Register Real Estate Advisors

WASHINGTON, D.C. (National Association of Home Builders) – Rising construction costs and a dwindling supply of developed housing lots are causing a slight drop in builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) posted a two-point drop to 42 in April.

“Many builders are expressing frustration over being unable to respond to the rising demand for new homes due to difficulties in obtaining construction credit, overly restrictive mortgage lending rules and construction costs that are increasing at a faster pace than appraised values,” said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson. “While sales conditions are generally improving, these challenges are holding back new building and job creation.”

On a brighter note, the component of the HMI measuring sales expectations over the next six months rose to 53, its highest level since February 2007.

J. Patrick Homes won 4 Star Awards at the Sunbelt Builders Show in Austin.  They currently have award-winning model homes in The Woodlands’ Spincaster, Aliana and Long Meadow Farms.  J. Patrick Homes also received two marketing awards, including “Best Print Ad” for an ad featuring its beautiful Somerset model in Long Meadow Farms.  The builder also received the “Best Special Promotion” award for its Royal Rewards Realtor incentive program.

Congrats to J. Patrick Homes from the Realtors at RREA!

WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Atlantic, NAHB) – Talk about raising the roof.

According to the latest Census data, Texas gets credit for 20 percent of the increase in new homes built in the United States between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011.

Nationally, the number of new homes built during that period increased by 607,000. Texas accounted for 121,000 of those. That’s three times as many as California, which came in second in the number of new homes built.

And that’s not all.

The Atlantic reported that one-fifth of the 100 counties with the highest rate of growth in new housing are in Texas. Among those are Fort Bend, Rockwall, Hays, Wilson, Guadalupe, Williamson, Blanco and Parker, all of which landed in the top 25 in terms of growth rate.

In raw numbers, the top five biggest gainers were Texas counties, led by Fort Bend with 11,665 new homes added, bringing its total to an estimated 208,696 — a 5.9 percent growth rate.

Meanwhile, five Texas metros were added to the National Association of Home Builders/First American’s Improving Markets Index (IMI) for June.

New to the list were Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Texarkana and Wichita Falls, which joined seven other Texas metros on the list. Those cities were Brownsville, Laredo, McAllen, Midland, Odessa, San Angelo and Victoria.

Four cities — Amarillo, Longview, Lubbock and Tyler — were dropped from the June list.

The index identifies areas showing growth in housing permits, prices and employment for six consecutive months.

As a Green designated realtor I am always searching for new updates in the Green market with new homebuilders.  This week I sat down with a local Houston builder and talked about the Green features that go into their homes, The builder is GreenECO, the builders representative, Jeff and I talked quite extensively about the Green features that were added in the building of their homes.  

We started with the roof, as you know the roof has the sun beaming down on it all day so GreenECO uses an LP product called TechShield. This is a standard feature that is used in the designing your roof that reduces the heat entering your attic by up to 17 percent. This product has a radiant barrier built into the other side of the roof decking that is facing your attic, the radiant barrier is perforated to allow the exchange or flow of moisture that occurs during the building process which will stop the growth of mold. TechShield is also an energy star product and if you click on the hyperlinks above it will take you to the LP website and show you in detail the Green features that were used in the design and development of the their product.

When consumers’ think of Green the first thing they tend to think of are windows.  This is the feature that impressed me the most with GeenECO. Most new homebuilders will keep the window orders the same for the whole community.  GreenECO orders windows by home so when the technology changes they are at the forefront of ECO change.  The window will look the same on the outside but might have a different ECO footprint inside.  The reason for this is the window industry is constantly improving the efficiency of windows and as a Green homebuilder they will pass on the new efficiencies to you the homeowner.  

I will continue in future blogs with more Green tips and more Green features that are in GreenECO homes and if you or your friends are interested in seeing a GreenECO home you can contact me at jack@rrea.com or 936.777.2265

Ever wonder how to find the right builder to build your family a home?  Below are my Top 10 recommendations for finding the builder that is right for you!  If you would like to purchase a home, RREA has many experienced and seasoned Realtors that can help you and there is no cost to you.  Your builder will pay our commission!  Call RREA today to find the Realtor that best meets your real estate needs – 281.288.3500.

10.  Use a Realtor!  Realtor’s comply to a strict Code of Ethics and are licensed by the state.  They have a fiduciary responsibility to protect your best interest in a transaction.  Builders do not fall under this Code of Ethics.  They are looking out for their best interest, and many times have their attorneys write their contracts for them.

9.  Find the areas of town you want to live in and interview the builders that will build in those areas.

8.  Get Pre-Approved for your Financing or have a letter from your financial institution stating how much home you can afford to buy.

7.  Figure out the type of home you want – ranch style, basement, two story, patio home, etc.

6.   If your Realtor is a member of the Greater Houston Home Builders Association they have access to the list of builders who construct homes in the area.  All of the Realtors at Register Real Estate Advisors has access to this membership list.

5.  Once you have narrowed down a list of builders, see some of the homes they have under construction and some that have been completed.  Ask for testimonials from their clients or references.

