The September 2011 real estate search results are in and Houston, TX was the #31 most searched market in the country in September 2011, based on data released today by Realtor.com, the #1 homes for sale real estate web site.  Median list prices for homes in Houston, TX hit $174,000 in September 2011, a 2.35% increase from one year ago this month, and -0.51% decrease from August 2011.  The national median list price in September 2011 was $190,000, a 1.60% increase compared to September 2010.  The median age of inventory in Houston, TX in September was 85 days, a 2.41% increase compared to August 2011.  Nationally, the median age of inventory was 107 days, a 3.88% increase compared to August.

The latest MLS release with November 2011 residential sales statistics has been posted in the HAR Newsroom. Please click HERE  to read the release. It will be distributed to the media today so it will likely be reported in the newspapers and on TV, radio and the Internet in the next couple of days. For your convenience, you may also view the video of HAR Chairman Carlos P. Bujosa discussing the statistics embedded within the release.

In an effort to keep our members as informed as possible about the real estate market, we wanted to make you aware of the latest statistics. Obviously, it is important to remember that “all real estate is local,” and these figures are for the aggregate of the greater Houston area. That is why we strive to encourage all consumers to seek the guidance and assistance of their REALTOR® who has the most experience and market knowledge about their particular localized market.

HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP has announced plans to build a petroleum condensate processing facility near the company’s existing terminal on the Houston Ship Channel.

The locally based pipeline company said it will spend about $130 million on the project, which it will own and operate. The facility is expected to be completed in January 2014.

When completed, the plant will have an initial throughput of 25,000 barrels of oil per day, with the ability to process up to 100,000 barrels per day in the future.

The announcement comes on the brinks of the company’s $220 million pipeline that will transport crude from the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas to the Houston Ship Channel. The line is scheduled to be completed by mid-2012.

NEW YORK (Forbes.com) – When it comes to which states will add the highest percentage of jobs over the next few years, Forbes reports Texas will lead the way.

Total employment here is forecast to expand 2.9 percent annually through 2015, according to research firm Moody’s Analytics. That represents 1.6 million new net jobs for the state over five years.

Forbes points to Texas’ “low tax, business-friendly climate with a surging population that offers a nearly unlimited supply of young labor” as reasons for the growth. However, it also acknowledges that the state’s rapid population growth has pushed its unemployment rate to 8.5 percent, the highest in 24 years.

SMITHVILLE (Austin American-Statesman) – The crew of the popular television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is coming to Smithville to build a new home for a local
volunteer firefighter.

Mizzy Zdroj and her family lost their home while Zdroj was fighting area wildfires late last summer.

The ABC show and Bastrop homebuilder EFC Custom Homes will build a 2,500-sf home to replace the 724-sf home the family lost.

The new home will cost $250,000. With 100 workers plus community volunteers, EFC President Eric Christophe said construction will take only four and a half days.

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas’ employment growth rate is
slowing down thanks to government job losses, but the state’s private sector is
still cranking out jobs and offsetting government job losses, according to the
latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy.

The state created 15.4 percent of total jobs created in the United States
from October 2010 to October 2011.

Texas gained 232,500 nonfarm jobs during the period, an annual growth rate
of 2.2 percent compared with 1.2 percent for the United States. The state’s
private sector added 287,900 jobs, an annual growth rate of 3.4 percent
compared with 1.7 percent for the nation’s private sector.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 8.4 percent
in October 2011 from 8.2 percent a year earlier. The nation’s rate
decreased from 9.7 to 9.0 percent.

All Texas industries except the information industry and the state’s
government sector had more jobs in October 2011 than in October 2010. The
state’s mining and logging industry ranked first in job creation, followed by
the professional and business services industry, and the leisure and
hospitality industry.

All Texas metro areas except Abilene, Wichita Falls, Texarkana and College
Station-Bryan had more jobs in October 2011 than in October 2010. Victoria
ranked first in job creation followed by Laredo, Corpus Christi, Odessa and
Lubbock.

The state’s actual unemployment rate in October 2011 was 8 percent. Midland
had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Amarillo, Odessa, Lubbock and
College Station-Bryan.

This is a reprint of an article by Ali Anari in the July Tierra Grande Magazine.

During the past decade, Americans witnessed a home price bubble develop and then burst.  The aftermath showed how broadly these
bubbles impact the U.S. economy.

To monitor real estate price movements leading to price bubbles, a Real Estate Center research program developed economic indicators
that help detect bubbles at both the national and regional levels.

Detecting Bubbles

Real estate bubbles are rapid rises in real estate prices not related to or driven by economic fundamentals, followed by rapid price
declines.  In residential real estate markets, property rents, family income and population are economic fundamentals
for house prices.  That is, in the long run, home prices are driven mainly by these three economic indicators.  In the short run, the availability and costs
of residential mortgage loans, changes in local job markets and imbalances between housing supply and demand can boost home prices, though these are not
economic fundamentals.

Economists have developed several economic indicators for monitoring and forecasting real estate price movements by investigating the
relationships between economic fundamentals and real estate prices.  Comparisons of long-term real estate price forecasts with their short-term price fluctuations can provide insights into the probable directions of prices.

