1. Houston’s Employment Picture Shows
Further Improvement
• The Houston area’s unemployment rate dropped to 7 percent in
August, matching the state’s rate, according to the
Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
• That is down from the 7.5 percent rate, not seasonally adjusted, that
both the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan statistical area
and Texas recorded in July. It’s also down more than one
percentage point from the 8.4 percent the Houston area recorded in
August 2011.
• However, the state’s seasonally adjusted rate held steady at 7.1
percent in August, the same as its revised July rate. The seasonally
adjusted national rate is 8.1 percent.
• Texas employers added 38,000 seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs
last month, the TWC reported. Seven of the 11 major industries in
Texas added jobs in August, led by the construction sector with a
gain of 13,600, up 2.3 percent from July.

2. Weekly HAR Market Stat
The Federal Reserve recently announced its third round of quantitative easing (QE3).
This time, it took the form of $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS)
purchases each month. The goal is to bolster the stock market by diminishing returns
on MBSs. This will make equities more attractive, which will provide capital to
corporations, who should in turn hire and therefore spur consumer spending. If
successful, that job creation and spending will resonate into housing consumption and
reinvestment. New jobs fuel housing demand which alleviates underwater homeowners
and supports home prices.
In the Houston region, for the week ending September 16:
• New Listings decreased 5.9% to 1,839
• Pending Sales increased 51.8% to 1,553
• Closed Sales increased 2.0% to 1,146

3. Open Your Mind to Learning
Accredited Buyer’s Representative
The Accredited Buyer Representative designation is the benchmark of excellence in buyer
representation. The Real Estate Buyers Education Council, a council of NAR, awards this
coveted designation to real estate practitioners who meet the specified educational and
practical experience criteria. The third elective day will cover Marketing Reboot, which is
approved for 8 hours of MCE. In this one-day course, students will revisit marketing
fundamentals—branding, relationship marketing, with an emphasis on electronic tools,
including social media, blogs, Twitter, pods, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds,
website search engine optimization (SEO), among other technologies. Sign up today for
this special opportunity to learn about buyer representation. THIS COURSE FEE
INCLUDES THE 2-DAY ABR CLASS AND THE ELECTIVE COURSE.
Date: Monday - Wednesday, October 1 - 3
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Location: HAR Central
Investment: $299
Register @ www.har.com/edu Questions? 713-629-1900 ext. 6