- Second Phase of Mixed-Use Project Regent Square Moving Forward Near Buffalo Bayou [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Grand Opening Held for New Hines Building at Pinto Business Park [Houston Chronicle]
- Memorial Hermann Health System To Build 5-Story Patient Tower at Memorial Hermann Northeast Hospital Campus in Humble [HBJ]
- Hotel Alessandra Under Construction Downtown Won’t Open in Time for the Super Bowl After All [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- The Fibs That Helped Build Houston [Houston Chronicle]
- Behind the Chronicle’s Makeover of the Former Post Building [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Head to Fort Bend County for the Lowest Home Closing Costs in Houston [HBJ]
- Pearland’s King’s Biergarten Owners Opening King’s Bierhaus in the Heights at 2044 East T.C. Jester [Houston Chronicle]
- Sterling House Restaurant Opening in Historic Sterling House in Midtown To Feature ‘Girl-Friendly’ Menu [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- A Few Suggestions on Areas in Houston That Could Use a Pedestrian Plaza or Protected Bike Lane [The Urban Edge]
- Houston’s Rapid Growth, Heavy Rains Heighten Flood Risk [Wall Street Journal]
Photo of St. John Church at Sam Houston Park: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
“In Texas, closing costs represented on average about 2.5 percent of a median home’s value…”
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It is completely ridiculous to me that paperwork and a lien search can possibly be that freaking expensive.
Missing from any of the 20 pictures in the Chronicle article — actual journalists. Which, I suppose, is not really all that surprising…
Love the comments on the “girl-friendly bar” article. Looks like Swamplot commenters wandered over there instead of posting here.
@meh, you are correct and it has been a point of contention for a while, some states have gone to a mandated flat fee model (a few hundred dollars). To put things in perspective an auto policy pays out about %80 of money taken in by premiums toward claims, a Title Policy pays out less than 1%. The only time a title policy would pay out if hey completely screwed up the records search and even then try fight tooth and nail in court not to pay.
Please-please let regent square finally be for real.
Don’t hold your breath on Regent Square. I pass it every day and there is still no activity of any sort, and permits “should be secured by the third quarter or end of the year,” a k a we really have no f****** clue.
Title insurance has got to be the biggest scam ever in real estate. I’m dubious of its worth if the other statistic of a 1% payout rate is correct.
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That being said, I agree that closing costs eat up too much of a very cut-and-paste transaction process. Forget the Tesla car and new iPhone, what we need is real estate closings to become automated to bring down costs.
@Major Market, I read that 1% in some RE article two years ago, some claim under 5% which is still ridiculous.
There has been a proposal floating around to make real estate transactions flow through a Block Chain type platform where trail of ownership is clear and cannot be manipulated, hence making RE transactions cheap, simple, and secure.
I just sold a house after being actively listed for a day, my agent cleared $13,000 (not to mention the buyers agent). Going forward I won’t work with an agent unless they agree to a tiered commission i.e. 1% less than one week on market, 2% 1 – 4 weeks etc etc. You should get paid for the amount of work you put into selling a house. I’m sorry you have another listing that hasn’t sold for six months. That has nothing to do with me.