Buyers Wage Bidding Wars as Real Estate Bottoms Out
from The Dallas Business Journal
On the surface, the return of bidding wars doesn’t add up given the residential real estate market is in one of the worst slumps in decades. But with home prices back to 2002 levels, savvy buyers are snapping up unprecedented bargains - and to a growing extent, competing with each other to get them - before the market hits bottom and prices start rising broadly. More

Buy a House, Get a Car
from The Dallas Morning News
Dallas real estate agent Lydia Player hopes her bright-red convertible will turn a few heads. The new car is a snazzy perk for whoever buys a North Dallas home that Player has on the market. "If they don't like red, we'll give them another color," said Player, who's offering a string of incentives to lure buyers to houses she's trying to sell. More

FEMA Awards Galveston $9M in Ike Recovery Assistance
from The Houston Business Journal
Galveston and its neighbors have tapped into $9 million worth of assistance to help in recovery from Hurricane Ike. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency is making $9 million in community disaster loans available to Gulf Coast entities as part of a national program enacted last year. More

Voter ID Bill Faces Uncertain Future After Clearing Committee
from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
A sharply divided House Elections Committee approved a Senate-passed voter identification bill Monday, sending the contentious issue toward the House floor for a showdown vote, possibly as early as next week. But Elections Committee Chairman Todd Smith, R-Euless, predicted a less than 50 percent chance that a bill will win House passage unless opposing sides in the white-hot debate are willing to bend from entrenched positions. More

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Small Businesses Could Save Under Franchise Bill
from The Brownsville Herald
The Texas House of Representatives recently approved a measure that would change the way Texas' franchise tax is computed, giving an estimated 40,000 small businesses temporary tax breaks. The bill, filed by state Rep. Rene Oliveira (D-Brownsville) would exempt businesses earning up to $1 million in gross receipts, up from $300,000 in gross receipts under current law. More

Bills Enter Legislative Dead Zone
from The San Antonio Express-News
With the Legislature entering its final three weeks, bills big and small are rapidly entering the dead zone, where an unforgiving calendar and long-standing rules will likely spell death. Legislation to limit unauthorized immigration is already dead, its sponsor says. A constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling in Texas will be dead too unless it passes by Thursday. More

House OKs School Finance Tweaks, Teacher Pay Raise
from The Austin American-Statesman
The Texas House of Representatives pushed ahead Monday on a school finance bill that applies a $1.9 billion Band-Aid to a funding system that many say is broken. It also provides an across-the-board teacher pay raise of at least $800 a year. More

Developer Still Faces Tough Road in Realizing Vision
from The Austin American-Statesman
Three years ago, when Andy Sarwal pitched a plan to buy 23 acres north of downtown from Concordia University Texas and turn it into $500 million worth of housing, shops and offices, some people in the real estate community laughed. Today, a little more than a year since Concordia held its last class there, construction is under way on the first of nine planned components in a project originally called East Avenue. More

Go West, Young Man (and Woman): Texas Good for Jobs
from The Dallas Morning News
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The state's labor market is in a bad way now, having lost about 155,000 jobs during the first three months of the year. But in the next few years, it's apt to reclaim its status as one of the strongest regional job markets in the country, according to economic research and forecasting service IHS Global Insight. More

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