Ever wondered why we should purchase homes in College Station and Bryan rather than rent? Is there really a benefit to purchasing?
I think there are a couple things to consider when deciding -
Financial
Stability
Financial -
We all know that purchasing a home can be an investment for the future. At least when purchasing, the monthly payment is applying to something you will own at the end rather than something someone else will own. Normally homes increase in value (they are continuing to increase in the Bryan/College Station area even though other parts of the country are NOT having the appreciation we have). So, your investment should be worth more than you paid for it many years later. If your home doesn't go up in value (appreciate) remember you will have "Forced Savings" (your monthly payment) that helps pay down the balance due on the home loan.
Each month you make your house payment you are reducing the amount owed on the home (if not, call me and I'll put you in touch with a lender who can make this happen!). When you pay rent you are paying someone else's house payment for them. You are making THEIR investment portfolio grow rather than yours.
As you pay down your loan, when you sell and collect the equity (difference between what you get for the home and what you still owe on it) you could move up to a larger home, use it for the kid's college fun, have money for retirement or..... remember it is YOUR choice!
Also you currently have a powerful tax benefit. Unless the laws are changed, you can deduct the interest on a typical home mortgage and the cost of the property taxes! I LOVE it when I can deduct from my income taxes -
Security -
To me, Security is the best part of home ownership. I don't have to worry about the landlord changing his mind and selling the property and me having to move. I don't have to worry about if my lease will be renewed. I don't have to wonder what my house payment will be next year (as long as I have a fixed rate loan). I know that if I make my house payment each month, the house is MINE to live in. My children have a home. I can have pets, remodel, plant a garden, redecorate and no landlord can tell me how to do it or what I can or cannot do. My family can put down roots in a neighborhood in a way very different from someone who is renting.
Give your family the gift of Security. Give them the gift of Home Ownership!
And, you may can also take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit from the government too!
Selling a home in Bryan or College Station, Texas or other location in the Brazos Valley is heavily dependant on pricing your home properly and picking an agent that will create an "online market presence" for your home. As a home seller, you need to be aware that the market in Bryan College Station and many other Texas communities has changed over the last three and a half years. We are no longer in a strong seller's market.
** 85% of all buyers are finding their homes on the Internet. Is your Bryan College Station home being advertised on the web? If you are with CENTURY 21 Beal it sure is!
Texas is the largest state in the continental United States. (Of course Texans will also say that Texas is bigger than Alaska if you melted all their snow!)
Texas covers 268,000 square miles which is 7.4% of the nation! If you added up New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio AND Illinois... Texas is still Bigger! The airport at Dallas (DFW airport) is bigger than Manhattan!
Of the top 10 most populated cities, Texas has 3! Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
Wonder which state has the largest population growth rate of any state in the US? TEXAS of course! Texas is growing by over 1,000 people a day.
Wonder which state has the #1 fastest growing metro area in the nation? TEXAS of course! The Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex wins.
In the Texaplex (triangle connecting Houston, Dallas and San Antonio) we have the majority of the population. In fact over 70% of the state's population lives within 200 miles of Austin (the capital of Texas). That means that 4 out of 5 of the 24 million Texas live in the Texaplex!
And, Texas is growing very fast. Forecasts tell us that the Texaplex will add another 12 million people by 2030. That is like taking the current Texas population and adding another Houston metropolitan area, Austin metropolitan area and Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area and San Antonio metropolitan area all inside the Texaplex.
So if you could live anywhere in the United Stated (and you CAN!), where would be the BEST place to live? College Station, TEXAS of course! College Station is in the middle of ALL THIS GROWTH!
Selling a home in Bryan or College Station, Texas or other location in the Brazos Valley is heavily dependant on pricing your home properly and picking an agent that will create an "online market presence" for your home. As a home seller, you need to be aware that the market in Bryan College Station and many other Texas communities has changed over the last three and a half years. We are no longer in a strong seller's market.
** 85% of all buyers are finding their homes on the Internet. Is your Bryan College Station home being advertised on the web? If you are with CENTURY 21 Beal it sure is!
So what is really going on in the Bryan/College Station real estate market? The numbers don't look good but what you see above is the effect of the fear in the market in November, December and January with the elections, stock market decline and horrible national news. We are in a bubbled community but we still see some of the effects of the national news.
