Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM Holiday 2017 Final | Page 12

Real Estate Post Harvey O ur area, battered by Hurricane Harvey saw additional By: Deborah Bly Owner / Realtor Re/Max Space Center, The Bly Team [email protected] for as low as $50,000 to $60,000! battering in our Real Estate market as we experienced an almost 25% plunge in Real Estate transactions in the 4 weeks following the storm. Open market listings always get the most exposure, hence they typically sell for significantly more cash than a home that is posted only to a handful of investors. Contractors have been in huge demand, but just as homes are being rebuilt fresh and new, our Real Estate market is going through a similar recovery. Best advice… Get a professional opinion! Year over year sales in the Houston and surrounding areas are up 2.3% and it is no surprise that the rental market is showing to be the strongest on record, driven largely by post Harvey displacements. That verdict is out. Before the storm, the League City/ Houston area enjoyed an abundance of affordable housing. Cheap housing along with abundant jobs has equaled solid growth for our area. Needless to say, especially for those looking for homes that have never flooded, there is now a shortage in the market. For those homes that did flood, by and large, the cost of future flood insurance will be a large determining factor. Post Ike, many buyers had moved on and forgotten about flooding, ready to purchase those flooded homes. What has held them back has been the sky rocketing cost of flood insurance in certain key areas. What will happen to the values in flooded areas is largely to be determined by the cost of flood insurance as flood maps are re-drawn for those areas most affected by the Harvey flood. However, many flooded out homeowners still have questions, wondering what their best options are moving forward. “Is it more beneficial to rebuild and sell, or sell as is?” Every homeowner is in their own unique situation here. Do they have a mortgage? If so, will they be able to sell their home for enough money to pay off the mortgage balance? If they have insurance, the insurance company will generally make the check out to both home owner and mortgage company and start slowly releasing funds as repairs are made. Some homeowners are opting to keep their insurance check and sell the property off “as is.” If you do decide to sell VS rebuild don’t make this mistake! I have seen a surprising number of homes post Harvey being sold by wholesalers. While a wholesaler might offer you “quick cash,” they in-turn immediately solicit bids from their small list of investors. So not only is the investor doing renovations making a profit, the wholesaler basically acting as a middle man is making profit as well. Bay Ridge, one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in League City has flooded homes on the market right now for as high as $120.000. Same comparable homes have sold to wholesaler’s 11 MOMENTUM / Holiday 2017 Where will Home prices go after Harvey? Although foreclosures are expected to rise as homeowners without flood insurance and no resources to rebuild walk away from flooded properties, the Houston Metropolitan area is growing by about 400 people a day, making it one of the nations largest new housing markets. With low unemployment, coupled to one of the most affordable and fastest growing housing markets in the country, I expect that despite the effects of Harvey our area will continue to quickly rebuild and continue on a trajectory of adding homes and people.