Houston Real Estate Observer

With 27 years’ experience under his belt and numerous awards to his name, it’s safe to say Ralph Bivins knows real estate.

Even though he’s never sold it.

“There’s a lot of expertise out there, but I would say I’m a better writer than a real estate broker or agent,” laughed Bivins, founding editor of Realty News Report.

Others would agree, as Bivins was recently honored with a “Best Columnist” award from the National Association of Real Estate Editors .

A panel of experts from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University said in a statement that Bivins “has the ability to be entertaining, thus keeping a reader wanting more while discussing serious topics dealing with real estate. This makes not only for a lively read but an informative one. Clearly, this writer knows the difference between a column and a feature.”

Indeed. For example, in 1989, Bivins was awarded first place in business writing by the Texas Headliners Club, and in 2009 the Texas A&M Real Estate Center ranked Bivins the second-most popular blogger in the state.

And for July 2011, he is our Houston Real Estate Legend.

Bivins won’t take all the kudos.

“There are so many major developers, brokers and agents who have helped me through the years, all kinds of people who have taken time to explain things to me,” Bivins said. “I’m blessed to be able to learn from these people.”

The house that Bivins built.

If anyone would have told Bivins he would one day interview big-name commercial real estate developers like Donald Trump, he wouldn’t have quite believed it. It’s a long way from working summers on residential construction sites and dabbling in carpentry.

But after graduating from the University of Houston with a communications degree in 1979, Bivins launched a notable journalism career.

At the Clear Lake Daily Citizen, he covered city hall, hit the police beat, and broke a big story when the Ku Klux Klan showed up in a small Texas town.

It put Bivins in the national media spotlight as journalists from major newspapers and wire services called him for the scoop.

In 1984, Bivins moved west to San Antonio, working the business desk at the Express-News. That’s when Bivins began covering real estate.

In 1987, Bivins headed home, where he wrote real estate articles at the Houston Chronicle for more than 17 years.

That’s when Bivins learned the industry can be about emotions just as much as transactions.

In the early 1990′s, Bivins said, he went to cover a story about Robert Silvers, a developer who had acquired approximately 100 foreclosed single-family lots that were rundown but in a good location.

Bivins accompanied Silvers on clean-up day.

“There was a used car lot encroaching the area, and Silvers had a fleet of wreckers ready,” Bivins said. “They started hauling off cars. The owner of the car lot came up and was very emotional. This became a major physical conflict. There was a Chronicle photographer there shooting away. You don’t see that in a real estate story very often.”

While Bivins is skilled at writing the truth, he’s now embracing something new.

Fiction.

Bivins is writing a novel, it’s based in Texas, and that’s all he’s saying for now.

My, how you’ve grown!

Bivins is not only a native Texan, he’s a native Houstonian.

When he was born in the 1950′s, Houston wasn’t even on the top 10 list of America’s largest cities. It is now, of course, the fourth largest.

“Houston’s growth has been a phenomenal thing to watch,” Bivins said. “It used to be you could head up (U.S. Highway) 290 not too far and you were out in the sticks.”

And by the way, he said, the current foreclosure rate isn’t as bad as it was in 1987.

“We’ll come out of this,” Bivins said, “but it’ll be another two or three years.”

When we do, Bivins will be there to write about.

“It’s my lifelong work,” he said. “I enjoy it so much, I doubt I’ll ever leave.”

They say “a man’s home is his castle,” and that’s certainly how DeWayne Addison felt while building a new house for his family in the Sugar Land area.

It was in a new area, on a back corner lot in a cul-de-sac, nothing but nature behind him. Perfect for his wife and kids.

For a whole three weeks.

“That’s when this big erector set goes up behind the house,” Addison said. “I thought what the hell is that?”

“That” was the beginning stages of a Hindu temple, a project that took two years to complete and kicked off with a grand opening that Addison said lasted 14 days.

Addison got used to regular worship sounds, including chanting, to where it just became background noise. But it was never easy to get used to Saturdays if a wedding was underway.

“Fireworks would blast the night air at 10 p.m., waking babies, parents and pets,” Addison said. “The whole neighborhood would go crazy for half an hour.”

Addison doesn’t have any problem with whatever floats your boat. Christian, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, it’s all good.

