House Hunting

Where Dallas-Fort Worth buyers and sellers saw the most action in 2019

Buyers and sellers helped make Fort Worth a hot spot.

Photo courtesy of Opendoor

Opendoor has just unveiled the 10 hottest neighborhoods for home buying and selling across Dallas-Fort Worth in 2019 — and the results might surprise you.

The company, which takes the stress out of buying and selling, has hundreds of homes currently on the market in DFW. It enables house hunters to use its mobile app to unlock the front door of each Opendoor listing for a self-tour between 6 am and 9 pm, seven days a week. With over 1.5 million home visits recorded nationwide in 2019, Opendoor is able to keep a close pulse on where buyer interest in DFW is strongest.

Six of the top 10 communities where buyers were most active this year are adjacent to the fast-growing hub of Fort Worth. Opendoor data revealed that the No. 1 ZIP code for buyers was 76244 in Keller, followed by 76179 (Saginaw), 75052 (Grand Prairie), 76137 (Watauga), and 75068 (Oak Point).

Two more in Fort Worth (76123 and 76133), another in Saginaw (76131), and one each in Aubrey (76277) and Heath (75126) round out the top 10.

Opendoor consumer trends expert Beatrice de Jong says this is due in part to stretched affordability, with years of home price gains outpacing incomes in DFW, as well as the rise in remote work.

In a recent trends report, de Jong noted that "many people are moving to smaller cities and more suburban or rural areas. With remote work, they can prioritize affordability and the lifestyle they want and can afford, and get more bang for their buck in places outside of or just adjacent to a big city."

Towns like Keller — a previous winner of Money Magazine's Top 100 Places to Live award — and Saginaw offer plenty of outdoor recreational options and short commute times to major business centers, which may also explain their popularity.

Opendoor found that sellers saw the most visitor activity in Saginaw (76179), Heath (75126), Keller (76244), Aubrey (76227), and Grand Prairie (75052), which saw double-digit year-over-year price increases.

The top 10 for sellers is rounded out by Fort Worth (76123), Burleson (76028), Oak Point (75068), Grand Prairie again (76052), and Saginaw (76131).

For DFW residents thinking about making a move in 2020 and selling their current home, Opendoor makes it incredibly easy to receive a competitive, cash offer within 24 hours so you don't have to deal with the stress, hassle, and uncertainty that can come with listing on the open market.

In the market to buy a new home? Buyers not only have hundreds of Opendoor-listed homes at their fingertips, but can now also browse, self-tour, and buy any for-sale home in DFW through the company's new buyer service.

reports promoted apps home-for-sale

Anna Land Buy

Cox Family sells 116 acres in Anna for mixed-use development

Courtesy photo

Anna, Texas

A major land sale in Anna is paving the way for new mixed-use development. According to a release, Frisco-based Rockhill Capital & Investments struck a deal with the Cox Family to acquire 116 acres at County Road 371 and SH-5, approximately two miles east of US-75.

Younger Partners Executive Managing Director John St. Clair, Vice President Tyler Hemenway, and Associate Davis Willoughby represented the seller in the transaction. The sales price was not disclosed.

Rockhill will sell fully entitled tracts of land to homebuilders, multifamily, and commercial developers.

The single-family portion will be built in phases with development of 325 single-family lots, says Rockhill Chief Development Officer Brent Libby in a statement.

“Construction will likely begin early in Q2 2025,” Libby said. “We’ve already sold 82 of the 116 acres to homebuilder Taylor Morrison and they should break ground first.”

The remaining acres are already being snapped up including 9.5 acres on SH 5 that is under contract to a commercial developer, and interest from a user/developer on the remaining 24 acres, which is zoned for multifamily.

The Cox Family owned the land for decades and had received multiple offers on the property over the years, but were never ready to sell.

“Ultimately, the family wanted to capitalize on the land market before unforeseen market factors took place,” said St. Clair of Younger Partners. “This deal took place at the right time with the right buyer.”

The acquisition nvolved a lengthy zoning process to acquire the land. Rockhill created a Public Improvement District (PID) on the single-family portion of the land, which helped the deal move forward.

Rockhill already has land holdings in nearby high-growth cities of Howe, Van Alstyne, and Sherman, and it ain't stopping here.

“We’ll continue to source and acquire land in the area where we can add value through entitlements, and either develop the property or hold it for some time and exit to another developer or end user,” Libby says.

openings