4.  Before picking a floorplan, walk through as many new homes as you can.  You can do this by attending open houses or visiting new communities.  This way you can see the differences between builders and find ideas you want to incorporate in your new home.  Check out the quality of the homes and see what building trends they use (bay windows, art niches, etc.)

3.  Remember that you will be picking your tiles, carpet, countertops, paint, appliances, and much more.  When touring homes and looking at magazines, inspect these items to find out what you like best.  Take lots of notes to share with your builder and photos if possible.  Ask lots of questions!

2.  Your goal should be to find a builder you trust and feel comfortable talking to.  You will have a close relationship during the months that your home is being built.

1.  When you finally pick your builder, ask about his company history, experience, philosophy, and building and payment process.  Talk with the builder at length about what your expectations are for the new home.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (NAHB) – December marked the fourth month in a row that the National Association of Home Builders/First American’s list of improving housing markets expanded.

The improving markets index (IMI) rose from 30 to 41 markets. Eight of those are in Texas: Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Laredo, McAllen, Midland, Odessa, Sherman and Tyler.

While 20 markets (including Laredo) were added to the IMI this month, nine were dropped. Among them was Waco.

The index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months.

DALLAS (MPL Public Relations) – This year’s State Fair of Texas, which opens today in Dallas, has at least one exhibit that may be of interest to anyone
involved with building or selling homes.

The fair’s “Home of Tomorrow” exhibit will showcase the latest technology in home automation, energy-efficient construction,
appliances, design and imaginative outdoor environments.

Highlights include the Net-Zero Energy Home, which demonstrates how a home can produce its own electricity, and even sell excess electricity created
within the home.

And for those who like cozy spaces, the Micro-Home shows how a bedroom, family room, kitchen and bathroom can all fit within a
space the size of a walk-in closet.

The exhibit is open through Oct. 23. The site is on the main gate plaza, between The Women’s Museum and the Daughters of the American
Revolution House.

Look at every home through the eyes of a burglar. The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that 2.1 million burglaries were committed in 2004. Not all of these situations involved forced entry; many were the result of unlocked doors and windows. Once you close that loophole, though, how can you determine if one house is more vulnerable than another? Well, a residence surrounded by a 15-foot electric fence and patrolled by guard dogs might be a giveaway, but here are some more subtle ways to judge a house’s security.

Entrances should be visible and the exterior well lit. Thieves don’t like to be seen. If a home’s doors and most-accessible windows are visible from the street or a neighbor’s house, they might look for another home. Most homes have outside lights; make sure those lights are positioned correctly. Lighting up the front door and driveway is great, but what about the dark corner of the yard near the living-room window? Use motion-sensor lights in these areas.
Exterior doors must be metal or solid-core wood. A particle-board or similarly weak door will break long before most locks give out.

All exterior locks should have dead bolts with metal strike plates. Dead bolts alone don’t deter burglars. Without a heavy-duty metal strike plate screwed in the door frame to receive the lock, someone could break open the door by busting through the wood.

Watch for old sliding-glass doors. Old doors with worn-out rollers can be lifted off the track, bypassing any lock.
Any fence gates should have locks. Yes, burglars can climb over most fences, but they risk more exposure by scaling a fence instead of quickly walking through the gate.

Look for “painful” landscaping. A good way to discourage a thief from breaking in through a first-floor window is to install a rosebush or other thorn-covered plan under it.

You can’t keep a determined, professional burglar out of a home. However, you can make it less appealing for him to try.

2005 Copyright by the Texas Association of Realtors, All Rights Reserved.

LAS VEGAS (National Association of Home Builders) – Builder confidence in the new single-family home market dropped one point to 15 this month, according to the latest housing market index from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo.

 Experts attributed the decrease to the poor job market and increasing number of home foreclosures.

 ”At this point, home builders have done everything we possibly can to set the stage for a housing recovery,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson. “We’ve thinned our inventories, we’ve kept new construction to a minimum, and we’ve fought for and achieved a great new buying incentive with the extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit.”

 ”Homebuying conditions have rarely been as good as they are right now, but consumers are still waiting to see significant positive signs of improvement in employment and confidence, and this is slowing buyers’ return to the market,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.

 Crowe said competition from foreclosed homes is also severely impacting new-home sales.

 The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.”

 The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

WASHINGTON (National Association of Home Builders) – Twenty-six percent of home builders have seen lost sales as appraisals come in significantly below the contract sales price, according to a study conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

“Home builders are increasingly concerned that inappropriate appraisal practices are needlessly driving down home values. This, in turn, is slowing new home sales, causing more workers to lose their jobs and putting a drag on the economic recovery,” said Joe Robson, NAHB chairman.

According to Robson, construction of 100 single-family homes generates 324 local jobs, $21.1 million in local income and $2.2 million in taxes and other revenue for local governments in the first year.

Of the builders surveyed, 60 percent claim that inadequate appraisals are creating major problems in the market. Fifty-four percent of those reporting appraisal problems saw appraisal amounts less than the cost to build.

Robson blames the surge of faulty appraisals partly on foreclosure and distressed sales.