Call for Action: Flood Insurance Could Sink Sales The Problem: Congress provided a five-year reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), but severe implementation problems threaten to undermine real estate transactions where flood insurance is required to obtain a mortgage. New NFIP rate structures have caused serious confusion and hardship for property owners. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to delay and miss deadlines. The legally required transition to true risk rates has plagued consumers with increases in rates beyond what anyone imagined possible. The Solution: A four-year time-out. Congress has legislation in the House, H.R and Senate, S. 1610, to delay changes to the NFIP. Read about what these measures would achieve and take action today on HAR Connect:

Houston City Council Runoff Election is This Saturday The HAR Governmental Affairs team reminds all HAR members that the Houston City Council runoff election is this Saturday, December 14. The HAR Board of Directors recommends the following candidates because they support: Private Property Rights Increasing Accessibility to Homeownership Market-based, Pro-growth Development Local Homestead Exemptions A Streamlined Permitting Process For more information, including polling locations and times, see:

Weekly HAR Market Stat The calendar can sometimes have just as profound an effect on housing data as supply and demand. The 2013 Thanksgiving holiday was a week later than in 2012, causing some peculiar shifts in activity. This serves as a good reminder to watch for calendar oddities just as much as you do economic indicators. Nonetheless, buyers and sellers had much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. Buyers still live in a time of great affordability, and sellers should be thankful for shorter market times, higher prices and less competition. In the Houston region, for the week ending December 1: New Listings decreased 44.6% to 920 Pending Sales decreased 9.8% to 1,120 Closed Sales decreased 30.0% to 1,227

Questions? ext. 6 Open Your Mind to Learning Register at Top Five Ways to Create Profitable Lifetime Client Relationships Just imagine if you delivered more amazing service than anybody else in the Houston real estate market. New clients were clamoring to work with you because their friends and family told them there was NO other choice but to work with the best REALTOR® in town – YOU! In this exciting session taught by Marilyn Wilson of the WAV Group, the industry’s leading expert on home buyers and sellers, you will learn the best ways to create lifetime client relationships and raving fans. The session will deliver five practical methods for providing amazing service to your clients and help you significantly grow your business. *This course will be viewed using Go2Meeting. Lunch is provided IF you attend in person. *To take the class remotely, copy and paste this link into your browser to register: Date: Thursday, December 12 Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Location: HAR Central Investment: $10