Property to browse...August 4, 2009

For more information on these or my other properties, visit:

Roxann McDaniel Realtor ~ Phone: 936.321.7500

SPRING, TX - With some tender loving care, this single-story home could become your personal showplace or income property. It features both formals, a large family room with corner fireplace, kitchen appliances including a 5-burner gas stove, double oven and dishwasher, detached garage and a large yard. This foreclosure is priced to sell fast at $81,000. MLS # 93451343

CONROE, TX – Listed at $123,500 this lovely custom home, impeccably well-kept, sits in the sleepy community of Whispering Pines on almost 1/2 acre. So much redone it feels brand new. Features include upgrades, updated appliances, tile, cultured marble, art niche, corner fireplace, ceiling fans pre-wired for surround sound through-out, finished garage, large storage shed/workshop, full-length patio accessed from family & master. The huge master suite includes bath w/dual sinks & vanities, garden tub & separate shower. The 3rd bedroom currently used as study. MLS # 65254946

SPRING, TX - A little TLC & this gorgeous home can be your showplace. Features include a pool, sprinkler system, 3-car garage, stainless appliances, granite, inlaid tile work, wood floors, gorgeous kitchen cabinets, archways & more. It has a master suite downstairs and a secondary master up. If you like entertaining, need room to spread out or simply need a place to retreat for quiet time, this home has room for it all. Set your sites in this lovely community surrounded by beautiful homes but hurry because this home is priced to sell quickly. MLS # 42247446

THE WOODLANDS, TX – FOR LEASE: This roomy, 2-story home is tucked away on a huge lot at the end of a short cul-de-sac & is close to everything including I-45, hospitals, schools, shopping & all The Woodlands has to offer. Ready for your family's immediate move-in it includes new paint, a cozy fireplace, refrigerator, dishwasher, disposal, range, new microwave, new tile flooring down, new carpet up, new fixtures, a fenced-in yard & so much more. Touch-ups still being done but home is priced below market to go quickly. MLS # 87396542

Houston Market Update for May YTD 2009

For an overall update on the Houston market, please go to our blog:

http://www.garygreene.com/blog/ and you’ll find out why

1. Fast Company named Houston one of the 13 most creative cities in the world and why the
2. Texas Real Estate Center named Houston one of the nations top home building markets.

For the Houston Hotness Index by area for May, please visit our Online Media Room at:

http://garygreene.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=38&item=167

For the Houston Area Market Update for May YTD 2009 – a great computation of your market by area for newsletters, e-mail updates on the market, etc. go to:

http://media.garygreene.com/index.php?s=38&item=168

As a reminder:

How Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ranks as the top broker in Houston according to May YTD MLS Ranking Report:

http://garygreene.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20

Hint: We are Number One in everything!

Facts about Houston's Housing Market

www.houstonfacts.org

Do you have clients who aren’t sure if this is the time to sell or buy a home? Send them the link to this site and let them see the Real Facts about Houston’s housing market. It’s not the same as what they are hearing from the 6:00pm News!

Are you feeling down about the market? Take some time to review the info on this site and see if it doesn’t help give you a little different perspective on our market.

Houston Real Estate Market is Not suffering

"There's no such thing as a national real estate market," says Mike Inselmann, president of Metrostudy, a Houston-based real estate research company. His point is that Houston is not suffering the way the rest of the U.S. is, except in the category of fear.

Inselmann told a large crowd of real estate agents and builders Tuesday morning that Houston's economy is strong. He cited statistics that Houston is the top job producing city in the United States. Jobs are increasing at a rate of 55,700 annually.

Martha Turner Properties hosted the breakfast meeting Tuesday. Turner, who has been serving the Houston real estate for 30 years, says that fear hurts the market when would-be sellers avoid putting their homes up for sale. She believes home sellers do not have to sell their homes for less. They just must be willing to allow more time to find a buyer.

Best Cities to Buy a Home

Below is a link to a Forbes.com article of the Top 10 best cities to buy a home in the USA. Look where Houston is ranked! http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/best-cities-to-buy-a-home.html

Nice to see rest of the country is finally recognizing that we live in a pretty “great” place.

Let’s work together to see that as many families as possible get into homes here in Houston.

April 2008 Sales Houston's Real Estate Market Shows Continued Pricing Strength In April Despite A Lingering Sales Slowdown

The average single-family home sales price increases for a third straight month to the highest level ever for the month of April.

HOUSTON — (May 20, 2008) — Sales of single-family homes across greater Houston slid in April, but the average price of those homes increased for a third straight month to the highest level ever for the month of April and 2008, according to statistics released by the Houston Association of REALTORS® (HAR). The average price surpassed its level in April of 2007, the second best year on record. Single-family home sales fell 11.0 percent on a year over year basis.

The average price of a single-family home rose by 0.9 percent last month to $207,270 from $205,490 in April 2007. The median price of a single-family home was stable at $150,000. Sales of all property types for April 2008 totaled 6,432, which represents a 12.8 percent drop compared to April 2007. Total dollar volume for properties sold during the month was recorded at $1.3 billion versus $1.4 billion one year earlier, a 9.9 percent decline.

“Coming off of two consecutive record years, the Houston real estate market is demonstrating relative stability while other cities continue to suffer dramatic declines in both sales and pricing,” said Michael Levitin, HAR chairman and principal of HTownRealty.com. “We avoided a bubble thanks to Houston’s history of moderate growth in home values. The healthy local job market and diverse economy have created dynamics that are conducive to a faster recovery and we anticipate conditions to improve in the second half of the year.”

