Dallas-Fort Worth Housing Market Still Strong

Don’t let the recession affect your production. In 1969, I was laid off at Bell Helicopter and chose to enter the real estate profession. The average priced home was $8,000 to $10,000. I was on a 50/50 split. The total commission on the listing or sale side was $480 to $600. During my first year in real estate, I doubled my income from what I made in engineering at Bell Helicopter. The average sales price in Dallas-Fort Worth area is approximately $186,221. Using the same commission percentage, the total commission now on the average house would be $11,100.

 

The North Texas MLS reported that 40,183 homes were sold for approximately $7 billion from January to June 2009. If you take $7 billion times 5.5%, it comes to approximately $413 million paid out in commissions for the first six months. There is still money to be made. You need to get your share.  

 

Read these two articles by Steve Brown with the Dallas Morning News:

 

- Survey: Recession hasn’t stopped homebuyers from moving up

 

- Report: Dallas-Fort Worth homeowners likely to see rise in equity

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Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act

If you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and are at least 30 days behind on your mortgage, your mortgage company may be willing to forgive a portion of your mortgage debt. The portion they forgive under HR3648 is NO longer counted as personal income and will not be taxed by the federal government.

For more information regarding your options, visit www.savemyhomedfw.com

For more information about HR3648, visit the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=179414,00.html

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The Texas Real Estate Market - One of the Strongest in the Country

The real estate market in Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex remains one of the strongest in the country. Money magazine named Keller and Mansfield as two of the top cities to live in the entire United States. Congratulations to Keller and Mansfield!

 

CENTURY 21 Mike Bowman, Inc. is constantly adding new innovative programs that attract buyers and sellers to our company. In 2008, our list time to contract time was 13 days shorter than the nearest competitor, proving once again that we attract more qualified buyers and have the best marketing tools available in today’s market.

 

In 2008, our agents averaged 20 closings annually. The national average is 8. Our company ranked among the top 100 real estate companies nationally.

 

Wanted: Experienced real estate agents who want to increase their income, call Mike or Dave Bowman for a confidential appointment (817) 354-7653 ext 2333 or ext 2555.

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Go Mobile: Real Estate Search on Your Cell Phone

GO MOBILE!
Introducing the Century 21 Mike Bowman, Inc. “Go Mobile” real estate search solution for your cell phone

Century 21 Mike Bowman, Inc. has just entered into an agreement with Smarter Agent, the inventor of the mobile loca

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tion-aware (GPS) real estate search and on Monday July 6, 2009 consumers looking to purchase a home can download an MLS property search application for their cell phone.

Century 21 Mike Bowman, Inc. is dedicated to making real estate a fun, empowering and interactive process for consumers by allowing them to search for homes for sale and apartments for rent anytime, anywhere using their own mobile phone.

By having instant and immediate access to all publicly allowable MLS property listings in the five major markets within the state of Texas; consumers have a valuable tool to help them find a property. Once the consumer has found a property, they will be assigned to a Century 21 Mike Bowman, Inc. agent, at the push of a button, who can provide more information and schedule a tour.

Why Go Mobile?
We know you’re not sitting in front of your computer when you stumble upon a neighborhood or property where you want to live. In fact, most of the time you’re out driving neighborhoods when you start wondering what is for sale around you. Our “Go Mobile” solution enhances your search process – making it faster and more efficient to find the homes you want to see, when you want to see them. “Go Mobile” makes it possible for you to be in any neighborhood and find the closest properties for rent or for sale around you. So why not go mobile?
Free to the Consumer!

“Go Mobil” is a free application from Century 21 Mike Bowman, Inc. for your cell phones.  It is the first application of its kind to work on all cell phones.

It’s a power tool for anyone interested in accurate, up to date, and comprehensive real estate information.

”Go Mobile” by Century 21 Mike Bowman, Inc. features two location-aware (including GPS-triggered) real estate searches in one easy-to-use application.

