Fast Austin Facts:
Per capita income: $36,328
Gross metropolitan product: $71.18 Billion
Private-sector jobs as of mid-2008: 618,200
Unemployment rate as of mid-2008: 4.2%
Private-sector trend since mid-2007: Added 11,600 jobs
One-year growth rate: 1.9%
5-year Growth Rates:
Population: up 17.92%
Private-sector trend since mid-2003: added 109,700 jobs
Private sector employment: up 17.02%
Five-year growth rate: 21.6%
Per capita income: up 13.31%
Gross Metropolitan product: up 33.05%
Source: BizJournals.com
Attention New Home Buyers:
For a long time, builders have offered appealing financing incentives for you to use their lender such as covering title policy or $1k-$2k towards closing costs.
There is a new RESPA rule that says they can no longer limit that to only their lender and they have to pay the same incentives to the buyer no matter where they get their financing. How nice. Now you have more financing options when building a new home. Call us to discuss and see the article below.
Developers Beware: New RESPA Limitations on Homebuilder Incentives will Require Changes to Procedures and Contracts
Prepared by the law offices of Greenberg Traurig, December 2008
For many years, it has been common for homebuilders and developers of condos and other residential real property to offer incentives to buyers to induce them to use preferred or affiliated title agencies and affiliated mortgage companies. Sometimes, these incentives were substantial, exceeding $10,000 or more. However, developers that offer those incentives after January 16, 2009 will violate the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (12 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq.), commonly known as RESPA. These RESPA violations can result in civil penalties as well as criminal prosecution.
On November 17, 2008 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") published substantial amendments to its Regulation X (24 CFR Part 3500) implementing RESPA. 73 Fed. Reg. 68203 (November 17, 2008). The final rule including these amendments is available online at http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/res/finalrule.pdf. Most of the amended rule applies to changes in the forms of the Good Faith Estimate and the HUD-1/HUD-1A settlement statements that become effective January 1, 2010. As a result, the changes to the required use provisions affecting homebuilder incentives have not received much public attention.
Required Use Changes
The changes to the definition of "required use" in the new rule will effectively eliminate the ability of homebuilders to provide incentives to buyers for using a preferred or affiliated title agency, affiliated mortgage company or other affiliated settlement service provider. The changes also prohibit the use of disincentives if a buyer does not use a preferred or affiliated settlement service provider. These changes to the required use rules take effect sooner than the other RESPA rule changes, specifically on January 16, 2009. This impending deadline will require developers to quickly change their contracts and procedures to avoid violations of the new rule. The "required use" prohibition is found in two distinct provisions of RESPA:
Section 8: RESPA includes prohibitions against kickbacks, referral fees and unearned fees in Section 8. One of the important exceptions to this rule applies to "affiliated business arrangements." Among the requirements of this exception is that the use of an affiliated settlement service provider, such as a mortgage lender, is not required. An "affiliated entity" under RESPA is very broadly defined and includes any entity that has more than a
1% direct or beneficial ownership interest in the other entity or is under common ownership or control. Violations of Section 8 are subject to a civil penalty equal to three times to cost of the settlement service. Section 8 violations can also give rise to criminal sanctions of up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment for not more than a year.
Section 9: RESPA prohibits a seller of real property financed with a RESPA covered loan from directly or indirectly requiring the buyer to purchase title insurance from a particular title company. This prohibition applies to any title company or title agency, whether or not affiliated with the seller. Section 9 violations are subject to a civil penalty equal to three times all charges for title insurance. In the final rule, HUD modified the definition of "required use" so that incentives may still be offered, but only by "settlement service providers." Since HUD takes the position that homebuilders do not qualify as settlement
service providers, this means the new rule prohibits homebuilders from offering incentives to buyers to use their affiliated companies. Senior RESPA officials at HUD have informally confirmed that this is an intended result. They have expressly stated that HUD wants incentives for using affiliated settlement service providers eliminated from homebuilders' purchase contracts in order to promote comparison shopping by buyers.
Action Must be Taken Now!
