Pamela Archer’s Blog

Carnival Magic, the new 3,690-passenger ship, will call the Port of Galveston home in fall 2011.  The vessel is part of Carnival’s new Dream Class which is reported to have the largest variety of dining, entertainment and activities of the entire fleet.   Another Carnival ship, the Triumph, will be moved from New Orleans, and Royal Caribbean International will also bring its new vessel, Mariner of the Seas – one of the world’s 10 largest liners – to the Port in the fall of 2011.

 Information provided by Barbara Cutsinger with Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership.  

For information on the current housing market in the great Bay Area of Houston,  contact Pamela Archer, Archer Group with Re/max Space Center.  Direct number:  281-204-1110.  Website:  http://www.RelocateClearLake.com

The latest report from Houston Association of Realtors (HAR)  will be released to the public later today. 

The post-tax credit days have resulted in many fewer sales and higher inventory of homes for our area.

To see the complete report,  visit my website:  www.Har.com/PamelaArcher

Pamela Archer, Archer Group with Re/max Space Center is now  a Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE)  receiving her designation in July 2010. 

 Pamela can be reached at her direct Re/max office line:  281-204-1110. Email her at:   Pamela@RelocateClearLake.com

We knew that FHA was set to reduce seller contributions from 6% to 3% very soon, but this one kind of caught us off guard.  For quite some time, there had been rumblings from HUD about the need to increase mortgage insurance premiums to shore up the shortfall in the MMI fund back up to mandated levels. 

 Beginning in 2009, foreclosure rates continued at unprecedented levels which drained HUD reserves for mortgage insurance claims.  In an effort to bring reserves back to congressionally required levels, HUD announced yesterday, August 5, 2010, increases to mortgage insurance premiums which will go into effect with new FHA case numbers assigned as early as September 7th.  It is not necessary for buyers to close by Sept 7, but they must have a contract and case number assigned by the lender by September 7th.

Confirmed by Congressman Ron Paul’s office today:   The new “Health Care” bill imposes a 3.8% Capital Gains tax on sales of real estate for people earning  (not including from the sale of the real estate)  over $200,000 for a taxpayer who files taxes as single,   or $250,000 for taxpayers who file as married. 

 Congressman Paul will support any and all efforts to repel this.

For your residental real estate needs,  call or click Pamela Archer, Archer Group  with Re/max Space Center. 1150 Clear Lake City Blvd, #100, Houston, TX  77062.

 Direct: 281-204-1110

Pamela@RelocateClearLake.com.   www.RelocateClearLake.com

Pamela Archer, Realtor, GRI, CDPE, SRES, Re/max Hall of Fame

Congress extended the time necessary to close on homes purchased with the tax credit by three months to September 30, provided the property was under contract by April 30. The May and June decline in pending sales—property listings that are expected to close within the next 30 to 60 days—was expected, as homebuyers rushed to take advantage of the tax credit and is considered an indicator that sales volume will slow in July. According to the latest monthly data compiled by the Houston Association of Realtors® (HAR), June sales of single-family homes throughout the Houston market rose 2.9 percent compared to June 2009. That follows increases of 11.3 percent in March, 27.8 percent in April and 18.2 percent in May. Sales volume showed gains in all single-family home pricing segments except the $150,000 to $250,000 market. The largest increase took place among homes priced from $500,000 and above. Foreclosure property sales reported in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) rose 9.3 percent in June compared to one year earlier. The median price of June foreclosure sales increased 2.4 percent. “The Houston real estate market has benefited all that it can from the homebuyer tax credit and now comes the return of sales trends that are more typical for this time of year,” said Margie Dorrance, HAR chair and principal at Keller Williams Realty Metropolitan. “Heavy sales activity in the high end of the housing market boosted the average price in June, but growing inventory, an increase in months inventory and a slowdown in listings under contract point to a more flattened market in the coming months.” The number of available properties, or active listings, at the end of June rose 17.3 percent from June 2009 to 53,934. That represents 2,749 more active listings than one month earlier, in June 2010, and reflects additional housing inventory that began hitting the market as a result of interest in the homebuyer tax credit as well as general confidence in improved market conditions. Month-end pending sales for June totaled 3,272, down 16.0 percent from last year. This is a likely indicator that the effects of the tax credit have worn off. The months inventory of single-family homes for June extended to 7.3 months compared to 6.4 months one year earlier, but remains healthier than the national months inventory of single-family homes of 8.3 months, reported by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Lease Property Update Demand for single-family home rentals rose 21.0 percent in June compared to one year earlier. Year-over-year townhouse/condominium rentals increased 22.7 percent.

 Information above has been provided by Houston Association of Realtors.

 Pamela Archer, Archer Group with Re/max Space Center is available to assist homebuyers and sellers in the Houston residential real estate market. www.RelocateClearLake.com. Direct phone:  281-204-1110  

National Flood Insurance Program Extended Once Again; Still No Long-Term Fix in Place

The U.S. Senate has passed the National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 5569) an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program until September 30, 2010. The House already passed the legislation so this will allow transactions to move forward. The bill is retroactive and covers the lapse period from June 1, 2010 to the date of enactment of the extension. An estimated 14,000 transactions per day had been stalled because of the lack of availability of flood insurance under the program.

For more information on the flood insurance program, you may visit www.realtoractioncenter.com or www.realtor.org/government_affairs.

For your real estate needs in the Southeast area of Houston, TX,  contact Pamela Archer, Archer Group, with Re/max Space Center.  Direct line:  281-204-1110.  Website:  www.RelocateClearLake.com .

Best to you and your family as we celebrate America’s 234th Birthday!

There is an email or two floating around that  if the cap-and-trade (tax)  bill is approved, and signed into law, individuals would have to obtain a “Label”, showing their home has been retrofitted.

If anyone wants to take the time to  pull up HB 2454, Section 205, they can read the Section on Labeling.

Below is information  we received from Congressman Ron Paul’s legislative director, Norman Kirk Singleton in Washington DC :

“The cap-and-trade bill does not require private home owners to retrofit their homes.  However, the bill does provide  incentives for states to adopt retrofitting programs, and individual states could impose retrofitting mandates on homeowners.”

 I hope this information helps clarify this topic.

Pamela Archer,  Archer Group at Remax Space Center   www.RelocateClearLake.com  Direct: 281-204-1110

Pamela@RelocateClearLake.com

According to Reuters June 22, 2010- A judge today ruled against the Obama administration’s six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a blow to the White House which had hoped the ban would provide time to ensure other wells are operating safely.

A lawsuit was filed by Louisiana-based Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC which was joined by over a dozen companies involved in offshore drilling operations to reverse the drilling ban imposed by the US Dept of Interior.

A federal judge in Louisiana granted the request for a preliminary restraining order preventing the ban from taking effect.

For those of us living in and around the Houston area,  this is good news in the making.

Pamela Archer, Archer Group at Re/max Space Center is available to assist oil service companies in relocating their employees either into or out of the Bay Area of Houston, TX.  She can be reached by phone at 281-204-1110, or by clicking on their website:  www.RelocateClearLake.com .

   Talk has been going on for months about this major change. Sometime this summer, FHA will reduce the current 6% seller concession to 3%.   FHA announced the policy change earlier this year and said the long standing 6% maximum exposes FHA to excess risk by creating incentives to inflate appraised value.   Once FHA has entered a publication in the Federal Register, there is a public comment period which generally runs 60 days.  As such, it would appear this change would be late this summer at the earliest.  But this is a critical period of time for homebuyers that will need the full 6% contribution.