“What’s The GOOD News?” July 2019

1.* Investors purchased a record share of Dallas-area homes last year. And these for-profit homebuyers are expected to continue to gobble up thousands of houses in North Texas and nationwide. Home investors are having the biggest impact on the lower price ranges of the Dallas home market — the same sector first-time buyers are shopping. More than 14% of low-priced houses in the Dallas area sold to investors in 2018, according to new data by CoreLogic. Overall, more than 8% of Dallas homes of all prices were snapped up by investors. "Investor buying activity in the U.S. is at record highs," CoreLogic's Ralph McLaughlin said. "It's not the big institutional guys that are leading the increase in home buying — it's the smaller guys. "They are buying homes that are in the lower third of prices — they are essentially buying starter homes," McLaughin said.

2.* DFW reaches 7.5M population in 2018. Aided in part by adding more than a million residents from 2010 to 2018, Dallas-Fort Worth was the fourth most populated metro region last year. Population estimates released last week show that Dallas-Fort Worth was home to more than 7.5 million as of July 1, 2018. Only New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago metropolitan areas had a larger population. DFW accounted for 2.3 percent of the entire nation’s population last year. On the whole, the U.S. was home to 327 million last year with nearly 86 percent of the population residing in metro areas.

3.* Dallas is home to 11 of the 25 top Texas suburbs in which to buy a house — but only one cracks the top 10 in this new ranking from Niche. Cities were ranked on criteria including quality of public schools, crime and safety, housing, nightlife, how good the area is for families, and diversity. Niche gathered data from the U.S. Census Bureau, FBI and other sources to feed its ranking. Niche defined a suburb as a place located within a census-defined urbanized area, but outside the principal city, and with a population of at least 1,000. Leading the way among North Texas suburbs on Niche's 2019 Best Suburbs to Buy a House in Texas list is Frisco at No. 9. Setting Frisco at the front of the pack was its population of 155,363, the median home value of $335,900, and the reported statistic that three-fourths of residents own their homes. Coming in close behind are Fate 10, Highland Village 11, Flower Mound 13, Coppell 15, Allen 19, Southlake 21, Little Elm 22, Oak Leaf 23, Sunnyvale 24 & Lowry Crossing 25.

4.* For potential home buyers, is it time to make the leap in Dallas-Fort Worth? For the past several years, when it came to home sales in Dallas-Fort Worth, most of the bargaining power has been in the hands of the seller. A homeowner would put a house on the market, and within 24 hours receive multiple offers for thousands of dollars higher than the asking price. But the tide may be turning just a bit. Home sales fell in May, a sign that buyers may have a bit more bargaining power this summer in the Metroplex. The HomesUSA.com New Home Sales Index, which tracks a 12-month a rolling average of sales prices in Texas’ four largest metro areas, reports that there were 1,224 posted pending sales of North Texas homes in May, down 6% from 1,301 pending sales in April. “The purchasing power to buy a home has been bolstered by falling mortgage rates, and buyers are responding,” said Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist. That’s good news for Metroplex home buyers!

5.* Dallas rents aren’t going down any time soon! North Texas picked up more new apartment renters than any area in the United States during the second quarter of 2019, according to data released last week by RealPage. As of July 1, DFW has 10,446 more occupied apartments than it did three months ago, the biggest quarterly jump in more than two decades, according to the property management company. DFW's apartment occupancy rate is now 94.9%, a touch higher than it was at the same point in 2018 when it was 94.8%. “Apartment demand in Dallas-Fort Worth reached a high that hasn’t been seen since in more than 20 years. This really underscores North Texas’ strength at drawing new jobs and new residents,” said RealPage market analyst Adam Couch. “As important finance, business services and transportation hub, Dallas-Fort Worth has created more jobs and drawn in more residents than any other area of the country in recent years.”

The Good News April 2019

“What’s The Good News?”

