Let me tell you a story

The El Paso real estate market is not moving very fast right now and I am pretty sure that is what is happening all over the country.

The rental market is very hot as we have close to 100,000 new soldiers and their families moving to Ft Bliss in the next few years. If you have a nice rental property you should be able to rent it quickly if it is in good shape.

The lenders have made it pretty difficult to get a loan for a buyer, and while I do understand that since they went so far the other direction and we are were we are at becasue of it, but I hope they will soften up a bit soon so that buyers feel safe buying again.

I have heard everything from sellers wondering why thier home won't sell-to it is priced too low to the real estate companies are trying to low ball homes to get them to move. I heard the last from my Mom in Albuq saying that she had a letter from a home owner in her neighborhood blaming one company in particular that was lowering the price of all the homes in the area in hopes of getting them sold. I assured her that I could not believe that they would do that. It is so unethical in the first place and no one sale is worth losing your license for.

There are still buyers out there- I sold to a young soldier the other day that was a referral from a past client of mine that was very happy with his home and real estate transaction in El Paso that he referred him to me. I found him a home in El Paso in just a few short hours and we are on the way to closing now.

I recently returned from Galveston, TX

I was at the Texas Real Estate Convention in Galveston last week and it was a wonderful place to be. Galveston was celebrating its "back to life after Ike" and I was happy that TAR had booked the convention there.

Having lived in El Paso for close to 30 years the ocean was amazing. I grew up on the ocean as my Dad was in the Navy and in subs so we were always near water and I was surprised at how much I miss it. The humidity I don't miss at all but with the ocean breeze it was great.

I think I ate seafood morning, noon , and night and you can never have too much of that. We ate at Gaidos, Fisherman's Wharf and Fish Tales and the food was wonderful. I also want to give a plug for an awesome cab driver John with the Yellow Cab company. He picked us up nearly every day and was always happy and up beat-considering he lost his home in Ike and is still battling with the insurance company and has lived in a hotel for 2 years-it is amazing that he can still be so gracious. We should all learn from him!

There is a sub in Sea Wolfe Park on Pelican Island called the USS Cavella that my Dad was on early in his Navy career. It is dry docked there and is now a museum and a group of us got a private tour of the sub. I still don't know how people can be in something like that and be under the ocean too.

Oh yes, the convention was wonderful too and I learned alot in the MLS sessions and what is going on around the state as I talked to the other Realtor there. There are some good changes coming up soon .

It was confirmed that real estate in El Paso, TX is still strong-still a buyers market but homes are selling in El Paso

Been working with new buyers

I have 3 new families that are buying in El Paso and they have all been wonderful to work with. The idea of living in El Paso is very attractive to them all.

One is a couple that I have worked with for awhile and they made a good offer on an over priced listing (not one of mine) and the seller would not get reasonable so they may build and we will probably meet with a builder this Friday.

The second person is a military doctor that was thinking of renting and then decided that buying a home in El Paso made more since and I found him one the first day and we should close by the end of the week.

The last couple is from Texas and wants to move to El Paso to be closer to family and they have looked a few times but the husband got called back to work so they are on hold till next week.

So far it has been a great week

this is why I love El Paso

this is an article that really shows why El Paso is such a special place.

A community helps: Soldier's wife victimized by thieves gets $5,000 in furniture
By Maggie Ybarra \ EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 07/23/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT


EL PASO -- Army wife Brittany Adair knows all about reversal of fortune.

Thieves stole her furniture and personal belongings from a moving van as she and her baby relocated from Houston to Fort Bliss. Then strangers saved the day, donating cash, clothes and kitchenware to Adair.

She shopped Wednesday for replacement furniture paid for by an anonymous benefactor. Adair received more than $5,000 to spend at New Deal Furniture, 7130 Gateway East.

She purchased a dining set, a bed frame, a mattress, a recliner, an entertainment center, a sectional coffee table, a rug, a nightstand and a chest of drawers, said John Falvey, manager of New Deal Furniture.

Soldiers transported the furniture to her home Thursday. They were with the Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division. This is the battalion of her husband, Spc. William Adair.

