered to stop by to check on the house … [Read more...]