Lakewood Area Home Prices Update

A quick update on the neighborhood activity in the Lakewood area (area 12 sub area 7):

• 139 homes currently on the market
• Average price is $727,493 (there are 14 homes over $1M and one for $6.99M)
  
• Average days on market are 136 (from 2-448 days)
• Price range is $200,000 - $6,995,000)
  
• Average square footage is 3109
• Average price per foot is $218

If you are interested in purchasing or listing your home, give me a call for more details.

Hollywood Santa Monica Availability

A quick update on the neighborhood activity:

• 40 homes currently on the market
• Average price is $313,378
• Average days on market are 95 (from 3-595 days)
• Price range is $159,000 - $599,900
• Average square footage is 1677
• Average price per foot is $190.20

If you are interested in purchasing or listing your home, give me a call for more details.

Did you have to lease your home instead of sell it?

Property values have dropped, inventories are up and foreclosures are still out of control. These conditions are causing individuals to to consider leasing their homes.

This is the best scenario for people when they have a mortgage to pay but must leave the home for one reason or another. BUT - the problem I see is that the For Lease by Owner signs are out in the yards for way too long.

It is not uncommon for an owner to be so concerned with covering a mortgage payment that the house is priced too high and it sits for months vacant and generating zero income. A reduction of $100 per month equates to $1200 per year. That is not too much when you consider that one month of vacancy may well cost you that much or more.

I suggest that rather than looking at the short term monthly picture that you look at it from an annual view. You may well have to contribute to the monthly rent to make ends meet but that is better than a long term vacancy.

Professional property managers have access to numerous advertising outlets that are not available to the average home owner. For one they have access to the MLS with its tens of thousands of Realtor participants. Many owners are concerned about the cost of management and making enough each month to cover their note and management fees. Honestly, this isn't always possible. But once again a month of vacancy could quite possibly have paid for your management fees for a year. For example if you list the property yourself at $1200 per month and it takes you three months to lease it, you have lost $3600. Many property managers charge a leasing fee equal to the first months rent to cover advertising expenses and an ongoing nominal fee for monthly management (about 10% is common). So if the manager leased the property in 30 days due to their networking and marketing efforts that are not available to traditional homeowners, they would have saved you $1200. This does not include the fact that handle everything from tenant screening, rent collection, late night maintenance calls, evictions and legal forms.

Think about it, don't price too high or your house will sit. Consider a professional property manager and the benefits they offer for what amounts to a nominal fee.

Why Use One?

My recent bike race in Montreal

While in Montreal recently I decided to give the Bixi bicycle sharing a try. Somehow I ended up in a race and included some video.

Bike sharing is gaining popularity all over the world. Paris was one of the first adopters of the system and they have over 20,000 bikes in the program. They believe that no bike station should be more than 300-500 meters apart or people won't use the network. This has led to a traffic reduction of over 5%.

Bike sharing involves picking up a bike at any bike station and for a small fee you may take the bike to your destination and drop it off at another station. It is designed mainly for intercity or close in cities. The Bixi prototype in Montreal (which has 5000 bikes and 400 stations) has been adopted, emulated or modeled in Washington DC, Denver, Minneapolis, Boston and most recently in San Antonio, TX.

The US based systems have been highly financed by companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Humana who recognize the health benefits. The federal stimulus funds have also played a part in funding due to the environmental benefits of traffic reduction.

So....do you think such a system would work in Lakewood, Downtown & Uptown Dallas? We already have a great trail system that could easily be incorporated into the program.

Interesting Bike Share Article

Most Affordable Popular Retirement Locations

The real estate downturn has turned some very popular retirement destinations into bargains.

To determine where the prices are most attractive, U.S. News & World Report examined price-to-income data for 384 metropolitan statistical areas. This expresses the relationship between owner income and home values.

Here are 10 retirement havens where homes are most affordable by this measure:

Bend, Ore.

Napa, Calif.

Fort Meyers, Fla.

Fayetteville, Ark.

Las Vegas, NV

Sante Fe, N.M.

Punta Gorda, Fla.

Phoenix, AZ

Santa Cruz, Calif.

Burlington, Vt.

Willie's Picnic 1974 - College Station

The year was 1974 and Willie was in College Station for his three day 2nd Annual July 4th Picnic. This year marks the 37th year of the picnic at the backyard at Bee Caves, Texas just outside Austin. But, if you can't make it to Austin there are plenty of things going on here in Big D.

Here is a sampling of weekend activities:

Friday and Sunday - Ballpark in Arlington - post game fireworks. I have found in the past that this is one of the best displays of fireworks in the area. Plus the Rangers are kicking it right now.

Saturday & Sunday - neighborhood parades in Lakewood, Forest Hills, Kessler, Bent Tree, Preston Hollow and many others.

Saturday - Thunder over Cedar Creek Lake - Pinnacle Club - Airshow and fireworks spectacular. Airshow begins at 6 pm and fireworks at 9m. This is the best show in all of DFW in my opinion. Last year there were over 40,000 people. View by land or water.

Sunday - Libertine Bar - 2101 Greenville Ave, Dallas - The free Brass Knuckle Corndog Beatdown.

Sunday 9 am - 5pm - Dallas Arboretum - Fourth of July - music, picnics, and floral displays.

Sunday 11 am - 4 pm - Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park - Old-Fashioned Fourth - celebreate like it was 1899. $5 general admission.

Sunday - 9 pm - Lakewood Country Club Fireworks Display - Gaston & Abrams

Monday 6 pm - 10:30 - Fair Park Fourth-on-the-Fifth - Water shows and choreographed fireworks. Free to the public.

There are literally hundreds of other events for more check out Guidelive.

Have a great weekend and be careful.

Deadline Extended!!

After a close brush with a deadline that could have impacted tens of thousands of home buyers, the U.S. Congress last night passed an extension of the Home buyer Tax Credit closing deadline.

The extension is included in the Home Buyer Assistance and Improvement Act (H.R. 5623) and will prevent as many as 180,000 home buyers from losing their eligibility for the tax credit through no fault of their own. These households had home purchase contracts pending as of April 30 and had until June 30 to close on their purchases to claim the federal tax credit. Under the legislation that passed last night, these households now have until September 30 to close.

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® supported extension of that closing deadline because buyers are experiencing delays in getting their financing closed. The delays are the result of the large number of transactions that are short sales, which can take a long time to close, and the rush of transactions lenders are processing from buyers submitting contracts before the April 30 contract deadline.

The legislation, which now goes to President Obama for signature, is designed to create a seamless extension of the closing deadline; there will be no gap between June 30 and the date the President signs the bill into law.

NAR worked closely with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle in supporting lawmakers' passage of the legislation, which the association says will help provide additional stability to real estate markets across the nation.

Separately, the U.S. Senate also last night passed the National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 5569), which extends the National Flood Insurance Program until September 30. This will allow home purchases in the 100-year floodplain to move forward. The House passed the bill last week.

When signed into law by the President, the bill, which will apply retroactively, will cover the lapse period from June 1 to the date of enactment of the extension. Without flood insurance, households buying homes in the 100-year floodplain cannot obtain mortgage financing.