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August 2022 DFW Area Real Estate Stats

by ResourcesStatsVideo

August 2022 Stats are IN! Here are the highlights! In Collin County New listings are slightly down, while Active listings are up quite a bit from last year. The days on market, average sales price and price per square foot are also up as we are all aware, with the actual number of sales down about 21% from 2021. In Dallas County, the new listings are also down slightly with Active listings up with similar percentages to Collin County. The days on market, average sales price and price per square foot are also up in Dallas with the number of sales down about 15% from last year. The statistics are about the same in Denton and Rockwall counites as you can see. In summary, while the market is definitely slower than 2021, we are still experiencing a shortage of homes for sale in the entire metroplex which makes it a great time be in the business in North Texas! Happy sharing and selling!

Our stats infographics include a year over year comparison and area highlights for single family homes broken down by county. We encourage you to share these infographics and video with your sphere.

For more stats information, pdfs and graphics of our stats including detailed information by county, visit the Resources section on our website at DFW Area Real Estate Statistics | Republic Title of Texas.

For the full report from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center, click here. For NTREIS County reports click here.

Housing-Insight-July-2022

Texas Housing Insight July 2022 Summary

by Real Estate ArticlesResources

Aggressive central bank policy continues to drag down the housing market, stalling the previously hot streak of housing sales. The housing sector continues to show signs of easing as housing inventories recover and home prices depreciate. Amid a statewide retreat in construction permits, the elevated demand for construction suggests many prospective homebuyers might be putting off their big-item purchases. Sales of homes below $300,000, an attractive market for first-time buyers and younger households, diminished more than sales of higher-priced homes.

Supply1

Texas’ single-family construction permits marked the largest monthly decrease since April 2020, sliding 16.1 percent month over month (MOM). Permits for building construction and renovation fell in all four major metros, but contractions were most significant in Houston and San Antonio, falling at 19.9 percent and 12.7 percent MOM, respectively. Amid the drop, DFW (3,626 permits) surpassed Houston (3,471 permits) as the metropolitan area with the most construction permits. The last time DFW surpassed Houston on the national permit list was one-and-a-half years ago. On the other hand, permits between Austin (1,626) and San Antonio (781) continued the 1:2 ratio. While the single-family sector shrank to 11,900 permits, Texas’ multifamily sector rose to an historic high with 12,500. The growth was heavily concentrated on permits for apartment buildings, doubling the year-ago level.

Lumber producer price index (PPI) balanced at the year-ago value, and the July value was four-fifths of March’s record-high metric. Despite the recent lumber price deduction, material prices are still soaring compared with historical prices. Additionally, rampant mortgage rate increases suppressed the South’s total housing starts to a rate of 710,000 units. Single-family housing starts, which account for the biggest share of homebuilding, plunged to 511,000 units. Correspondingly, single-family private construction values tumbled to a two-year low, withdrawing 13.2 percent MOM. All major metros reported double-digit negative year-to-date (YTD) growths.

While homebuilding is expected to continue decelerating, the state’s current supply is starting to accumulate. Active listings rose more than 17,000 units since May. This loosening up of housing availability indicates a break-through after the abnormally low inventories of the past two years. As a result, Texas’ housing supply, which has been below two months of inventory (MOI), recovered to 2.2 MOI. The Texas Real Estate Research Center considers six to 6.5 months of inventory a balanced market. San Antonio led the pack with 2.5 MOI, and Dallas remained the tightest with 1.9 MOI (Table 1).

Demand

Record home prices and rapidly rising mortgage rates continued to discourage buyers. While summer is normally peak season, July’s total housing sales sank according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center’s Data Relevance Program. The state’s sales volume lost over 3,000 deals, falling to a seasonally adjusted rate of 28,121 closed sales. Sales in all major metros declined under falling demand. Austin and Houston’s closed sales took the biggest hits, each dipping almost 16 percent MOM, while DFW and San Antonio each shrank close to 8 percent. While every prospective homebuyer has to confront financial challenges, affordability most adversely impacted first-time buyers, resulting in a significant shrinkage in sales of homes below $300,000.

