The first half of the years real estate results are in and it confirms what I have seen in the market. Sales are down. In some parts of DFW, they are down dramatically. However, a good marketing program, a house priced correctly and in good repair will help move you house quickly. This isn't a market to hold out for a high return on your equity. It is a market to just get it sold.
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Showing posts with label best. Show all posts
Showing posts with label best. Show all posts
Friday, August 1, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
High cost of gas
Could we actually be facing $5 a gallon for gas as a national average? This tremendous increase in fuel is spurring what I call "fuel driven regentrification". What does that mean?
People are moving back into the city. Areas that were dead even 2 years ago are experiencing a tremendous surge in popularity among todays buyers. The suburbs are definatley out right now. Cities like Irving, Farmers Branch, Garland, Richardson are seeing tremendous amounts of interst from todays buyers. The suburbs are saved only by the telecomuter and those that have their employers based in the suburbs.
Interesting times for sure.
People are moving back into the city. Areas that were dead even 2 years ago are experiencing a tremendous surge in popularity among todays buyers. The suburbs are definatley out right now. Cities like Irving, Farmers Branch, Garland, Richardson are seeing tremendous amounts of interst from todays buyers. The suburbs are saved only by the telecomuter and those that have their employers based in the suburbs.
Interesting times for sure.
Monday, June 2, 2008
DFW Builders feel sting of housing slump
By BRENDAN M. CASE / The Dallas Morning News bcase@dallasnews.com
North Texas may not be bearing the brunt of the national housing bust, but some local businesses are feeling the pain.
Several local homebuilders have gone out of business. Others are scaling back their operations, cutting jobs as revenue and profit fall.
Also Online
"The builders have really ratcheted back the size of their organizations," said Ted Wilson, an analyst with Residential Strategies Inc., a Dallas-based research and consulting firm. "Most of the builders I've talked to have reduced their overhead by 30 percent to 50 percent."
Even some local manufacturers are taking a hit. Window maker Silver Line Building Products LLC, a unit of Minnesota-based Andersen Co., recently said it would have to cut 250 job cuts at its Garland plant.
The cause was falling national demand for the company's windows, said Maureen McDonough, a spokeswoman for Andersen. Housing starts have fallen more than 50 percent nationally since their 2005 peak, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"We've scrubbed our budgets for three years, and we've done a number of voluntary programs to reduce labor costs," Ms. McDonough said. "Unfortunately, we had to have involuntary reductions now."
Of course, the housing bust is not taking the same kind of toll in Texas as it is in the epicenters of the downturn, such as California and Florida.
Those states have lost more than 80,000 construction jobs apiece since December 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Texas, with a milder housing downturn and robust nonresidential construction, has actually added more than 23,000 construction jobs since the end of 2006.
Still, the national trouble has clearly led to a significant slowdown in the local housing market.
Builders started 5,218 homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area during the first three months of 2008. The total was less than half the 13,731 homes that builders started at the market's peak in the second quarter of 2006, according to data compiled by Metrostudy, a research and consulting firm for the housing industry.
Cutting inventory
"Really what the story is, for the last year or so, builders have been focused on reducing inventory," said David Brown, director of Metrostudy's Dallas office.
Buyers closed on just 7,036 new homes from January to March this year, compared with 12,518 closings at the peak in the third quarter of 2006, according to Metrostudy's figures.
It's harder for would-be homeowners to obtain mortgages because of the global credit crunch. The North Texas job market remains healthier than the national average, but the growth rate has been slowing. And with the U.S. economy hitting the brakes, fewer people want to buy a new house.
"Consumers are not real confident, so they're not quick to make a purchase decision on something this major in this kind of environment," Mr. Brown said.
Companies crumble
The deteriorating North Texas housing market has taken down several local companies with it.
Local homebuilders, including Goff Homes and Colonnade Homes, are no longer marketing houses, and their telephones have been disconnected.
Last month, Arlington-based Steelman Homes LLC, a property management company, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which provides for liquidation. Richardson-based homebuilder P.B. Building Inc. also filed for Chapter 7.