1. Local homeowners looking to list are in luck this home shopping season, as Dallas has been named one of the friendliest markets for sellers by real estate database titan Zillow. Zillow analyzed housing markets in the 35 largest metros across the country and ranked them on a spectrum from most buyer-friendly to most seller-friendly. The index "shows how hot a region's housing market is compared to others by analyzing sale-to-list-price ratios, percentage of listings with a price cut, and how long homes stay on the market," the company says in a release. The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area ranks No. 24, making it more seller-friendly than most major metros in the country. DFW has a median home value of $242,600, and homes stay on the market for an average of 71 days. The report drilled down further to name Cedar Hill, where the median home value is $211,300 and homes spend only 53 days on the market, the most seller-friendly spot in DFW. Celina, approximately 15 miles north of Frisco, is the most buyer-friendly location in the area.

2. Nestled in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Roanoke is HGTV’s 2019 Smart Home, a house that takes innovation to the next level in technology, energy efficiency, and design solutions. And, it will be given away later this year. HGTV says the home has “an aesthetic best described as an Old-World retreat,” but it is also full of high-tech advancements. It’s been building these smart homes in various cities for more than a decade. The home’s high-tech applications include a Logitech Harmony Hub to control all of the house’s lights and televisions, a SkyTrak golf simulator, and a Robomow robotic lawnmower, according to GuideLive. The house will also be outfitted with two Echo Dots, three Keurig machines, and Sleep Number mattresses in every bedroom—ensuring that technology will always be at the homeowner’s fingertips. Not only does this house have three bedrooms and three-and-one-half bathrooms, it also has a media room with a 3D movie theater, a home office, a playroom, and an outdoor patio outfitted with a television. Established in 1881, Roanoke is described by HGTV as having “a charming, small-town atmosphere with the best in amenities and opportunities” and as “unique dining, shopping and entertainment destination.”

3. Mixed-use properties come in all shapes, sizes, and locations, but developers say the most effective projects are those that transform multi-use real estate developments into unique destinations with vibrant social scenes. Bright Realty is developing The The realm at Castle Hills, a 324-acre project that will ultimately feature 235,000 square feet of Class A office space and 260 multifamily units, as well as a significant amount of retail and restaurant space. Both the project and the company are based in Lewisville, one of several suburbs on the north side of Dallas experiencing steady growth in mixed-use development. Just north of Lewisville in The Colony, Berkshire Hathaway-owned Nebraska Furniture Mart is developing Grandscape, a 433-acre mixed-use project that will include several hundred thousand square feet of retail and restaurant space, as well as a 345-unit apartment tower and a hotel and resort. To the east in Frisco lie established mixed-use developments like The Star and Frisco Station, which respectively offer hotel and residential space in addition to office and retail. Frisco will also be home to the PGA of America’s new headquarters, which will feature two championship golf courses, a 500-room Omni hotel, office, and retail components, as well as a network of walking and jogging trails.

4. If you start seeing a bunch of Tropical Smoothie Cafes opening all over Dallas-Fort Worth, that’s not a coincidence. It’s because, in the past few years, The Atlanta-based franchise company has been making a concentrated and aggressive effort to expand its business in DFW. The first one in the area opened in 2015 and since then, 11 more have popped up, including its 700th in Hurst. This year alone, Tropical Smoothie Cafe plans to open four more locations in the area by the end of this year. Overall, there are 750 locations in 44 states. “The state of Texas is a business-friendly environment, said Charles Watson, the CEO of Tropical Smoothie Cafe. “The economic growth, the demographics of the DFW area is obviously a good thing for the brand.” Tropical Smoothie Cafe brands itself as a health-conscious quick casual restaurant chain. In addition to smoothies, it offers flatbreads, sandwiches, wraps, and salads. In total, 60 percent of the business is smoothies while the remaining 40 percent is food.

5. Apartment units around the country are getting pricier – and smaller, and apartments in Dallas-Fort Worth are no exception. New apartments in the Metroplex are 4 to 8 percent smaller and 40 to 50 percent more expensive than they were a decade ago, according to a new report from nationwide apartment search website RENTCafe.com. The report found that the average rent for newly built apartments in the U.S. has increased 28 percent since 2008. In that same timeframe, apartments have become 5 percent smaller on average.  But several cities, including Lewisville, have seen an increase in average apartment size. The average unit size in Lewisville, regardless of year built, is 879 square feet. However, Plano actually takes the lead with average apartment size in Dallas-Fort Worth. The average apartment in Plano is 940 square feet compared to 859 square feet in Fort Worth, 848 square feet in Irving, 837 square feet in Dallas and 818 square feet in Arlington. The national average is 882 square feet. While all apartment floor plans have been shrinking across the country, studio apartments have been cut down the most, the study said. The average studio apartment is 514 square feet, 10 percent less than what it was in 2008.

