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Dallas Real Estate: The Elite Twenty Celebrates Twenty

In 1990, an unusual cluster of real estate agents got together and did something very unique for real estate agents: they criticized each other’s listings to their face.

Of course the group started as a networking group back when social networking meant coffee klastches. But soon, through friendship and support, the Elite Twenty, started by founding member Joy Nees, began a tradition of touring each others listings and actually hand-writing critical reports. Reports which were then read, discussed, distributed, collected and put under lock and key. In other words, they critiqued each others listings. No holds barred,  this group was tough.

“We are all competent, competitive agents,” says Virginia Cook agent Jo Pressly. “When a seller adopts the recommendations in the written report, the likelihood of a sale increases dramatically. It’s like he’s got a panel of experts rather than a solo agent. In real estate, 80% of the sales are made by 5% of the agents and our high sales volume in the group is proof of how honest criticism works.”

The Twenty represent six different brokerage firms, and members have worked deals against each other across the table. They act as a 24/7 resource group for each other. There is also the Elite Twenty “hotline”, a voice message system that can be instantly forwarded to all members, like a private Twitter account. Each month, eight members’ listings are toured, scrutinized, all but navel-cleansed by the Elite Twenty. Pinky promise: no hurt feelings.

I’d like to be a fly on the wall: I think it would be great  fun to grab a video camera during their next tour: let’s see what the pros say to each other, not just to us the customer or behind people’s backs!

Texas Homeowners Getting Real At Last: 73% Now Accept Realtors’ Values (+/- 10%)

The Lone Star State marches to it’s own beat when it comes to home price perception and Presidential approval ratings. Texas Realtors are not President Obama’s biggest fans. Only 28% of Texas Realtors approve of the job he is doing, while 60% strongly disapprove.  Nationally, 42% of Realtors approved of the President and his policies.

Texas agents in the first quarter were not nearly as pessimistic about home values as were their colleagues in other states. Quarter 2, Texas Realtors still called our market stable and improving. But come quarter 3, some sort of gloomy reality must have set in. Texas Realtors have reduced their valuation expectations and the effect is rubbing off on homeowners. 73% of Texas homeowners now believe their home is worth what their agent says it is, give or take ten percent higher or lower.

Don’t think agents are not taking that into pricing consideration.

But here’s the cheery note: 43% of Texas Realtors think home values or prices in Texas will increase over the next few months. That’s almost double the 24% who thought prices would increase last quarter. Hang on, we just may be skidding into the finish line here, I hope.

BTW: This survey is from HomeGain.

Bottoms Up In Real Estate Yet?

Reports out today are very upbeat: my friends at HomeGain report that nearly 70% of realtors nation-wide think that home prices will remain the same or increase over the next few months. Case-Shiller, the voice of the national real estate Gods, at least on Wall Street, says home prices have improved in 20 U.S. cities including Dallas. In other words, prices are on the upswing. Later today, I’ll get a HomeGain report exclusively on Texas that I’m told is very, very different from what the rest of the nation looks like.

First Call To Expand First Time Home Buyer Credit

And it comes from the senior vice president of Realogy Corp., parent corp to Better Homes and Gardens and Coldwell Banker. What do you think, shall we expand the first time home buyer credit beyond the Nov. 30 deadline?

Guaranty Bank Courted By Not One but Two North Texas Powerhouses…

Over on Frontburner, Wick posts that Dallas banker billionaire Gerald Ford is leading a consortium of financial equity groups making a play for the assets of Guaranty Financial Bank. One of those equity groups in the Ford consortium is Oak Hill Capital, headed by Robert M. Bass of Fort Worth.

Banks Added 10,000 Branches During Boom — No Duh!

Just saw this story and had to share with you, since most of those branches were erected to loan funds to home buyers and builders. How many times did I write and blog that there are were are more banks in Dallas than churches and gas stations? Now it turns out that was only true in the city’s more affluent areas: barely one in 10 banks were built in inner cities or poor ‘hoods. (Another no duh.) And of course, we told you so. Quoting Wachovia’s Julia Wellborn in a story I wrote for D CEO a little over a year ago:

“If it seems there are more banks than churches or gas stations in Dallas, it’s partly because 78 percent of DFW residents now live within 10 minutes of a Wachovia office—all thanks to Wellborn. “As far as we know,” she says, “no other bank has come in with a ‘build it from the ground up strategy,’ as we did.”

