Dallas/Fort Worth Homes

We occasionally receive people including us on their blogs.  Here is one from Pat Watson out of Iowa.  Thanks Pat!

Finally, a realtor that understands that most people want to look online for a home before they drive around, call a realtor or scan the newspapers.  This site is crisp, attractive and engaging.  More places should do the same thing and give the potential buyers the option of seeing the available homes in this manner, it should certainly drive business to their door!

FIND NEW HOMES NOW in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and move to the great state of Texas.  Not only will you see many homes, get the help you want in buying the home but you will also get 1% of the purchase price back at closing, that’s like getting a real deal on your realtor fees!

 Take a look at the site, you’ll be impressed with the quality and idea.

Brokers’ Web site a one-stop shop

 Posted on Fri, Feb. 29, 2008

 Two Plano-based real estate brokers have teamed up to develop a Web site that they say will make finding a new house easier.

Brad Holden and Brad Oellermann, who a year ago formed Builders Information Marketing Services, on Saturday will launch www.homeferret.com, which features the new-home communities in the Metroplex offered by 32 home builders, including 25 national companies.

The men said their site is a one-stop shop because it puts an end to having to log on to each builder Web site to see what’s available. Searches can be made by city and price range, or by builder.

Holden and Oellermann said they spent several months researching and gathering the information from the builders.

“All of their communities are available,” Oellermann said.

SANDRA BAKER, 817-390-7727
sabaker@star-telegram.com

Dallas homebuilders launch ad blitz to lure buyers

01:22 PM CST on Friday, February 29, 2008

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com Homebuilders who are sick of reading about the housing downturn are hoping to attract buyers with their own message.

Also Online

Link: DFWHousing Facts Web site

The Homebuilders Association of Metro Dallas has raised funding from builders, developers and financial institutions for an advertising blitz aimed at attracting buyers.

The builders’ “DFW Buy Now” campaign has begun running ads in newspapersand magazines, on billboards and in broadcast media. There’s also a Web site: www.dfwhousing facts.org.

The builders say that the marketing program will help combat negative publicity about the housing market, which is hurting their business.

The Web site advertisements including pro-housing quotes from Dallas developer Ross Perot Jr., legendary real estate agent Ebby Halliday and housing analyst Ted Wilson.

“The national press’ blanket coverage of the dire circumstances in other markets has discouraged prospective buyers from exploring the buying opportunities in our local Dallas-Fort Worth market,” Donny Mack, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas, said in a statement.

“Because the builders have cut way back on starts, once the current inventory of finished new homes is sold, prices on new construction will likely go up and this unique value purchasing opportunity will be gone,” Mr. Mack said.

North Texas homebuilders have been forced to cut their starts by almost 40 percent due to lagging sales caused in part by the mortgage market crash. The cutbacks have been even steeper in many U.S. markets.

Almost 10,000 vacant new homes are on the market in the D-FW area, and builders are offering significant sales incentives to move their surplus inventory.

The local building industry’s marketing campaign will promote the idea that North Texas’ home prices are stable, houses are affordable and sell quickly, and there is a limited inventory of finished homes available. The advertisements will also promote the “strong local economy” and current “very low interest rates.”

The National Association of Realtors has been running a similar nationwide advertising campaign, telling consumers “It’s a great time to buy a home.”

And the D-FW builders’ group says similar local marketing programs have been used in St. Louis, Atlanta, Houston and Florida.

The North Texas ad campaign will run through May, at the start of what is traditionally the prime home selling season.

Housing analysts say that one reason many consumers have delayed purchasing a house is because of fears of falling home prices. In late 2007, nationwide home prices fell by close to 9 percent – the biggest such drop on record.

However, home prices in the D-FW area have remained flat or dipped only slightly from recent peaks.

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Study: Dallas-Fort Worth homes are undervalued

09:48 PM CST on Tuesday, March 4, 2008

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com While the buzz in the housing market these days is about popping price bubbles, a new national study says that Dallas-Fort Worth has one of the most undervalued housing markets in the country.

