Austin TX Real Estate - Hill Country Austin Lakeway Homes for Sale: January 2008

Another builder is in over their heads!!  Newmark's parent company in Houston, Tousa, filed Chapter 11 with "plans to fix its balance sheet."

Newmark isn't a large builder in Dallas, but they're definitely one of the larger medium builders and have 27 communities throughout Dallas and Ft Worth.  When Newmark combines with one of their sister companies, they are ranked number 10 among closings in the last Chronicle 100 survey.

They had already reduced their staff down from 3200 to less than 1400... I wonder how many communities are not manned with onsite sales reps anymore.  It's such a pain to have to call ahead and check to see if someone can meet you at the community instead of showing up between 10am-6pm and having someone there.

The company continues to accept new contracts and expects to close over 2500 properties already in process, so they'll be back and stronger.

Here's the complete story.

Did you hear this story?  I saw it on The Today Show this morning.  These people in California bought the house back in 2005 and have decided that they paid too much for the house.  They're sueing the Realtor because he should have known they were paying too much, but they feel he just wanted the commission.  They also said that they felt the Realtor worked with the Appraiser to ensure it appraising for the high amount, because another property sold in the nieghborhood 6 months earlier for much less.

They had an MSNBC Analyst on the show with them to give another perspective.  I liked her!  She had great points.  Said things like a house's value is based on what the seller wants to sell for and the buyer wants to buy for.  If a buyer agrees to buy it for a certain amount, the buyer must think it's worth the price or they would have bought a different house for a different price.  Makes sense...

What I thought was funny was they turned to the husband and were like, You're not really a part of this are you?  His response was that he's her husband and he supports her efforts, but that he's just there as support.  That tells me that he thinks his wife is acting "silly" for lack of a better word.

Did anyone hear about this story?  What do you think?  Here's the link for the video of the interview.  And here's the link for the story if you don't want to play the video.

It is time to make Richardson TX smoke free.  It's funny that everyone is campaigning for this now, when we just voted in for Richardson to sell beer and wine.  You would think that smoking goes hand in hand with beer and wine since smoking at bars is the most common place people smoke.

However, I guess many are thinking to themselves that they can't have their cake and eat it too.  If they want to buy their beer and wine in Richardson, they must take it home to smoke! 

Plano TX, the suburb immediately north of Richardson, went smoke free throughout the city a few months ago.  Personally, I love it!  We went to a bar for Karaoke, and there were no clouds of smoke... until you walked out the front door.  Hopefully, this will be something that Richardson fixes, but I hate it when the place is smoke-free, but then people are allowed to smoke right at the front door so you gasp as you walk in or out... almost like when restaurants put the restrooms at the back of the restaurant or off the bar, where you have to walk through the smoking section to get there... so annoying.

Anyway, there is an electronic Petition going around, so please CLICK HERE to fill out the form.  It will send you an email and you must click the link in the email in order for your signature to count, so make sure you use a valid email address.

Thank you for your help to make Richardson TX a smoke free city, and please pass along this to all your friends, family, and coworkers in Richardson!!

I can't believe time is flying!  Alyssa turned 2 months old last week, and we went to JCPenney to get some professional pictures taken.  She didn't really care for the day, but things turned out well. 

I wanted her to look like a snow bunny in her (faux) fur coat and preppy in her argyle sweater, but she preferred her diaper in my arms...

I found a very cool website today.  It lists all the mortgage companies that have closed their doors, and in the order that they closed.  As of this post, the list is at 218!! I found myself going through the list, from bottom to top, with my jaw dropping on the floor.  I knew many of the names that would be on the list, but I was surprised by many.

Ameriquest is even on the list, and that leaves us wondering what the name of the Texas Rangers Stadium is going to be next year.

Did you see your favorite lender on the list?  Those were good times...

**the above graphic was taken from their website
**you need to scroll down to the bottom of the page for the list

With my last blog of the 2007 Dallas Ft Worth sales numbers, I passed the 200,000 point milestone. 

I knew I was in the 190's and was watching for a while, but it seemed like it was moving very slow, and I stopped paying attention.  I noticed 198k a couple of days ago, but I didn't realize I was almost there until I woke up with an email from Meg Zoller letting me know she's been watching and congratulated me because she knows I'm going to hit 200,000 today.

I am one of the original Rainers from back in June of 2006 (maybe is was May).  But, being a member for that long doesn't mean too much about the points as there are many people who have more points who haven't been members for as long. 

What has happened since June 2006?  With all my blogging, and AR working their SEO magic, I can't even tell you how many appointments and transactions I need to thank AR for.  Yes, I always ask people how they find me, but many don't know or can't explain what keyword search they used or what site they ended up on, but I know I've made thousands directly because of AR.

THANK YOU, ACTIVE RAIN, FOR A PLACE WHERE I CAN MAKE MY OPINIONATED SELF KNOWN!