House Porn When You’re Feeling Old

I am feeling like a big huge house today, something with five bedrooms, eight baths, tons of marble and granite, a kitchen that could feed an army — this one boasts five dishwashers, an authentic brick pizza oven outside, a swim-up bar off the outdoor living space.  I really feel like outdoor living space today with a giant flat screen TV. But I also want a mega master with separate bathrooms — he can have his own shower and potty — and I want my master closet to be the size of a Highland Park home. I want stone walls and hand-scraped hardwoods, high ceilings and chandeliers. I want I want I want and this home has it all in Vaquero for only $4,200,000.

Should Mom And Dad “Gift You” With A Down Payment For A Home?

OK, let’s face it: many of us got a little help from mom and dad when we bought our first homes back before zero-down loans. Guess what, it’s 1980 all over again. Tough Love in lending and we are back to ten,  twenty percent down payments,  tough for kids fresh out of school, loaded with education debt, to come up with. No wonder lenders are seeing a surge in kids asking M&D for help with down payments. Keep in mind, the help cannot be a loan and you must document the down payment gift with a “gift letter.” My fave mortgage blog has all the details on the right way to do a gift letter, and will even email you a sample. To satisfy underwriter’s increasingly unsatiable appetites, you’ll need the gift letter, the gift in a cashier’s check, and no co-mingling of funds on deposit. 

This is not new: the tradition at Romanian weddings was to pin money on the bride (a tradition I’d like to revive), that money going to help the couple buy their first home. There are also many ways parents can help their children buy a home without giving them a chunk of cash. For example, we let my daughter and her fiance live with us while they saved up for a down payment. You can also cover the cost of property improvements on the new home once they move in.

Call me Debbie Divorce Downer, but I am a member of the 50% divorce rate generation: what do you do if the marriage doesn’t last? Let’s say you “gift” Johnny and Susie $20,000 for a down payment on a cute M Streets cottage. They split after two years. Texas is a community property state, home is to be sold and equity split. My take: you have just gifted your son-in-law $10,000. Am I correct?

Dallas Real Estate: Should A Homeowner Measure His Home’s Square Footage?

Great reader question:

How to calculate home square foot real estate?
What Gotchas should I be aware of?  A little advice would go a long way right now.

Big  “Gotcha”:  LAWSUIT. Disputes over square footage are one of the biggest reasons for trips to the courthouse in real estate. Justifiably so.  Say you buy your house for $300,000, you are told it’s 2200 square feet. Two years pass, you sell, get a buyer, that buyer hires an appraiser surprise surprise turns out your home is only 2100 square feet. Depending on the statute of limitations, you could sue both the seller you bought from and also perhaps your realtor. That’s why smart agents (and homeowners) only measure rooms for furniture, not legal square footage.

“Realtors have to document the source of their square footage,” says veteran appraiser Brad Edgar.

The documentation usually comes from the tax rolls, house plans or a certified appraiser who bears the responsibility.  CYA.

Dallas is a serious square footage town.  In some parts of the country, folks are more concerned with number of bedrooms or other attributes. But in Dallas, house size counts. That’s how we pay and no one likes to get shortchanged. (Don’t get me started on my soapbox of how real estate is a local story: call this reason number 999 why you cannot have an agent in Timbuktu sell you a home in Dallas.)

My advice: Find $150, the cost of an average home appraisal, and hire a certified appraiser who will take the legal heat in the rare event an error is made in calculating the square footage of your largest investment, your home. And keep a copy of that in your security deposit box at the bank.

SOLD! Saturday Estate Sale At D Home Of The Week House: Free Margarita If You Say “DallasDirt”

Remember our princess on Princess? Seems her prince has  swept her off her feet — signed on the dotted. The current owners of 3757 Princess must clear out and tell me they plan a huge “gay-rage” sale tomorrow (that’s July 11) from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

And if anybody mentions the word “Dallas Dirt”, a margarita may magically appear in their hot July hands.

D Sale Of The Week: Perfection On Pebblebrook

Calling all honeymooners, Mark Sanford would not have been crying in Argentina had he owned this home. Master-tub a must-see in this week’s listing, just reduced to $995,000 seconds before I hit publish. Dallas ranch homes really do make sense, and are making a huge resurgence. Not only does this home have it all — 4400 square feet, five bedrooms, four and a half baths, formals, three car back-entry garage, it is located in Russwood Acres, one of North Dallas hottest neighborhoods off Inwood and Royal. (Click here to see another hot North Dallas ‘hood.) Russwood (where President and Mrs. Bush also searched) boasts large lots like this half-acre honey loaded with leafy trees and beautiful lawns. 5340 Pebblebrook has been completely (and beautifully) remodeled with a state of the art kitchen, open spaces, granite slab counters, sauna in the tricked-out master bath, and a patio/pool area that screams “let me entertain you”.

