Chris Thorpe Real Estate

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – The 2009 Market Reports for all 25 Texas Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) are now available on the Real Estate Center's website.

DALLAS (Dallas Business Journal) – Orlando-based Hard Rock International is set to make the move into Victory Park.

Hard Rock Cafe Dallas will feature a 265-seat restaurant, outdoor patio seating for 40 and a Rock Shop with limited-edition merchandise.

The restaurant at 2211 N. Houston St. will also house memorabilia from Hard Rock's collection.

For more information on Victory Park, read "V for Victory" in the October 2008 issue of Tierra Grande magazine.

TEXAS (Real Estate Center) – A total of 19,101 existing homes were sold in Texas last month, a 20.4 percent decline from May 2008, according to MLS data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. The median price dropped 0.5 percent to $149,900 during the same period, and the state finished the month with a 7.3-month inventory of existing homes.

Here is how select Texas cities fared in May (data current as of June 23, 2009):

 

	Sales	Change from Last Year	Median Price	Change from Last Year	Months' Inventory
Amarillo	247	down 15.1%	$129,500	up 6%	6.7
Austin	1,875	down 20.3%	$191,700	down 1.1%	7
Beaumont	182	down 13.7%	$139,200	up 9.1%	8.3
College Station–Bryan	266	down 20.1%	$149,400	up 7.3%	6.7
Dallas	4,086	down 21.3%	$165,300	up 2%	7.1
El Paso	440	up 2.6%	$126,800	down 8.0%	9.7
Fort Worth	746	down 26.1%	$113,800	down 7.9%	6.7
Galveston	54	down 51.8%	$132,000	down 26.7%	18.3
Houston	5,246	down 22.6%	$156,000	up 0.1%	6.5
Laredo	71	down 13.4%	$121,000	up 3%	8.7
Longview-Marshall	186	down 15.1%	$132,600	up 5.2%	8.4
Lubbock	358	down 5.3%	$111,400	down 1.5%	5.4
San Antonio	1,658	down 13.1%	$150,700	down 0.7%	8.5
Texarkana	84	down 9.7%	$110,900	up 13.7%	7.8
Tyler	216	down 24.5%	$132,700	down 2.4%	12.5
Victoria	60	down 24.1%	$136,700	up 12.6%	7.3
Waco	184	down 24%	$114,600	up 5%	8.3
Wichita Falls	152	down 7.3%	$97,700	down 0.6%	7.1

Additional home sales data for these and other major Texas cities are available on the Center’s website.

Nationally, sales of existing single-family homes last month were up 2.4 percent compared with May 2008, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million. At $173,000, the median sales price was down 16.8 percent from a year earlier. Inventory was at 9.6 months.

AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – Governor Perry signed legislation yesterday that will protect Texas landowners from eminent domain.

If approved by voters in November, House Joint Resolution 14 will establish greater protections for property owners by including landowner rights in the Texas Constitution.

"Land ownership is an essential part of Texas' culture, and we owe it to our citizens to protect their rights as landowners and members of the community from government entities that overstep their bounds and abuse eminent domain," Perry said.

The resolution will require two-thirds of all house members to approve any request granting eminent domain authority to a party.

The bill will also prevent government entities from labeling a neighborhood as “blighted” without taking into account each individual property.

Freddie Mac reports a drop in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 5.94 percent during the week ended Oct. 9, marking the first decrease in three weeks.

The 15-year fixed rate slipped to 5.63 percent from 5.78 percent the previous week.

Meanwhile, the five-year adjustable mortgage rate dropped a notch to 5.9 percent from 6 percent; and the one-year ARM dipped slightly to 5.15 percent.

Source: Miami Herald (10/10/08)

NEW YORK (New York Times) – Countrywide Financial, in an effort to resolve lawsuits against it, has launched the largest program ever to help struggling homeowners in Texas and ten other states.

The lender, recently acquired by Bank of America, will provide a total of $8.7 billion to borrowers, $8.4 billion of which will be through direct loan relief that will affect about 400,000 people. Countrywide will also waive $79 million in late fees and $56 million in prepayment penalties, and suspend foreclosures on delinquent borrowers with the riskiest loans.

A foreclosure relief fund will be created with $150 million from Countrywide to help borrowers who are four or more months behind on their payments or whose homes have already been foreclosed on. The company will also provide $70 million to help troubled borrowers relocate to rental housing.

Additionally, Countrywide will reduce principal balances in some cases and cut interest rates in others.

To qualify, the borrower's first payment must have been due between Jan. 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2007. The loan balance must be at least 75 percent of the current value of the home, and the borrower must be able to afford the adjusted monthly payments.

TEXAS (Houston Chronicle, Associated Press) – Many Texas homeowners could soon be paying more for their insurance coverage thanks to rate increases that are either in the works or in effect with several major insurance companies.

State Farm Insurance Co. and Farmers Insurance Cos. have both filed for rate increases with the Texas Department of Insurance, and Allstate has already raised its rates.

State Farm, the largest insurer of homes and cars in Texas, has filed for an average 3.6 percent rate increase in Texas homeowners' insurance policies.

Farmers, meanwhile, has filed for a statewide average increase of 2.5 percent, and homeowners in some parts of Harris County could face hikes as high as 25 percent.

In addition, Fire Insurance, a subsidiary of Farmers Insurance Cos., has filed for a statewide average rate increase of 1.7 percent.

Allstate has already implemented a flat 5.9 percent increase statewide and an additional average 2.1 percent bump for homeowners in some coastal counties.

WASHINGTON (federalreserve.gov, CNN) – The Federal Reserve Board’s Federal Open Market Committee cut its short-term interest rate by a half of a percentage point today to 4.75 percent.

According to the committee, the tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing correction and to restrain economic growth more generally.

The committee said today's rate cut is intended to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets and to promote moderate growth over time.

The cut to the federal funds rate is the first since June 2003.

In a related action, the Board of Governors also unanimously approved a 50-basis-point decrease in the discount rate to 5.25 percent. The discount rate is the rate banks pay to borrow directly from the Federal Reserve.