Call for Action: Flood Insurance Could Sink Sales

1
Call for Action Flood Insurance Could Sink Sales

• The Problem Congress provided a five-year
  reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance
  Program (NFIP), but severe implementation
  problems threaten to undermine real estate
  transactions where flood insurance is required to
  obtain a mortgage.
• New NFIP rate structures have caused serious
  confusion and hardship for property owners.
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  continues to delay and miss deadlines.
• The legally required transition to true risk
  rates has plagued consumers with increases in
  rates beyond what anyone imagined possible.
• The Solution A four-year time-out. Congress has
  legislation in the House, H.R. 3370 and Senate,
  S. 1610, to delay changes to the NFIP.
• Read about what these measures would achieve and
  take action today on HAR Connect
  http//bit.ly/1dhGZhr.

2
Houston City Council Runoff Election is This
Saturday

• The HAR Governmental Affairs team reminds all HAR
  members that the Houston City Council runoff
  election is this Saturday, December 14. Early
  voting continues until 7 p.m. on Tuesday,
  December 10. The HAR Board of Directors
  recommends the following candidates because they
  support
• Private Property Rights
• Increasing Accessibility to Homeownership
• Market-based, Pro-growth Development
• Local Homestead Exemptions
• A Streamlined Permitting Process
• For more information, including polling locations
  and times, see http//www.harrisvotes.org/

3
Weekly HAR Market Stat

• The calendar can sometimes have just as profound
  an effect on housing data as supply and demand.
  The 2013 Thanksgiving holiday was a week later
  than in 2012, causing some peculiar shifts in
  activity. This serves as a good reminder to watch
  for calendar oddities just as much as you do
  economic indicators. Nonetheless, buyers and
  sellers had much to be grateful for this
  Thanksgiving. Buyers still live in a time of
  great affordability, and sellers should be
  thankful for shorter market times, higher prices
  and less competition.
• In the Houston region, for the week ending
  December 1
• New Listings decreased 44.6 to 920
• Pending Sales decreased 9.8 to 1,120
• Closed Sales decreased 30.0 to 1,227

4


Open Your Mind to Learning
Top Five Ways to Create Profitable Lifetime
Client Relationships Just imagine if you
delivered more amazing service than anybody else
in the Houston real estate market. New clients
were clamoring to work with you because their
friends and family told them there was NO other
choice but to work with the best REALTOR in town
YOU! In this exciting session taught by
Marilyn Wilson of the WAV Group, the industrys
leading expert on home buyers and sellers, you
will learn the best ways to create lifetime
client relationships and raving fans. The session
will deliver five practical methods for
providing amazing service to your clients and
help you significantly grow your business.
This course will be viewed using Go2Meeting.
Lunch is provided IF you attend in person. To
take the class remotely, copy and paste this link
into your browser to register https//www3.gotom
eeting.com/register/492858294


Date Thursday, December 12 Time 1130 a.m.
1 p.m. Location HAR Central Investment 10

Questions? 713-629-1900 ext. 6
Register at www.har.com/edu