Register Real Estate Advisors

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CoreLogic) – Texas had 335,446 negative equity home loans
(10.1 percent of all mortgages) and 177,410 near-negative equity loans (5.4
percent) at the end of first quarter 2011, according to
CoreLogic data compiled by Real Estate Center Research Economist Dr. Jim
Gaines.

Texas ranked 33rd out of 44 states for which the data were reported,
which Gaines said is good news.

Negative equity, often referred to as “underwater” or “upside down,” means
that borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

Nationally, 10.9 million (22.7 percent) of residential properties with
a mortgage were in negative equity, according to CoreLogic data. That’s down
slightly from 11.1 million, or 23.1 percent, in fourth quarter 2010.

An additional 2.4 million borrowers had less than 5 percent equity, referred
to as near-negative equity, in the first quarter.

Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for
27.7 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide. In
fourth quarter 2010, these two categories stood at 27.9 percent.

A new grant issued by the National Association of Realtors has been given to the Texas Association of Realtors to aid consumers and realtors alike in preventing foreclosures.  This grant will develop a training program for Texas Realtors in the practice of identifying foreclosures and short-sales opportunities.  With the assistance of housing giants: TDHCA (Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs), HUD (Housing and Urban Development), Texas Foreclosure Prevention Task Force, and NeighborWorks, this resource will be a vital lifeline for distressed Texan homeowners and the Texan housing market.  An educational web site is also available for consumers, www.KeepMyTexasHome.com, which will include a homeowner’s checklist that you can use as a reference guide to stopping foreclosure.

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.

BEAUMONT (Beaumont Enterprise) – Despite the negative news surrounding the real estate industry, now continues to be a great time to buy a home in Texas, said Dr. Mark Dotzour yesterday, speaking before the Beaumont Board of Realtors.

Dotzour, the chief economist for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, said the states’s housing market should thrive in 2009 thanks to affordable housing and steady job growth.

However, he also told the group to expect a decline in new home construction this year, partly because more new homes could inflate the market, causing existing home values to decline.

Although the latest report from California-based foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac showed an 81 percent increase in the number of homeowners facing foreclosure last year, Dotzour said he does not expect foreclosures to become an issue in Texas.

“Our home prices have been going up,” he said, “and when your house is going up, you’d rather sell it then give it back to the bank.”