He is in Iraq, but is scheduled to return to El Paso in November, Brittany Adair said.

Falvey said he contacted Adair after one of his customers offered to pay for anything she wanted. The customer's only stipulation was that he did not want Adair to know who was buying the furniture for her, Falvey said.

The donor, a retired man in his 60s, said he wanted to replace Adair's furniture because he did not want her and her 18-month-old son, Matthew, to have negative feelings about El Paso, Falvey said.

Maggie Ybarra may be reached at mybarra@elpasotimes.com; 546-6119.

Why are people waiting-do they want higher interest rates

I do not understand why people are waiting to buy a home in El Paso, Texas.
Interest rates are at a 50 year low and I think they will stay down for awhile so you can afford more of a home than you could even a year ago.

The real estate market in El Paso, Texas is strong and active and El Paso has pretty much been spared the "foreclosures" that we see prominent in most markets. Yes we do have some and they don't help the over all market but we are not like Phoenix, the west coast and Florida (thank Goodness).

Living in El Paso, Texas is great now. With the recent "All American City" award and being the 2nd safest city with populations over 500,000(amazing with all that is happening in our sister city of Juarez, Mexico)El Paso is a great place to be right now. It just goes to show that you can not believe everything that you read in the papers. El Paso is a warm and friendly city where people will speak to you as you pass them on a side walk!!!

El Paso, TX- All American City 2010

Guess what? El Paso, Texas was awarded the All American City for 2010!

That is just one of the reasons I love living in El Paso, Texas.

It is a safe city-for the past 3-5 years we were # 2-3 for cities over 500,000 people and that is even with the problems in Juarez, Mexico!

The weather is fantastic, warm and not much humidity and the sun shines about 350 days out of the year.

For more information about EL Paso, visit any one of these links.

www.teamolivas.com
www.livinginelpastexas.com
www.realestateinelpaso.com

Loan officers that lie to you

I am having a very frustrating week with National Lenders that lie to you.

I have a loan that was suppose to close on May 27th and here we are on the 18th of June and it still had not closed. Yikes. The lender keeps telling me it will be ready to close on "Friday" well here it is on Friday and now it is still in underwriting and no one can seem to tell me why or when it will even get out.

On a happier note, my local lenders are not having any problems closing. I am going to only work with local lenders and on my listings ask the sellers to put in writing that they will not accept contracts from 2 lenders in particular.

The real estate market in El Paso is pretty good so go with those local lenders and lets get them closed.

If you need information about living in El Paso, Texas try out my new site.

I love living in El Paso

I love living in El Paso Texas becasue where else can you have 95 degree weather and only 10-15% humidity.

I was out walking this morning at 5:30 and it was a lovely 68 degrees and my puppies even love it at that temp.

After working on a new web site about El Paso, Texas I learned that there is much more to do than I thought and I have lived here over 30 years!

I put all the schools on the west side of the city with links to each school so you can check them out and also put pictures of homes in each school area so that you can see what the homes look like in that area.

El Paso is a great city to live in.

If you want to check out real estate in El Paso, Texas then you can go to our website and search all homes in the El Paso area.

try out my new site

Hi I have updated my new site and would love some feedback

It is all about living in EL Paso, Texas

and will have lots of pictures and information about El Paso and you can still find any home for sales from that site too.

New website all about El Paso

Here is a new website that we just put on line all about living in el paso, TX

I hope you find it useful and if there is anything you would really like to see on the site please let me know.

Right now the information is about the Westside of the city but soon we will be adding other neighborhoods and more information.

Just back from the NAR convention in DC

I just got back this past weekend after spending almost a week in Washington DC at the National Association of Realtors Convention.

The weather was wonderful and everything is so green and lush compared to El Paso and the desert.

We met with many vendors for our Multiple Listing Board to see what new technology there is out there and what we want to pick from to give to our members of the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors.

Had lots of great food and one night at dinner "Ducky" from NCIS was at the same restaurant we were and he even came up to our table after dinner to talk to us.