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“What’s The GOOD News?” January 2019

“What’s The GOOD News?”

January 2019

1.*   Louisiana-based exercise chain Regymen Fitness will start expanding its reach into North Texas this year. The chain hopes to open up to 22 franchises within the next three to six years. Nick Bennings, the director for franchise development, said the company has identified the Metroplex as the next place for growth based on the demographics and the pace at which the area is growing, both in population and income. Regymen is negotiating with two franchise owners. and the first studios could open as soon as September in Alliance. Bennings said they’re also looking in Lewisville, Coppell and Southlake.

2.*   A new study ranks Plano as one of the best locations in the U.S. to hunt for work. The study, conducted by personal finance website WalletHub, places Plano at No. 7 among the best cities for finding a job. Plano was the only DFW city in the top 20. To determine the strongest local job markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 30 key metrics, including availability of jobs, employment growth, and monthly average starting salary. A major reason for Plano’s attractiveness to job seekers stems from the sheer number of major corporate employers located there. Here are the WalletHub job rankings for other DFW cities in Texas: Irving, No. 21; Dallas, No. 26; Grand Prairie, No. 36; Garland, No. 46; Arlington, No. 57; Fort Worth, No. 58

3.*   In just one year, Texas gained more residents than any other state, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The estimates, released December 19, show Texas added 379,128 residents from July 1, 2017, to July 1, 2018 - the largest numeric gain among the 50 states. Texas picked up nearly 380,000 residents. New arrivals to Texas versus people leaving the state account for the bulk of the state’s population growth, according to Lloyd Potter, the state demographer. “The most likely reasons people relocate to Texas are its resilient economy and relatively affordable housing,” Potter said. “Oil-and-gas production continues to be a major component in the state’s economy, but other sectors such as information technology, manufacturing, and biomedicine are important sources of job growth.” Overall, the bureau says, Texas saw its population climb from 28,322,717 in July 2017 to 28,701,845 in July 2018, a 1.3 percent hike. Percentage-wise, Texas was the eighth fastest growing state during the one-year period.

4.*   The Dallas-Fort Worth housing market topped $510 billion in value in 2018, a record high, thanks to several years of big price gains. DFW's home market added $14.6 billion in value last year alone, according to new estimates from Zillow. Since the worst of the Great Recession, Zillow says area home values have grown by $157.6 billion. Nationwide, the cumulative value of the U.S. housing market grew $1.9 trillion in 2018 to a total of $33.3 trillion, according to the firm. "Seen from the rearview mirror, 2018 was a year of unusually strong, stable home value growth across the country," Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas said in the report. Median single-family home sales prices rose about only about 5 percent for the first 11 months of the year, but overall Dallas-Fort Worth housing values have increased more than 40% in the last five years to a record high.

5.*   Now that 2019 is here, numbers from 2018 are being released, and probably no surprise, Dallas, TX is ranked the hottest real estate market by homes.com. Dallas’s real estate market was as hot as the city in the summertime. Strengthened by an excess of new jobs, a higher-than-average annual income, and rising housing values, Dallas enjoyed plenty of activity with newcomers arriving in droves.  According to homes.com, in 2018 the real estate market saw some serious progress in many local markets around the country. Home values rose and interest rates, while climbing, were still historically low. As for next year, experts predict housing values in Dallas to climb by another 4.7%, so if you want to get in at a good price, better to start planning your move earlier in 2019 than later.


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Keller Williams DMN “What’s The GOOD News?” November 2018

“What’s The GOOD News?”

