Dallas home builders have put the skids on teardown home building primarily due to the recession and slow down in the housing market.

During the first quarter of 2006, 272 homes were started in close-in neighborhoods compared to 50 during the first quarter of 2009.

There’s more than a ten-month supply of vacant new homes on the market in sections of the Park Cities, North Dallas, East Dallas and other areas where builders have been knocking down old homes for new ones.

“Some builders have been forced to sell at less than cost and some have rented out new houses”, Ted Wilson, an analyst for Dallas-based Residential Strategies Inc. said.

Interested in buying a new home in an established neighborhood? Now is the time to get a great buy. Learn more aobut buying a Dallas home at TexasHomeCentral.com and give us a call for personal service.

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One man’s loss is another man’s gain. This is the case with Dallas home buyers who are interested in buying a home built by luxury home builder Toll Brothers.

Recently, Toll Brothers started offering a 3.99 percent fixed-rate mortgage for loans $417,000 or below for 30 years with no points.This rate is well below the national average of slightly less than 5 percent and lower than most other builders are offering.

The plan is to entice Dallas home buyers to get off the fence and sign on the dotted line, but it remains to be seen how many sales the lower interest rate will generate. 

A $400,000 30-year fixed rate loan at 3.99 percent versus a loan at 5% will save you $240 per month on your mortgage payment and save you a total of $86,382 in interest overall…quite a savings!

Other builders haven’t immediately followed suit, but “it’s definitely something that if they haven’t considered it already, they will,” said Brent Anderson, vice president of investor relations for Meritage Homes Corp., which doesn’t have a mortgage subsidiary.

Centex Corp. and Lennar Corp. have bought down mortgages, offering buyers 3.5 percent for the first two years. The rate then locks in at 4.5 percent.

Are you a Dallas home buyer wanting to take advantage of this opportunity? Please call me at 972-562-0896 and I will be happy to help you find the Toll Brothers home of your dreams.

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It’s fun to be able to sit back and watch trends as they change in Dallas Texas. An observant Realtor in Dallas Fort Worth has a prime vantage point since we are constantly showing new and old homes as we work with home buyers.

For a number of years, new home builders in Dallas and home buyers were supersizing their new homes. Terms like McMansion became the descriptive for that newest trend. Bigger was better and more meant status. Now however the trend is changing with both Dallas home builders and home buyers. The new trend across the Dallas Metroplex is smaller homes with more efficient use of space. Forget the formals that are only used once per year.

It seems the negative headlines have done a good job in scaring sensibility into home buyers. The housing market in Dallas is not bad, in fact it’s very good but you’d never know that by reading the newspaper headlines. Regardless, home buyers decided not to stop buying but instead buy more frugally. Smaller homes cost less to buy and less to maintain. As an added bonus, Dallas will be a little greener.
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According to statistics from Dallas-based Residential Strategies, the top 10 home builder in volume cut new home construction in the Dallas area by 40% compared to 2006 new home construction numbers. A lot of people are reporting this as a really bad thing and yes, there were a lot of people negatively affected by this reduction. A lot of these new home builders not only cut new home construction but also cut personnel.

Truth be told, home builders got themselves into that position. Apparently, for the sake of growth and competition, they conveniently forgot about measured growth and how flooding the market with new homes will affect mortgages, resale homes and foreclosure rates. Now, I am NOT saying all of the problems in our current economy are the fault of builders. I am merely saying they didn’t help any… or rather, they did help but not in a good way.

Believe it or not, those cuts, however harsh were necessary in leveling out our housing market. By cutting starts, new home inventory has a chance to get back to normal levels allowing for the following GOOD things happen:
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Texas Home Central is proud to announce our New Home Search feature is now available!

Now, when you visit TexasHomeCentral.com, you can search for new homes that are under construction or available inventory homes from home builders like Darling Homes, David Weekley Homes and Highland Homes to name just a few.

We are excited to offer this new feature with our unique map-based home search. As far as I know, TexasHomeCentral.com is the only website available on the Internet that allows a home buyer to search for resale homes on the MLS, new homes from homebuilders and For Sale By Owner homes.

Search for New Homes Now!
$1200 Rebate when you buy a new home with us!

We have spent thousands of dollars and many months in development to make this available in an effort to make your home search as easy and intuitive as possible. I hope you enjoy it but please be patient, we are still beta testing our new home search feature and there is likely to be hiccups along the way.

If you have any questions or are interested in working with a Realtor to help locate your dream home, please call us at 800-326-9011 or email me here. Thank you!

