Veterans Land Board Home Ownership Benefits

Preparing for Veteran’s Day on November 11th:
Helping Your Vet Live a Better Life

Since I am a preferred agent of the Texas Veterans Land Board, you might surmise that I am passionate about our troops and passionate about doing the things I can do, in my capacity as a real estate broker and agent, to help them live the best quality of life possible after they have put their lives on the line to protect and defend our nation.

November is upon us, and that means Veteran’s Day is near. Rather than only visiting the cemetery to honor the memory of a loved one who served, or simply saying thank-you to the vets you know, you may have the ability to help one in a very useful way. You may be able to help a vet realize a better quality of life by imparting to them a little useful information about their Veterans Land Board benefits.

The Texas Veterans Land Board (VLB) is a wonderful organization that funds low-interest home loans, land loans, and home improvement loans to our veterans. Additionally, this incredible organization does it at almost no cost to taxpayers. The benefits are so broad and inclusive, that it is truly a service to the vast majority of vets, no matter what their home and land needs may be. Here is a “Top Ten” helpful points list I have compiled that you can review. You may see how one or more of the points listed may be applicable to the vet in your life, and you can share it accordingly:

1. GENEROUS LOANS
   Loans can be up to $1,000,000, so these loans are not merely for starter homes. Low-interest home loans of just over $400,000 are available, land loans of up to $100,000.
   
   
2. ALL BRANCHES ELIGIBLE
   Members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are eligible… and have access to benefits while still active!  Yes, members of the Reserves and National Guard can also qualify; they are simply required  to serve 6 years of honorable service prior to qualifying.
    
3. SURVIVORS CAN QUALIFY
   Surviving spouses of fallen heroes can qualify.
    
4. CAN BE CHEAPER THAN FHA LOANS
   VA loans are often cheaper than conventional or FHA loans. It is important to have a qualified VA lender process the loan to realize this. A preferred agent can help you find a qualified VA lender.
    
5. QUALIFYING IS EASY
   Qualifying for a VA loan is often easier. The guidelines are more relaxed and credit ratings not so stringent.
    
6. HOME IMPROVEMENT LOANS
   If your vet already has a home, but that home desperately needs some fixes and improvements, the VLB can help with a home improvement loan for up to $25,000.
   
   
7. NO LIMIT TO USING THIS BENEFIT
   Used a VA loan program before? You can still qualify again! Veterans can use their benefit multiple times. There may be some guidelines or conditions that need to be met, but there is actually no limit to the number of times you can be granted this benefit.
    
8. NO DOWN PAYMENTS
   Having a VA loan means no down payment and no monthly mortgage insurance premiums.
    
9. TAX EXEMPTIONS
   Another thing the VLB can do to help veterans is help them file for tax exemptions on property they already own. If the veteran you know is not already enjoying their property tax exemption, you can encourage them to do so. As a preferred agent, I can assist a vet in this process.
    
10. LONG-TERM CARE HOMES
    Long-term care and assisted living homes: the VLB offers benefits to our aging vets. There are eight locations across the state of Texas that are exclusively for veterans and their spouses.

This year, Veteran’s Day falls on November 11th. We all know that we can honor the day by showing appreciation to the veterans we know, that we appreciate them for their service and their sacrifice. But if you know a veteran who is struggling to get into an affordable home, needs to make some home improvements but doesn’t know how to finance it,  or is not aware that they qualify for tax exemptions, you can appreciate them with more than your thanks, you can share with them information about the VLB and help them to have a better life.

Investing in the Houston Area? Your Future Looks Bright.

 The latest edition of Forbes Magazine presents a vision of America that might inspire some hearty conversation here in Texas. What it proposes is a dramatic shift of American seats of socio-economic influence and power in about 10 years, and it speculates that there will be a total reorganization of expansion centers: where they're going to be in 10 years, they say, is not where they are now. The article titled  "A Map Of America's Future Where Growth Will Be Over The Next Decade," by Joel Kotkin and Mark Schill, lays out its proposition by describing countrywide geographical demographics and American regions as city-states and sub nations. Their approach definitely gives the argument a decidedly anthropological flavor. Treating the development of America like the development of Mesopotamia is a fantastic way to captivate the reader's attention, but my interest went directly to what the writers have to predict about Texas and specifically the Houston area. The oracles at Forbes have pronounced that in 10 years Houston will be the "next great global city."