With the January 16, 2009 deadline fast approaching, homebuilders, developers and other sellers of residential real property must take action now, including:
• Review of contacts. Homebuilders' contracts must be rewritten, if necessary, to eliminate any buyer incentives for use of affiliated mortgage companies or other affiliated settlement service providers. They must also eliminate any incentives for the use of preferred title agencies, whether or not the title agency is an affiliate.
INCENTIVE PROVISIONS CANNOT BE USED IN ANY CONTRACT ENTERED INTO ON OR AFTER
JANUARY 16, 2009.
• Sales training and procedures must be implemented quickly. Sellers must ensure that buyers are not led to believe it will be more costly for them if they don't use an affiliated or preferred title company or affiliated mortgage company.
• Advertising that will appear after January 16, 2009 must be reviewed and altered to eliminate references to these impermissible incentives.
Some Incentives Have Survived
The revised RESPA rules do not outlaw all incentives by homebuilders. Developers and homebuilders can still:
• Offer incentives to buyers as an inducement to buy homes or condos.
• Provide incentives for buyers to use non-affiliated mortgage companies and other settlement service providers other than title companies and title agencies.
CAUTION: If there is a marketing agreement or similar arrangement in place with a mortgage company, then the offering of incentives may violate RESPA's Section 8 anti-kickback rules.
• Offer incentives to use affiliated mortgage companies and title agencies on non-RESPA transactions. These include sales to investors and cash purchasers.
• Provide incentives to buyers that sign their contract prior to January 16, 2009, even if the sale closes after that date.
14 Austin companies made "Tech Fast 50" list, Deloitte & Touche LLP (October, 2008 )
The list, which the consulting firm compiles each year, ranks companies based on 5-year revenue growth. Austin, with a population of 1.6 million, has a higher concentration of these companies than any other metropolitan area in Texas.
12 Austin companies made the list "Inc. 500" list, Inc. magazine (August, 2008 )
The compilation features the country's fastest-growing privately held companies, which was based on revenue growth from 2004 to 2007.
Austin's "Tech Fast 50" list:
Austin "Inc. 500" list:
Some of Austin's notable Inc. 5,000 companies are: Sweet Leaf Tea, Convio, Netspend Corp. and CreditCards.com.
(5-year percentage growth rate included after the dash)
There is an excellent article posted on Plum Creek in Kyle as part of the "UnSprawl" case studies at Terrain.org. This is a big honor for Plum Creek. The focus of the journal is the meeting place between the built and natural environment, or as they describe it, "the soul of place."
Previous UnSprawl case studies have been written about award-winning New Urbanism projects like Rosemary Beach, I'on, Glenwood Park, and Orenco Station to name but a few. The list puts Plum Creek in very good company.
The article takes the time to paint the past, present and future of Plum Creek ... it's a bit of a long read but interesting.
For this Active Rain Eye Candy submission I choose a mix from my favorites. They are a reflection of TX, the state fair, Port Aransas on the TX coast and, my favorite targets, the dogs. I use a Nikon D60 and love it ... it's not as easy to tote around as a pocket camera (have that too), but when I do have it with me, I'm always glad I did. I typically use Picasa for touch-up and effects. Hope you enjoy.
First, the Texas State Fair. This shot was colorized via Picasa.
Next, Blues Traveler at a pre-Austin City Limits fundraiser for Mayor Will Wynn (yes, that is the name of the Austin mayor ... great guy). We had tickets, thanks to two good friends, for the night-before-ACL concert. Instead of 200,000 fans at ACL, we had the pleasure of up-front in a crowd of maybe 1,000. Very cool photo op and very Austin-esque.
Next, a series from Port Aransas (our long weekend getaway destination) ...
And finally, a few dog favorites including the big guy (Groovy ... he is easy on the lens) and Boy Howdy (the puppy lab), and Austin Dog (always at work herding something). First, Groovy and me in Port A (he weighs more than I do), then Groovy as a pup, then Boy Howdy with Kay, then Austin Dog glamour shot ...
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