Did I aks you?

15 days and couting

You need a home. You want to purchase a home. There is $8,000 that is currently available to you to help you puchase your home if you haven't owned a home in the last 3 years. However, you are seriously running short on time. You need to have your home under contract in 15 days. If you need to get help immediatley, do not hesitate to contact me today.

I have had a lot of first time homebuyers dragging their feet even though I have explained what a great opportunity this is for them. They may thing that I'm trying to put the hard sell on them. That could be further from the truth. If I was in their poisition, I would be jumping on this great deal! I had to buy my house with no tax credit. What a great way to make $8,000 right off the bat.

I have closed plenty of first time homebuyers that are enjoying their $8,000 tax credits. I credit them for seizing on a great opportunity.

This month in real estate February 2010

New home construction is still a good option!

I have sold many buyers new construction homes in and around the DFW area. New construction is a good option BUT!!!!

Do not go to the builder directly. Even when you purchase a new construction home, you need to have the professional represenatation of a realtor. I have negotiated tremendous savings for my buyers on new contruction purchases. I have also met with MANY families that needed to sell their new construction home but quickly learned that they overpaid going in. Call me today to find out more about builder incentives and deals that I can get you on your new construction purchase.

The Realtor...not everything has to be so serious

Don't put off buying a home with todays interest rates and low home prices

My numbers for 2007

The measure of a good real estate professional is results. That's it. Period. Just results. Can your agent close deals?

Well, for 2006 and 2007, there have been no agents with Keller Williams Coppell that have sold more real estate than I. 2008 wasn't as good a year for me but my drop to third can be explained by my market.

In 2007, I sold 68 houses. The average agent will sell 15 houses. Last year In fell to 45 houses. My main market (North Collin county) has been devastated by high gas prices and high foreclosure rates.

I still had a great year. But for my goals, the results don't match up to what I expected.

To get the results you need out of your 2009 real estate transaction, put my experience work for you today!

Local market from my perspective

From Thanksgiving to the end of January, the Real Estate Market has typically been very slow. This year is no exception.

Not to say that I haven't been selling, just selling a lot less than I normally do. The economy overall has been taking a pounding. Enough to shut down car manufacturers for short time periods which I never thought would happen.

When buyers are cautious about buying a sweater, television or even a car, can you imagine their thoughts about buying a house? We are all in this market together so I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from.

The good news for our market is #1. House prices in our market have not taken a beating. Are we down a little in value? Sure. But it is a slight correction and our home prices are stable and sound and have paved the way for #2. We have a strong job market. Business is moving out of high priced areas and coming to places where cost of living is much less. Dallas is the 3rd strongest market right now behind Seattle and Houston. #3. Business relocation will continue to bring new buyers into our market and builders have slowed with oversupply. This should start healing the balance between supply and demand.

Call me and lets talk your real estate needs through. Thanks JJ.

Dallas housing market

Yes. Houses are still selling. Buyers are still buying. There is just a lot less of it happening in todays market. Like everything, ever market must shift. The excess in our housing market and the excess values (in some parts of the nation) have reared their heads.

The PRO is that the DFW market, while slow, is still one of the strongest in the nation. Why? With the tremendous burdens our nations businesses are facing, many of them are choosing to re-locate into the DFW area where the cost of living is one of the most affordable in the nation.

Call me and let's discuss your re-location needs or your need to up-size or down-size your housing.

DFW Home Sales Drop

Dallas-Fort Worth home sales drop 33%

11:42 PM CST on Tuesday, December 9, 2008
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com

Sales of pre-owned homes in North Texas dropped by a stunning 33 percent in November as worries about the national economy kept homebuyers on the sidelines.

The decline in local home sales from last year is the largest since records have been kept and is evidence that the national housing downturn is finally hitting Texas.

The median price of homes sold in North Texas was also down, by 7 percent – more than double the rate so far this year, according to statistics released Tuesday by Texas A&M University's Real Estate Center and North Texas Real Estate Information Systems Inc.

November's drop in home sales compared with last year was almost double the decline in October.

"Not just Realtors but also builders noted that November sales and traffic were extremely weak," said D'Ann Petersen, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. "There were reports from builders that cancellations were outpacing closings, and some buyers were just walking away leaving deposits.

"With economic and financial worries at the forefront, buying a home is definitely one of the last things on consumers' minds at this point."

