The goal of my blog is to bring you the best consumer housing information available. That’s why I am incorporating two new blog videos per week that address consumer housing issues. Please call me if you have a real estate need. Our team is here to help you with all of your real estate needs!

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Bankrate.com) – Texas has the second-highest closing costs in the country, according to Bankrate.com’s annual survey.

On average, the origination and third-party fees on a $200,000 mortgage in Texas this year total $4,708.

 The highest closing costs on the same mortgage elsewhere in the country is in New York, at $5,623.

 Nationally, the average closing cost is $3,741, a 36.6 percent increase over 2009.

AUSTIN (Texas Association of Realtors) – The Texas Association of Realtors (TAR) has announced an initiative to help more homebuyers take advantage of housing assistance programs and make homeownership more affordable for Texans.

According to TAR, Texas ranks 44th out of 50 states in overall homeownership, partly because of a need for more affordable housing. That homeownership gap is widest in Texas among Hispanics, who account for 36 percent of the state’s population but only 5 percent of homeowners.

“The good news for our state is that many programs do exist to make homeownership more affordable for Texans,” said TAR Chairman Bill Jones. “The bad news is that few people know about them and even fewer know how to take advantage of them.”

To address this issue, TAR has launched TxHomePrograms.org, an online searchable database of housing assistance programs in Texas.

In addition, Texas Realtors are partnering with local lenders, housing counselors and others throughout the state to host educational events for consumers. At these events, attendees will learn about workforce housing issues, consumer needs for workforce housing and Texas-specific programs available to make homeownership more affordable.

TEXAS (Real Estate Center) – Just over 21,717 existing single-family homes were sold in Texas last month, roughly the same as a year ago, according to MLS data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
The median price was down 1 percent to $153,300 during the same period, and the state finished the month with a 7.8-month inventory of existing homes.
Here is how select Texas cities fared in March (data current as of July 26, 2010):
Sales Change from
Last Year Median
Price Change from
Last Year Months’
Inventory
Austin 2,216 down 2% $202,800 up 4% 7.2
Brownsville 50 down 14% $96,000 up 11% na
Dallas 4,554 down 3% $170,100 up 2% 6.8
El Paso 736 up 53% $132,600 down 1% 6.8
Fort Worth 833 up 5% $111,800 down 6% 6.9
Houston 6,175 up 3% $158,100 down 3% 7.5
Kerrville 30 down 35% $151,400 down 13% 22.8
Lufkin 56 up 2% $120,000 up 9% na
Odessa 131 up 87% $125,300 down 6% 7.9
San Antonio 1,924 down 1% $151,700 down 3% 8.2
Texas 21,717 0% $153,300 down 1% 7.8
Additional home sales data for these and other major Texas cities are available on the Center’s website.

Starting August 1st I will begin a new video blog series. The Houston Association of Realtors created 61 short videos for consumers that are excellent. They are very informative and I am so excited that I can share all of them with you on my blog. I will share two videos per week. We hope you’ll love them as much as we do and share them with you facebook friends!

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