Plano Texas Real Estate Blog - Local Plano Real Estate.

75093 - Market Trends 2007 to 2009

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and you're ready for a little real estate chat.  Activity has picked up the past 30 days but everyone wants a deal, a real deal and that usually means price!  So, no surprise, the best price and house get the contracts. That's a take on right now buyers, and believe me, they are taking their time and are being extremely careful.

So, how's the market from 2 years ago? I just know that's a burning question... If you're in the market it does help to know the history of the past two years particularly by areas. Let's take a look at 75093 to see what's transpired.

A couple months ago the MLS had a significant upgrade and now detailed market information can be tracked  for trends and more accurate comparables for pricing a property, so here you go.


Inventory is lighter but not as low as last Dec - Feb. when the world fell apart.


The number of sold homes is down 21% - only 10 homes less...


This shows the current trend of homes going under contract. The chart compares last year vs. this year, two years ago it showed a 10% decrease. 12 homes to the good from last year!



So what about price? According to median sold a 20% decrease has been taken the last two years. You can take median for what it's worth, median....but this is sellers expectations and what buyers are actually willing to pay due to economic forces...more on this later.

There is still craziness in the market.  Buyers are taking more time and sellers that price their property 10% under market will be in better shape to compete. Foreclosures have ticked up and will continue to do so for the time being.  It seems loans are being processed quicker but that's because mortgage companies are not busy.

[where: 75093, Plano, TX, real estate market trends]

Happy Thanksgiving!







Enjoy your day with family and friends!  And thanks for visiting here.

[where: 75093, Plano, TX, Thanksgiving 2009]

If you didn't make it to the "The Lights at Legacy",
put it on the calendar for next year...












[where: 75024, Plano, TX, shops at legacy, lights at legacy]

Houselogic is a new web site for the consumer by NAR (National Association of Realtors).
It's in beta form so take a drive and see how you like....

What is this so good?

Being a consumer advocate I look for direct sources that benefit the client.

What is it?



It's a detailed site with knowledge about anything to do with real estate, how to spend and save money on various real estate projects.  Basically, anything to improve and maintain your home and make the right financial decision.

I bet a lot of you don't know that Realtor.com is not owned by the NAR.  They sold the name back in 1996, not understanding where the internet was going.   They have no control over the ad content of the site they only make a royalty.

So this is NAR's attempt to take all their incredible information and build a web site in house for the consumer!  It's sophisticated and smart - owner smart as they say.

In my opinion and it's been for the last 5 years, the best real estate technology has not been in the real estate industry but has come from outside, like Zillow, Truila etc. etc. etc.  These add model sites are great, informative and entertaining but the AVM (automatic value model) is not always so accurate when information comes from public data. Especially in Texas where sales price of homes is not disclosed.

Why are they building a site for you?



Well, a couple of things, they want your email address to alert you to legislation that is current in congress. Also, they have invested in Cyberhomes which is a value site like Zillow but could be a bit more accurate using appraisal and MLS data as well as public data, that's the plan. By the way, they will not share or sell your info to anyone, it's on the site.

I think this is great that NAR has built such an awesome site for public use, free.  They have so much information to share.  Of course, this will eventually be an ad model site too but they won't have to share revenues with anyone. Looks like this could be a win-win for everyone.

[where: 75093, Plano, TX, houselogic, real estate]

Forget the CMA, Absorption Rates are more accurate
or how to figure out days on market to sell your home quick...

This time of year many sellers will take there home off the market thinking there are no buyers based on the holidays.  That's a common assumption but it's just not true. One way to figure out how long it will take your home to sell is by the absorption rates of a particular area or neighborhood.

What's absorption rate?

Absorption rates are a  calculation of how long it will take for all the homes on the market to be sold, or absorbed, at the current rate of sales.

Let's take zip code 75093.  There are 282 active properties and 320 sold the last 6 months, that's 53 a month and yes, it's better than last year. Dividing 53 into the 282 active properties gives us a 5 month supply.  You can break this down farther by neighborhood and/or price point. It's fair to say if your home is under 500K a 2 to 3 month market time is an acceptable range. And that's not too long and it could be shorter because inventory is lower however, if your home is over 700K you're in for a longer wait, a year or much longer unless you price aggressively.

The pricing strategy should be homes priced lower with a defined market segment will sell first.

It's not unusual to take your home off the market for a specific holiday day but don't take it off for a month.  In my opinion there are more serious qualified buyers now that have cash and are taking advantage of the low rates and you don't want to miss them.

[where: 75093, Plano, TX, absorption rates]

Tree Lighting Ceremony - It's Back!


 
And that's a good thing!  The last time the celebration occurred was 2006, that was the last time city of Plano help funded. Now all that has changed, this year, city of Plano is helping reinstate the festivities with $50K. Chalk that up to the recession, economy or both. 

Mark your calendars, it starts this Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2:00 P.M.