And homebuyers haven't been wooed to the market by lower interest rates and bargain pricing.

"A lot of buyers have been spooked by the downturn in the credit and equities markets and just don't have the confidence to close today," said Dallas-based housing analyst Ted Wilson of Residential Strategies Inc.

"Most builders say that the buyers are looking for some good news to give them confidence to purchase, only the news continues to be bad."

The dips keep coming

North Texas real estate agents sold just 4,146 pre-owned homes last month through the industry's Multiple Listing Service. That's the lowest monthly total in more than five years.

And last month's median home sales price of $133,900 is down 15 percent from the peak in the summer of 2007.

The decline in overall home prices is partly due to the large number of sales of foreclosed homes. The National Association of Realtors reports that in the third quarter, more than 40 percent of home sales nationwide were distressed properties.

Ms. Petersen said foreclosed home sales by lenders are also affecting the North Texas market and no doubt contributed to November's larger-than-expected price declines.

"It is unwelcome news for an industry that has been hurting for some time," she said. "Hopefully, though, we will not see the double-digit declines that have been recorded in some other areas of the country, where job losses are steep and foreclosure rates are much higher."

Through the first 11 months of 2008, real estate agents have sold just over 71,000 homes in the 26-county area, a decline of 14 percent from the same period of 2007.

The drop in condominium sales in November was even steeper than in the single-family market – down 44 percent.

On a positive note

The one bit of positive news in the latest local housing report is that there was a significant decline in the number of homes listed for sale.

A total of 39,255 single-family homes are on the market in North Texas. That's a decline of 14 percent from November 2007 and the lowest total in more than three years.

The average time it takes to sell a house was unchanged at 80 days.

Longtime Dallas real estate agent Barry Hoffer said the November sales drop reflects a slowdown that hit when the stock market began to drop in late September.

"Buyers have become apprehensive in making a decision to purchase a new home with the constant bombardment from the news media about layoffs, bailouts and impending bankruptcies," said Mr. Hoffer, who works with Ebby Halliday Realtors. "This too shall pass, and we look forward to an improving local housing market by spring."

Jim Fite, president of Dallas-based Century 21 Judge Fite Realtors, said home sales are traditionally slow before a presidential election, and this year there were added worries about the stock market and the economy.

"It's a really a perfect storm," he said. "Buyers are sitting on the fence."

There's talk in Washington about cutting mortgage rates, which could be holding homebuyers back while they wait for lower rates, he said.

And, Mr. Fite said, November's grim report shouldn't be taken out of context. "As we know, a single month does not make a market."

Short sale press release

Today’s homeowner can rest assured that there are options when being faced with a foreclosure situation.
Reinstatement, forbearance, rent out the property, mortgage modification, refinance or sell the home are the typical options that could fit a homeowner trying to avoid foreclosure. Each one of these options bring its fair share of pros and cons.
There are record numbers of defaulted loans that are impacting North Texas.
"I’m seeing more and more families and individuals who are having a problem keeping up with their mortgage payments in the North Texas area," said J.J. Chapa, a Broker with Keller Williams Realty. "These scenarios are caused by a myriad of different individual issues. It is causing real estate professionals to think outside the box when it comes to finding solutions for these homeowners."
Some causes of default are the typical scenarios; job loss, medical debts, divorce to name a few. The biggest culprit, however, is the adjusting rates from adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) loans.
"The ARM was not the best product for many homebuyers," Chapa said. "However, the consumer is in the ARM and when that monthly payment goes from $1000 a month to $1400 a month, something is gonna give."
What typically "gives" is the owner. Most of the time, they don’t understand their options. Most owners believe that their only option is to let the property foreclose.
The short sale has become one way to save an individual or family from a foreclosure.

Countrywide to modify mortgages

The New York Times

Countrywide Financial has agreed to the largest program ever to modify home loans, as part of a settlement with officials in Texas and 10 other states.

The agreement comes just days after the federal government adopted a giant financial rescue package without any relief for distressed homeowners.

To settle the suits, it will provide $8.4 billion in direct loan relief, affecting an estimated 400,000 borrowers nationwide, while waiving certain fees and setting aside additional funds to help people in foreclosure who are relocating.

"Countrywide's greed turned the American dream into a nightmare for thousands,"said California Attorney General Jerry Brown. He led the negotiations for the states with Lisa Madigan, the Illinois attorney general.

