My Bellaire Blog

  Looking for a nice Bellaire family home under $650,000 and zoned to an exemplary school?  Look no further than 1114 Anderson St!  It’s a traditional brick home with a large backyard suited for children’s play and your future pool.  A gated driveway is great for riding a tricycle!  On the first floor, beautiful cherry hardwoods greet you as you walk into this bright and airy home with designer colors and contemporary flair!  The formal living has built in bookshelves and elegant crown molding: the room can also be your study, library or music room.  The formal dining has built-ins with an adjacent butler’s pantry.  The kitchen is open to the family room, and the slate backsplash in the kitchen ties in to the slate surround gaslog fireplace.  Recessed lighting is present all throughout the downstairs.  The master is enormous and shares the second floor with 2 other bedrooms and the vaulted ceiling gameroom.  The third floor features a large fourth bedroom complete with its own bath and closet.  For more pictures, click on this link to the Virtual Tour or give me a call to schedule a private showing at 713-539-1006

With all the controversy surrounding the possible development of a soccer stadium North of Bellaire City limits,  I can’t help but think of the reasoning behind the choice of this location.  It seems to me the original 12 acres purchased by the city of Houston East of Downtown (known as EaDo) would make so much more sense!  Being close to the Downtown hotels and other sports venues has a lot of advantages,  especially the access to the major freeways that converge Downtown to begin with.  It would also bring  development to an area of Downtown that was long neglected.  Also, there was the genius plan of having it connected to TSU by rail to allow the University to play its football games there: it tops it off as the better thing to do!  Why pick a location that is as as congested on weekends as it is on weekdays, close to the busiest and deadliest stretch of West Loop 610?  Hopefully this will not come to fruition!  What do you think?

The Houston Business Journal reported today that the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area unemployment rate dipped to 8.2 percent in November from 8.4 percent the previous month. We gained a net 9,300 jobs, a 0.4 percent rise from October.

However, the construction and manufacturing sectors still lost a combined 3,400 jobs in November.  When will construction and manufacturing score employment gains again?  To me, that is the real indicator of a recovery…  Hopefully, those numbers will improve soon, helping the Houston 2010 economical outlook!  In the meantime, if you have a job, be extremely thankful this holiday season and make sure to count your blessings and share with the less fortunate.  Texas is still doing very well compared to the rest of the nation:  According to same article Texas had the largest over-the-month increase in employment nationwide for the second consecutive month, besting second place Ohio’s job gains by more than three times!

If you are hesitant to list your home during the holidays, consider these 10 reasons why you should put your home on the market this time a year:

January is traditionally the month for employees to begin new jobs. Since transferees cannot wait until spring to buy, you need to be on the market during the Holidays to capture that market!

Some people must buy before the end of the year for tax reasons!

Buyers have more time to look for a home during the holidays than they do during a working week!

Buyers are more emotional during the Holidays, so they are more likely to pay your price!

Houses show better when decorated for the Holidays!

Since the supply of listings will dramatically increase in January, there will be less demand for your particular home! Less demand means less money for you!

Serious buyers have fewer houses to choose from during the Holidays and less competition means more money for you!

People who look for homes during the Holidays are more serious buyers!

By selling now, you may have an opportunity to be a non-contingent buyer in early Spring, when many more houses are on the market for less money! This will allow you to sell high and buy low!

You can sell now for more money and we will provide for a delayed closing or extended occupancy until early next year!

Even though your house will be on the market, you still have the option to restrict showings during the six or seven days around the Holidays!

There were 23 properties that sold in Bellaire in August, down from a total of 28 in July.  Sales ranged from $195,000 for a 5,100 SF lot on Holt to $1,675,000 for a 5,689 SF home.  The majority of the sales were in the $600,000 to $799,000 price range (8 sales) followed by the $190,000 to $399,000 range (7 sales).   Three homes over $1 million were closed on.

To see what is available for sale now, visit www.BellaireBestHomes.com.   To get an idea of your home value, fill out the Market Snapshot request form at the top of the page for a monthly email of MLS generated sales data.  You can also email me at Lucie@MyBellaireBlog.com

It seems that everyone I come in contact with these days is out to get their share of the mortgage meltdown.  First time homebuyers, mover-uppers as well as investors are chasing the “F” bargain…  And why wouldn’t they?  As a buyer who will owner-occupy the property, one can buy a HUD-owned home for as little as $100 down with FHA financing.  And if you qualify as a first-time homebuyer (meaning you have not owned a home for the past 3 years), you will also receive an $8,000 tax refund when you file your amended tax return.  Could you resist such an offer?  Hardly!

However, be prepared to lose a lot of races in the process.  In the hunt for foreclosures, cash is the weapon of choice!  If you need to finance your purchase, you are at a disadvantage…  Many cash buyers are coming out of the woods, from all over the country, to take advantage of income producing properties at a great price.  And sellers love cash!  Cash means a quick close, no appraisal problems, no uncertainty on whether the buyer will ultimately qualify or not and whether the property meet meet lender insurability requirements! 

Does that mean you won’t be able to purchase a foreclosure if you don’t have the cash?  No, but it can become disheartening.  And rest assured that there are a lot of properties at a bargain price that are not bank owned!  Some sellers have to sell for personal reasons, and will take the necessary pricing step to do so.

As for cash rich investors, a cash bid will allow you to win the property.  You may finance 70% of the purchase price after closing.  That is a winning strategy you have to keep in mind.

For more information or to search for foreclosures, visit www.BetterHoustonHomes.info or email lucie@mybellaireblog.com

A new word has been coined: the Texaplex.  We already have the Metroplex to designate the Dallas-Fortworth area,  but Houston is now part of the Texaplex:  the Houston-Austin-Dallas triangle.  To familliarize yourself with it and find out why this triangle has become an entity of itself, you can watch this very informative video at: http://www.texaplex.com/watch-the-texaplex-video/

Way to go Texas!

For anyone who spent a semester in the U of H Moody Towers on Calhoun St.  this may sound as a great relief!

HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – Construction began Monday on a $50 million dormitory at the University of Houston.

Located on the university’s central campus, the 300,000-sf building will include 1,172 beds, resident adviser offices, a social lounge, computer lab, multipurpose rooms, fitness room and a convenience store.

The seven-story building will provide housing for freshmen.

Construction is set to be finished by fall 2010.

Hardin Construction Co. is the general contractor.

Good lots are becoming harder to find as the City of Bellaire continues its race to rebuild itself…  2/1 post-war cottages are masterfully turned into beautiful custom mansions, and the Bellaire New Home Showcase attests to this every year.  The Spring Showcase is coming up this weekend and if you are thinking of building, this is the perfect time to get ideas, dreams and inspiration and meet some of the builders. 

I do have a premium lot for sale on a street that is almost completely rebuilt.  It’s a great size at 8,775 square feet (per appraisal district).  It is on Anderson Street which runs North/South and the property is located on the West side of the street.  There is presently a 2/1 cottage there that has been updated with granite countertops, and could be leased while you are taking the time to finalize your building plans for your dream home.  Zoned to Condit Elementary, it is within a short drive to the Recreation Center and the Library and far enough from 610 not to hear its rumble.

Call me if you are interested in this amazing opportunity.  I do have an Exclusive Listing agreement with the Seller but I will not place it on the MLS.  My contact information is 713-539-1006 or Lucie@kw.com. 

And hopefully, I will see you at the Showcase!

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.