Texas markets are also showing resilience in the face of nationwide home value drops, according to Tuesday’s report released by research firm Global Insight and financial holding company National City Corp.

Homes in Dallas are 30 percent undervalued and Fort Worth homes are almost 25 percent undervalued, researchers say, based on their estimates of where housing prices should be in North Texas.

To come up with its valuation estimates, Global Insight says it determines what home prices should be in the area, accounting for differences in population density, relative income levels, interest rates and historically observed market premiums or discounts.

The D-FW area is near the top of the list of cities with the most undervalued housing. Houston and College Station were also high on the list.

“Texas, which we have long characterized as undervalued, is now attracting significant migration at the expense of the much higher-cost metros of California and Florida,” Global Insight researchers said.

Even so, North Texas cities were among the 291 U.S. metropolitan areas that saw declines in overall home values at the end of 2007. Global Insight estimates that overall home values in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have dropped as much as 10 percent.

But that’s nothing compared with the slide in a handful of markets in California and Florida, where prices have plunged by more than 20 percent.

“Across the country, we are seeing prices going down, and that is also keeping the Texas metropolitan areas undervalued,” said Global Insight analyst Jeannine Cataldi.

The ease of building large numbers of homes in Texas is also a factor, she said.

“As demand keeps increasing there, there is enough room to build homes to meet that demand,” Ms. Cataldi said. “That’s one of the reasons we consider it undervalued.”

Even with the recent price declines, home prices in some markets in Oregon, New Jersey and California are still about 50 percent or more overvalued, Global Insight estimates.

North Texas has long stood out as one of the few large metropolitan areas not to experience dramatic home price appreciation over the last few years.

During the last five years, Dallas-area home prices have risen less than 16 percent, while the nationwide market has appreciated more than 40 percent.

“The upside for you is areas that did have all that appreciation are being hit the hardest,” Ms. Cataldi said.

HOME PRICES

Most undervalued and overvalued U.S. home markets, based on a fourth-quarter 2007 research of median home prices.
Market	Price	Change
MOST UNDERVALUED
Houma, La.	$116,500	-31.2%
Dallas	$134,500	-30.0%
Houston	$119,300	-29.1%
Shreveport	$101,200	-28.6%
Lafayette	$128,800	-26.2 %
College Station	$104,100	-25.8%
Fort Worth	$111,700	-24.9%
MOST OVERVALUED
Bend, Ore.	$308,100	59.8%
Atlantic City	$268,600	55.6%
Madera, Calif.	$274,000	49.6%
Longview, Wash.	$213,900	44.2%
Bellingham, Wash.	$304,600	44.1%
Honolulu	$664,200	43.5%
Miami	$293,100	43.1%
SOURCE: Global Insights; National City Corp.

Homeferret to connect builders with buyers

Friday, February 29, 2008

Dallas Business Journal – by Bill Hethcock Staff Writer

Geico has its gecko. Budweiser has its Clydesdales.

Now a Plano company is turning to a ferret named Frankie to call attention to a new Web site designed to connect homebuilders with buyers of new homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Homeferret.com, created by Bradley Oellermann and Brad Holden, is scheduled to launch March 1.

The home search site will be free to homebuyers, builders and real estate agents. Extensive detail, including floor plans, photos of homes, neighborhood demographics and amenities, will be provided to help users narrow their searches.

Homeferret.com will be different than other search sites because it will focus on new homes, instead of tapping into the Multiple Listing Service, which primarily contains listings for existing homes, Oellermann said. Sales agents for homebuilders who sign up for homeferret.com will be given a password allowing them to list and update information on houses and housing communities, Oellerman said.

North Texas will be the test market for the site, which Holden and Oellerman hope to take nationwide.

The project has been well received by builders, who are looking for more ways to compete with existing homes for sales in a slumping market, Holden said. Many builders have their own Web sites, but homeferret.com provides a centralized site for potential buyers to search instead of going to individual builders’ sites, he said.

Ten builders have signed up, including Dallas-Fort Worth’s top-volume builder, D.R. Horton Homes, Holden said. “Builders love it,” he said.

