Articles Tagged "Coppell"

After a busy day, our real estate agents want a satisfying home-cooked meal with someone else doing the work. When these moods strike, they head for the retro charms of these delightful diners around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 

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The North Texas housing market is downshifting quickly, with Dallas-Fort Worth being the only U.S. market to see a decrease in home sale prices last month, according to a report released today.  DFW home prices are down 1.9% year over year in July, according to the latest Re/Max National Housing Report.

And what a difference a month makes.  Last month, DFW led the U.S. for home price increases, with June prices up 29.3% over the previous year.   In hard numbers, home sales prices in DFW fell to $413,900 in July from $422,000 in July 2021.   Homes in DFW spend an average of 23 days on the market before selling.

Higher interest rates and inflation, as well as record home prices, triggered a sharp drop in demand for housing, said Todd Luong, a realtor with Re/Max DFW Associates:  "Here at our Re/Max office in Dallas-Fort Worth, our listings are currently getting on average 2.7 showings per week," Luong said. "Last year, at this same time, our listings were earning on average 5.9 showings per week. That is a huge drop in buyer demand compared to the previous year. Record home prices and higher mortgage rates have forced many potential buyers out of the market, especially first-time homebuyers."

While the latest trends may disappoint some sellers, buyers now have more choices and better opportunities for good deals, Luong said.   Luong said that the DFW housing market has been challenged with low inventory for years and reached an all-time low earlier this year, with only a two-week supply. Now, however, inventory is increasing.  "Although buyers have more choices now, it is still not a balanced market as we only have about a two-month housing supply," Luong said. "In a normal market, you have about a five to six-month supply of housing."

A new report from Zillow also found falling home values, although the numbers didn't match Re/Max's precisely because of different study methods and different geographic definitions of DFW as a metro area, among other reasons.  According to Zillow's findings, the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area's typical home value is $396,904, down 1.1% since June, the first month of decline. Values are up 55.4% since July 2019.

Zillow also reported that the mortgage payment on a typical home in DFW is $2,633 a month, including taxes and insurance. That's up 77.4% compared to July 2019.

According to Zillow, inventory in DFW has risen 10.2% since June, and the share of listings with a price cut in July was 22%, compared to 15.6% in June.  Nationwide, after two years of unprecedented growth, home values fell for the first time since 2012 as competition for houses eased, according to Zillow's July market report.

The slowdown is being driven by decreased competition among buyers. Zillow's analysis says that affordability pressures have pushed many to the sidelines, and buyers are waiting in the wings to resume their search if and when prices relax a bit.  Skylar Olsen, Zillow's chief economist, called the flattening of home values "a badly needed rebalancing.  This slowdown is about discouraged buyers pulling back after the affordability shock from higher rates," Olsen said. "As prices soften, many will renew their interest, and we will continue our progress back to 'normal.'"

Luong said he sees positive signs in the market.  The interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped below 5% after peaking in June. More than 290,000 new jobs were added in Dallas-Fort Worth last year, so North Texas has one of the strongest labor markets in the country.   "Reasonably priced homes that are in good condition and move-in ready are still selling very fast," he said. "However, the bidding wars have subsided considerably across the board."

• Dallas Business Journal, August 19, 2022

Plano and Prosper also rank in the Top 10 out of over 1,000 cities

Coppell, Plano and Prosper are the most popular housing submarkets in North Texas — and among the tops in the nation — as suburbs shot past major-metro cores nationally and in Dallas-Fort Worth coming out of the worst of the pandemic.

Pricey suburban locales near major cities rose to the top of Zillow's nationwide list of most popular places to buy a home.  In the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, Zillow found Coppell tops the pop chart. The typical home in Coppell is worth $565,930 and has seen 7% price growth in the first quarter of 2022, according to Zillow. Coppell home values are up 24% year over year.  Coppell ranked as the fourth most popular place in the nation to start 2022.

Following Coppell in the North Texas rankings is Plano, where the typical home is worth $513,325 and has seen 10% growth in the first quarter of 2022. Plano home values are up 33% year over year.  Prosper ranked third in the DFW market, with a typical home value of $774,456. That's up 13% in the first quarter of 2022 and 45% year over year.  Frisco ranked fourth and Carrollton fifth in Zillow's popularity contest, with typical home values of $661,460 and $410,270, respectively. Those values are up 13% for Q1 2022 and 39% year over year in Frisco, and up 9% for the quarter and 28% for the year in Carrollton.

• Dallas Business Journal, May 28, 2022

After weeks or months of browsing Dallas homes for sale, visiting open houses, negotiating with sellers, and dealing with the exhausting relocation tasks, you're finally in your new home. It's time to make your new place feel like home and settle into your new surroundings. For some people, this could fall into place when your new neighbors see your moving truck, but in most cases, you have to put in work to get acquainted with your new surroundings. All it takes is a positive attitude and willingness to make it work out. Here is our real estate agent's list of 5 top strategies to help you get familiar with your new neighborhood.

