North Texas Real Estate Off the Charts!

There’s good news for North Texas home owners. In fact, the Texas real estate market has largely managed to exceed projections, and being that it has showed little slow-down, many experts believe it is poised to thrive in 2013 as well. 2012 ended with record numbers, and inventory levels that are at all-time lows.
Realtors® around the state have reported a surge in interest on behalf of buyers. In November, sales inventory dropped to the lowest level in more than a decade thanks to a surge in North Texas home sales.

As DD Flynn, VP Marketing with Prudential Texas Properties, notes, “We expect the North Texas real estate market to continue to flourish in 2013. As more and more potential sellers realize the health of the market, we do expect inventory levels to rebound to a certain degree, giving prospective home buyers even more opportunities to find what they’re looking for. ”

During the first 11 months of 2012, North Texas home sales were up 17% and pre-owned home sales in the area have been on the rise for nearly 18 months. In the meantime, this does have Realtors® scrambling to find available properties for their clients, but as word gets out regarding the resurgence in the real estate sector, more sellers are expected to re-enter the game.

One thing that will certainly help is an uptick in median sales prices. In November, prices climbed 11% throughout the area, but the Northwest Dallas real estate market saw especially large gains at 52%. Experts believe that many sellers will start to list homes in the next six months to a year.
Flynn notes, “The Texas real estate market is still very much full of potential homes to purchase, but you just have to be willing to do some extra legwork in order to find that perfect property. Partnering with an expert real estate agent who knows the local market is one way to get a leg-up in the game.”

Another bright spot for the local real estate market is the low unemployment rate. At 6.2%, this is the lowest unemployment rate for the state of Texas in four years. As the economy at large continues to improve, including adding more jobs in industries like trade, transportation, and utilities, leisure and hospitality, education and health services, and more, the real estate market is expected to move in tandem with it.

Dress to impress!

Stage It, Sell It, Profit!
Turn on any popular home network on cable TV and you’ll find a program on staging.


Re-arrange your furniture, pick a soothing color palette, clear out the family photos, and your home will sell faster, and for more money. Sound too frou-frou to be true?


It’s not! The soft and decorative side of staging is backed by hard facts.



Real estate agents like great-looking homes because they are easier to sell. Why is that important?


An agent’s job is to please their clients, and they will direct their buyers to the homes they think they will buy.
Agents talk to other agents who are also directing their buyers to the best homes on the market. An attractive listing will be shown more often, meaning more market exposure—critical for a quick and profitable house sale.
Staging is non-negotiable in many parts of the country. Staging a listing for sale in an area where the concept hasn’t caught on can give you an advantage, particularly if there are many unsold listings similar to yours on the market. Buyers gravitate to listings that look good and are in move-in condition.
Buyers are looking for value. When prices are flat or on the decline, buyers need to perceive that the house is worth the price.

Bottom line: staging is more than an exercise in tasteful interior design. It is a business decision that can have a huge impact on your financial return and timeline.

Median sales increases again!

The median list price in March for single family homes in Dallas is $269,250. The list prices increased by 7.74% from the previous month. Market experts are still debating the reasoning for low market inventory in a strongly favored sellers market.

Here an offer, there an offer, everywhere an offer!

A staggering 86% of listings taken by the KW Preston Road office getting multiple offers! If you're ready to sell for top dollar contact me today! 817-657-6213

Five cool tech ideas for your home

For many obvious reasons, stress is a real bummer, and the more we experience the harder it can be to deal with. Here are a few simple things to try next time you're feeling the pressure or stress of life.

1. Laser Robot Vaccuum
This awesome little robot by Neato Robotics does the dirty work for you. Not only will it clean the house after you go to sleep, but it has a special laser that maps the home. This little guy knows where it’s been and where it hasn’t, and when it’s done it drives itself back in the closet!

 2. Heated driveway
If you live in a cold weather state, shoveling snow is a dreaded fact of life. What if you could throw the shovel away? Heated driveway technology, utilizing mats and cables within the driveway, can eliminate strenuous snow removal from your life.

 3. Thermal Imaging Gun
High energy bills taking their toll? Try the Black and Decker thermal leak detector. With this little guy you can check your home for energy leaks. The infrared thermometer will detect leaks and let you know where the hot and cold spots are.

4. Sun Tunnel
Looking to add natural light but a sky light may not be viable? Try the  Velux Sun Tunnel. This cool flexible tube can find its way around obstructions and deliver a perfect amount of light into your room.

5. Wireless Can Light Speaker
The Klipsch LightSpeaker system gives you the best of both worlds. This wireless speaker screws right into your can lighting. It even comes with an efficient LED light.

Dallas foreclosure rates continue to drop!

Dallas area foreclosure rates continued to remain well below the national average and continued to decline for another straight year in 2012.

Dallas posted a  1.17 percent foreclosure rate in December, decreasing 0.28 percentage points year-over-year, according to data released Tuesday by California-based CoreLogic(NYSE: CLGX).

This was significantly lower than the national average of 2.96 for the month of December.

In addition to the declining foreclosure rate, mortgage delinquency rates also decreased in December. In the North Texas area, mortgage loans that were 90 days or more delinquent fell to 4.28 percent compared with 5.1 percent year-over-year.

This continuing trend is a largely contributing factor to some of the lowest interest rates on record! Buyers beware, your dream home is waiting just around the corner!

North Dallas Home Sales Up 67% From Last Year! Now is the Time!

If you just so happen to be innocently pondering where the market has been lately, I feel obliged to inform you that it is officially BACK! January home sales in North Dallas were up a whopping 66.7% from last year! This to kick off a year that follows a 2012 that saw a 25% in sales over the year before, the news just seems to keep getting better!

What does all this mean for potential sellers? The market is yours! If you're one of the thousands of owners waiting for the perfect time to sell, unsure of the climate and whether to expect getting a reasonable price point, the wait is over. A market that was marred by high interest rates and a surplus of inventory now flaunts some of the lowest interest rates on record and less than a three month supply of inventory as opposed to the six one can expect in an average climate. Conditions have set the stage where bidding wars become a normalcy and sellers confidently demand top dollar. Refer to the figure below for more details on this skyward trend.