Friday, May 22, 2009

Development showcases European-style homes, lots

May 17, 2009

Chapel Creek features Old World style in Frisco, offering custom homes and lots in a setting surrounded by creeks and winding trails.

This LandPlan development features a collection of European-style designs – custom homes and estate homes – priced from the $800s to more than $3 million.

Chapel Creek is one of the fastest-selling communities in the area, offering lots for single-household development in west Frisco. Additional lot discounts are available through May 2009.

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Far North Dallas homes offer distinctive features

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Award-winning Cambridge Homes presents Cambridge Gate, a secluded, gated enclave of luxury patio homes located on the west side of Preston Road, just north of Frankford.

Widely recognized for fine design, Cambridge Homes specializes in creating carefree "adult lifestyle" homes. According to Phyllis Firebaugh, sales manager for Cambridge Homes, "These beautiful patio homes are designed for discerning adults of experience and taste. They love the fact that they don't have to give up fine quality and excellent design just because they no longer need large numbers of rooms".

Cambridge's award-winning, carefree patio home designs range in price from the $300s to the $800s. The Designer Model Home at 6169 Stapleford is open from noon to dusk daily or by appointment.

For additional information about Cambridge Gate, call 469-446-2885 or visit www.cambridgehomes.biz.

Source

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Dallas-area home prices fall nearly 5%

A few years ago, news of a 5 percent drop in Dallas home prices would have caused blood to run cold in the local real estate market.

But in the current national housing market depression, Dallas' price decline is being hailed as the best in the country.

Dallas had the smallest home price decline among 20 cities in the January Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Full Story

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Survey shows Dallas-area home prices gained nearly 2%

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

Most Texas home markets continued to eke out tiny increases in home prices in early 2009, according to a new report by First American CoreLogic.

Texas home prices were up by just less than 2 percent in the California-based housing analyst’s latest survey released Monday.

While Texas prices rose, nationwide home prices in January fell by 11.6 percent compared to a year ago to the lowest level in almost five years.

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Monday, March 23, 2009

February existing home sales rise by 5.1 percent

PMZ Real Estate Agent Michelle Zeiter, left, walks into a bank owned home she isMarch 23, 2009
By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Real Estate Writer

WASHINGTON – Sales of previously occupied homes jumped unexpectedly in February by the largest amount in nearly six years as first-time buyers took advantage of deep discounts on foreclosures and other distressed properties.

Economists said sales, while still at levels not seen since 1997, may finally be coming back to life after declining sharply following the stock market plunge last autumn.

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Collin, Denton debate future Dallas North Tollway extension

March 23, 2009
By ED HOUSEWRIGHT / The Dallas Morning News

A simple line on a map could translate into billions of dollars for either Collin County or Denton County.

That line represents a proposed extension of Dallas North Tollway, and the adjacent counties are squabbling over the alignment because of the economic bonanza it could bring as homes and businesses spring up around it.

Collin and Denton county officials had agreed the 7-mile stretch should be on the counties' common border to let each share in the riches.

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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Koi turn up dead in Fort Worth Japanese Garden after accidental chlorination

More than 100 Koi fish were discovered dead today in the Japanese Garden pond after the water was accidentally chlorinated overnight.

The garden’s three ponds normally contain about 800 of the brightly colored orange fish that range in size from about six inches to three feet in length.

The accidental chlorination occurred during normal pond cleaning that is carried out every other year.

The procedure involves lowering the water level in the pond and placing two 55-gallon stock tanks filled with raw water in the pool to contain the fish. The tanks are filled with a water line that normally carries raw water, but due to a maintenance procedure at the nearby South Holly Water Treatment Plant, the line also was being injected with tap water. Tap water contains levels of chlorine that are safe for human consumption, but are harmful to Koi fish.

The Japanese Garden is closed to the public today.

Source

Home sales, outlook getting better

Austin Business Journal
A February survey of public and private builders across the country from John Burns Real Estate Consulting shows that Texas saw new home sales, traffic and expectations pick up in January. The survey gathered information from 236 home building industry executives.

“I spent several days in Texas this month and can confirm that the pick-up is real and is driven by lower mortgage rates in an area where home price appreciation was insignificant and the economy is still OK,” said John Burns, CEO of Irvine, Calif.-based John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

However, Burns said, new home prices are still trending downward everywhere, including Texas.

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Thursday, October 02, 2008

Dallas home prices down over 2007, but still faring better than most major cities

September 30, 2008

Standard & Poor’s released its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for the month of July on Tuesday, proving that while home values in Dallas are down, home prices in the Big D still fare better than in most American cities.

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite home price index shows home prices in Dallas declining 2.5 percent over the previous year's July and rising 0.6 percent between June and July. Of the 20 cities indexed, Dallas performed second best in one-year changes, second only to Charlotte's 1.8 percent decline for the one-year period.

The 20-city composite index as a whole saw an annual decline of 16.3 percent in July.

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North Texas cities among those with highest employment gains

September 30, 2008

A report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor shows a majority of metropolitan areas evaluated for August reporting higher year-over-year unemployment. Of the 369 areas studied, 354 had gains in unemployment.

But based on the report, North Texas is faring significantly better than most metropolitan areas.

Instead of reporting disappointing results, the North Texas region (Dallas-Plano-Irving) posted a year-over-year employment gain of 44,600 new jobs or a 2.6 percent increase in employment in the month of August — the highest employment gain of 32 metropolitan areas surveyed. The broader region of Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington also reported the largest year-over-year employment increase of 59,800 jobs, out of 310 metropolitan areas surveyed.

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Southwest begins "fly by" security lanes at select airports

October 1, 2008

Southwest Airlines Co. said Wednesday it’s rolling out priority security lanes for Business Select and Rapid Reward A-List Customers at certain airports later this month.
Dallas-based Southwest (NYSE: LUV) says the priority lanes, which are branded “Fly By,” are part of an initiative to enhance customer experience by allowing select passengers to move more quickly through the security check-in process.
The lanes will be available later this month at Baltimore/Washington International, Dallas Love Field, Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Orange County John Wayne, Denver International, San Francisco International and Los Angeles International.

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Bluffview is countryside in the city

September 26, 2008

By MARY JACOBS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

There's only one neighborhood in the city that reminds Kim Kanzler of her hometown in Connecticut: Bluffview.

With its winding, hilly streets, abundant trees and variety of houses, Bluffview "is the closest thing to New England that you can find anywhere in Dallas," she said.

Bluffview, in the northwestern part of Dallas, has been "discovered" in the last 10 to 15 years, and prices reflect that. Despite the housing market downturn, "the houses are flying off the shelves," said Douglas Newby, a Realtor.

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U.S. home prices fall record 16.3%, Dallas prices only 2.5%

September 30, 2008

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

Against the backdrop of slumping financial markets, there was more bad news Tuesday for the battered U.S. housing sector.

Nationwide home prices fell by a record 16.3 percent in the latest measure of housing values, released Tuesday in the Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Index.

In the Dallas area, home prices in the July report were down only 2.5 percent from a year earlier in the 20-city monthly survey.

Full Story

Thursday, September 04, 2008

How to stage your home to sell fast

Your stuff may be treasure to you, but it's not to prospective home buyers. If you want to give your home every edge you can when trying to sell, professional stagers can help you decide what to keep and what to store away.

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Friday, August 15, 2008

10% of Dallas-Fort Worth homes sell for a loss, Zillow finds

The Dallas Morning News - August 12, 2008

One out of every 10 homes purchased in the Dallas-Fort Worth area during the last year sold for a loss, according to a new study by the online real estate company Zillow Inc.
And about 10 percent of people who've bought houses here in the last five years owe more than the property is worth.
These statistics – based on the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical area that the U.S. Census uses – are part of a nationwide quarterly housing study released Tuesday by Zillow.
The same report shows that nationwide home values in the second quarter dropped almost l0 percent from a year earlier – the biggest such decline on record.

Full Story

Friday, July 18, 2008

Texas property markets likely to cool but still outpace U.S., economist says

The Dallas Morning News - July 18, 2008

Texas property markets will continue to outpace the nation, but things are likely to cool a bit through next year.

“The Texas housing markets are going to be spotty,” said Dr. James Gaines, a research economist with Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Center.

Some residential markets “will be doing very well and some will be doing poorly,” Dr. Gaines said to a corporate real estate group meeting in Addison on Thursday.

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Dallas-Fort Worth home foreclosure postings jump 18%

The Dallas Morning News - July 17, 2008

Home foreclosure postings in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are up 18 percent in the latest filings.

Almost 4,600 homes are scheduled for foreclosure next month, according Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.

That compares with 3,870 postings for August 2007.

Despite the big increase since last year, total foreclosure filings for the D-FW area are below the recent peak in February, when more than 5,300 postings were recorded.

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Some Dallas townhouses attract buyers but other projects die

The Dallas Morning News - February 8, 2008

A stone's throw from Dallas' tallest skyscrapers, builder Chris Sorrells is busy constructing a new neighborhood of urban row houses.

His Ross Avenue Brownstones are about two blocks from downtown's Arts District and will be ready next month.

"Now that people are seeing what they will look like, I'm getting a lot of interest," Mr. Sorrells said. "I believe this area of Dallas will be the next Uptown in a few years.

"But it may take a little longer because of our economy."

A few blocks away on Bryan Street, another large townhouse development has stalled. Work halted months ago, leaving unfinished utilities and concrete driveways surrounded by weeds.

That's the story in the current housing market: Some projects are moving ahead and still attracting buyers while others have been given up for dead.

Full Story

Friday, April 11, 2008

Report: DFW won't see big home price declines

Report: Dallas-Fort Worth won't see big home price declines 11:08 PM CDT on Thursday, April 10, 2008 By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News stevebrown@dallasnews.com

While North Texas' housing market decline has accelerated in recent months, analysts are still betting that the Dallas-Fort Worth area won't see measurable price declines. Indeed, the latest report from mortgage insurance firm PMI Group says that D-FW is one of the last places in the country likely to see a drop in home prices during the next couple of years. There's less than a 1 percent chance that home prices will fall here, according to PMI's spring risk index report, which was released Thursday. At the same time, PMI says that 13 of the nation's top housing markets have more than a 60 percent likelihood of home price declines. Full Story

Saturday, March 22, 2008

GE Invests $18M in Two Apartment Complexes

ALLEN, TX-GE Real Estate of Norwalk, CT has made an equity investment of $17.8 million with partner BH Equities to acquire two adjacent Class A multifamily assets located in this newly developed community 12 miles north of North Dallas. These new North Dallas real estate properties are Benton Pointe, a 456-unit, three-story garden apartment complex at 425 Benton Dr., and Lansbrook at Twin Creek, a 288-unit, two-story garden apartment complex at 505 Benton Dr.