When I was a lot younger and a lot braver, I owned a horse and loved riding.  At that time I was in the corporate world.  I found that getting away from the office and riding that wonderful horse was a terrific way to relieve stress and get things back in perspective. 

I was very interested when I read this piece about a horse-riding group forming in Keller.  If you or your children have any interest, you might want to check this out.  Read about it by following the link below.

http://www.star-telegram.com/northeast/story/1121890.html

Or you may want to get more information by visiting their website:

www.kellersaddleclub.com

Good article at http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1121471.html.

On housing:

"There is still enough of a glut to hold the market back from a rebound in the first quarter, said David Brown, director of the Dallas-Fort Worth region for MetroStudy. But he's looking for sales and prices to start gaining traction by midyear..."

Someone left a comment criticizing a particular home for being overpriced.  Unfortunately, I can't publicly discuss homes that are not my listings.  (Note that I have all of the local listings on my site, not just mine. The listing broker and agent are clearly identified in large bold type right under the photos.)

However, the gist of the comment was "not a home in town is going for 143 a square foot."  This is incorrect.  In the last six months, 227 homes have sold in Southlake and the average sold $/sf was $151.  There were 33 homes sold in the past six months in the 3000-3500sf (the range of the home in question), and they averaged $130/sf with five over $143/sf.

And to determine if a home is overpriced, we need to look at the true comparables in the immediate area, not city wide statistics.  If you'd like to know more about the value of your home, give us a call and we can pull some quick stats for you.

I didn't realize how hard it was to comment on this blog until I just now, when I tried to leave a comment on a friend's blog.  So we have opened up this blog to anonymous comments.  Hopefully we can keep the spam under control!

If you tried commenting earlier and decided it was too hard, please try again!

Each month Standard & Poors (S&P) releases the Case-Shiller Home Price indices.  They cover twenty metro areas, including DFW.  Their data is based on the repeat sale of the same home, so it compares apples to apples.  The Case-Shiller home page is here.

There have been big declines some cities over the past two years, and the headlines always emphasize the national average.  Happily for us, DFW has been doing much better than that average.  In fact, the latest report shows we have suffered the smallest decline (-3%) over the past year of any reported metro area versus the average of -18%.  The local -1.1% drop in a month continues a trend of down months since last spring.

Here is a summary of the report, sorted by annual decline:

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, October 2008

Metro Area	One Month Change	One Year Change
TX-Dallas	-1.1%	-3.0%
NC-Charlotte	-1.8%	-4.4%
CO-Denver	-1.5%	-5.2%
MA-Boston	-1.1%	-6.0%
OH-Cleveland	-1.0%	-6.2%
NY-New York	-0.9%	-7.5%
OR-Portland	-1.9%	-10.1%
WA-Seattle	-1.4%	-10.2%
GA-Atlanta	-2.4%	-10.5%
IL-Chicago	-1.6%	-10.8%
MN-Minneapolis	-3.4%	-16.3%
DC-Washington	-2.7%	-18.7%
FL-Tampa	-3.4%	-19.8%
MI-Detroit	-4.5%	-20.4%
CA-San Diego	-3.0%	-26.7%
CA-Los Angeles	-2.6%	-27.9%
FL-Miami	-3.0%	-29.0%
CA-San Francisco	-4.2%	-31.0%
NV-Las Vegas	-2.7%	-31.7%
AZ-Phoenix	-3.3%	-32.7%
Composite-20	-2.2%	-18.0%

This chart shows the monthly change in the Dallas and Composite-20 index for the past two years:

This is information that REALTORS(r) check out every month.  It allows us to get a feel for what is going on in our marketplace.  This is Year to Date information for the areas that I specialize in; it includes only single family residences.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, "all real estate is local".  While some of the numbers are off from last year, especially the number of units sold,  please note that most prices are holding steady or even increasing.  It may take a little longer, but homes that are priced right and are in good condition still sell.  Also a word of caution, this chart is comparing the price of homes sold this year with the price of homes sold last year.  For instance, an increase in the average sales price means that the average price of the homes sold this year was higher than those that sold last year.  It does not mean that all of the homes in that specific area increased in value by the percentage change shown.

Anyway, I hope you find this information helpful.  I hope to update it at least every couple of months so stay posted.

MLS Activity Report for Selected Areas

City	# of Sales	% Change vs. Prior Year	Avg Sale $ Price	% Change vs. Prior Year	Median Price $	% Change vs. Prior Year	Avg Days on Market	% Change vs. Prior Year
Bedford	504	-6%	166,543	0%	156,900	1%	60	22%
Colleyville	353	-20%	519,379	-3%	419,000	-7%	74	25%
Denton County Southeast	3,335	-20%	238,848	-4%	193,000	-3%	69	19%
Euless	415	-17%	157,569	3%	151,750	2%	55	0%
FW-North Central Tarrant	1,831	-12%	161,561	2%	150,000	0%	75	7%
Grapevine	459	-15%	247,890	3%	230,000	5%	49	11%
Hurst	516	-11%	151,123	-1%	140,000	1%	83	41%
Keller	693	-21%	340,363	5%	287,500	1%	81	29%
N Richland Hills / Richland Hills	713	-16%	167,822	0%	132,480	-3%	67	5%
Roanoke	160	-20%	161,769	5%	150,000	6%	77	26%
Southlake	461	-20%	633,301	3%	545,000	4%	76	9%
Trophy Club / Westlake	157	-13%	482,291	6%	264,750	2%	85	31%
Watauga	295	-26%	101,780	-3%	99,900	-1%	66	3%

Single Family Residences - November 2008 Year to Date.

All Information is from North Texas Real Estate Information System (NTREIS) and is believed but not guaranteed to be accurate.

This terrific place is a landmark in the Dallas eatery world.  It was the first place my husband and I revisited when we returned from a fifteen year sojourn in New England.  It hadn't changed a bit. That was twelve years ago and it still hasn't changed. That's good thing.  Our favorite items are the wonderfully fresh shrimp and oysters; we love them fried.  And then there's the oysters on the half shell!  Located on McKinney Ave, this restaurant has lots of personality with a hint of New Orleans. 

Go hungry!

Star-Telegram article about Keller...

"Joey Grisham wants to turn Keller into a shopping destination with a hotel and conference center, major retailers and chain restaurants."

Nice editorial about Southlake in the Star-Telegram.

We didn't have a white Christmas this year, but the Holiday Spirit was manifested by a lovely display of lights!  The photo below was taken from the steps of the City Hall in Southlake Town Center.  In the distance is the fountain on the Green and further on the Pavilion.  Note the steer!  On the night we took this picture, folks were having their picture taken with it.

The City Hall was a knock out!  Note the new city logo in the center between the columns!

This lovely home on Byron Nelson in Timarron was an absolute delight!  On the night we drove past, Santa was granting audiences in the front yard and cars were lined up as folks as folks enjoyed this lovely display.