Dec 3, 2023 at the Gilruth Field inside the NASA compound, the annual Clear Lake Cup softball tournament took place. Susan and Mik play on the team Izakaya Wa and we played against many of the teams from Clear Lake. Our first game was against Kaneka, our second game was against JAXA (plus some MHI players), and our third game was against Clear Lake United. All the games were exciting with Clear Lake United being the most difficult. Going into the third game, both Team Izakaya Wa and Clear Lake United were undefeated. In the end, it was Team Izakaya Wa that won! It was so fun to get together with our team on a beautiful autumn day, though the next day, all my muscles are sore and I can barely move! I was super happy to have one hit and to make it around the bases in game 3 to score a point. HAAAAA! The big JBAH softball tournament is around the corner probably in April. To everyone who participated, otsukaresama deshita!
Inman News reports the latest statistics on existing homes sales, using data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). There are two types of homes for sale, brand new construction and existing homes (used homes). The latest data on existing home sales shows:
Existing sales fell 4.1% in October to an annual rate of 3.79 million, which is the lowest level since 2010. Nonetheless, multiple offers are still happening, according to NAR’s Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
The median existing home price for all housing types in October clocked in at $391,800, which is a 3.4% increase from October 2022 when it was $378,800.
Total housing inventory registered at the end of the month was 1.15 million units, up 1.8% from September but down 5.7 percent from one year ago.
A whopping 66% of homes sold in October were on the market for less than a month, according to NAR data. First-time buyers were responsible for 28 percent of sales in October.
A recent article by The Real Deal shows how foreign buyers boost the Austin, Texas housing market. Here are the important takeaways:
There was $609 million spent by international homebuyers in Central Texas in one year, and international homebuyers accounted for 3% of those sales.
Interestingly, one in six new Austin-area residents are from abroad.
India was the primary source of international homebuyers for the second consecutive year, making up 21% of transactions, while Mexico accounted for 17% of international transactions, followed by China (6%), Brazil (6%), and Canada (5%)
Median home price for international buyers increased to more than $573,000, up by more than $50,000 from the 2022 median price.
This median price significantly exceeded the overall median price in the Austin region, which was just more than $478,000 during the survey period.
毎年恒例の HAR Advisory Group の昼食会が 11月30日にメディカル センターの Wolfgang Puck レストランで開催されました。 HAR.com には、ヒューストンの不動産メンバーで構成される多数のグループがあります。彼らは自ら時間を割いて定期的に集まり、業界の問題について話し合い、会員、協会、消費者に利益をもたらす解決策や新しいプログラムを提案します。委員会は、YPN (若手専門家ネットワーク)、グローバル (スーザンは元委員長)、MLS、リスク軽減、政治問題、リスク管理などの特定の専門分野に焦点を当てています。1 年間のボランティア活動を記念して、HAR は全員が参加する年次昼食会を開催します。 Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) には現在 50,000 人を超える会員がおり、これらの諮問グループは組織をより良くするために常に取り組んでいます。
The annual HAR Advisory Group holiday luncheon took place on Nov 30 at Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Medical Center. HAR.com has many advisory groups comprised of Houston realtor members. They volunteer their time to meet regularly to discuss problems in the industry and also ro suggest solutions and new programs that will help benefit the members, association, and consumers. Committees focus on particular specialties such as YPN (Young Professionals Network), Global (Susan is past chairman), MLS, Risk Reduction, Political Affairs, Risk Management, etc. To commemorate a year’s worth of volunteering, HAR holds an annual luncheon where all advisory group members come together. The Houston Assocation of Realtors (HAR) has over 50,000 members now and these advisory groups constantly work to make it better and better.
The most exciting news of all is a special closing that took place on Friday, Dec 1. After nearly 1.5 years of marketing, showings, and negotiating, Annoura Realty sold the Japanese Government’s official residence in 77024. This special home was home to all of the Japanese Consul Generals from the past 35 years up until Hurricane Harvey when the home unfortunately flooded and was destroyed. Many official parties, meetings, and events had taken place in this beautiful home, giving it great significance in Houston history with Japanese relations. Special thanks to Consul General Mr. Murabayashi, Dennis McQuitty, and the entire Japanese Government staff for your trust in Annoura Realty. It was an honor to represent Japan and to get the home finally sold! While the sale of the official residence was the most exciting sale these past two weeks, we also had a lot of other real estate action take place. Susan and Mik got Olympic Forest under contract and through the option period for our investor in California. Susan also got her cute red barn house in Damon under contract and directly into pending status. We are now just waiting for the appraisal to come through and for the buyer’s loan to be approved. On the leasing front, we welcomed a new Mitsui expat to the Memorial area and had a new expat doctor from Saga move into the Medical Center area. On the listing front, we were super busy the past two weeks, taking to market Mario’s waterfront condo for lease on Clear Lake, a 5 bedroom home in Bay glen for lease, and a home for sale. The home for sale is tenant occupied until next summer and is zoned to popular Clear Lake High School: www.har.com/38179541. On the horizon, we will be bringing to market a home in League City for sale. It is currently tenant occupied but will be vacated by the end of January, so it will be ready for an end user to buy it. Mik and Susan will be helping a newcomer from DMG Mori find housing this coming week, and Susan and Mariko will be getting two more condo units to sell inside Ponderosa Forest. We will be looking for an investor to buy this 10 unit portfolio! The year might be ending but we are not slowing down!