November 2018

1.*   With a relatively low cost of living and population growth projections that outstrip other U.S. cities by two times, Dallas-Fort Worth has been named the top real estate market to watch in 2019. The Emerging Trends in Real Estate for 2019 report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute ranked the Metroplex as the number one market for overall real estate prospects in 2019 out of 78 other cities. Austin and San Antonio also made it into the top 20 for overall real estate prospects in the annual forecast report, which is compiled from thousands of interviews with real estate experts across a spectrum of industries.

2.*   Financial services giant Charles Schwab is working on plans to more than double its regional headquarters northwest of DFW International Airport in Westlake. The San Francisco-based firm broke ground last year on the first, $100 million phase of the 70-acre office campus near State Highways 114 and 170. The initial half-million-square-foot office complex is expected to house 2,600 Schwab workers after it opens early next year.Schwab recently filed plans with the town of Westlake for a second, 617,000-square-foot phase of the development that will add two more office buildings.  The second phase would also have an additional parking garage that can allow a total of more than 6,000 workers on the entire site.hat would make ­the new Schwab campus one of the largest employers in the area north of Fort Worth.

3.*   Million-dollar home sales are booming in North Texas. A record of almost 1,400 million-dollar houses changed hands in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the first nine months of 2018. That's a 10 percent growth in mansion sales in the region, while overall preowned home sales are unchanged from where they were a year ago. The percentage of local properties fit for a millionaire is still low by national standards (only about 2 percent of Dallas-area homes are valued at $1 million or more), but more pricey properties are selling in DFW than ever before.

4.*   As L3 Technologies transforms itself from operating like a holding company to the defense industry’s sixth-largest company, it’s looking to invest in its core markets. Dallas-Fort Worth is arguably the defense contractor’s most important market. Two of the company’s three business units are headquartered in North Texas, and one in particular is looking to hire hundreds. “We have about 400 open reqs in the Dallas region right now,” said Jeff Miller, the president of Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Systems, or ISR. “I would say we’ll try and put half of those in the Plano office.” ISR moved into its new Plano headquarters about six months ago and is growing faster than expected. Of the more than 400 job openings, Miller said roughly half are for engineering positions. 

5.*   Lebron James-backed pizzeria chain Blaze Pizza is set to saturate the DFW market by opening 20 additional pizza outposts over the next several years. The chain, which already operates four locally in Frisco, Arlington, Fort Worth and The Colony, is pushing to operate 1,000 restaurants in at least six countries, up from its current count of nearly 300 in five countries with the goal of becoming a billion-dollar company by 2022. In addition to James, several other star-powered investors are involved in the brand including Maria Shriver and Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner.


Subscribe to and view the complete Housing Trends Newsletter Here  Housing Trends News Letter

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See current homes For Sale here  Free Home Search App

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The Good News From Keller Williams DMN

“What’s The GOOD News?”

05/17/17

1.*   Homeowners who sold in the first three months of this year saw an average price gain of $44,000 from purchase, according to a report from Attom Data Solutions released April 27, 2017. That represents a 24% return on the purchase price - the highest gain since third quarter 2007.  Nationwide, the median home price was $225,000 during the first quarter of 2017, the report stated, up 13% from a year ago. Homes in more expensive markets have seen the highest average price gains so far this year, the report found. Sellers in San Jose, California, saw an average price gain of $356,500 (71% return on investment), followed by those in San Francisco with a gain of $276,750 (65% return on investment).  The Austin-Round Rock, Texas market is the only Texas market that shows up on the Top 20 metro areas where home sellers are making the most money when selling their homes, with an average return on investment of 39% and an average price gain of $81,795…..and that puts them at the #19 spot on the list.   

2.*   Delaware and New York no longer have a monopoly on storing gold and precious metals for IRAs. This month, Noble Gold Investments opened an IRA depository in Dallas, the first of its kind in this region of the country.  Charles Thorngren, CEO of Noble Gold, said they will store everything from bullions to coins and platinum to palladium at the high-security facility. He could not disclose the  location, only that it is in Dallas.

And yes, they are storing the physical metal. Like any asset, gold prices do fluctuate from day-to-day based on economic conditions and demand. On May 12, spot prices for gold were at $1,226 an ounce.  Noble Gold stores the precious metals for a flat $300 annual fee.

