Shining Star Spotlight: Gabby Annunziato

What are you thankful for?

It’s a question asked a multitude of times given the certain time of year. With Thanksgiving a mere week away, most of us are busy finalizing travel itinerary, perfecting the Thanksgiving dinner menu, or readying the house for friends and family. Slow down just for a minute, and really think; What’re you thankful for?

Gabby Annunziato is a 19-year-old student at Collin College in Plano, TX. She is the little sister to one of my best friends, Gennaro Annunziato. She also just found out this month she has cancer, stage two Hodgkin Lymphoma to be exact. It’s a disease in which cancer cells form in the lymph system.

I’ll tell you what I’m thankful for – I’m thankful for the helpers in this world. Before I knew it, there was already a GoFundMe  account set up to help Gabby and her mom, Shelby, on this testing journey. You can donate to help this much-deserving family by clicking the link here.

You can also follow along personally with Gabby on her journey by reading from her CaringBridge.org account.

I don’t know Gabby very well, I would say hi to her whenever my friends and I would gather at Geno’s house for various occasions. She is always very nice and pleasant to be around, so it broke my heart when I heard the news. If this post is able to bring any sort of additional donation, or awareness to Hodgkin Lymphoma, then it has served its purpose.

So, I ask you again; what is it you’re thankful for? Is it your health? Your job that allows you to bring home a steady paycheck? Those are two good places to start, for sure. Because you can use those two blessings to help others in need this holiday season.

GoFundMe

CaringBridge

The Veterans Affair (VA) Loan and a Thanks to Veterans

Flag flying outside my house on Veterans Day.

It’s November 11, which means it’s the federal legal holiday of the armistice that ended World War I in 1918. That’s right, I’m talking about Veterans Day! Any day is a good day to thank someone for serving in our armed forces, but today I encourage you to make it a point to shake that man or woman’s hand to let them know they’re beyond appreciated. In the powerful words of Zac Brown, “Salute the ones who died, the ones who gave their life, so we don’t have to sacrifice all the things we love.”

Now, since it is Veterans Day, I’d like to touch on a finance topic, the mortgage side of real estate, the VA loan. It’s guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and was designed to offer veterans, or their surviving spouses, long-term financing on a mortgage loan. There are a couple unique qualities the VA loan has that many other loans do not offer.

• No down payment
• Can finance up to 103.3% of the loan without mortgage insurance
• Up to $417,000.00

These attribute all tie together pretty nicely. What this ultimately means is a qualified veteran could receive a loan on a home valued at $417K, with no down payment. That’s a pretty nice house in any surrounding suburbs of Dallas! A typical downpayment on a home is 20% for conventional loans, or as low as 3% for FHA loans. You may be wondering what the extra 3.3% of the loan goes toward. It goes to the Dept. of VA as a funding fee which can range from 0-3%, so they’ve got all their bases covered.

The second house I ever sold was a beauty in North Dallas. My client Paul is a veteran and was telling me all about his experience when we stumbled on the one for him. We eventually ended up closing on the house a month later and Paul had used a VA loan. It was a huge learning experience for me because I had never worked with a veteran, nor had I touched on a VA loan outside of real estate study books. I was so grateful to have met Paul and we still keep in touch to this day. He is someone who I’d like to have around always for wisdom, advice, and a good time.

He was a lot like my grandpa, Glenn, who died years ago.  My grandpa fought in WWII and despite being on the front line of battle, was always gentle and caring toward my brother and I.

Just like my grandpa, I learned a lot from Paul and  hope to continue having my life positively impacted by vets. Thank you for your service to every man and woman out there!

Until next time, North Texas. This has been Matt Behrens, the real estate baron.

Cell: (469) 363-0216 | Email: matthewbehrens@kw.com

Props to amend Texas Constitution bring benefits for Texas homeowners

I voted!

Good afternoon, everyone!

Voting will take place today from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There are a total of seven propositions to amend the Texas Constitution. All are important in their own respects, but there are two which really stuck out to me as a Realtor® and future homeowner.

INFO: Find A Polling Place Near You

Proposition 1 and 7 deal with taxes and government finances, respectively.

The Texas Homestead Exemption for School District Property Taxes Amendment, or more commonly referred to as Proposition 1, would increase the homestead exemption from $15,000 to $25,000. If you’re my age, you probably aren’t too sure what a homestead exemption is.

• A homestead is any piece of land under 20 acres.
• Owned by an individual.
• And used for residential purposes (living in).

When you file for a homestead exemption, it helps give you a break on your taxes. How much you would save depends on the tax rate of the school district you live in, but on average, Texas homeowners would save between $120-$130, annually. Of course there are some consequences for those savings. In fact, that would cost the state about $1.2 billion in tax revenue for school districts over two years.

However, Texas school districts aren’t getting an entirely raw deal. The enabling legislation would make up for the lost revenue by entitling school districts to additional state aid from the Foundation School Fund. This fund is made up of revenue from land property rights income and fuel taxes.

