If you found this blog that is great, but I have moved my content to wordpress.org which offers more options for you. You can see all of these post and the current ones at www.flowermoundrealestateblog.com. If you have questions or need real estate assistance you can reach me at 972.355.9100 or kevin@klewis.com . Now come check out the new diggs.
With health care in the headlines nationally, local news reports healthy findings for the
town. The Flower Mound Leader states “A Texas Department of State Health Services analysis has found that the occurrence of leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and childhood brain cancers in two ZIP codes in Flower Mound, Texas, is within the expected
ranges for males and females.
In response to community concerns about a possible cluster of cancer
cases, DSHS analyzed the occurrence of childhood and overall leukemia,
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, childhood brain cancer and female breast cancer
in the 75022 and 75028 ZIP codes, using Texas Cancer Registry data from
1998 to 2007. The number of cancer cases occurring in these two ZIP
codes was compared with the number of cases expected based on statewide
rates. Officials say they will continue to monitor the area, which I think is only prudent, but this latest news is encouraging. Here is the complete summary of the report. As always you can see the real estate at www.flowermound-realestate.net before interest rates go up next month.
The name says a lot about this place we live. Sixty Two thousand plus and in many ways it still feels like a small country town. Being surrounded by horses grazing in open fields or resting under the shade of a century old oak tree make our town home. Today I wanted to share some of the history of this place we love. In the 1840′s through the Empresario Land Grants system, Europeans settled in North Texas. The Peters Colony, for which the road is named, encompassed the local area. When Texas joined the union in 1845, the land that would later become Flower Mound was located in Fannin County. It was not until 1846 that Denton County came into existence.
After having met previously at people’s homes, in 1857 the congregation of Flower Mound Presbyterian constructed a log building at what is now 1501 Flower Mound Road. The original facility was replaced with the current structure in 1901. In our fast paced lives we fly by these landmarks in history, but next time you pass think about how life might have been for our great grandparents in these praire lands. Although differnt in many ways, I bet they loved this area for many of the same reasons we still do today. Check back to see how this town began to boom. To see the real estate properties go to www.flowermound-realestate.net or call me direct at 972.355.9100
National Association of Home Builders reports Americans remain strongly committed to federal support for home buyers, according to a recent survey of U.S. households. Roughly 68% of those polled said the government should continue to support housing, and 65% believe the government should be doing more to keep families from losing their homes to foreclosure. Call me crazy but I think the Fed is just about tapped out and are going to need to start getting some of this money back. Translated I would be very supprised to see another extention of the current housing credits. Because of these expiring credits, analyst are forecasting a small spike in sales in early spring, but the jury is still out for summer sales. Here local, the great homes still sell in less than 60 days but the homes that need conditioning, continue to sit, building on the existing inventory. While sales are down across the board from last year in the same month, the upper end in Southlake has the highest supply. So if your looking for a luxury home, now might be the time to get a deal. Good news is when the economy turns, we will be the first to experience the gains as the folks are moving to Texas and staying. Just to be clear, “DOM” is days on the market and the inventory is the number of months it would take to sell all the homes in that market, at the rate they are currently selling. As a reference chief ecoomist, Dr. Lawrence Yun, says a 6 month inventory is a balance market. As always you can see all the homes on a map at www.flowermound-realestate.net. Have questions or comments you can tweet @FloMoHomes
| Feb 2010 | DOM | Active | Sold | Inventory |
| Flower Mound | 52 | 386 | 51 | 7.57 |
| Southlake | 146 | 269 | 15 | 17.93 |
| Lewisville | 68 | 383 | 55 | 6.96 |
| Lantana | 95 | 113 | 7 | 16.14 |
| Coppell | 62 | 172 | 26 | 6.62 |
| Grapevine | 54 | 192 | 26 | 7.38 |
| Highland Village | 96 | 96 | 6 | 16 |
A little slow on the draw I will let the numbers speak for themselves. Note Flower Mound and Southlake are the two inventorys that are down from the same month last year. Keep in mind that January 2009 was when sales bottomed out. So it was only up from there. Also just to be clear the inventory number is the months it would take the active homes on the market to sell at the current rate. If you live in Highland Village, don’t be alarmed by your current inventory. When you have limited sales, three, it makes the numbers wacky. See the homes and contact me at www.flowermound-realestate.net
| 1/2010 | Flower Mound | Southlake | Lewisville | Lantana | Highland Village |
| DOM | 92 | 120 | 84 | 130 | 22 |
| # Active | 362 | 246 | 344 | 111 | 104 |
| # Sold | 45 | 28 | 38 | 9 | 3 |
| Inventory | 8.04 | 8.79 | 9.05 | 12.33 | 34.67 |
Just a few things that point to the stability I’ve been blogging about our Flower Mound and surrounding area real estate markets. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released today rose 0.3% from November to December to a seasonally adjusted reading of 145.87. The index was still off 3.1% from December last year, nearly matching analysts’ estimates that it would fall by 3.2%. In the 20 city study, Dallas was one of the few areas where prices were on the rise, as slight as they might be. Good news for buyers, indicating the bottom of the recent declines.
