Ep. 10 Houston Real Estate Radio

Welcome to this week’s edition of Houston Real Estate Radio!

We have another packed show for you today, guys! Here are some links to some of the topics on the show today. Don’t miss it, the show starts at 2PM on am700 KSEV or streamed live HERE. We are proud to be your voice for Houston Real Estate!!!

Here is a breakdown of the show:

• In the first segment I talk about some of the lease fraud happening in Houston. If you find a home to rent online (craigslist, etc) and the owner is out of town and asks you to wire the first month’s rent, it might be a scam. Meet your landlord or check them out. Don’t be scammed! If you can’t meet the landlord before leasing a home, have representation! Another problem for renters is if the landlord is paying his mortgage.

  As of May (the latest numbers from the MLS), Houston is having their 12th consecutive growth of sales. Inventory is at it’s lowest level in over 5 years.

• Jeff Wong and Jack Haymes join us for two segments. Jeff is in sales with Green Eco Builders. Jack Haymes is a Realtor with Register Real Estate Advisors. Jeff talks about how the energy efficiency of green technology fits nicely into the Houston lifestyle.
• Jay Richardson, Register Real Estate Advisors’ expert on foreclosures, joins us to talk investment in distressed properties.
• In the last segment, I talk about the President’s proposal to Congress for a program to offer refinancing to homeowners on their mortgages. See below for more information.

Want more information?

In our segment with Jay Richardson, we talked about investing in foreclosure properties. Here is the cash-on-cash return calculation we talked about last week.

Formula for Cash-on-Cash Return

Here is the segment with Green Eco Builders:

The White House is making a big push to pressure Congress to act on a refinancing proposal before the end of the year. This is a Google + hangout put on by the White House (and moderated by Zillow) to urge consumers to pressure their Congressmen to enact such a proposal. At “Houston Real Estate Radio,” we explore the proposal and ask the question “Is this good for our country?” In looking at proposals like this, it is important to look past individual sob stories and the people that will undoubtedly be helped by this, but look at the bigger picture on what the proposal will cost, who it will cost, and is the proposal right for our country and economy.

The bottom line is this event (you can watch the Google + hangout in it’s entirety below) was more a campaign event and less useful information. It always concerns me when the justification for a proposal or a program by the government is heavy on anecdotal sob stories from individuals instead of hard costs and numbers. This program is very hard to get to the bottom of. Any program like this is going to cost someone. Either the investors are going to take a haircut on their investment or the taxpayers are going to make up the difference. I am still not sure which is the case. Stay tuned in the coming weeks. We will get to the bottom of this.

Here is the video of the White House Google + hangout where Secretary Donovan urged people to pressure their Congressman to pass the President’s plan to allow universal refinancing of mortgages.

Here is the White House’s explanation of the proposal:

Here is an explanation of this program from Fox Business:

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See you next week! Don’t forget to call in your real estate questions to our answer line (open 24 hours/day!) 281.882.8088 or use Twitter with hashtag #HRER.

From 3-5PM today, RREA top producer Sheryl Hunter will be holding an open house in the beautiful Spring Lakes neighborhood in Spring, TX. If you are considering a move, you have to see this beautiful home!

Here is a map of the home:

View Larger Map

You can read more about this beautiful home here. We hope to see you there!
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