The Texas Sales and Use Tax Revenue for Transportation Amendment, or Proposition 7, would supply funding to the State Highway Fund (SHF) from two tax revenue sources:

1. The sales and use tax
2. State motor vehicle sales and rental tax

Over one fiscal year, the amount of money between those two sources can add up quickly. Here’s a breakdown of how the funds would be distributed to the SHF.

• If the state collects more than $28 billion from the sales and use tax in one fiscal year, the next $2.5 billion of tax revenue would be directed to the SHF.
  • This would last 15 years, running from Sep. 1, 2017 to Sep. 1, 2032.
•  If the state collects more than $5 billion from the motor vehicle sales and rental tax in one fiscal year, 35 percent of the remaining revenue collected that year would be added to the SHF.
  • This would last 10 years, running from Sep. 1, 2019 to Sep. 1, 2029.

The hope with approving Proposition 7 would be to provide a significant step toward meeting the unmet funding needs for transportation projects in Texas. I appreciate the widening of public highways such as highway 75 and I35. I also enjoy the ease of getting where I need to be in a timely fashion with minimal stress. I drive a lot, so you can see how that would be important for me. This would help not only those who traverse Texas terrains, but for residents of this great state who want to maintain the public appearance of roadways, fixing potholes, and dangerous hazards.

I hope you found this entry to be helpful. Remember, you have until 7 p.m. tonight to vote in favor of propositions 1 and 7.

Until next time, North Texas. This has been Matt Behrens, the real estate baron.

Cell: (469) 363-0216 | Email: matthewbehrens@kw.com

Monthly Market Activity

Happy Thursday, everyone! On this day in 1879, Thomas Edison perfected the carbonized cotton filament light bulb. Obviously this invention completely changed the way the world worked. No longer would people need to have a burning fire in their chambers in order to get work done in the evening. Now, can you even imagine what life would be like without the instant gratification of a light bulb? The real estate industry would certainly look a lot dimmer, pun intended.

It’s been a while since I last posted, but what better way to bring you up to speed than with a market update? This will be for all of Collin County which means as far north as Anna or Salina to as far south as Murphy or Wylie. It’s 841.23 square-miles, so it’s a fairly large space. The 2010 census ranks it as the seventh-most populous county in Texas. Let’s hone in on some changes to the median sales price per single-family home in Collin over the past three years.

This chart shows the price increase from January of 2012 to September of 2015. The median sales price of a single-family home in Collin County, TX, has risen around $80,000. That’s a ton of money in just a little over three-and-a-half years!

If you can think back to 2008 when the market crashed, home sales were low, and people were scared. ’08-’11 definitely saw some tough times for the real estate industry. However, like all things, the market came back around. By the end of ’11, we were starting to see the market flatten out a bit (meaning instead of leaning heavily toward a buyer or seller market, we were seeing a neutral market). Now, we are not only in a seller’s market, we’re in an extreme seller’s market. The inventory of homes for sale is a great way to judge what kind of market we’re in. To give you an idea, a seller’s market typically has about six months of inventory.

As of September 2015, Collin County has exactly two months of inventory, meaning if there were no more homes put on the market after today, there would be no houses left to buy two months from now in the entire 841 square miles of Collin. That, my friends, is what we call supply and demand. When inventory is low, prices rise.

Until next time, North Texas. This has been Matt Behrens, the real estate baron.

Cell: (469) 363-0216 | Email: matthewbehrens@kw.com

Intro & Purpose

Happy Friday, everybody!

Thank you for coming to look at my blog! I’m going to try my absolute hardest to keep this site updated every Friday with new information relevant to real estate in North Texas! First off, a little background about me:

1. My name is Matt Behrens, I was born and raised in Plano, TX.
2. I’m a licensed Realtor® with Keller Williams – Plano, and a member of the National Association of Realtors®, Texas Association of Realtors®, and the Collin County Association of Realtors®.
3. In ’08, I graduated a Panther from nationally-recognized Plano East Senior High School (PLANO, PLANO. EAST, EAST)
4. Then graduated from Texas Tech University, Spring ’13, with a major in Journalism.
5. I love to write and keep people up-to-date on the latest news. Whether that be housing market trends or relevant news.
6. In my spare time, I like socializing with friends, playing golf, and staying in shape!

Now, on to a little segment I like to call FUN FACT FRIDAY.

FACT:

Did you know, there are 1,200 people a day moving to North Texas? With the addition of Toyota’s American Headquarters officially opening its doors in Plano, as many as 4,000 employees have begun to migrate to our wonderful city. I actually sold a home in January to my first Toyota client and am in the works with another one of his colleagues!

What does the move mean for the average homes on market? It means that our supply is having a hard time keeping up with demand. It’s what we call a seller’s market. Simple economics tells us when demand outweighs supply, prices rises and product is harder to find. According to Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer, we can expect 2015 to be the biggest year for home sales since 2007.

Well, that’s all the time for today! Like I said, I’m going to update this weekly on Fridays. So, next time you find yourself at the office, counting the seconds until 5 o’clock, swing on by my page. Who knows, you may learn a little something.

Until next time, North Texas. This has been Matt Behrens, the real estate baron.

Cell: (469) 363-0216 | Email: matthewbehrens@kw.com