Tear it down now to save on your Taxes

It's the bulldozer time of year in Preston Hollow and North Dallas. Smart folks who are hanging on to tear down houses that are sitting on lots for future building, get those buildings demolished before January 1st. One of the primary reasons to bring on the bulldozers now is for tax purposes.

Property taxes in Dallas are based on the status and condition of the property as of January 1st each year. If the land is vacant of a structure, then the owner pays taxes on the land value only. Buyers are often wise to close before the end of the year as well to secure their homestead exemption. The 20% savings is usually worth it. Just keep in mind that banks and title companies are closed on weekend and holiday and often the process takes a little longer this time of year.  [where: 75230]

Santa is coming to Preston Forest

Santa will be at the Virginia Cook Realtors office at Preston and Forest on Saturday, December 4th. If you'd like to avoid the mall crowd with your little ones and bring them by for a visit with St. Nick, just give me a call or send me an email. We're scheduling times for the kids to sit on Santa's lap, have their photos taken (with your camera or ours) and enjoy some refreshments. This is our company's small gift to the community. [where: 75230]

Avoid Thanksgiving Plumbing Problems

You're probably aware that the day after Thanksgiving Day is the busiest time of the year for retailers. But did you know that it's also one of the busiest days of the year for plumbers?

The big holiday meal preparation and cleanup can lead to a lot of unwanted waste in the kitchen drain and garbage disposal. Also, a house full of holiday guests who require additional clothes washing, showers and toilet flushes puts a strain on household plumbing. Incoming calls to Roto-Rooter, for kitchen jobs alone, will jump 50 percent above the average Friday. The four-day Thanksgiving weekend averages a 21 percent increase over any other Thursday through Sunday period during the year.

The company says Thanksgiving hosts can avoid a visit from their plumber over the holiday weekend by following these clog-preventing tips:

•  Never pour fats or cooking oils down drains. They solidify in pipes. Instead, wipe grease from pots with paper towels and throw in trash.
• Avoid putting stringy, fibrous or starchy waste in the garbage disposal. Poultry skins, celery, fruit & potato peels, for example, cannot be sufficiently broken down. I can tell you from personal experience that potato peels in the garbage disposal is a recipe for disaster.
• Make sure the disposal is running when you put food into it. Don't wait until it's full to turn it on.
• For homes hosting weekend guests, it's a good idea to wait ten minutes between showers so slow drains have time to do their job.
• Try to address any plumbing problems before the holiday and before guests arrive. However, in holiday emergencies, don't hesitate to ask up front about extra holiday service fees.
• As always, know your limits. Often, minor plumbing problems turn into plumbing catastrophes if not handled properly.  [where: 75230]

Spy Cameras in homes for sale

I occasionally tour a property that is listed for sale and wonder if I'm being watched ... by the owner's  hidden camera. I'm not a snooper and I don't pry into people's personal objects when I'm in their home (and I make sure my clients don't either). But there are people out there who like to open drawers and are a little too curious about the seller's lifestyle. At least they do in the movies.

Some homeowners have actually taken to spying on Realtors and potential buyers when they tour their home. Hidden monitors come in all shapes and sizes today. They can be disguised as smoke detectors, clocks, picture frames, etc. and are often called 'nanny monitors'.  It's never happened to me - to my knowledge - but I know other agents who have experienced it. I've heard their stories and they were not happy.

While it may not be illegal (and I'm not sure about that), it just seems kind of shady. Would you ever use a spy camera to monitor people in your own house? What would you do if you were 'spied on' in someones home?   [where: 75230]

If you've been waiting for the bottom ...

... I'd stop waiting. Yesterday mortgage expert Lisa Peters spoke with the Pacesetters Network Group about interest rates and market activity. In the past 2 weeks mortgage rates have risen .25 percent. That might not sound like a lot, but it is seen as the beginning of an upward trend by most experts. If you've been waiting to buy or refinance, lock in your rate today.

[where: 75230]

How Buyers Find Your Home

What methods do perspective purchasers use to find the home of their dreams? The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has just released the 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. This report is recognized by most as the best compilation of data on today’s buyers and sellers because of the enormous amount of data available at NAR’s fingertips.

 Here is what most buyers do first when they start looking for a home:
You can see that buyers today want to explore their options online (combined 47%) or check with industry professionals (combined 27%). You could argue that the use of the internet is a fairly new phenomenon, however, the report looks back over the last nine years. While the percentage of those using the internet has dramatically increased (from 8% to 37%), it might interest you to know that even back in 2001 only 9% of buyers found their home through print media (that number is now 2%).   [where: 75230]

Timing a purchase today

If you are thinking of buying a home, there has never been a better time to purchase because ...
Interest rates are historically low.

The selection of homes for sale is plentiful.

And prices are still very compelling.

See the stats below!

