Register Real Estate Advisors

When you are purchasing a property, whether a townhouse or single family home, you need a Realtor that specializes in that area. You will want your Realtor to evaluate the community where you are considering your purchase. If you’re looking to buy a property for investment purposes, you will want to know the rental rates in the area and how long it takes to find tenants. If you are purchasing a home for your family, be sure you know the statistics of the neighborhood. For example, the foreclosure rates and owner occupancy rates will be important. These factors can impact your loan options.

AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – In May, a total of 9,055 Texas homes entered the foreclosure process, a 3
percent increase from April according to Realty Trac Inc.

The total represents about one in every 1,074 houses in the state. This
amount, however, is down 19 percent compared to May 2010.

Nationally 214,927 homes entered foreclosure in May a 2 percent decrease
from April and a 33 percent decrease from May 2010.

Texas ranked 28th nationally in foreclosure rates.

TEXAS (Real Estate Center, The Herald-Zeitung) – Despite rising foreclosure rates in the United States (now nearly 32 percent), the rate in Texas is down 14 percent since last year.

Jim Gaines, research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, said the Texas housing market is doing very well compared with the rest of the nation.

“We’re being compared to large, high-growth states like Florida, New York, California and Illinois, and our housing market is in much better shape. This is partly because about four or five years ago, we didn’t have the big run-up in prices that many of those states had,” Gaines said.

Texas also benefits from a lack of overbuilding, which often creates an excess of inventory to drive down home prices.

Affordable homes, low mortgage and interest rates, and first-time homebuyer tax credits also make this an ideal time to buy a home, according to Gaines.