Texas’ average days on market (DOM) remained low at 34 days, suggesting a persistent imbalance between sellers and buyers’ bargaining power. Homes sold quickest in Austin and Dallas, leaving the market in 22 days, while Houston and San Antonio’s DOM hovered around 30 days. When DOM is differentiated based on the home market, the DOM for existing homes is conspicuously lower than that of new homes. Existing homes are still in a tight housing market. 

Categorized by price cohorts, homes priced in the $300K and $400K cohorts sold fastest, typically in 28 days. Meanwhile, homes priced at more than $750K had interestingly shorter listing periods than those priced at less than $300K.

Prices

In July, the Texas’ median home price fell $5,000 to $344,000. Prices dropped in all metros (Table 2). Austin ($510,000) and DFW ($406,000) fell $7,000 and $8,000 in a month, respectively. Meanwhile, Houston ($338,000) dropped $3,000, and San Antonio ($328,000) dropped $4,000. Amid the statewide downturn, Austin prices had the steepest decline, falling $33,000 in three months. Housing prices are under correction, but they remain much elevated from a year ago, accelerating 13.2 percent year over year (YOY).

The Federal Reserve is expected to impose more forceful monetary policies in the second half of the year to combat inflation. The ten-year U.S. Treasury bond yield retreated to 2.9 percent2, while the two-year counterpart continued to march upward. The spread between the ten-year and the two-year bond yields entered the negative territory for the first time since 2008, indicating the market’s economic uncertainties about the near future. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation’s 30-year fixed-rate, which for years hovered around 3 percent, elevated to 5.52 percent. The last time the mortgage rate was this high was 2008. For more information on the effect of mortgage interest rates on purchase affordability, see “How Higher Interest Rates Affect Homebuying.”

The Texas Repeat Sales Home Price Index, which accounts for compositional price effects, corroborated the trend of slowing price growth, as the index shrank from increasing 20.4 percent YOY in January to increasing 14.9 percent YOY. Falling prices pulled the state YOY growth down by 55 basis points in the last seven months. Austin fell from the fastest appreciating metro to second, behind San Antonio’s yearly growths.

Household Pulse Survey

Homeowners who just closed a deal were likely to start off in good financial standing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, in spite of rising mortgage rates, the share of Texas homeowners caught up on mortgage payments improved 60 basis points YOY in July, and the share of people who were behind shrank to 4 percent (Table 3). Houston owners’ bolstered ability to pay their mortgage increased the owned free/clear homes ratio to the state average. On the other hand, when asked about the future payments, fewer Texas homeowners were confident they would not face foreclosure. The proportion of delinquent individuals at risk of foreclosure shot up 80 basis points to 8 percent (Table 4).

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1 All measurements are calculated using seasonally adjusted data, and percentage changes are calculated month over month, unless stated otherwise.

2 Bond and mortgage interest rates are nonseasonally adjusted. Loan-to-value ratios, debt-to-income ratios, and the credit score component are also nonseasonally adjusted.

Source – Joshua Roberson and Weiling Yan (September 14, 2022)

https://www.recenter.tamu.edu/articles/technical-report/Texas-Housing-Insight

Avoid-Common-Closing-Delays

Avoid Common Closing Delays

by Real Estate ArticlesResourcesTitle Information

Remember – Prior planning prevents inconvenience.  Awareness of the following items will help to ensure a smooth closing.

LOAN REQUIREMENTS
Be sure that you return all lender requested documents and complete lender required tasks so they are able process your loan and get you through underwriting as soon as possible, in order to keep your closing date as scheduled. Failing to turn in documents in a timely manner can slow down the closing process.