If you've been before you know it's a family affair.  The event features activities including carolers, face-painting, train rides, caricature artists and a visit from Santa Claus.  Musical groups will preform on three different stages.  Merchants will also be hosting a variety of activities and special promotions in their stores as well as on the street.  Past events have attracted more than 20,000 people so all this is great for Plano and a great way to start your holiday season.

[where: 75024, Shops at Legacy, Plano, TX]

Open Sunday - 5908 Wight, Plano TX 75093
 
You know if you read this blog that I list all Open Houses in West Plano every weekend. You can virtually look at all the properties online and then decide which ones to visit by clicking the links to the right.  I would like to bring to your attention to one of the best values in Windhaven - Basic stats are:

5908 Wight in Windhaven
Bedrms: 4
Baths: 3.1
Sq Ft: 3435
Pool: Yes
Price: $499K

This beautiful custom home will be Open Sunday, 11.15.09 from 2-5 PM.  We have a new price of $499K and this magnificent home has been totally updated. Nothing to do! And you know how hard that is to find in West Plano with Plano ISD. Plus you can walk to schools, parks and recreation center. Take the tour above and be sure to come see us tomorrow to preview this custom luxury home.  And by all means if you know someone that's interested please feel free to invite and pass this information along. See map below...


View Larger Map

[where: 75093, Plano, TX, 5908 Wight]

Contingency Offers - Active Kick Out...

Flickr photo: by Aqua Daisey

In today's changing real estate market you'll find much more use of status changes then the standard:

• active
• active-option (under contract)
• pending (waiting to close)
• sold

A contingency contract is used in a couple of ways.

For example, in this market an agent might not mark a property pending until there has been financing approval from the lender.  That is happening more and more.  It still takes the home off the market but buyers agents know where to look for this. A financing approval could take a couple weeks to a month.

Another Contingency is Active Kick Out and what that means is a buyer needs to sell their home first before they can purchase another. It's really pretty simple how this works. The seller will still show the home to prospective buyers and if he gets another contract the first offer gets a 24-72 hour window too decide to buy the property or not, (a kick out, if you will) and earnest money is usually refunded if this happens.  It's a risk both seller and buyer are willing to take to make a transaction happen and it is a common way to help facilitate a deal.  You just need to find the right seller and buyer to make it work.

So, if you are in the market and see a contingency as a status change it's smart for sellers to take back up offers and buyers to check back because something might have fallen through. There are more back on market properties now than there has ever been before.  Any agent should tell you that too.

[where: Plano, TX, real estate, contingency offers]

Pumpkin Paradise

I know living in Plano you might not get to much farther South of LBJ, but the Dallas Arboretum is worth the trip.  Located in the White Rock Lake Area off of Garland Road, it's one of the places that is really pretty and educational to visit. Always seasonal and guess what? Santa will be visiting Dec. 5th and 6th.  Nice way to start the holidays and relax a little before it gets crazy.
[where: Dallas, TX, Arboretum,White Rock Lake]

Happy Friday! Tax credit has been extended & expanded again...

I've posted the conditions below, if Obama signs this today it will be effective. More people are eligible for the credit as of Dec 1 but they are carefully chosen, see below.  You can also download the PDF file on the right hand link of the side bar under consumer info.  This is from the National Association of Realtors(R) (NAR).  This might be good if you are ready to buy, don't just buy because of the tax credit. Note: the anti-fraud rule, now you must prove the purchase, like submitting the closing statement.  It would not have been a problem if the credit was part of the closing process and connected to the actual purchase of the property but this is a government thing so, go figure.  Anyway, take a look it does open it up.


[where:75093, Plano, TX, first time home buyer tax credit updated]

Plano: Median Sold Price only down 7%

I talk to many clients that are in the hold mode on whether to jump back in in the market. These are some of the new market metrics that are available through the MLS that might make sense of the housing in Plano. You can see prices actually trend higher during the high season before school starts now a slight dip but that is seasonal and normal with the 4th quarter.

You can see here that even in a slower market sales for October are up 6% from last year and that's a positive. Also the supply is dwindling, 10% below last October. Another sign is the months supply of homes is down 29% from a year ago. That in itself will push prices higher.  For sellers contemplating selling your home it would be good to break this down by sub area, neighborhood and price to make an educated decision. For buyers, the window is tightening on interest rates and waiting for prices to go lower might cost you more later than sooner.
[where:75093, Plano, TX, real estate update]

Shoal Creek Real Estate Update

As you can see the last 6 months has been lower activity. This is due to the upper end market still being slower and much of that is because lenders are making it more difficult for jumbo loans over 417K.  Inventory is plentiful. Days on market is 78 days but that depends on many factors like location, condition and price. Pricing will depend on whether you are looking in the zero lot line location or the larger homes and lots in Shoal Creek.
[where:75024, Plano, TX, Shoal Creek]