Register Real Estate Advisors

There are several changes to Texas Laws that affect real estate professionals, property owners, and tenants that will go into effect January 1, 2012.  One of the changes affects how buyers can get an HOA resale certificate.  Another makes changes to owner’s and lender’s title policies.  There are going to be changes for property owners and tenants and even changes for appealing property taxes.  This is Part 1 in a series that discusses the new changes.  Below is information about buyers and resale certificates.  Come back to the RREA blog tomorrow for Part 2 that will discuss owner’s and lender’s title policies.

In the new year, a homebuyer purchasing a property in a subdivision (or within an homwowners association) will now have the ability to request a resale certificate directly from the homeowners association.  The HOA may require the buyer to show their purchase contract for the property and may require payment before beginning work on the resale certificate.  The association is now prohibited from processing the payment until the resale certificate is prepared and may not charge a fee at all if the certificate is not provided in a timely manner.  Buyers will be required to pay the fee for the resale certificate unless the buyer and seller have negotiated otherwise in the sales contract.  Currently, the TREC addendum provides options for delivery of the resale certificate and states the seller will pay for it.  That addendum is likely to change early in 2012 to reflect the change in law.  Talk to your Real Estate Agent if you have questions about this new change.  The law still allows sellers, seller’s agents, and title and insurance companies to order updates to already issued resale certificates.  But under the new law, a resale certificate is only good for 60 days.  For any resale certificate older than that, a new one must be issued.

Do you log onto the Houston Association of Realtors or Realtor.com websites every week to see if there are any new houses?  Do you cruise through neighborhoods every weekend looking for a home you might like to buy?  I have come across so many buyers that do this.  There’s an easier way.  Call me and I can add you to my client gateway.  What does that mean?  If you will tell me what you are looking for in your next home I can set up a detailed search just for you to email you updates daily as new houses come on the market that match your search criteria.  Isn’t that easier that you spending hours every week searching through listings?  You will be auto-notified as houses that match your search criteria are added to the Houston Multiple Listing Service.  There are so many houses being added daily for sale, don’t take a chance at missing one you might want to buy.  Call me and tell me what you want and I can get you set up on a client gateway.  It’s FREE!  You’ll be happy it’s so easy to get updated listings in your inbox.  If changes are made to the listings, like price changes or it goes under contract, you’ll be notified.  As always, you can search the entire Houston Multiple Listing Service on my website, but if you know what you’re looking for call me and I’ll have updates sent to your inbox so you’ll never have to search again!

WASHINGTON (Nation’s Building News) – The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs has introduced two loan programs designed to help first-time homebuyers apply the new $8,000 tax credit toward down payments and closing costs.

The 90-Day Down Payment Assistance Program and the Mortgage Advantage Program will allow consumers to receive a short-term loan before filing for and receiving the federal tax credit. Consumers can apply these loans toward down payments and closing costs.

Both programs provide assistance of up to 5 percent on the first lien mortgage, but the 90-day program maxes out at $7,000 while the Mortgage Advantage Program’s limit is $6,000.

Repayment times also vary for the two programs, at 90 days and 120 days, respectively.

More information about these programs is available at the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs’ website.

Read more about the $8,000 tax credit in next month’s issue of Tierra Grande magazine.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – March pending home sales increased from February numbers and from March 2008, indicating that buyers think now is a good time to buy a house.

The Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed a 3.2 percent gain to 84.6 from February, when it was 82. The index stands 1.6 percent higher than a year ago.

The index is understood to be a forward indicator of home sales trends as it measures contracts signed, not completed sales. The uptick may indicate that home prices have fallen low enough for buyers to get off the fence.

“If inventory goes down — it’s at just under ten months now — to below eight months, that would mean we’re on the way to a sustainable recovery,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that trend may be happening. Realtors and other industry insiders are seeing rising open house attendance and multiple bids on some particularly desirable properties.

Today, buyers are more likely to bid because they perceive the market as at or near its bottom. An April Gallup Poll reported that 71 percent of Americans thought it was a good time to buy a house.

The South saw the largest gain of any region, with pending home sales jumping 8.5 percent from February to March. Pending sales were 7.7 percent higher in March compared with the same month a year ago.