Austin TX Real Estate - Hill Country Austin Lakeway Homes for Sale: July 2006

It was announced yesterday that eHomeshowings.com has been bought by CSS, Centralized Showing Services.  It was inevitable.  EHS was never as big as CSS.  I used CSS when I was with a previous broker, so when I had to sign up with EHS, a much smaller company, I was disappointed.  I love being able to call one number to schedule all my appointments, and I get a little irritated when I have to call multiple numbers.  Well, to be signed up myself with EHS, I was making sure all other agents always had to call at least 2 numbers if scheduling multiple showings.

In my area, you must be signed up where your broker is signed up, so there was not an option for me when I switched brokers.  I am so glad to be back with the big-dog of scheduling showings, and hopefully my sellers won't have to tell me that they never got a call, which sometimes happened.

If CSS is not currently available in your area, and you're looking into signing up with a showing company, you should check them out at www.showings.com.  I do not get paid for any endorsing...

I truly believe there is a reason for everything... the latest event that happened to fuel this theory more is that I met my grandmother for the first time in almost 18 years and I have to thank real estate for that.

If I wasn't in real estate, I would have had no reason to be at the title company a couple of weeks ago.  If I wasn't there, I wouldn't have been able to see a familiar name on a folder.  A name that I had not seen in years!  After a few phone calls, I spoke with the buyer's agent who then called me on a three-way conference call to be able to talk with my grandmother. 

After a couple of hours, we decided we needed to meet, so we met for lunch last week.  I told my mother about this a couple of days ago and my mom wants to meet her!!  In so many ways, life is not fair... but then it throws you some curve balls that make other things seem so small.

I'm looking forward to meeting my cousins.  Thank you, Real Estate!!

I just wanted to remind everyone about National Night Out on August 1.  It's coming up pretty quick.  This is a great way to meet your neighbors and create new friendships.  I've only been in my neighborhood for about 10 months, so I'm definitely looking forward to meeting new people.

I really want to make friends with my neighbors across the street as they're putting in a new pool!  We've passed pleasantries with a wave and smile, but not real talking.  Also, listings are popping up right and left around me, and my name is not on any of those signs.

If we get a certain amount of people to show up, we get to keep the Crime Water signs within the community.  All that's asked of us is to bring canned goods and something to share.  My street has been assigned "Cold Bottled Water."  I guess they needed to put "cold" so people wouldn't assume they could bring it straight from their garage and expect ice to be available.

Everyone should be safe and have fun!

Big Town Mall in Mesquite started demolision, but it was just a procedure as the mall has been dead for years.  Me? I say, "Where the heck is Big Town?  I've never heard of it!"  I've been here for 22 years and never heard of Big Town Mall.

It was the first in the Southwest to be fully enclosed and air conditioned and opened in 1959. It was fourth in the country.  It was apparently over 77 acres and even had a small amusement park for the kids, but again, I say, what's Big Town?

Big Town, since all stores had pulled out by about 2001, was actually a staging area for Katrina victims.  It was also in the movie True Stories in  1986, yet another movie I've never heard of. 

I guess I never heard of this mall because the main mall in Mesquite opened in 1971 only 5 miles from Big Town.  Town East Mall is a huge mall and traffic around there is horrible day in and day out.

Oh well, we have WAY TOO many malls in the Dallas area, and just like Prestonwood Mall, which was an icon, they all need to go at some point.

Money Magazine did their usual rankings for this year and four Dallas areas made the top 100 list for the best places to live: Carrollton, Denton, Plano, and Richardson. Not to be biased, but i moved to Richardson 22 years ago and currently still reside here, so I could have told you Richardson was a great place to live!!

other rankings are:

Highest Income:
#5 Flower Mound with $104,921
#22 Allen with $92,404

Job Growth:
#2 Allen with 55%
#4 Frisco with 53%
#8 McKinney with 40.1% (mckinney had no where to go but up)
#23 Flower Mound with 31.1%

And the most important was Body Mass Index:
all cities tied with 25.4, but were still ranked in an order of
Denton #14, Flower Mound #15, & Ft Worth #16

Verbal contracts are not held up in a Real Estate transaction.  Everything must be in writing.  All terms of everything must be discussed.  I love it when an out of town buyer tells me to just call up the listing agent and ask if such and such price is ok.  I'm like, we need more than just a price.  I need to know the amount of earnest money you'll be putting up, how much time you want to inspections, do you want a home warranty, when will we close, will possession be given at closing and funding or will there be a lease back... as I list off all these questions and more, people's eyes just start to bug out.

I understand in some areas, people can write a letter of intent and then fill out the full contract later, but this is not how real estate works in the Dallas market.  Letters of Intent don't ususally list out everything within an offer and then when a full contract is written, one side is always yelling and screaming about how something was not agreed to.

