Buyers Eyeing Homes With Vintage Charm
from The Dallas Morning News
 In spring 2006, 13 employees from Southern Land Company's architecture department in Franklin, Tenn., flew to Dallas and canvassed neighborhoods including Swiss Avenue, Munger Place and the Park Cities, armed with notebooks and cameras. Their mission: Find the most charming, most enduring architectural styles and re-create them at Tucker Hill, an 800-acre master-planned community in McKinney. Called the "new old house movement" by Building Systems magazine, new-home construction that borrows the architectural grace and attention to detail of earlier eras is luring prospective homeowners away from McMansion styles to houses that look like the ones their grandparents grew up in. More
Numbers Show Improvements in Housing Industry
from The Fort Worth Business Press
An industry-wide effort to reduce the number of new home starts to get existing homes off the market was apparent in recent numbers released by Metrostudy, a house tracking service. Builders have started 22,739 homes in the past 12 months in North Texas, a 35.7 percent drop from the 12 months that ended in the third quarter of 2007 according to Metrostudy. However, builders closed on 7,185 homes in the third quarter, which was 28.4 percent less than a year ago, but 7.8 percent higher than the second quarter of 2008. More
Central Texas Included in National Gas Tax Study
from The Austin Business Journal
The Austin area is one of six metropolitan regions in the country chosen to participate in a new national study of alternatives to the gas tax. The Public Policy Center of the University of Iowa is conducting the study to determine alternative ways to fund maintenance and construction of highways and bridges across the United States. More
Texas Economy, Banks Will Avoid Crash
from The Mineral Wells Index
Wall Street may be on a roller coaster ride in recent days but Texas community banks are enjoying strength and resiliency, according to the Texas Department of Banking and local bankers. “The business of this bank is business as usual,” said Riley Peveto, president of First State Bank in Mineral Wells with 41 years of experience in banking. “We’ve had an annual growth rate since September of last year of 20 percent. We have not had a real estate foreclosure in the last two years.” More
USAA Files for Homeowner Rate Increase
from My San Antonio
USAA filed with state regulators Friday to raise rates on homeowners insurance in Texas by an average of 7.9 percent, citing escalating construction costs and the frequency of catastrophic weather. More than 55,300 Bexar County residents will see an average increase of 10.8 percent at the next renewal. In Harris County, 30,700 homeowners will see an average increase of 20.9 percent. More
McCombs Joins Other Texas Investors for New Real Estate Venture
from The Austin Business Journal
A group of Texas real estate and business veterans are launching a new development company. Dually based in San Diego and Austin, The Flagship Group is bringing together San Antonio businessman Red McCombs and development veterans Brady Oman and Hal Jones. The company will focus on all development phases including acquisition, entitlement, site planning, engineering, construction and marketing. More
El Paso Housing Market Doing Well Despite Economy
from KFOX-TV
Experts joke El Paso may be the last real estate market still standing as a result of the troubled economy. They want homebuyers to know they're still OK. "There are homes available, there's loans to be had, interest rates are great," said Dan Olivas with the Greater Association of Realtors. Olivas credits the expansion of Fort Bliss, the new medical school and revitalization of downtown with keeping El Paso stable. Homeowners KFOX spoke with have mixed reaction. "Housing will definitely suffer because the banks closing especially, loans are going to be harder to get, they cut the interest rates in half already and people are still holding onto their money," said east El Paso resident Michael Navarro. More
Texas, National Gas Prices Drop Sharply
from KWTX-TV
The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in Texas was about $2.96 Monday, according to Texasgasprices.com, which found that prices around the state ranged from as little as $2.28 a gallon at a station in Harlingen to as much as $3.91 a gallon at a station in Lubbock. More
Ike's Effects Still Clear
from The Abilene Reporter News
A month later, piles of sheetrock, appliances, furniture and family mementos dot most streets in this island town. Electronic road signs in Southeast Texas flash, "Watch for cows next 20 miles," a reminder that few fences remain to hem in livestock. Blue tarps cover 11,000 roofs for 100 miles from Houston to the Louisiana line. More
Home Improvement Takes a Hit as Property Owners Scale Back, Seek Bargains
from The Houston Chronicle
Contractors are bending over backward — even for small jobs like bathroom renovations and cabinetry — as the housing slump infects the remodeling industry and gives homeowners the upper hand in price negotiations. While not taking the hit that the for-sale market is, home remodeling has slowed as pessimism about home values sets in. Activity remained sluggish in the second quarter, according to an industry index from the National Association of Home Builders, and expectations were nearly flat. More
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