ldayen's Blog: Home Buying Tips and Advice

With much "doom and gloom" in the media about the nationwide housing market, those of us who live in Montgomery County, (Conroe, Lake Conroe, The Woodlands, Willis, Magnolia and Montgomery) are "smell'in like a rose" -- a yellow Texas rose!  Texas has created 50% of all US jobs in the last year and our area,  Montgomery County, boasts of being the 10th  most populated county in the 254 counties in the state.  Our homes are still increasing in value at a rate of approximately 4% per year.  It's November now and the housing market tends to be a little slower during the holidays, but come January and February of 2009, I look for more activity in home sales and a brighter outlook for the economy.  I can't see the future, of course, but I believe we will be…

A Beautiful Evening at The Woodlands Waterway!

The other day my husband and I ventured to Waterway Square in The Woodlands to experience an evening of cool relaxation.  We parked at the Marriot Hotel and walked out their back entrance, following the sidewalk next to the waterway that is lined with lighted trees on both sides.  This waterway wound around to the newly contructed Waterway Square where fountains and waterfalls are lighted with brilliant colors that dance to soothing music.  It was a typical July evening in Texas, and the breezes that surrounded us were wonderful.  Steve and I sat on a bench, arm in arm, watching the small children in their bathing suits playing in the colored-lights of the fountains that popped up from the concrete.

 We…

With some of the challenges in the country, the homes in our very own Montgomery County are still appreciating. It is taking a little longer to sell a home right now, but if you are a buyer, there is a good supply of inventory to choose from. Whether you sell for less or not you will probably be buying for less also, which will help to level things out. The local "Courier Showcase" news from today (Sunday, June 29) states, "Despite the low sales, home prices continued to appreciate in May. . . The area's median price increased by 21 percent to $203,250. . . Appreciating home prices remain the bright spot in our monthly report of property sales activity in the Houston market, with homeowners deriving solid value from their properties, said Michael Levitin,…

Texas Loves Small Business!

Why? There are several reasons. Small businesses make up 98.7% of all Texas employers, they create more than 50% of American's private non-farm gross domestic product, These 2,093,400 small businesses in Texas are located in every community, 52% of them are home-based, minority-owned and women-owned businesses in Texas make up a large group, and most importantly small businesses create 60 to 80 percent of America's net new jobs. Because of many new small businesses popping up all over Montgomery County, our population is growing which stimulates our housing market. Here in my real estate office (Keller Williams Realty) we are seeing a lot of activity at the beginning of March, after the lull of the winter. Sellers are listing…