Friendswood Development News

On July 2, 2010, President Obama signed the National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2010, H.R. 5569, which Congress passed on June 30, 2010. This now extends the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through September 30, 2010, and is retroactive to cover the lapse period from June 1, 2010, to the date of enactment of the extension. 

The passage of this extension is an especially welcomed relief to Southern US residents entering hurricane season and already drenched in heavy tropical rains.

According to FEMA, the passage of the National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 5569), reauthorizes extension NFIP until September 30, allowing currently stalled transactions, including existing policy renewals and new coverage purchases, to move forward. The bill is retroactive and covers the lapsed period from June 1, 2010, to the date of enactment of the extension. Any new policy applications or renewals that were signed and submitted during the lapsed period will be effective from the date of application. In the case of waiting periods, the waiting period will start from the date of application.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which works closely with nearly 90 private insurance companies, such as Nationwide, State Farm and Farmers, to offer flood insurance to property owners and renters. Rates are set and do not differ from company to company or agent to agent and depend on many factors, which include the date and type of construction of your home, along with your building’s level of risk.

All processing functionality has been restored to agents and applications and other requests submitted during the hiatus will now be processed. Newly submitted New Business, Endorsement requests, and Renewals will be processed upon receipt. 

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With all the news surrounding Hurricane Season 2010, you have probably figured out that only flood insurance covers damage to your home caused by flooding (aka rising water), but you may not know all of the details. Below I have compiled a few suggestions to help you become better prepared when the threat of a storm presents itself. 

Protect your hard-earned possessions. Build a personal file containing as much information as you can compile about all your “possessions” and keep it in high place, preferably fireproof and/or off premises. This detailed file should contain:  

• A copy of all your current insurance policies, your agent’s contact information as well as their corporate contact numbers (ex. 800 claims numbers and 24-hour service hotline numbers).
• A room-by-room inventory of your entire home, including receipts for high-value items, and recent photos or videos that could be used as “proof of ownership”.
• Copies of all critical family documents, including financial records, birth certificates and passports. 

Flooding can happen anywhere, and without much notice, but certain areas are obviously more susceptible to severe flooding than others. To help homeowners better understand the risk levels in their area, flood maps (Flood Insurance Rate Maps, FIRMs) have been created to show the locations of high-risk, moderate-to-low risk, and undetermined-risk areas. Visit the FEMA website  to determine your specific flood hazard area. Although no one wants to endure a flood or deal with the cleanup and aftermath, you can rest a little easier knowing you have a grab-and-go file that with make the recovery much smoother for you and your family. 

FACT: In 2007, flooding occurred in all 50 states, and nearly 25 percent of those claims come from moderate-to-low risk areas.

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According to a new top performing major markets report from Truckee, California-based Clear Capital Inc., “the Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land metropolitan area's housing market has had some tough competition in May, but managed to only drop a few slots.”

With a minute quarterly price drop, the Houston area falls from the No. 2 slot. But, the real estate valuation firm reported in its Home Data Index that the Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land metropolitan area ranked No.5 in May, with their quarterly price improvement of 2.7 percent. And, year-over-year the Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land metropolitan area price gains for May totaled 7.6 percent.

In March, Clear Capital reported that housing prices in Houston rose 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the 2009 fourth quarter.

Houston was not the only Texas market to shine, as the Dallas area earned No. 1 status with a quarterly price gain of 3.4 percent. Other areas to make the list included San Diego, Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

Clear Capital provides real estate data to financial services companies.

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The Texas Department of Transportation’s 9th annual “Click It or Ticket” event kicks off with a warning to drivers and passengers to fasten their safety belts or you WILL get a ticket!

According to the Texas Law passed in 2009, drivers, passengers, adults and children must be properly restrained and or even more tickets are in store this year for violators.

With so much confusion on the requirements set forth in this law, the campaign aims to make it simple – Everyone Must Buckle Up. To further clarify, TxDot Traffic Operations Division Director Carol Rawson explains, “all passengers in the back seat now must be buckled up, and children younger than eight years old have to ride in a child safety seat or booster seat unless they are taller than four feet, nine inches and anyone not in compliance with this law will incur a fine from $25 to $250 plus court costs.” She further stated, “buckling up can not only save you from getting an expensive ticket, it can also save your life.”

TxDot statistics shows that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for Texans between the ages of four and 44 and last year alone, more than 3,400 people died in fatal collisions on Texas streets and highways. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, motorists least likely to buckle up continue to include men, teenage boys and pickup drivers and passengers.

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The largest generation of young people since the '60s is beginning to come of age. Often referred to as “Generation Y” or “Echo Boomers”, they were born between 1982 and 1995, and are nearly 80 million strong. Making up nearly a third of the U.S. population, they are spending $170 billion a year of their own and their parents' money, according to the Associated Press. Needless to say, Generation Y is already having a huge impact on many different segments of our economy, including the recently strained housing market. But, things are slated to improve.