"A lot of homebuilders have been caught with tighter profit margins and the inability to sell a lot of properties," said Patrick Neligan, a lawyer whose firm is representing P.B. Building. "That kind of double whammy can be seen throughout the housing industry."
Frisco-based Greystone Custom Homebuilders Ltd. filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Carrollton-based Buescher Interests LP entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February, but it later switched to Chapter 11. A lawyer for the company did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Buescher left empty lots and unfinished homes when it went out of business.
Some of the properties were in Craig Ranch, a 2,500-acre master-planned project in Collin County. The development reacquired the properties, said David Craig, Craig International's chairman and chief executive.
Other Buescher homes were in a nearby development called Panther Creek Estates. All told, Buescher left about 70 properties in Frisco, most of them vacant lots, said John Lettelleir, the city's director of planning and development services. The city has been cutting the weeds.
"We just did that earlier this month on the Buescher lots," he said.
North Texas may not be bearing the brunt of the national housing bust, but some local businesses are feeling the pain.
Several local homebuilders have gone out of business. Others are scaling back their operations, cutting jobs as revenue and profit fall.
Also Online
"The builders have really ratcheted back the size of their organizations," said Ted Wilson, an analyst with Residential Strategies Inc., a Dallas-based research and consulting firm. "Most of the builders I've talked to have reduced their overhead by 30 percent to 50 percent."
Even some local manufacturers are taking a hit. Window maker Silver Line Building Products LLC, a unit of Minnesota-based Andersen Co., recently said it would have to cut 250 job cuts at its Garland plant.
The cause was falling national demand for the company's windows, said Maureen McDonough, a spokeswoman for Andersen. Housing starts have fallen more than 50 percent nationally since their 2005 peak, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"We've scrubbed our budgets for three years, and we've done a number of voluntary programs to reduce labor costs," Ms. McDonough said. "Unfortunately, we had to have involuntary reductions now."
Of course, the housing bust is not taking the same kind of toll in Texas as it is in the epicenters of the downturn, such as California and Florida.
Those states have lost more than 80,000 construction jobs apiece since December 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Texas, with a milder housing downturn and robust nonresidential construction, has actually added more than 23,000 construction jobs since the end of 2006.
Still, the national trouble has clearly led to a significant slowdown in the local housing market.
Builders started 5,218 homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area during the first three months of 2008. The total was less than half the 13,731 homes that builders started at the market's peak in the second quarter of 2006, according to data compiled by Metrostudy, a research and consulting firm for the housing industry.
Cutting inventory
"Really what the story is, for the last year or so, builders have been focused on reducing inventory," said David Brown, director of Metrostudy's Dallas office.
Buyers closed on just 7,036 new homes from January to March this year, compared with 12,518 closings at the peak in the third quarter of 2006, according to Metrostudy's figures.
It's harder for would-be homeowners to obtain mortgages because of the global credit crunch. The North Texas job market remains healthier than the national average, but the growth rate has been slowing. And with the U.S. economy hitting the brakes, fewer people want to buy a new house.
"Consumers are not real confident, so they're not quick to make a purchase decision on something this major in this kind of environment," Mr. Brown said.
Companies crumble
The deteriorating North Texas housing market has taken down several local companies with it.
Local homebuilders, including Goff Homes and Colonnade Homes, are no longer marketing houses, and their telephones have been disconnected.
Last month, Arlington-based Steelman Homes LLC, a property management company, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which provides for liquidation. Richardson-based homebuilder P.B. Building Inc. also filed for Chapter 7.
"A lot of homebuilders have been caught with tighter profit margins and the inability to sell a lot of properties," said Patrick Neligan, a lawyer whose firm is representing P.B. Building. "That kind of double whammy can be seen throughout the housing industry."
Frisco-based Greystone Custom Homebuilders Ltd. filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Carrollton-based Buescher Interests LP entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February, but it later switched to Chapter 11. A lawyer for the company did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Buescher left empty lots and unfinished homes when it went out of business.
