1. Houston Ranks No. 2 for Trade
• Six Texas cities led by Houston rank in the Top 50 Cities for Global
Trade, according to a special report in Global Trade Magazine.
• New York City claimed the No. 1 spot for $85.1 billion worth of
business, but despite having just one-third the population, the Houston-
Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan statistical area ranked second on the
Top 50 list, which is based on 2010 data culled from the International
Trade Administration along with some editor-designated superlatives.
• Houston boasted $80.6 billion exports by volume in 2010; mostly
chemicals (30 percent), petroleum and coal products (29 percent) and
machinery (16 percent), mostly headed to Mexico, Canada and China.
Much of the thanks is due to the booming oil industry, but the article
notes that "its consistent ranking as a top city not only for doing
business, but also in which to work and live, must lend to its success."

2. Mortgage Closing Costs Fall
• Federal regulations are helping to significantly reduce the amount new
homebuyers are paying come closing time.
• The average cost of closing on a mortgage has fallen by 7.4% over the past
year, according to a recent survey by Bankrate.com. At the end of June, a
homebuyer looking to close on a $200,000 mortgage with 20% down paid
an average of $3,754, $300 less than 12 months earlier.
• Included in those costs are origination expenses, such as application fees
and the cost of doing credit checks, and third-party fees, such as those paid
for title searches and insurance.
• The decline can be attributed to new regulations that require lenders to be
more accurate when estimating closing costs for borrowers, according to
Greg McBride, Bankrate's senior financial analyst.
• The regulation, which was imposed two years ago as part of the Real
Estate Settlement Practices Act, requires lenders to provide a "good faith
estimate" of third-party fees that is within 10% of the actual amount the
buyer will pay.

3. Weekly HAR Market Stat
Let's admit it: It's been nice to have a year of positive headlines in the residential real
estate industry. There have been more sales for more money in most markets across
the country, and the foreclosure situation, although not entirely in the rearview mirror,
has abated. We're now entering the months of 2012 that should offer a true test of the
lasting power of this buyer-seller tryst. A dropoff in buyer and seller activity might be
expected after so many months of bliss, but the feeling remains that the market will
survive beyond the honeymoon phase.
In the Houston region, for the week ending August 5:
• New Listings decreased 2.7% to 2,235
• Pending Sales increased 31.4% to 1,709
• Closed Sales increased 68.7% to 1,763

4. Cultivating New and Repeat Business
CRS Elective: Turn it On Automatic
Serving the Repeat and Referral Client
Prospecting and lead generation are the most important sales activities and probably the
most neglected. There is so much for a REALTOR® to do and so little time to get it done.
The majority of all repeat and referral business depends on relationships: past customers,
friends or referrals from past customers or friends. While 87% of buyers say they'll
recommend or use their agent again, only 14% actually do. That 80% fallout is due to not
staying in touch. It’s not enough to know what needs to be done. You need a system to
make it happen while you handle all of the other demands on your time and resources.
Spend the morning with national speaker and trainer, Pat Zaby, and learn how to put a
system into place that will make lead generation Automatic!
Date: Wednesday, August 22
Time: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Location: HAR Central & HAR Montgomery (via video conf.)
Investment: $39
Register at www.har.com/edu Questions? 713-629-1900 ext. 6