Jorge Verar, Commercial Real Estate Broker

Construction Spending Falls, Tops Projections, Houston business journal 1/5/09 this is a headline and similar other I read over the week since Monday the first day .. the news goes on...

U.S. construction spending continued to fall in November, but the slowdown was much less than expected. The U.S. Commerce Department reported a 0.6 percent drop from October to November of last year.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted the drop to be a much steeper 1.3 percent. October’s drop also was revised to 0.4 percent from the originally reported decline of 1.2 percent. Private home building -- which makes up roughly a third of total spending -- fell 4.2 percent to an annual rate of $328 billion, the lowest since August 1999.

On the other hand, public spending grew by 1.4 percent in November of last year. Federal building was up 6 percent, and state and local building gained 1 percent.

Total public construction spending reached a record high rate in November of $322 billion. Compared to November 2007, total construction was down more than 3 percent.

Well ? How is your your local market ? For me I specialized in Retail and office Building from 5,000 to 15,000 sq. ft building ... so far last year I have been busy working on my database of investors but almost all are holding on with their purchase ? what are they waiting for ? I asked... same answer everywhere - economy to get better before they embark in purchasing Commercial Property...

With all the doomsayers, pessimistic , negative news reporters and analyst and so called real estate experts nationwide reporting on the current economic turmoil, some even predicts doomsday of real estate is coming… no wonder 70% of realtors last year substantially drop their income level. (I don’t have statics on this one yet, this is based solely on the Realtors I have interviewed.)

What are you going to do if you are investor, broker or simply an individual wanting to increase your income this year?

Simple do not believe what they say about the economy and focus on your own, solve your own problem PLAN TO GET RICH … the most honorable thing you can do.

For your investment clients do them a favor and ask what is important - The economy or their own pocket book – would an investment with sure cash flow affect the economy or your pocket most ?

What am I going to do since many investors tend to procrastinate – I AM LOOKING FOR MORE LISTINGS…. By the time they all decide to buy I will have lots of inventory… sounds logical ?

I don’t know about you but in our office we experienced tremendous growth in both our level of income… and activities... how did we do that send me an email : jverar@cbcworldwide.com

As Real Estate Agents we tend to expose our information to everyone - the technology allows us to reach the world - unfortunately BAD GUYS are more creative than ever., they use all kinds of technique.

They usually plays on the emotion (we should know this right ). They use the numbers game, they prospect to millions of people around the world mostly to the friendly USA and they always use technology to their advantage. (sounds like a Real Estate Agent ?) I think they attended one of those selling/marketing seminars.

Recently in Houston there were Tenants who were conned by scammers into leasing a property way below the market rate, and presumed that the person they are talking to is the home owner, after 2 weeks and payments made in cash, the Realtor shows up in their door surprised to see them… for a similar incident (CLICK HERE for the news Video)

I got calls all the time from UK, Canada asking me for investment properties, and presumably they are buying in cash., if ever you have this kind of calls simply do the right thing… you really can’t distinguish the GOOD and BAD prospect based on conversation alone.

In our office few years back - we were approach by a couple pretending to be investors and would be buying several properties for their relatives moving in to Houston, presumable they would receive money from the government and would be releasing soon..a new agent jump into this opportunity and happily told me about them, (after showing 10 houses) and all I ask is : “SHOW ME THE MONEY” or any documentation about the presumably Government grant. Of course they can’t produce so I ask for proper documentation, passports visas etc… you should see their face change and immediately made an excuse to leave… weeks later we saw it in the news they manage to scam another Realtor.

The old sayings of our parents and grandparents always hold true – if it is too good to be true – beware” it must be that.. so fellow agents and brokers more than ever simply do the right thing before entertaining your prospect and spending time on them – the word is –PREQUALIFY : - Get answers on their Motivation to buy, Willingness and if they are Able : simply asking them the normal question you ask for the homebuyer should be enough to trigger suspicion – NO …do not do this at random – do this to all no matter how they appear to be., some of us tend not to bother asking if we see a guy pull out of an expensive car and immediately assume they have money… you never can be sure – crooks drive expensive cars …

To file a complain go to www.ic3.gov this is an FBI site specifically for Internet Crime Complaint Center. For local scammers simply complain with your local crime task force.