Some of the properties were in Craig Ranch, a 2,500-acre master-planned project in Collin County. The development reacquired the properties, said David Craig, Craig International's chairman and chief executive.
Other Buescher homes were in a nearby development called Panther Creek Estates. All told, Buescher left about 70 properties in Frisco, most of them vacant lots, said John Lettelleir, the city's director of planning and development services. The city has been cutting the weeds.
"We just did that earlier this month on the Buescher lots," he said.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Homebuild negotiations
People don't realize that homebuilders do not tell the general public about specials that Realtors know about. When a builder rep sees a family or individual come into their model homes without a Real Estate Agent they smell blood.
Not to say they are unethical in any way. They are just doing their job. That job is to protect the interests of the homebuilder. Get the homebuilder the most for their home. Your Realtors job is to protect your interests and not the builders.
Realtor comissions on a new construction are paid out of a builders marketing fund, NOT added to the price of the home.
Not to say they are unethical in any way. They are just doing their job. That job is to protect the interests of the homebuilder. Get the homebuilder the most for their home. Your Realtors job is to protect your interests and not the builders.
Realtor comissions on a new construction are paid out of a builders marketing fund, NOT added to the price of the home.
Monday, February 4, 2008
I was quoted in this weekends Dallas Morning News
On Sunday afternoon, a family friend called me and said that I was in the newspaper. I had done an interview with the Dallas Morning News last week. The premise of the story surrounds the city where I live, Melissa Texas.
If you would like a copy of this article, please email me or call me. I will try to link a copy of the article to my blog this week.
If you would like a copy of this article, please email me or call me. I will try to link a copy of the article to my blog this week.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Buying vs. Renting
The question that every person comes across at least once in his or her lifetime.
My husband and I moved to the DFW metroplex 4 and-a-half years ago. He worked, and I got to stay at home. We decided to rent when we came up here because
1. We didn't know the market, and
2. His job was just a stepping stone, and we didn't want the commitment if he took a better job somewhere else. (Which, by the way, he did!)
After a year-and-a-half of his job, he received a much better offer for another job. So. . .we moved from Grand Prairie--which is South of Fort Worth-- to Plano--which is North of Dallas. At that point, I was very glad to be able to get out of our lease without having to worry about who would take over payments of "our" apartment.
At this point, we still were unsure where life would take us, so we went through the apartment management company to find another complex managed through them.
At this point, though, there were now three of us, so we had to upgrade to a 2 bedroom, and my husband paid for the best so we wouldn't have to stay home in a high-crime area. We'd learned though that if you plan to rent long-term, you'd better lease long-term because each time you re-sign, they WILL up your rent.
After a year of living in the apartment community, we had a major business go up across the road that brought in a LOT of employees, so. . .
My husband and I decided that when our lease went up for that year, we would buy our first home. So, we began looking. . . .EVERYWHERE. . .ALL the time!!!
We found some land and set up with a builder in the small town of Anna--north of McKinney, which is north of Plano. The plan was to close on the house
December 23rd, 2005.
~~~~~~~~~~Talk about nervous.~~~~~~~~~~
We were going to go from about $300 of credit card debt to over $100,000! This was huge! But, we were right in our judgement. Our rent was going to go from $800 a month to $1100 a month if we renewed!
In the end, our monthly mortgage was less than $1100!! And, the best part, we actually have something to show for that monthly payment:
1. An entire structure in OUR name
2. A front yard w/ a porch, trees, and shrubs
3. A back yard w/ a patio, a fence, a lots of play area for the new puppy.
4. Three bedrooms, two baths, a living room, 2 dining areas, a huge kitchen
5. Our own outer walls, where we don't have to listen to the neighbors TV or other activities. AND they don't have to hear our's.
6. No worries about whether or not to renew a monthly or annual contract, Nor if our monthly payment will go up.
But, really, everyone has their own reason for getting out of the "rent race." These were just some of ours.
Now, I encourage you to sit down and write all the pros and cons of
Buying vs. Renting
~Latisha Huckins, Administrative Assistant
J.J. Chapa Real Estate Team
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