har chair vicki fullerton - women's council of realtors - june 17, 2009
DESCRIPTION
2009 HAR Chair Vicki Fullerton spoke to the Women's Council of REALTORS about the Houston real estate market and what new tools and services HAR has been developing.TRANSCRIPT
Vicki FullertonHouston Association of REALTORS®
2009 Chair of the Board
Women’s Council of REALTORS®
No Place Like Home…Greater Houston
Steady Growth in Prices
Houston Home Sales Have Declined
Sales Began Dropping in Early 2007
But Months Inventory isShowing Signs of Improvement
And Active Listings are Decreasing
Prices Have Held Up But are Tapering Off
Content
New Homes Sold Through the MLS Have Skyrocketed
New Homes Sold Through MLS
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Permits Show Depressed New Construction Market
For All the Talk About Foreclosures… Less Than Half the 1980s
More mortgage workouts
Where is Houston going?• We have seen steady double-digit increases in the number of leases
completed through the MLS, which are typically single-family homes. • Those renters are likely people who wanted to purchase but have been
caught by more stringent lending standards.• They are expected to enter the market in a year or more, as they have
saved more for a down payment and have corrected credit problems.• Also, despite declining energy prices which took away some of the
cushion we enjoyed, Houston is still cited in numerous reports as being one of the best real estate markets in the country and is expected to rebound earlier than most others. Houston added more than 42,000 jobs last year, through November, and it is still considered a stronger economy.
• The Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate recently ranked Houston as the 8th best investment market in the world!
• Real estate will follow through on the economic conditions…as they improve, real estate will also.
What has HAR been doing lately?
TAR/NAR Hill Visits
Houston Named Ambassador City
Generating Positive Buzz for Real Estate• HAR was the first association in Texas to host this class• About 300 people attended two courses taught by communications experts
Timely Advertising
HAR Goes Green
Date: June 10th – 12th Time: 8:30am-5pmLocation: HAR Montgomery County Investment: $295
Date: May 27th – 29thTime: 8:30am-5pmLocation: HAR Central Investment: $295
Register Online at www.har.com/edu
Free Member Blogs
713-REALTOR
Client Experience Rating
Newly Redesigned Free Member Web Sites
Member and Listing Videos
Troubling Times
• When there are times of trouble, many people take advantage of those who have less experience or knowledge about the real estate market.
• Recently, many scams have been targeting people who are among our most vulnerable citizens.
• Some have called and claimed to reduce their mortgage interest rate to absurdly low levels if they will send some amount of money. The person will send it thinking they are saving themselves from foreclosure, but it is a scam. Now the people are not only still in danger of foreclosure—but also lost a good amount of their savings
• There have also been many reports of scams utilizing Craigslist.com and other such sites