I am asked constantly whether it’s a good idea to add a Realtor on to a new home contract. Is it a good idea or will a homebuilder penalize you by holding back on available incentives. Let’s discuss a few basic truths to answer that question.

SET INCENTIVES AMOUNT

The sales person in a new home model has a set dollar amount that they are allowed to use to discount the home in an effort to close the sale. That dollar amount changes month to month based on sales needs but there is rarely an opportunity to get more off on the home. Some weak sales people will give that money away the second you walk in the door. The good sales person will hold back and offer a little off the price to see where you stand and then offer just enough more to close the sale. This tactic makes you believe you got a better deal by negotiating them down when in fact they were playing on your emotions. They typically hold back on some of the money for later in the homebuilding process if something goes wrong and they need to offer money or free appliances to make the problem go away. Here is where a Good Realtor can make sure you get the full discount or more.

REALTOR COMMISSION BUILT IN

Close to 80% of all new home contracts are brought to the new home builder by Realtors. Due to this fact, the majority of new home builders place a 3% padding into the sales price to cover a Realtor’s commission. If a home buyer does not have a Realtor, that 3% goes to the builder’s bottom line and is rarely ever given to the home buyer. The sales person does not have the ability to give it away without the corporate office’s approval. It’s corporates job to increase margins not give money away. It has been my experience, both as a Realtor and as a New Home Sales Person for many years that having a Realtor on the contract does NOT hurt the deal. In fact, 9 times out of 10, a GOOD Realtor can get you a larger price reduction than the set discount amount using past new home sales and negotiating the price per square foot, etc.

OTHER BENEFITS TO HAVING A GOOD REALTOR

• A GOOD Realtor will know the new home builders and can assist you in choosing the right one based on quality and customer service, not just attractive floorplans.
• A GOOD Realtor will know which new home communities will not only fit your needs but will also provide you the best investment and resale in the future.
• A GOOD Realtor will be able to negotiate the best deal for you and help you keep your costs lower by suggesting which upgrades are really worth it and which ones can be done later at a huge savings. Builder upgrades are where they make most of their margins and usually upcharge over 100% on the actual cost. $500 in crown moulding will cost over $1,000 as an upgrade.
• A GOOD Realtor will be able to assist you during the home building process to identify real vs. superficial problems and help you make sure these issues are addressed and corrected.
• A GOOD Realtor will be able to identify whether using the homebuiler’s mortgage company is a good deal or if it’s better to use an outside lender. Often times, a builder will add incentives if you use their mortgage company. Nothing is free, their interest rate is usually higher (not always) which is why they can give the extra incentive money. Unless you plan to sell the home in less than 4 years (which is not wise unless the community is closed out), it’s almost always better to go with the lower interest rate.

Notice I said, “A GOOD Realtor”. Not every Realtor is going to know the ins and outs of the homebuilding business and ensure that you will get the very best deal. If you are in the market for a new home or simply have questions, please email me or call me at 800-326-9011 and I will be happy to help.

RESEARCH NEW HOME BUILDERS IN DALLAS FORT WORTH
Highland Homes
David Weekley Homes
Darling Homes
Huntington Homes
New Lineage Custom Homes

As if the real estate in McKinney Texas’ Stonebridge Ranch wasn’t amazing and beautiful enough, Jeffory Balckard, developer and president of The Blackard Group is developing the Adriatica at Stonebridge Ranch. This is a vision that you need to see for yourself! You may find yourself moving to McKinney Texas.

Blackard’s vision for the Adriatica comes from the harbor village of Supetara on the island of Brac in Croatia. This Mediterranean harbor town is being transported to Adriatica at Stonebridge Ranch and is estimated to cost over $250 million. So far, the “Kastel” (castle), a 28,000 square foot office building, a retail structure housing Starbucks, The UPS Store and a Spa has been completed and are open for business.

The Front of the Kastel in Adriatica

If you think the Adriatica is only for work and play, then you’re sadly mistaken. George Fuller, a local Luxury home builder in the DFW Metroplex is building a residential area in the village, with 75 villas and 297 condominiums and lofts available. The designs are beautiful and the homes will be very close to the water.

A central feature of the community that my kids will love is the village harbor and will provide a mooring place for a scale replica of an Old World sailing ship… the “Dubrovnik”. Argh!

For those of you that are not familiar with Stonebridge Ranch, it is located in McKinney, Texas in the north east corner of the DFW Metroplex. It is primarily residential with some commercial near the center. It’s an amazing place for relocation and even when the housing market is slow in the surrounding areas, it’s almost always a hot real estate market here.