Kathy Kipp

Watering the foundation of your Pearland Texas home is one of the most important maintenance tasks that you can do. With the severe drought conditions in the Pearland area, your foundation is at great risk of cracking unless you take steps to maintain the moisture levels in the soil. The soil in our area is expansive and acts like a sponge. When we have rain, the soil expands and as it dries out it contracts. Most of the homes in Pearland have post tension slabs that allow for some movement in the soil without problems. This year, the lack of rain has caused major shrinkage of the soil which in turn, stresses the foundation of your home.

If a homeowner wants to prevent damage to their foundation, the first course of action that they should follow is a controlled watering program. An inexpensive way to do this is to install soaker hoses around the perimeter of the foundation of your Pearland home, about 6" away from the slab. Placing the hose a short distance away from the foundation enables the water to soak the soil evenly. You can also bury the soaker hoses to prevent damage to the hoses from a weed eater. To make it even easier, I found a Two-Zone timer at Home Depot so you can set it and forget it. With the timer you can set the frequency and duration of the watering.

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There are many simple things that a homeowner can do to enjoy their Pearland home. I'll be posting Tips & Tricks of Home Maintenance so come to my website often. You can find me at www.PearlandHomeGuide.com.

If you know someone who would like to buy or sell a home in Pearland Texas, have them call me at 281 485-3194.

Southwyck Golf Club scored in the top 3 Houston area golf courses for "Best Value" according to a recent Houston Chronicle poll. Southwyck Golf Club is a links style golf course which meanders through the Silverlake subdivision in Pearland, according to their website http://southwyckgc.com/The Chronicle polled area golfers and found them eager to share their views on the best the game has to offer locally.

Southwyck Golf Club is a public course with very affordable rates. Several memberships are available ranging from Month to Month or Annual membership agreements.

Have you ever thought about living on a golf course ? Check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZunKQjEtIk4 for a great 2 story home in Silverlake. It's like being on vacation every day. Contact Kathy 281 485-3194 for more information.

Now that the banks are releasing their stock of REO homes to the greater Houston market, savvy homebuyers have some shopping to do, whether you are looking for a home for yourself or investment properties to rent. Some of the rules are a little different if you are seeking your dream home or a place that will be a rental.

If the home is for you, you may know what you want. You know how that extra large family room will especially suit you family and how the alcove off the second bedroom will work great for a little office for you. Even if the place needs renovation, you have a vision for the finished product. If the place is in a neighborhood that is convenient, safe, and desirable to you - go for it.

If the place will be investment property, your goal should be to find a place that you can easily rent, or down the line, resell after you have fixed it up. Even if you wouldn't want to live in the home personally, it might work out great for a tenant or the next buyer. If you are aiming to rent out the home, make sure to ask your Realtor® how many other foreclosures and bank owned homes there are in the neighborhood. That will give you an idea of how much competition you'll have when you are looking for a renter.

Needless to say, the sale price has to be right - including any add ons like back taxes and your expected cost of repair. Obviously, most bank owned properties need some work that ranges from some relatively minor painting and cleaning to major rehab work. Whether you are buying for yourself or investment purposes, you don't want a home that requires so much work that the price of the finished product will be out of whack with neighborhood values. If you buy the home for yourself and plan to live there for 100 years, you might to sink money into features that your family will like, but you probably won't see much return at sale. For homes you plan to turn over, you should be more focused on the rate of return.

You can expect to sink $15-20,000 into cosmetic renovations on an investment unit, so make sure to think of the whole picture when you're buying. Experts say that you should plan on charging 1% of the purchase price in rent each month, but that is not realistic in most markets. You should talk to your Realtor® to get a good handle on the sale or rental market. Spending $20,000 will mean you need to need to charge $200. Will an extra $200 make the rents too high in the area?

Getting an inspection done prior to making a purchasing decision is a absolutely necessary. If the home is not accessible, scope out the neighborhood and talk to the neighbors to see what they know about the condition of the place. In any case, make sure that your Realtor® writes an escape clause in the contract for you in case the inspection uncovers major damage.

With some many homes offering both the potential of being either a lucrative investment or a money pit, having a good Realtor by your side like Kathy Kipp is essential. She knows the Pearland real estate market and can guide to the best deals in bank owned and foreclosure homes.

