Register Real Estate Advisors

DALLAS (Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express-News, Austin Business Journal) – San Antonio and Dallas–Fort Worth experienced a record-setting year of home foreclosure listings.

December’s surge in DFW home foreclosure filings pushes the area’s year-end total over 61,000, up 23 percent from the 2008 total, according to Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.

More than 5,200 North Texas homes are posted in foreclosure for December, an increase of 30 percent from a year ago.

RexReport.com reports that San Antonio’s total foreclosure postings in 2009 are up 42 percent from 2008. With nearly 16,000 properties in some stage of foreclosure over the year, the Alamo City hasn’t seen a number that high in two decades.

Over 1,400 homes are listed for the December auction, a 40 percent increase from December 2008.

Meanwhile, foreclosures across Texas fell 10.7 percent to 11,798 postings in October from the previous month, but were 19.2 percent higher than October 2008 numbers, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

Texas has the 23rd highest foreclosure rate in the nation.

FORT WORTH (Fort Worth Business Press) – While all other sectors of residential real estate have suffered over the past few months, the manufactured housing market has thrived.

The sector has a trend of performing better in a down market, according to Marcus and Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.

Some 30 percent of the households in Texas cannot afford a home over $70,000, which is a plus for the manufactured home business, says Dr. Jim Gaines, research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

The average price for a manufactured home is $46,000, compared with $162,300 for a site-built house, excluding land, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute.

“Manufactured homes are set to do well,” Gaines says.

Texas, Florida and North Carolina lead the market in volume of manufactured home communities, 60 percent of which are in southern states.

According to a September report released by JLT & Associates, a market research company specializing in the manufactured housing industry, Texas has 170 such communities. Twenty-seven of those are in Tarrant County.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (National Association of Realtors) – The National Association of Realtors is launching a new website with information for homeowners and more tools for Realtors.

The site, called HouseLogic, is intended to help homeowners protect, maintain and enhance the value of their homes, and to provide business-building tools for Realtors. The site will also allow homeowners to speak together with Realtors to federal legislators on public policy issues where homeowners and the real estate industry have a common interest.

HouseLogic will be promoted to consumers in earnest starting in February. Until then, the site is in beta and is being promoted primarily to Realtors, giving them a chance to explore the site and provide feedback.

I have received so many complimentary emails & phone calls in response to the American Flags my assistants and I put out in the Spring Lakes neighborhood to recognize Veteran’s Day.  Some people have told me they’ll keep them and put them out on the next flag holiday.  Others have told me how much more enjoyable their jog or bike ride went on Veteran’s Day.  I appreciate all of your positive feedback.  I love this neighborhood and wanted to commemorate the holiday and share in it with all of you – my friends and neighbors.  Many of you know my husband is a Veteran of two wars, so the holiday has great meaning for us personally.  I did have one person complain about marketing with a flag, but our Coldwell Banker United, Realtors owner Richard Smith is a proud Veteran that fully supports this Coldwell Banker tradition.  However, in the future, the U.S. Flag Holiday Service will be placing flags in Spring Lakes for a fee of $40 per year that supports the local Boy Scout Troop.  Their service begins on President’s Day 2010.  To learn more or sign up you can email Assistant Scoutmaster Phil Cherry at SpringTroop594@gmail.com or call 713.677.1814.  Thank you Spring Lakes for making our neighborhood an easy sell.  You make it easy for buyers to want to move here.  You can visit http://BuySpringLakes.com to see how I can showcase your home to sell even in a down market.

The Open House for Serene Springs Lane in the Springs Lakes Subdivision has been cancelled.  It was supposed to be held open from 6-8pm on Tuesday November 10th.  The other two homes in Spring Lakes that were advertised in the Houston Chronicle will continue to be held open from 6-8pm on November 10th.  Hope you will come out and see what Spring Lakes has to offer.  You can learn more at http://BuySpringLakes.com

Open Houses November 10th, Tuesday, from 6-8pm

415 Spring Lakes Haven & 25518 Myrtle Springs, Spring, Texas 77373 

I will be getting flags out to the entire neighborhood for Veterans Day, so I have two other agents that are holding these homes open for me.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about these homes 832.628.SELL (7355)  or if you would like to learn more about selling your home.

Spring Lakes is a beautiful gated community in Spring, Texas.  The community offers a pool, volleyball, lighted tennis courts, several lakes iwth ducks and highted fountains.  Spring Lakes has Village Built homes, D.R. Horton, and Perry Built Homes.  It is a wonderful place to call home with miles of paved walking trails and parks.  If you would like to see my featured listing in Spring Lakes please visit www.BuySpringLakes.com .  There you will find featured homes for sale, photos, information, and videos.  Call me today to see what Spring Lakes has to offer.  It is conveniently located between I45 and the Hardy Toll Road close to Old Town Spring.  It’s 8 miles to The Woodlands and about 20 miles from Minute Maid Park.  Your family’s going to love Spring Lakes.

On Tuesday, November 10th I will be holding open three of my listings in the Spring Lakes Subdivision.  You can preview the listings at BuySpringLakes.com.  They vary in floorplans and prices.  I hope you’ll come out to visit all three.  To get directions visit BuySpringLakes.com. 

415 Spring Lakes Haven Spring, Texas 77373

25707 Serene Springs Lane Spring, Texas 77373

25518 Myrtle Springs Spring, Texas 77373

See you Tuesday!

THE WOODLANDS (Houston Business Journal) – Local architecture firm Watkins Hamilton Ross will break ground in early 2010 on the 240,000-sf expansion of Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital.

The first phase of the $104 million project will add eight surgical suites, pre-operation and recovery rooms, waiting areas, sterile processing, a 36-bed patient care unit and a parking garage to the hospital.

The hospital will have 288 beds and three shelled floors for future growth.

Walter P. Moore is contracted for civil and structural engineering, while mechanical, electrical and plumbing duties have been given to Smith, Seckman and Reid.

HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – Houston area foreclosures did not significantly increase between the second and third quarters, and there were fewer than last year.

RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report revealed that Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown foreclosures increased 1.5 percent between the second and third quarters, and actually fell 8.1 percent from third quarter 2008.

Approximately one out of every 256 area homes, or 0.39 percent, posted foreclosure activity from July to September, ranking Houston 124th in the United States for number of households in foreclosure.

The Dallas area’s 10,700 properties, or 0.45 percent of the whole, that posted foreclosure activity made it the highest in Texas.

College Station–Bryan had the lowest percentage of housing units in foreclosure during the third quarter, with 46 properties, or 0.05 percent.

WASHINGTON (Associated Press) – Nationwide, sales of new homes fell 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 from August to September, according to the Commerce Department.

Last month’s decline was the first since March and was off 7.8 percent from a year ago. However, the market has improved 22 percent from its bottom in January.

The median sales price of new homes, $204,800, was down 9.1 percent from September 2008, but up 2.5 percent from August’s $199,900.

Sales declined nearly 11 percent in the West and 10 percent in the South while they remained unchanged in the Northeast and increased 35 percent in the Midwest.