Register Real Estate Advisors

First of all, home ownership is the American Dream.  It’s creating a home for your family with potential finacial rewards in the future.  How can you benefit in the future from home ownership?  Appreciation.  Usually land and homes appreciate in value over time.  Historically, your home will be worth more in the future than when you purchased it, but you can’t sell it the year after you purchase it.  It’s considered a long term investment.  As your home appreciates and you have been paying down the mortgage, you can use the equity in your home to move to a more expensive or nicer home.  Or move to a smaller home and use that equity to pay off bills, pay for a child’s college, or fund your retirement.  It gives you some flexibility for your future.  If you don’t want to sell the home, you can still tap into the equity by refinancing or getting a home equity loan to remodel or make a large purchase.  Basically, you can leverage your property.  This is just another benefit of home ownership.  Lastly, you get tax breaks when you own a home.  You can deduct property taxes and mortgage interest.  Owning a home has always been a wise investment.  If you would like to know more about the benefits of home ownership, please call Register Real Estate Advisors at 281.288.3500 where we can advise you on purchasing land, a home, or any residential or commercial property.  Our Realtors fall under a strict code of ethics and can help you make the best financial decision for your family!

Shadow Creek Ranch is located in the City of Pearland, just minutes away from Houston’s downtown and Texas Medical Center. It is located on the highway 288 corridor just South of Beltway 8 and is near many hospitals, day care facilities, and churches. Exciting News for travelers! It is just minutes away from Hobby Airport.  This community has lots of amenities and entertainment for your family to enjoy. Check this out! It has the Diamond Bay Water Park and two recreation centers, Reflection Bay Recreation Center and Emerald Bay Recreation Center.  There is also a 22 mile hike and bike network, and a town center with shopping and dinning. Can’t ask for anything better then living in Shadow Creek Ranch!

As a member of the GHBA, RREA received the Houston Custom Home Builders Resource Guide.  The article below was reprinted from an article in the 2011 Resource Guide.  I felt it was very informative for consumers and wanted to share it with you so when you purchase a new home, you will know how to maintain it.  It’s very important that you maintain the home so that the warranty will work in your favor.  I hope you enjoy this information:

Maintaining a clean home is one way to ensure its longevity.  Here are some tips for properly maintaining some of the systems in your new home.

Heating and Cooling Systems

• Late summer or early fall are the ideal times to do an annual inspection and cleaning of these systems.
• Change or wash the filters every three months.
• If you have a gas furnace, keep your pilot light burning during the summer to help keep the furnace dry and prevent corrosion.
• Registers help regulate the flow of air and maintain the desired temperature in your home.  Keep registers closed in rooms you don’t use to save on cooling/heating costs.

Plumbing

• Every member of your family should know where the intake valves are located.  Label each one.
• If any of your appliances develop a leak, inspect your drain trap.  A partially clogged drain can cause overflow.  Use a plunger or a plumber’s snake to unclog the drain.  If you need to, use boiling water to help unclog a partially opened drain.  Call a plumber if these techniques don’t work.
• A worn washer, a loose part in a faucet or steam in a hot water pipe are generally the causes of a noisy pipe.  Do not hesitate to repair the noise—vibrations can follow the noise and lead to leaks.

Gutters and Downspouts

• Clear away leaves, tree limbs and other debris from gutters and downspouts.
• Turn the downspouts away from your home’s foundation.
• Every four to six years, paint gutters that are not made of aluminum or vinyl to help prevent rust.

Remember to read the instruction manual for every appliance in your new home.  The manuals provide recommended cleaning and maintenance schedules.  Also familiarize yourself with any warranties you have on both the house and its systems.  Some warranties may be voided if problems arise because of failure to perform routine maintenance.

Did you know that January 13th is “Make Your Dream Come True Day?”  Maybe

your dream is leasing or purchasing a home. Or maybe your dream is putting your

home on the market to sale. Well, go ahead and take the first step by giving me a call.

