Register Real Estate Advisors

I think we all take water for granted. We just turn on the sink and there it flows. I had some water well issues recently and it made me really thankful for clean water. We forget it’s hard to live without it.

We have a lot of people moving to our Houston area. Could our water supply be in danger? Currently our existing infrastructure works well, but if we have another drought will it?

It is estimated that if Texas does nothing to implement new water supply projects or management strategies, then homes, businesses, and agricultural enterprises across the state will be in a water shortage by 2060.

Texas has 15 major river basins, 8 coastal basins, and 9 major and 21 minor groundwater aquifers, but water supplies vary significantly from year to year and from place to place. Because rainfall and stream flows in the state are unpredictable, communities have traditionally relied on reservoirs as part of water resource planning. However, reservoir storage per person has decreased in the state since the 1980′s. We are creating fewer reservoirs now than in the past.

The worst drought Texas has seen was in the 1950′s (on record.) We should probably plan for another big one. This summer, please conserve water. We use it and need it, but let’s not waste it!

We have a great show for you today. The show broadcasts at 1PM on KPRC AM950 in Houston and is available via the iHeartRadio mobile app. Enjoy the show!

Houston Real Estate Radio is now available on iTunes!

By the way, happy National Open House Weekend!

Here is a breakdown of the show:

• Real estate legend, Rita Santamaria, joins us to talk about what it takes to succeed in real estate and talk about her company’s 30 year celebration. You can see more of Rita and her wonderful team at Champions School of Real Estate.
• We have two segments with Brian Cweren, real estate attorney with the Cweren Law Firm. Brian talks evections and what to do if a tenant stops paying their rent. You can learn more about Brian and his team at MyApartmentLawyer.com.
• Wonder what is going on with iFest this weekend and next weekend? Kim Stoilis, President and CEO of the Houston Festival Foundation, joins us to talk about the 43rd Annual Houston International Festival (iFest 2013) coming up on April 20-21 and 27-28. You can learn more at iFest.org.

Here is some more information.
Rita Santamaria, President of Champions School of Real Estate:

Here is our first segment with Brian Cweren, real estate attorney:

More with Brian Cweren:

Kim Stoilis talking about the Houston International Festival:

Don’t forget to ask your real estate question this week to have it answered on the air. Call the 24hr Answer Line at 281.882.8088 or use hashtag #HRER on Twitter! Talk to you next week!

I will be holding this beautiful home (25903 Spring Lakes Haven Ct, Spring, TX 77373) open on Sunday, April 21st from 2-4.

I hope you can swing by and see this beautiful home in this beautiful neighborhood! See you there!

25903 Spring Lakes Haven Ct, Spring, TX 77373 (MLS # 10951484)

Lovely home in Spring Lakes is on a cul-de-sac close to entrance, parks, lakes & pools. 3-car tandum garage & double wide drive with plenty of room to park. Open floor plan w/vaulted ceilings. Carpets cleaned & stretched, walls w/fresh paint. Raised bar in kitchen w/stainless steel appl., formal dining rm, french door opens to a study. Bedrooms offer quaint areas for reading or studying. Huge gameroom up. Great floorplan, a must see house so add to your showing list. Rm. demensions are approx.

Property Type(s): Single-Family

Schools

Additional Details

Features

Location

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

(view all details for MLS #10951484)

Have you experienced a foreclosure or gone through a bankruptcy in the last few years? Have you been renting or living with family and ready to buy another home? Maybe you want to relocate to another area and purchase a house. If so, your biggest hurdle will be getting another mortgage.

People in your situation are starting to trickle back into the market. They have been rebuilding their credit and saving money for a down payment. If you think you are now ready to buy, there are a few things you need to know.

Home buyers who have experienced a foreclosure or bankruptcy can expect waiting periods before they can get a mortgage approved. If you had a foreclosure on a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan you can expect to wait seven years before you can get another mortgage. Sometimes it’s as low as three years, but that is when there are extenuating circumstances like death of a wage earner. If you had a Chapter 7 or 11 Bankruptcy it will take about four years before you can get a new mortgage. And with Chapter 13 it will take about two years from the discharge date or four years from the dismissal date.

Now if you had a VA Loan, it’s generally two years before you can get another loan whether it’s from a foreclosure or bankruptcy. With a VA loan, the buyer must have paid back the VA for it’s losses. After a Chapter 13 you can get another VA loan after making 12 months of payments to a court-appointed trustee. However, the trustee or the bankruptcy judge must approve the new credit.

If you had a mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration that was foreclosed on, you’ll have to wait three years. However, FHA may grant an exception if the foreclosure was a result of serious illness or death of a wage earner and you’ve established good credit. If you filed a Chapter seven bankruptcy then you’ll have two years after the discharge with re-establishing good credit before you can get a loan. And if it was a Chapter 13, your current or required payments will be considered.

