Katy, TX

Market Trends 2012 Update for Current Homes Available in Firethorne Katy Texas

What is happening in the Firethorne Real Estate Market?

The Real Estate market in South Katy Texas (MLS area 36) is basically defined by what occurs in the numerous Master Planned Communities which are scattered across the whole area. I have written several detail market reports about Firethorne in the past with the last on being a December 2011 Year to Date report which you can see right here.

The Chart is showing current listings of homes for sale in Firethorne in Katy Texas by price point ranges during March, 2012.

As shown above there are 67 homes currently available in Firethorne with only 1 home or 1.5 % of the total being classified as Distressed (Foreclosure or Short Sale). The Distressed Homes are not having any significant impact on the market in Firethorne or for that matter a vast majority of the submarkets in Katy Texas. My report for Grand Lakes had the same observation. Since January 2012, there has been a increase in available homes by 17 homes or 34 %. The new home builders recently opened a section east of highway 1463 and the increase mainly reflects the builders putting several new spec homes on the market during early 2012 in advance of spring. At the same time there has been a decrease of 7 homes priced at less than $300 K as the inventory of reasonably priced homes in Firethorne has increased. Right now only 55.2 % of the available homes are priced at less than $300 K while during January that statistic was 60.0 %. The new homes added to the inventory in the higher priced homes amounted to 10 homes while at the lower less than $300 K price point only 7 homes were added.

Firethorne similar to Grand Lakes is a great place to live with many amenities and conveniences close at hand. If you or your family would like to learn more about this wonderful family neighborhood contact me. Time to take action is right now as interest rates continue to hover around historical lows and builders in Firethorne have added to their spec inventories. I expect Firethorne to have a big selling season during the remainder of 2012.

Please see Active Rain’s article on Real Estate Recovery or Not?

If you would like to search for homes in Firethorne or any other community in the Katy or surrounding areas go to my web site and construct a search.

Almost total Disaster turns out very well

Have you ever experienced situation where circumstances deteriorated quickly and almost became a total disaster? Friday evening this situation hit me right between the eyes. It was raining extremely hard Friday afternoon and I decided to leave my CPA client’s office early at 4:00 P.M. as the raining was coming down in buckets. As anyone who lives here knows when the rain falls that fast the streets flood rather quickly. My objective was to drive back to Katy as quickly as possible and then stop at Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church so I could pick up dinner from their Lenten Fish Fry. I had written a blog about this Lenten Fish Fry and planned my whole evening around making sure I would get our dinner from Epiphany. Unfortunately in a snap of your fingers I was in trouble.

I was hurrying out of the office in Cypress Texas which with no traffic using the freeway is at best a 35-40 minute drive to get home carrying two lap tops (mine plus office lap top from client). A full backpack and a Green friendly shopping bag loaded with work papers I hoped to use over the weekend. The ground in the parking lot was already full of water and the rain as I said was still coming down in torrents. I was afraid of placing the lap tops on the ground with the amount of water already there. My keys including the key/auto drive opener were all connected to several key rings and were in my right hand pocket. OK cool I try to get my keys out and they are stuck in a small hole in my jacket pocket. I am now getting anxious and pull hard on the key ring. The auto drive opener and device that opens my door actually pulls off of the metal key ring. Now I am holding my key ring and the car key in my hand but separated. The rain is falling harder and I am pretty well drenched and my glasses are covered in water. I believe I put my key ring and the now separated car key in my pocket with my left hand as I jockey around all the lap tops, backpack and bag I am holding to barely so they don’t fall into the water.

I open the car door and quickly toss in all of my stuff as I am still afraid of this rain water’s potential bad effect on my lap tops. To my total shock and horror I hear the noise my car makes when the door is locked. I am locked out of my car by a freak accident and its Friday evening with terrible weather. I go back inside my client’s office and start to make several phone calls. I quickly realize I do not have many options to get my car opened.

I call my home and my father-in-law looks for the backup key with no success. My wife is away with my step-sons on a Spring break trip (I could not go)and there goes out the window 3 drivers who could have picked me up and helped. Our close friend is still at work and having his own car crisis. I cannot get him to fetch me or help. I start praying quickly as I realize I cannot leave my valuable luggage (lap tops) in my car and exposed in the back seat and somehow go home. Cabs in the burbs of Houston are rare site and very costly option if you can get one to drive to Katy. My father-in-law is 80 years old and him driving in a major rain storm when its dark does not work at all. I resign myself that I might have to spend the night at this office as a locksmith I find quotes me a maybe on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 P.M. as his ETA to help me. There are no car rental offices anywhere I could somehow get to and they all close at 5 or 6 P.M.

First piece of my good fortunate is I belong to AAA and I call them now in a panic. They call back with first bad news as a locksmith quotes at least 5 plus hours (if at all) to arrive). I suggest we keep looking and I am told there are not many choices. I get a call back from AA and they have found a locksmith who can open the car and will be there in 2 plus hours. Thank you LORD as of course with no other alternatives I say please ask him to come.

My almost total disaster turns good quickly as Richard Sanchez of LockBusters Inc. arrives about 7:45 P.M. and he knows exactly how to open my car. I now have anew go to friend and locksmith in Richard as after less than 10 minutes or so the car magically opens and I find my key lying next to all the bags in the backseat.