3.*   International telecommunications firm Altice USA Inc. has decided to expand its presence in North Texas with a new 79,000 square feet office in Plano. The company already has an office in Plano, and this new office, which they expect to occupy by the 3^rd quarter of this year, will bring 400 relocated or new jobs to the city.  The company provides internet, video and phone services throughout the country with 4.9 million residential and business customers in 21 states.  Altice has expanded its 1 Gigabit per second broadband services in Texas to about 85 communities in the state and has announced a five-year plan to build a next generation fiber optic network capable of delivering speeds of up to 10 Gbps.  

4.*    Construction has begun on an office park made entirely of shipping containers, which, once started, will deliver a new office and retail option to tenants near downtown Fort Worth.  The three-story office park, called Connex Fort Worth, will sit on a tract at 1201 Evans Ave. and is being developed with the help of 40 shipping containers.  The Connex office park is slated for completion by the end of October.  Upon completion, the Connex office park will bring a zero energy building powered with the help of solar power and wind turbine trees atop the roof of the structure.   

5.*  Early April marked the grand opening of the Kubota Tractor headquarters campus in Grapevine, completing a 2 year building process.  The new facility includes the headquarters building and an adjacent 62,000 square foot research and development building, an outdoor water garden, and a large employee lounge and food service area.  The facilities already have about 280 employees working there, with 2017 employment expected to reach 340 jobs created. The new Grapevine campus is built to ultimately house as many as 600 workers, and has already brought a payroll of $25 million annually to our area. The completion of the $50 million campus for Kubota Tractor Corp in Grapevine has pushed the vertical limit of tilt-wall construction, with its tallest concrete panel coming in at 82 ft 11 in.  In the past, tilt-wall construction has been reserved for mainly industrial buildings, but as technology has evolved — so has the use of tilt-wall construction — and it has fully transferred into the construction of office buildings.  The building appears to be four-stories tall instead of its actual three story height and has 20-foot floor-to-floor heights. A 300-ton crane was used to erect the concrete walls. 

Important Estate Documents

An estate plan is a collection of documents to ensure that your wishes are carried out because of death or incapacity to make decisions for yourself. Spouses, minor children, adult children, property and investments can all be factors that should motivate a person to undergo the process.

Will – this document specifies the way a person wants to manage and distribute his/her assets after their death. When a person dies without a will, the laws of the state where the person resided will determine the distribution of the property.

Durable Power of Attorney – this document grants to a designated person the authority to act on behalf of the principal in in legal affairs should the principal become incapacitated. Among other things, this would allow the attorney-in-fact to buy and sell property on the behalf of the principal.

Healthcare Proxy – this document grants that a designated person can legally make healthcare decisions on behalf of the principal when they are incapable of making and executing specific decisions stated in the proxy.

Living Will – this document directs physicians with respect to life-prolonging medical treatments in case they become unable to communicate their decisions.

Hippa Release – this document allows heath care providers to release your health care information to a designated person. Otherwise, they are required by federal law to protect the privacy of your health information.

Letter of Instruction – This document contains information and instructions about a person’s wishes upon death. It is intended to offer details on whom to contact and where to find important documents about personal and financial matters.

Requirements of these documents can vary from state to state and legal advice should be obtained. If you need a current estimate of value on real estate that may be involved, usually a price opinion from a licensed real estate professional will suffice. It would be my privilege to assist you with this at no cost or obligation.

Six Reason to Consider Rental Homes

Single-family homes offer an investor the ability to borrow large loan-to-value amounts at fixed interest rates for long terms on appreciating assets, tax advantages and reasonable control. Some of these characteristics are not available through other investments.

75-80% loan-to-value mortgages are available on most residential properties up to four units. Comparatively, the stock market allows you to borrow up to 50% on a stock but if the price goes down, they will require additional cash to keep the ratio at or below 50%. If it isn’t available, your stock can be sold to satisfy the loan.

Real estate investors call getting a long-term mortgage putting an investment to bed. The fixed-rate and the 20-30 year terms are exceptions to loans for most other investments, if they’re available at all. 

