MH900205594Don’t believe me? Check out this article from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram published last week. Not only did residential foreclosures fall 2.9 percent in Texas last month, but they dropped a staggering 10 percent nationwide. Take that, doomsday sayers!

For those of you who just love statistics, here’s how the numbers roll:

  • There were a total of 11,727 foreclosure postings filed last month in Texas (which equals 1 in 819 housing units)
  • Nationwide, 325,229 postings were filed (or 1 in every 397 housing units)
  • Unsurprisingly, Nevada continues to have the highest foreclosure rate in the nation (1 in 82 housing units), followed by Arizona and Florida.
  • However, even in California, another major foreclosure state, filings were down 38 percent from July 2009 and down 3 percent from June 2010.

Hmm… All of this looks suspicious like good news to me. I’ll end this post with some wise words from a little-known gentleman named Winston Churchill: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

That’s all for now, folks. Take care of yourselves and each other, and remember…

NOW you have options!


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Recently CNNMoney published a great article on the top 10 counties in the nation for job growth. As has often been the case with similar “Top 10” lists recently, Texas was well-represented, boasting 5 counties with strong employment records: Williamson, Hays, Webb, Collin and Fort Bend.

800px-Williamson_county_courthouse_2008Most impressive but probably least surprising is the fact that our very own Williamson County, home to the cities of Round Rock and Cedar Park, snagged the #2 spot on the list. The county boasted a staggering 58.9% employment growth between 2000 and 2009, second only to Lincoln County in South Dakota.

So, why has there been so much expansion in North Austin over the past decade? Economists have developed numerous explanations over the years: First, Williamson County offers easy access to Austin, the capital of Texas, which is home to the University of Texas at Austin, a highly-ranked state university. Also, with an array of high-quality schools, shopping and hospitals recently built and more on the way, the area has fantastic appeal for new and growing families.

CNNMoney, however, attributes much of “Wilco’s” growth to computer manufacturing powerhouse Dell, Inc., the county’s largest employer. Austin’s reputation for being a tech-friendly city has attracted many enterpreneurs to the area as well.

Whatever the reason, one thing is clear: The Greater Austin area is the place to be—always has been, and always will be!

Take care of yourselves and each other, and remember…

NOW you have options!


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MH900149487You’ve seen the news. You know the market hasn’t bounced back yet, and probably won’t for a while. If you’re hoping to buy a home, you know financing can be hard to come by right now. If you’re trying to sell, you know your home will most likely be listed longer and sell for less than you’d like.

What you may NOT know is that in the grand scheme of things, Austin is holding up quite well, according to the Multiple Listing Service report for June 2010 recently released by the Austin Board of REALTORS®. In fact, the organization called the market “stable” despite the expiration of federal homebuyers tax credits back in April.

Stable is good. We like stable. Stable means life goes on after tax credits

A few key stats worth noting from the report:

  • The total dollar volume of single-family homes sold equals $553,882,211, a 6% increase from June 2009
  • The average single-family home sold for $208,750, a 4% increase from June 2009
  • On average, homes are on the market 70 days, a 14% decrease from June 2009

So, if you’re one of those confused souls who thinks the market is shot, who thinks we’re headed toward another Great Depression, let this information encourage you. Austin is one of the best places in the country to be right now, but of course if you live here, you probably already knew that!

Take care of yourselves and each other, and remember…

NOW you have options!


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Earlier this week, I came across this article from the Wall Street Journal about a phenomenon that’s sweeping the real estate world: mortgage-loan buyers. Companies such as Kondaur and PennyMac are springing up all over the country, offering to purchase mortgage debt from homeowners on the verge of foreclosure. However, the article suggests that these businesses may not be the benevolent home saviors they appear to be.

House and Keys in Female Hands

Interesting to note is the fact that many of these companies (including Kondaur) started out as subprime lenders, some the same organizations many financial experts blame for our current housing slump. Kind of makes you say hmmm, doesn’t it? So, what’s the moral of the story? If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It’s a fascinating read. Check it out.