Here are the final numbers for the Dallas and Ft Worth areas for 2007:

Number of Sales: 80,740
% Change Year Ago: -7%

Average Price: $202,338
% Change Year Ago: +5%

Median Price: $149,900
% Change Year Ago: +1%

Active Listings: 47,668
% Change Year Ago: +7%

As you can see, the number of sales might be down, but prices are NOT down.  Stop watching National News statistics because we aren't following the National trends.  Buyers aren't getting 70 cents on the dollar.  Prices are still very competetive as an average.

Remember, I work all of North Dallas County and Collin County including Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Garland, Rowlett, McKinney, etc... my car will take us anywhere you need to go!! 

 ARE YOU PACKED YET?!

Jason Garrett helped the Cowboys break several records and after interviewing and being offered Head Coaching job elsewhere, decided to remain with the Cowboys as the Assistant Head Coach.

This position comes at a price of about $3.5 million!  Almost as much as the Head Coach.

Personally, I really like Jason Garrett.  I loved him when he played for the Cowboys.  I hated it when Jason got the Cowboys through the Playoffs and then they allowed Aikman to play the final game.  Yes, Aikman was the starter and he was coming back from an injury, but he was out for a lot of games, and Jason deserved to play. I was very disappointed when he left the Cowboys.

I was very excited when he returned.  However, to go after a Head Coaching job after just 3 years in a coaching position is a little premature.  I think he needs a little more experience before taking on that job. 

He did say that he definitely wants to be a Head Coach at some time, but that his home is in Dallas for now.  Good choice, Jason!

Here's more on the story.

There have been many babies born around the Rain recently.  I was wondering how many people are utilizing or will be utilizing Baby Sign Language?

I plan on taking the course.  In the Dallas area, there is a course on March 13 at Presby Plano from 6:30-8:30pm that I am signed up for.  There is also a course in May at Presby Dallas if you were going to wait a little longer.  I wanted to learn as soon as possible so I can start showing my mom and help get my husband in the routine of using the signs, so I'm not waiting until the recommended age of 5 months.  I don't think it matters when the parents learn it, it's about when the babies will start understanding it.

So, what other parents used Baby Sign Language and did it help you and your baby communicate that much better?

Here is the site to register for the class for the Dallas area, and I'm sure there are other places that offer the class, but one of my clients recommended this class.

We all get them, probably too many in a day.  I'm talking about receiving a blast email from someone looking for your business.  As a Realtor, I get way too many blast emails from mortgage people with their picture and company logo and saying how they're the best best best, yadda yadda.  I get so many, sometimes I'll sit there and unsubscribe from all the lists in a day, and guess what happens the next week?  A new set of mortgage people are emailing me...

Anyway, I have a client who is looking to start buying some investment properties to add to his portfolio for his end goal of buying a Wing Stop.  He really only wants to put 5% down on each property, and he has great credit, mid 700's.  My regular mortgage professionals are all saying they can only do 10% down right now.  Not a problem, he'll save a little more money.

However, right after hearing this news, I received another blast email from some no-name company I've never heard of, but of course, they say they're a large, competetive company and they want my business.  I actually hit "reply" and emailed a very simple, one line response to him saying:

"Do you have 5% for investors with great credit?"

His end goal of sending blast emails out to Realtors should hopefully be to get some of those Realtors to respond so he could benefit from the extra business, right?  You would think...

I have not heard from this mortgage person.  Do you think he's going to benefit by not responding?  As soon as I hit submit on this post, I will be hitting the unsubscribe button from his email to never receive them again... I'll wait for the next group of emails as they're never-ending no matter how much I wish they would... I mean, why would I do business with a stranger?

I am on the Texas (TAR) Professional Standards Committee and I was just emailed the changes that were adopted for 2008 from NAR, and I kinda chuckled.  I'm not sure if others have read the changes, but this really caught my eye.

Article 12 used to say, "REALTORS® shall be careful at all times to present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public..."

The revised Article says, "REALTORS® shall be honest and truthful in their real estate communications and shall present a true picture in their advetising, marketing, and other representations..."

What caught your eye?  What caught my eye is what should have caught your eye too since I bolded the words, that we went from having to be "careful" to having to be "honest and truthful".  When I see that, it shows that there were so many REALTORS® not being "careful" and they had to actually be told to be "honest and truthful."  How sad is that.

I would think the two went hand in hand.  If you're not being honest and truthful, you're definitely not being careful.  And if you're being careful about not being caught being honest and truthful, then you're not very ethical which blows the entire Code of Ethics out of the water.

What do others think about this change, and have you witnessed reasons for this change?  I would love to hear about your experiences with other agents who violated the original article making a need to change the verbiage (no names are needed in case they are members of this forum).

For all you Frequent fliers out there, here it is... finally!!

New Airport Check-in Procedures...

This eliminates getting to the airport 2 hours early, but you still have to take off your shoes.  I'm surprised she's not carrying a see through purse as that still needs to be scanned too.

Our airport security is getting a little ridiculous...

We had some beautiful weather here in Sunny Dallas this past week so I was able to get a few walks in.  Also, Macy's big sale didn't hurt either so much more walking around!  I also did my good deed for the week by finding a lost dog on one of our walks, so my dog, Oscar, and I walked that dog back home... however, the dog kept running the opposite way down the street, so I also got some running in.

