Register Real Estate Advisors

Don’t be fooled, take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit before it goes away.  It ends at the end of this month.  It’s the best gift Uncle Sam will ever give you!  If you would like to sell your home and buy another home, you may be eligible for the $6,500 tax credit.  Give me a call today so we can get you qualified for your tax credit.  I am not fooling around, these tax credits are a great deal!

1.  Get estimates from a reliable repair person on items that need to be replaced soon, such as a roof or worn carpeting, for example.  In this way, buyers will have a better sense of how much these needed repairs will affect their costs.

2.  Have a termite inspection to prove to buyers that the property is not infested.

3.  Get a pre-sale home inspection so you’ll be able to make repairs before buyers become concerned and cancel a contract.

4.  Gather together warranties and guarantees on teh furnace, appliances, and other items that will remain with the house.

5.  Fill out a disclosure form provided by your sales associate.  Take the time to be sure that you don’t forget problems, however minor, that might create liability for you after the sale.

Reprinted from REALTOR Magazine Online by permission of the National Association of REALTORS.  Copyright 2005.  All right reserved.

I have written blog posts in the past that address what to look for in an inspection report. However, I have questions about this arise with every buyer. Therefore, I am writing about it again. It’s useful information that buyer’s need to have!

• Siding – look for dents or buckling
• Foundations – look for cracks or water seepage
• Exterior Brick – look for cracked bricks or mortar pulling away from bricks
• Insulation – look for condition, adequate rating for climate
• Doors and windows – look for loose or tight fits, condition of locks, condition of weather stripping
• Roof – look for age, conditions of flashing, pooling water, buckled shingles, or loose gutters and downspouts
• Ceilings, walls, and moldings – look for loose pieces, drywall that is pulling away
• Porch/Deck – loose railings or step, rot
• Electrical – look for condition of fuse box/circuit breakers, number of outlets in each room
• Plumbing – look for poor water pressure, banging pipes, rust spots or corrosion that indicate leaks, sufficient insulation
• Water heater – look for age, size adequate for house, speed of recovery, energy rating
• Furnace/Air Conditioning – look for age, energy rating; Furnaces are rated by annual fuel utilization efficiency; the higher the rating, the lower your fuel costs. However, other factors such as payback period and other operating costs, such as electricity to operated motors.
• Garage – look for exterior in good repair; condition of floor-cracks, stains, etc.; condition of door mechanism
• Basement – look for water leakage, musty smell
• Attic – look for adequate ventilation, water leaks from roof
• Septic Tanks (if applicable) – adequate absorption field capacity for the percolation rate in your area and the size of your family
• Driveways/Sidewalks – look for cracks, heaving pavement, crumbling near edges, stains

Reprinted from Realtor Magazine Online by permission of the National Association of Realtors, Copyright 2005, All rights reserved.

March has been rodeo time here in Houston and there has been a great round-up of performers in our big city. Many people don’t know that the rodeo takes a great deal of volunteers to keep it running smoothly. There are people from all walks of life who work to make the process an enjoyable one for all who attend.

Real estate is not a whole lot different. If you are buying or selling a home, you want to make sure that you round-up the best team to work on your behalf. Trusting your agent and your team to provide you with the latest information and tools for your process is key. In this business, we have the opportunity to work with many wonderful professional people from inspectors, to loan officers, to appraisers, to title companies. It must all come together like a well oiled machine so that there are as few glitches as possible.

The Shannon Register Real Estate Team at RE/MAX Integrity is dedicated to rounding up the best possible professionals for your buying and selling process. We care about the smallest details. We refer you to the professional associates in our business who have a proven track record of hard work and the same level of integrity that we maintain. If you are looking to buy or sell, let us do the hard work of rounding up all the right people to work on your behalf! You’ll be so glad you did!!

GALVESTON (Galveston County Daily News) – City council members yesterday released $25 million in federal disaster recover funding to begin the plan to rebuild 569 units of hurricane-damaged public housing.
The Galveston Housing Authority will use the money not only to rebuild the units, but also to leverage support for federal Hope VI grants to revitalize entire neighborhoods on the island.
The housing authority must rebuild 569 rental units of public housing, not homeownership units, according to an agreement with advocacy group Lone Star Legal Aid.
The first round of federal funding must be spent by September 2011, two years after the council approved the plan for spending the money.
Council members also approved conceptual plans for rebuilding three of the four public housing developments. These include Oleander Homes, Cedar Terrace and Magnolia Homes.
The housing authority will begin searching for architects for these developments as it draws up plans, which will then be sent to the planning commission to make a recommendation to the council for final approval.

The neighborhood you choose can have a big impact on your lifestyle – safety, available amenities, and convenience all play their part.

1.  Make a list of the activities – movies, health club, church – you engage in regularly and stores you visit frequently.  See how far you would have to travel from each neighborhood you’re considering to engaging in your most common activities.

