Why Austin, Tex., Is a Good Place for Small Businesses

Branded by M.P. Mueller

Why Austin, Tex., Is a Good Place for Small Businesses

Recently, Austin was ranked No. 1 in "small-business vitality" for the
second year in a row in a survey by the American City Business Journals.

Texas's capital city scored high points for its quality of life, business
environment and healthy residents. Last July, Kiplinger named Austin one of
the "10 Best Cities for the Next Decade." Yes, it's true that most of the
rest of Texas thinks of Austin as that place full of crazy liberals, but
we'll take that (we don't understand why they insist on starching their
jeans).

Keeping you informed, ready to help you with all of your real estate needs
and wishing you all the best, Anne

ANNE JOHNSON-CHEVERERE

Realtor(r)

512-917-5260 Cell 512-328-5151 Office 512-328-0404 Fax

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HookemHomes.com

RE/MAX Austin Skyline 4611 Bee Caves Rd., Suite 200 Austin, Texas 78746 annejohnson@austin.rr.com anne@HookemHomes.com Google

The finest compliment I can ever receive is your referral. Please remember
me when your friends, family, and co-workers are thinking about buying or
selling residential and investment real estate.

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Austin Housing Market Hits Bottom in 4Q 2010

This article confirms what I am personally experiencing in representing
buyers and sellers in Central Texas. This information is encouraging for
sellers and slightly painful for buyers.

Austin home prices expected to rise

Austin Business Journal - by Cody Lyon, Staff Writer
Date: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 8:38am CDT Austin home prices are expected to begin recovering this year and grow by at
least 0.6 percent, according to an analysis from Fiserv Inc.

The Brookfield, Wis.-based financial services firm reported the average home
price in Austin falling 0.7 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter
last year. The Fiserv Case-Shiller home price indexes are based on data and
methodologies from Fiserv and Moody's Analytics.

According to the report released on Monday, Austin home prices have been
stable since reaching bottom in the fourth quarter 2010. Fiserv said it
expects the price to increase through 2012, albeit slowly, at a rate of
about 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the report projects the rest of the country won't stabilize until
the third quarter 2011. Before that happens, Fiserv expects another 3
percent drop in prices throughout the first half of this year. But, by the
end of 2012, the report said home prices even in some of the hardest hit
housing markets will level out.

Fiserv Chief Economist David Stiff said "the first step toward restoring
confidence in the housing markets is an improvement in consumer sentiment,
which we expect will increase slowly through 2011 due to stronger gains and
a falling unemployment rate."

Compared to pre-recession levels, the average national home price fell 23.6
percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the same period in 2010. Prices
in Austin increased 1.1 percent during that same period.

Keeping you informed, ready to help you with all of your real estate needs
and wishing you the best, Anne

ANNE JOHNSON-CHEVERERE

Realtor(r)

512-917-5260 Cell 512-328-5151 Office 512-328-0404 Fax

Follow me on

LinkedIn Twitter

Facebook
HookemHomes.com

RE/MAX Austin Skyline 4611 Bee Caves Rd., Suite 200 Austin, Texas 78746 annejohnson@austin.rr.com anne@HookemHomes.com Google

The finest compliment I can ever receive is your referral. Please remember
me when your friends, family, and co-workers are thinking about buying or
selling residential and investment real estate.

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Austin ranks high for, well, just about everything

There is so much news on Austin and Texas in general and it's all good.
Austin trends to the top on just about every top 10 list ranging from job
growth and real estate gains to most youthful. I thought you might be interested in a recent article highlighting all the
accolades.

Austin ranks high for, well, just about everything

Austin Business Journal - by Colin Pope

Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 6:22pm CDT

Rarely does a week go by without Austin being listed at or near the top of a
"best of" list.

With so much positive PR for this city flying around, I thought it would be
helpful to wrangle it all together. So here goes.

* The biggie people still like to talk about came from Kiplinger's Personal
Finance in May 2010, which tagged Austin as the No.
1 best
city to live in for the next 10 years.

* Just last week, Austin placed third in a
"Youngest Cities" ranking, which was based on how youthful
residents feel, not their actual age.

* When it comes to social
networking, few cities beat Austin's prowess, Men's Health
magazine says.

* Austin is the second-best
place to find a job right now, according to number crunchers
at Ajilon Professional Staffing.

* In November, Austin was deemed to have the second-strongest job market
in the country by the Milken
Institute (behind only Killeen, Texas).

* That backs up another list in July 2010 that put Austin
among
the top job-generating cities.

* In May 2010, Austin was listed among the country
's
healthiest cities on two other lists.

* A CNN/Money study last year labeled
Austin as recession-proof.

* Austin was chosen as one
of the eight best places to live and work in the U.S. by
Business Review USA.

* Austinites
have the
ninth-best "quality of life," according to Portfolio.com study in May 2010.

