The 2007 year-end statistics for the Briar Ridge subdivision were:                                                                    Briar RidgeHome Sales:                                                  9                    Median Price:                                            $510,711            Average $/Sq. Ft.                                      $125.39           Average # days on market:                           101  Look for the 1st quarter 2008 statistics coming next month.  If you would like a free market evaluation of your home, please give me a call.   Francis LeDuc  214-926-8060  http://www.leducsrealestate.com/   flleduc@sbcglobal.net    This information was taken from the MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. 03/16/2008

The 2007 year-end statistics for the Bent Trail subdivision were:                                    Bnt Trl #1   Bnt Trl #2   Bnt Trl #3    Bnt Trl #4      Bnt Trl Vlge Home Sales:        8              14               10                9                   2Median Price:  $324,375    $326,443     $263,702      $226,400      $247,500 Average $/SF:  $104.91      $111.49       $96.42          $97.54         $108.13 Average # days    on market:      111            73                85              117                 8  Look for the 1st quarter 2008 statistics coming next month.  If you would like a free market evaluation of your home, please give me a call.   Francis LeDuc  214-926-8060  www.leducsrealestate.com flleduc@sbcglobal.net This information was taken from the MLS and is deemed ... 03/15/2008

Let Us Help You - That's What We Do Best! The LeDucs is a family owned and operated company that truly cares about its customers wants and needs. We know the Dallas real estate market and its surrounding cities like our own backyard. With the LeDucs you are not only getting the service of an agent, you are getting a team. Referrals are a very important part of our success. If you know someone who might need help with the purchase and/or sale of a house, please pass along our contact information so we can provide them our services. Please be sure and look for our 2007 year-end subdivision analysis being sent this week and on a quarterly basis throughout the year. Our website is www.leducsrealestate.com 03/09/2008

Over the years, she's gained the nickname of Madam President.  Her true name is Gerry Hunter, and while she's an octogenarian, I promise you'd never guess it if you saw her.Madam President got her name because she's devoted two rooms in her home to a collection of memorbelia celebrating the lives and presidency of every U.S. president, beginning with George Washington.  She has other collections throughout her home as well.Teachers, Sunday school classes, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Campfire girls, and just moms and dads and grandparents bring children by to see these exhibits.  And Madam President always has her special homemade cookies waiting for them, hot from the oven.Gerry's home is in Richardson, one of the big next door suburbs of Dallas.  Visiting her and her Presidential Rooms... 02/29/2008

BILL CHERRY REALTORS9936 Windlake, Dallas 75238214 503-8563"OUR 43RD YEAR SELLING TEXAS"                                                                 REPRESENTATION OF LAKE HIGHLANDS RESIDENTIAL SALES - JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2008    CityBRBth SqFt Blt  DaysList PriceSP %LPSold Date$/ SqFtSale PriceDALLAS 4 2.0  2,109  1974  203 150,000  100 1/09/2008 71.12 150,000  DALLAS 3 2.0  1,750  1972  196 157,500  100 1/08/2008 90.00 157,500  Dallas 3 2.0  1,735  1974  134 165,000  97 2/15/2008 92.22 160,000  Dallas 3 2.0  1,920  1959  220 174,900  100 2/22/2008 90.99 174,700  Dallas 3 2.0  1,609  1956  27 174,900  100 2/15/2008 108.70 174,900 Dallas 5 2.1  2,393  1968  45 179,900  96 1/11/2008 72.25 172,900  DALLAS 3 2.0  1,310  1955  67 182,090  103 2/07/2008 142.67 186,900  Dallas 3 2.0  1,5... 02/28/2008

Why are you still over pricing your house even after all the education I try to give and explain? Over pricing will get you no where.  It might get people in the door since people are looking in all types of price ranges, but as soon as they walk in, they'll say, "This house is not anywhere near a $350k house in this neighborhood, how could they price it at $369,900?"The answer, the owners are investors and they're in the RED.  Do I care they're in the red?  Does a prospective buyer care they're in the red?  Isn't the best way to get out of the red to cut your losses as quickly as you can and sell the house instead of staying further and further in the red?I had a listing appointment for the opportunity to list two houses for these investors.  They chose an agent for one of the houses, ... 02/27/2008

