I wasn't born in Texas, But I got here as soon as i could!

FIVE TEXAS CITIES NAMED HEALTHIEST HOUSING MARKETS

TEXAS (Builder) – Five Texas cities swept the top spots on Builder magazine’s list of “Healthiest Housing Markets for 2009.”
Houston ranked first, Austin second, Fort Worth third, San Antonio fourth and Dallas fifth.
Rounding out the top ten were Raleigh, N.C., Seattle, Indianapolis, Ind., Fayetteville, Ark., and Washington D.C.

To compile the list, Builder analyzed the top 75 housing markets in the country, ranking them based on population trends and job growth, perennial drivers of housing demand. They also looked at home prices and the number of building permits.

TEXAS TOPS IN JOB GROWTH

TEXAS (St. Paul Business Journal) – Texas was top in job growth last year, according to a recent analysis by bizjournals.com.

Five Texas cities ranked among the top ten, with three securing the top three spots.
Houston added 57,300 jobs in 2008, giving it the best year of any U.S. market. Dallas–Fort Worth was next with 43,300 additional jobs, then San Antonio, which was up by 14,900 jobs.
Austin ranked fifth with 9,600 jobs added, and El Paso’s 5,300 additional jobs landed the city at ninth. Bizjournals.com examines markets that have at least 250,000 non-farm jobs and compares employment figures for the final month of the past two years. Seventy-two of the 88 markets studied suffered declines in employment in 2008.

HIGHEST HOME APPRECIATION IN TEXAS

SANTA ANA, CALIF. (First American CoreLogic) – Texas continues its trend of weathering the recession better than most other states. The state’s major metros top the nation in home price appreciation over the last year.

Austin–Round Rock leads the country’s largest core-based statistical areas (CBSA) in home price appreciation with a 3.7 percent increase in 2008, according to First American CoreLogic.
Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown experienced a price appreciation of 3.3 percent over the last year, putting it right behind Austin–Round Rock. Dallas-Plano-Irving homes appreciated 1.92 percent and San Antonio’s homes 0.17 percent, putting them third and fourth in the nation.
Only one other major CBSA, Denver-Aurora, Colo., showed an increase in home price, according to CoreLogic. Of the 958 smaller communities the study observed, College Station–Bryan experienced the sixth highest home price appreciation, with an increase of 6.78 percent.
Overall, Texas homes saw an appreciation of 1.83 percent in 2008, putting the Lone Star State sixth among all state rankings.

TEXAS NATION'S TOP EXPORTER

AUSTIN (Dallas Business Journal) – Mere days after being named tops in job growth by bizjournals.com, Texas has been declared the nation’s top exporter by the U.S. Department of Commerce. According to Governor Rick Perry’s office, Texas exports totaled $192.14 billion last year, about $23.92 billion more than the year before. The top five recipients of those exports were Mexico, Canada, China, the Netherlands and Brazil. This marks the seventh year in a row in which Texas has ranked first.

FANNIE, FREDDIE INCREASING FEES

WASHINGTON (Washington Post) – Effective April 1, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will increase the "delivery" fees they charge lenders based on FICO scores, down payment amounts and other loan characteristics. Under the new guidelines, even applicants who assumed that their FICO credit scores would get them favorable rates will be charged more unless they can come up with down payments of 30 percent or more. For example, a buyer with a 699 FICO score who brings a down payment of about 25 percent to the table will be hit with a 1.5 percent delivery fee at closing under the new guidelines. A buyer with a FICO score between 700 and 720 will pay an extra three-quarters of a point. Someone with a 739 FICO — once considered a platinum guarantee of the best rates available — will get dinged with a quarter-point add-on.
Condominium buyers who cannot come up with a 25 percent down payment will be hit with a three-quarter point add-on penalty, no matter how high their credit score.

NEW LAW TO HELP HOUSING MARKET

WASHINGTON (Texas Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) – President Obama earlier this week signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which contains provisions intended to help the housing market and create jobs that benefit the environment. Among the housing provisions: 1.) An $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers who purchase a principal residence between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 1, 2009. The credit does not require repayment. 2.) Reinstatement of last year's 2008 loan limits for FHA, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae loans. 3.)$2 billion in additional funding for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which provides grants to states and localities to address problems that can be created when whole neighborhoods are decimated by foreclosures.

The law also includes $7.22 billion for projects and programs that will protect and promote both green jobs and a healthier environment. These environmental areas include: $4 billion to assist communities with water quality and waste water infrastructure needs and $2 billion for drinking water infrastructure needs. A portion of the funding will be targeted toward green infrastructure, water and energy efficiency, and environmentally innovative projects. $100 million for competitive grants to evaluate and clean up former industrial and commercial sites.

The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, introduced this week by President Obama, is intended to help seven million to nine million families avoid foreclosure by restructuring or refinancing their mortgages.

