Tom Phillips

Condo's in San Antonio

Condominiums in San Antonio are a waste of time! That's what people have been telling me for years now. I started buying condo's in 2000. First, for me to live in instead of paying rent, then as an investment. I currently own 3 condo's in the same area. And have them all rented at top rental rates for the area.

I bought the first condo for $35.000 in 2000. I will be selling it this year for $95,000. That's $60,000 in 7 years for a very minimal investment. Oh yeah, did I mention I had it rented the entire time starting at $650/ mo. And most recently for $795/ mo. My total payment including HOA dues is $525.

Today there are 565 condo's for sale in the San Antonio MLS. 199 of those are $100,000 or less.

There were 926 total condo sales for 2007. That's compared to 53 total sales for 2003! Still think condo's are a waste of time?

Oh yeah did I mention that there are more luxury condo's than ever before? Today there are 56 condo's over $500,000 listed for sale.

So why is there such a drastic change? Well for one thing the economy in San Antonio is great. Jobs are getting easier to find and there are more educated people looking to find jobs than ever before. Which leads us into the main reason condo sales and prices are on the rise. The demographic of the city has changed. There are more young successful people in San Antonio than ever before. And they are coming from places where they are used to living in condo's.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at any time.

Tom Phillips

Realtor/ Real Estate Investment Broker

Keller Williams Realty

210-857-2375

tomphillipsrealtor@yahoo.com

The San Antonio Coalition for Family Economic Progress has officially launched this year's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program with some significant changes.

Normally open to families earning less than $40,000 a year, this year's VITA program is providing free tax preparation help for families earning up to $45,000.

By raising the income cap, the coalition plans to make income tax filing assistance available to more San Antonio families.

In addition to the eligibility cap, the coalition has also recruited more volunteers for the program and brought H.E. Butt Grocery Co. (H-E-B) on board as a partner.

The local grocer is offering space for tax assistance at its H-E-B El Mercado store on 2130 Culebra Road, the H-E-B Plus! at 6818 S. Zarzamora, the H-E-B at 1015 S. WW White Road and the H-E-B at 2534 S. New Braunfels.

"Our goal is to put money back into the pockets of our working families and individuals," says Dennis Campa, director of the Department of Community Initiatives. "We also want to be easily accessible and convenient, so partnering with H-E-B was a perfect fit."

VITA volunteers help taxpayers take advantage of all the tax credits for which they are eligible, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. Organizers say San Antonio families leave an estimated $86 million each year unclaimed because they don't properly claim these tax credits.

Last year, volunteers prepared more than 35,000 returns, a 12 percent increase from the number of returns completed last year. Volunteers also helped families receive more than $52 million in tax refunds.

The San Antonio Coalition for Family Economic Progress consists of the City of San Antonio, the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, the Internal Revenue Service, ACORN, Catholic Charities, Frost Bank, Bank of America, Broadway Bank, H-E-B, City Employees Federal Credit Union and the AT&T Foundation.

The AT&T Foundation, the philanthropic organization of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), also is contributing $50,000 to Catholic Charities this year to support marketing efforts.

"The VITA program has been such a tremendous success in San Antonio, and this additional support will make a difference as we begin the 2008 tax season," says Lourdes Galvan, San Antonio mayor pro tem. "We hope that the additional marketing in the community will encourage more people to take advantage of these services."