Search options include:
• Homes for Sale
• Recently Sold Homes

Homes for Sale lets users search every public MLS listing in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso, more than any other single real estate application in Texas. With Recently Sold Homes, consumers can see the prices of homes sold within the last three years.

These two search options use Smarter Agent’s patented property search technology to pinpoint the user’s location and find available property listings in the immediate area with the touch of a button. Consumers can also search by address, community name, city or zip code.

Search results reveal:
• Price
• Square footage
• Estimated mortgage
• Taxes
• Interior and exterior features
• Interactive map
• Beds/baths
• Pictures

Our “Go Mobile” solution features a “Call to See” button, which offers real time access to one of our real estate professionals if you have questions or want to schedule a tour of the property.

This is the first application created by Realtors for Realtors that gives home buyers full access to publicly viewable MLS property information. And we at Century 21 Mike Bowman, Inc. are pleased to offer it to the state of Texas.

To “Go Mobile”, click on the “Go Mobile” link at www.C21Bowman.com.  There you can download this incredible application that will assist you in your search for a new home.

- Mike

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A Unique Technology in Marketing Your Home

See How Single Property Websites Can Increase Your Marketing Exposure
 

“CENTURY 21 Mike Bowman, Inc. agents average 20 closed transactions annually in comparison to the national average of 8”
 
As a leading innovator in real estate technology, we offer a single property website on each of our listed homes. This exclusive and comprehensive single website solution is provided at no additional cost to our agents and sellers.
 
When a buyer stops to look at the exterior of one of our listed properties, they can also see what’s on the inside via their cellphone. Our single property website solution for your home gives the buyer a view of unlimited photos, documents, and videos of your property.  Showing appointments and requests from buyers for additional information are immediately sent to our listing agent.
 
These single property websites are posted on over 30 major real estate search engines. This gives your sellers additional marketing exposure to millions of buyers 24/7.
 
Here is an example of what our sellers receive with a personal home website from CENTURY 21 Mike Bowman, Inc.:
•        Complete unique website for your home
•        Virtual tour (standard and HD Panoramic)
•        Sign rider that identifies your home’s web address on the internet
•        “Call Texting” to inform potential buyers via cellphone about your home
•        Call capture to track buyer leads
•        Reporting that shows internet traffic to your property’s website
•        Unlimited photos, text, documents, and video
•        Online brochures so you never run out
•        One click posting to Craigslist, Backpage, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace
•        Syndication to over 30 top real estate search engines
 
 
This is just one of many tools that we offer to our agents, sellers and buyers.

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First-Time Homebuyers Eligible for $8,000 Tax Credit

On February 17, 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was passed, which includes a $8,000 tax credit that would be available to first-time home buyers for the purchase of a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. The credit does not require repayment. Most of the mechanics of the credit will be the same as under the 2008 rules.

firsttimetaxlogo

For tax credit details, go to our website: Tax Credit Information

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How Non-Qualifying Assumptions Can Help Reduce Foreclosures

Welcome to the Real Estate 101 blog. It is my hope that this blog will provide you with relevant information about the market, technology, trends that will help you with your real estate concerns and needs here in North Texas.

For those of you who don’t know me, I have been in the real estate business since 1969 in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. My real estate office has always been located in the Mid-Cities area between Dallas and Fort Worth. I joined CENTURY 21 in 1975 as one of the first CENTURY 21 franchisees. I am still in the CENTURY 21 system and my company has grown to be one of the top companies in the nation and in the CENTURY 21 system. My office has received 13 #1 awards competing with more than 8,500 CENTURY 21 offices worldwide. In 2008, our office received the honor of being named the #1 office for closed transactions totaling 3,840; the #1 office for gross commissions earned, and the #1 office in the world for total sales production.

During my 40 years in real estate, I have seen many up and down periods and the housing crisis today is beyond anything I have ever experienced in the past.  The number of foreclosures that have come on the market and the expectation of many more to come are and will be devastating to the American economy.

Read More »

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Posted in Buyers, Industry News, Market | Tagged | 2 Comments