Jun. 29, 2007 - Houston sales churning into summer

Single-family home sales in May declined compared to the same month last year, reversing April’s modest gain, but year-to-date sales are still in positive territory. Prices last month continued to show strength, as both the median and average sales price extended recent growth trends. The much-reported problems in the sub-prime lending market, as well as resultant differences in price classes of properties have been cited as possible contributors to the lower sales levels.

Sales of those homes in the $80,000 to $140,000 price range, which made up 31.9 percent of sales in May, were down 8.3 percent versus the same period last year. Conversely, sales of homes sold for more than $500,000 showed a 14.6 percent increase in activity.

Total property sales for the month registered 8,532, which was a 1.2 percent decrease versus May 2006. Properties sold during the month reached a total of more than $1.7 billion, a 4.6 percent increase compared to last year’s nearly $1.7 billion in May sales.

Additionally, the median home price for a single-family home reached a monthly record for May of $155,000, and the average single-family home price came in at $214,540, increases from last year of 2.0 and 5.5 percent, respectively. The average sales price figure is an all-time high for the greater Houston area.

Source: Houston Association of Realtors

Jun. 16, 2007 - Harris County Flood Maps Updated June 18

We attended a meeting about TSARP with Jacob Speen from the Harris County Flood control district last week.  He discussed with us how the flood maps were done and the effect it would have on the community.  TSARP stands for Tropical Storm Allison Recovery Project.  TSARP was a joint effort by FEMA and the Harris County Flood Control district.  The end project of the study is the new Harris county flood maps that come out June 18th.

Flood rates will not change but requirements and zone determination can change.  If your home is changed to a different flood zone you could be placed in a higher flood rate.  The good news according to Jacob is that there will only be about 50,000 homes that are changing flood zoning.  He did say if these homes already have flood insurance they will be grandfathered in.  So if you already have flood insurance through FEMA and the zone of your home changes you will not be charged the higher premium.

Only those people living in the 1% or 100 year flood plan are required to purchase insurance.  That would be those people who have a zone of AE, AO or A.  If your home is zoned X you don't have to have flood insurance.  Jacob said that living in Harris County like we do it is a good idea for everyone to have flood insurance.  We can get such incredible amounts of rainfall in such short periods of time.  65% of the areas that flooded during the tropical storm Allison were outside the 100 year floodplain.  Harris County has always been prone to flooding so everyone should consider purchasing flood insurance. 

We asked about Montgomery County and he said their maps will be updated when FEMA updates maps.

For more additional information visit these sites:

• www.tsarp.org  - The interactive mapping Tool
• www.floodsmart.gov
• www.fema.gov
  

One little bit of trivia; all those ponds in Harris County subdivisions are really just retention ponds.  They make the subdivisions really look nice though.

Jun. 11, 2007 - Update on our Army son!