So what is going on right now? It depends! We are seeing the higher priced homes being reduced to get them sold. We are seeing the homes in the $120 - $150K in College Station that are in good condition and good areas, selling right away. Right now we have more buyers than we have good properties to sell.
Financing is a little more of a struggle than it was a year ago BUT THERE IS MORTGAGE MONEY AVAILABLE! Buyers need decent credit and they need a small down payment but that can come in the form of a gift until the $8,000 tax credit is received!
The last 2 weeks we have seen the stock market begin back up, the phones ringing, buyers buying and sellers selling.... I vote we don't listen to the national news anymore! Real estate is LOCAL and NOW is the time to move up to a nicer home!
The Real Estate Research Center's Recon Report on March 13, 2009 announced that Lynntech will be consolidating its operations and will become the new tenant of the former Westinghouse property at 2501 Earl Rudder South. The former Westinghouse property will be purchased by College Station Science Park LLC with Lyntech as the anchor tenant.
The plan is to redevelop 53 acres surrounding the facility as a science park "supporting scientific innovation and technology transfer." They plan to pay $3M for facility improvements while adding more than $2M a year in payroll. A three year term loan was provided to Lynntech by the Research Valley Partnership from its sconomic development fund for property improvements.
Selling a home in Bryan or College Station Texas or other location in the Brazos Valley is heavily dependant on pricing your home properly and picking an agent that will create an "online market presence" for your home. As a home seller, you need to be aware that the market in Bryan College Station and many other Texas communities has changed over the last three and a half years. We are no longer in a strong seller's market. educated, top professional at Century 21 Beal.
When selling a home in Bryan College Station, Tx, it pays to have a pro in your corner representing you. It pays to hire a well educated and active agent.
** 85% of all buyers are finding their homes on the Internet. Is your Bryan College Station home being advertised on the web? If you are with Century 21 Beal, it sure is!
Texas is rated with the Top 5 Healthiest Real Estate Markets out of 75 by Boyce Thompson with Hanley Wood Builder Market Intelligence and the top 5 cities are all around Bryan College Station! The report states that when the real estate market recovers the cities below are in a prime position to recover the BEST! The report used the top 75 real estate markets (Bryan College Station was too small to be included in the survey otherwise I'm sure we would have been rated #1!)
#15 - Myrtle Beach, FL
#14 - Wilmington, NC
#13 - Charlott, NC
#12 - Denver, CO
#11 - Nashville, TN
#10 - Washington, DC
#9 - Fayetteville, AR
#8 - Indianapolis, IN
#7 - Seattle, WA
#6 - Raleigh, NC
#5 - Dallas, Tx
#4 - San Antonio, Tx
#3 - Fort Worth, Tx
#2 - Austin, Tx
#1 - Houston, Tx
Isn't it great that the Bryan College Station real estate is surrounded by the top 5 real estate markets poised for a great increase during the upcoming real estate rebound! Looks like more growth around Texas A&M University TOO!
Selling a home in Bryan or College Station, Texas or other location in the Brazos Valley is heavily dependant on pricing your home properly and picking an agent that will create an "online market presence" for your home. As a home seller, you need to be aware that the market in Bryan College Station and many other Texas communities has changed over the last three and a half years. We are no longer in a strong seller's market.
** 85% of all buyers are finding their homes on the Internet. Is your Bryan College Station home being advertised on the web? If you are with CENTURY 21 Beal it sure is!
The purpose and intent of this Section is to promote the preservation of trees and tree stands during construction to facilitate site design and construction that contributes to the long-term viability of existing trees and to develop a process to control the removal of trees. It is further the purpose of this ordinance to prevent the untimely and indiscriminate removal or destruction of trees, maintain and enhance a positive image of the City and to protect trees and promote the ecological, environmental and aesthetic values of the City.
Are you ready to have to get a permit to cut a tree? Are you ready to APPLY for a permit to grade your property if there is a tree larger than 8 inches in diameter?
If you are outside the City Limits think you don't have to worry? Sorry - right now the draft says -
Tree protection requirements will apply to all property in the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) in conjunction with development and subdivision plats.
Yes, there are some exemptions. Yes this is only a draft. BUT, will this become law for the City of College Station? Do we need more regulation to limit real estate development? Do we need more governmental interference?