"Our goal here is to help as many people stay in their homes as possible and get some compensation for those who have already been pushed out of their homes," he said.

Details on how many homeowners in Texas would be helped were not available.

The Countrywide effort is the most comprehensive mandatory loan workout program since the mortgage crisis began last year. Congress has proposed various programs, but those measures did not make it into the final $700 billion government bailout.

Countrywide has pledged before to modify large swaths of loans. Late last year, it vowed to help about 82,000 borrowers who were facing higher payments through 2008. But the new program will be mandatory and will be monitored by state officials.

Along with the direct relief, Countrywide will waive late fees of $79 million and prepayment penalties of $56 million and suspend foreclosures on delinquent borrowers with the riskiest loans.

A foreclosure relief fund will be created with $150 million from Countrywide to help borrowers who are four months or more behind on their payments or whose homes have already been foreclosed on. The company will also provide $70 million to help troubled borrowers relocate to rental housing. In all, Countrywide is setting aside $8.7 billion to help borrowers.

A Bank of America spokesman, James E. Mahoney, said the cost of the program had been anticipated by the company in its acquisition of Countrywide.

Countrywide settled with the states without admitting any wrongdoing.

Under the terms of the settlement, Countrywide will reduce principal balances in some cases and cut interest rates in others. Rates could decline to 2.5 percent, depending upon a borrower's ability to pay, and remain at that level for five years. Then the rate will adjust to prevailing interest rates charged by Fannie Mae on its fixed-rate mortgages.

The program will focus on borrowers who were placed in the riskiest loans, including adjustable-rate mortgages whose interest rates reset significantly several years after the loans were made. Pay-option mortgages, under which a borrower must pay only a small fraction of the interest and principal, thereby allowing the loan balance to increase, are also included in the modifications.

Borrowers whose first payment was due between Jan. 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2007, can participate. The loan balance must be at least 75 percent of the current value of the home, and the borrower must be able to afford the adjusted monthly payments.

Other states in the settlement are Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington. It is the largest predatory lending settlement in history, far exceeding the $484 million deal struck in 2002 with the Household Finance Corp.

Builders a good source for great deals

Important message

Dallas housing market: Nations strongest market

With news of the Federal Reserve rate cut, anxieties about a declining housing market and a possible recession are spreading across the country. The good news for Dallasites is that the Dallas housing market is the strongest of any major city in the United States.

A recent PMI Group study reported that the risk of U.S. housing price declines remained low in many areas of the South, Midwest and Northwest. Among the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas, Texas cities were the lowest and most stable in risk outlook during 2007.

Home prices in Dallas have avoided the speculative bubble that rapidly drove so much of America's real estate to record prices and record unsold inventory levels. To this point, home prices in the Dallas area increased a steady 17% over the last five years, while the U.S. averaged an extreme 53.5% increase during the same time period, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Inevitably, the rest of the country now suffers from rising mortgage foreclosures, falling housing prices and weekly real estate auctions.

Dallas has consistently outpaced the rest of the country on nearly every important economic stability indicator and is currently running counter to national housing trends. There are three reasons why.

First, prices have remained stable in Dallas because the Metroplex has both favorable zoning regulations and an ample land supply, factors that allow the market to keep up with demand. Few restrictions and land availability give builders easy access to enter or leave the market depending on changing market conditions. This competition has proven to be highly responsive to the market and therefore effective in creating price and supply stability.
A second factor that supports the continued housing demand and stable home prices is that Dallas continues to experience a robust job market. For a city's housing growth to be stable and healthy, the demand must be reflective of internal job and income growth. Texas is adding jobs at the rate of almost 250,000 per year -- nearly double the rates of Florida, Arizona and New York. The Dallas metro area alone added more than 90,000 jobs last year, leading the nation as one of the top 10 cities in employment growth. An influx of jobs, incomes and availability of living space helps keep new and used house prices in the Metroplex safe from excessive price increases and corrections.
The third reason Dallas has avoided the current housing crisis is its physical location, central to both U.S. coasts and Mexico. The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, mild climate and prime location have helped attract diverse industries and a number of major corporate relocations. The Texas economy is one of the most diverse in the country, with major players in key long-term growth sectors, notably transportation, aerospace and defense, financial services, high-tech electronics, retail and wholesale trade.
To ensure that strong housing trends continue here, proactive steps have been initiated that keep our city's housing supply aligned with new consumer demands. For example, the Uptown housing landscape now accommodates buyers with many new housing options. Twenty years ago, few condos or high-end rentals were offered because there was inadequate infrastructure to support demand. As demand increased, zoning expanded to permit much higher densities with a mix of commercial, rental and retail properties in the area, transforming Uptown into an exciting urban experience.

