DFW Relocation

Welcome to the HOA Board! The annual homeowner association meeting convenes. The president announces that the floor is open for nominations. A fellow homeowner say to you, "You know, you would make a good board member." Before you have a chance to reply, some body movement indicates that you are willing, ready and able to serve. "The nominations are closed," a vote is taken, and suddenly YOU ARE ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. You ask yourself, "What does being on the board mean, who is going to teach me and how much do I get paid?" Here are some basic guidelines on how to become a successful board member and enjoy it at the same time...a lesson in HOA responsibilities and practices. What does it mean to be on the board? You have made a commitment that you will serve the HOA's interests to the best of your ability, be fair on matters that come before the board, will do your best to preserve and enhance the values of the common areas and that you will spend ...

Foreclosure leaders focused on 4 states in new metro list Catherine Clifford, CNNMoney.com staff writer Wednesday April 22, 2009, 9:47 am The 26 cities with the highest foreclosure rate in the nation are all located in four hard-hit states, with Las Vegas topping the list, according to a report released Wednesday. Metro areas in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona topped the foreclosure filing list for the first quarter of 2009 in a report from RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. A foreclosure filing includes default papers, auction sale notices and repossessions. Las Vegas had the highest rate of foreclosures of any city, with one in every 22 homes subject to a foreclosure filing in the first three months of the year. The rate of foreclosure filings was 4.5%, seven times the national average. Merced, Calif., had the second highest rate, with Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., Stockton, Calif., and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., rounding out the top five. ...

MarketWatch March 31, 2009 Tuesday 7:01 PM EST SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- One of today's soundest investments is never touted in financial-services ads. The reason: Wall Street wouldn't make any money off it. Since 1974, Americans have had the ability to use IRA assets to buy investment property. Yet the means to do that -- called a self-directed IRA -- remains one of the least known and unheralded investment vehicles in the vast financial marketplace. With foreclosed homes selling at dimes on the dollar, residential real estate is a bargain for investors holding cash. And if they can put 30% down, IRA investors will find specialty lenders eager to help them leverage their retirement savings with mortgages on rental properties. The U.S. housing market may not yet have hit bottom, but the winds appear to be shifting. Existing-home sales are on the mend in hardest-hit markets and foreclosure-avoidance programs are expected to stem the rising inventory of bank repossessions,...

Banks Likely to Ramp Up Foreclosures More borrowers are expected to lose their homes to foreclosure as the nation's largest mortgage companies lift their internal moratoriums on home repossessions and start to determine which troubled borrowers cannot be helped. The mortgage companies say the Obama administration's housing plan has given them a better idea of which borrowers they should assist, but their actions could be politically sensitive because some lenders received funds from the federal government's financial stimulus program. An increase in foreclosures could lead to a further decline in residential prices and put more pressure on the earnings of banks as they write off troubled loans. Source: Wall Street Journal, Ruth Simon (4/15/2009) Technorati : Banks , Flower Mound Homes , Flower Mound Real Estate , Real Estate , Robert J Russell Del.icio.us : Banks , Flower Mound Homes , Flower Mound Real Estate , Real Estate , Robert J Russell Zooomr : Banks , F...

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Selling a home that is vacant can be harder than selling a lived-in home, experts say. Here are some ideas from Pam and Dave Pettigrew, certified residential specialists with Prudential Rocky Mountain in Fort Collins, Colo., on what practitioners and sellers should consider to protect an empty property and get it sold. Give the house a lived-in look . Get a neighbor or family member to make the house look occupied by parking a car in the driveway, opening and closing the drapes and taking in any mail. Groom the yard . Use a lawn service during the summer to keep the grass cut and a snow removal service in the winter to scrape the walks and driveway. No outstanding nicks . Hide the effects of missing furniture. Paint and replace rugs so there are no faded spots or blemishes on the walls. Cover accent paint that alone looks odd. Leave some furniture . A few chairs, tables, lamps and beds (or empty mattress boxes with spreads) give buyers a sense of space. Keep the utilities on . Set the ...

The declining home values that are plaguing homeowners are just one of the factors creating an opportunity for prospective home buyers. Standard & Poor's latest Case-Shiller index, which tracks home prices across 20 major U.S. cities, reported that values dropped 19% in January from a year earlier. More info? visit http://www.robertjrussell.com Those depressed values, combined with near-record-low mortgage rates and government incentives (an $8,000 first-time home buyers' tax credit included in the stimulus bill), are luring more first-time home buyers into the market. Indeed, a recent Century 21 Real Estate survey found that more than three-quarters (78%) of potential first-time home buyers say now is a good time to buy. If you agree, be aware that buying a home comes with plenty of potential missteps. Here are 10 all-too-common mistakes first-timers make. 1. Not knowing how much house you can afford. Many novice home buyers spend a lot of time researching homes - compa...