Now, we Texans already know ourselves to be a world-class city of extreme importance. It is widely recognized that Texas owns the 10th biggest economy in the world. Our gross state product is about 1.2 trillion. Our industries are widely diversified. We might be celebrated for oil and energy, but we carry big clout when it comes to agriculture, aeronautics and defense, and medical technology and health care. And in fact the Forbes article makes special mention of Houston's Medical Center and our exceptional rate of exports. It states, "Houston, which is now the country's most racially and ethnically diverse metro area according to a recent Rice study, is home to the world's largest medical center and has dethroned New York City as the nation's leading exporter." And yes that's indeed a statement declaring the present state of matters, not some future projection. We well know our strength is now and not just some future date.

So what's so news-worthy about this article, and what is so radical about what it says regarding Houston's future? The full read of the story reveals the gem. While Houston already is to a significant extent what the authors project Houston to be in 10 years, the oracles predict rather poor futures for much of the rest of the country. The obvious conclusion is this: The present "Tex-odus" population shift of both families and firms moving from other states of the USA to Texas is likely to continue for ten more years.

 So we come to the question, how do you suppose that will affect our property values for the near future?

If you desire to invest in property now could be a good time to move forward. A property agent can supply valuable information about investment opportunities. If you are intending to speculate in property in Texas and Houston in particular the future definitely looks bright.

Building Your Home: 5 Important Steps

While the nation is still recovering its real estate market, here in Texas we are experiencing a different kind of  problem. With so many families and businesses moving to our region, our real estate woes are about a lack of homes. For my real estate clients who are not finding any homes available, many are considering the thought of building. A family willing to build has a lot more freedom with where they want their house. It is a great opportunity to design your dream home... and putting it in an ideal location. Would you prefer your home to be located by Lake Conroe? Are you interested in living on horse-friendly acreage? These options are open to a family if building is a consideration.

But then, identifying a reliable builder becomes the issue. Yet this is an issue that dissolves away if certain smart steps are taken.:

1. Find Your Ideal Home Site.

With your real estate agent, look at available lots or acreage. With a real estate agent you can easily whittle down to a list of home sites that fit your needs: area amenities, deed restrictions, work commute distance, neighborhood features.

2. Begin With an Approved List of Reputable Builders.

You can certainly investigate the best home builders on your own. You can research the attorney General's website, you can check the BBB and Angie's List for reviews. But there is a quick way to detour that headache. When you build or buy a house, it is a mortgage bank that actually owns the house until it is paid off. You can be sure that the mortgage bank will give you a reliable list of trustworthy home builders. Speak to a loan officer who specializes in new construction loans. Get five builders to interview. Stick to that list.

3. Interview

Take the time to thoroughly interview the builders on your list.  You will be working with these people constantly throughout the home building process, from clearing the land to final touches. The builder needs to be someone with whom you feel comfortable asking the unvarnished questions. A good builder will also be someone with whom you feel you can easily communicate thoughts and ideas. Also be sure to assess the following:

• Will this builder's approach to the home building process be one that will keep you on time and on budget?

• Is this home builder's base of operation close to your home site? The closer, the better.

• Tour homes built by this builder.

Once you have identified the best two or three from the list, go back and re-interview to make sure that you settle on the best fit for you.

4. Have Your Real Estate Agent Review the Contract

A great and under-utilized function of a real estate agent is to review home building contracts before signing. A real estate agent can often discover oversights, find further opportunities for saving money, and can be a final defense to make sure that the home you are about to build is entirely the home you have in mind.