* Austin (again) ranked No.
4 on a list of the biggest tax procrastinating cities. I'll go out on
a limb and put this one in the "positive" category because it illustrates
how laid back and cool this city is. We're much too busy this time of year
with rodeos, music festivals and perfect weather to be bogged down by tax
forms.

* Austin was ranked
the
third-best city to move to in the United States, according to a
RelocateAmerica.com report about a year ago.

* They were on to something, because earlier this year U-Haul said Austin
is one of the most-moved-to cities in the country.

* Austin was pi
cked
as the
nation's most progressive
and
proactive entrepreneurial center in a July article from Entrepreneur.com.

* PayScale Inc. just ranked Austin
second among cities considered an IT startup "Hot
Spot."

* Austin is the third-best
city
for young entrepreneurs, says Under 30 CEO.

* Entrepreneur magazine ranked
Austin a top creative center in July.

* If you're a college student, there are few places better than Austin,
according to a Huffington
Post ranking.

* Austin ranks as the nation's fifth-best
city
for new college graduates in the latest annual listing by Bloomberg
Businessweek.

* Austin was deemed by Men's Health to be America

's most sex-happy city.

* Austin was Yahoo Travel's third-best city for
singles last year. And
Vavoom.com put Austin as its second-best
city for dating behind Miami earlier this year.

* Austin did well on a Forbes list in June 2010 highlighting
the
best cities for young professionals.

* We have some of the cleanest
air
in the country, according to another list.

* Au stin is the best city
for Hispanics, according to
Popular Hispanics.

* While we're not really an industrial town, Austin is still one
of the country's top cities for manufacturing jobs, according
to Manufacturers' News Inc.

* In December, Forbes put Austin
at No. 12 on its first list of the best cities for shopping.

* We already have more restaurants per capita than most cities, but that
didn't stop Austin from being named recently as one
of the top 10 emerging restaurant markets in the
U.S.

* When it comes to live music, Austin is No. 3
in the U.S., according to
MSNBC.com.

* Austin is also one
of the safest cities of its size, another study said.

* Late last year, Austin
residents were ranked the 7th brainiest in the U.S. by
Daily Beast.

* And all that brainpower must make life easier, because Austin
is one
of the least-stressed cities in the U.S.

Keeping you informed, ready to help you with all of your real estate needs
and wishing you all the best,

Anne

ANNE JOHNSON-CHEVERERE

Realtor(r)

512-917-5260 Cell 512-328-5151 Office 512-328-0404 Fax

Follow me on

LinkedIn Twitter

Facebook
HookemHomes.com

RE/MAX Austin Skyline 4611 Bee Caves Rd., Suite 200 Austin, Texas 78746 annejohnson@austin.rr.com anne@HookemHomes.com Google

The finest compliment I can ever receive is your referral. Please remember
me when your friends, family, and co-workers are thinking about buying or
selling residential and investment real estate.

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Confidence in value of homeownership persists through bust, survey shows

Confidence in value of homeownership persists through bust, survey shows

Commercial and multifamily mortgage originations grew 88% in the fourth quarter of 2010 when compared to 4Q 2009

This article from Housing Wire quoting from the Mortgage Bankers Association Fourth Quarter Commercial Real Estate-Multifamily Finance Quarterly Report  

·         Commercial and multifamily mortgage originations grew 88% in the fourth quarter of 2010 when compared to 4Q 2009 

·         Loans for conduits for CMBS (commercial backed mortgage securities) saw a 60-fold increase compared to last year’s fourth quarter

·         There was also a 170% increase in loans for life insurance companies, a 65 percent increase for Government Sponsored Enterprises (or GSEs – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), and loans originated for commercial bank portfolios saw a decrease of 25 percent

·         A 6,000 percent increase in origination for CMBS (not an April Fools joke). The MBA report said. "After being nearly dormant for the previous two-and-a-half years, more than $6 billion of CMBS was issued in the fourth quarter."

Austin Is An Opportunity

I ran across an article on Yahoo News Where The Richest People Live by Vanessa Wong, who based her article on information from Andrew Schiller, founder and chief executive of NeighborhoodScout.com   I really was not interested in where the richest people lived in this country but as I scanned the article I noticed Houston and Austin were mentioned.  River Oaks in Houston holds the title for the most expensive homes in Texas and then he mentions little ole Austin, which holds many titles, but not for the most expensive homes. Schiller notes that Austin real estate could have those high price tags. This information combined with all the TITLES (Green, Young, Jobs, etc.) Austin does hold -- should continue to fuel the city’s growth. 

 

Excerpts from the article:

“Size and style can determine much of a home's value, but other factors can weigh more heavily. Within a single city, the prices of similar homes can display huge differences depending on the area -- and even the street -- in which they are located. The two key drivers of value are access to work opportunities and access to amenities, says Andrew Schiller, founder and chief executive of NeighborhoodScout.com. A few streets' distance can make a difference in perceived proximity to school districts, recreational amenities, and transportation routes.”