TAX INFORMATION
If any delinquent taxes are found in your name during the title process, you will need to pay them prior to closing, and you must furnish an original tax receipt, otherwise you will not be able to close until payment of these taxes can be confirmed.

POWER OF ATTORNEYS
If either party intends to use a Power of Attorney at closing; i.e., will not be there to sign:

  • The title company must approve the Power of Attorney prior to closing.
  • The original Power of Attorney must be delivered to the title company prior to closing, as the original must be recorded with the County Clerk ahead of all other closing documents.
  • The title company must be able to contact you via telephone on the day of closing to be certain you are alive and well and have not revoked the Power of Attorney.

COMMON NAMES
If you have a common surname, please complete a Confidential Information Statement and return it to the title company prior to closing.

MARITAL STATUS
     A.  Texas is a community property state. If you purchased your property when you were single and you have married, the title company will require that your spouse join in signing the deed at closing, due to Texas Homestead Laws.

     B.  If you are divorced and your divorce proceeding was handled in a county other than the county you are in, please have a certified copy of the Divorce Decree delivered to the title company prior to closing.

OUT OF TOWN MAIL-OUTS
If any documents must be mailed out of town:

  • All documents must be signed exactly as requested.
  • All documents must have proper notarization.  Any documents mailed out of the country must be notarized in English.

REVIEW IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS
There a few important documents that the Buyer and their REALTOR® will need to review prior to closing. They include the Survey, Title Commitment, HOA documents (if applicable) and the Closing Disclosure. When the title company sends these documents, review them in a timely manner and alert your REALTOR® and/or the title company to any errors or discrepancies.

Print Version

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Republic Title Mobile

by Real Estate ArticlesResourcesTitle Information

If you haven’t downloaded our app, Republic Title Mobile, now is the time! Join other real estate agents using Republic Title Mobile and see why we have a 5 star rating in the Apple Store!

Republic Title Mobile is a mobile app that provides easy access for real estate professionals, buyers, and sellers to closing cost calculators, educational videos and articles on title insurance and the real estate industry, and more information on our services to serve your real estate needs.

Our convenient calculator allows users to quickly calculate closing fees associated with your transaction. Calculators include:

  • Title Quote
  • Closing Disclosure Quote
  • Loan Estimate Quote
  • Seller Net Sheet
  • Sell To Net
  • Seller’s Multiple Offers
  • Buyer Estimate
  • Monthly Affordability
  • Rent vs Buy

Other Helpful Real Estate Resources Include:

  • Contact Information for Republic Title’s 13 North Texas Locations
  • Insightful News on the Title Insurance and Real Estate Industries
  • Educational Videos and Monthly Real Estate Stats

Republic Title Mobile can be found in the Apple App Store or in the Google Play Store.

If you have any questions, please reach out to one of our Business Development Representatives.

Attorney-Helplines

Attorney Helplines

by Ask the ExpertResources

Republic Title works diligently to offer consistent, responsive, knowledgeable service when closing your transactions. In addition to our experienced Branch Managers and Escrow Officers, we have a dynamic team of Attorneys and Underwriters available to answer your questions and be a resource for you in working towards a smooth closing.

steve holley republic title

Steve Holley

Senior Vice President /
Senior Residential Counsel
(214) 890-2129
Email
matthew visinsky republic title

Matt Visinsky

Senior Vice President /
Senior Residential Counsel
(972) 578-8611
Email
jay turner republic title

Jay Turner

Senior Vice President /
Residential Counsel
(214) 556-0407
Email
SarahMann2

Sarah Mann

Senior Vice President /
Residential Counsel
(817) 873-7904
Email
ScottRooker

Scott Rooker

Vice President /
Residential Counsel
(214) 505-9624
Email
WadeBogdon

Wade Bogdon

Assistant Vice President / Residential Counsel
(214) 556-0330
Email
peter graf republic title