But this unintended neighbor was practically in his back yard.

What’s a guy to do?

Research

Any time you see an empty field or lot in the area, ask your Realtor about it. If that doesn’t help, contact the HOA and ask about restrictive covenants. If the land in question is outside the governing HOA’s boundaries, you might want to try and identify the land owner through tax rolls, the appraisal district, or deed records. Call city or county planning departments and ask if any plans have been proposed for that parcel of land.

You can also do a title search to trace the land’s history in terms of previous owners, and whether or not there are any existing restrictions.

“But it’s a very lengthy and costly process,” said Michelle Taylor, branch manager of Stewart Title Conroe. “You’d be paying the title company at least $500.”

Taylor said that in her 21 years in the title biz, nobody has asked to do that.

As for Addison, the family decided to move to an area within the Katy school district.

He worried about the temple affecting the resale value of his Sugar Land home, but was pleasantly surprised when the house sold within three weeks at 95 percent of list price.

So they moved, this time into a spec home. They knew of the areas earmarked for retail development, they knew the plans for neighborhood expansion.

No surprises for Addison this time, right? Wrong. A petition is currently circulating, he said, in an attempt to kill a developer’s proposal to build townhomes nearby.

Even if Addison had been told before that nothing like that was in the works, this is real estate. Things can change in a New York minute.

“Even if there aren’t any plans proposed,” said Paul Caver of Infinity Title “there is no guarantee that this will still hold true two years down the road.”

So there’s the knowing, and then there’s the not knowing.

Consider Connie Zientek, who moved into a house that was directly in the flight path of Bush Intercontinental, half a mile from a dump, half a mile from a minimum security prison, and down the road from a crematorium where unclaimed pets end up.

Zientek knew about the airport, dump and prison, but chose to live there anyway.

“Yeah, the airplanes were noisy enough that we had to stop all conversation if we were on the patio,” she said. “The dump was far enough away to where I didn’t have to drive by and see it, although on humid, stagnant days you could smell it. But the house was close to where I worked, close to where my husband worked, and it was on a cul-de-sac in a nice, established neighborhood.”

Zientek did not know about the animal crematorium. She discovered it when her own pet went missing.

But it wasn’t the crematorium that chased her away, and by the way, that’s not where her pet was. No, Zientek didn’t mind that unintended neighbor.

What she did mind was a crazy neighbor.

“A house across the street became a rental house,” Zientek said. “It was inhabited by single-partiers or the Brady Bunch and everything in between. I would come home from work and find a dozen kids trampling my yard playing football.”

I have crazy neighbors, too.

To my left is a single mom breeding Pit bulls in her back yard.

To my right is a lady who lets her big, black Lab do his business in our yard.

Across the street is the house that never sleeps. People are constantly coming and going, day and night. Cars and trucks parked facing the wrong direction, every day, all day. And the children, who roam the ‘hood with air-soft pellet guns.

We find pellets and doggy-doo littering the front yard, much to my husband’s dismay when he’s mowing.

Speaking of mowing, we get letters from our HOA if we don’t edge.

But nobody seems to care about Pit bulls, BB guns and cars parked willy-nilly, nor is there much I can do.

Zientek effectively solved her problem – she now lives in the country. Eight acres, five ponds…and zero neighbors.

This time, she knew what she was getting into, something Taylor advocates.

“It’s buyer beware, and that’s how it’s been for years and years,” Taylor said. “All I can really tell you is to do your homework, find out what you can, and hope for the best.”

It’s been said that people change careers frequently, as many as 10 times between the ages of 18 and 38.

Not Rita Santamaria.

Instead of changing careers, she found a way to marry her two favorite industries, resulting in one, big, successful venture – Champions School of Real Estate.

“It’s not an easy career,” Santamaria said. “But it’s a long lasting career.”

Indeed, that was almost 30 years ago, and she’s still going strong.

Teachers rule

Raised in south Florida, Santamaria headed to Florida State University where she earned a teaching degree.

After a two-year stint teaching in public schools, Santamaria was less than thrilled.

So she began selling real estate, and taught a real estate class at Houston Community College’s Dunlavy campus.

That was Santamaria’s epiphany, the “aha” moment when she realized she actually did love teaching, it just depended on who the students were.

