The latest numbers are out and this is a great place to share them with you! These are the numbers from HAR.com, who tracks all the housing data in Houston each month. New listings were up 4% compared to March 2022 while Active listings were way up, increasing 22.6%. An active listing is where a listing is sitting on the market for sale, not under contract yet. The fact that they were up 22.6% shows that the market may be slowing down with less active buyers to put them under contract. Interesting though, the average list price did NOT go down! Conversely, list prices were UP 2.2% compared to March of last year. The average list price for a single family home in Houston right now is $428,048, compared to to $419,023 last year.
Have two weeks gone by since our last newsletter? Since our last talk, Van and Chase did close on their Conroe home on Tuesday! The super cute couple was ready and signing before I could even get there, and had their truck full of stuff to go straight to the house as soon as they finished. So happy for this newlywed couple starting off their new life with a new home! On the same day of the closing, Susan whipped back down I-45 to meet with some South Korean developers in town to present information about their project on Cheju Island to AREAA Houston and HAR Global members. The event took place at a delicious Korean restaurant called Bori. Not only was the information interesting, but the food was great and the company was unbeatable! Wednesday was a FULL day of apartment locating with our newest Mitsui expat who asked to see EIGHT highrises throughout Houston. Although we found our favorite building, it was too early for them to see JULY availabilty so now we are in the watch and wait stage until he returns for good. In other leasing news, Mariko wrapped up her Nippon Pillar client, touring and applying at an apartment in Memorial. Our newest Kuraray newcomer will take over the current house of his predecessor in Clear Lake, so that process is being handled for a May move in. Our newest Oak Chase tenant moved in while our Quiet Green tenant is above to move in. Our Cavendish tenant will be renewing for one year, so our lucky La Jolla landlord is scoring a third year for the same tenant! On the purchase front, Maika and Tareek were safely assigned a home near Cypress last week, after sucessfully waiting for their CD to mature. Their transaction had a delay from the HOA certificate not being ready in time, moving their closing from last Friday to tomorrow (Tuesday) if all goes well. In other exciting sales news, our German expat Peter finally found the house of his dreams in Bay Oaks and it paid to go view on day 1 and to know the listing agent! We successfully got his house under contract and made it through option period last week, and are now shooting for an end of April close. The adventures of our listing on Baltic never end, with our third buyer just making it out of option period. Their FHA loan feels a tiny bit shaky but we have our eye on the prize and fingers crossed tightly for the upcoming appraisal and their final loan approval. And finally, praise the Lord for an incredible happy ending for our Japanese investor, Mr. Watarai. We closed on Misty Meadows last Tuesday, netting him out at +22% price appreciation. He sucessfully cash flowed for 5.5 years under our management, depreciated his improvement over 4.5 years under a special tax law in Japan, then dodged FIRPTA because the sales price was under $300k and his buyer was an owner occupant. It was a win-win-win-win for him and we could not be happier for how this whole transaction went. OMEDETOU!
So many more things to report, but suffice it to say, there’s never a dull moment here at Annoura Realty. We bid and lost to a heart breaking result for Ayumi san, so we are back to the drawing board. Robert has his eyes on a beauty in Royal Oaks that we may be trying for. Coming soon for lease will be an executive home in Clear Lake that we will be bringing to the market today. And, right around the corner is a amazing home for sale that we will list in Cinco Ranch Southwest. Updates on all these stories and more (KDDI, Mitsui, Hitachi, Mitsubishi expats) will come in the next newsletter so stay tuned!
At time of writing, we have 14 deals under contract and things are are just starting to get even busier!! March/April is always the busiest time of the year as the Japanese fiscal year changes over April 1 and new expats start pouring into Houston. Mariko has done a fantastic job of handling many newcomers including our new researcher at MD Anderson, Dr. Miyagawa who was referred by Dr. Manabe. Daido Steel is another new company Annoura Realty was blessed to be hired by and HITACHI is yet another new company that tapped us for help. We are expecting a newcomer from Nisseki Chemical as well as two from Mitsubishi, two from Mitsui, one from Kuraray, and one from Nippon Pillar (this will be a new company for us to take care of and we are excited!). Daikin, Mitsui Plastics, and Kaneka all had new expats come through our doors and all three of them are now under contract and expected to move in in the coming weeks. On the sale side, our Japanese investor iowners for Misty Meadows and Baltic both found buyers recently. We are navigating the contracts and repairs for both of those now. Shinobu san moved to Dallas and her Richmond home’s closing is delayed due to the buyer’s IRS transcripts having a small issue. Hopefully that will be cleared up in the next few weeks. Van and Chase are scheduled to close on their Conroe home on Tuesday of next week, and our Panasonic Family is still on track for an April closing in West Katy. One more bit of exciting news is Maika san and her husband coming to Houston for a quick home hunting tour. Mariko toured them one full day and they found the house of their dreams. We were able to get that under contract by the time they boarded their flight back to Japan!
We thank you all for your continued support of Annoura Realty Group. Your referrals mean the world to us as we strive to always be the #1 real estate company serving the Japanese expat relocation market here in Houston.
Who is reading this newsletter and has little kids? Who has never been to the Houston Rodeo? The Houston Rodeo is one of the largest events in our city. It start last week on Feb 27 and it will end on March 17. There are so many things to see and do at NRG Park. If you want to go watch the rodeo, you can buy tickets online by the day. You select the entertainer who will be singing and with that ticket, you can enter the grounds and enter into the rodeo inside the NRG Stadium. The cheapest tickets (way up high!) are about $25. If you do not want to see the rodeo or the singer, you can simply buy a ‘Grounds Pass’ to enter the carnival and the NRG Center (where all the animals and shopping is). A grounds pass is $20 for adults and $10 for kids and can be bought at the entrance. People with little kids may want to go check out NRG Center and the carnival. When our boys were small, we brought them every year and they loved it! If you are new to Houston and would like to go check it out, respond to this article and let us know! We have some extra carnival tickets that we can present to you! First come first serve!
Even with rodeo in full swing, Annoura Realty was super, super busy! Last Thursday, Susan closed on Andy and Kim’s house down in League City. The closing was a little shaky after the buyers had to go to the hospital due to high blood pressure while driving to Texas from California. With the moving van already in the driveway and the funds already at the title company, our escrow agent Sandy Thompson did us all a big favor by going to the hospital to help the buyers sign! In other exciting news, one of our former Panasonic clients pulled the trigger on a gorgeous house in Cane Island. We were able to negotiate $15k off the price, after it had just been lowered $20k, plus get included the washer, dryer, refrigerator, and all the bar stools! Meanwhile, Van and Chase made it out of option and got an appraiser waiver so their Conroe home is now cruising towards the finish line, slated for closing the last week of March. Shinobu’s Richmond home is also still safely under contract as she prepares for her big move to Dallas next week. In listing news, Susan and Mariko re-listed three homes for sale. Two are in Clear Lake/League City (La Cabana and Misty Meadows) and one is in North Houston (Baltic). In addition, two homes in our portfolio were listed for lease (Oak Chase and Quiet Green). Coming up… we are expecting a new lease listing in Pine Brook as well as a new lease listing in Brookwood. Stay tuned!
