Valentine’s Day is a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards.

Now it’s 2012!  Ever thought about going above and beyond or doing something out of the ordinary for the one you love?  Need some ideas?  Well I’m

glad you asked!  Think about the joy and how overwhelmed your lover would be if they walked into their brand new home.  To make this happen

all you have to do is give me a call.  Shh, I promise I won’t tell!

We all know ExxonMobil is coming to The Woodlands and Spring, Texas.  Have you thought of the impact that is going to have on the housing market?  The article below gives a lot of details about the new ExxonMobil Campus.  There will be new neighborhoods moving in, too!

• Energy-efficient campus to be located on 385-acre wooded site in north Houston
• Complex will have multiple low-rise office buildings, laboratory, conference and training centers and employee amenities
• Construction and ongoing operations to provide significant economic benefits for local economy

HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ExxonMobil announced today the development of a new office campus in north Houston for employees currently working in a variety of locations in the Houston area.

The complex will be located on a 385-acre wooded site on company-owned land near the intersection of I-45 and the Hardy Toll Road. It will contain multiple low-rise office buildings, a laboratory, conference and training centers and facilities such as child care, a wellness center and other employee amenities.

“This new campus provides an opportunity to consolidate many of our Houston offices in one location, which will provide a high-quality working environment as our employees continue to support ExxonMobil’s mission of delivering energy to meet growing global needs,” said Bryan Milton, president of ExxonMobil Global Services Company.

“The complex will be constructed to high standards of energy efficiency and environmental stewardship, and will promote new opportunities for employee collaboration in their daily work.”

It is expected that most employees working in the corporation’s Houston Upstream head office activities, along with ExxonMobil Chemical Company and various staff support services, will be based at the campus.

Employees will move in phases as the buildings are constructed, beginning early 2014. Full occupancy for Houston-based employees is expected by 2015.

Construction and ongoing operations will create thousands of jobs, substantial state and local taxes and significant benefits to the Texas and Houston-area economy.

The decision to proceed with the campus resulted from a study of the corporation’s office requirements in the United States. Further study will determine whether any other U.S. office locations will be located at the campus in the future.

About ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, uses technology and innovation to help meet the world’s growing energy needs. ExxonMobil holds an industry-leading inventory of resources, is the largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products, and its chemical company is one of the largest in the world.

We have great schools, shopping, golf and restaurants galore.  My Champions Forest has it all. We are lucky enough to be surrounded by 2 Championship Golf Courses both of which have held PGA events. –I hate to tell some of you that it’s not just about the golf—but Champions is a great community and it’s people like you and I that make this a great area.  My wife and I shop, eat, socialize and most important we live here. So when you are looking for a community that has it all, look for me in the Champion Forest area, I’ll be at the Starbucks in Randall’s or Barnes and Nobles answering my email from the day or maybe at Lowes looking at how to spend my 10% off coupon.  If you would like to receive a discount coupon for our Lowes just email me at jack@rrea.com and I will put you on the Lowes mail out and when your interested in becoming part of our community or relocating from our area contact me at 936.777.2265 or jack@rrea.com.

Building community one home at a time.

One of my clients emailed me the link below.  He and I were talking the other day and he could not believe that we have had clients at RREA that have been over a year behind on their mortgages and still not foreclosed on.  It would have been unbelievable years ago, but in today’s market, it’s become the norm.  One of my agents closed on a short sale and the owners of the home walked away with $8K dollars after closing.  WOW!  The agent’s commission was less than $1,000 on the house.  The house was sold for less than $50K.  So the owner that got  foreclosed on walked away with almost one third of what the house sold for as a short sale.  This is free government money being given away to people who do not pay their mortgages.  What is wrong with this picture??

I worked on a short sale last year where the homeowner had a first and second mortgage.  After we found a buyer for the home, the second lien holder refused to take a settlement.  So although the first lienholder agreed to the deal, the buyer could not purchase the home because the second lienholder refused to take a settlement.  I have found that trying to do short sales on homes that have a first and second lienholder are much more difficult that short sales with just a first lien.  Unfortunately, the home foreclosed and the buyers lost the opportunity to purchase the home.  Short sales are tricky, so you need an experienced agent that can work the system to negotiate on your behalf with the mortgage company.  After you read this article, please leave thought below.  I would like to know how you feel about short sales.  If you or someone you know could potentially lose their home to foreclosure, please have them call me early enough so that we have time to sell the home before it forecloses.

National Article on Short Sales

Yesterday, the Justice Department and 49 out of 50 state Attorneys General announced a settlement agreement with 5 of the nation’s largest banks in the Robo-signing and Mortgage Service Fraud scandal that first came to light in late 2010.

The settlement, worth $25 billion dollars, was the largest government negotiated industry settlement since the Tobacco Industry settled in 1998.

In the Settlement, $5 billion is earmarked for $2000 payments to be distributed to borrowers who were illegally foreclosed on between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011. The remaining $20 billion will be used to help homeowners who are currently in danger of losing their homes by helping with loan modifications, principle reductions, refinancing, short sales, relocation assistance and other alternatives.

Stay tuned!   I’ll bring you more details on this story!

I had a great opportunity to sit down with Toy Wood, CEO of Greater Houston Builders Association, on “Price of Business” yesterday for two segments. Here is the second. You can find the first HERE.

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Great beginner social media class today at RREA

This post was published via iPhone app.

We are so happy to have Judy Reynolds join us at RREA!

We are so proud to welcome Esly Cruz to RREA!

I had a great opportunity to sit down with Toy Wood, CEO of Greater Houston Builders Association, on “Price of Business” yesterday for two segments. Here is the first.