“For the first time ever, I was teaching adults, and teaching them something I loved,” Santamaria said. “People who are at a proprietary school have paid their money and are truly ready to start their new career. It’s interesting and motivational for the teacher.”

Teaching her way to ownership

It wasn’t long until the business bug bit, so Santamaria joined with business partner Sharon Teusink, and together they approached the Texas Real Estate Commission in Austin, seeking permission to open a real estate school in Houston.

Permission granted, and in 1983, these two women opened Champions School of Real Estate in northwest Houston.

Santamaria and Teusink taught days, nights and weekends to make ends meet.
A few years later, Santamaria bought her partner out, opened a campus in Dallas and the Galleria, and hired her first teacher, Charles J. Jacobus.

Jacobus, a real estate attorney and author, still teaches once a month at the school’s Galleria location.

Growing gains, not pains

In 2004, Santamaria opened a school in Coppell, located northwest of Dallas, and also launched a virtual campus online.

“I brought people on board to open an online campus so we could be anywhere,” she said. “Online classrooms are not as popular as our brick and mortar classrooms, but continue to steadily grow in enrollment.”

Three years later, Santamaria opened a school in San Antonio, followed quickly by a West Houston campus at the Highway 6 and Interstate 10 intersection.

In 2009, Santamaria circled back to where she was granted permission in the first place, opening a school in Austin.

“Over the years, not only have we grown by campus, we’ve grown in subject matter,” Santamaria said.

Indeed, at Champions School of Real Estate, one can take courses not only in real estate, but in lending, appraisal, and home inspection.

Moving on up

The more successful Santamaria became, the more she realized she needed to hire a staff.

It was time to put her baby in the hands of others.

“I’ve only put people in management positions that have worked with me for a long time, so it wasn’t that much of a problem,” she said.

Now, with a staff of 40, Santamaria is no longer teaching.

Instead of in the classroom, she’s more behind the scenes, traveling Texas for speaking gigs, writing textbooks for her schools, and regularly changing course content based on state requirements and what’s currently popular in the industry.

“I want to keep everything current, up to date, full of life and energy,” Santamaria said. “When people see and hear the name Champions School of Real Estate, I want them to think ‘winners and quality.’ It’s a reputation we have earned and intend to keep.”

Good deeds

Santamaria is a winner in her own right.

In addition to regularly updating curriculum content, writing textbooks, maintaining her broker’s license, traveling for speaking gigs and visiting her campuses every six weeks, Santamaria is out and about showing goodwill.

Case in point: After Hurricane Katrina forced thousands of evacuees to Houston, Santamaria offered anyone who showed her a Louisiana driver’s license free classes at her school.

Amazingly, more than 400 people took her up on the offer.

“Out of that, maybe a dozen stayed in real estate, but that’s okay,” Santamaria laughed. “We just wanted them to have something to occupy their minds during those difficult times.”

Santamaria is involved in the Asian Real Estate Association of America, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, and Young Real Estate Professionals, just to name a few.

She often sponsors or speaks at seminars for real estate offices and Realtor associations.

All mentors have a mentor

There’s no doubt Santamaria is a legend in the real estate crowd.

While flattered by that, Santamaria quickly points out there are people she admires and looks up to, including 100-year-old Ebby Halliday of Dallas.

“She sometimes shows property, at 100!” said Santamaria in disbelief. “Two years ago when she was 98, Ms. Ebby was attending our North Dallas Campus, taking her continuing education courses. She told me ‘I’ll be back in two years when I have my 100th birthday.’ She is an icon in real estate.”

A few years ago, Ebby received the state-wide Women’s Council of Realtors Business of the Year award.

Santamaria received it the following year.

“It was quite an honor to be the one to receive it right after Ebby,” Santamaria said.

To this day, Santamaria makes sure to visit the Dallas school when Ebby is in the building.

Words of wisdom

While Santamaria looks up to Ebby, she also looks back to the man who started it all – her dad.

“I was telling him I wasn’t that excited about public school teaching, and my dad, who was a real estate broker as well as a farmer, said ‘try real estate. You might like it.’ So I did. And I fell in love with it,” she said. “He regularly jokes that had he not told me to stop teaching school and go into real estate, I would not be where I am now.”

