Update as of 10/31/2010! Prices up - Sales down.
Things are looking better re pricing as compared to my blog listed below
with a small increase in value for single family homes. However, the volume
of sales has declined 18.6 compared to September of 2009 according to
the Houston Association of Realtors. Houses are staying active on the market
for a longer period of time than in prior years. Therefore, when you see a house
that seems intriguing, don't be discouraged from checking it out just because it
has been on the marker longer than usual. Believe it, MOST houses have been on
the market longer than usual. Still, with interest rates at historic lows NOW is an
extremely smart and good time to buy!
April report:
With homes decreasing in value, will your taxes decrease as well?
They certainly should if the value of your home has decreased.
Chances are this year might just give you such an opportunity as
many Houston homes have decreased in value this year. This is especially
true with those homes that are worth more than $1million and those worth
between $80,000 and $150,000.
According to the Houston Chronicle, thirty percent of homes described
above have declined in market value this year, as the area's overall tax
base dropped for the first time in at least two decades.
Harris County tax rolls, buffeted by residential foreclosures and
business failures, are on a course to decrease more than 11 billion
for this year. The overall decline represents a drop of more than 4 percent
from last year.
It seems to this realtor that the very least we can get for this gloom and doom is
lower property taxes! Notices of the preliminary valuations for residences are being mailed to homeowners, who will have until June 1st to file protests. If you feel
you wish to protest what your taxes are this year, an article in the Houston Chronicle dated April 2, 2010 and written by Allan Tuner and Bradley Olson, would be a good proof source to bring to an arbitration meeting. Also you can contact me or your realtor and ask for recent "comps" on sales in your neighborhood. If you care to reach me, my easy email is: jonir@airmail.net .
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt was recently quoted in the Houston Chronicle as saying, "In any recession, property values will flat-line or go down. If you're not planning on selling your property in the next year or two, that's good because this is one of the rare times you can get a reduction in our property taxes as a result". Jim Robinson, who heads the Harris County Appraisal District said only 1 percent of residences, most of them in the Katy and Cypress-Fairbanks areas rose in market value.
The average sales price for a single-family residence in 2009 was $203,626 - down
2 percent from the proceeding year.
Nevertheless, with all this being said, Houston is WAY ahead of the real estate marketing
curve. We have not experience the collapses that afflicted California, Florida, Nevada and other states. For this, we should all be eternally grateful. I know I certainly am.
