Who says the real estate market in El Paso is bad? This week I have been working with 3 buyers- 2 from out of town and one in town buyer.

The first buyer is a military doctor being transferred to Ft Bliss from Hawaii-that must have been a shock!

He was going to rent but decided that he could have a mortgage payment close to what he would have paid in rent and bought a brand new home and we should close (with a local lender) by the end of the month.

The second couple is moving from the east part of the state and decided that living in El Paso close to family was important to them. They will be back next week becasue the hubby got called back into work and they had to go back home for a few days.

The 3rd couple lives in El Paso already and does not have to sell thier home first so they are ready. They made a great offer on an over priced home (not my listing) and the seller would not come to terms with his over priced listing so I guess it will just have to sit awhile longer (he was a for sale by owner before and just doe not get the picture yet). My buyers will build what they want now and we will meet with a builder on Friday.

Great week so far

Here are some great stats that I would like to share about El Paso that I got when I attended the State if the City luncheon the other day.

Did you know that El Paso

#1 City where Americans are getting richer(median pay rose in El Paso by 19.4% since 2006, handily outpacing the 8% national growth for college grads.-Forbes.com December 2009

#14 Best Performing Cities(up 23 spots from 2008)-Milken Institute November 2009

10th Strongest U.S. Economy-Business Week October 2009

9th U.S city ofr Job Growth-biz-journals-Feb 2009

5th Strongest Housing Market-Forbes.com-Jan 2009

Our Airport-ranked 4th "Top Ten Best Airport Zone"

Economic Development-$231 million of new investment in Downtown El Paso

Police-2nd Safest city in the US, cities over 500,000

these are just a few of the reason that the El Paso real estate market is still a great place to buy a home or investment property and now especially when the interest rates are at an all time low.

Go El Paso!!!

is anyone besides me having nightmare loans with the major loan companies. I am beginning to hate them all and will do my best to stick to the local lenders that don't lie to you and tell you "next Friday for sure" and then let you know that it is still in underwriting. @%^&((&$*&

Well El Paso had one of its "Free Facial Weather Days" the other day and by that I mean that it was a dirty, gritty ,windy  day and by the end of the day when you wash your face you get a free facial scrub.

Since we don't have hurricanes, tornadoes, or earth quakes, I don't mind some wind!!

The real estate market has been picking up (just like the wind!) and buyers are starting to peek out again. Most of the buyers that I have been working with are not hurrying to use the tax credit but just out there to buy a home.

I have aslo picked up in my property managment too and rented about 5 homes this past month- so now I am the rental queen too.

Patti

As the year draws to an end, I am grateful that our market has not been as terrible as other areas of the country. Our unemployment rate is at about 9.5% and that is just a little bit higher than the state of Texas.

Home sales are not bad, considering what is happening across the country. November stats were even better than Octobers' with sales being almost 150 more in November than the same time in 2008!! How about that, way to go El Paso.

I think that 2010 will be a good year for Real Estate in El Paso, TX because I feel that interest rates will remain low and after talking to one of the lenders that I like to use, even investor loans are decent. You can get a great rate with only 20% down and with rates low your cash flow possibilities are even better.

For home purchases the extended tax credit is great and even better it now included repeat buyers. Please be sure to read up on the qualifications so you have the correct information.

If you are thinking of buying a home soon, don't wait for rates to go back up. DO it NOW!!!!

The real estate market in El Paso, TXis humming right along. Interest rates are still low and there seems to be alot more buyers out there right now. El Paso and most of Texas is not in the slump (thank goodness) that alot of parts of the rest of the country are in currently.

Prices are remaining pretty steady and most homes (if priced correctly from the beginning) are selling pretty close to list price (96-98%) because sellers are offering to help buyers with closing costs.

There is still time for first time buyers or those who have not bought a home in the past 3 years to get into a home and be eligible for the tax credit.

Most of our buyers still come from our web site but we still get referrals from past clients and from other agents throughout the country that we have met at conventions etc.

