News / Features

Sente Mortgage chief executive talks housing under Trump (Part 2)

Tom Rhodes is the CEO of Austin-based lender Sente Mortgage, and a past president of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association. In the first part of our conversation with the long-time lender, we discussed what housing will look like under a

FHA to reduce annual insurance premiums in 2017

In what is likely his final act as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Julián Castro today announced a reduction in FHA mortgage premiums from 0.85 percent to 0.60 percent. According to an announcement from HUD, the FHA’s annual

Greater Houston’s top closings, Dec. 2016

Click on the tabs below to see the top single-family, condo, and multifamily closings in Greater Houston’s housing market in December. Single Family Condo Multifamily Single Family Sales Price Address Agent Brokerage $5,995,000 59 Tiel Way, Houston Clayton Katz John

Renting beats buying throughout Greater Houston

It makes more financial sense to rent than buy in Greater Houston, according to new research from ATTOM Data Solutions. In its analysis, which incorporated 2017 rent data from HUD, wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and public record sales deed data from

The smart-home feature that homebuyers want in 2017

Smart home technologies are one of the most pervasive trends in real estate today, and a recent survey from Coldwell Banker and Vivint Smart Home found that among the currently available varieties, voice automation is the most popular. Understanding

Sente Mortgage chief executive talks housing under Trump (Part 1)

Tom Rhodes is the CEO of Austin-based lender Sente Mortgage, and a past president of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association. In our conversation with the long-time lender, we discussed what housing will look like under President Trump, Housing Secretary

Houston’s No. 1 selling MPC in 2016 was…

Riverstone was the top-selling master-planned community (MPC) in Greater Houston in 2016, and Aliana was a close second, according to RCLCO’s annual MPC report. Those were the only two Houston-area MPCs in the nation’s top 20. Altogether, Texas had

Houston housing stock country’s No. 17 most valuable

Houston’s housing stock is the No. 17 most valuable in the entire country, according to a year-end analysis from Zillow. Altogether in 2016, Houston’s residential properties tallied a worth of just over $373 billion, topping other Texas markets like

A guide to the 2017 buyer: Young Boomers

As we mentioned in the last entry in our “A Guide to the 2017 Buyer” series (which covered Generation X, and before that Millennials) the question of “What does this year’s buyer look like?” is particularly pressing in 2017, and for

The no. 1 reason why so few Millennials are buying homes in Houston

For years, agents and analysts alike have wondered why so few Millennials are buying homes, but a new analysis of Census data has provided a remarkably straightforward answer – they’re all living at home with their parents, and at

Houston new construction continues to shrink

The Houston new construction market continues to sag, according to research from Dodge Data & Analytics. In November, Houston saw more than $601 million in total residential construction spending, and year-to-date, spending tops out at $8.310 billion. Those numbers are among

A guide to the 2017 buyer: Generation X

As we mentioned in the first entry in our “A Guide to the 2017 Buyer” series – which covered Millennials – the question “What does this year’s buyer look like?” is particularly pressing this year. It’s pressing because we start

A guide to the 2017 buyer: Millennials

At the turn of every new year, a question that always picks at any real estate professional’s mind is “What does this year’s buyer look like?” The question is particularly important in 2017 because we’re starting it off by

Long-time NAR CEO Dale Stinton retires

After 11 years as the National Association of Realtors’ chief executive, and more than 36 years of real estate service, Dale Stinton is retiring. And so the storied career of one of NAR’s most loyal employees is brought to

This week in Houston real estate – Professional cuddling and stagnant cash sales

Lots of interesting things happened last week in the world of real estate. Notable stories include professional cuddling and stagnant cash sales. And because we missed the week before, we’ll also be including those top stories as well. Catch up on

The Houston housing affordability crisis that many are ignoring

There is an affordability crisis slowing building in Houston, and many people are ignoring it. In a fourth quarter market report released this week, ATTOM Data Solutions provided stats on price and wage growth in Houston, and the numbers showed

Oops! We could not locate your form.