1. Introduce Yourself to Your Neighbors
   Getting to know the people who live around you can help you feel settled in your new environment and your new routine. Within the first days of your move, it's a good idea to introduce yourself to the people next door. Tell them you are a newcomer and ask questions about your new neighborhood. You'd be surprised at how friendly your neighbors are. Be polite and keep your first interaction short. If you need recommendations or useful information about your new area, approach your neighbors again, offer some homemade cookies, and start a friendly conversation. 
   
   
2. Take Frequent Walks
   The most straightforward piece of advice is sometimes one of the most effective. If you want to get to know your neighborhood, go see it for yourself. Taking frequent walks is an excellent de-stressor during or after the unpacking process, and it will also give you a chance to observe daily life in the community. Take your children to the nearest playground or go to the nearest gym to meet other parents or fitness enthusiasts. If you have a dog, take them for a walk in the nearest park.
   
   
3. Join a Local Club or Community Organization
   One of the best ways to settle into your new neighborhood is to immerse yourself in the community. You can join local clubs, charities, and other community organizations, depending on your values, interests, and skills. This is a great way to meet like-minded people from the neighborhood and make friends. A polite introduction is all that's needed. Volunteering is also a great way to take an active part in bettering the neighborhood and learn about some of the issues that shape the community.
   
   
4. Find the Locals' Favorites Spots
   Dining and entertainment hangouts can be a key to the true neighborhood vibe. Thanks to online resources such as Google and Yelp, it's easier than ever to find the best restaurants, bars, local attractions, museums, recreation centers, entertainment venues, and more. This will help you meet people from the neighborhood and feel like one of them.
   
   
5. Shop Locally
   You can definitely find a box store in the area or buy your things online, but that little corner shop is something you'll find right in the neighborhood. So, whether you need to make a quick trip to the local café for a much-needed caffeine hit or a visit to the hardware for a few nails, you'll need to know where all the stores are. Shopping locally helps you engage with your new neighborhood while bolstering it at the same time.

As stressful as moving can be, getting to know your new neighborhood is an amazing opportunity to welcome new friends, find new passions, and explore the world with a fresh set of eyes. Still looking at Fort Worth homes for sale and aren't sure if you've found your dream spot? Our team can help. Contact us today for more information.

Have you thought about jumping on the bandwagon and making your home smarter in 2021? If not, maybe you should. There are so many ways smart features increase your home's comfort, security, and efficiency that a smart system bears looking at. What's more, if you're listing your home among Dallas homes for sale or Plano homes for sale, you might include the smart system and appliances as a selling point.

In case you're not familiar with all the features you could have with a smart system, let's look at a rundown.

1. Smart Home Assistant
   The smart home assistant is the foundation for any smart system. There are two that dominate the market: Amazon Echo with Alexa and Google Home with smart speakers. Similar to the way they work, these devices control all the other smart devices in your home, from lights and doorbells to security alarms and cameras.
   
   
2. Smart Hub
   If you go with a smart speaker without a built-in hub, you'll need a smart hub for automating all the smart devices in your home through only one app. A couple of the best are the Smart Things Hub and the Hubitat Elevation Home Automation Hub.
   
   
3. Lighting
   No need to get up. Add smart bulbs and control the lights through your phone, either by voice or touch. Still at the office? Turn on some light for the dog remotely. Change the mood by changing the color of the light if you opt for RGB lighting.

4. HVAC Thermostat
   Manage your home's environment from near or far with a smart thermostat. Use an app on your smartphone or tablet to control the temperature; depending on if you have an in-house humidifier, you might even be able to raise or lower humidity. Some systems can sense your approach and raise or lower the temperature for your comfort. Need an analysis of your energy usage? A smart thermostat can do that as well.

5. Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detectors
   Smart smoke detectors not only detect smoke but send a message to your phone that there's a problem.
   
   
6. Garage Door Opener
   Let workers in your garage when you're away with an app on your phone. Did you forget to close the garage door? No problem. You can close it remotely as long as you can access Wi-fi.
   
   
7. Smart Security Features
   A complete smart security system should include indoor and outdoor cameras, door locks, lighting, and even the doorbell. Here's how these features play into your overall security strategy:

• • Indoor camera -- There are many reasons to monitor what's going on inside your home, from watching a babysitter or cleaning employee to monitoring your pets' activities to recording a break-in.
  • Outdoor camera -- Again, you want to be able to record who comes up to your front door and what they do. The Nest outdoor security camera comes with night vision and has a built-in microphone and speaker; plus, you can use the app for the Nest to view live footage on your smartphone.
  • Door lock -- These devices do away with the need for keys; you can unlock them via your smartphone or with a fingerprint or a pin.
  • Doorbell -- These come with a camera that lets you see who's ringing the bell and communicate with them through your phone. Some devices have the ability to recognize your visitors.

Our real estate agents can help you upgrade your home and appliances to create a more convenient, efficient, and secure smart system. Contact us today. 

