Network Funding LP

North Texas boom

Carl Wallingford — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:56:03 +0000

North Texas homes sales are off to a good start this year, up 14 percent in January from a year ago, according to the latest figures from Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Center.
And more good news may be ahead: pending sales were up 16 percent from a year ago.
The Real Estate Center compiles data from the Multiple Listing Service run by real estate agents. The monthly report covers 29 North Texas counties.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02/08/3720780/north-texas-home-sales-jump-14.html#storylink=cpy

Holiday ‘inn’ Schlitterbahn in South Padre

Carl Wallingford — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:53:50 +0000

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND – Schlitterbahn has plans to open a 221-room, beachfront indoor waterpark hotel known as Schlitterbahn Beach Resort.

The hotel will feature retail, restaurants and an indoor/outdoor convertible waterpark.

Schlitterbahn Beach Resort has an estimated cost of $5.5 million. The project includes renovations at the former location of the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort.

Plans call for renovation of a 78,161-sf six-story rental tower; renovation of a 43,368-sf four-story rental tower; and construction of an 111,050-sf indoor waterpark.

Phase I of the development is slated to open summer 2012. The hotel will operate year-round.

Comptroller: Texas property values up in 2011

Carl Wallingford — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:53:12 +0000

TEXAS – The Texas comptroller has released the latest estimate of statewide property values, which show a 1.3 percent increase from $1.67 trillion in 2010 to $1.69 trillion in 2011.

The difference will save the state $300 million to $400 million by reducing its obligation to school districts, according to Joe Wisnoski of Moak Casey & Associates.

The increase in property values, combined with tax revenue that has been better than projected, adds to the sense that Texas is climbing out of the budget hole.

Existing-Home Sales Jump Nearly 19% From Last Year

Carl Wallingford — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 23:06:37 +0000

Sales of previously owned homes came in 18.6 percent higher last month when compared to August 2010, according to data just released by the National Association of Realtors. Completed transactions rose 7.7 percent on a month-over-month basis to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million. The latest numbers far surpassed market expectations. Many analysts were forecasting a decline while others were predicting a much more modest increase, with projections for the annual rate ranging between 4.61 million and 4.80 million.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is Ready to Debut

Carl Wallingford — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:27:21 +0000

RISMEDIA, July 8, 2011—The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has many components and one of the biggest ones is about to debut. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is slated to start operations on July 22, 2011. The truth is that work is already being done behind the scenes and has been for months now. The agency has been adding staff and setting up systems and should be ready to roll by the July date. They have also been working on some early Dodd-Frank tasks such as combining the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) under RESPA and the Truth in Lending (TIL) statement under TILA. This process, as of this writing, has been a pleasant surprise and bodes well for how CFPB will handle its numerous future regulatory endeavors.

Instead of the usual Washington regulatory dance of springing a rule on the industry and public and giving 30 or 60 days to comment and then telling the public why they are wrong and why the agency is right, CFPB is engaging the industry and the public before proposing a rule. As someone who works on regulatory issues regularly, I was first asking, “what’s the catch?” After hearing there appeared to be no catch, I started to feel genuinely satisfied and thought perhaps even my blood pressure might have dropped a bit.

Texas Cities Rank High in Recession Recovery

Carl Wallingford — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:23:20 +0000

(RECON) Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston were among the top 15 U.S. cities in a global study to determine the level of recovery from the recession.

The report from the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program ranks 150 cities: 50 in the United States, 50 in Europe and 50 in the rest of the world. Austin was the highest-ranked U.S. city and No. 26 in the world. Dallas ranked fourth in the U.S. and 39th in the world.

San Antonio ranked 11th in the United States and 51st in the world. Houston landed at 15th in the United States and 61st in the world.

Sales of Existing Homes Post 10% Gain

Carl Wallingford — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:58:29 +0000

Sales of previously owned homes rose in September for the second straight month. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Monday reported a 10 percent jump. The month-to-month gain was more than analysts were expecting, and NAR says the latest numbers “affirm a sales recovery has begun.” Some market observers, though, suggest such an assertion is premature. The median sales price of existing homes dropped 2.4 percent in September. Distressed homes accounted for 35 percent of the month’s transactions.

Thank you! Wells Fargo

Carl Wallingford — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 01:05:06 +0000

Wells Fargo will no longer delay foreclosure proceedings in hopes that a short sale deal will come through.

According to an American Banker report, the bank has stopped granting extensions for distressed homeowners to complete short sales.

The paper, citing a memo Wells emailed to short sale vendors, said the lender will no longer postpone foreclosure sales for borrowers who do not close on short sales by the date quoted in their approval letter.

The move will allow the bank’s foreclosure proceedings to advance, even if a short sale is already in negotiation. Wells says it changed its policy because it can.

Texas foreclosures half of national average

Carl Wallingford — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 23:54:00 +0000

Austin Business Journal -Foreclosure sales accounted for 11.9 percent of all residential sales in Texas in the second quarter, according to a report Thursday from RealtyTrac.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac said Texas preforeclosure sales decreased nearly 12.3 percent from the 2009 second quarter and were down 0.9 percent from the first quarter of 2010. The Lone Star State saw 11,115 homes sell while in some stage of foreclosure for an average price of $142,069, or at a 25.6 percent discount.

Throughout the nation, foreclosure homes accounted for 24 percent of all residential sales in the second quarter of 2010 and the average sales price of properties that sold while in some stage of foreclosure was more than 26 percent below the average sales price of properties not in the foreclosure process — down slightly from a 27 percent average discount in the first quarter.

A total of 248,534 U.S. properties in some stage of foreclosure — default, scheduled for auction or bank-owned (REO) — sold to third parties in the second quarter, an increase of nearly 5 percent from the previous quarter, but still down 20 percent from the second quarter of 2009.

Ohio, Kentucky and California posted the highest foreclosure discounts.

Credit card debt at an 8-year low

Carl Wallingford — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:55:50 +0000

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The amount of credit card debt consumers are carrying dropped to an eight-year low and delinquencies continued to decline in the second quarter as consumers looked to shore up their savings.

Credit card debt fell 4.1% to an average $4,591 during the quarter, according to credit bureau TransUnion. That marks the fifth straight quarter of declines and the first time credit card debt has dipped below $5,000 since the first quarter of 2002, according to TransUnion.