5. Get an Independent Inspector

It is an extra investment of about $300, but it is worth every penny to have your own independent inspector go through your house at the final stages of the building process. At worst, you have spent money on just another set of eyes to make certain that everything is as it should be. At best, your independent inspector could discover a major error that needs to be fixed to make your home defect-free.

There have been some great  movies that have humorously described the personal hell that can be the process of  building your home. Shows like "Holmes on Homes" provide us with a cautionary tale that the home building industry is teeming with disreputable builders. Yet with a little planning, by following these home building tips, by being armed with a real estate agent, by the guidance of a mortgage loan officer, and the help of an independent inspector, you can find that building a home is no nightmare at all, but a dream-come-true.

Low Inventory of Homes for Sale in Texas: A Texas Migration

Whatever your opinion of the man, over the past year Governor Rick Perry has been devoting a lot of time wooing new residents to Texas. A lot of new residents. He is doing this by wooing corporations. Major corporations.

NPR has dubbed this Rick Perry's "War on the Blue States."* Our governor is indeed targeting states that happen to be tall on setting government restrictions on business, and short on free market ideologies. With ad campaigns on local stations in these states, and itineraries scheduled to meet with key business leaders there, news journalists declare that Perry is out to "poach" businesses from other states to relocate to Texas, charming them with the notion they will be avoiding liberal state impediments to business success.


Governor Perry has recently expanded his tour of the states to the eastern seaboard. Most have heard about his campaign in California earlier this year. This past June he headed east to the gun manufacturers* of Connecticut and New York, recently hit hard by gun control legislation, encouraging them to come to the Second-Amendment-friendly and business-friendly environment of Texas to set up shop. Perry's visit was most welcome by the gun manufacturers of these states. CEO and president of Colt's Manufacturing Company Dennis Veilleux was among those who welcomed Perry's visit. Colt's Manufacturing has been around for 175 years, and is literally a major part of American history. So, for this company to pull up roots from Connecticut to relocate to Texas would be very bad for Connecticut, but exceptionally good for Texas.

What This Means for Texans 

Whether you approve of Perry's very assertive effort to draw key businesses of other states to Texas, the success of his efforts means that the list of businesses relocating to Texas will be growing, and already, families are moving to Texas in droves. It also means that the span of industries well represented in this state are increasing, becoming stronger, and more diverse. This bodes well for the future of Texas and its ongoing attraction to families and industries for years to come. Right now, record home sales are happening all across Texas -  from Dallas in the North, to Austin and San Antonio in Central Texas, to all of East Texas, including our own Montgomery County north of Houston. As a consequence, your home is very valuable to the vast number of people looking to move here. Relocating families are finding that home inventory around here is slim to none.  Homes are sold almost from the moment they are mentioned as for sale to a Texas realtor.

Thinking about selling your home? 

If you are thinking about selling to move up or to downsize, now may be an excellent time. Call Lauri Kent at (936) 447-6000. Visit Lauri's website here. Also see this story on the website.

* Articles for more information:
NPR
FoxNews.com
AssociatedPress

New Home Construction Boom in Texas: Recommended Houston Area Builder

The recent population boom in Houston has been noted, talked about, and written about in several media quarters in recent months. The Houston Business Journal has noted that “Texas… took the top two spots [nationally] among the metro areas with the largest numeric increase. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington grew the most, adding 131,879 new residents, and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land was No. 2, with 125,185 added .“ This is just one of the telling bits of recent data pulled from last year’s July 2011 to July 2012 population growth report in HBJ’s March 14th article on the matter. The March 19^th report by Houston Area Realtors likewise remarked, “The buying spree held local housing inventory to the same level as January — 3.6 months — which is the lowest supply of homes on the market since December 1999.”

When the housing and mortgage crash happened in 2008, it affected every region of the country. Admittedly, Texas was not hurt as bad as California and Florida, but times were lean none the less in the new home construction industry. So lean, in fact, that it had the positive effect of shaking out the less reputable construction companies. This is a good thing, especially now that the economic tables are completely turned.

