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Sounding the alarm

These are the 10 most common deficiencies in Dallas homes for sale

John Egan
Feb 13, 2019 | 11:21 am
Signing deed to a house with money
There's nothing cheap about buying a home.
iStock

An alarming number of homes in Dallas lack smoke alarms that work properly or lack smoke alarms altogether, according to a new report.

The report, from Dallas-based Repair Pricer, shows 62 percent of homes for sale in Dallas had defective smoke alarms or no smoke alarms at all. The report analyzed 5,000 inspection reports of homes for sale inside Dallas’ city limits to reveal the 10 most common home deficiencies.

Repair Pricer offers a tool that helps real estate agents, real estate clients, and home inspectors come up with accurate prices for home repairs.

The issue with smoke alarms and the need to adjust and service doors — an indicator of problems with the foundation — tied for the most common deficiency (62 percent) among homes for sale in Dallas. The deficiencies found with smoke alarms were by far the most life-endangering, though.

According to the Texas Fire Incident Reporting System, 108 civilians (not firefighters) died in Texas home fires in 2016; smoke alarms were absent in 22 percent of the fatal fires.

“Smoke alarms have become such a common feature in U.S. homes that it is easy to take them for granted. These devices have alerted countless households to ... fires,” the National Fire Protection Association says.

Across the country, smoke alarms were present in three-fourths of home fires reported in 2012 through 2016, the association says. Almost three out of every five home fire deaths during that period were caused by fires in homes with no smoke alarms (40 percent) or smoke alarms that failed to operate (17 percent).

In the case of smoke alarms that fail to operate, the main culprit is that they’re disconnected or the power sources (such as batteries) aren’t operating.

What follows are the top 10 deficiencies discovered by Repair Pricer among homes for sale in Dallas:

  • Smoke alarms aren’t working or are missing (62 percent).
  • Doors need adjusting and servicing (62 percent).
  • No protection from a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), a fast-acting circuit breaker designed to shut off electricity and prevent people from electrical shock (60 percent).
  • Exterior caulking and sealer that are missing (59 percent).
  • Faucets and heads that need servicing (54 percent).
  • Deficiencies with fixtures or bulbs (53 percent).
  • Cosmetic sheetrock cracks or nail pops (53 percent).
  • Outlets or switches with deficiencies (52 percent).
  • Problems with electric service panel (52 percent).
  • Lot does not offer proper drainage (51 percent).
home-for-sale reports
news/real-estate

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Safety First

2 Dallas neighbors top list of safest cities for new homeowners

John Egan
Oct 7, 2026 | 9:00 am
McKinney, Texas
Getty Images
McKinney and Frisco are rated among the five safest on the list.

Roughly 15 miles separate two fast-growing Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, McKinney and Frisco. Yet they share highly coveted territory in the safety department.

Home security system company Vivint has put McKinney at No. 2 and Frisco at No. 4 in its ranking of the safest U.S. cities for new homeowners.

Vivint analyzed 93 U.S. cities based on 2025 property crime rates, share of homeowners under 35, share of recent movers, and employment of security and fire alarm installers. Property crime rates carried the greatest weight.

McKinney and Frisco both benefited from low rates for property crimes, with McKinney at No. 2 and Frisco at No. 3 in this category. McKinney posted a rate of 680 incidents per 100,000 residents, according to Vivint, and Frisco had a rate of 789.4 incidents per 100,000 residents.

The two suburbs also tied in a few categories, which were based on metro-level data. They ranked No. 12 for employment of security and fire alarm installers; No. 29 in the recent-mover category; and No. 35 in the young-homeowner category.

McKinney and Frisco aren’t strangers to high rankings in safety studies. In 2025, a SmartAsset list of the country’s safest suburbs ranked McKinney at No. 9 and Frisco at No. 10.

Here are the rankings for other North Texas cities in the Vivint study:

  • Plano ranked 11th
  • Garland ranked 16th
  • Irving ranked 18th
  • Arlington ranked 24th
  • Fort Worth ranked 28th
  • Dallas ranked 66th

Vivint ranked Texas' other major metros as follows:

  • Austin ranked 20th
  • San Antonio ranked 53rd
  • Houston ranked 57th

Port St. Lucie, Florida, topped the Vivint list, thanks largely to its No. 1 showing in the category for property crime rates.

homeowners mckinney safest cities safest suburbs frisco safety rankings
news/real-estate
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