Sales up, Prices down

Foreclosures are up from a year ago, unemployment rate is up and overall sales for the San Antonio area are up while prices continue to drop. It appears that distressed properties are what's moving the market right now.

San Antonio - Part of a oil & gas Boom?

A large part of south Texas has recently been experiencing an oil and gas boom. Within this region, there are many small towns that are having a surge in people and business because of this huge, sudden discovery of oil and gas also called "Eagle Ford Shale". Many of these south Texas towns are not prepared to handle the sudden increase of demand of the infrastructure that is needed to accommodate the oil companies that now occupying much of the area. The numerous oil companies that are now flocking to the area are opening up satellite offices at these small towns. One of the nearest large cities to the "eagle ford shale" region is San Antonio. The city of San Antonio might be able to absorb some of this office space demand. Currently, San Antonio's office market is relatively flat but that could soon change.


New refineries are going to be needed soon and I believe south San Antonio could possible be a location for a new refinery. With a unemployment rate of 7.7% San Antonio could definitely use the extra jobs. If the oil companies decide to build a refinery on the south side of San Antonio, they probably wouldn't have trouble finding skilled workers to operate the refinery.



I believe San Antonio has a real opportunity to capitalize on this south Texas oil and gas boom from the Eagle Ford Shale. Capitalizing from the "Eagle Ford Shale" could mean more jobs, increase office space demand and ultimately improve the real estate market. Collaboration between cities and towns is key for this region to flourish from this enormous discovery.

Doing Business In San Antonio

Check out this great video on what San Antonio has to offer. Opportunities for real estate professionals are endless in this city.

Urban Uplift

A small town just north-west of San Antonio that is adjacent to interstate 10 and loop 410 is making plans to make the suburb turn into an urban environment with a suburban feel. The small town I am talking about is Balcones Heights.

Some of the changes include: a bus rapid transit or light rail along Fredericksburg Rd, new ordinances that allow mixed commercial and residential development along Fredericksburg rd. , and have buildings closer to the street with parking lots behind. With all of these new improvements, affordable homes and major employers nearby, Balcones Heights is going to continue to be a great place to work, live and play. City leaders of Balcones Heights and San Antonio have a common goal to make the city more pedestrian-friendly.

San Antonio and some of its inner/surrounding cities are going through a major urban shift. More infill projects are taking place and via is now in the planning stages to transform the public transportation system. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is also putting a major focus on the revitalization of Downtown S.A.

I believe Balcones Heights is setting the stage for a new urban/suburban life-style that the rest of the San Antonio area will implement and soon enjoy for themselves.

Looking Good!

Foreclosure Listings Fall for August

After so many months of record breaking foreclosure fillings, the number of foreclosures is beginning to ease. This could be a sign of the market bottoming out.

foreclosures
July 09 = 1,510
August 09 = 1,139

The numbers are still very unpleasant but at least there is a sign of progress.

The Texaplex

Distressed Sellers

With San Antonio's unemployment rate now above 6% and all of the bad mortgages still floating around, the number of distressed home owners continues to grow.


Home owners may be facing foreclosure and want to sell quickly to avoid it and to save their credit. In today's market, it is getting more difficult to buy a home the conventional way. Lenders aren't just giving out loans to anyone like they were just a few years ago.

These days sellers are having trouble selling their property. Properties are staying on the market longer than they have been in recent years. If they need to sell their house quickly, then it may be not a good idea to sell their property the conventional way. When I say conventional way, I mean, selling to typical buyers that use conventional loans from a bank. This process could take a while and there are less prospects out there because of the tougher lending standards.


If you need to sell your house fast in the San Antonio area, it is best that you sell to a real estate investor. The reason for this is because the real estate investor buys with cash or hard money (private money). This makes the buying process much easier and quicker. They also don't charge fees or commissions to you. These are the guys that put up those, "we buy houses" signs or ads. Whether the house is in poor condition or great condition, the investor will buy if the price is right.
The price should be low enough so there is room to pay for the repairs/upgrades, closing cost, carrying cost, and of course profit.


If you are a distressed home owner and you would like to sell your home fast, then please visit PedrozaProperties.com


-Daren

Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates have risen slightly but are still low enough to call it a buyers market. For a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage with a 20% down payment is 5.57% and the average rate for a 15 year fixed-rate mortgage is 5.1%. Two years ago this month, rates were pushing over 6.5%. Hopefully the market could hold steady for a while so the market could continue to experience progress.


The housing market is the back bone to Americas Economy.

Pending Sales are Up

I found an article in the San Antonio Express-News written by Jennifer Hiller that states, that S.A. pending home sales are up but are still taking long to close. The reason for this, is there is a large amount of documentation that is required by the lenders which slows the approval process.