The Real Estate Center has developed two major economic indicators for monitoring residential real estate prices:  housing costs as a percentage of total family
income; and, sales-price-to-rent ratio.   A Center research study (see Center Publication 1944, “Consumer Spending Survey:  Texas Downturn had an Upside”) found that the larger the share of housing expenditures in consumers’ budgets in large metro areas, the more home prices declined from 2007 to 2009.  That study showed the importance of monitoring the percentage of family income spent on housing as a leading indicator for future home price movements.  This indicator offers insights into the likely growth rates of home
prices in a region.

Recently released 2009 housing data from the U.S. Census Bureau allowed the Center to investigate whether changes in home prices in
Texas metropolitan areas from 2007 to 2009 were related to share of housing costs in family incomes.  The research
shows that home price appreciation was lower in Texas cities where housing costs represented a larger portion of family income.

The sales-price-to-rent ratio also can predict real estate price bubbles.  This idea is borrowed from asset pricing literature and the stock market, where the ratio of stock prices
to dividends, earnings or profits is used to determine whether stock prices are overvalued or undervalued.  Stock prices are the discounted values of expected future earnings–the larger the expected future earnings, the higher the stock prices.   If expectations prove unrealistic, stock prices generally fall.

Price-to-rent ratios in real estate markets resemble stock-price-to-earnings ratios in stock markets.  Large ratios of
home prices to annual rents are indications of potential home price bubbles.  Estimating price-to-rent ratios
for Texas metropolitan areas and comparing them with national averages, the Center asserted in two previous articles that the risk of a price bubble in the
Texas residential markets was low (see Center publications 1731, “Bubble Talk” [July 2005] and 1854, “Bubble Watch 2008” [April 2008]).

Housing Data:  2007-09              Housing  Median Price Growth Rate,  Costs Percent   Annual
Rent       Price/Rent 2009                2007              Percentage of Income           in 2009                   Ratio

U.S. Average                 $185,200     $194,300                    -4.7                25.0             $10,104             18.3

Houston-Sugar Land

     -Baytown               $139,800     $135,800           3.0                  23.3                       $10,176              13.7

Great Recession Housing Costs, Prices

The median value of owner-occupied housing units in the United States fell 4.7 percent from 2007-09, from $194,000 to $185,000 [see
table].  Over the period, only two Texas metro areas, Tyler and Victoria, recorded home price declines.  The median value of owner-occupied housing
units in Victoria and Tyler fell 3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, from 2007 to 2009.

Odessa had the largest percentage of home price appreciation (28.3 percent) followed by Abilene (13.7 percent), Beaumont-Port Arthur (13
percent), Midland (12.1 percent) and El Paso (11.1 percent).  Home price appreciation in the Odessa and Midland petroplexes likely was influenced by record high oil prices in 2008
when the price of West Texas intermediate crude oil reached an all-time high of $140.20 per barrel.

The state’s larger metropolitan areas also reported home price appreciation during the Great Recession.
Austin-Round Rock experienced the largest increase (6.7 percent) followed by San Antonio (5.5 percent), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (3 percent),
and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (3 percent).

Housing costs include property taxes, insurance expenses, maintenance costs and mortgage costs.
Housing costs as a percentage of total income in all Texas metro areas were lower than the national average of 25 percent, except in Brownsville-Harlingen
(26.5 percent), Laredo (28.7 percent) and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (25.7 percent).  The higher than national
average percentages of housing costs in these three metro areas mainly reflect lower total family incomes rather than higher housing costs caused by higher home
prices.

Odessa housing costs represented the lowest percentage of income (17.7 percent), followed by Midland (19.6 percent), Beaumont-Port Arthur
(19.6 percent) and Longview (20.6 percent).

Among the larger metro areas, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington had housing costs representing the highest percentage of total family incomes
(24.3 percent) followed by Austin-Round Rock (24 percent), Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (23.3 percent) and San Antonio (22.6 percent), all lower than the national
average of 25 percent.

Plotting home price appreciation in the Great Recession against the housing costs as a percentage of total income for Texas metropolitan areas in 2007 reveals a negative relationship between home price appreciation and share of housing costs.   The larger the share of housing costs, the smaller the home price appreciation.

Texas, U.S. Sales-Price-to-Rent Ratios

Sales-price-to-rent ratios for all the state’s metro areas in 2009 were smaller than the national average of 18.3.  Austin-Round Rock ha the largest
price-to-rent ratio (17.4) followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (14.7) and El Paso (14.6).  San Angelo has the
smallest price-to-rent ratio (10.1) followed by Odessa (10.3) and Brownsville-Harlingen (10.9).

Comparisons of housing costs as percentages of family income and price-to-rent ratios for the state’s metropolitan areas with the
corresponding national averages once again show that the risk of a major home price decline is low in the foreseeable future and that Texas has a healthy
residential real estate market.

(Dr. Anari is a research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.)

