City News Roundup

Once-sizzling housing market cools down and more Dallas news

Not so fast these days!

Photo by Getty Images

This roundup of news around Dallas includes a welcome update on the housing market, some info about a seminar on college loans, a toast to volunteers, and a State Fair of Texas 2022 milestone.

Here's what happened in Dallas this week:

Loan forgiveness
Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins and the Department of Education are hosting a webinar targeted to former and/or current government and 501c3 employees to learn about recent time-sensitive changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. If you work for a government entity or 501c3 nonprofit and have been repaying student loans for nearly 10 years or longer, you may qualify for a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Waiver. It'll take place September 26 at 10 am. Interested parties can register here.

Habitat volunteers
On September 8th, Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity held a dinner to honor volunteers. Over the past year, they had 4,300 volunteers who contributed over 50,000 hours of service. The celebration took place at the Dallas Arboretum and dedicated time to honor those who have been serving for 15, 25, and 30 years.

TWF grants
Texas Women's Foundation invested nearly $9.2 million in advocacy, programs, and grants during its fiscal year of July 2021-June 2022. That includes $7,102,079 to 223 nonprofits and $2.1 million in programs to create leadership opportunities for women and girls. For a complete list of grantees, visit txwf.org/grants.

Big Tex drop
NBC DFW has a video of Big Tex, the State Fair of Texas mascot, being dropped into place in anticipation of the opening on September 30. The figure has a new "shirt" and "jeans," words used loosely since this is not an actual person but instead a construction made of wire. A rep for the fair says that 80 percent of the activities are outdoors but that masks must be worn indoors, wonder how that'll go down.

Housing buzz dims
The Dallas-Fort Worth housing market is cooling down, say real estate agents. The market has shifted due to higher interest rates and more inventory available. An agent says there are more homes on the market, forcing sellers to reduce the price, with homes now on market for an average of 24 days, twice as long as 2021 when a house was typically on the market for 2 weeks. A market review by the Collin County Association of Realtors for August says that sellers were forced to negotiate and accept offers for less than their asking price for the first time since January 2021.

The kindof-bummer is that we're now in a pricier new market. Agents say that the $300,000 to $400,000 range has become the standard that they do not see that going backward or the other way.

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Unhappy holidays

Porch pirates pilfer nearly $2B worth of Texas packages, study shows

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

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’Tis the season for porch pirates. If past trends are an indicator, the Grinch will swipe close to $2 billion worth of packages delivered to Texas households this year, with many of those thefts happening ahead of the holiday season.

An analysis of FBI and survey data by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows porch pirates stole more than $1.8 billion worth of packages from Texans’ porches last year. Porch pirates hit nearly one-third of the state’s households in 2024, according to the analysis.

Omnisend’s analysis reveals these statistics about porch piracy in Texas:

30.1 million residential package thefts in 2024.
An average household loss of $169 per year.
An annual average of 2.9 package thefts per household.

“Most stolen items are cheap on their own, but add them up, and retailers and consumers are facing an enormous bill,” says Omnisend.

Another data analysis, this one from The Action Network sports betting platform, unwraps different figures regarding porch piracy in Texas.

The platform’s 2025 Porch Pirate Index ranks Texas as the state with the highest volume of residential thefts, based on 2023-24 FBI data.

Researchers at The Action Network uncovered 26,293 reports of personal property thefts at Texas residences during that period. The network’s survey data indicates 5 percent of Texas residents had a package stolen in the three months before the pre-holiday survey.

The Porch Pirate Index calculates a 25.8 percent risk of a Texas household being victimized by porch pirates, putting it in the No. 5 spot among states with the highest risk of porch piracy.

The Action Network included online-search volume for terms like “package stolen” and “porch pirates.” Sustained spikes in these searches suggest that “people are actively looking for guidance after something has happened. Search trends serve as an early warning system, revealing emerging-risk areas well before annual crime statistics are released,” the network says.

Tips to avoid being a victim
So, how do you prevent porch pirates from snatching packages that end up on your porch? Omnisend, The Action Network and Amazon offer these eight tips:

Closely monitor deliveries and quickly retrieve packages.
Schedule deliveries for times when you’ll be home.
Use delivery lockers or in-store pickup when possible.
Ask delivery services to hide packages in out-of-sight spots outside your home.
Install a visible doorbell camera or security camera.
Coordinate deliveries with neighbors or building managers if you’ll be away from your home when packages are supposed to arrive.
Request that delivery services hold your packages if you can’t be home when they’re scheduled to come.
Illuminate the path to your doorstep and keep porch lights on.

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