WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 - Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose four points to 18 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for October, which was released today. This is the largest one-month gain the index has seen since the home buyer tax credit program helped spur the market in April of 2010.

"This is great news for the real estate industry," says Brady Brittain of the Bryan College Station Remax Select real estate office.  "With so many jobs dependant on the construction industry, it will be great to see dirt moving again around Bryan and College Station."

"Builder confidence regained some ground in October due to modest improvements in buyer interest in select markets where economic recovery is starting to take hold and where foreclosure activity has remained comparatively subdued," said NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen, a home builder from Reno, Nev. "That said, confidence remains quite low as builders continue to confront overly restrictive lending policies that are discouraging prospective buyers, problems with new-home appraisals and widespread uncertainty regarding federal support for homeownership."

"This latest boost in builder confidence is a good sign that some pockets of recovery are starting to emerge across the country as extremely favorable interest rates and prices catch consumers' attention," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "However, it's worth noting that while some builders have shifted their assessment of market conditions from 'poor' to 'fair,' relatively few have shifted their assessments from 'fair' to 'good.' One reason is that builders are facing downward pricing pressures from foreclosed homes at the same time that building materials costs are rising, and this is further squeezing already tight margins."

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for more than 20 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as "good," "fair" or "poor." The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as "high to very high," "average" or "low to very low." Scores from each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

Each of the HMI's three component indexes recorded substantial gains in October. The component gauging current sales conditions rose four points to 18, the component gauging sales expectations in the next six months rose seven points to 24, and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers rose three points to 14.

Regionally, the West led all other areas of the country with its nine-point gain to 21 - the highest HMI score for that region since August of 2007. The Midwest and South each recorded four-point gains, to 15 and 19, respectively, while the Northeast held unchanged at 15.

Source: Press Release by the National Association of Home Builders

Brady Brittain&John Byers, co-owners of RE/MAX Select,recently announced their new agent Resource Center. "The Resource Center was designed as an intranet which our agents can use to navigate the many tools our comany has to offer," said Brady.

The Resource Center includes office news, an office calendar, and links to many tools for REALTORS.  It can be found at www.RemaxSelect.info.

The job market in Bryan-College Station is ranked 4th in the country according to a study put together by Forbes Magazine.

The Bryan-College Station metropolitan area was also ranked 3rd among small-sized metropolitan areas in the 2011 study titled, Best Cities for Jobs.

To compile their rankings, Forbes ranked all 398 current metropolitan statistical areas, based on employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported from November 1999 to January 2011. Rankings are based on recent growth trends, mid-term growth and long-term growth and momentum.

In addition, the state of Texas is home to 10 of the top 20 best cities for jobs in the overall category.
Forbes Magazines 2011 Ranking of Best Cities for Jobs Overall

1. Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX
2. Bismarck, ND
3. El Paso, TX
4. Bryan-College Station, TX
5. Midland, TX
6. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
7. New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA
8. Dubuque, IA
9. Manhattan, KS
10. Pascagoula, MS
11. Odessa, TX
12. Corpus Christi, TX
13. Logan, UT-ID
14. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
15. Fairbanks, AK
16. Elizabethtown, KY
17. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
18. Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division
19. Jacksonville, NC
20. Lawton, OK

COLLEGE STATION, TXThe Research Valley Partnership today congratulated Pennsylvania-based Penncro on the Ribbon Cutting ceremony for their new Bryan, TX location.

The new customer support facility is estimated to create 550 local jobs in the companys outsourcing division. One hundred new employees have been trained thus far, with 100 more beginning their training this week. Penncro is scheduled to hire 100 additional employees every three weeks through June 2011.

Penncros decision to locate in the Research Valley marks another economic development success for the region. Whether early stage or mature, companies across the globe and across technology spectrums are realizing the unique resources and solutions available to them here in the Research Valley. We will continue to encourage industry leaders to make the decision for their companies to join our business community, Todd E. McDaniel, President and CEO of The Research Valley Partnership said. We welcome Penncro to the community and value every job they will create here.

Established in 1982, Penncro Associates, Inc. is a leading provider of accounts receivable management services. Penncros client base includes Fortune 500 financial institutions, mortgage servicers, as well as the auto and telecommunication industries.

Source: The Research Valley Partnership

Remax Select recently held a meeting of its employees and agents to annouce the future location of the company.

The new location will be on Earl Rudder Freeway (Hwy 6 Bypass) just across the creek from NTB and Olive Garden.

Brady Brittain, co-owner of Remax Select, said, "The planning and construction process will take some time, but we are excited about opportunities God continues to provide.  Please join us and our agents in praying for continued success for each of us in the real estate community in Bryan/College Station."

