Dallas Real Estate News

While putting together a recap of real estate activity for Old Lake Highlands (inclusive of all of Hexter Elementary attendance zone), I noted something new in the mls report that I had not seen before.  At first I thought I had somehow entered the wrong search criteria, because usually only single-family detached homes come up in the search.  Not so this time, as it is official that the corner of Lake Highlands and Easton across from the church is in full development mode.  I know we've seen this before, heard rumors of "something" going  up there, but this time the future townhomes (eleven from what I can tell in the mls) are being marketed for sale.  They will range in size from 1500 sf to 1900 sf and they are priced in the mid to high 200's.  They are "green" homes, and from the looks of the artist renderings, they will be a nice addition to the area-- well as nice as anything can be when it consumes what has forever been a nice little spot of green.

On the other end of the spectrum, very near these homes, there are currently two enormous, stucco-like homes nearly finished on Easton Road almost directly across from the middle school.  Neither of the two is currently listed for sale, so maybe they are being custom built for the two families that will occupy them.  It is highly unusual for a builder to get this far in the construction process without already marketing the homes for sale.  For his sake and for the neighborhood's sake, I hope that this is the case, as I would expect them both to be on the market for a considerable time.  Editorially speaking, the only thing I will say is that it is regrettable that the Plano builder did not do a bit more to keep the homes' architectural design and size in better keeping with the neighborhood. 

As for the area in general, 2010 wasn't necessarily a great year, but at least property values stayed at approximately the same average price per square foot as they were when I began watching them in late 2006.  The average price per square foot for the 75 homes sold was $134.24.  Days on Market was something else altogether, and I doubt that anyone is really surprised.  I am used to seeing them in the 30 to 60 days on market range.  Of course, some take a whole lot longer to sell and some move very quickly, but it's always relative to their location and condition.  In any case, the days on market average for 2010 was a whopping 128 days.  It is evident that the trend hasn't moved away from that yet.   There are currently 58 homes on the market and already the average days on market is 114!  The average list price per square foot is $157.71 and at least one third of the sellers have already dropped the original asking price.  In 2010, of the 75 homes that sold, only 7 of them sold at or above the asking price.  That  sounds really bad, but ultimately the average difference between list price and sales price for all the homes sold was only 2%.  According to David Fair of Hexter Fair Title Company, it's all good as long as the average delta between asking and sales price is not greater than 3%.  (Areas where you see an average difference of 5,6 or 7% between asking and sales is a sure indicator that property values have taken a hit.  Most of the time this occurs where there are numerous foreclosures.) For us, this simply means that our home values, in spite of a very few weary fixer-uppers and a handful of foreclosures, are holding steady in the mid $130's per square foot.   

The Elle agents and I are set for a good year for real estate in the area.  If ever you have any questions about buying or selling a home, anywhere in the DFW area, please, let us help you.   Here's to a great 2011!