The Cupcakery Is Coming To Market Street - The Woodlands

From the Market Street FB Feed....Besides cooler weather, here's something to look forward to this Fall. The Cupcakery will open its first Houston location at Market Street - The Woodlands. Enjoy unique cupcake flavors like the "Trip to Graceland", a chunky peanut butter cake, layered with a light
banana cream frosting, rolled in applewood smoked baco...n, and drizzled
with honey. There goes the diet!!!!

TRYING TO CLOSE ON A HOUSE & ANOTHER DELAY?

Among other things, recent changes in the federal Truth in Lending Act and RESPA can slow the closing process. There is now a new HUD-1 form (Closing Statement)that title companies are getting used to which may add several more hours of document preparation. Their unfamiliarity and the fear of making a costly mistake in the Good Faith Estimate are sometimes prompting lenders to ask for closing cost information more than once and in several formats. Be sure to use an experienced title company who will more than likely have had more than enough transactions under their belt to have mastered the new documents.

Lending rules have also made it harder to close on time especially if circumstances change late in the deal. Amendments to the Truth in Lending Act require a 3-day disclosure period if a borrower decides to change the loan amount or anything else that might effect the interest rate. A change in loan amount could be due to an agreed upon amount off sales price in leiu of repairs. And changes of more than 0.125% in the APR immediately trigger another disclosure.

To avoid delays, work with knowledgable, seasoned professionals and avoid last minute changes whenever possible.

Don't Believe Everythig You Read!

There's always lots of emails circulating with false information out there. One in particular states that the healthcare bill contains a 4% tax on home sales. According to Realtor.org, the truth is that bill imposes a 3.8% Medicare tax for some high-income households that have "net investment income". The tax, which goes into effect in 2013, applies only to households with adjusted gross income of more than $250,000 ($200,000 for individuals). Also, since the capital gains rule is still in effect, the tax would be charged only on home-sale proceeds that exceed the exclusion amount of $500,000 ($250,000 for individuals). That's an amount that touches few households according to the publication by Erica Christoffer and Robert Freedman.

If you have any additional questions, call your CPA, Tax Advisor.

We've Done It Again!!!!

Sure Glad I Live in Houston, Texas!!!!

Thinking About Remodeling?

• 

  Q&A: Author Sarah Susanka Talks Budget-Smart Remodeling

  HouseLogic sat down with author and architect Sarah Susanka to talk about remodeling that builds value and saves money. Read

Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.

Copyright 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Happy 4th of July, 2010 - Maybe a couple of days late but still sincere!

What a wonderful celebration Sunday night. It was our 4th year to attend The Woodlands' magnificent 4th of July fireworks display, and I swear it gets bigger and better every year! It's obvious no expense was spared and we sincerely thank the sponsors for providing us yet another year of spectacular celebrating. And a huge thank you to our law enforcement agency who have it down to a science. They were great directing traffic and people. And with literally thousands in attendance, I didn't see a single person misbehave.

We take our lawn chairs, our favorite adult beverage, cheese, crackers, fruit and this year I added sushi. We get there early to get "our spot" and then "people watch" before the main event begins because once it starts, all eyes are on the sky.

Now a little word to the wise if you've never been and think you can just waltz right onto the River Walk 30 minutes before it starts...think again. You'll find literally carloads of families, bumper-to-bumper on every street and shoulder-to-shoulder not only along the river, but on blankets on every strip of grass from Woodlands Parkway to Lake Woodlands, ontop of all the parking garages, in the Mall parking lot, up and down both sides of I-45 as well as packed in the shopping center parking lots in Oak Ridge.

And they come EARLY! I saw bar-b-q pits, tables, chairs, cots, even a few RV's! It was crazy! But crazy fun. And as in past years, by the time it's over and we're creeping 1-1/2 hours just to get out of the mall parking lot, I ask myself if I think we'll do it again next year and decide I would be crazy to do it again. But by July 3rd the following year, I'm busy getting my goodies together to keep the tradition going. Will we go again? We sure will!