Businesses and families are moving to Montgomery County in droves, with many major companies relocating their offices specifically to The Woodlands area. Right now, homes for sale in The Woodlands in most price ranges are on the market for only days, not weeks. Pocket listings are flying out of pockets as fast as brokers and agents find them. In The Woodlands, inventory is not merely low, it’s almost nonexistent right now. And when there are no existing  homes available, homes must be built.

One of the last remaining sections of The Woodlands that is still being built out is Creekside and Creekside Forest. One of the home builders featured for this development is Highland Homes, which is one new home and custom home builder that I can highly recommend. Highland Homes is a privately held, family owned company building homes in most of the major metro areas of Texas. They have beautiful home designs, and both the quality of their construction and their attentiveness to all ongoing customer service matters is exceptional.  If you are in a situation where you are considering building a home in The Woodlands, or for any other major metro region in Texas, you can feel confident to entrust Highland Homes to do the job for you.

We are fortunate to have many good and reputable builders operating in Montgomery County, and if you are looking to connect with several recommendable builders with the intention of interviewing them to find out which home builder would be a best fit for you, I encourage you to call me at (936) 447-6000. I have several I can highly recommend, with whom I have extended professional experience and knowledge of how they operate and conduct themselves in their industry. Highland Homes is among these – a home builder I am confident will provide my clients with impeccable service and a home of the highest quality. It is important to do your homework, because even though previous years have eliminated many of the less reputable home builders, there are still land mines to avoid as you seek for a safe, secure, well-built domicile for your family.

Welcome to Woodforest

Montgomery County is indeed growing like gangbusters. With inventory at an all-time low, the new home construction industry is enjoying work like it hasn’t seen since before the mortgage crisis began in 2008. Further, it is a great benefit to know that the homes that are being built all around Houston are largely in accordance to well-conceived and well-executed community planning. In fact, the best in the nation. The end result will be a system of neighborhoods that will grow neatly together in a lovely orchestration of communities, infrastructure, commerce, recreation and nature.

The Woodlands of Montgomery County has been a standard setter in the universe of master-planned communities, and it has lived up to the vision first set by George P. Mitchell when he first began development in the late 70’s. The objective was to create a township where nature is supported and preserved and where people could live. The population now being well over 100,000 living among those groves of trees, the plan has worked. But development of The Woodlands is nearing its end, with no more room to grow. Yet businesses and families are relocating to Montgomery Texas in droves right now, and homes are in demand. The new up-and-coming development, Woodforest, is on the rise, and all indications show that Woodforest will be every bit as well planned as The Woodlands.

Urban real estate advisory research firm RCLCO are annually tasked to assess and rank master-planned communities, and in 2012 Woodforest rose high in the ranks. Nationally, The Woodlands still takes the #3 spot on this list, just behind The Villages in Florida and Irvine Ranch in Orange County, Florida. Interestingly, Houston-area developments made 8 of the top 20 developments nationally, and newcomer Woodforest is among them in spot #19. 

Woodforest is planned for 5,500 residences over 3,000 acres, with 700 acres being reserved as open space dedicated to hike and bike trails, parks and playgrounds. Schools, commerce, and worship sites are also part of the plan, along with an impressive aquatics and tennis center. The golf course has been open for a while. The Steve Elkington-designed 27-hole course has been rated a top 10 course by Texas Golf Digest. There are several home builders developing Woodforest currently, D.R.Horton, Village Builders, and Perry Homes being among them. Woodforest is also a great location to consider building a custom home. Many lots are for sale for custom building. Elk Trace Golf Estates and Elk Trace Reserve are both dedicated as custom home neighborhoods. 

With so many families relocating here, as a real estate broker it is a wonderful pleasure to have so many new and well-planned developments and communities to show to home buyers.

Lake Conroe Lakefront Living Post-drought: Paradise and a Smart Investment

The drought of 2011 did not only kill off millions of trees in Texas, it also temporarily hogtied the boating, fishing, and recreation industries all around Lake Conroe. In fact, it was not until Lake Conroe residents watched the lake being drained to a glorified puddle that it became commonly known that the city of Houston has absolute rights to two thirds of the water in the lake. The far-reaching consequence was that all of the businesses around the lake – those that deal directly with tourist, vacationers and recreationers, as well as those that serve the local community – were hurt terribly. 

