San Antonio Real Estate - Christina Whipple

The NSA has announced last April plans to establish a campus on the Far West Side of San Antonio with an estimated 1,500 new employees. Now, the campus in San Antonio eventually could accommodate 5,200 employees, expanding from its current 2,200. The NSA is spending $100 million to improve the old Sony plant at West Military Drive and Loop 410 and short term plans are to employ more than 3000 by the end of this year.

Ramiro Cavazos, the city's economic development director, said the NSA will be hiring or relocating up to 3,000 new employees on top of the ones it has here. Last year, the NSA began an aggressive national recruiting campaign, with the goal of hiring about 1,500 new employees a year through 2008.

Anyone looking for a rapidly growing real estate market need look no farther than San Antonio, Texas. As the nation's eighth largest city, San Antonio, is poised to move even higher in the rankings. The Alamo City had a 2004 population of more than 1.2 million, a four-year jump of 8 percent. The only other big city nationwide to gain more than 5 percent was Phoenix (Pop. 1.4 million). If San Antonio keeps growing at its current pace, it will pass San Diego, Calif., to become the seventh largest city by 2010.

All this population growth means that the real estate market continues to grow at a steady pace as well.  And, with the population predicted to double by 2020, real estate investments should continue to appreciate.

As of January 1, 2006, loan limits have changed for conventional, FHA, and VA mortgage loans in Bexar County (San Antoino) and the surrounding counties of  Kendall, Comal, and Guadalupe.

The new loan limits for Conventional loans are:

• Single Family - $417,000
• Two Family - $533,850
• Three Family - $645,300
• Four Family - $801,950

The VA limit has changed to $417,000.

FHA limits have changed as follows:

• Single Family - $200,160
• Two Family - $256,248
• Three Family - $309,744
• Four Family - $384,936

This should allow buyers more access to properties in and around San Antonio.

Starting in mid-2005, Texans became able to receive free credit reports from the three national credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, along with ChoicePoint Inc., a provider of insurance data. The reports are part of a 2003 law passed by Congress to help consumers curb identity theft and errors affecting their credit score.

Before the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, consumers had to pay in order to receive a copy of their credit report. Consumers can now receive a free copy of their credit report from the agencies every 12 months.

Information contained on a credit report can impact both a mortgage loan decision as well as the mortgage loan rates and fees.

Credit reports can be viewed at www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling 877-322-8228. Free annual credit reports are also available by mail at: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. To receive an insurance report, go to www.choicetrust.com or call 866-312-8076.

Welcome to the San Antonio Real Estate Blog. This blog has been created to inform the public about general real estate concerns and items that are specific to the San Antonio, Texas area.

My name is Christina Whipple and I have been a Realtor in San Antonio since 1993. I have extensive experience assisting both buyers and sellers. The San Antonio market is in a constant state of flux, and a good agent sees the neighborhoods, the houses, and understands what is available and what is a fair price to ask or to offer for a given property.

I have been writing articles for several publications and my website, http://www.ChristinaWhipple.com for several years and thought that I would start a "blog" in order to post less formal, "quick", tips for my readers.

Please be sure to contact me at Christina@ChristinaWhipple.com if you have any quesitons about anything on the blog.