Peter Graf

Executive Vice President
and General Counsel
(214) 855-8836
Email
Jon Hooper

Jon Hooper

Senior Vice President /
Senior Underwriting Counsel
(214) 855-8884
Email
mark roden republic title

Mark Roden

Senior Vice President /
Assistant General Counsel
(214) 855-8840
Email

For more information like this and other helpful resources, please visit out Resource Section Residential Resources | Republic Title of Texas

Print Version

September-Landscape-Tips

September Landscape & Gardening Tips & To-Do’s

by Resources

Need help planting a successful garden or landscape? Here are some September planting tips from the Dallas Arboretum horticulture staff and the Dallas County Master Gardeners that can help keep your home garden looking beautiful this Fall. Seasonal color should be your focus in September.

  • Plant annual color, such as mums, marigolds, and ornamental peppers, to add seasonal interest to the autumn garden.
  • Deadhead spent rose flowers to keep shrubs blooming throughout the season. Now is the time to plant new rose shrubs.
  • In the vegetable garden, plant cool season veggies, such as carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, and mustards, to be harvested through the fall and winter months.
  • Start planting trees, shrubs, and perennials as cooler autumn temperatures will help plants establish roots before winter.
Renting-to-buying

Is This The Year You Switch From Renting To Buying?

by Real Estate ArticlesResources

With rents on the rise this could be the perfect time for you to buy; but here’s what you need to consider first:

ADVANTAGES OF BUYING…

  • By maintaining regular mortgage payments, your credit score will increase over time.
  • If you itemize deductions, you could lower your federal tax liability by taking the mortgage interest deduction.
  • When you buy a house, you will know that the mortgage rate for the 5 to 30 years is going to be the same every month. Rent may continue to increase each year.
  • With each payment, you will build equity and increase the amount of total home ownership.
  • There may be down payment programs available in your area that can help you purchase your first home.

YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BUYING IF…

  • You want to build wealth.  Investing into real estate is the fastest way to add zeros to the end of your net worth.
  • You want to settle down, build community and know you will be in the same city or town for at least 2 years.
  • You want to invest your income into property that will hopefully provide you with a payoff should you decide to sell in the future.

YOU SHOULD KEEP RENTING IF…

  • You need flexibility and don’t want to commit to staying in the same location for the foreseeable future.
  • You have limited income or are unsure about your current job.  Renting allows you the flexibility to downsize 

If you are thinking about buying a home, reach out to your local Realtor to get started.

*Print version

 

Class-Calendar-Blog-Header

September Class Calendar

by Ask the ExpertEducationTechnology

Republic Title is pleased to offer a variety of continuing education classes for our customers. Join us in September for classes including:

The Real Deal – Mastering the TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract
This class will cover the basics of the Contracts and Addenda you’ll need to submit each time you write an offer. We will walk through the TREC 1-4 Family Contract and learn about the parts that can make or break your offer so that you can be prepared to write the strongest contracts possible for your clients.
September 6th
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Zoom (This class is offered for informational purposes only, TREC CE is not available.)

Back-up, Contingent and Multiple Offers
This class will prepare licensees to handle the unique aspects of backup, contingent and multiple offer transactions by reviewing pertinent TREC addenda along with critical dates and deadlines. APPROVED TREC CONTRACT-RELATED COURSE
September 8th
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Zoom

The Real Deal – Getting to Know Lender Products
September 13th
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Zoom (This class is offered for informational purposes only, TREC CE is not available.)

Social Media Content Planning 101
All good social media begins with a plan. Join us to learn how effective content planning and execution will keep you top of mind with your sphere and help you win more business. In this class, you will learn tips for social media content planning, where to find great content resources, and planning tools to help you organize your social media content calendar.
September 14th
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Republic Title Park Cities

Is This Homestead and Why Do Title Companies Care?
Homestead rights can be very confusing! This class will help licensees understand how the State of Texas views homesteads and what factors influence the title company’s underwriting decisions.
September 15th
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Zoom

The Real Deal – Mastering Your MLS Dashboard
In this class we’ll explore the NTREIS MLS Dashboard and you’ll learn about all the vital tools that can help grow your business and some basic tips on how to get started.
September 20th
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Zoom (This class is offered for informational purposes only, TREC CE is not available.)