Residents were also hurt, and found themselves presented with a very scary dilemma. Lakefront residents of Lake Conroe spent their hard-won income to have their bit of paradise. Then, out of the zero-percent-chance-of-precipitation clear blue sky, comes a particularly long dry spell lasting a full year, the sudden realization of the water rights owned by a very thirsty metropolis nearby, and a band of meteorologist forecasting that Texas may see a downtrend in annual rainfall for the next few years. All together this would seem to predict a dim future for Lake Conroe. Some people actually sold their lakefront property based on this mixture of facts and conjecture. According to one study,  home prices around the lake dropped 28% as a result of this recent scare.

Those who react to false fears and hype are the ones who end up selling their house for less than its worth. Then there is the smart guy who buys a property for over a quarter off of its actual value. The trick is all in understanding the true value of things, and not being scared by temporal events. So let’s look at the facts, and put conjecture in its proper place.

Houston’s water rights to Lake Conroe Water

Since the first clod of soil was dug up in 1969 to excavate the basin of Lake Conroe, Houston has maintained 2/3 water rights to Lake Conroe. Why? Because the city of Houston was a partner in the venture, and funded the development of the Lake Conroe reservoir. In essence, Lake Conroe exists for our pleasure, and Houston uses the water as a backup if needed. The reason why Houston’s acquisition of Lake Conroe water came as such a big surprise to everyone is because, in 40 years of the lake’s existence, such a massive draw of water had never happened before. The usual scenario has been that the dam gates part in response to too much rainfall, not too little.

Forecasting the Future For Fair Skies

Many might be satisfied with the challenge that meteorologists have enough trouble predicting tomorrow’s weather, much less ongoing trends. But it would be fair to consider what records have proven regarding drought for this region of Southeast Texas, and how that may instruct what we may expect for upcoming years. This is, pardon the double entendre, one of the barometers used by the meteorologists.

In 2012 rainfall across Southeast Texas was around 45 inches for the year,  and most recent reports  have indicated that this is considered under-average. However, the "Average rainfall map of Texas 1961-1990” as compiled by Oregon State University put Montgomery County’s average rainfall in the realm of 42 to 50 inches, which the 2012 precipitation average certainly is.  So it might take a year or two more to determine of drought is going to be a continuing concern.  

Another Issue That Addresses Lake Conroe’s Future

There is another issue that never got the fear-factor airplay otherwise enjoyed by the drought and lake-draining. Montgomery County is a fast-growing county, and besides the drought there have been existing concerns about growing infrastructure to support the water needs of a rapidly populating area. This is an issue that has not escaped notice.  A solution, in fact, has already been identified. This solution has a name, the Catahoula Aquifer. According to Houston Chronicle correspondent Nicklaus Lovelady  in his September 2011 article covering the story, “The Catahoula Aquifer could potentially become the newest groundwater source for Montgomery County, which could one day reduce the county's dependency on Lake Conroe.” This story came out on the heels of the San Jacinto River Authority approving funds for the drilling of wells in Willis, Texas to access and evaluate Catahoula water, which happened in June of 2011, after the SJRA has been investigating, researching and contemplating the aquifer for a couple of decades. So, it may be, that the 2011 drought  turns out to be the inspiring catalyst that helped Montgomery County to finally access a huge water resource that has been available this whole time. 

So what may we conclude? Human nature is to occasionally overreact to unprecedented events when they occur, but it is also human nature to tackle these kinds of problems and find solutions. And certainly, our local authorities have been busy finding new resources. In all, we have every reason to believe that Lake Conroe has an incredibly bright future.

Given that Lake Conroe homes are among the nicest properties available in this growing and beautiful corner of Texas, you may be wise to consider buying your little piece of paradise while the getting is good!