According to Harvard University researchers, members of this new generation — children of the baby boomers — are "entering their peak household formation years of 25 to 44 with more than 5 million more members than the baby boomers had in the 1970s," Harvard researchers said in a June 2009 report. "The echo boomers will help keep demand strong for the next 10 years and beyond." While some of this demand is likely to flow into the rental market, the preferred tax treatment of mortgage loans should help keep the American infatuation with homeownership alive.

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Preceding Lights Out Houston, scheduled for Friday April 23, 2010, the City of Houston is also encouraging residents and business owners to join an estimated 1 billion people across the world in turning off their lights and conserving energy for one hour on Saturday night, March 27, 2010, at 8:30 p.m. during Earth Hour 2010.

Although many Houstonians participate in recycling, and local companies, such as Friendswood Development who are now building Energy Star homes, it is exciting to think about the potential for mass conservation that can be accomplished by the coming together of individuals, companies and nations!

According to Green Houston, commercial building participation totaled over 111 million square feet, representing more than $67,580 in savings on their electrical bill for that weekend alone! It is estimated that in the downtown area alone if just 50% of the non-essential lights routinely left on overnight and on the weekends are shut off, 8.4 million kw-hours a year can be saved. That is equal to nearly $1 million annually; which is enough energy to power more than 600 Houston area homes for a year.

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Birthed from the accidental explosion of an unofficial image campaign, “Houston, It’s Worth It.” (HIWI) was created for the Greater Metroplex of Houston in 2004, and is now a wonderful place for Houstonians, potential transplants, and visitors to obtain a visual and emotional feel for our wonderful metropolitan City of Houston. In its first phase, HIWI created a website for locals to voice their opinions in the form of “Tell Us Why” allowing locals to share their emotions, and stories pertaining to why they loved Houston and are proud to call it “home”.

The responses were overwhelming, with “Good Food, Great Neighbors and It’s no Dallas” among the often repeated expressions. As a result of their unexpected success, the city proceeded with phase two and invited Houstonians to “Show Us Why”. Over 600 photos were received and exhibited at Houston Center for Photography, presenting multiple viewpoints of the city, including a great deal of humorous and unusual images and thoughts. A selection of those photos became “Houston. It's Worth It., The Book,” released in fall 2007. In September of 2009, one year after Hurricane Ike hit Houston, Galveston, and countless other communities in the Gulf Coast, HIWI published HIWI:Ike, The Book, a collection of photographs, blog entries, and stories reminisced by some of the people who lived through it.

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Keeping with the trend of a stabilizing and recovering economy, Texas is in the lead with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, having an additional 50,000 new jobs added in the last quarter.

According to a study by SigmaBleyzer, Texas is one of the 10 largest states that can boast having the lowest unemployment rate. Despite losing 24,000 jobs in construction, trade, transportation and hospitality, Texas actually added 50,000 new jobs during the last quarter.

It is not only a decrease in unemployment that makes many hopeful; there are also continuing signs of recovery in the housing market, as well as the fact that Texas has one of the fastest growing populations in the country. This steady population growth will continue to keep the housing demand stable and long-term. It is no surprise then that approximately 27% of all new privately owned housing properties throughout the 20 largest cities in the U.S. are located in the Houston and Dallas areas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Governor Rick Perry was encouraging and hopeful as he gave a speech at the North Houston Economic Outlook Annual Symposium on Wednesday, as he called Houston “a city that gets more attractive every year.” His speech recognized Houston’s strong economic environment and he urged Houstonians to continue in their hard work and commitment.

“Texas leads the nation in so many positive categories, from Fortune 500 companies to job creation,” Perry said, “we owe it to our citizens to continue our economic success by adhering to our proven fiscal disciplines.”

Texas is a leader. This was a point that Perry emphasized as he spoke about the Lone Star State and it’s strong economy. By that leadership Texas remains the top exporting state in the nation for the eighth straight year with more than $163 billion in exports for 2009. The exporting industries shipped mostly to Mexico, Canada, China, the Netherlands and Korea with goods mostly in the areas of computers and electronics, chemicals, machinery, petroleum and coal, and transportation equipment.

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Two of Houston’s athletes made the Bloomberg BusinessWeek 2010 Power 100 List which ranked the most powerful athletes in professional sports. Houston Texans’ Andre Johnson came in at #38 and Houston Rockets’ Yao Ming came in at #68.

What does it take to be one of the most powerful athletes? It’s more than just strength. The Power 100 rankings were based on both “on-field” and “off-field” performance, looking at some of the same questions managers ask when looking at players: “Which player will gaurantee the best chance for winning?” “Will they behave themselves off the field?” “Can I trust them to give 100%?” This year’s ranking focused solely on athletes and while the NBA and NFL took the majority of top spots (22 for NBA players and 21 for NFL players) their rankings are nonetheless impressive as these players made the play both on the field and in their day to day lives.

Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans NFL team came in at #38 in the Power 100 2010 ranking. He is a 2009 First-Team All-Pro, and he has held the consensus best receiver in the NFL title for three years. In 2009 he landed his first TV ad endorsement for Dick’s Sporting Goods for Nike receiving gloves.

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