With that, here are my weekly results:
Last week's weigh-in was 151.
This week's weigh-in is 148.8.
Lost 2.2 pounds!!

Total lost since giving birth 7 weeks ago is 32.2 lbs.  YEAH!

Ok, people!!  Everyone you agreed last week, let's see your numbers.  Remember, you don't have to post your actual weight, just the amount you lost if that's all you want to be held accountable for.

Anyone else want to join?  We're trying to see who can lose 20 pounds first!  Here's the first blog about it.

Did you read my previous blog about how unhappy I was about the new HOV lanes that have opened on 75 Central Expressway through Richardson TX?

Even though I'm very unhappy with the way they did the lanes, others will need to know how to access the lanes.  You would think that you could just drive and be in the left lane and wait for the openings, as this is how it is on all of our other highways and freeways.  However, you would be wrong!!

For the main entrances into the HOV lane, you must actually exit off 75 Central Expressway and follow the signs.  Huh?  Does this even make sense? Sounds silly to me.  Oh, and don't forget that there's even a different route during rush hour traffic in the mornings and evenings.  RIDICULOUS!!

Anyway, here's a link to the graphics that will better explain what I'm talking about.  Anyone from the area think these HOV lanes make sense?

The main North and South Highway through North Dallas, Central Expressway (Highway 75), finally opened the well anticipated HOV lanes (High Occupancy Vehicles).  The lanes go for 14 miles from Highway 635 north through Allen and into McKinney.

You would think the HOV lanes would be a good thing.  On the surface, they're fabulous.  However, Donna not happy!!  When Donna not happy, everyone will hear about it!!  Plus, no one in Richardson should be happy because we got the short end of the HOV stick!

Here is part of what I wrote to my HOA president:

"I was wondering if you knew who we would contact at the city of Richardson about the new HOV lanes on 75.  This is ridiculous that there is no place in Richardson where it allows us, their own residents, to get in and/or out of the HOV lanes.  Since there is no way on while going south, we can't even take advantage of the new HOV lanes going up the high-five to 635.  Going up north, we can't get in the HOV lane because there is no way out of it until Parker in Plano.   I thinks it's very ridiculous as we all sat through the pains of the construction for all those months and we can't even utilize the improvement, and that's a bad word because it doesn't improve anything for me or anyone else in Richardson."

I actually did get a response back from my HOA president in which he forwarded me the response from the city manager:

"We have had a few other inquiries on this, so we will be posting an explanation on the City's website.  It is not there yet, so I am trying to get the timing.  I'll get back to you soon with a date.  Directing Donna and your residents to the website explanation is probably the best first step.   

As you may recall from our Council briefings on this, we did not like the lack of an opening in Richardson, but TXDOT insisted that they start the HOV in the current configuration.  They have agreed to revisit our request for access after the current configuration has been open for a few months.  What it should do, even in the current configuration, is reduce the congestion on the main lanes.  This is not ideal, but it is in place and will hopefully have a positive impact for Richardson travelers as well as regional travelers.  We will certainly keep working the issue."

Donna NOT happy!!  We sat through all this contruction.  We waited for the highly anticipated opening for months!!  And now they tell us that we can't use the lanes.  If you also disagree with this, please let the City Manager for Richardson TX know so we can make some changes.  You can send all your concerns to Pamela Schmidt at pamela.schmidt@cor.gov

This is too funny.  I'm catching up on some ActiveRain blogs and my Husband is watching the Fiesta Bowl.  They flashed the pictures and positions of the players across, and we had to do a double take.  Rewind TiVo and play that again...

Yes, there is a player with the name Dingle and a player with the name Berry.  They are numbers 92 and 93 respectively.  I just thought it was funny that the West Virginia Mountaineers had their very own "Dingle Berry".  I wonder if, together, they're the butt of the other players' jokes.

The Richardson TX Police Station has added a 4-legged addition of an 80 pound, 3 year old, German Shepherd, named Macho.  The name Macho actually came from his native home in Germany.

Macho has traveled more than I have!  He started his training in Germany, like I did (not training, but I was born there), and then he journeyed to Indiana.  From Indiana, he trained in Allen TX for a while and now is on the Richardson TX Police Force.

Macho is even bilingual.  He is spoken to in English, but his commands are given in German.

Let's here it for our newest Police Officer!

As part of the 2006 Bond money that was voted on May 13, 2006, Firestation #2 is getting a face lift.  Actually, an actual facelift cost more than tearing down the old building and rebuilding something new, so that's what is going to happen. 

The demolition is going to start this month and the rebuilding will being in March.  It is supposed to be complete by January 2009.  Many changes are taking place.  It will become a co-ed facility as it currently does not have seperate sections for men and women. 

It will also become a Green facility which is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).  The landscaping will be not take much water to maintain and they'll also store up rain water.

The old facility was a 1 story building with only 5000 sqft.  The new facility will be 2 stories and 9000 sqft.

This is a much needed update to the area!