Are Dallas Home Buyers Sitting On The Fence?

By Tom Branch, on June 4th, 2011

Home Buyers Sitting on the Fence

I was out working in one of my new home developments today.

As I chatted with the sales staff about how things were going, a common theme became apparent. Potential buyers are sitting on the fence waiting on home prices and interest rates to drop further!

This has been fueled by the reports of nationwide home price drops by many of the national media outlets. The old adage,”location, location, location” comes to mind.  All real estate is local!

I did an interview locally last week when this news was released discussing the local numbers.   Dallas Fort Worth is actually bucking the national trend with average sales prices up 3.2 percent in North Texas and 5.4 percent in Collin County. Prices are not going down here.

I looked deeper into the numbers and found that new listings are down 17 percent while sales volume is down only 14 percent. What these numbers indicate is that the market is absorbing inventory at a rate greater than new inventory is coming on the market. The supply of available homes is getting smaller. This helps keep prices stable or rising.

To be fair, values may continue to drop in other places depending on a number of factors.  Contact a local real estate professional to find out what’s going on in your area.

Mortgage interest rates are at 50 year lows. They may fluctuate slightly but I don’t see them trending much lower. The only reason they remain so low today is because the government is buying most of the mortgage paper and holding the rates low. Eventually the government is going to want to push this back into the private sector but the private sector is not going to get back into mortgage backed securities until rates climb.

What does all this mean for Dallas Fort Worth home buyers? Now may be one of the best times to purchase a home. Prices are stable in most areas and we’re seeing an upward trend over the past year.  Mortgage interest rates are at 50-year lows.

It’s time for home buyers in DFW to get off the fence.

Search the North Texas MLS

Tom Branch, Broker, CDPE, SFR

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WSBA Interview – Rental Revival: Census Shows Shift Away From Home Ownership

By Tom Branch, on June 2nd, 2011

For Rent Sign in Front of Home

I did an interview with Gary Sutton with WSBA in York, PA on June 1st.

It was a follow-up piece to an article published in USA Today titled, “More Than 500 Cities See More Homes Become Rentals.” The authors wrote, “In the aftermath of the nation’s housing-market collapse and recession, more than 500 midsize and large cities have seen a rise in the share of homes that are rented rather than owned”

Most of the cities with the higher changes towards renters were same cities hit hard by the mortgage meltdown and subsequent foreclosures. I saw another news story showing that home ownership peaked at 69 percent and had dropped to 66 percent .

Clearly this should not be a big surprise. Not only did we have a housing bubble, but a home ownership bubble as well. Further, the people who lost their homes to foreclosure still need a place to live and will likely be tenants for a number of years.

The good news is that investors are buying homes in these areas and rather than flipping them as they did in years past, they are converting them into income-producing rental properties1.  It’s a great time to purchase income-producing properties as prices have dropped, interest rates are low, and the demand for rental homes is up.

Contact us for more information on investing in income-producing real estate.

Tom Branch, Broker, CDPE, SFR

1. See “Flipping Versus Income Producing Real Estate Investing“

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KRLD Interview – Home Prices in North Texas

By Tom Branch, on June 1st, 2011

On The Air Interview

I did an interview with Mitch Carr on KRLD News on May 31st. With all the news of rapidly decreasing property values across the nation, he wanted to know what the Dallas Fort Worth market was doing.

“Texas likes to buck the trends” I told him. Property values in North Texas are up 3.5 percent and Collin County home values are up 5.4 percent.

Mitch asked the logical follow-up question, “Why?”

There are many reasons. First, Dallas has a stable economy. Second, Dallas never saw the run-up in prices so there was no bubble to burst. We do have our share of distressed properties, but the market is absorbing them at a reasonable rate.

I looked deeper into the local statistics and noted that listings are down 17 percent and home sales are down 14 percent over 2010. That’s also a good sign for housing prices. Fewer listings helps keep inventory down and prices stable.

Know the value of your DFW home.

Search the MLS for North Texas Homes for Sale.

Tom Branch, Broker, CDPE, SFR

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