The real estate market in El Paso, TX is still strong, it did slow down a bit after the tax credit went away but there are great buys in El Paso so come on and lets see some mores sales.

Having a great Real Estate Week

I have been rather busy this past week (thank goodness) and I just had an offer accepted for a buyer I am working with, had an offer presented on one of my listings (still in the negotiating process) and working with a buyer that I think will make an offer in the next few days.

The El Paso real estate market has been pretty brisk from everyone else that I am talking to also. The offer I wrote for my buyer was one of three that was presented at the same time. Lucky listing agent for sure.

My buyer will be able to make the tax credit deadline of being under contract by April, 30th so he is very happy.

If you need real estate in El Paso, TX please be sure to contact me at
dpolivas@swbell.net

Rental Queen

I think I will become the rental queen right now as I have rented (with the help of other agents) about 5 homes. I am increasing my management numbers and when times are slower that helps too.

The real estate market in El Paso, TX
has been picking up for us. This weekend I had 3 offers on one of my listings and that was great for the seller. Now she has an offer and a back up offer too.

I need some more listings to sell! Who thought we would be saying that a few months ago?

Hot on the Market

I just listed a home near the downtown area of El Paso, TX. It is a fixer upper and from the time it hit the market Wed morning until closing time, I had 3 cash offers and one more that was going to be brought in the next morning.

It was listed at $49,900 and all 3 offers were above list price and the last one was(brought in the next morning) was below list price so the agent did not even give it to me.

It is due to close on the 18th and I just wish that I had 10 more just like it. Who says we are in a down market. If a home, even a fixer upper, is priced well, it will sell.

Can't believe it is March already!!!

My gosh where does the time go. It seems the older I get the faster it goes by! Yikes what will it be when I am 65 in a few short years!

This has been a great week so far in the El Paso Real Estate market as I have written an offer and had 2 of my listings get good offers on them and they should close next month.

I have another listing that I will have 2 offers on my the morning-all this and it is just March 2nd.

I will be needing more listings very soon as most of mine are selling.

I am working with a buyer now that has made two offers(one on a resale and one on a bank repo) and now we are looking at one more this afternoon.

I love the Texas contracts with the option time becasue you can write more than one offer and only take the one that meets your guidelines.

Well I have to go show so I will blog again soon.

What is new in the Multiple Listing service in El Paso, TX

We had our monthly MLS meeting this morning and our stats for the end of the year looked pretty good.

In Dec 2009 approx 453 homes closed and in 2008 approx 403 homes closed and in 2007 it was only 388 so I feel that we are maybe on the rebound.

We still have alot of homes on the market but not much more than the same time period last year (approx. 3300 homes).

There was also discussion as to whether or not we should allow listings to be put in as an active status until there is a picture of the property. Duh!! Why would you want to list and property and not put a picture of it on the board as soon as possible. If it is not the final picture you can always change it. We all thought it should be simultaneous.

We all want our Association and Realtors in El Paso to be as professional as possible and we are hoping to have as many pictures as possible as a rule later in the year but for now we have to settle to just get one in alot of cases.

I see some changes coming soon!!!

Well the real estate market in El Paso, TX is really starting to pick up (for us anyway). This past week I wrote an offer and got 2 offers on my listings and even rented one of the properties that I manage. Over all I would say it was a good week.

Alot of the other agents that I talk to are reporting the same upsurge in business!! Thank goodness.

I am a positive thinker and do not dwell on the negative from anyone so we have chosen not to participate in the recession and that positive thinking is starting to pay off.

I was just elected MLS President

After serving our our MLS board for a few years, I was elected President this past week. I am very proud to serve that position and I hope this year to bring many new technology products to our board members.

The first convention that I will attend will be the NAR Convention in Washington D.C. this Spring and that is always a great convention for the MLS as that is where we see all the new products to enhance our business.

I lived in McLean, VA in the 60's while my Dad was stationed at the Pentagon so it is always fun to go back and try to fit in a little sightseeing also.

