Collin County, TX: Is construction causing you problems?

All over Collin County, TX this Summer, there are familiar orange safety cones and construction barriers out. Custer Road is being widened. The Highway 121 Tollroad is still under construction. The I-75 interchange at Hwy 121 is plugging along at a good pace. The latest phase of Preston Road being expanded is the area North of Eldorado Parkway in Frisco heading out to Hwy 380. And, the list goes on. Although it is wonderful to see our roads widening to support movement around the area, which can only be good for us in the long-run, it is necessary for us to have patience for the traffic delays and work around them.

If you haven't noticed yet, there is a sign up on Custer Road in McKinney that states the intersection of Custer Road and Virginia Parkway is going to be closed from 7/12/10 through 8/02/10. Yikes! That impacts one of my listings. I had to go into the MLS this week and re-route the driving directions on one of my McKinney home listings to ensure that they would be accurate through this period. No sense leaving the directions as they were and causing people to follow detour signs. Just stay on top of construction schedules as best we can, and adjust them when necessary, so drive-by's and showings aren't turned off by the temporary problems caused by construction.

We've talked about how McKinney, Frisco, Prosper, and Celina are ground-floor opportunities. As those construction cones clear out and the commercial growth continues to spread, those opportunities won't be quite so ground-floor anymore. If you can tolerate working around the construction for a few months, you may just be getting the best deal by buying now rather than waiting for the construction to be over. That is exactly what I did when I purchased my home in Prosper, TX in 2006. Rather than waiting for the Dallas North Tollway to be extended to Highway 380, I dealt with a little inconvenience for about 9 months until the Tollway broke through. Now, Prosper is an easy home base for servicing home sales all over Collin County. By buying earlier, during the construction period, I was able to buy my home for much less than some of the neighbors who purchased in 2007. The timing of that move was 100% by design.

From a seller-perspective, if you live in Collin County, TX, you would be wise to consider the contruction, too. It can take agents a little longer to get around town with these construction delays. If you previously had a 1-hour window on showings, you'd be wise to widen that showing window to 2-hours. Otherwise, the agent could very well be pulling your home from their list of homes to show, and you miss out on the opportunity for their buyer client to even view your home. Agents in our area typically give home tours, and not single showing appointments. And, many of our buyers would consider living in a number of our communities, so we're crossing the county in a somewhat organized fashion. But, traffic can be unpredictable. I don't allow 1-hour limits on showings of any of my listings. We want to make the homes available to as many potential buyers as might want to view the home. Only then, can you maximize the marketing potential of the home to attract not just A BUYER, but the RIGHT BUYER.

Have a blessed day!

Ronda