Where she is now is researching potential hotspots that could use a Champions School of Real Estate, and keeping an eye on the growth of the Tex-a-Plex, an area that covers Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston.

Santamaria said 80 percent of the population is within that region.

Back to where it all began

Santamaria can’t look forward without looking at her past.

“Had I not graduated from Florida State University with an education major, become a public school teacher and disliked it, gone into real estate full time and then had the opportunity to teach a real estate course at Houston Community College…I would not have realized what my passion was,” Santamaria said. “My passion is teaching adults. My passion is growing the school. My passion is real estate.”

You live in The Woodlands, but your mailing address says Spring.

Woodlands villages are in Montgomery County, except for one, which is in Harris County.

Woodlands schools are in Conroe ISD, except for one, which is Tomball ISD.

My mailing address says Tomball, but I tell people I live in Spring, and the kids go to Klein ISD schools.

I call this the grey zone.

But I digress. My point is, it can be confusing.

So, people are wondering …who, where, when, why, how and what is going on in these here woods?

What’s with all the mowed-down trees, bulldozers and bare tracts of land?

A parcel of land recently cleared at the northeast corner of Augusta Pines and Kuykendahl has led to speculation of further homebuilding in the area, but it turns out that’s not the case.

There will be room for just one home here – a house of worship.

Maybe.

“The Woodlands Development Company is doing pre-development work on a 5.5-acre commercial/church site,” said Susan Vreeland-Wendt, director of marketing for TWDC. “But there are no immediate plans or details for the site.”

It’s a busy corner of town, as Kuykendahl continues to undergo major road-widening. That’s good news for Tomball ISD, as it gears up to build a second elementary school in The Woodlands, slated to open August 2012.

Creekside Village, The Woodlands Township

The Woodlands, a master-planned community in Montgomery County that dates back to the early 1970′s, is home to several villages including Grogan’s Mill, Alden Bridge, Sterling Ridge, Cochran’s Crossing, Indian Springs, College Park and Panther Creek.

These things matter to house hunters, because it decides things like tax rates, school zone boundaries, and who will be responding to your address in case of emergency.

Meanwhile, an 1800-acre tract of land west of I-45 and north of the Hardy Toll Road in Harris County will soon become the “nature-inspired, mixed-use” community of Springwoods Village.

The mailing address will be Spring, but what’s attracting the attention of builders now seems to have something to do with rumors of Exxon moving its headquarters a few miles up the road in…you got it…The Woodlands, Montgomery County.

Exxon has not confirmed any of this, but really, it’s the worst-kept secret, according to this blog in the Houston Business Journal.

And here’s the latest, courtesy of Houston Tomorrow.

Springwoods Village developer CDC Houston is hesitant to comment about Exxon, but loves the progress of the Grand Parkway.

“We really can’t comment on Exxon at this point,” said Simon, senior VP and director of development for CDC Houston, a subsidiary of Conventry Development Corporation. “We happen to think the time is right for Springwoods Village now anyway, given the progress of the Grand Parkway and other things coming up in this area.”

Simon said the company has owned the land for nearly 50 years.

“Now is the time,” Simon said. “Our market research shows residential growth has been in excess of 35 percent in the northwest side of Houston. Over the next five to 10 years, projected demand is for more than 100,000 new homes in this area.”

Simon said they will soon award $80 million worth of public infrastructure construction projects, followed by discussions with a variety of homebuilders.

“We typically like to have a range of product types, from apartments to townhomes to single-detached, at price points of $100,000 – $400,000,” Simon said. “We want fairly small neighborhoods within Springwoods Village so we have a finer grain to the community. And frankly, with the economy these days, it’s less of a financial commitment for homebuilders to develop a community of 50 homes instead of 200 homes.”

CDC Houston is researching different builders they think would best fit their objectives, including “very good quality and a strong eye towards building in sustainable, green kinds of ways” in order to complement the 33-mile Spring Creek Greenway preservation.

When all is said and done, 4,500 – 5,000 homes are expected to be built in Springwoods Village, along with more than 8-million square feet of commercial office space and 1.2-million square feet of retail space.

The entire build-out is expected to take at least 15 years.