I would love to help you make your dream come true!

Are you planning to buy a home near the new Exxon Mobile Houston Campus?  Exxon Mobile has been planning to consolidate many of its Houston offices into a new campus which will relocate many of the employees.  The new campus will be located on a 385 acre site between Spring and The Woodlands in Harris County.  Move in is slated for early 2014, so if you will be moving to this campus you will want to relocate your family soon.  Register Real Estate Advisors is located within five miles of the new campus.  Our agents are well trained and specialize in the surrounding communities.  If you are planning to relocate to this area, move your family with the security of an agent that knows the area well and can help you find the best property to meet your family’s needs.  Call us today to find the agent that will best meet your needs at 281.288.3500.

The economic impact of this new campus has been estimated to create 44,000 jobs.  That will mean a lot of people moving to the Spring and Woodlands area.  This project will provide significant economic benefits for Texas and the local economy even while under construction.  It is estimated that housing prices will rise as we approach 2014.  So I encourage you to begin planning your move now so that you can get the best interest rate, location, and price for your new home.

I feel it is very important and necessary to advise Consumers to be aware of an alarming issue in the real estate community.  Right now the market is down and has been since 2007.  As a result, many long time agents are getting full time employment jobs and leaving their real estate careers for the weekends.  As a consumer with a real estate need, you will want a full time Realtor that can help you anytime, not just after business hours.  The same can be true for your lender and inspector.  You want someone you can not only get in contact with, but someone with a focus on their real estate career.  Someone who has the experience, training, and dedication for every real estate market.  We all know the re market swings up and down, but if you are an agent that’s not in it for the long haul, I would not want you helping me with one of the biggest and most important decisions in my life.  Please choose wisely when you pick a Realtor.  

Ask your Realtor questions about their dedication to the industry and what alternate income streams they have.  You may find your Realtor really isn’t a real estate agent at all, they may be a flight attendant, a lender, insurance salesman, or waiter.  Ask the questions and consumers beware of part time realtors who want to make money off of you in real estate without having to commit to the industry. 

Choose someone who keeps up with industry news and is ready to help you any day of the week!  Someone who works in real estate daily! 

At RREA, you will find dedicated Realtors that are experienced and in business for the long haul, no matter what the market is doing!

With housing interest rates still at historic lows, now is a great time to apply for a mortgage.  At Register Real Estate Advisors, we have an in house lender that can get you pre-approved for a mortgage.  You can complete our secure online application at RREA.com by following the “mortgage” links.

Currently, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rates are below 5%, according to Freddie Mac—among the lowest rates recorded in 40 years.  As recently as June 2007, those rates were almost 7%, and they were in the double-digits a little over 20 years ago.

Why are interest rates so low?  Much of it is due to the recent recession and its aftermath.  With the economy in the dumps, demand for loans went down.  At the same time, investors were looking for safe places to put their money.  Many investors moved away from stocks and towards fixed-return investments such as U.S. treasury securities and mortgages.  The Federal Reserve increased funds in the financial system to keep interest rates low and to support the mortgage market.  The combination of weak loan demand and the influx of funds translated into low interest rates on mortgages and other loans.  This is a great advantage for home buyers that have good credit.

Since the middle of 2009, the economy in the United States has gotten better, but the recession did not end quickly and continues to drag on.  The economy is still in the early stages of recovery.  The interest rates will probably go up over the next two years, so homeowners should take advantage now.  Why aren’t more taking advantage now?  Some don’t have good enough credit to get a loan, while others have lost their jobs and no longer have the stability of income to purchase.  Others are afraid of how long the recovery of the economy will take, so they don’t want to commit to a new mortgage.  If you have a good income and good credit, this might be the best time to purchase a home.  This opportunity will not last forever because as the U.S. economy rebounds, demand for loans will rise.  When the Federal Reserve sees that the economy is in better shape, it will probably take away the additional liquidity it has injected into the financial markets and interest rates will rise in the not too distant future.  Most consumers do not realize that when interest rates go up, the effect on monthly payments can be dramatic.  A $200,000, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with a 5% interest rate has a monthly payment of around $1,000.  At 6% the monthly payments increase to about $1,200—an increase of nearly $200 a month.  Total interest payments over the life of the loan increase by thousands of dollars.