Another green shoot of optimism from the Dallas Business Journal reports Texas foreclosure rates at 2% are less than half of the national rate of 4.58%. Find your next home online @ www.flowermound-realestate.net !
You can rejoice that you live in North Texas if you bought a property in the last 5 -10 years and you still own it. If you were in California, Flordia or many other markets in the US, your real estate bubble would be burst. So while your brother in-laws real estate investment was the proverbial hare a fews years back, you can now be glad yours represents the tortious. Slow and steady wins in the end. Along with the reasons posted earlier, relative affordability is yet another reason that now is a great time to buy. Here a short article from the Real Estate Center at TAMU (whoop) on our Texas market. Tomorrow is the release date of the latest Case-Shiller Housing Index. Check back for the lastest on the national real estate market. For now check out the homes @ www.flowermound-realestate.net
In my first post this week I discussed the fact that interest rates are at 40 year lows and are expected to be as much as 1.5 to 2% higher in the next twelve months according to mortgage experts. In the second post I talked about the free money your neighbors are offering in the form of a tax credits upto $8000 from uncle Sam. Today’s post is directed at the FHA borrower, typically a first time home buyer, but could be anyone with a loan value under $271,050 in Denton county. The main advantage to getting an FHA loan is the lower required down payment and they are slightly easier to qualify. Taking advantage of these loans is going to cost more in the very near future. On April 5th, the cost of required up-front mortgage insurance for loans guaranteed by the FHA will increase from 1.75% to 2.25%. For a borrower purchasing a $200,000 home with a $7,000 down payment, the up-front mortgage insurance will increase by $965. Up-front mortgage insurance is typically financed in the final loan amount so the impact to a monthly payment will be minimal but overall, the increase is still borne by the borrower both upfront and monthly. Another change in the lend later this spring, is the amount of money that a seller can return to the buyer from their sale proceeds will be reduced from 6% to 3%. The reduction in these “seller concessions” can increase the amount of cash a buyer will be required to pay at closing by $6,000 for a home purchase of $200,000.You can read about all the changes from HUD but that is why you need to buy now, or pay more later. If you are thinking about a move you can see the homes at www.flowermound-realestate.net.
Real estate sales in any market are seasonal, with peaks in the spring and summer when the kids get out of school. That said, I submit another reason to make the move sooner than later this year. Like the crutch the government is using to keep interest rates low by purchasing mortgage bonds, they are, and have been offering buyers upwards of $8000 to buy now as well. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was enacted a year ago tomorrow, and was targeted at first time home buyers. It allowed buyers who had not owned a home in the last three years to get upto $8000 in the form of a credit on their tax return. What Washington failed to realize, is that 99.5% of first time home buyers wanted to take advantage of this credit, but still could not buy because they lacked the liquid funds required for closing cost and down payment. By the last quarter of 2009 sources like Texas Department of Housing began to offer short term loans for these closing cost, that could then be repaid when the purchaser got their refund from the government. This is why you saw drastic increases in sales in November just before the act was set to expired on the 30th of the same month. Seeing that market still needed help, congress voted to expanded the program through April 30, 2010 and also offered a $6500 credit for any buyer who has owned their home for 5 consecutive years in the last 8. So once again the clock is quickly winding down to get a good part, if not all of your closing cost paid for by other Americans rising tax burden. More details on this free money (well kinda), can be found at the National Association of REALTORS. To find your next home in Flower Mound, Southlake, Lantana, Lewisville and surrounding areas, before the credit expires, go to www.flowermound-realestate.net or just give me a call. FHA buyers check back as there are thousand$ of other reasons why you should buy now.
Are you looking to move up, move down, or just move? There are 3 big reasons why now is the best time to start packing, and time is running out. Buyer’s have not had this much buying power in years and here is why. First and foremost mortgage interest rates are at 40 year historic lows. Rates are available below 5% for a 30 year fixed rate but are not going to stay this low for long. There are two main reasons for assured higher rates. The first is that as our government keeps spending money (that we don’t have) like it is manna from heaven, and inflation is looming. The second reason is that the Federal Reserve Board’s mortgage backed securities purchase program, that has kept home loan rates artificially low for the last year, expires March 31 2010. When the market has to stand on it’s own legs, the true market demand will dictate rate levels,inevitably going higher. Here is more on rising rates from the Real Estate Center at TAMU (whoop).Reason 2 coming in my next post. Until then search google maps for homes in your area for sale at www.flowermound-realestate.net or keep up with me on Twitter at FloMoHomes.