April Monthly Market Comparison
All listing categories combined, Houston’s overall housing market in April saw mixed results. The average single-family home sales price rose on a year-over-year basis while the median price held steady; total property sales and total dollar volume dropped.

The number of available homes, or active listings, at the end of April was 53,080 properties, a 6.3 percent increase over April 2007. The figure was up 810 properties from March 2008.

Single-Family Homes Update
The average sales price for single-family homes was $207,270 in April, up 0.9 percent versus the same period last year when it was $205,490. The overall median price of single-family homes in April was $150,000 compared to the national single- family median price of $193,900, according to statistics released by the National Association of REALTORS. These data continue to illustrate the higher value and lower cost of living prevalent in the Houston market.

Additionally, total April sales of single-family homes in Houston came in at 5,388, which was 11.0 percent lower than April 2007 but an improvement from the 15.9 percent slide in March. Brisk year-over-year sales activity continued in Houston’s low-end single-family home markets, with a 27.3 percent increase among homes priced below $80,000.

HAR also reports existing home statistics for the single-family home segment of the real estate market. In April 2008, existing single-family home sales totaled 4,565, which was a 9.6 percent drop from April 2007. At $189,514, the average sales price for existing homes in the Houston area dipped 1.4 percent compared to the same period last year. The median sales price of $140,610 for the month was unchanged from last year’s level.

The Days on Market statistic for April dropped to 84 from 87 a month earlier but exceeded the 75 days registered in April 2007.

Townhouse/Condo Update
At $130,000, the median price in the townhouse/condominium segment in Houston rose 5.1 percent from April 2007 to 2008. The average sales price for which a townhouse or condominium sold in the greater Houston area was $169,646 last month, up 5.7 percent compared to April 2007. Both median and average prices were the highest ever for the month of April.

April sales of townhouses and condominiums reached the highest level since August 2007 but were down from one year earlier. In the greater Houston area, 564 units were sold last month versus 704 properties in April 2007, translating to a 19.9 percent decrease in year-over-year sales.

Houston Real Estate Milestones in April
~Largest number of single-family home sales of 2008;
~Highest average single-family home sales price for the month of April;
~Average single-family home price increased by 0.9 percent to $207,270, the highest level of the year, while median single-family home price remained flat at $150,000;
~Sales of single-family homes below $80,000 continued to rise by 27.3 percent;
~Sales of townhouses and condominiums reached highest level since last August with the highest median and average prices ever for the month of April.

Single-Family Home Sales in Houston February Year-to-Date 2008

Single-Family home sales in Houston are down by 11% from year-to-date February 2007, with 8,058 recorded MLS sales, according to the Houston Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. While the Houston market has yet to catch up to the stellar years of 2006 and 2007, it is still ahead of 2005 sales by ironically, 11%.

The year 2005 was one of the greatest real estate years in Houston history and in 2006, it was referred to as the second best year. Then in 2007, 2005 became the third best year. I believe 2007 will be the third greatest year in residential history and will push 2005 to fourth place.

As sales go, so go the dollar volume sales and while Houston has experienced over $1.6 billion in dollar volume sales year-to-date, that is still 6% less than the second greatest year on record, 2007. Average sales price, on the other hand, is up 5% and is currently $198,396, one of the highest average sales prices on record. Average sales prices are affected by extremes and closing sales prices in Houston are undergoing some interesting dynamics. While numbers of sales are down in most price classes below $400,000, the following sales price classes are up in number of units closed YTD in Houston:

~ Homes priced $600,000-699,999 are up 21%
~ Homes priced $700,000-799,999 are up 19%
~ Homes priced $800,000-899,999 are up 4%
~ Homes priced $900,000-999,999 are up 24%
~ Homes priced $1,000,000 and up are up 37%

Homes priced below $200,000 have been most effected by the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and even more so by stringent credit requirements. This is a market that is most likely to receive a positive impact from Congress passing the Economic Stimulus Package, which among many things, increases the loan limit of FHA . It is too soon to see what impact the Economic Stimulus Package will have on the Houston economy and real estate market, however NAR economists believe it will have a positive national impact.

The median sales price in Houston year-to-date is $145,940 and that figure is up by 1% from this time last year. It takes an average of 92 days to sell a home in Houston and that figure is up by 12%, which happens to be the same percentage increase of current listings on the market. Active single-family homes on the market [listings] are up by 12% over this time last year with 34,725 homes listed in the HAR Multiple Listing Service.

Pending sales recorded year-to-date are 7,231, which is down by 9% over this time last year.

Houston is experiencing a great market; it is just not experiencing the record market seen over the previous two years. To put this into perspective,

~ Average sales prices are up in Houston over 2005 by 13%
~ Median sales prices in Houston are up over 2005 by 8.18%
~ Pending sales [buyer demand] are up over 2005 by 18.4%
~ Sales are up in Houston over 2005 by 11% as mentioned previously.

The real estate market is all relative. In 2005, we thought real estate could not get any better and yet, year after year, we saw it get better. This year will be better than 2005, however, it is difficult to exceed a record year every year. We are all fortunate to live, work and play in Houston, where real estate is healthy and home values are stable and in many cases, rising. California and Florida would give anything for a market like this!

Statistics provided by the Houston Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service and provided by Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors