A Different Kind of Real Estate

 The kind you can wear

Movin’ On Up

To Uptown, that is. This morning David and Britt Fair told us about the continued influx of people moving inside the Loop from the far northern reaches of Dallas (Collin County, Frisco) into downtown and Uptown. This makes total sense: not only is gas $3.00 a gallon, but the time on the road takes it’s toll (no pun intended) and wreaks havoc with accidents, discomforts, consumption. Oil is responsible for any inflationary trends, they said…. what we really need to do is buy a country that has lots of oil. Oh wait. We’re sort of doing that.

Market Up, Down, Flat, Confusing?

I waited to respond to Debbie Downer’s Steve Brown’s piece this morning — which I thought was pretty balanced — until after sitting in on David and Britt Fair’s morning presentation at Keller Williams’ North Dallas office. Lots said, here’s the recap:

1. Fed meets again 3/18 — expect another rate cut.

2. The current mortgage lending environment is, in a word, sucky especially if you seek a jumbo loan — anything more than $417,000. Jumbos are about 1 point higher than conventional loans currently. Oh and as for that “stimulation” from the Feds, ain’t gonna help us as the increase in jumbos is based on a tricky percentage of the average home prices in each area. (See, even the Feds know that Real Estate is a local story. ) Our average home price at about $200,000 will keep our jumbos at $417,000. Who’s gonna benefit from the Fed’s stretching jumbo money? Riverside, CA which, according to The PMI Group, has a 94% chance of price decline.

3. But hang in there — jumbos may improve, saves Britt. I mean, why are lenders jittery over lending big bucks to worthy credit risks who have high equity in their homes and are not about to flee to Mexico? If anything, this should be a ripe market. Basically, those Wall Street shenanigans (few are buying up the jumbos) are the culprits but that may change once some investment sharpie figures it all out, more lenders enter the market, get a little competition going, yadayada.

4. Local and national media continues to blabber about the housing crisis, causing more panic and concern. Gotta get those headlines.

5. “Some reporters” compare apples to oranges in their figuring, then tell us that home sales are down 16 percent in Jan. 2008 compared to Jan. 2007. In reality, because those Jan. 2008 figures are preliminary and not complete, that is not a true picture. Sales are still down, but by 8% for the whole area from one of the busiest years in Dallas history.

6. The market really should be divided into three categories: entry level (which is down, this the place where sub-prime hit hardest), mid-level, which is up, and luxury, which is a rocket ship.

7. Comparing December ‘06 data to December ‘07, sales prices of homes priced $250,000 to $299,999 are down by 6%. But homes priced $300,000 to $399,000 are up by 2%. Homes of $1,000,000 and more are up a whopping 16%. This is all based on NTREIS data.

8. Lot sales are out of sight. Case in point: this 1.5 acre property down the street from me — several Realtors told me it would sit. Came home Monday night to see “closed ” plastered all over Jeannie’s Briggs-Freeman sign.

9. We have strong job creation, corporate relocations and the Barnett Shale.

10. DFW population has moved up to become the fourth largest metropolitan area in the U.S., under New York, L.A. and Chicago and edging out Philly.

THE Stoneleigh

Copycats . I think my photo looks newer….

House On Lexington

Peggy has some strong words for a property on Lexington….read the comments. Hilarious!

Crime Update

This crime report in the areas south of Lakewood comes just as those neighborhoods are getting hot. Of course, maybe this is how you have to take things into your own hands to protect property values.