Indeed!

Should You Really Shop On-Line Like Kate Middleton and Prince William For A House In Dallas, Texas?

Everyone’s doing it — even Kate and Will.Funny that I was thinking about shopping on line for homes while at Tuesday’s foreclosure auction. What spurred my thoughts? The heat, perhaps, but also the blind-ness of it all. As I perused the foreclosure lists in other people’s hands (one of these days I’ll pony up for a list of my own) I thought gee, sounds like a good zip code but what if this house backs up to power lines or Walnut Hill Lane? Then the “aha” moment: this is almost like shopping for a house on-line. Sure, we see glossy photos and drool over the house porn, but clever folks doctor those photos and spin the copy. (I even offer you tips to do so!) Face it: even when you kick the tires with the toes of your stilettos, you miss a lot. Like the time I bought a home and thought I had scrutinized every inch. Oh no. I am cleaning the floor in a closet one day and guess what I find? A hole right down to the crawl space, an open underground tunnel for rats and other critters.

Was that the home where a snake greeted me one morning?

Ilyce Glink has a great overall take on this, but here’s what I suggest you look out for in Texas: (more…)

Audio: Sawbuck/A.H. Belo Conference Call

As promised, we have at the bottom of this post the 29 minute long press conference call where Candy and I ask Dave Ellett (vice president for A. H. Belo Corporation and president/GM of Belo Interactive Media), Guy Wolcott (CEO of Sawbuck Realty), Steve Barnes (co-founder of Sawbuck), and Chewy Redding (product manager for Belo Interactive Media) questions about the A.H. Belo/Sawbuck Realty online real estate partnership.

Just to warn you the quality of the audio ain’t great. Due to some extenuating circumstances I was participating via my iPhone on speaker phone setting so my recorder could pick up the conversation. If it sounds like I’m shouting in your ears I sincerely apologize.

If you want the quick summary of the A.H. Belo/Sawbuck deal here it is:

- A.H. Belo has invested $2 million in Sawbuck Realty.

- Sawbuck’s site will become the new face of the “Home Center” portion of The Dallas Morning News Web site.

- Clients who contact Sawbuck Realty to enquire about a home for sale will eventually be put in touch with a local “partner” agent who will show them the home and represent them as the buyer’s agent.

- If a home is sold via a lead from Sawbuck, Sawbuck will take 30 percent off the top of the 3 percent buyer’s agent  commission.

- A.H. Belo will not directly receive proceeeds from these commissions, but they do have a stake in the company.

- Partner agents will be determined based on experience and other criteria set by Sawbuck. (I’ve heard five years experience and and at least 50 sales over the last five years.)

- A.H. Belo will continue to pursue traditional forms of ad revenue from real estate agents and brokerages. Good luck with that.

Click here to play the conference call

It’s Official: DMN Announces Sawbuck/A.H. Belo Internet Real Estate Partnership

The Dallas Morning News announced this morning what we’ve been reporting for days:

A.H. Belo Corporation, publisher of The Dallas Morning News, is investing in Sawbuck Realty, an online real estate broker that will bring its services this year into A.H. Belo’s territories in Southern California, Rhode Island and North Texas.

Sawbuck is expected to announce today that A.H. Belo has joined Sawbuck’s two co-founders, Guy Wolcott and Steve Barnes, in a $2 million round of investment in the young company. The individual contributions were not disclosed.

I’m in a conference call with A.H. Belo and Sawbuck Realty right now. As soon as it’s done we’ll get you audio from that call. Until then, jump for the interesting part of the DMN story: (more…)

Sawbuck’s Marriage With The DMN?

Wow, Josh, so this is the big story I heard bits and pieces of all last week. Very interesting. Here’s what I know about Sawbuck Realty: it’s an “alternative brokerage” without brick and mortar, launched in the D.C. area, and likes to partner with top-producing, hand-picked real estate agents in a given community. They are expanding rapidly.

