Postings

The updated residential homes sales data has been posted at: http://www.exithomevets.com/area-sales-data.asp  Click to view what the market has been doing this year.  This includes all of the Killeen, Copperas Cove, Harker Heights, Nolanville and surronding areas.

Jose Segarra

EXIT Homevets Realty

By Don Bolding
Killeen Daily Herald

Foreclosure Listing Service, Inc., of Dallas reported Monday that Bell County has 157 properties up for auction because of foreclosures in September, a 45 percent increase over the 108 listed last September but 8 percent less than August.

The figure this month is 33 percent more than September 2006, 48 percent more than September 2005 and 39 percent more than September 2004.

George Roddy at FLS said 136 of the properties listed for September this year are residential, and 78 are within the city of Killeen. He said much of the problem here can be blamed on the rising cost of food and fuel, while the problem elsewhere in the county is largely due to subprime mortgages. In and around Killeen, a disproportionate number of mortgages are through the Federal Housing Administration or Veterans Administration which require no money down.

“This means when people get in trouble with their loans, they don’t have any equity, and when they try to sell, they’re upside down. They end up owing money in the deal,” said Jose Segarra, spokesman for the Fort Hood Area Association of Realtors. “This has always been the driving force in foreclosures here because many borrowers under the federal programs don’t pay any money down.”

Bankers and other lenders advise keeping in touch to examine all options when a foreclosure seems imminent because they want to find ways to avoid it.

Segarra said prospective buyers are tending to try to pick up existing homes at bargain prices, but the low-balling doesn’t work very well because the seller won’t pay closing costs. Terry Neiman of the Central Texas Homebuilders Association said earlier that a lot of buyers from other parts of the country have been bidding far less than the value of a home because they’re used to seeing inflated values, but it doesn’t work here because of steady home values. Coldwell Banker Real Estate consistently ranks Killeen as one of the most affordable housing markets in the country.

The price of everything else – possibly coupled with family stresses due to deployments – has been driving foreclosure rates up. September is the 11th consecutive month that Bell County foreclosure listings have exceeded 100, according to FLS figures. Last month, Deborah Huddleston of CTX Mortgage in Killeen said family stress combined with a tendency to abandon financial problems during a deployment were partly to blame. She advised people who will be here less than three years not to buy homes because they won’t have time to build equity.

In the 11 markets tracked by FLS, Bell County tied with Travis County for the percentage of increase over September of last year and was in second place behind it, 47 percent to 49 percent, for postings in the third quarter. Throughout the area – covering Austin Metro, San Antonio Metro, and Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop, Bell, McLennan, Bexar, Comal and Guadalupe counties – postings were up 22 percent for the year and 29 percent for the third quarter compared with the third quarter last year.

FLS did not include figures for Coryell or Lampasas counties.

Contact Don Bolding at dbolding@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7557

Home sales fell for the month of May 08 as compared to May 07.  The median price though went up to $117,500. For a complete report please visit our website at: http://www.exithomevets.com/area-sales-data.asp

The first 4 months of the year we, as a community, have sold 1000 homes (as of today’s count) according to MLS data from the Fort Hood Area Association of REALTORS.  There are always agents that input the data late so I’m sure our numbers will continue to go up.  Compared to last year at this same time, we had 961 homes sold.  This is single family residential only.  Our median price of home in this area is still only at $115,500 which is still one of the lowest in the Nation even though we had an increase over the same period last year where it was at $112,000. 

Check out this new Land property that I just posted on my Web site. It is at 7187 E US Highway 190 in Lampasas.

Check out this new Commercial property that I just posted on my Web site. It is at 608 S. Ann Boulevard in Harker Heights.

EXIT Homevets Realty, along with other local real estate companies and affiliates, will be joining in with ALR (Alliance for Lupus Research) in their “Walk with Us” campaign to prevent, treat and find a cure for Lupus.  The event will take place on Saturday April 19^th, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. at the Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock, Texas. 

The agents and staff of EXIT Homevets Realty take a personal interest in this event, as one of their own Realtors, Margie Perez; was diagnosed with Lupus nearly 12 years ago after the birth of her child Mackenzie.  Margie fights this disease every day of her life to keep control of it, but sometimes it can be difficult

Lupus is a chronic potentially devastating disease in which the immune system turns against the body’s own cells and tissues, causing inflammation and tissue damage.  It can affect many parts of the body including the joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels, and brain. 

Since this cause is so important and close to home, Margie along with the rest of the Realtors and staff of EXIT Homevets Realty are asking you to join them for this event.  You may sign up to walk, volunteer, or just provide a donation.  Our goal is to raise $5,000. We need your support to fight this dreadful disease!  Find out how you can donate or participate by contacting Margie Perez at 254-290-3333.

Homebuyer Tax Credits  Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee approved – by a vote of 35-5 – a bill (H.R. 5720) that would make nearly all first-time homebuyers eligible for a tax credit of up to $7500 for the purchase of a home.  The tax credit would be available for purchases between April 8, 2008 and April 1,2009.   Eligible purchasers could buy any property – existing home or newly constructed – so long as the house would be used as a principal residence.  H.R. 5720 will likely be considered in the full House the week of April 21. LastThursday, the Senate approved a similar, but not identical bill (H.R. 3221).  The Senate version calls for the tax credit to be available to all purchasers, not just first-time homebuyers.  Also, the Senate version states that purchasers would receive the benefit of the tax credit only if theypurchased properties that had been foreclosed.NAR expects some form of this legislation to move quickly.  A side by side comparison of the two bills is available on the REALTOR®Action Center:  http://www.realtoractioncenter.com/mortgage-protection-and-forecl.html.

Area sales where up over 8% in March from the previous month (Feb), closing on 266 single family homes.  The median price also rose 1.3% in March over February and the days on the market dropped 107 days from a previous 110 days.  To view the actual stats go to http://www.exithomevets.com/area-sales-data.asp

I’ve just sold a Single-family property at 4604 Fieldcrest Drive in Killeen. Come and visit my site to see other properties in that area. If you are interested in looking for or selling your home, please Contact Me.