Real estate tends to go up in value over time. There can be a lot of variables that affect the price like supply and demand, condition and available mortgage money, in addition to the general economy.

Rental real estate has several different tax advantages. The profits are taxed at lower, long-term capital gains rates for investors who have owned the property for more than 12 months. While the property is being rented, investors are given a non-cash deduction based on cost recovery of the improvements. Tax deferred exchanges can also be available if specific conditions are met which allow an investor to postpone paying the tax on the gain.

It isn’t necessary to have a partner with most rental homes if the investor can qualify for the mortgage. This allows investor control to make all the decisions that an owner is entitled such as setting the rent, making improvements and determining when to sell.

Rental real estate can earn a much higher rate of return than other available investments while providing income during the holding period. It certainly is worth investigating the possibility with a real estate professional who understands and works with rental properties.

What Would You Give?

What Would You Give?

Yogi Berra said he’d give his right arm to be ambidextrous. While most first-time home buyers are not going to that extreme, it is interesting to see what sacrifices are being made according to the National Association of REALTORS® 2016 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.

• 43% - cut spending on luxury or non-essential items
• 34% - cut spending on entertainment
• 27% - cut spending on clothes
• 14% - canceled vacation plans
  9% - earned extra income through a second job
• 7% - sold or decided not to purchase a vehicle
• 44% - did not need to make any sacrifices

Forty-percent of first-time buyers experienced some difficulty during the mortgage application and approval process. Single, male buyers expressed a higher incidence of difficulty than single females and married or unmarried couples.

Pre-approval from a qualified mortgage lender before the home search process begins is still considered the best advice for all buyers who will purchase with a mortgage. Your real estate professional can make recommendations for a loan officer that could help you avoid unnecessary aggravations.

Insurance Claim Proof of Purchase

People who experience a property loss are usually asked by their insurance company for proof of purchase which can come in the form of a receipt or current inventory of their personal belongings.
Even the most organized people might find it challenging to find receipts for all the valuables in their home. If the inventory isn’t up-to-date, a homeowner might forget to add some items to the claim and may not recognize the omission for long after the claim is settled.
The inventory can serve as a guide to make sure a homeowner gets compensated for all the loss.
Photographs and videos can be adequate proof that the items belonged to the insured. A series of pictures of the different rooms, closets, cabinets and drawers are helpful. When video is used, consider commenting as it is shot and be sure to go slow enough and close enough to things becoming recorded.
For your convenience, download a Home Inventory, complete it, and save a copy off premise. Good places for your inventory could be a safety deposit box or digitally, in the cloud if you have server-based storage available like Dropbox.

Pay Off Your Mortgage Early

It's the Principal of the Thing

Most people think they’ll have a house payment and a car payment for the rest of their lives but it doesn’t have to be with a plan and a little discipline. The plan is to make additional principal contributions to a fixed rate mortgage to shorten the term and save tens of thousands in interest.

If a person were to make an additional $100 payment each month applied to principal on a $175,000 mortgage, it would shorten the loan by five years six months. If the person were to make $200 a month additional payments, it would shorten the loan by 9 years. $459 additional payment would shorten it to 15 years.

If a person does make a decision to regularly pre-pay their mortgage, it will be their responsibility to verify that the lender is applying the money to the principal each time as opposed to being placed in the reserve account for taxes and insurance.

In today’s market, a savings account pays around 0.5% or less. Even with the low mortgage rates available, there is still a considerable savings. People who might need the funds in the near future should carefully consider this option due to the difficulty to access equity easily from one’s home.

Make your own projections using the Equity Accelerator.

Sale of Home by Surviving Spouse - may qualify to exclude up to $500,000 of gain

Sale of Home by Surviving Spouse -

Special consideration is made by IRS for the sale of a jointly-owned principal residence after the death of a spouse. Surviving spouse may qualify to exclude up to $500,000 of gain instead of the $250,000 exclusion for single people if certain requirements are met.