Hello. This short commentary is for anyone looking to buy foreclosures in the current real estate market. As you know, foreclosures are at an all time high these days. The #1 Foreclosure city in the country is Cedar Hill, Texas, a south Dallas suburb. Are there deals to be had out there? Absolutely. However, the process by which you purchase these foreclosures is much more complicated than it was...say 5 years ago. As a potential buyer or investor, you need to be aware and prepared prior to making any offer.First of all, offers are taking longer than the typical 30-45 days to close. Banks(the sellers in this case) are so swamped with foreclosures that it sometimes takes weeks just to get an answer. Know going in that you are not dealing with a typical seller, per se. You are dealing wit... 02/25/2008

I've read many people's blogs about the membership of their Realtor Associations going down and people getting out of the business.  National news makes real estate sound so bad these days.  Once again, the Dallas area is outside the National trends.  I contacted the MetroTex Association of Realtors on Friday to get the official count of Realtors for the area.  There are several Realtor Associations in the area, but MetroTex is the largest covering most of Dallas and Fort Worth so I figured their information would show the trend that is also probably happening in the smaller associations.The membership numbers are as follows:January 2006- 14,061January 2007- 12,101January 2008- 13,299   + 9.9% Change over 2007This is not the trend you would expect to see as you hear over and over again ... 02/25/2008

 It's official, the George W Bush library is coming to the campus of SMU, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, TX.  There has been much heated debate about this library and what it would stand for.  The campus was split on wanting it and not wanting it.This will be the 13th Presidential Library across the country.  Construction is to start in 2009 and they expect it to take five years to complete.  That sounds like quite a project!SMU is also where the First Lady, Laura Bush, graduated from.  Dallas is also going to be where the Bush family makes their home after his term is up.  There have been rumors on what part of Dallas he'll live in.  He used to live in a very modest home in Prestonwood.  I'm sure he'll be moving his price range up a few hundred thousand dollars from that hom... 02/22/2008

Dallasites, whether from generations back or having just moved here, are familiar with the car dealerships that have the Sewell branding.It's a brand that's been in business for a long time, and appears to be "the country's largest luxury-car dealer."  Through almost two hands full of stores, they sell Lexus, Hummer, Cadillac, Pontiac, Saab, GMC, and I almost forgot Infiniti.When Carl Sewell acquired the business from his dad some years ago, he decided that he would step-up the business plan.  His business would consciously provide such an excellence in customer service that it would "turn that one-time buyer into a lifetime customer."And very dangerously and innovative for the time, that included the total discontinuance of price haggling, the noted but despised foundation of the car b... 02/21/2008

 Jason Kidd was previously with the Dallas Mavericks in 1994 where he played a couple of years before being traded to Phoenix.  It seems like we trade everyone to Phoenix as that's also where Nash went.There are many things involved with this trade, and I could possibly explain it all, but the main thing is that we get Kidd, Malik Allen, and Antoine Wright.  We also gave up a couple of first round draft picks for next year.Jason will be ready for today's 3pm practice and ready to start.Read more details of this trade on Dallasnews.com.     02/19/2008

It has just been announced that Barack Obama will be making a stop in Dallas on Wednesday before his debate with Hillary Clinton on Thursday in Austin.  The place has not been announced.  I guess that's too small of a detail to have that when you make such an announcement, but I'll update this post when I hear.From The Dallas Morning News, " "Sen. Obama is committed to campaigning in communities across Texas and will ask the people of Texas to stand for change with him," Adrian Saenz, the Obama campaign's Texas state director, said in a prepared statement Saturday. "The primary in Texas is March 4.  We're one of the last states to vote.  The state is typically Republican on a whole, so I'll be watching very closely to see if people vote party lines and for issues, or if they vote for ju... 02/16/2008

The latest report is out and it shows DFW has a surge of 27% in foreclosures going up for auction in March.  However, the number 27 doesn't mean too much in an average.  I say that because it takes into consideration Denton County that had a 42% increase.  But, at 42%, there were "only" 464 foreclosures for the entire county.  When you look at the number 464, you think, that's a lot of homes.  It's not really that many homes when you look at the population (2006 estimated population of 584,238) and how 464 is a very small percentage of properties in the area.Then, you have a 20% increase in Collin County (2006 estimated population 698,851).  To get to that 20% increase, it's "only" 495 foreclosures.The Dallas Fort Worth area had over 43,000 foreclosure for 2007.  DFW is ranked 11th acro... 02/16/2008