With the change in the real estate market have you wondered what is going on with licenses? Does Texas have MORE real estate agents or less?
Thanks to Elizabeth Leal, TREC Commissioner, she let us know that there "are more Broker applications than salesman. We are down about 37% in Original Applications over the same period a year ago. Renewals are down, though that is no surprise. Total Brokers and Salesmen licensees at this point are 147,344 as compared to 152,884 a year ago (Dec.) Inspectors have also dropped, having had 4,293 licensed last December, down to 3,845 this December. (That is a drop of 448. I learned that the Investor Recovery Fund has a limit on the amount it may keep. At the end of the year, $37,721 was returned to the Texas General Fund as they may only keep $300,000 in the account. The Real Estate Recovery Fund is a different animal. Our maximum, according to Karen Alexander, our Finance Director, is 3.5 million OR the greater of the total paid out in claims for the last 4 years. Since that amount is only 1.7 million, we are in good shape."
So, there are fewer real estate agents and inspectors in Texas in 2009 than there were in 2008. Is anyone surprised?
Do you think there are fewer agents in Bryan or College Station real estate? Do you think this will affect the real estate industry? Do foreclosures have anything to do with it? If so, HOW?
Have you ever had a domain name sniped? One of the agents in my office was making a change on her main website from Realtor.com to another firm so she could update it more easily. Since Realtor.com held the site they would not transfer it but agreed to release it and then she could purchase it back right away and move it to GoDaddy.com. Sounds easy - right?
It would have been very easy except a competitor had a notification of some kind so when domain names became available and before the agent could re-register her site he sniped it. After quite a while we figured out who had gotten her website, called him and asked if she could purchase it back.
His answer... "Want the website? Come work in my office!" Sure - she wants to work with a broker who would snipe her website. Her website isn't a area name or a real estate reference... It is HER NAME!!! The website is not being used - just tied up like a hostage.
Checked with our lcoal Board of Realtors and this is not a Code of Ethics violation. Somehow to me this kind of mean spirited action sure seems like an ethics issue to me....
I sent out the following message in an email to the agents at Century 21 Beal yesterday. Within 24 hours I heard that a competitor had taken the message and sent it out WORD FOR WORD as coming from them. I am flattered but surely they would want to at least re-write it in their own language..... But, back to the important topic - BUYING A HOUSE IN BRYAN & COLLEGE STATION!
The 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit was passed into law in February 2009. This credit is available for first time home buyers only who purchase and close on a home in 2009. A first time home buyer is someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three year period prior to the purchase. So, you could actually have owned a home in the past and still qualify. You also must be a U.S. citizen and file your taxes... AND you don't have to pay it back! (unless you sell the house within 3 years after you purchase it....)
Of course there is a bit of fine print. If you are single or head-of-household you can claim the full $8,000 credit if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $75,000. If your income is between $75,000 and $95,000 you may be eligible for a partial first time home buyer tax credit. Married couples filing a joint return can earn up to $150,000 a year and still qualify for the full credit but if your income is between $150,000 and $170,000 you are eligible to receive a partial credit. If you are a single tax payer and your MAGI is greater than $95,000 or a married couple with a MAGI exceeding $170,000 you are not eligible.
Now the sticky part ....
Guess you'll have to go to SusanHilton.com to see the rest....
Do you know what is going on in real estate in the Bryan College Station area? What are the statistics? Has the real estate market changed near Texas A&M University?
Bryan & College Station's real estate blog for information about interesting community events, real estate home sales statistics, Texas A&M Traditions, Realtor thoughts and experiences, neighborhood updates, student housing issues and more!
<!--
Skype 'My status' button
http://www.skype.com/go/skypebuttons
-->
Get the Susan Hilton's Bryan College Station Real Estate widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox!
<!--tag cloud by makecloud.com-->tag cloud<!--end of tag cloud-->
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
portfolio grow rather than yours.
View Susan Hilton's profile
Have you ever had a domain name sniped? One of the agents in my office was making a change on her main website from Realtor.com to another firm so she could update it more easily. Since Realtor.com held the site they would not transfer it but agreed to release it and then she could purchase it back right away and move it to GoDaddy.com. Sounds easy - right?
;)
;)
