February 2010

There were sighs of relief on both Wall Street and Main Street when Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke told Congress this week that he expects interest rates to stay low for an extended period. The news is especially welcome in the housing market, where low rates are key to a sustained recovery.

In two separate hearings, Bernanke signaled the Fed’s intentions to keep rates low. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee today, he said the weak economy justified the low interest rates. He made similar comments yesterday in testimony to the House Financial Services Committee.

Earlier this month, the Fed raised the rate it charges banks for short-term loans. Even though that increase had been expected, there were concerns that the central bank might increase other rates as well.

“Even though nothing he said was particularly new, it was just enough to calm the ruffled feathers that were out there,” Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust in Chicago told the Associated Press.

Turns out it was not a fluke. When Dallas area home prices edged higher in November for the first time in two years, some wondered whether it was the beginning of a turnaround. Based on the December numbers released today, the answer looks like it may be yes. According to Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index,  home prices increased by a full 3 percent in December from the same month a year earlier. That was more than double the 1.4 percent increase in November.

Meanwhile, other parts of the country are not faring nearly as well. Las Vegas saw a drop of more than 20 percent in home prices and Tampa also had a double-digit decline of 11 percent. Overall, prices of pre-owned single-family homes were down 3.1 percent in the 20 metropolitan areas that cities that the index tracks.

This winsome Tudor cottage at 518 Blair Boulevard is one of several eye-catching properties Briggs Freeman agents are holding open today in east Dallas.

Whether biking around White Rock Lake, dining on Henderson, or enjoying new arts district thrills downtown, homeowners in east Dallas can do it all conveniently. A creek-side Tudor, a charming cottage, and an urban condo are among the wonderful homes on tour next Sunday, February 28.

• 6215 Vickery Boulevard: Custom, four-bedroom Tudor. Tessa Mosteller. $729,900.  Open 2 to 4 p.m.
• 6871 Chantilly: Creek-side, four-bedroom Tudor.  Susan Matusewicz. $715,000. Open 1 to 3.
• 6319 Crestmont: Designer-owned three-bedroom. Ginger Nobles, Susan Baldwin. $399,000. Open 2 to 4.
• 6367 McCommas: Two-bedroom, M-Street original. Carole Rhodes. $298,800. Open 2-4.
• 518 Blair: Two-bedroom Tudor cottage.  Lee and Ellen Lewis.  $279,000.  Open 3:30 to 5.
• 6044 Velasco: Great corner building site in Belmont Conservation District.  Keith Newman. $177,500.  Drive by and walk the lot. 
• 2502 Live Oak #210: Sleek urban loft condo. Juli Waggoner. $125,900. Open 2 to 4.
• 6318 Richmond Avenue #1201: One-bedroom condo in New Orleanean, gated complex.  Ann Henry. $110,000. Open 3 to 5.

For a complete list, visit www.briggsfreeman.com/eastdallastour.

Briggs Freeman CEO Robbie Briggs at the Winspear Opera House, site of the Brinker International Forum, which Briggs Freeman sponsors, gives practical advice about choosing the best Realtor®.

Whether buying or selling, choosing the right real estate agent has never been more critical, says Robbie Briggs, CEO of Briggs Freeman.  He offers tips below that succeed:

● Get on the Internet and find a company that is well represented in your current or future area. 

●  Go on their Web site and read bios of all the agents, focusing on those with listings in your dollar amount, style and location.

● Check with friends in that area. Ask, am I on the right track? 

● Interview prospective agents. If buying, take each to coffee. If selling, invite them to your home.  What kind of marketing plan do they offer?

● See if they provide former clients as referrals.

● Don’t pick “your sister’s best friend who needs the money” – pick a professional. You don’t pick a doctor because of charity; you pick him for his knowledge and expertise. Do the same with the important purchase or sale of one of your greatest assets. 

 For buyers:

● If you are a buyer in Texas, it is recommended that you sign a buyer’s representative contract.  You might want to go out once or twice first and see if your prospective agent is listening to you and meeting your requirements.  If so, then he or she will work harder for you if you sign an agreement. 

For sellers:

 ●  One of the main decisions for sellers is the commission rate. If you get a top-notch agent with excellent knowledge and a fantastic marketing plan, then he or she should be well compensated. 

People often contact me or Charles Freeman, and we are happy to help you choose.  Call me at 972-733-5061 or Charles at 972-733-9216.