The article reads....

"San Antonio had more than 630 pending home sales at the end of May- a number that normally would be pretty high and indicate slew of closings in June.

But Travis Kessler, CEO of the San Antonio Board of Realtors, said that while the number is a good sign, it also doesn't mean those sales will happen as quickly as they once did.

That's because lenders are taking longer to approve mortgage loans and often ask buyers for additional documentation before approving a loan.

As a result, real estate contracts are likely to give the buyers more breathing room now to wait on their lender."

Some of the far north S.A. development

These are pictures of a development located on 281/Sonterra, behind Wal-mart. The first phase of that development will be a hotel. The overall proposed 23 acre development will consist of 2 hotels, 2 restaurants, and about 600,000 sq ft of office space. Due to the economic slow down, those development proposals might have changed. The other pictures show a 4 story hotel that is on the edge of a cliff located on 281 north just north of Evans rd. That cliff is about 3 stories tall and I am even standing on a hill myself; so imagine the incredible views that the hotel guest on the 4th floor will have.

Tesoro HQ....Almost Done!

The 14 story and 6 story buildings with a total of 623,000 sqft of office space that will soon be the home of the new Tesoro Corporate headquarters is almost complete. The architecture of the building is something that many people from San Antonio are not used to seeing. The sleek, modern design is what I have been waiting for so long, but I can only wish this building was is the downtown area instead of the 281/1604 area. Soon after the 281/1604 gets its uplift and the traffic begins to ease, I hope that more developers are inspired to put more of these modern buildings creating a new skyline for north of San Antonio.....As long it doesn't take any development away from downtown.

New Home Sales Are Up

For the month of February, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, single family new home sales are up 4.7% nationwide.


Of course the numbers for February of 09 are still lower than the numbers of February of 08 but at least there is a sign of progress.
The main causes of this increase in new home sales are the tax credits, lower home prices, and lower mortgage rates.


It appears that a bottom in the housing market is near.


Only time will tell.

Downtown Condos

This year, downtown San Antonio will be seeing a flood of condos entering the market. Many condo developments are now nearing completion. The condo market is a fairly new and an up-and-coming market for downtown San Antonio. Unlike before, there is now many new options for S.A. residents when they are looking to move downtown.

The picture on the right is the rendering of the 20 story, 150 unit Vidorra Tower. Residents will begin moving in this month. Other projects that are nearing completion in the downtown area are....

The Alteza (147 units) ,

St. Benedict's (66 units) ,

Judson's Candy Factory Lofts (84 units) ,

Lone Star Brewery (190 units) ,

and many more......

I actually wouldn't mind living in one of those condos myself. It would be very interesting to have that fast pace urban experience on a daily basis.

S.A. Is On The Edge!

San Antonio's economy and its housing market is right now on the edge. With the overall nation in a real estate free-fall, San Antonio seems to be hanging on. I found a article in the "San Antonio Business Journal" that mentions the 2008 economy and what S.A. is most likely headed in the next two years.

This article is called "San Antonio Economy is in for a rough ride, Wells Fargo economist predicts" written by Donna J. Tuttle

"The good news: San Antonio, along with Houston, is one of the best performers in the Texas economy.
The bad news: It’s all downhill from here.
That’s the snapshot of the Alamo City’s economy released by Wells Fargo economist Eugenio J. Aleman, based on the latest statistics from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
The San Antonio economy grew at a rate of 1.88 percent during 2008 compared to the previous year. Other cities posted faster growth rates earlier in 2008, but logged negative rates of growth during the last quarter of last year. San Antonio and Houston were the only cities with positive growth rates for all four quarters in 2008.
The growth rate for the analysis is based on the Federal Reserves Metro Business Cycle Index.
However, San Antonio could not escape from the grip of the national economic slowdown, and unemployment “shot up from a low of 3.9 percent in April of 2008 to a high of 5.7 percent by the last month of the year,” Aleman reports. “The biggest issue is that this rate of unemployment is going to continue to go up during the whole of 2009, as we expect the economy to continue to deteriorate during the rest of the year ...”
Indeed, the Wells Fargo report predicts the local economy will technically enter the recession this year.
Until now, San Antonio has ridden the wave of a diversified economy. “However, even highly diversified economies cannot remain above water during the type of environment we are going through today,” Aleman says.
Other conclusions in the Wells Fargo economic report on San Antonio:
• The rate of unemployment is expected to increase until at least the end of the first half of 2010.
• Although the inventory of homes has declined, the housing market is not showing signs of a prompt recovery.
• Recovery for 2010 will depend on the success of the action taken today on a national level"

From reading this article, it seems that S.A. could be one of the first cities to bounce back from this recession.