2.  Check out the school district.  The Department of Education in your town can probably provide information on test scores, class size, percentage of students, who attend college, and special enrichment programs.  If you have school-age children, also consider paying a visit to schools in the neighborhoods you’re considering.  ven if you don’t have children, a house in a good school district will be easier to sell in the future.

3.  Find out if the neighborhood is safe.  Ask the police department for neighborhood crime statistics.  Consider not only the number of crimes but also the type-burglaries, armed robberies-and the trend of increasing or  decreasing crime.  Also, is crime centered in only one part of the neighborhood, such as near a retail area?

4.  Determine if the neighborhood is economically stable.  Check with your local city economic development office to see if income and property values in teh neighborhood are stable or rising.  What is the percentage of homes to apartments?  Apartments don’t necessarily diminish value, buyt they do mean a more transient population.  Do you see vacant businesses or homes that have been for sale for months?

5.  See if you’ll make money.  Ask a local REALOR or call the local REALTOR association to get information about price appreciation trends in the neighborhood.  Although past performance is no guarantee of future results, this information may give you a sense of how good an investment your home will be.  A REALOTR or the goveernment planning agency also may be able to tell you about planned developments or other changes in the neighborhood – like a new school or highway – wthat might affect value.

6.  See for yourself.  Once you’ve narrowed your focus on tow or three neighborhoods, go there, and walk around.  Are homes tify and well maintained?  Are streets quiet?  Pick a warm day if you can and chat with people working or playing outside.  Are they friendly?  Are their children to play with your family?

Reprinted from REALTOR Magazine Online by permission of the National association of REALTORS.  Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.  http://www.REALTOR,org/realtormag.

NEW YORK (McGraw-Hill) – The value of Texas construction starts will advance 16 percent to $52.5 billion this year, according to the 2010 Texas Construction Outlook from McGraw-Hill Construction.

Growth is expected for each of Texas’ major metropolitan areas: Austin is expected to climb 30 percent, Houston 17 percent, Dallas 16 percent, El Paso 8 percent, and San Antonio 6 percent.

Other highlights from the report:

• Housing starts in Texas are expected to advance 31 percent to $21.8 billion in 2010, with single-family housing growing 31 percent and multifamily housing gaining 34 percent.
• Nonresidential construction starts will slip 1 percent to $17.6 billion, suffering from declines in commercial and industrial starts.
• Federal stimulus funding will assist public works and utilities construction as starts rebound 21 percent to $13.1 billion in 2010.

HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – The Architecture Building Index remained negative in December as developers continued to struggle to attain financing.  The national index, an economic indicator of construction activity, rose slightly from 42.8 in November to 43.4 in December.  The index reflects the approximate nine- to 12-month time between architecture billings and construction spending.  Any score above 50 signifies an increase in billings.

So you’ve accepted your new job and have moved on to your new life in a different city.

The only problem is that your previous house hasn’t sold yet and now you’re faced with the prospect of selling a vacant house—a sure way to look desperate, lose money, and ensure the place languishes on the market, right? Not necessarily. There are steps you can take to make your house more appealing and marketable, even though it’s—gasp—unoccupied.

Vacant or not, the curb appeal of your house is important. Since your house is uninhabited, it’s important to make sure that the lawn is mowed, the newspaper has been cancelled, and your mail has been forwarded. Invest in some motion-activated lights for the outside. Also you may want to have a neighbor park in the driveway, if possible.

When talking about the inside of the home, keep some furniture and lamps. It seems counter-intuitive, but an empty house looks smaller than a home with a few pieces about. Additionally, when a house is totally vacant, minor defects, like a stain on the carpet or a scratch on the wood floor, tend to stick out a bit more.

Also, remember that it’s very important to keep the utilities turned on—buyers don’t like walking into a sauna in the summer or an icebox in the winter. Plus, frequent dramatic temperature and moisture changes are not good for the structure’s integrity.

Unfortunately, sometimes vacant houses can attract vandals and thieves. If you’ve got a security system, make sure it’s set, but leave your code with your Texas REALTOR®. You also want to make sure the house has the appearance of occupancy—some timers for lamps you’ve left behind are a good idea.

Some folks will even hire professional home sitters, who will rent your home for a nominal fee, furnish it with their own stuff, pay utilities, and are obligated to maintain the home in showing condition.

Finally, realize that it may be hard to insure a vacant house, so review your policy and speak with your agent to evaluate your coverage needs.

This information was provided on the Texas Association of Realtors® website.

  DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Area home prices were positive in November for the first time since September 2007, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index, released today.

 Dallas area residential values increased 1.4 percent in November from one year earlier, which was the best performance of the 20 cities tracked in the monthly survey.

 However, Dallas home prices fell 0.6 percent in November 2009 from October, according to Case-Shiller. Home values bottomed out in the index in March 2009 when prices were down 5.6 percent.

 Prices declined 5.3 percent for all cities from a year ago.

 Case-Shiller tracks the prices of typical single-family homes, excluding condominiums and townhouses, comparing sales of specific properties over time.