Now is a great time to buy a home in El Paso and if you are moving to El Paso or selling a home in El Paso, please be sure to give me a call.

After trying to catch up from almost 5 days in DC, I am back to normal now. I am still waking up at 4:30 AM in El Paso thinking it is 6:30 in DC but oh well, I guess I am ok with that, just starts my day a little earlier! If you are ever in a town that had Duck Tours, I would suggest that you take the time to go on one. We were picked up at Union Station in Washington on a World War 2 amphibious vehicle that goes on land and water. We started from Union Station and then went all around the downtown and saw all the sights from the US Capitol to the Washington Monument(do you know why it is called a monument instead of a memorial?-we learned all sorts of neat historical facts). We drove past the White House, Japanese Memorial, Justice Bldg, Lincoln Memorial and eventually into the Potomac River and we got to go by the Pentagon and ended up just by the Regan Airport where we got to see a plane land just literally over our head, that was amazing. Once back on land we drove past the Jefferson Memorial and then back to Union Station. It takes about 1 1/2 hours for the tour and is well worth the money $32.00. Next we went to the National Cathedral and the Bishops Gardens. What an amazing building our Cathedral is. If you have never been I would suggest that too. The gardens were the highlight- as soon as you step into the garden you feel like the you have been immersed into a magical place, it was soooo relaxing and peaceful. What a great way to end the day. Real Estate in El Paso, TX is starting to really pick back up again and we are seeing more and more buyers moving to the area and alot of 1st time buyers want to take advantage of the tax credit that they will get for purchasing a home. Now is a great time to buy a home in El Paso. Contact your El Paso Realtor for more information.

I just got our market report for March 09 for our Multiple Listing Service <a href="http://www.teamolivas.com">for homes in El Paso, TX </a> and we were up over Feb 09. In Feb 332 homes were sold and in March 435! And that is for a down economy.

The average sales price for March of 08 was $154,446 and March of 09 was $153,181. Not bad for a tough real estate year. Average days on market is about 114 days and homes are selling at about 96% of list price.

Seller are making more concessions for sure but we are not seeing drastic reductions in price.

Now is the time to buy <a href="http://www.teamolivas.com">real estate in El Paso, TX</a> so now is also the time to call a <a href="http://www.pattisellselpaso.com">Realtor in El Paso, TX</a>.

I attended the Fort Bliss Housing Seminar last week and boy was it informative. Our  Congressman Sylvestre Reyes was there as well as people from Freddie Mac and Fannie May and numerous Generals from Ft Bliss and people from the housing office.

We know that we will be short in the number of units that will be available for soldiers to live in once they all arrive unless something can be done and be done very soon.

The city of El Paso is offering incentives to builders and developers by reducing the permits prices required to build and the bigger the complex you build or the number of homes, then the bigger the incentive.

The Army is even looking into renting homes themselves for the going rate and then renting them back to the soldiers. The housing office told us how to put our rentals on thier web site to further enhance advertising. You can go to www.ahrn.com and register your homes and it gets great exposure.

It is a great real estate market in El Paso, Tx right now and if you wait too long then you will miss the opportunity to get a good deal. Prices will go up, buy now.

I attended the Fort Bliss Housing Seminar last week and boy was it informative. Our  Congressman Sylvestre Reyes was there as well as people from Freddie Mac and Fannie May and numerous Generals from Ft Bliss and people from the housing office.

We know that we will be short in the number of units that will be available for soldiers to live in once they all arrive unless something can be done and be done very soon.

The city of El Paso is offering incentives to builders and developers by reducing the permits prices required to build and the bigger the complex you build or the number of homes, then the bigger the incentive.

The Army is even looking into renting homes themselves for the going rate and then renting them back to the soldiers. The housing office told us how to put our rentals on thier web site to further enhance advertising. You can go to www.ahrn.com and register your homes and it gets great exposure.

It is a great real estate market in El Paso, Tx right now and if you wait too long then you will miss the opportunity to get a good deal. Prices will go up, buy now.