The only real estate that does not have to be in writing is a rental agreement that is less than 12 months!  Put everything in writing even if it seems silly!

I always thought DFW was in the top 10 of largest metropolotan areas, but I guess I was wrong.  People always think Ft Worth is larger than it really is, but it's actually a small fraction of the metroplex, whereas Dallas holds well over the majority of the population.  Granted, Ft Worth had the largest amount of growth last year, by 21,500 and percentage growth is high, but percentage growth is only high because the original population count was low.

For all of Tarrant County, the population is 1,702,250.

For all of Dallas County, the population is 2,383,300.

For the main counties in between, you have Collin County at 690,500 and Denton County at 578,500.

Overall, the ranking for the largest metropolotan area encompasses 16 counties.

The entire artice can be found here.

Can you believe the price of gas these days??  We just hit an all-time high of $3.015 across the country.  The high we beat was set in September of 2005 and it was at $3.0117.

I've been asked many times if the price of gas is going to change my business and I keep saying no.  However, I did give a referral to an agent last week because the buyer's price range was only $100k and he was looking in an area that's 45 minutes away... normally, I would have jumped to help anyone that I could, but decided taking the referral fee was well worth it in this case.

The average in Dallas/Ft Worth is at $2.92 according to the 5PM news on NBC on Friday.

I can't wait for this weekend!  We have had 10 days in a row of triple digit temperatures.  We even hit 107 earlier this week, which was the highest recorded temperature in over 3 years!  This weekend, we will be dropping to 95 degrees!!  Can you believe it??  95 degrees, possibly 94 degrees!!

Actually, can you believe that we're all excited about 95 degrees?  I mean, if the cold front were to be in the 80's, that would be one thing, but it's still going to be in the mid-90's and, yet, everyone is still excited.  There is also a small chance of rain!  YIPPIE!!  I can't wait for some rain as the yards and landscaping definitely need more water!

Stay warm this weekend.  I would hate for you to catch a cold by being out in the "cold" front!

A new development is slated to start next month in Frisco, Crosswinds.  This will be 1000 acres of Residential and parks off Lebanon and west of the Tollway.  It looks as though the lot sizes might be a bit larger than what we're used to seeing these days.  The original plot was for 5100 houses and now it's only going to have 3228 houses.  The reason for this was to have some larger green, open areas, but hopefully this means it won't be a normal track-home neighborhood.

So many of my buyers are sick of the neighborhoods where you can reach out and touch your neighbor.  They're always counting the number of windows that overlook a backyard of a potential new home.

There is also a survey conducted on whether or not Frisco is building too much. Results, thus far, are:

71.65% say Yes, the small town feeling is fading fast.

25.98% say NO, the more people and retail centers, the better.

Me?  I voted in the NO category. If you're going to be part of the Dallas Metroplex, you're not going to be able t hold your small-town way of life!

For the full article, click here.

What??  Can this be right??  The latest poll that was conducted shows Texas rated as #2 with Oklahoma as #1... no way!  I mean, sure Texas lost some big players this year, but they're on a 20 game winning streak!  OK was 8-4 overall last year.  How could a team with a record like that edge out Texas?!  It's a conspiracy I tell ya, a conspiracy!!

Courtesy of www.Dallasnews.com.

There was an article published on www.dallasnews.com today about a new company in Austin that will store a child's baby teeth for future use to potentially cure diseases.  This is supposed to replace embryonic stem cell research.  They aren't sure whether this will work or not, but it's $595 for the processing fee and then $89 a year. 

So, if a child loses a tooth at age 6 and needs the tooth cells at age 50, that's $4600... but you probably wouldn't know if it worked or not until you spent that $4600!!  I'm not so sure this is a good idea until more research can be done.

Here is the entire article:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072106dntexbabyteeth.77d0e71.html

This is the latest information posted on Dallasnews.com about foreclosures in the Dallas area. 

Residential properties scheduled for foreclosure auction in August and the change from last year.

Dallas County  1,412  +30%
Collin County  342    +34%
Tarrant County 897    +17%
Denton County  310    +30%
Rockwall County 43    +23%
D-FW area  2,961      +26%
SOURCE: Foreclosure Listing Service

With the increase of interest rates as well as the cost of listing increasing is causing people who were just on the bubble last year, to throw in the towel this year. Due to the lack of appreciation in the Dallas market, foreclosures are on the rise.  According to this service, in just the first half of the year, more than 24,000 area homes are set to be on the list. 

Dallasnews.com article

There are still no good leads for the killing of the builder's rep in McKinney.  I just wanted to take this time to point out, again, why I get my buyers pre-approved for their loans.