“Exclusive communities migrate over the years as opportunities shift to new places. Beverly Hills did not develop until movie stars began moving there in the early 1900s, according to the city's website. While the most expensive place in Texas is currently the Afton Oaks-River Oaks section of Houston, whose median home value is about $1.7 million, Schiller predicts that prices in Austin will rise as government activity, job growth, and the University of Texas attract more home buyers to the area.”

“Neighborhoods near Austin and other emerging cities may not be expensive now, but the right combination of amenities and job opportunities might one day push them to the top of the price ladder.”

No April Fool's Joke - Huge Changes Coming in the Mortgage World

HUGE changes are coming this April 1^st in the mortgage industry!  If you have been thinking about buying or refinancing a home, I suggest you do it sooner than later. We all know that when changes like this take effect, the consumer is the one that hurts the most, ACT NOW!  We have ONE month to close your loan if we start now.

If you haven’t already, I recommend that you read this article (This is just ONE of the MANY changes coming up):

By Kenneth R. Harney

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates in the 5 percent range? Minimum down payments below 5 percent? Jumbo-size home loans for high-cost markets at regular interest rates? Kiss them good-bye - possibly sooner than you might guess.

Take a snapshot of today's mortgage market conditions and frame it, because it's highly likely you'll never see anything like these favorable combinations of rates and terms again. That's the inescapable conclusion emerging from the Obama administration's "white paper" on optional remedies for the two ailing giants of housing finance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with events already underway in the national economy.

The administration's long-delayed housing report, released Feb. 11, drew a mix of catcalls and mild applause. Apartment developers praised the report's emphasis on expanding opportunities for people to rent their housing as opposed to the idea that home ownership is for everybody.

Big banks and their allies in Congress welcomed the prospect that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who together account for about 60 percent of the mortgage market but have cost taxpayers a net $150 billion in bailout money in the past three years, will be heading into oblivion.

Consumer and real estate industry groups lamented the phaseout of Fannie and Freddie, which supplied steady streams of mortgage money for decades despite their recent crashes.

The report offers not only options for Congress to consider in winding down the two companies but also recommendations on more immediate "transition" measures to achieve a smaller federal footprint in the mortgage market. Some of these transitional steps require no congressional approval and therefore are likely to affect borrowers and home buyers in the months ahead. Factor these changes into your timing for any loan application or purchase you're contemplating this year:

l Higher insurance fees on FHA mortgages - another quarter of a percentage point on annual premiums. That's vitally important to people with moderate incomes and assets, especially in the African American and Hispanic communities, where FHA loans are the dominant route to home ownership. The report also hints at a possible increase in minimum down payments for FHA, currently just 3.5 percent, but provides no specifics. Any change would require congressional approval.

l Significant reductions in maximum loan amounts later this year for FHA and conventional loans eligible for purchase by Fannie or Freddie, unless Congress votes to retain the current statutory $729,750 limit for high-cost areas before it expires Oct. 1. Loans above each local market's limit - whatever the reduced ceiling turns out to be - will be considered jumbos and come with higher interest rates from private lenders.

l Raising the fees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge lenders to guarantee pools of their mortgages for resale to bond investors. Lenders will automatically pass those on to borrowers as a cost of doing business. The report also calls for raising down-payment requirements at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to 10 percent.

l Retaining the controversial and costly add-on fees now charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that can increase the expense of obtaining even a moderate-size mortgage by thousands of dollars.

These add-ons now extend to applicants with FICO credit scores of 800 and above who are making substantial down payments. The white paper actually applauded the imposition of these fees, calling them one of several "first steps" on the path to weaning consumers off reliance on Fannie and Freddie for mortgage money.

The administration wants to not only wind down the two companies over the coming several years but also severely reduce the size of FHA's role, cutting its market share from about 30 percent to as low as 10 percent. Where will the buyers who depend upon FHA today for affordable financing turn when that sharp cut has been accomplished? That's not clear.

The white paper makes an oblique reference to a major issue bubbling on the back burner that could also push rates up: Regulators are debating what should and shouldn't be a "qualified residential mortgage" under the terms of last year's financial reform legislation. Loans that are not "qualified," in terms of down payment size and other criteria, will require extra investments by lenders when they pool them into bonds. That could raise rates for non qualified mortgages by as much as three percentage points.

Among the proposals: Make 20 percent to 30 percent down payments the minimum to meet the "qualified" test.

The worst-case scenario: If you only have enough money for a small down payment, you'll be charged significantly higher rates.

Bottom line: Get ready to pay more for mortgages, no matter what ultimately happens to Fannie and Freddie.