RE/MAX Select serves the Bryan and College Station Real Estate markets and can be reached at 979-846-4500 or at www.RemaxSelect.com.

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) When it came to creating jobs, Texas outperformed the rest of the country from February 2010 to February 2011.

According to the latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy published by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, Texas gained 230,000 jobs during those 12 months. Thats an annual growth rate of 2.3 percent. Over the same period, U.S. nonfarm employment rose 1 percent.

The states private sector posted an annual employment growth rate of 2.5 percent compared with 1.5 percent for the U.S. private sector.

The states seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in February 2011, unchanged from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the nations rate decreased from 9.7 to 8.9 percent.

All Texas industries except financial activities and information industries had more jobs, and all Texas metro areas had more jobs. Petroplexes Odessa and Midland ranked first and second, respectively, in job creation followed by Longview and Dallas-Plano-Irving.

The states actual unemployment rate was 8.2 percent. Midland had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Amarillo, Lubbock, College Station-Bryan and San Angelo.

Despite job growth, existing Texas single-family home sales in February were down 10 percent from a year ago.

Just over 12,000 homes were sold this past February according to the latest Multiple Listing Services (MLS) data compiled by the Center.

The median home price was up 3 percent from the previous year, at $145,800. There was a 7.2-month inventory.

DENVER, CO Its what matters most to buyers and sellers in todays real estate market working with a professional real estate agent who has the experience to get the job done. And statistics show, that is a RE/MAX agent. For the 13th consecutive year, nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX.

And, RE/MAX agents continue to be the most productive sales force in real estate with the highest average transaction sides of the national brands. According to statistics reported by the major national brands cited in the 2011 RE/MAX versus the Industry report, RE/MAX agents in the U.S. averaged 13.1 transaction sides last year, nearly two times the next closest competitor, Coldwell Banker at 7.1.

"Our focus is on being the best sales force, not the biggest, and we continue to hit that mark," said RE/MAX Chairman and Co-Founder Dave Liniger. "What we are is the home of top producers experienced professionals with a deep belief in themselves, a higher level of training, an unmatched work ethic, and a serious approach to their careers. Thats our competitive advantage, and our agents have kept RE/MAX on top, in the ways that matter most, and thats why more consumers have turned to RE/MAX for more than a decade."

Over the same period, the U.S. economy gained 842,000 jobs, an annual growth rate of 0.6 percent. Texas' private sector continues to play a key role in creating jobs, according to the Real Estate Centers Monthly Review of the Texas Economy for December.

The College Station City Council is expected to approve a settlement agreement with Weingarten Realty Investors (WRI) on Thursday that would end litigation over the use and development of 70 acres near the intersection of Earl Rudder Freeway and Rock Prairie Road.

As part of the settlement, Weingarten would drop its two-year-old lawsuit against the city, former council members Lynn McIlhaney, Ron Silvia and Ben White, current council members Dennis Maloney and Dave Ruesink, and Planning&Zoning Commissioner Hugh Stearns.

In exchange, the city would pay $1.6 million to WRI. Mayor Nancy Berry said she believes the city ultimately would have prevailed in defending the legislative decisions of previous city councils, but at significant additional cost to taxpayers.

A cash settlement of this magnitude ends an unfortunate chapter in our history but saves us money in the long run, Berry said. College Station already has spent around $2 million defending itself in this case, and it appears we could go far beyond that if we keep fighting. Enormous credit goes to this city council and this city staff for expediting closure.

Beyond the lawsuit

In two years of litigation, the City of College Station secured a number of positive economic development initiatives, some directly related to the property in question.

Scott & White Healthcare purchased 98 acres most from WRI that will become home to a 143-bed acute care hospital and medical campus. Phase 1 of this addition to the citys emerging Medical Corridor will provide $17 million in estimated tax values, and will include more than 600 employees with average salaries of $180,000 and average hourly wages of $26.

The area surrounding the future Scott & White campus will now develop at higher taxable and economic development values, as opposed to any retail or multi-family residential development that originally was proposed as part of WRIs plans.

The Scott & White Healthcare campus development now provides a desired level of certainty and predictability about the intended land use, how to implement road improvements for future phases and who is responsible for those improvements. On the contrary, improvements along Rock Prairie Road were never costs that could have been passed onto the developer of the WRI site, which would have impeded development or led to significant roadway system failure.

With Walmart expanding its current location, rather than relocating to the Rudder/Rock Prairie property, College Station continued to benefit from the stores sales and property taxes. This also avoided two vacant big-box properties (the original Walmart and adjacent Albertsons) and the almost certain adverse affects that would have on nearby retailers.