Friday, July 11, 2008

Strong Houston Economy and Demand for Waterfront Homes

Houston-based real estate developer, Historic Real Estate Inc., introduced its newest development this week, The Peninsula Clear Lake(TM). The Peninsula is a private Mediterranean-styled, waterfront village featuring 35 single-family homes and homesites and four family compounds with direct channel access to Clear Lake, Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

"This is a very rare development," said Richard Browne, Principal, with Historic Real Estate Inc. "Given the national real estate market, you better have something really special to bring to the market...and we do. The Peninsula is a gated, waterfront boating village approximately 30 minutes from downtown Houston. We are attracting affluent boating enthusiasts from Houston, California, Florida and Mexico."

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Houston broker elected to lead global real estate association

Lisa Kurrass, chairwoman of Real Estate Connection International, has been elected president of the International Real Estate Federation.

She is the first woman president in the organization's 60-year history.

Kurass will assume the top spot in May 2009 at a Beijing ceremony and will operate from her Houston offices.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Zoning's not the issue in Houston

Only 23 percent of residents think "more land-use planning would be bad for Houston because it will slow economic growth and increase the cost of housing." On the other hand, 61 percent say "More land-use planning would be good for Houston because it will improve the region's quality of life and long-term prosperity." That is, even considering possible negative outcomes, most of us consider planning beneficial.

But the question that has stirred debate was "Are you in favor or opposed to zoning in Houston — that is, citywide control over the uses of the land in different areas?" Fifty-four percent favored this idea, 29 percent did not. Almost twice as many favor zoning as oppose it.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Harbor Group buys Houston land from baseball player

US-Israeli real estate investment firm Harbor Group International LLC has bought three residential communities located near the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston for $41.2 million from a well-known baseball player. The company declined to disclose his name.

The communities have 920 homes altogether. Harbor Group will invest an additional $3.2 million in renovations. The company said that the seller had purchased the properties in 2006, but decided to sell them at a loss because he was unable to manage them.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Houston good for real estate investors

HomeVestors of America, Inc. has ranked Houston as the second-best market in the United States for real estate investing in the first quarter of 2008.

Dallas took the No. 1 spot while Fort Worth was ranked fourth and San Antonio was ranked seventh.

HomeVestors, the company famous for its "We Buy Ugly Houses" billboards, bought more than 34,000 homes in the U.S. over the past 11 years and based the findings on the number of houses bought in each market by the franchise network in the first quarter of 2008.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Inventory In Houston Real Estate Market Continues to Rise

Michael Levitin is set to preside over a dismal year in Houston Real Estate if For Sale signs keep popping up.

We assure you, its not his fault.

But the decline in sales continued for a sixth straight month in February according to the recent report released by the Houston Association of Realtors.

Sales are down but not as bad as they were last month.