Oellerman and Holden’s mascot will be a 25-foot, blue inflatable ferret that will be popping up all over the Metroplex, the co-founders say.

According to the National Association of Realtors, more than 80% of Americans start their home search on the Internet.

Traub joins Gensler

Gensler architectural firm has named Robert Traub design director of architecture, as part of Gensler’s goal of broadening its base of services.

Traub, who has more than 30 years of experience in architectural design, marketing and management, was most recently a vice president and director of design with Leo A Daly in Dallas.

bhethcock@bizjournals.com | 214-706-7125

Homeferret.com launches in Dallas with Virtual New Home Search

Homeferret.com launches in Dallas with Virtual New Home Search 

by Jeff FlowersParadigm Creative February 1, 2008

Psst. Thinking about buying a new home?

Using the internet can save you a small bundle, maybe a couple thousand bucks. You can put that money to good use, buying blinds, carpeting, whatever. Or even a cash back rebate after closing.

What’s the secret? Go over to Homeferret.com, the Web portal where you can buy newly constructed homes. It’s a free service, no catch.

If you buy a home through Homeferret.com, or even just locate a home or community, using the 1% cash back coupon will put money in your pocket. On the typical new $180,000 home in this area, that comes out to $1,800.

The Internet is filled with come-ons. Online companies, which are burning cash like Rick Stacy does on those commercials, which are trying to build a loyal following. The words “free,” “cheap” and “rebate” get my attention. I get the sense, however, that once an audience has been built up, the online party could end. But Bradley Oellermann, Co-Founder of Plano-based Homeferret.com, insists that the cash bonus is a permanent part of his company’s offer. “We have no plans to end the rebate. It’s a win-win transaction for the builder, buyer, and the realtor,” he said.

That’s right, one of the biggest advantages of the rebate is the benefit to local realtors. “I think the site benefits realtors more than buyers in a way,” exclaims Missy McDaniel with blitzproperties.com, “the information and ease of it really will help me.  Not to mention it is Free!”

The market seems ripe for online home buying. Nearly 87% of Americans start their home search online now compared with 2 percent back in 1995, according to the National Association of Realtors. Homeferret is just getting started in this emerging market. The founders have been involved in over 200 home sales since 2005, generating $32 million in new home sales alone.

Currently, five Dallas area builders are in the Homeferret program, including Bloomfield Homes. ”The concept of showing the buyer the conveniences around each community will be a big plus for anyone, including the builders and realtors,” states Felix Blanchard Owner of Bloomfield Homes. Buyers using the site are greeted by Brooke Layne. Click on find a home and state preferences based on price, location and builder. Push the button and you get a list of developments. Web users then after choosing a community will see all of the conveniences of banks, grocery stores, hospitals, and schools located around the community. Also included are floor plans, photos of actual homes, discounted homes, demographics and so on may be available. Participating Dallas-area builders include Bowen Family Homes, New Lineage Homes, D.R. Horton Homes, Beazer Homes and Bloomfield Homes.

The data offered by Homeferret is helpful in narrowing choices, which can save wear and tear on the shoe leather. Homeferret.com, in effect acts as a buyer agent, collecting fees from builders when homes are sold. But, as always, most realtors recommend visiting the homes before purchase to be certain they’re right for you. If you prefer, potential buyers can use Homeferret.com’s staff to do the research.

Homeferret.com, like many sites, also offers information on financing your home. They are happy to announce that Rodney Anderson with CTX Mortgage will be the preferred lender. Rodney is the #1 loan originator in Texas and has a great reputation in the DFW area.

However, I’d like to see Homeferret beef up the video aspect. Oellermann said they’re working on it.

Meanwhile, if you’re in the market for a new home, it wouldn’t hurt to get the rebate. Consider it a gift from Frankie . . . the 25 foot blue inflatable ferret that has been popping up all over the metroplex. 

Hello

Welcome to Homeferret.com’s Blog.

 Here you will find updates and events about properties, builders, and realtors.

You may also see the latest and greatest here in the DFW Real Estate Arena.

Enjoy!

www.homeferret.com