Attract New Clients using MLS Tools

Join us and discover a number of ways to use the tools provided by the MLS to help with consumer interest which can likely turn into sales and full-fledged customers.

In person only. NOTE: This class will be taught hands-on. If you would like to follow along during class, please bring your own laptop* (*smart phones and iPads will not work).
September 22nd
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Republic Title Southlake

Taxation and the Real Estate Agent
This class will cover issues to help REALTORS® with their personal taxes, with removing Federal Tax Liens when closing sales, and with IRS problem they or their client may have. Some of the topics discussed in this one-hour class include: Tips on Keeping Records & Recommended Forms to File, Tax Deductions You Should be Taking, How to Make Estimated Taxes Work with your Cash Flow, Tax Areas of Special Interest to REALTORS®, and How to Use the Home Office Deduction.
September 22nd
Lunch – 11:30 am – 12:00 pm
Class – 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Republic Title Preston Frankford 

Mapping Tools in Matrix
One of the strongest tools available to NTREIS MLS Subscribers is the mapping tool in Matrix, but are you using it to its fullest ability? In this class, licensees will explore all the map tool functions in Matrix so you can create powerful searches for your clients who want to live in specific neighborhoods, near points of interest or certain distances to where they work.
September 23rd
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Zoom 

Appraisals 201 – Perfecting the CMA Process – Presented by Supreme Lending
Take the guesswork out of the CMA process by learning how to make adjustments from an appraiser’s point of view. This one hour class will be presented by Sean Bone of Supreme Lending.
September 27th
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Republic Title Southlake

The Real Deal – zipForm and Digital Signatures
In this class we’ll take a look at the technology tools that enable real estate agents to quickly and efficiently create digital transaction files, complete and fill in contract details, attach documents and even get them electronically signed by buyers, sellers and other parties involved in a real estate transaction.
September 27th
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Zoom (This class is offered for informational purposes only, TREC CE is not available.)

To see a current list of available classes and to register, please visit www.republictitle.com/residential-education.

Winners-Choice

2022 Best of Readers’ Choice Winners

by Inside Republic TitleResources

We are proud to announce that we have won the Readers’ Choice award by Living Magazine for Best Title Company in Frisco/Plano, Richardson/Murphy, Coppell/North Irving, Northeast Tarrant County, and Prosper/Celina! Thank you to our valued customers for trusting us with your title and escrow needs. To see all the 2022 winners visit: 2022 Best Of Readers’ Choice Winners – Living Magazine

Website-Graphics-School-Ratings

2021-2022 DFW Area School Ratings

by Resources

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) recently released 2022 A–F accountability ratings for districts and campuses, the first to be issued since 2019 due to two years of COVID-related pauses. 1,195 districts and 8,451 campuses were rated this year, with returns showing promising signs of progress in Texas’s efforts to catch students up academically. Driven by significant gains in student academic growth, 2022 saw 25% of districts and 33% of campuses improve their letter grade from 2019.

Established by House Bill 22 during the 85th Texas Legislature, the A–F accountability system provides educators, parents, and communities with a transparent view of the academic performance of Texas public schools based on three domains: Student Achievement, School Progress, and Closing the Gaps. This year, to align with Senate Bill 1365, districts and campuses received an A, B or C rating or were assigned a label of Not Rated: Senate Bill 1365, both overall and in each domain. This Not Rated: Senate Bill 1365 label was applied when the domain or overall scaled score for a district or campus was less than 70. 42 districts and 564 campuses received this label. 

To view the accountability ratings for DFW area districts and campuses, download our School Accountability Ratings guide.

Source: tea.texas.gov