Saturday Morning at about 1 am , the wind blows like never before, I woke up my wife and 2 daughters we all move and stayed in a room with out windows, tried to sleep but the winds are just too noisy, then few hours later the lights are off-- no power we are in the dark., we have our flashlights and battery operated lamps and listen to the radio.

We listen in fear that Hurricane Ike will come on our doorstep... we are not in the mandatory evacuation order, we trusted the authority but at this moment I fear that my house would be blown away....

Hurricane IKE finally touchdown in Galveston Area, approximately 100 miles from where we are in Northwest Houston., Hours later ...finally the winds slowed down just right after the sun rises, I was amazed to see lots of tree limbs, debris scattered in my back yard, I immediately - complain "Oh I got too much to clean today" ... then my children walk up and looking for breakfast ., as I try to look at the fridge, for something to heat up and pop into the microwave.. opps no electricity, well let me make some coffee first --- oh no ! I forgot no electric again..

I felt so helpless - no food, no water... no TV and no internet... we finally just have a cold cereal for breakfast and my wife manage to brew coffee on our grill outside...have you notice that we are all at the mercy of electricity ? A day without electricity and internet - It just gets into my nerve...

To calm down I walk my subdivision and met neighbors, I suddenly realized that what I am experiencing is nothing compared to some of them, trees falling on roof, on cars and on the streets..I felt relief and thankful we were in a better situation than most people.

Early this morning our power was restored, the jubilation and joy of my children makes be more appreciative of what we have., as we watch the news and get the full view of the fury of Hurricane IKE, the devastation of League City about 50 miles from me and the destruction of lots o properties in Galveston., and the destruction of several buildings in downtown Houston seems just too much.

Houston we have a PROBLEM -airports are close, over 2,000,000 residence still not power, school will be close for a week, public offices and business will mostly be close. - as the day unfold I see countless tragedy in my City..families in need .. we tried to help as much as we can ... but it seems I can do nothing more.. people of Galveston - Houston needs help

Its unbelievalbe the hottest item to buy right now Here in Houston is 'ICE" people linning up to buy ICE or their food will be spoiled... no electricity no fridge...

What can I do ? How can I help ? I ask that if you are reading this please help families in Houston and other cities who suffered from this tragedy, in your own way, in your own charity simply do something., a simple prayer will also help.

Please extend your helping hand to our city ...

Thank You

Texas Realtors® are a valuable source of information for potential homebuyers who may need special assistance in buying a home. The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation currently provides the Home Sweet Texas Loan, Homes for Texas Heroes and Professional Educators Home Loan Programs.

Did you know that - The State if Texas affordable Housing Corporation provide below market 30-year fixed rate mortgage loans to eligible first-time homebuyers through a network of participating lenders across the state. In addition to the incredibly low interest rate, our programs offer down payment and closing cost assistance, up to 5% of the loan amount, in the form of a grant.

This is an Ethics case study publish recently in our monthly Texas Realtors magazine. A case about a Seller have to decide betwen two offers presented by the listing agent - both full price contents more or less the same conditions.

Seller ask the Listing Agent for advice which offer to accept, listing agent's buyer or the the one with the other broker ? - The agent naturaly replied its up to the seller since both contracts offers the same net to the seller.

Seller comes back to the Listing agent after realizing that if he accepts the offer from the Listng Agent's buyer, full commission will then be paid to the Lisitng Agent - and negotiate to reduce the commision by 1% stating that if he reduced his commission seller would accept Listing Agent's buyer and pays less commission, he further reason out that this deal would still amount to more profit to the Listing agent but would benefit the Seller.

Listing agent agrees and transaction close.. later the other buyer manage to directly ask the seller why he did not accept his full offer and the seller tells the buyer the truth, next day the Buyer's Agent filed an ethics complain - Alleging that Lising agent's commission reduction had induced Seller to accept Listing Agent's buyer. citing that the commission reduction was in violation of Article 1 as interprested by Standard of Practice 1-6 - and that the Listing Agent failure to inform him of the change in the Listing Commission arrangement.

Hearing follows, both argued their cases - Listing agent defended his fiduciary duties, and that Seller is free to re-negotiate terms of their listing agrement at any time..

THE RESULT : The hearing panel agreed with the listing agent - and concluded that there's no violation of Article 1 or 3 ( View the code of Ethics in the Profe. Standards section of texasrealtors.com)

So what is your opinon if you are the Angry Buyer's Agent ? Is this the right thing to do ?