This will be a special trip for me too as my Dad passed away last year and while I was able to attend his Memorial Service I could not go to the burial at Arlington National Cemetery so I will get to visit his site this Spring. I know it will be an emotional time for me but something that I really want to do.

The real estate market in El Paso, TX started off with a bang and hopefully it will continue that way.

I understand that some of the FHA rules are going to be changed and I hope we can put a stop to that as Realtors as that will really hurt the FHA market in El Paso, TX. If they go to 5% as a down payment that will put many El Paso buyers right out of the market.

If you are a Realtor and reading this please send an email to your Congressman or woman and ask them to vote to not change the 3.5% down payment that is already in place. We need to keep the housing market strong and see it that can help to get this economy back on track.

The Rental Market in El Paso, TX

The rental market in El Paso is pretty strong right now. Almost every day we get calls from people that are looking to rent instead of buy for various reasons. Some of them want to rent first and then buy when they get a better feel for the city and some want to rent because they can not buy with the new lending requirements.

El Paso's real estate market is going to be a good one for investors now becasue of the lending changes. Investor loans are not that bad right now and some lenders have investor loans in the high 6% rate with 20% down.

There are alot of homes on the market that would make great rentals in El Paso and the rent rates are fairly good for investors.

Be sure to call a top real estate agent in El Paso for information on investing in El Paso, TX

Let's Help the People in Haiti

Wow, to wake up one morning and have everything you own be gone! I can not imagine what that must feel like but I know that some of you reading this may have been through Katrina and some of the other awful hurricanes that have hit the United States recently and I know you understand what it must feel like for the people of Haiti.

I hope that all the help that is being sent will get there quickly and on the news it looked like some of the airplanes had landed this morning so I know there is much more to come and I hope we all learned from Katrina what was wrong and have fixed it by now.

There are all sorts of help lines and links and numbers to text to so I am not going to do that here but just ask that everyone that reads this send some sort of donation to the Red Cross or text on your phone and help out.

One never knows where tragedy will strike and only by God's fate are we not in the same place.

I finally went to the Restaurant 2900

What a great dinner I had the other night at 2900 in El Paso, Texas.

Super atmosphere, great wait staff ( really focused on the details) and the food was fantastic.

I was there with a group of El Paso Realtors and Bill Jones from the Texas Association of Realtors-he was teaching our leadership class the next day.

I had the Butternut Squash soup and the Sea Scallops and they were so tasty and cooked just right-tender and juicy.

The table split about 4 desserts but my favorite one was one that had Amaretto in it and it was to die for...

Don't pass up 2900, you will be sorry if you do!

Leadership Class in El Paso

Bill Jones from the Texas Association of Realtors held a Leadership Class to day at the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors for current and new people in leadership roles.

It was a great class, I have taken it a few time before but I always learn something new to bring to our MLS Board.

Real Estate in El Paso, Tx has really picked up since Christmas. All the agents that I talked to today have been alot busier and I personally have written and have had accepted 3 contracts in the 1st week of the new year.

I am showing a home tomorrow and a rental unit and doing a listing presentation on Monday and Tuesday. Who said a Realtor in El Paso is not busy?

I have been a busy little bee

Well I worked over the New Years holiday (thank goodness) and I guess it was for the good becasue I wrote 2 offers (one has been accepted and the other one should be today) and I got an offer in that has been accepted on one of my listings.

YEAH that is a great way to start the new year and I just hope that
real estate in El Paso, TX continues the same way all through the year!

All of my buyers are pre approved so I don't have to worry about any of my deals falling through becasue of loan problems. I am not sure why anyone would work with a buyer that is not pre approved in today's market.

My first buyers were from California and they are buying a home for thier Mom. What a delightful family they are and it is nice to see such devotion to thier Mom. We had alot of fun looking at homes and we even went to Chico's Tacos in El Paso one day for lunch. They had never been there and it is still one of my favorite places.

My second buyer is a single woman that has been looking for awhile and finally the right home came along and she made an offer and after some countering it was accepted.

I will keep you posted on what this El Paso Realtor is up to and how our market fares. I would love to hear about yours.