East-West Line thru Plano, Richardson, North Dallas, Addison, Carrollton, Coppell, Cypress Waters, DFW Airport

Completion Date – December 22, 2022

Trains every 20 minutes

The final approved DART Cotton Belt Line from Plano to DFW Airport

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit board on Tuesday approved $872 million to build its first east-west commuter rail line — the Cotton Belt — even though it doesn't have the actual cash quite yet.  DART leaders met with the Build America Bureau in Washington, D.C., last week to confirm that the federal loan that will finance a 26-mile route connecting Plano, Richardson, Addison, North Dallas and DFW International Airport is expected to close Dec. 20.  Within the next few weeks, DART expects to be issued a notice to move forward on the project with its design-build partner, Archer Western Herzog 4.0, which was unanimously awarded an $815 million contract Tuesday night, contingent on the federal loan. The contract will run through Dec. 28, 2022, the anticipated completion date.

It also kept the door open for the board to decide next month whether to spend an additional $90 million to $120 million to add a second track along the line, something the board listed as a preference.  "We've discussed the double-track subject for a couple of years," board member Paul Wageman said. "We're going to have significant savings over what we thought the finance costs were on this."  Cotton Belt was budgeted as a $1.1 billion project.

About half of the project, including the nine rail stations, is double-tracked as currently bid. Though plans are for Cotton Belt to debut as an every-30-minute service, the contract also calls for three more miles to be double-tracked. That would enable enough two-way passing opportunities to allow runs every 20 minutes.  If it doesn't fully double-track the line, the board also has the option to spend $27 million to add a second track to a three-mile area of Far North Dallas, where grade levels and four bridge crossings pose a challenge.

The contract already includes $32 million in "betterments" for neighborhoods lining the route, providing for sound walls, rubber chips to minimize track vibration and other amenities.  The first six to eight months, according to staff presentations, will focus on design of the project. The first signs of progress on the ground will be utility relocation and foundation work for bridges.

The Cotton Belt will also connect to DART's existing light rail system at stops in Carrollton, Plano and Richardson. But it will be a commuter rail line, similar to the Trinity River Express, which DART co-owns with Fort Worth's Trinity Metro and connects downtown Dallas and Fort Worth.

• Dallas Morning News, December 12, 2018

"I would expect this somewhat disappointing spring selling season will be a bit of a wake-up call for (North Dallas suburban) home sellers, and they will eventually consider lowering asking prices, which in turn will bring some buyers back to the table," Attom Data economist Daren Blomquist said.

The slowdown in Dallas-Fort Worth's housing market may be worse than at first glance. Sales of preowned single-family homes dropped 1 percent annually in August in all of North Texas, according to the latest numbers from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. Those numbers include data on more than two dozen counties stretching from the Red River to Waco. When you drill down in the numbers to just the immediate D-FW area, August's dip in home purchase activity was much larger. In the Dallas area, sales of preowned homes by real estate agents fell by about 4 percent in August from a year earlier. Fort Worth-area sales managed to eke out a 1 percent year-over-year rise in home purchases made through real estate agents. But some Dallas-area residential districts saw marked declines in home buying last month.

Real estate agents say the overall numbers understate the housing sector cooldown. A look at individual neighborhoods gives clearer insight into the state of the market.  Sales last month were down almost 31 percent in Far North Dallas. They dropped 24 percent from August 2017 totals in Allen, and were off 21 percent in Coppell. Plano had a 16 percent year-over-year sales decline and sales were down more than 11 percent in Richardson and about 9 percent lower in Frisco. Not all of North Texas' markets saw the housing market hit the brakes. Sales soared 40 percent in Prosper, for instance, and were 37 percent higher in DeSoto. The pricey Park Cities market had a 29 percent jump in August sales from the previous year.

• Dallas Morning News, September 17, 2018

SOURCE: Estimates from Texas Education Agency

• Dallas Morning News, July 4, 2018 (excerpts)

  *School districts with relatively low enrollment (below 1,500 students)

Coppell and Highland Park Pay the Most Per Capita

Property taxes continue to rise, but increasingly for taxpayers in North Texas, those dollars aren't going to local school districts.  According to estimates from the Texas Education Agency for the 2018-19 school year, 25 D-FW school districts are expected to surrender $539 million back to the state through recapture, the mechanism designed to better balance school funding between "property-rich" and "property-poor" districts.  Statewide, the TEA estimates that 217 school districts will be subject to recapture for the upcoming school year, with $2.69 billion of local property taxes siphoned back to the state.  

In the North Texas area, Coppell and Highland Park school districts send the most to the state per capita, both classified as "property-rich" districts to help pay for the "property-poor" districts around the state, mostly along the Texas border with Mexico.   Interestingly, Frisco ISD has not been classified as a "property-rich" district but that may change as early as next year, in which then millions of tax dollars will be required to be sent to the state.  This will be a financial dilemma for Frisco since the school district has been unable to get voter approval for higher taxes. 

In the diverse neighborhood of Coppell, TX, you will find plenty of restaurants and food joints offering a variety of cuisines and food choices that will definitely treat your taste buds. Seafood is a prominent choice, thanks to the easy access to freshly caught saltwater fish. If you are looking for a good brunch spot or dinner restaurant for your family, Our REALTORS® in Coppell have a few recommendations.

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