The plan includes three main elements: 1.) Government-sponsored enterprise refinancing for responsible homeowners suffering from falling home prices. 2.) Three-year $75 billion initiative to reduce monthly payments for three million to four million at-risk home owners. 3.) Support for low mortgage rates through strengthening confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

This information was provided by:

Mandy Andrews
Prominent Title, LLC
3101 Bee Caves Road, Suite 300
Austin, TX 7874

Real Estate Center Online News
February 13th, 17th & 20th 2009
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Material herein is published according to the fair-use doctrine of U.S. copyright laws related to non-profit, educational institutions. Items attributed to sources other than the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University should not be reprinted without permission of the original source.

My Mission

To create an environment of value, knowledge, experience and creativity with every client I work with. Transparency trust and communication will be the foundation to building a client for life (champion) referral based real estate Company.

Back to business

We are now 2 weeks into the New Year, and business is back to usual—right!!!

I have to say I took my fair amount of time off over the holidays. It wasn't that business wasn’t being done, but to be able to sit back and reflect on the past year, gain perspective, and recharge the batteries was both necessary and appreciated.

It is now time to get back to business, and the first matter at hand is our market. Alamo Title's Market News Bulletin for January 12, 2009, gives us these facts:

December 2008

Units for sale (compared to December 2007):
New listings were down 12.84%. Pendings were up 34.86%. Solds decreased by 16.01%.

Average prices:
The "new listings" average list price is up 2.36%, to $300,316. In December 2007, the average list price was $293,392.

Sold average sales prices decreased 5.66%, to $238,867. In December 2007, the average was $253,205.

These numbers are interesting to me for several reasons. The one that jumps out is the "New Listings" list price, which is up 2.36%, but the sold price actually decreased 5.66%.

This tells me that sellers have not caught up to the realities of the market. Successful home sellers are offering their properties at or under the current Sales price of the homes in their area. The properties that are active on the market because of price, may be on the market but not necessarily in the market.

Oh, and by the way, 80% of the marketing that is done on the sale of a home has to do with price. The price of the property must match the condition of the property. If your home is the best on the block and you can effectively articulate that value through smart marketing, then ask 5–15% more than the selling price of the other homes around you. But if your home is not up to snuff, then you may need to ask 5–15% less or more.

Interest rates are also a major player in the sales activity of our market. Interest rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.96% for the week ending January 15, down from the previous week's 5.01%, which is the 11th straight weekly decline, according to Freddie Mac.

What this has done is create frenzy in the refinance market. Local lenders are reporting that up to 75% of their business is being done with people who want to refinance their current loan. This is another factor that plays into the 12.8% drop in home inventory.

They call it a buyer’s market for a reason: it’s a great time to buy!!!!! Low interest rates, low seller confidence, and declining sales prices make it the perfect storm for buyers looking for a great deal.

Good luck to everyone in 2009.

"The best way to predict the future is to create the future"....................Peter F. Drucker

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here we are--the last day of 2008--and what a year it was. This year was probably best defined by change both for myself and the world around us. Change is something that, for most is very hard thing to accept, much less self-induce. Change for me has been a constant through most of my life. Fortunately, it is not something that I fear. If you know me, you also know that I accept the challenge of change on a regular basis.

From a personal perspective, change has come in the way of a recommitment to my health and fitness that has led to the loss of almost 50 pounds!!! The workout I have been doing for quite a while is called Crossfit (http://www.crossfit.com/ is a test of both your physical and mental commitment to fitness and leaves you completly spent after each workout. One aspect of Crossfit is an exercise called the Tabata Protocal (created by Dr. Izumi Tabata at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo). The basic concept of this cardio interval training method is to do intense exercise for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, and repeat for 8 cycles. The entire workout only takes 4 minutes . . . 3:50 to be exact. This theory applied to a combination of excersices creates an intense anaerobic and aerobic workout that will have you as fit as you have ever been in your life.

My business also changed tremendously in 2008, and I am very excited about the opportunities before me. I joined Turnquist Partners Real Estate, which has turned out to be the best decision of my real estate career. Turnquist Partners has an outstanding vision, brand, and reputation worldwide. Our commitment and expertise in luxury real estate sales will continue to set us apart from our competition. I am excited to be with Turnquist Partners and look forward to growing my business with them. The year 2009 is set to be filled with new hopes and expectations for ourselves, our families, friends, and neighbors. I urge you to accept change instead of fearing it and use it as an opportunity to improve and grow as an individual.

"Dance as if no one were watching, sing as if no one were listening, and live every day as if it were your last."

Preperation

Preparation: The act or process of preparing; the state of having been made ready beforehand; readiness.

