Real Estate

Last Wednesday on the 25th of January, one of my favorite real estate speaking engagements came to town.

CCAR (Collin County Association of Realtors) hosts the most imformative session for residential real estate every year. They bring in 3 keynote speakers/teachers. Dr. Mark G. Dotzour the Cheif Economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University to talk about the Outlook for 2012. Dan Kessler, the Director of transportation for North Central Texas to discuss the progress of tollroads, highways and rail lines in North Dallas. And lastly, but most importantly, David Brown the Director of the DFW office of Metrostudy who highlights the communities in Collin County and advises us on where the action is.

To a normal realtor, this may be helpful for them to be knowledgable in front of clients. For a new home specialist broker like me, it’s a MUST!

I am always excited when Mark Dotzour hits the stage. He always tells it how it is, with no fluff! This year he mentioned these highlights for 2012.

1. Projections are at a 10% increase in Sales in North Dallas for 2012.
2. The only sources for loans are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and both are totally controlled by the government.
3. Mortgage rates at 3.75% are too low and show a “Fake Economy” and won’t be here for long.
4. He said if government got out of Freddie and Fannie, Mortgage rates would go back up and be stable at 6%.
5. Over 50% of Americans do not pay income tax.
6. Job growth is at an all time high. (Apple has 90 Billion sitting in their bank)
7. We are devaluating the dollar so much that Toyaota is now making cars in American and shipping them to Korea!

Lastly he said one comment that really blew me away. He said that in America today there are 4.5-6 million homes that are (60-90) days late on their mortgage. This puts them in various stages of foreclosure.In 2010 the government put strict guidelines on banks regarding foreclosures and here is the stat that blows me away!

• Historically, the average amount of days it takes to forclose on a property is 280 days. Today the average number of days to foreclose is at 680 days. 680 DAYS! Almost 2 Years!

Mark said the main reason for this is the 600 Billion dollars of secondary mortgages. He said if they foreclose on them all tomorrow, that many of the larger banks would have to close.

I have to go talk to Mark everytime and he is definately someone that I know will tell me the truth about certain sectors of the economy and really helps when it comes to identifiying what is going to work when it comes to the Real Estate business.