These are the basic guidelines to follow, but you should talk to your lender about the obstacles that stand between you and home ownership. Don’t be ashamed. Your lender and Realtor can help you get back on track so that you can own a home in the future. Credit does heal over time and with planning on the owner’s part.

At Register Real Estate Advisors, I highly recommend Mike Lesmeister and his team at Ameripro Funding. Call our office at 281.288.3500 and ask for an agent to help you and Mike Lesmeister. With our team on your side, you’ll most likely be ready to purchase another home real soon.

Earnest money has been one of the many new problems when purchasing a home. All of the mortgage lending changes have caused difficulties, but this one is a tricky one.

Lenders are now required to verify where the funds for the earnest money came from if it will appear on the HUD or if the borrower requires it to make their minimum down payment contribution. The lenders want a copy of the cashier’s check and/or canceled earnest money check and a printout or bank statement showing the funds coming from the borrower’s account. This means that the borrower cannot decide to use cash from home, or sell his guitar collection to his neighbor, or sell his tools to the guy at work who just quit and left no forwarding address…. I am sure you get the picture. And a friend or relative cannot write the check (unless they are going to produce gift documentation) and the realtor can never write a check for the borrower for earnest money. Always be sure the person that provides the earnest money is actually going to be on the loan and is not a non-purchasing spouse, or boyfriend, or fiancé or whatever, unless they are aware we will have to document as a gift from them with all the appropriate back up.

Investors are really picky about his one, so help us all out by looking at those earnest money checks before you turn then in to the title company!

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas is again a top destination for many people.

According to the results of U-Haul International Inc.’s latest National Migration Trend report, more families moved to Houston in 2012 than any other U.S. city. This marks the fourth year in a row that Houston has claimed that honor.

Other Texas cities landing among the top 50 were San Antonio (5), Austin (6), Dallas (17), Plano (25) and Fort Worth (26).

The rankings reflect more than 1.6 million one-way U-Haul truck transactions in 2012. A corporate release states that the findings are not reflective of overall growth.

However, the company also calculated the percentage of inbound moves versus outbound moves for each city to get an idea of which cities had the most overall growth. Austin ranked third with a 7.3 percent growth rate. Dallas was 14th at 3.16 percent, Corpus Christi 18th at 1.79 percent, Houston 20th at 1.43 percent and Plano 25th at 1.03 percent.

To learn more about Texas growth and the challenges that come with it, tune into this week’s Real Estate Red Zone podcast. Real Estate Center Research Economists Dr. Jim Gaines and Dr. Harold Hunt discuss their latest Tierra Grande article, “Crowd Control: Planning for Texas Population Growth.”

Are you moving to The Woodlands, Spring, or Houston, Texas? If you are relocating, you need to know that our market is hot! We are experiencing very aggressive home sales which is shrinking our inventory. It’s simple economics! This continues to drive up home prices, which is good news for sellers. Home sales were up by 17% over last year during the month of March. As supply shrinks the home prices are going up and we are seeing competing offers. The average days on market is currently 3.5 months.

Houston has been ranked number one for job growth among the 20 most popular cities in the United States. We see new families moving here daily for the jobs offered.

There are fewer foreclosures and short sales on the market. So if you are looking for a deal, it might be gone.

This weekend, April 20-21 is National Open House Weekend. Register Real Estate Advisors, known as RREA, will be holding open one of our homes for buyers to preview. This home is down the street from the brokerage in the gated community of Spring Lakes. The address is 25903 Spring Lakes Haven. Look for our signs to guide you in! This is a speedy market, so even if this house sells before you get there, we have more for sale in Spring Lakes and other area communities. Please join us to celebrate!

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We have a great show for you today. The show broadcasts at 1PM on KPRC AM950 in Houston and is available via the iHeartRadio mobile app. Enjoy the show!

Houston Real Estate Radio is now available on iTunes!

Here is a breakdown of the show:

• We have two segments with Sandy Barton, Vice President of Membership of the Houston NorthWest Chamber of Commerce, about some of the economic development in and around the Harris county area. You can learn more about Sandy and her team HERE.
• In honor of tax day tomorrow, Gary Cooper, owner of Gary N Cooper CPA PC, calls in to talk taxes. You can learn more about Gary and his team HERE.

Here is some more information.

Here is the first segment with Houston NW Chamber of Commerce:

Here is part 2 of the Chamber interview:

Here is the segment with Gary Cooper:

Don’t forget to ask your real estate question this week to have it answered on the air. Call the 24hr Answer Line at 281.882.8088 or use hashtag #HRER on Twitter! Talk to you next week!