There are a thousand different ways to prepare yourself for a thousand different situations. We do it constantly. All day long, as we walk into a crowded room we "mentally prepare" ourselves for the upcoming situation. How we do that depends on our own likes, comforts, and resources of strength.
One of the ways I prepare myself for the day is by taking my dogs, Jack and Sampson, to the Slaughter Creek Metropolitan Park every morning. It is right by my house and located in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone (see http://www.sosalliance.org/ for more info about the recharge zone and why is it so important to pick up your dogs poo!!) I go with the intention of getting myself mentally organized, inspired, and motivated for the day. The park gives me a serene and quiet place that allows me to clear my mind and think clearly about my upcoming day.

Going early in the morning with the dogs, while the park is still quiet, also gives me a chance to appreciate and connect with my environment. The park land is over 550 acres of 300-year-old oak trees, Hill Country wildlife, and miles of trails. It is an important part of my daily process and something I will continue to do.

When it comes to helping someone to buy or sell a home, preparation is the #1 tool I have in the bag. As a professional real estate agent it is my responsibility to prepare my client for the transaction, help him or her gain market knowledge, assist as needed in the decision-making process, and negotiate the best outcome for all parties involved. I cannot do these things without a planned course of action and systems in place to execute the plan.

A home seller must prepare her or his home for sale. And as someone who understands the time value of money, I understand that it is even more important to do the things necessary at the beginning of the sale to avoid losing thousands on the back end of the transaction. Getting your home preinspected is a great way to put yourself, as the home seller, in a winning position from the word Go! When it comes to negotiating repairs on your home there will be no big surprises that could lead to the buyer's asking for thousands in repairs or even terminating the contract .

So many sellers put their house on the market with no idea of its current condition. You wouldn’t be able to sell a car for top dollar if you didn’t know whether or not the engine started. How could you properly and confidently price the car if you didn't know its condition? It is the same with your home. Knowing the condition of the house from the outset will go a long way in getting you the most money in the least amount of time.

Understanding these principles and my commitment to preparing myself mentally, spiritually, and physically are the key pillars of the foundation of my success.

"Preparation." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 22 Dec. 2008. http://www.answers.com/topic/preparation

Home Sweet Home

Most of us have a place we call home. Home for me is Phoenix, Arizona. I was born in Long Beach, California, but at a young age moved to Phoenix. I lived in Phoenix until I moved to Austin, Texas, at age 22.


I just got back from a visit home where I had an amazing time. It has gotten me thinking about how our past shapes who we are and motivates us in our daily lives. I have always had the ability to look forward and not let the things in my past affect me . . . or so I thought! This past weekend I realized how attached to my past I really am and how important it is to me.


Growing up in Phoenix, my mother and I struggled to get by. She did what she could to provide a safe, stable, caring environment for us. I learned very quickly that the material things in our life were temporary, but that the love and respect my mother had for me was constant. She has always cherished our relationship more than anything else. I have brought that importance of relationships with me to my adult life and realize they should be tended and cared for like our most prized possessions.

I have also brought my relationship values to my real estate practice. The benefits of a relationship-based transaction with the intention of building a "client for life" experience are threefold over a business-only transaction and is my goal with every client and vendor I work with.

This one ideal and business practice will, I hope, be the catalyst for both a successful real estate career and a productive and full personal life.


Thank you to everyone with whom I have had the opportunity to grow and cultivate a relationship. I will continue to value, respect, and appreciate each and every one of you.

How IS the Market?

The first question I always get when I tell someone I am a professional realtor is "How’s the Market"? Well, the market is adjusting and has changed from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. Fortunately, real estate is local, and Austin is holding strong.

It is no surprise that Austin is in a winning position. We did not see the double-digit appreciation rates and investor-driven appreciation other cities saw.

The Austin market currently has 11,377 properties for sale. That is a 6% increase over this same time last year. That number is not bad when you compare it to a city like Phoenix, which has over 30,000 homes on the market!! As for average prices, the "New Listings" average list price is up 6.30%, to 328,479. In October 2007 the average list price was $309,024. Sold average sales prices increased 0.35%, to $241,447 from $240,606 in October 2007.

We also have a lower-than-average unemployment rate. Employment in the Austin-Round Rock region increased 1.9% between October 2007 and October 2008, outpacing many of Austin's economic development competitors, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On a personal note:

The TAAF Flag Football State Championship was this past weekend. The tournament was in Brownsville at an awesome sports complex. Our team, Austin Turbo, came in 5th out of more than 35 teams. We had high expectations for winning, but are very happy with our result and had a great time.

I am always reminded by a game like football, and my weekend at the state tournament, how important teamwork is, not only in a game like football, but in our personal and professional lives. My real estate team is as competitive as my football team . We work together to create an over-the-top client experience and have the skill level and experience to overcome any challenges that may arise during a real estate transaction.

Thanks for your time and interest

Ben