Home prices have stabilized or even started to inch upwards in many markets, so it is unlikely prices will drop any more.  Not could be the best time to purchase a home in American History.  To find your dream home anywhere in the Houston area, call RREA today.  We have highly educated, experienced agents, that can help you find the home of your dreams and protect you in the purchase of one of your largest investments.  Call us to day to get started – 281.288.3500.

Do you have your new year’s plan in place?  Do you have plans to relocate, upsize, or downsize? The first quarter of next year in real estate in the Houston, Tx area looks good.  Spring, The Woodlands, and Montgomery county areas, is especially in a good position for growth. The construction of Exxon’s new headquarters, new corporation relocating to the area.  I believe you’re going to see a sufficient demand for house’s in these areas.  This will be a good time to list your home for sale. As you know as demand increases, so do the prices.  This may be the time to get a good price for your home, and still be able to purchase home for reasonable amount.

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced this week that it will revise its total existing home sales and unsold inventory data downward by as much as 20 percent.  The Real Estate Center’s housing market expert, Research Economist Dr. Jim Gaines, said the revision is because of sales reporting issues as well as NAR’s internal adjustment process to convert reported MLS sales into total existing home sales.  “NAR extrapolates the reported MLS sales data into estimated total existing home sales based on adjustment factors developed from the 2000 census, which are now outdated,” Gaines said.  “NAR said it wants to avoid double counting duplicate sales records from consolidated MLSs and to better account for shifts in population, fewer for-sale-by-owner sales and other factors. Normally, NAR adjusts the sales based on decennial census results, but the 2010 census did not collect home sales data as previous censuses did. NAR had to find other ways to make adjustments and backdate their results.”  The revision could make the housing bust reported over the past five years look statistically even deeper than originally reported.  “Reported existing home sales during the past five years have been hovering around five million units per year, the lowest sales volume in more than a decade,” Gaines said. “If the pace of sales is significantly lower than initially reported, it may take longer than originally anticipated to clear the so-called ‘shadow inventory.’”  The revisions should have little to no impact on those who use the Center’s sales data, Gaines said.  “The Center only provides sales and listing inventory data as reported by each MLS with no overall adjustments,” he said. “Consolidation of many of the larger MLS services some years ago eliminated most of the duplication problems and other reporting issues associated with the NAR database. The Center also scrubs the reported sales data to eliminate possible duplicates, so the sales reported by the Center are not total home sales, but rather the volume of sales submitted by the local MLS.”  The revised data, which will be released Dec. 21, will not include the reported number of months of inventory, monthly percentage changes or home prices. These data are expected to remain the same regardless of the sales and inventory or inventory adjustments.

At the end of 2009, 10% of mortgages had at least 1-payment past due and another 5% of mortgages were in the foreclosure process.  At the end of the 3rd quarter of 2011 8% of mortgages had at least 1-payment past due and another 4% of mortgages were in the foreclosure process.  Currently, there are fewer homes being foreclosed on.  Many families are concerned about inflation in the US.  It has caused prices to rise throughout the country by about 64% over the last 20 years.  That’s an annual increase of 2.5%. An example that looks grim is that a person who retired December of 1990 on a fixed income with no cost of living adjustments would have 61% of their purchasing power as of December of 2010.  That surprising example keeps consumers teetering between purchasing homes and staying in their current homes.  The good news for Houston is that our current housing inventory has reduced, interest rates are low, and we have the most stable housing market in the country.  Consumers buying homes in Houston, Texas have a lot more buying power than home buyers in other areas of the country.