Many people think this is just so I don't waste my time showing buyers who don't qualify for loans, but that's just part of the reason.

When I have a buyer talk with my lender, that lender is gather lots of information that I wouldn't be able to gather.  He would get multiple phone numbers, social security number, current and previous addresses, and work history.  The lender is then pulling up their credit to see what it looks like.  He also gathers W2's and bank statements and rental history if they don't currently own a home.

With all this, we've got a pretty good idea of what kind of person you're working with.  Then, when I set an appointment with the buyer to go look at properties, I immediately let the lender know when my appt is.  I then follow up afterwards with an email or a call to let them know how the appt went.  If they don't hear from me, they know something's wrong, and they've got the buyer's information right there if needed.

I believe this is the smartest safety thing that I can do besides carrying a cell phone with 911, besides pepper spray, besides driving separately from the buyers, and besides having someone else go with me.  If you, as the buyer, can't respect my safety, that's just another reason I don't want to work with you besides you not wanting to call my lender for an approval.

If you respect me and respect my safety, give me a call!

Recently, I've noticed some agents putting an alphabet of real estate classes after their name, CNS.  This CNS stands for Certified Negotiations Specialist.  They are receiving this designation after taking a class on negotiations.  Does that make you a specialist?  I would have to scream out the answer as NO!

I would really hope that Mr. & Mrs. Buyer and Seller would ask the agent what kind of actual experience they have negotiating and not just looking at the words and thinking they must be a great agent.  Anyone can sit through a class and sleep.  I personally know an agent who has been licensed for well under a year and he has this certification.  I believe he's closed 2 sales.  That is the number after 1 but before 3... does that make him a specialist?

I'm just on a rant today about how the public perceives REALTORS®.  It bothers me that someone who doesn't even have $1M in sales can call himself a specialist.  It bothers me that some states require their agents to actually hold a Broker's license when they have no clue what they're doing...  Texas has the highest education requirements for getting a real estate license, and I truly believe other states should follow suit!

Next time you interview with an agent, ask why they are a specialist compared to John and Sally down the street.

Most people don't like turning 30... so far, it's not so bad. Seven of my friends and I had a party back in May to all celebrate turning 30 this year, so maybe I was prepared for it better than most...

But I must admit, I almost didn't want to go to sleep last night because I knew I would wake up a year older. Funny thing is, since I was born in Germany, I would have been 30 yesterday if I was still there... I had an extra day of being in my 20's.

Anyway, I thought I would celebrate by revisiting some of my other birthdays.
Here is my 3rd birthday:             Here is my 4th birthday:
                    

                          Here is my 6th birthday:

Here is my 18th Birthday:






                                 And here is my 21st Birthday:


Aren't I cute?? This was also the first time that I had ever had cake in my face! I can't say that I cared for it very much... My mom called asking where the 18th bday picture was taken as she doesn't have that one. I reminded her of my friends that took me to the strip club that wonderful Monday evening, and she remembers now as she found those pictures about 3 years later... how embarassing!!

Look around your house. Now, take another look and count how many times your eyes move to all the photos of your family sitting on the shelves and hanging on the walls. Did you notice your college degree? I've had buyers not buy houses because they were Longhorns and they saw the Aggie diplomas on the walls, and vice verse. Sounds silly, but it's very true!

You want buyers to be as comfortable in your home as possible. Not everyone shares the same religious beliefs so remove some of the non denominational things that might cause discomfort. Please, don't be offended by this suggestion. You're selling a "house" not a "home." I once tried to show a house that had a shrine-type atmosphere around the fireplace. My buyers and I were very uncomfortable and they didn't even want to finish walking the house, and we left.

Another thing that has made many buyers walk out of houses before were dead animal heads on the walls. Yes, you're a hunter, and that's great... to you. The buyers aren't too fond of seeing eyes watching them walk around and horns up on the walls. Let's take the trophies down and show more wall space.

Again, these are just suggestions. You want people to look at your house, condition and floorplan. You don't want them focusing on your family pictures and your hobbies.

This is crazy!! I'm sitting home on a Saturday evening and I refresh my homepage of www.dallasnews.com and there's a story that catches my eye: "Sales Agent Found Dead in McKinney Model Home."

It draws my attention immediately as I'm a Realtor and I go to model homes all the time. I knew immediately who it was within the first couple of sentences. I had talked with Sarah Walker just 3-4 weeks earlier about her community for a potential client referral I received.

I just sat here and said, WOW, what a small world.

Here is the link to the article. You might need to register in order to view the article, but they don't spam you with any emails, at least I don't get anything. (updated article from 7/10/06)

It definitely makes you stop and think...