SEATTLE, Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Home values in the United States
showed minimal monthly appreciation in August of 2011, according to the Zillow®
Real Estate Market Report(i). The Zillow Home Value Index(ii) increased 0.1
percent from July to August. On a year-over-year basis home values declined 4.5
percent to $172,600. Home values have fallen 28.3 percent since they peaked in
June 2006.

Regionally, 68 of the 157 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) covered by experienced monthly home value appreciation, though minimal in many
areas. Most notably, two of the hardest hit markets, Detroit and Ft. Myers, Fla., have now seen five and nine consecutive months of appreciation,
respectively. Seventy-four markets saw home value depreciation and 15 markets, including Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., remained flat.

The foreclosure liquidation rate, which measures the number of homes lost to the bank, stayed steady at around 9.2 out of every 10,000 homes foreclosed in
August. This is down from the rate of 10.9 out of every 10,000 homes in October 2010, before the robo-signing lawsuits slowed the pace of foreclosures in most
states.  However, foreclosure liquidations remained high in many of the hardest hit metros in California, Nevada, and Arizona. In Las Vegas and Phoenix
more than 30 out of every 10,000 homes were liquidated in August.

“Due to the robo-signing controversy, the pace of foreclosure liquidations has been slower than it would be otherwise, which is impacting
home value trends positively. Eventually the pace will pick up again, putting more bank-owned homes into local markets and putting additional downward
pressure on prices,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “We remain encouraged about the organic stabilization in home values that
we have been seeing absent the federal home buyer tax credits, but we remain concerned about the impact that recent economic turmoil and continued weak
economic indicators will have on future home sales and home value trends.”

“At this point, we maintain the expectation that a definitive bottom will not occur until 2012 at the earliest.”

The full national report, in its interactive format, will be available at www.zillow.com/local-info at 8:00am
ET on Tuesday, Oct. 11.  Additionally, in most areas data is available at
the state, metro, county, city, ZIP code and neighborhood level.

About Zillow, Inc.

Zillow (NASDAQ: Z) is the leading real estate information marketplace,
providing vital information about homes, real estate listings and mortgages
through its website and mobile applications, enabling homeowners, buyers,
sellers and renters to connect with real estate and mortgage professionals best
suited to meet their needs. More than 24 million unique users visited Zillow’s
websites and mobile applications in September 2011. Zillow, Inc. operates
Zillow.com®, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Mobile and Postlets. The
company is headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow.com, Zillow, Zestimate and Postlets are registered trademarks of
Zillow, Inc.

(i) The data in Zillow’s Real Estate Market Reports is aggregated from
public sources by a number of data providers for 157 metropolitan statistical
areas dating back to 1996. Mortgage and home loan data is typically recorded in
each county and publicly available through a county recorder’s office.

(ii) The Zillow Home Value Index is the median Zestimate® valuation for a given
geographic area on a given day and includes the value of all single-family
residences, condominiums and cooperatives, regardless of whether they sold
within a given period. The Home Value Index at the national level is calculated
using a weighted average of the median home value for each county and includes
data from 440 metropolitan statistical areas. It is expressed in dollars and is
for a particular geographic region.

SOURCE Zillow, Inc.

As of 2.1.2007 the basic rates for title insurance are below:

Policies up to                 Basic

and including             Premium

$   30,000                    $    366

$   40,000                    $    434

$   50,000                    $    503

$   60,000                    $    571

$   70,000                    $    640

$   80,000                    $    707

$   90,000                    $    775

$100,000                     $    843

$110,000                     $    896

$115,000                     $    923

$120,000                     $    950

$125,000                     $    977

$130,000                     $1,003

$140,000                     $1,057

$150,000                     $1,110

$160,000                     $1,163

$170,000                     $1,217

$180,000                     $1,270

$200,000                     $1,377

$215,000                     $1,457

$225,000                     $1,511

$240,000                     $1,591

$250,000                     $1,644

$300,000                     $1,911

$400,000                     $2,445

$500,000                     $2,979

$600,000                     $3,513

AUSTIN (Texas Real Estate Commission) – New state laws intended to strengthen real estate licensees’ accountability
to consumers have taken effect or will take effect in 2012.

As of Sept. 1, 2011:

• Property managers for single-family residential units must be licensed. Persons
  involved in leasing such properties have always been required to hold a
  real estate broker or sales license, but managers not engaged in leasing
  did not.
• Other than sole proprietorships, all business entities that engage in
  practices defined under the law as “brokerage activity” must also be
  licensed. Formerly, certain partnerships were exempt.
• The updated law acknowledges the practice of producing “broker price
  opinions” as a common broker activity. It more clearly distinguishes
  these from “appraisals,” which require a separate and distinct appraiser
  license from the Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board, and require
  extensive education in valuation techniques.

Effective next year:

• Beginning in January 2012, applicants for a broker license will need to have four
  years of experience as a licensed salesperson, up from the current
  two-year requirement, plus demonstrate practical competency by providing a
  detailed list of brokerage activities engaged in by the applicant during
  this same period.
• Brokers and other direct supervisors of licensed salespersons who seek to renew a
  license after Sept. 1, 2012, will need to have completed a new six-hour
  course in “Broker Responsibilities” in addition to the combined six-hour
  courses on legal and ethics updates.