• The sale needs to take place no more than two years after the date of death of the spouse.
• Surviving spouse must not have remarried as of the sale date.
• The home must have been used as a principal residence for two of the last five years prior to the death. 
• The home must have been owned for two of the last five years prior to the death.
• Survivor can count any time when spouse owned the home as time they owned it and any time the home was the spouse’s residence as time when it was their residence.
• Neither spouse may have excluded gain from the sale of another principal residence during the last two years prior to the death.

If you have been widowed in the last two years and have substantial gain in your principal residence, it would be worth investigating the possibilities. Time is a critical factor in qualification. Contact your tax professional for advice about your specific situation. Contact me to find out what your home is worth in today’s market. See IRS Publication 523 – surviving spouse.

July 2016 Keller Williams DMN Good News!

“What’s The GOOD News?”



July 18, 2016
1.*  Mary Kay Inc. will build a $100 million manufacturing and R&D complex near Lewisville's Vista Ridge shopping mall. The new plant will start construction in September on 26 acres at the northeast corner of Denton Tap Road and Vista Ridge Mall Drive near State Highway 121.  The project will replace the company's almost 50-year-old plant in Northwest Dallas.  The 470,000 square foot building will open in the first quarter of 2018.  The manufacturing operation produces up to 1.1 million products per day and more than half of the output of that plant is exported to Mary Kay Inc.'s international markets.

2.*   Tech week is a week long technology festival for entrepreneurs, tech visionaries and thought leaders to meet and enable the innovation ecosystem across the globe. Tech week was founded 5 years ago in Chicago, and in 2016, will be held in 98 cities in North America.  Toronto and Dallas are two new additional cities for 2016, and the November 14 – 20, 2016 Dallas event is expected to draw 5,000 – 6,000 attendees. Tech week will remain in its current markets of Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, New York, Miami and Los Angeles.

3.*  American wind power supported a record 88,000 jobs at the start of 2016—an increase of 20% in a year—according to the U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report.  The Texas wind power industry currently ranks first for both installed and under-construction capacity and employs almost 25,000 people.   Strong job growth coincided with wind ranking number one as America’s leading source of new generating capacity last year, outpacing solar and natural gas.   Innovative turbine technology has cut the cost of wind energy by two-thirds in just six years, which is leading to continued interest and investment in the wind energy industry.   Texas is home to about 40 wind turbine manufacturers, and the wind industry has a total capital investment of almost $33 billion.  The Department of Energy estimates Texas could produce enough wind energy by 2030 to run about 15 million homes.

4.*   Pokemon Go has seen more downloads and more activity than Twitter or Tinder either one since its release on July 6, 2016.  Nintendo is reaping huge rewards from Pokemon Go’s instant success, seeing an amazing 25% increase in stock shares. At $37 or so, the company’s stock price is still well below the high it hit in 2007 when Nintendo was trading in the mid $70 range, however the increase adds somewhere around $9 billion to the company’s market value.  While the game itself is free to play and can easily be used without spending any money, it’s still bringing in somewhere around $1.5 million in revenue each day through in-app purchases. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are finding ways to cash in on the Pokemon Go craze, by having locations called PokeStops and Gyms, that correspond to the business’s real-life locations that players have to go to in order to pick up items or battle other trainers. Unfortunately, most Pokemon Go players are not big spenders, but certain businesses in certain places are seeing a significant impact.  Impressively, over 60% of those who have downloaded the app in the US are using it daily.  Be watching Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality, and what that may mean for the real estate industry and many others.

5.* The U.S. Senate recently passed H.R. 3700, the “Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act,” by unanimous consent. This legislation includes reforms to current Federal Housing Administration restrictions on condominium financing, among other provisions, and is long supported by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR).  Changes include efforts to make FHA’s re-certification process “substantially less burdensome,” while lowering FHA’s current owner-occupancy requirement from 50 percent to 35 percent. The bill also requires FHA to replace existing policy on transfer fees with the less-restrictive model already in place at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Condominium sales in Texas’s 4 major metro areas increased in the first half of 2016, according to a report released the Texas Association of REALTORS®.   According to the report, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio all experienced an increase in condo sales between January and May 2016 compared to the same six-month period last year.

Building a lifestyle together! 

Respectfully, 

Bret Wilson - (214) 315-9465

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