When Case-Shiller speaks, we listen with bated breath. But maybe we shouldn’t. Year over year change in Dallas home prices was reported at 1.2%, which is almost exactly what I got using the MLS last week. But here’s my beef: non-disclosure of sales price. That means Case-Shiller, at least in Dallas, is looking at last listed prices in those non-disclosure sales on the MLS. We are lucky that Dallas is included in the 20-city data (because you know what, we are important!) but increasingly, Case-Shiller is becoming a topic of discussion for economists and not actual home buyers. That, and the data is way-delayed for buyers, as one of  my favorite bloggers points out:

The Obvious Flaws In The Case-Shiller System

The Case-Shiller Index is accurate, and imperfect. There’s several reasons why we have to look deeper than the headlines.

First, Case-Shiller releases data on 60-day delay and, over the last 60 days, housing data has been lackluster at best.

• Existing Home Sales are down 27 percent
• New Home Sales are down 12 percent
• Homebuilder confidence is down

Knowing what the housing market did on June 30 has as little relevance as knowing what the weather report was from that day.  You’re can’t apply the data from 2 months ago to make an informed decision today.

Real estate continues to be a local story and to find out true sales prices, you almost have to have inside info and a very sharp real estate agent whose ear is super-glued to the ground. Someone who is plugged in. I spoke with economist  Andrew Leventis at the Federal Housing Finance Agency in Washington, D.C. yesterday. He agreed — it’s really hard to get a barometer on home prices in non-disclosure states like Texas. Last week Steve Brown reported that, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Dallas area home prices rose 3.47%. Wowzers! But as I suspected, Andrew told me those figures came from the loans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought on the secondary market and they were conforming loans — that is, all under $417,000. That does not mean the homes were $417,000 or less. Folks could have had bought a two million dollar home but they had mortgages of no more than $417,000 in north Texas. So that 3.47% applied only to homes purchased under those conditions: lower priced homes (thank you first-time home buyer’s credit) (which some analysts think  may not have been worth it) or people flush with cash.

What’s interesting to note is that according to the FHFA report, Oakland, California home values rose 9.9%. That is an area of lower priced homes with a conforming loan rate of $729,000. The real story, I think, is Houston. Houston’s home values (according to FHFA) rose 5.07% . If Houston’s conforming loan rate is identical to ours, $417,000, — just checked, it is, for one-unit — what do they have that we don’t and how can we in Dallas get some?

I ask because Highland Park Presbyterian has been giving  neighbors heartburn over wanting to expand its parking — by tearing down one of several homes the church owns. Can you imagine anything more inane when we need more grass, less concrete, and more tax revenue for the city? Here’s a novel idea: walk to church!

Then today the Dallas City Council meets about that devilish Trinity Hillcrest Church up at Hillcrest and Willow Lane. Hillcrest already has bad blood with the neighborhood from when it expanded  back in 2002, which the neighbors bitterly opposed. But the church began stealthily buying homes in the ‘hood — not cheap homes, I tell you, upwards of half a million. Neighbors worried, squealed, the City Plan Commission denied the expansion, but Hillcrest hired some savvy attorneys and had their way. So then the neighbors hired an attorney… yadayadayada. Parties settled but the homeowners claimed at a recent meeting that Hillcrest has still not completed it’s landscape/fence plan. The church says no can do, it has fallen on tough financial times. Residents at the home owners meeting I attended say that could be because the last minister allegedly ran off with one of the parishoners —- hanky panky while doing God’s work — which put a downer on the church mood, as parishioners left.

Now Hillcrest wants to fill its coffers by leasing space to a “private Christian school” called Coram Deo Academy.  Maximum attendance of 250 kids, but the homeowners are suspicious. Eric Nicholson at Preston Hollow People diligently reported that when pressed, Hillcrest attorney John Fowler (whose children attend the school)  “acknowledged that as many as 500 students could be enrolled at one time.”

And, as Eric reported (May 14 issue, go buy it!) Plan Commissioner Bruce Bernbaum and fellow commissioners were ticked off by the school’s application because it made no mention of Coram Deo and didn’t fit the objectives of a special-use permit — especially when one hundred people from the neighborhood were objecting.

At the meeting I attended — they were hot!

Alas. Coram Deo is moving ahead and plans to take the case to Federal Court if the Dallas City Council says no today. Forget Fourth of July Fireworks, I bet there will be fireworks at City Hall today!

Back to our poll:

“The question is being asked no doubt due to recent press coverage of some “halfway houses” located in residential neighborhoods, unbeknownst to the area’s homeowners and operating under questionable management practices. And there is a site proposed in Oak Cliff near a quiet neighborhood and school which has been covered as well. This is a timely topic!”

“EVERYONE in this entitled society is an addict – like it or not – those in recovery are the ONLY people with any health at all.”

“If they are not relapsing, yes. Just don’t burn the place down.”