Sawbuck’s business model serves consumers at the beginning of a transaction by offering an online, map-based search system for local listings — I mean all local listings, everything in the MLS — hence this new affiliation with The Dallas Morning News is, I suppose, going to take the MLS to the DMN website. Then Sawbuck refers the buyers to an agent in the company’s referral network, in our case, a Dallas agent. They take a referral fee of about 30% from every closed transaction. I guess, in this case, the DMN will take the fee. Looks like they are sending the agent a white hot lead: the company claims that 50% of leads become closings. And get this for drawing in consumers: Sawbuck is said to offer buyers a no-fee mortgage and settlement package, as well as all the property information online at the beginning of a search.  Sawbuck’s co-founder, Guy Woolcott, has said his company does a lot of work to qualify the buyers prior to sending that referral. Last year, here’s what he told Inman News:

“We’re actually contributing something to the deal,” Wolcott said. “We’re not just flipping (agents) a lead; we’re giving them a real buyer.”

The company offers live chat on its site so that consumers can ask questions without being connected to an agent and then choose to be connected when they are ready.

The agents that Sawbuck refers buyers to are hand-picked, and the company prefers to partner with experienced, top-producing agents who often are a part of a team, he said.”

My sources tell me they first heard about this Thursday when their giddy DMN ad reps paid them a visit, and they were shown a spiral notebook they had to return and keep very mum about the contents. The company launches Dallas August 1.

My head is swimming. This could be a brilliant partner$hip move on the part of the DMN – what is Belo’s stock symbol again? (Dialing broker now.)  They know that 95% of all real estate searches begin on line and online is where real estate is headed. Traditional brokerage models are antiquated — the cost of doing business never goes anywhere but up.

But gosh, how would you like to be a broker who has paid bazillions to advertise in the DMN all these years and now come to find them a competitor colleague? (more…)

Dallas Home Price Performance

Today Steve Brown tells us that, even though our home values have taken about a 15% price hit from the highs of 2007, Dallas home prices are projected to remain constant over the next twelve months while they are expected to continue to decrease nationally by 6.6 percent, all this according to yet another home price consultant guru, North Carolina-based Local Price Monitor. At a real estate event last night — so fun,  commercial brokers had to dress up in tuxedos and serve the ladies wine — I heard tale upon tale of buyers coming in with low-ball offers. At least one agent said, if you don’t have to sell your house, why would you have it on the market now? Getting back to the North Carolina study: yesterday, Steve quoted the folks at Harvard, who I personally find morbidly doom and gloom in their reports, as saying our home values were back to 1990’s values.  (CNN says new home sales in May down a third from 2008 levels.) While today’s report seems to contradict that report, I guess this means it still is not as bad as the 1980’s.

Dallas Real Estate Market Report: When Will The Sun Come Out?

Not ’till 2010, according to Wells Fargo Economics senior economist Eugenio Aleman, and well into 2010, when the job markets start to stabilize. (Austin’s job market is healing, but Austin job recovery may take even longer.) What we don’t need about now is rising interest rates, which have crept up lately. Rates over 7 and 8 percent could stifle any small gains we’ve made in this spring market.

Dallas’ Ross Perot, Jr: 18 Companies Eye Texas for Relo, Bank Regulators Are Slowing Recovery

Major Realtor event last night at the Creeks of Preston Hollow, Hillwood’s uber upscale privately-gated, one-acre residential community, land that was once private homes on big lots, snapped up by Kenny Troutt for a multiple acre family compound, who then decided his compound on Strait Lane was just fine, so Hillwood went shopping. Now the company really wants folks with high net value to go shopping. (Really, I am amazed GWB and Laura did not buy here, would have made security so much easier.) Some are already rung up, some are said to be circling. 

Last night’s fete was to pump up top agents to bring in the buyers. Hillwood brought in father-son team David and Britt Fair of Hexter-Fair Title Company — David L. Fair closed the Alliance deal for Ross Jr. — for a little state of the LOCAL real estate economy report.  June is when the fat lady sings in the real estate calendar. MLS dollar volume in June, 2007, the greatest year in history for Dallas real estate sales, topped $1.9 billion. June, 2008 topped $1.5 billion. Debbie Downer: April 2009 was about $950,000,000. There is no doubt buyers are seeking the very best purchase prices out there, and the biggest anchors keeping us from taking flight are consumer fears of job loss or loss of home value, and in-migrants who want to buy in North Texas but haven’t sold elsewhere.

And, of course, the banks. 

Mr. Perot stepped up to tell us that 14% of the folks moving out of California are moving to Texas. In the Lone Star State, we just don’t understand how bad it is elsewhere — companies love our low taxes, business-friendly ‘tudes, and lower costs of living. Texas is the 11th largest economy in the world. Perot spoke with Governor Rick Perry recently who told him 18 major companies want to relocate to Texas. North texas is where it’s happening. Overheard: one major company is currently circling us, the CEO hunting for a mega million dollar pad –at least $40m.