A couple months ago when President Obama announced his housing recovery plans, he talked in terms of "responsible" home owners who need help to stay in their primary residence. He did not want to help "speculators who took risky bets on a rising market and bought homes not to live in but to sell."

His intent was admirable, as homeownership is a valued cornerstone of the American way. To imply that all other property owners were "speculators" and to make that a dirty word was unduly harsh. In a country where most people start out renting and where some people happily rent all their lives, investment in rental property is an honorable tradition - and a necessity. Since few people buy investment property as a charitable enterprise, buying a property at a low price, rehabbing it, and hopefully reselling it or renting it for profit make sound business sense. Investors are necessary to make homes available for all who need them.

To be fair, there are areas of the country, like Las Vegas and the whole state of Florida, where investors rushed in and bought up property at bargain prices in hopes of selling them at a profit to retirees and working families. In Cape Coral, some even acquired their house-flipping strategies from "Millionaire University," which led to a doubling in housing prices in Cape Coral between 2000 and 2005. Most of these properties were shadily financed, so these investors not only played a major role in housing inflation but in skyrocketing foreclosure rates as well. By 2007, there were 1,900 foreclosures. By January, 2009, there were 24,000.

The group of investors involved in melees like this do not comprise the bulk of investors. Data from 2008 indicates that investors made up only 13% of foreclosures nationwide. In fact, according to a study on second homes and investment purchases done by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the investor segment was one of the strongest in the real estate market in 2008. How does the NAR profile this "strong" market segment?

• Investors comprised 21% of the market, down from 28% in 2007
• 42% paid cash for their units vs. 15% of buyers of primary residences and 31% of vacation home buyers
• They paid a median purchase price of $108,000 vs. $196,000 for buyers of primary residences and $150,000 for vacation home buyers. This is down from $189,000 back in 2004, when vacation home buyers when purchasing $204,000 homes
• 54% of investment purchases were within 20 miles of the investor's residence, while 67% ere within 50 miles
• 67% were detached single family homes, 22% were condos or duplexes, 8% were condo or rowhouses
• 1 of 6 purchases was an REO or other distressed situation purchase
• They tend to be about 10 years older than the average primary residence buyer (47 vs. 37)
• Their average income ($85,000) was not higher than other buyers, though second and vacation home buyers averaged $97,000

At the moment, despite some encouraging housing news, foreclosures are still rising. The homes that will come on the market from these foreclosures will further swell the stock of bank-owned homes throughout the country. Some of these homes offer great opportunities for first time homebuyers and others willing to accept a challenging property often in need of repair in exchange for a great deal. Buying this type of home is not for everyone. In reality, many REO homes are being bought by investors - individuals and groups of varying sizes - who are willing to take a risk, rehab, and rent out the property. This is also the American way.

Will investors, even good cash-paying stable ones, stabilize housing where buyers in search of affordable housing may not always be able to? Skeptics say the many investors will just sell the homes when the market turns around, which will once again add to the pool of homes in the market. The likely reality is that many renters, perhaps temporarily displaced from homeownership by foreclosure, will be ready to buy again. In the meantime, investors are improving the housing stock and making rental homes available to families.

Pearland investors: Great deals await you in the local market place. Kathy Kipp knows the area and will show you the best in foreclosures and REO properties. I can even help you lease and manage your Houston-area rentals.

A short sale is defined as the sale of a home in which the proceeds fall short of what the owner still owes. Lenders will agree to accept the proceeds of a short sale and forgive the rest of what is owed on the mortgage when the owner cannot make the mortgage payments. By accepting a short sale, the lender can avoid a foreclosure and the owner is able to pay off the loan for less than what he owes. Why do the lenders do this? Because lenders will lose more if the property goes into foreclosure.

There are three stages in the foreclosure process. They are pre-foreclosure, foreclosure and post– foreclosure. The pre-foreclosure stage is the only stage where a seller wants to be. With the help of a Realtor that is trained in short sales, the homeowner will be able to purchase another property in as little as 18 months, with a good rate!

Remember, lenders do not want your property. With over 1 million properties expected to be in foreclosure this year, the difference in losses to be sustained by lenders between a negotiated short sale and a fully executed foreclosure is estimated to be in excess of $50 Billion. Contact me so I can help you negotiate with your lender, therefore making the transition smoother so you can get on with your life.