Richard was supposed to be at a family function near Galveston when he was out in the pouring and cold rain helping me. I want to Richard a major shout out and recommend him to anyone needing a locksmith. He saved my butt that is for sure. He told me he will do locksmith work pretty much anywhere in the Houston area including Cypress, Katy, Sugarland, and many areas. His phone number is 281-561-0060 or 281-265-3335 and tell him you read my blog.

Obviously I missed the Lenten Fish Fry but I was able to drive home and sleep in my own bed. It is amazing how we all take these conveniences for granted.

Thank you to Mr. Richard Sanchez and to his family for helping me out.

Market Trends 2012 Update for Current Homes Available in Grand Lakes Katy Texas

What is happening in Grand Lakes Real Estate Market?

The Real Estate market in South Katy Texas (MLS area 36) is basically defined by what occurs in the numerous Master Planned Communities which are scattered across the whole area. I have written several detail market reports about Grand Lakes in the past with the last on being a December 2011 Year to Date report which you can see right here.

The Chart is showing current listings of homes for sale in Grand Lakes in Katy Texas by price point ranges during March, 2012.

As shown there are 41 homes currently available in Grand Lakes with only 1 home or 2.4 % of the total being classified as Distressed (Foreclosure or Short Sale). The Distressed Homes are not having any significant impact on the market in Grand Lakes or for that matter a vast majority of the submarkets in Katy Texas. Since January 2012, there has been a slight increase in available homes by 2 homes or 5.1 %. However, there has been a decrease of 6 homes priced at less than $300 K as the inventory of reasonably priced homes in Grand Lakes continues to diminish as it has through most of 2011. Right now only 31.7 % of the available homes are priced at less than $300 K while during January and December those same numbers were 40.5 % and 48.7 % respectively. On the other side of the coin, homes priced at $400 K or higher have risen to 36.6 % of the total reflecting a 4.2% increase.

Grand Lakes is a great place to live with many amenities and conveniences close at hand. If you or your family would like to learn more about this wonderful family neighborhood contact me . I have been saying this for several months the inventory of the lower priced homes in this neighborhood probably will continue to get smaller as 2012 goes on even though there will be new listing coming on the market. Time to take action is right now as interest rates continue to hover around historical lows. What are you waiting for A miracle?

Please see Active Rain’s article on Real Estate Recovery or Not?

Spring Forward on Sunday March 11, 2012 and take some additional actions

As most of know but tend to forget, we need to spring forward on March 11, 2012 at 2:00 A.M. and turn our time pieces forward one hour. It is always easy to remember if you think about spring forward and fall back when it comes to setting the time.

There are several other things I think most of us should schedule time to do to coincide with the time change. These tasks for the most part are items we all tend to forget or just ignore. If we plan to add these items to our list of essential to do’s we know that these items will be done at least twice a year when the time changes. Here are the items to consider:

· Replace all the air filters in your home and attic. Most inspectors I speak to advise we should replace these filters every 30 days. That is probably a good idea but really who is going to remember to do this chore every month?

· Check your home sprinkler system to see if it works, has any new leaks and examine the days and times of watering. I know in most areas of Texas we all had some type of watering restrictions last year due to the drought. Now is the time to check out your system and turn it back on. Back East it might be too early to turn your system on but that does not prevent you from doing an inspection.

· Carefully examine all trees and shrubs to see if any need to be removed or trimmed. There may be a branch of a tree which needs immediate attention before it falls and someone gets hurt.

· Talk about fire safety for your home with all family members and find at least two escape routes. The result might be your family investing a in a folding ladder to hang out from a second story window in case of fire.

· Reset all inside and outside lights which have some sort of timing mechanism to come on or off at the appropriate time now that DST has arrived.

· Find all home fire extinguishers and make sure they all still will function if needed. A couple of times during the last few years I have had to use an extinguisher to put out a fire raging inside my gas grill. Buy new extinguishers if the old are not charged or working.

· Here is one item which will save you from a major interruption of your sleep. Replace all batteries in the smoke detectors in your home. I don’t know about the rest of you but it is inevitable these darn detectors batteries will go out In the middle of the night and there is almost nothing worse than searching your home while half asleep trying to figure out which alarm has an issue and everyone else is shouting at you to stop that horrible noise.

Have some fun this weekend and do a few extra errands which will produce big dividends in the future days of Spring and Summer.

♥Lenten Fish Fry in Katy every Friday evening during Lent

Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church is hosting a fish fry every Friday evening.

Epiphany has a takeout fish dinner or eat inside fish dinner and you can take your pick as take out or inside.

Time is from 5:30 P.M. until 7:30 P.M.

The meals are served at the Activity Center and take out are at the west end of the activity center.

Several choices to make at reasonable prices:

Child’s Plate includes fish nugget and fries $6.00

Small Plate with one fish fillet $8.00

Medium Plate with two fish fillets $10

Large plate with three fish fillets $11

Two piece baked Fish $10

All small, medium and large orders include coleslaw and fries. If you dine inside the dinner also includes tea, corn and green beans.

My family and I are members of Epiphany and I thought it was a good idea to give this wonderful group a plug.

Epiphany is located at 1530 Norwalk Drive Katy Texas 77450, 281-578-0707

The logo was copied from the Church’s web site.