Are you 55 or older? Homebuilders are banking on you. With a quarter of the U.S. population expected to move into that age bracket by 2014, older Americans are expected to make up a large part of the home buying population in coming years.  “We believe this segment of the market is going to lead the housing industry toward recovery as the market turns around,” Sharon Dworkin Bell, a senior staff vice president of the National Association of Home Builders, said at the organization’s annual conference in Las Vegas.

 What kinds of features are older buyers looking for in a home? Three-quarters of them would like to live in the suburbs. They also want modest-size homes. “The 55-plus buyers are not interested in growing their house size,” David Crowe, the builders association economist told the Dallas Morning News . “They are asking for about a 1,900-square-foot home. They also are looking to keep costs low. “When we asked the consumer, ‘What are you willing to pay?’ they said $190,000,” Crowe said. Pulte is one of several home builders capitalizing on the trend locally with its Del Webb Frisco Lakes Community.

Super Bowl XLIV may be history, but planning for Super Bowl XLV is just beginning, and so are the opportunities for taking advantage of the one of the biggest events to ever take place in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. For one, the game will introduce hundreds of thousands of new visitors to the Metroplex, which no double will be good for business. The global media exposure associated with the event will multiply those benefits.

But the Super Bowl also could be a boon to local real estate as investors look to take advantage of the opportunities associated with playing host to football’s biggest game. “From a branding, awareness and visibility standpoint, the Super Bowl, the stadium is doing great things for real estate in the immediate area and it will continue to do so,” Gary Walker, president of Arlington-based SCM Real Estate Services, told the Fort Worth Press. Among the biggest opportunities? Commercial and retail services for all the people who will be descending on the area around Cowboys Stadium not only for the Super Bowl, but for years to come.

Today, North Texans received news that people in many other parts of the country can only dream of hearing. Pre-owned median home prices increased last month from a year earlier. The increase was small – only 1 percent – but significant at a time when numerous other housing markets are still mired in a real estate slump that has sent home prices tumbling.

There was more good news in the new report released by the Real Estate Center at Texas A& M University. About 33,500 homes were listed for sale in North Texas in January – about 10 percent less than the same time last year. That amounts to less than a six-month supply, which many analysts see as a sign of a balanced market.

The current supply of single-family homes is one of the reasons why residential prices are on their way up. As the inventory of homes decreases, an area becomes less of a buyers’ market and prices begin to stabilize. In North Texas, median home prices were flat in 2009 while many other parts of the country saw double-digit declines. In more good news, real estate agent sold 3,300 homes through the Multiple Listing Service last month and 172 condominiums.

Major magazines have made it their business to come up with lists. There’s the Fortune 500, Forbes list of world’s richest people and U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings, just to name a few. But while it’s often a very good thing to appear on a national list, there are some lists that no one wants to be on. Forbes latest real estate lists are a case in point.

The magazine recently published a list of Cities with the Fastest-Falling Home Prices. Although Austin did make the top 10 list, Dallas did not.  A related list, Cities Where Homes are Losing the Most Value , did not have a single Texas city on it. Not surprisingly, that list was dominated by cities in California, Florida and Michigan. How about the list, Cities Where Americans Pay Most in Property Taxes? Well, Collin County and Fort Bend County did make that one, with taxes that were way above the national average. But Dallas County did not.   

Dallas also did not make the Forbes list of the World’s Happiest Cities  But maybe as the real estate market continues to improve, we could have a shot at that one.

While economists and market researchers may not always agree on the future direction of the real estate market, investors are making their opinions clear by making major acquisitions in what they clearly see as a buyers’ market.  CTMGT LLC, a Carrollton-based affiliate of Centurion American Development Group, has made a successful $4.55 bid for the residential high-rise, Heritage at the Stoneleigh in Uptown. Construction halted on the 20-story project, which adjoins the landmark Stoneleigh Hotel, in 2008. But CTMGT told the Dallas Morning News it plans to resume construction and says it already has more than a dozen people interested in buying the large condo units, which range in size from 2,500 to 8,000 square feet.

Meanwhile, Dallas-based Trigate Partners announced that it has joined with Regent Partners LLC to form a $400 million fund for commercial real estate acquisitions. TriGate’s principals have invested in more than $10 billion of real estate assets over the years, and they are now poised to take advantage of investment opportunities in the current market. “It is our belief that market participants will be looking to firms that have capital, but also have the ability to add value to real estate through intensive management and redevelopment,” David Allman, chairman of Regent Partners, said in a statement.