Take care of yourselves and each other, and remember…

NOW you have options!


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 debt

Even though now is a fantastic time to purchase the home of your dreams, getting preapproved for a loan can be a nightmare if you don’t have the right information. Many would-be buyers disqualify themselves before they even begin by making devastating mistakes in the months before the approval process. Avoid these 10 common missteps to keep the same thing from happening to you.

1. Failing to Submit Important Documents

Your lender doesn’t ask for items like paycheck stubs, bank statements and copies of your credit report just to make your life difficult. All that paperwork is a critical part of the home loan approval process, and each missing item means you’ll ultimately have to wait even longer to get the keys to your dream home.

2. Failing to Correct Errors on Your Credit Report

Getting approved for a home loan is difficult enough when your credit report is accurate. The last thing you need is a slew of phantom defaults and  judgments that you aren’t even responsible for paying. However, it can take up to 90 days to correct errors to your credit report, so you’ll want to dispute and remove any discrepancies several months before you begin the loan application process just to be sure you don’t hit any snags.

You can order a copy of your credit report from any one of the three credit bureaus (Experian, Transunion and Equifax) or get a free copy by going to www.annualcreditreport.com.   

3. Maintaining High Account Balances

Keeping your credit in tip-top shape is a delicate balancing act. Carrying too much or too little debt can have equally negative affects on your credit score. In general, people who carry high account balances are seen as high-risk to lenders because they appear to be struggling with their current monthly payments.

4. Making Late Payments

Just one or two late payments on an account can be enough to cause damage to your credit. This problem can be easily avoided by signing up for online banking. Most creditors these days have this feature available on their websites, either for free or a low fee per transaction. Many also allow you to set up recurring payments that are automatically drafted from your account each month.

5. Failing to Pay Fines or Other Old Bills

Think no one will notice if you let that old library fine or parking ticket slide for a few months? Think again. Yep, information about those tedious little bills is being reported to credit agencies as well, and over time, they can drag down your credit score without you even realizing it.

6. Closing Old Accounts

Once you’ve made the effort to pay off those lingering credit card bills, the next logical step for many people is to shut down the accounts altogether. Not so fast. Counterintuitive as it seems, closing credit accounts can actually lower your credit score even further. Each time an account is closed, it increases your debt to credit ratio, which once again makes it look like you’re overwhelmed by debt (See Mistake #3). If you must close an account, make sure it is fairly new and has a low credit limit to minimize damage.

7. Not Using Credit Cards At All

Along the same lines, buyers should know they can also be penalized for keeping credit card accounts open for too long without using them. In contrast to pre-recession days, credit card companies are now not only more hesitant to award credit in the first place, but also quick to close down lines of credit that don’t have enough activity.

8. Applying for Too Much New Credit

So, does that mean you should apply for every new credit offer you receive in the mail from now? Not quite. Repeatedly applying for new credit can also hurt your credit score in two ways: 1) It lowers the average age of your credit history, and 2) multiple inquiries decrease your credit score, especially when they occur over a short period of time.

9. Being Self-Employed

Is owning a small business a bad thing? Absolutely not. However, simple tasks like presenting a paycheck stub as proof of income can be much more difficult for buyers who are self-employed, which is why many banks won’t approve them. For these people, proper documentation and high credit scores are even more important in terms of making their case to potential lenders.

10. Waiting to Receive Gifts

If you will be receiving a gift for your down payment, make plans to receive it at least two months before submitting your loan application. If the funds show up any later than that, buyers are then required to verify where the money came from. Plus, the lender considers it added debt that will impact your your debt to income ratio as well (See Mistake #6).

The Bottom Line:

Applying for a home loan doesn’t have to be a nightmare, but it does require more than average planning and organization. Keep all your financial records up to date and your bills paid on time, and you’ll be exactly the kind of borrower most lenders are looking for. Good luck!


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