Hundreds attended the Think Pink and Green realtor event at Sienna
Plantation’s New Sienna Springs Resort Water Park. Attendees toured
nine model homes, ate delicious food, and listen and danced to a variety
of music. A drawing was held and $10,000 in prizes were awarded to
winners.
Although builder confidence in the market for newly built,
single-family homes declined for a second consecutive month in July to
its lowest level since April of 2009, according to the
National Association of Home
Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index,
new homes are constantly being built in Houston and surrounding
areas despite sales rising and declining this year.
Please call me, Anthony, at 713-723-2737 or email: realestateanthony@juno.com,
if you or someone you know needs my real estate services.
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WASHINGTON,
D.C.
–
Newly built, single-family homes sales rose 23.6 percent to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 330,000 units in June after coming off an historic low
in May, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Sales of new homes rose strongly in three out of four regions in June. The
largest percentage increase was the Northeast's 46.4 percent gain, followed by a
33.1 percent gain in the South and a 20.5 percent gain in the Midwest.
The West was the only region where new-home sales did not improve in June,
instead falling 6.6 percent to a new record low.
Meanwhile, the nationwide inventory of
new homes for sale
declined to 210,000 in June, the thinnest it has been since September of 1968.
This amounts to a 7.6 months' supply at the current sales pace.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES
MORE THAN $550 MILLION TO HELP VERY LOW-INCOME ELDERLY AND PERSONS WITH
DISABILITIES
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Over $550 million in housing
assistance will be available to assist thousands of low-income
senior citizens
and persons
with disabilities to find
affordable housing,
according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The funding
will provide interest-free capital advances to non-profit developers so they
can produce accessible housing, offer rental assistance and provide
supportive services for the elderly and persons with disabilities. The
grants are provided through HUD's Section 202 Capital Advance ($454.5
million nationwide to assist very low-income elderly) and Section 811
Capital Advance ($95.7 million nationwide to assist very low-income with
disabilities) Supporting Housing programs and will fund 169 projects in 46
states.
HUD's Section 202 Capital Advance Program
expands the supply of affordable housing with supportive services for the
elderly. It provides very low-income elderly persons 62 years of age or older
with the opportunity to live independently in an environment that provides
support services to frail elderly resident.
H.R. 5623
EXTENDS HOME BUYER
TAX CREDIT DEADLINE
WASHINGTON, D.C. –
Congress passed H.R. 5623, the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act,
which applies the homebuyer tax credit closing deadline extension only to
homebuyers who have ratified contracts in place as of April 30, 2010, but
could not close before June 30. The legislation is designed to create a
seamless extension of the new closing deadline for eligible transactions to
September 30. There will be no gap between June 30 and the date the
president signs the bill into law.
HUD ANNOUNCES $15.8 MILLION FOR COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN
HARRIS COUNTY
FORT WORTH – Harris County will receive a total of $15,864,545 to support community
development, produce more affordable housing and assist homeless persons with
housing and support services according to U.S. Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Shaun Donovan.
Donovan said the funding provides the building
blocks needed to improve communities and the grants promote neighborhood
development, produce affordable housing, and help extremely low-income persons
find places in their communities.
The funding announced includes:
$11,683,390 in
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
funds;
$474,270 in
Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) funding;
and
$3,706,885 for HOME Investment Partnerships
(HOME) funding.
ARMED SERVICE MEMBERS HAVE
EXTRA YEAR
FOR HOME BUYER TAX CREDIT
WASHINGTON –
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says
members of the military, foreign service and intelligence communities
have until next year to buy a home and claim the home buyer tax credit,
which expires for most Americans
on April 30.
NAHB Chairman Bob Jones, a builder and developer in Bloomfield Hills,
Mich., said Congress recognizing that many service members missing out
on the home buyer tax credit due to being posted overseas is only
fitting for them to be given another year to take advantage of the
opportunity in appreciation of the sacrifices they have made serving the
country.
The law provides qualified service members who served on official
extended duty outside of the United States for 90 days or more at any
time between Jan. 1, 2009 to April 30, 2010, to have until
April 30, 2011 to sign a sales contract, and until
June 30, 2011, to settle and close on the home. Both the
$8,000 first-time and $6,500 repeat home buyer tax credits
are included in the rule.
Additionally, the rule requiring buyers to repay the credit if they move
out of their home within three years has also been waived for qualified
service members having to sell their home due to receiving government
orders for extended duty service.
