Hot Properties

Real estate authority asserts Dallas is second hottest U.S. market right now

As the spring homebuying season approaches, the Dallas-Fort Worth market is expected to be the second-hottest in the country behind only Waco, according to experts at Realtor.com. By examining the median age of housing inventory in February and traffic on the site, Realtor.com’s chief economist Jonathan Smoke says these two Texas markets are primed to lead the pack.

The median age of housing inventory in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 62 days. That’s the best in Texas and 41 days shorter than the national average of 103. Although Waco doesn’t appear in the top 20 on that list, it earns the title as hottest projected market because of online activity.

Active Waco listings on Realtor.com are viewed, on average, 335 times — the highest in the country. Dallas comes in second, at 219 pageviews per active listing. To put that in perspective, the national average is 73 pageviews per active listing. No other Texas market made the top 20.

Smoke says that for Dallas, both metrics indicate that buyers are gearing up to hit a market that sellers are taking advantage of.

“It’s a good measure that supply is getting tighter when you see that the age is getting lower, then demand is increasing faster than supply,” he says. “It’s a two-edged sword. It’s great if you’re an existing homeowner or seller, but it’s what’s behind prices accelerating and declines in affordability.”

The supply issue is affected by an inventory that shrank 30 percent between January 2014 and January 2015, as there were 16,000 homes available for sale in the area at the beginning of 2015.

“It is tight,” Smoke says. “It’s an issue broadly across the U.S., and one way to characterize what we’re seeing in Dallas is that it’s following the national trend but more intensely.”

Smoke says that there is relief for buyers on the horizon, because February’s inventory is expected to be up from January when the full numbers come in later this month.

“Typically you see an inventory increase this time of year,” he says. “Warmer markets get prepared for the spring selling season. There’ll be a large number of listings in March; the market is reacting, and inventory is increasing.

“We think that the inventory is going to be up [in Dallas] about 4.5 percent.”

Here is the complete list of Realtor.com’s 20 hottest markets right now:

Waco, Texas
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
Santa Rosa, California
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado
Vallejo-Fairfield, California
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, California
Charleston, West Virginia
San Luis Obispo et al, California
Columbus, Ohio
Boulder, Colorado
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan
Hartford-West Hartford et al, Connecticut
Manchester-Nashua, New Hampshire
San Francisco-Oakland et al, California
San Diego-Carlsbad, California
Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina
Toledo, Ohio
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Maine/New Hampshire

reports

House For Sale

Dallas house for sale from the '50s is still in original condition

Courtesy

9203

There's a house for sale in East Dallas that's increasingly hard-to-find: a well-preserved home from the '50s for sale that's in nearly original condition.

The house is located at 9203 Lindaro Ln., just outside Loop 12 and walking distance to Bishop Lynch High School, in a stable neighborhood of homes build in the mid 1950s.

The listing by Bryant Nieves of Elite Real Estate Texas calls it a "beautifully preserved Mid-Century gem" with original hardwood floors in the downstairs bedrooms, a recently installed roof, a modern sprinkler system, and an upgraded AC unit.

There are multiple living spaces with a formal living & dining area, eat-in kitchen, and family room which includes an office nook with built-in desk. It has both a carport and attached 2-car garage, as well as a fully fenced yard.

Most of the homes in this neighborhood are 1,200 to 1,600 square feet, and priced from $250,000 to $350,000.

This house was built in 1957, but it differs in that it has a second-floor add-on over the garage — making it roomier at 2,202 square feet, with 5 bedrooms instead of the usual 3.

The two bathrooms are in original condition with '50s tile, both in good shape. The main bathroom has pale warm tan tile, almost flesh colored; the second bathroom, off one of the bedrooms, is a little prettier, with white tile and green-tile edging. Both are far superior to granite-look ceramic.

While both bathrooms merit admiration, this house is more about the wood. There are

original hardwood floors, all in great shape
wood doors including closet doors
wood paneling in the family room, with wood bookshelves and a build-in wood desk

There's also an odd wooden bookshelf that serves as a divider of sorts in the stacked formal living room.

The only room that looks unoriginal is the kitchen, which boasts white-washed '80s cabinets. It looks clean and functional, even if it does not match modern tastes.

Courtesy

Facade of 9203 Lindaro is pleasing, thanks to the unpainted brick.

It sits on a 7,535 sqft lot and the asking price is $395,000 — a bit optimistic, even if they find the rare buyer who sees value in an untouched '50s home.

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