BILL CHERRY

BILL CHERRY REALTORS

214 503-8563

Our 43rd Year Serving Texans

DALLAS AREA RESIDENTIAL SALES DATA

JANUARY 1, 2007 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2007

The information provided above was compiled from files of the Metrotex Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Neither they nor I warrant the accuracy, although we believe it to be correct from the data on file.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH BILL CHERRY, 14th Edition

If it's going to warm-up today in Dallas, it had better get busy doing it. Although the day is clear and crisp, it's a bit brisk on the bench here in the park. Thanks, though, for stopping by for our weekly Sunday after church visit.

THIS PAST WEEK one of my blog subjects dealt with those whose marketing is primarily devoted to stating that they are Number 1, the Top Realtor, the Best OB-GYN doc, sell the most fried chicken, or whatever.

Several hundred have read the piece thus far, and about eighty or so have taken the position that they feel those ads are usually deceitful and objectionable. I think if they stretch the truth or are blatant lies, they are totally unethical. And that they are used without audit shows that professional organizations that claim to monitor their members have serious flaws.

Here are the thoughts and things that we might want to ponder today.

J.M.W. TURNER. 19th Century English artist, J.M.W. Turner gained his fame as a landscape artist working in oil and watercolor. The Dallas Museum of Art will show 140 of his works, the most comprehensive retrospective of his career ever held in the U.S. The show will be hung from February 10th through May 18th. For more information: 214 992-1247.

CHUCK WILLIAMS. This is the guy who took what he learned about repairing cars in his dad's repair shop, and became an airplane mechanic for Lockheed in India and Africa during World War II.

<<--Chuck Williams, circa 1947

After the war, he moved to Sonoma and for a number of years was a successful builder. Then seven years or so later, he bought a hardware store and began adding French cookware to its inventory. But it was when he was the first one to import the Cuisinart food processor that his store hit real pay dirt and transformed itself into America's most famous cooking supply store. Williams-Sonoma.

Although he sold the company years ago, approaching 93-years old, Williams still contributes recipes to the company's cookbooks and catalogs. The company also owns Pottery Barn and Holds Everything.

WILLIAMS-SONOMA FEBRUARY CATALOG. Among the culinary hardware and gifts are many pages dedicated to "preserving the culinary traditions of New Orleans." Peppered throughout are authentic Crescent City recipes for gumbo, Brennan's chef Lazone Randolph's famous bananas Foster, Chef Leah Chase's red beans and rice, Central Grocery's muffuletta sandwiches, and my favorite, Antoine's eggs Sardou.

You can order the homemade olive salad that is the garnish for the famous muffuletta directly from Central Grocery, 923 Decatur St., New Orleans, LA 70116 (504) 523-1620. Patty and I call 'em up and buy four jars at a time, twice a year.

NEW ORLEANS. After spending a couple of years living in New Orleans as a college student and as a radio host for American Airlines' famous "Music ‘til Dawn" program, I admit that I have always fantasized about going back as a permanent resident. At 67 and with a wife who loves Dallas, I'm resigned to the fact that won't happen. Patty's infinitely more important to me than New Orleans. But nothing can keep me from loving it with all of my heart.

WORLD WAR II. In the spring just before the war was over, I was playing with my friend Butch, when a military officer rang the doorbell of his mother's home. The soldier was there to tell her that her husband, Lieutenant Walter A. Kelso, Jr., had died as a captured prisoner of the Japanese aboard the merchant vessel Oryoku Maru on December 13, 1944. I can vividly remember what Mrs. Kelso, Butch and I were each wearing, where we were standing in the living room and I remember trying to understand why his daddy would not be coming home. Sixty-three years later, I still don't fully understand.

Lt. Walter A. Kelso, Jr., circa 1942 -->

A couple of years ago, Butch's son Mark, who I proudly call my surrogate nephew, began and completed an enormous research project to find out once and for all the history of the American soldiers who had been aboard the Oryoku Maru, but especially his grandfather.

Mark, a computer wizard, a Galveston Realtor and an Active Rain member, launched a web site that you must visit. Oryoku Maru. You will see the callousness of our enemy in a way that is quite different than you have probably heard before. It seems that most of those accounts were seriously deluted.

There are many photos as well as the story itself. Interestingly, Mark discovered that entertainers Tom and Dick Smothers' father was also a prisoner on the Oryoku Maru.

HILLARY CLINTON. A friend of mine emailed this photo. I pass it on to you just for the heck of it, not as a political statement one way or the other.

I will say, though, that I'm not sure I can endure another nine months of this campaign

And further, there is a very interesting article in this week's (1-21-08) The New Yorker by Ryan Lizza titled "Minority Reports." (To the right is the accompanying editorial cartoon) If you have the opportunity, be sure to read Mr. Lizza's piece.

McShan Florist. When we were teenagers, three of us chipped in to help our friend J.E. Tramonte who worked in a local flower shop after school. The Cagnolas who owned Elbert's Flower Shop were fabulous designers, and they taught us well. I can still do it, and I can still make the plush bows.