Dallas developers have demonstrated real responsiveness to the needs of the market. Condo ownership and high-end apartment rentals are now a convenient alternative to single-family homes. Baby boomers who want to downsize and young adults who want to be close to Dallas' cultural offerings are creating a need for new development opportunities.

The Dallas residential market, especially for condominiums, is still emerging: Dallas is the fourth largest city in the country, but only the 16th largest condominium market. Condominiums typically account for 7.7% of the housing stock in the top 50 U.S. markets. In Dallas, however, they represent only 4.4% of available housing.

Condos eventually will be one of the strongest sectors in the marketplace, but the housing slowdown has affected the middle-market condo and luxury condo market, although some of the slowdown appears to be psychological.

Condos selling for less than $400,000 have been affected by the tightening mortgage supply, but decreasing rates should provide some relief. Condos priced at $650,000 to more than $1 million also have slowed as buyers sit on the sidelines. Drexel Development Co. continues to sell about three condos a month, compared to four a month in 2007.

Dallas, by virtue of its robust job growth, land resources and location, has avoided the major housing problems that beset other U.S. cities and can leverage continued economic success by viewing its land as a reusable resource and evolving its housing market to keep up with changing lifestyle demands.

EDELMAN is president of Drexel Development Co., which builds luxury apartments and condominiums.

Labor day weekend fun.

As most of you know, first of September is always a very busy time in our lives. This year was even more chaotic with Danielle opening her new building on the pre-school.

With Bailey's birthday (Sept. 5), Ian's birthday (Sept. 4), Kennedy's Birthday (Sept. 1) and Danielle's birthday (Sept. 13) we are always hoping from all the birthday cake.

This year, I took Kennedy, Bailey, Liberty on a little daughter daddy camping trip to my hometown of Canyon, Texas. Canyon is the home of the Palo Duro Canyon. We also went to a Texas Tech football game. We really need to get out more often because the trip was short, but the memories will last forever.

Did you know....

Did you know…

1) The Texas economy is growing 3 times faster than the national average.
2) Texas is home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other state in the nation.
3) 50% of all jobs created in the U.S. in 2007 were in Texas
4) Texas now has one of the lowest property tax burdens in the nation—28% lower than the U.S. average.

Let’s educate our existing and potential clients that Texas is not indicative of the rest of the U.S. Now is a great time to be buying a home.

Problem lenders

An issue has come up, yet again, with a large (not gonna name names...wells fargo) lender that one of my clients has choosen to do their loan.

This is the second time in less than 3 months that this particular bank has delayed closing and could cost my client big bucks. The issue with large lending institutions is that they are to burecratic. To many chefs in the kitchen and their worker bees aren't even required to get a loan officers license.

You can always choose which lender you work with, however, a Realtor knows good lenders who are going to be able to get the job done, no excuses, no delays, no dishonesty. I always recomend Carroll Dyer with Bankers Financial. He, and his staff are very good at what they do.

The best team in the business...

I just want to stop and thank some of the best people in the real estate business.

Heather Whaley is more of a partner and is one the most committed real estate agents in the business. She is more of a sister than anything else and I enjoy getting to work with Heather as do all of our clients.

Lisa Cleary is also a committed real estate agent that can handle your real estate questions and help pull a transaction together.

Let us work hard for you today!

Good day!

This has been a strong week for finding new buyers. Unfortnatley, I have talking to many vendors connected to the real estate business and many of them are struggling to make ends meet.

We continue to see a number of full time agents having to get part time jobs, title companies closing, lenders losing loan officers and inspectors getting out of the business.

Depending on who you talk to, the current real estate trends could take from 2 to 4 years to recover. It may not recover to the significance of before any time soon. The foreclosures are going to be affecting our market for at least the next 10 years.

Sellers need to continue to have patience when selling their home. It will sell if it is priced correctly and is in appropriate condition.