Houston's museums and arts rival its sports for superlatives and accolades.
By Catherine Bolgar
Name a major American city with a world-class cultural scene, restaurants to delight the finickiest of foodies, rich ethnic diversity, teams for every major professional sport, a population more educated than the rest of the U.S. on average, an internationally integrated economy and the most parkland of any U.S. metropolis.
New York? Wrong. San Francisco? Wrong.
Try Houston.""Houston is a city that belies its stereotypes,"" says Anthony Freud, general director of the Houston Grand Opera and a native of London. ""As I go around the U.S., I'm surprised at how dismissive people are of Houston. What I've found is a city that is both warm and welcoming, very sophisticated in cultural provisions and a wonderful place to live and work.""
The fourth-largest city in the U.S. by population at 2.1 million people, Houston tends to attract people for work before seducing them with its lifestyle, says Barton Smith, a University of Houston economics professor and director of the university's Institute for Regional Forecasting. Houston racked up 2.6% job growth in 2007, well above the U.S. average of 1.2% and the fastest growth rate among the 12 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The IRF forecasts a 2.1% rate for 2008 despite talk of a U.S. recession. During the past two decades, Houston added 300 companies -- either newly created or relocated -- a month to its economic base, and until recently most of these were unrelated to energy, Prof. Smith says. The economy isn't just about oil anymore, either. In the 1970s, 82% of Houston's economic base was related to energy; today it's 51%.
"International trade is about as important as energy to [the] local economy today," Prof. Smith says. "When Latin America prospers, Houston prospers." When Latin America struggled in the 1990s, "it probably took a percentage point off our growth rate. The upside is that Mexico has been in a boom for about three years. We feel the positive impact."
Houston is hoping an expansion of the Panama Canal, expected to be completed in 2014, would bring in even more international trading partners, this time from Asia, he says.
A big attraction for doing business in Houston is low costs, including real-estate prices that "didn't participate in the speculative boom," Prof. Smith explains. Like the rest of the nation, foreclosures are rising and housing starts are declining sharply, but prices are stable or slightly down, not plummeting as in some other markets.
Some Home Fix-Up Tasks Are Worth Skipping
By Amy Hoak
From The Wall Street Journal Online
If your New Year's resolution is to sell a home in 2008, it's probably time to start thinking about how to make that home stand out from the rest.
But before planning any projects, beware: Homeowners aren't recouping as many improvement costs as they could in recent years, according to a recent study by Remodeling magazine. In fact, real-estate agents advise clients not to overdo it, regardless of what the local market conditions are like.
"It's more important that it's neat, it's clean and it looks spacious, rather than making sure it's the top of the line," said Cheri Kuhn, owner-broker of Waters Realty in Minnetonka, Minn. She cautions her clients to bypass projects that aren't necessary.
""The thing I find with sellers: If they do a lot of remodeling, they will take the cost of the remodeling and add it to the cost of the home and ask the buyer to pay for it,"" she said. Often, though, sellers won't get that higher price.
Placing a Bid On a Short Sale
By June Fletcher
Question: My husband and I are first-time home buyers and found a beautiful house being sold as a short sale. It almost seems too good to be true, and our real estate agent referred to short sales as playing a game of roulette. Are the risks and time involved with a short sale too much for us to handle as first time buyers?
Christine: A lot of things in life are risky and scary the first time you do them, like going skiing, dancing in public and playing the stock market. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.
Notice that I didn't put falling in love on this list, since that's what you shouldn't do with this house. A short sale, which involves buying a house for less than the amount the seller owes the lender, can be time-consuming, frustrating, and --- if the lender refuses your offer -- ultimately unsuccessful. But if it works, you could be getting a very good deal.
Short sales also require some sophistication, skill and patience on the part of a real estate agent, so keep that in mind if you decide to bid on this house. If the agent you've been using doesn't want to get involved, ask him or her to refer you to someone who specializes in this sort of work. You also need to hire an attorney experienced in this kind of transaction.
By Debra Allen
Have you ever walked into a beautifully decorated model home and been captivated by it? Did you find yourself dreaming of bathing in that spa-like bathroom, cooking meals in the gourmet kitchen or curling up with a book in that luxurious reading nook? If so, then you have been the successful target of the secret weapon called staging.
As a real estate agent, you know that staging your real estate listings will result in a faster and more profitable sale, but who can you trust to manage this important process for you.
Staging can entail simple tasks like removing clutter. Clutter eats equity. Stagers aren't maids or house-cleaners; they don't do repairs or paint. Rather they create a neutral, harmonious, spacious, and beautiful environment. They often set tables for dinner so that a prospective buyer can envision themselves in the property having a family dinner.
How To Stop ID Theft Cold
by Broderick Perkins
A well-measured program of preventive steps can protect your identity from theft.
ID theft-related fraud fell by 12 percent in 2007 and 300,000 fewer adults were victims, according to the latest from Javelin Strategy & Research, the longest-running ID theft study in the nation.
At the top of the list of reasons for the decline is "greater consumer vigilance and awareness," according to the report.
When someone steals your identity, you don't wander around aimlessly like some John or Jane Doe. Someone pilfers enough of your personal identifying information -- name, address, Social Security Number, drivers license, credit and financial account numbers and the like -- then masquerades as you to make purchases, withdraw cash or otherwise undermine your financial assets and your name.
ID theft can cost you time and money (averaging $691, according to the report) to correct the misdeed and it can ruin your credit enough to prevent you from making major purchases including buying a home.
Here's what Javelin suggests.