So I've remained very picky about who I buy flowers from because of that experience. In Houston, there were none better than Harry Rice's and Leonard Thorpe's shops. Only a shop called The Empty Vase came close.

Here in Dallas, it's Bruce McShan's floral designers. Bruce's family has been serving Dallas since 1948. Here's their phone number. 800 627-4267. Tell them how much you want to spend and turn them loose to make your gift enormously memorable.

Do not under any circumstance ask for one of the wire service designs. Those things, in the main, are miserable and they use the fan configuration that hasn't been in style since Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby made the first Road picture ("A Road to Singapore" 1940).

Thanks for stopping by for the visit. I really do look forward to seeing you each Sunday when we can get away from talking about real estate

It's fun to explore with you the things I've thought about and learned since our last visit. So, I hope to see you next Sunday after church, and remember that...

GOD Blesses!

Pen and ink drawing of Bill in the park by Galveston artist Carlotta Barker

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

All rights reserved

Bill's Town Hall Column Bill's Texas Escapes Magazine Column

Dallas Homes Highland Park Homes Park Cities Homes Lake Highlands Homes Galveston Historic Homes

Many of those who ran the big braggadocios ads about their real estate sales expertise are evaporating into thin air.

In reality, their real estate prowess was nothing more than their own aberration.

You know why they are leaving? Well, it's because they can't deliver the goods in markets like this. They never developed the tools to do it.


So now it's time to go back to using Old Faithfuls when you need a Realtor.

Hands down, we are the most HANDS ON Realtors serving Dallas and its Park Cities, Lakewood and Lake Highlands areas.

Our Comparative Market Analyses are both free and reliable. We've been doing this for forty-three years, and have helped thousands.

Many meet us in person at one of the Dallas area free dinner seminars of the famed KAAM-AM Money Doctor, W. Neil Gallagher, Ph.D. For the schedule and to make reservations, click here, or telephone at 1-800-434-4DOC. If you're planning to retire safe, happy and in the chips, you'll want to hear Doc's solutions. I'm there to help with the real estate questions.

Meanwhile, call or email for our CD titled "A Realtor's Secret Weapon." It's free, there's no obligation, and I'm holding a copy for you no matter where you live in the United States or Canada. You need this information if you are plannning to sell your home.

Bill Cherry, Realtors
214 503-8563
Our 43rd Year!

Dallas Homes Lake Highlands Highland Park Homes Park Cities Homes

Galveston Historical Homes Bill Cherry at Town Hall

Bill Cherry at Texas Escapes Magazine

It interests me how often listing agents are able to talk clients into one listing contract extension after another, when the agent's record so far has been a miserable failure.

Browsing some of the Dallas MLS expired listings from time to time, I am amazed at how many homes have been on the market, and with the same agent, for more than six months.

Often nine months to a year passes and the client will renew once again for another several months.

And frequently the listing has not been consequentially modified since it first went on the market.

It's a total case of Pollyanna, for goodness sakes!

With the exception of lots, raw land and commercial property, if the listing agent hasn't managed to get results within six months, it's probably time to shake hands and end the contract.

If possible, don't just change agents but change companies.

New ideas and a fresh approach, when added to the property owner's cooperation, will almost always concoct the formula necessary to solve the problem. Staying with the same agent and company is, quite frankly, a bad idea for the client and the company and agent.

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

Highland Park Homes Park Cities Homes Dallas Homes

It has long been the contention of a substantial percentage of professional real estate people that if something isn't selling, it's time to lower the price. Homeowners should seriously question this recommendation from their agent.

I have found that more often than not, that this is an incorrect conclusion and, therefore, a disservice to the client. In other words, price is not the problem.

If we assume that a well-compiled market analysis was done, using current and pertinent data when the home was entered into the marketplace, then it is illogical to conclude that the property hasn't sold because it is priced too high.

What if, in fact, it is priced too low and isn't selling? Does that still mean the price needs to be cut further, or could it mean that because of the too low price, the property is perceived by the market to be substandard?

Rather than thinker with price, a far better and more just approach is to analyze the appearance of the property and compare that to its competitors. The listing agent and his client should actually go preview competitors, even if it's no more than for curb appeal.

And then do two things. First, prepare another Comparable Market Analysis to see if things have changed. If they have, make adjustments accordingly.

But more importantly, work to make the home comparable in curb appeal and interior appeal to its competition. When possible, make it look better.

When you get through, you may find that you can raise the listing price! I've actually done that many times, especially when I've taken over another agent's expired listing. We've made some visual changes, and within a short period, the previously unsellable house has sold!

If you have your Dallas area home listed and it hasn't sold, call me. Let's see what the problem is.

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

Bill Cherry has been marketing real estate since 1964. He has sold thousands of homes, apartments and commercial properties.

Dallas Homes Highland Park Homes Galveston Historical Homes