Dallas-Fort Worth home prices rose 0.5% in 4th quarter But area was a winner compared with national losses Dallas Morning News February 15, 2008 By STEVE BROWN ORLANDO, Fla. – The Dallas-Fort Worth area continued to eke out slight gains in home prices in the fourth quarter, according to the latest nationwide survey More than half of the country's home markets saw price declines in the final months of 2007. Nationwide, prices fell 5.8 percent, the biggest quarterly drop on record, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. But in the D-FW area, median prices for home resales rose 0.5 percent, compared with the fourth quarter of 2006, according to the Realtors' benchmark quarterly report. "Dallas-Fort Worth generally parallels ... 02/16/2008

My husband has recently gotten out of the Military and our family is moving back to the great state of Texas! We are all very excited. I am nervous and stressing out, trying to change everything over in my business. I am moving to Garland and I have a Home Staging Business in Palm Beach Florida. We are moving in March and I would love if anyone had any advice for me, or knew of a Home Stager in the Dallas area I could talk to. THANK YOU!! 02/13/2008

  Here in Texas life is good! Anyone who has watched the news lately would naturally be alarmed over the terrible news concerning Real Estate and the Mortgage industry. Now there are certain parts of the United States where selling a home is tough. There might be a one year supply of homes and the prices have fallen by 10% to 25%. These are markets where the prices raised that much or more in the last few years or the unemployment is way up.   Texas however is different. Some change has occurred; no market is immune to that. Securing a home loan is essentially as it was ten years ago. You must prove you have an income. You must have a worthy credit score. You must have some money in the bank. We do not see a problem with this. It is true the market has shifted towards a buyer's market. ... 02/12/2008

Thanks for stopping by for our weekly Sunday after church meeting here in the park.  It's so nice to see you.I was just thinking about why Sunday trips to the park are so important to me.  They remind  me of when I was a little boy during the War years.  After Sunday school, during the spring, my daddy would bring me here so I could swing, ride the merry-go-around, and go down the slide a zillion times.  And then we'd go to the ice cream factory just about three blocks away, and get a freshly made ice cream sandwich.  We'd sit on the factory's front steps and eat that delight.  It was called Purity Ice Cream and even Texas' famous Blue Bell Ice Cream doesn't match up.My daddy, William Wallace Cherry's, birthday was last week, and if he were still alive, he would be 99-years old, but I s... 02/09/2008

The Dallas Home market has become very competive in the last few months. Inventory in up, and homes have been sitting on the market for longer periods of time. According to preliminary statistics released by the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems and Texas A&M University's Real Estate Center, pre-owned home sales in North Texas fell 16 percent in January compared with a year earlier. While adding to a long run of declines, last month's drop in sales was less than the almost 23 percent decrease in December. At the end of January there were 43,323 pre-owned single-family homes listed for sale - up 1 percent from a year earlier. The latest home market statistics indicate that the slowdown will continue.Top Realtors in the Dallas market have turned to Home Staging to get a competit... 02/09/2008

There is not much real estate left in north Dallas - by that I mean new built homes. Davenport Meadows Dallas is one of the very few left. Davenport Meadows Dallas is a small townhome community located off Davenport on McCallum (Preston/ McCallum - just south of Frankford area). When completed, there will be 42 homes built. Starting in the low $200Ks, Davenport Meadows start with 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath and 2 car front-entry garages. The 3-bedroom units are closer to the mid-$250Ks. They range from 1,800 square feet to as large as almost 2,500 square feet. In January 2008, Davenport Meadows Dallas is almost 1/3 built out with many inventory homes to choose from. The HOA dues are fairly low, at $90/month and it covers hazard/ structural insurance, front lawn maintenance and management fees. ... 02/07/2008

One recent evening I got a call from a woman.  She didn't identify herself, but her question was where she could go to find out what houses were going to be foreclosed.  I asked her if she thought hers was going to be one of them.<<--BILL CHERRY REALTORS, WORLD HEADQUARTERS"No, sir," she said, "I want to go buy a couple of them, fix them up and sell them."  She went on to tell me that she had seen a program on TV about how easy it is to do that and get rich, and had bought the fellow's books and DVDs.I asked her if she had read the material and listened to and watched the DVDs.  "Sure have," she said.I said, "After all of that instruction you didn't learn how the foreclosure process works and where to find out what will be auctioned and when?""No, sir.""And did the instructor tell you t... 02/05/2008