(more…)

Do You Know Who Holds Your Mortgage?

Dallas realtor Martin Weber scooted this my way today, and you need to read it. Affects everyone who owns property. In a nutshell, a confidential computer registry company that saved the banking industry more than ONE BILLION over the last few years may now be holding your mortgage along with about 59,999,999 others.

“From an office in the Washington suburbs, it played an integral, if unsung, role in the proliferation of mortgage-backed securities that fueled the housing boom. But with the collapse of the housing market, the name of MERS has been popping up on foreclosure notices and on court dockets across the country, raising many questions about the way this controversial but legal process obscures the tortuous paths of mortgage ownership.”

Zillow Explains Obama’s New Home Loan Modification Plan

Many of you probably read the news last week regarding the Obama administration’s plan to come up with a rather aggressive effort to stem the tide of foreclosures. In short it’s a way for homeowners to reduce their monthly payments (not including PMI) to 31% of their pre-tax monthly income. For the full monty visit Zillow’s blog post here that explains the process in detail and even points you to the right documents.

Here are the dirty details on qualifying:

• Must have originated mortgage before Jan. 1, 2009.
• Be an owner-occupant.
• Have an unpaid balance that is equal to or less than $729,750 (for a single-family home).
• Have trouble paying your mortgage due to financial hardship.
• Your monthly mortgage payment must also be more than 31% of your gross (pre-tax) monthly income. Duh.There’s a three-month trial period before you lock in the lower rate for five years and if your home is in danger of foreclosure the process will be halted while you apply for the program.

Working At Home… Naked, Maybe?

Not me, but Lisa Kanarek, author of Organize Your Home Office, and a dear friend. Lisa is an  expert at setting up, organizing and maintaining your home office. She writes about it, lectures about it, and has just launched a blog devoted to this issue called, tauntingly, Working Naked. Since many Realtors work from home — fully clothed, or not —  I thought you should check out Lisa’s blog. Topics (un)covered: home office technology, how to keep organized (fat chance chez moi), resources and ideas. Check it out, naked or not.

Home Ownership, Canadian Style

I had the pleasure of having lunch today with Bob Schlegel, Chairman and CEO of PAVESTONE, the Grapevine-based manufacturer of concrete pavers and building products, and his darling daughter, Kim Schlegel Whitman. We discussed home ownership in Canada versus the U.S. Canadians cannot deduct the home mortgage interest from their taxes. (Which does not steer them away from home ownership in the least.) President Obama is looking to limit that deduction for high net worth individuals to recoup additional revenue. With our Wall Street meltdown, many folks are looking closely at our rock solid neighbor to the north where the banks are not hemorrhaging and socialized medicine is the health plan. Canadian mortgages, says Bob, are higher. Schlegel told me his first home in Canada cost about $25,000 in the mid 70’s and held a 12% interest rate. Since you cannot deduct home mortgage interest in Canada, he says, the incentive is to hurry up and pay off that mortgage and own the home, which he and his wife Myrna did. Business interest is deductible, so Canadians tend to pay off their homes and take out other loans with deductible interest. The end result — more paid-off homes. From the perspective of good conservative fiscal living, says Bob, that’s what happens in Canada.

Home Ownership, Californian Style

I found this Inman News article very interesting because it depicts the way many of those who have been exposed to the ravages of home ownership — the foreclosures, fees, financial hurdles that we don’t have all that much of in Texas — are now thinking. It reminded me of what I thought when I was a 23 year old who had just moved to Texas from the Big Apple. Someone at work told me to get on the real estate train and get on fast because the  locomotive was leaving the station. Home ownership, I recall thinking, that’s are for grown ups! Of course, getting on that train with a $35,000 home is what got us where we are today.  But I ask: is home ownership in Texas getting more cumbersome, less affordable? Will today’s $35,000 train be work three times that much in twenty years?

Good News To Start The Day

Dallas is among the healthiest housing markets in the nation... Houston is number one, but we are not too shabby in the top five most robust.

Breaking News: Lucy And Ashley McRae Join Dave Perry-Miller Highland Park

The mother-daughter duo has left Virginia Cook and formed a team in Dave’s Highland Park office, sitting not too far from Ralph and Tom.

Is it just me being paranoid, but are we seeing a lot of folks returning to the mothership(s)?