Free Meals for Veterans today

Today honors our military Veterans. Several local restaurants offer free meals for our former servicemen and women. They include:
Cantina Laredo - today
Chili's - today
Applebees - today
Hooters - today
Golden Corral - this Monday

Just show proof of military service for your complementary meal. [where: 75230]

Year to Date Dallas Real Estate Stats

Year-To-Date statistics are in for October 2010 from the North Texas Real Estate Information Services. Given the headlines, they aren't bad at all.
Here they are:

North Dallas (south of LBJ, between Midway & Central):
Number of Sales: 472 (up 24% from 2009)
Average Sales Price: $779,230 (down 9% from 2009)
Average Days on Market: 126 (up 13% from 2009)

Park Cities:
Number of Sales: 558 (up 35% from 2009)
Average Sales Price: $1,072,458 (up 5% from 2009)
Average Days on Market: 122 (up 11% from 2009)

Northeast Dallas (east of Central):
Number of Sales: 393 (down 12% from 2009)
Average Sales Price: $266,945 (up 5% from 2009)
Average Days on Market: 61 (down 10% from 2009)

Northwest Dallas (west of Midway):
Number of Sales: 393 (same at 2009)
Average Sales Price: $221,878 (down 1% from 2009)
Average Days on Market: 70 (down 16% from 2009)

Far North Dallas (north of LBJ to Plano, Central to Marsh):
Number of Sales: 687 (down 9% from 2009)
Average Sales Price: $327,586 (up 3% from 2009)
Average Days on Market: 80 (up 14% from 2009)
[where: 75230]

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie'

 until you can find a rock.

Will Rogers

Reduce the parking at Preston Forest?

The shopping center at the southwest corner of Preston and Forest is requesting a reduction of their required parking spaces because "the existing parking can easily handle the reduction". I don't know about you, but I often have a difficult time finding a parking space there - especially near the restaurants. And many of the existing parking spots are for compact cars and I can't squeeze my small SUV into them.

If you want more information or any say in this request contact Steve Long, who works with the Dallas Board of Adjustments at 214-670-4666 or steve.long@dallascityhall.com .

If you want to voice your opinion to your Board of Adjustments Commissioner for our area, contact either Robert Moore (for city council area 11) or Ross Coulter (for city council area 13) at  214-670-4206.

Click on the images of the request to view them larger. [where: 75230]

Agent To Meet

... these are the words that a buyer's agent hates to hear. It means the seller's agent for a property must meet all showings. What it really means is that we often skip a very nice property because the hassle with scheduling showings around your and your agent's convenience.

Like most Realtors in Dallas, I use a showing service to book the homes I want to see in a day. The service contacts the sellers and confirms my appointments. But when a property is 'agent to meet', I must call each agent, often wait for their return call, ask for the appointment (working around their schedule), wait for the agent to call the seller, and then hope the agent confirms the appointment.

Here is the typical 'agent to meet' scenario:

• I'm showing my highly motivated and qualified buyer 9 properties. I've narrowed it down to 12 homes that would be a good fit for this client.
• Six of the 12 ideal homes are 'agent to meet'. So I scratch 3 of those due to the hassle factor. We'll be seeing 6 homes on keybox and also 3 homes that are scattered across our map and are 'agent to meet'.
• I set up appointments going from east to west or north to south - whatever makes sense. Each 'window' of time is 1 hour to allow for flexibility. I typically plan 30 minutes per showing to allow enough time to see the property and drive the short distance between homes. For example, we start at home #1 at 12 noon. Our appointment for home #2 is 12:30 to 1:30. For home #3, we are scheduled from 1:00 to 2:00.
• In my experience, I know that some homes will take 10 minutes to see and others will take 45 minutes. If the buyer likes the house, we want to allow them enough time to really check it out. Many sellers request that the 'window' of time for our appointment not exceed 1 hour.
• Houses #1, #5 and #7 are agent to meet, and it takes ten times as long to make appointments because I have to go back and forth with the agents and their replies to set up the appointments. Every agent/homeowner has their own set of criteria such as "no showings before 10:00" or "4 hour notice required".
• Then just when I've got the schedule all set, agent for house #1 calls to say he needs to meet us 30 minutes earlier. Agent for house #5 calls two hours before the showing to say she's had an emergency and needs to meet us an hour later. Agent for house #7 never called me back, so I don't know if we can get in or not. And of course, each agent wants to know exactly what time we'll be at their listing. They are not about to wait around 30 or 45 minutes.

This scene is not at all unusual in Dallas - which is why buyer agents are often more likely to take their clients to homes with a keybox entry and listed with a showing service. I won't even go into some of the many reasons that buyer clients don't like the seller's agent present for the showing.

The reason homes are usually listed with the agent to meet the showings is at the insistence of the sellers. Unless your property is listed for over $2 million, there is no reason to put this restriction on the showings. I think the reason most sellers want it is because they are either afraid someone will steal their stuff or because they want their agent to point out the features of the property. Neither is a valid reason. Nothing you own is worth losing my license and if the features matter to us, we'll see them.

If you want to sell your home, do yourself a favor and do not insist that your agent meet the showings. In this buyer's market, you want to make it easy for buyers to view your property. If you make it difficult to see, they'll skip your property and move on to the next home.  [where: 75230]

Ranger Fans

Fan since 1976

We may have come up short last night, but it was still a great run and the Rangers made it to the World Series.

One of the great things about living is Dallas is the year around professional sports entertainment  -  the Texas Rangers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Dallas Stars and the Dallas Mavericks. We all have our favorites and we also have a variety of other sports entertainment ranging from soccer to polo to golf.  [where: 75230]