Rick Martinez's (rickmartinez) Blog

The Federal Housing Administration will tighten credit standards and implement new rules for appraisals on Jan. 1, saying a study to be published in November is expected to show FHA's capital reserve ratio slipping below mandated minimums.FHA's insurance fund is sufficient to cover future losses,...

Sales of single-family homes for the greater Houston area continued to improve in June, with the highest volume recorded since August 2008 and the highest median price in history. This comes despite a year-over-year decline in overall property sales of 15.0 percent and 13.5 percent for single-fam...

According to Realty Trac, we hit another record high in foreclosure in the first quarter of 2009. The figures are up 24% from the same quarter of 2008. In addition, notes of default, sales and bank repossessions were over 800,000 in the first quarter. This means that one in every 159 U.S. housing...

Well school is almost over and the Real Estate activity has been a little more active. The economic forecast for Houston is that it is not starting to see more job losses. Currently it is expected that Houston and surrounding areas will lose over 60,000 jobs by the end of this year. Among this ba...

Declines in the sales and pricing of homes throughout the greater Houston area eased in March, matching a trend that the Federal Reserve noted in several markets around the country in its Beige Book survey released last week. Overall March property sales fell 18.9 percent and sales of single-fami...

We have noticed that many sellers are being picky with their buyers. As agents and homeowners, we understand that you want to get the best price possible for your home. But if you NEED to sell right now, this is a buyer's market. I've seen many sellers lose offers on their homes over small amount...

You've decided to move, but the housing market is more competitive than ever. To get an edge on your competition, it's important to make your home as appealing as possible so that you can sell it quickly and at its maximum value.   One of the leading manufacturers and distributors of premium resi...

       Prepping and staging a house. Every seller wants her home to sell fast and bring top dollar. Does that sound good to you? Well, it's not luck that makes that happen. It's careful planning and knowing how to professionally spruce up your home that will send home buyers scurrying for their ...

Plug ins Look for those electronic devices, especially those with digital time and date displays that are infrequently used such as alarm clocks, TVs and VCRs in a guest room and unplug them. Unplug devices used to recharge electronics/batteries when they're not being used. Transformers consume e...

Houston's Real Estate Market Closes The Books On 2008 With Continued Sluggish Sales And Lower Pricing Demand for rental properties soars as consumers await economic relief from Uncle Sam   HOUSTON - (Jan. 20, 2009) - Property sales throughout the greater Houston area ended 2008 as they began, wi...