If it is true that a man's home, or a woman's home... is his or her castle... then it's probably time to Call The Movers !
This truly impressive home measures 3,209 sq ft... and on the inside it looks even larger. The first floor features an incredible formal living and dining on either side of the entry foyer, and then opens into a fabulous family room with a back "wall of windows." 
The family room is two stories high, and also features a two-story stone fireplace with raised stone hearth and wood mantle.
The family room is open from the catwalk on the second floor above... which connects the two bedrooms and full bath on one side, and the game room in the middle of the second floor.
An additional bedroom, and a separate media room are at the far end of the catwalk... which again overlooks the family room below. What a great area for entertaining.
This floor also makes a great teen-suite... if that suits your family makeup.
The kitchen is definitely for the gourmet. Granite counter-tops, forty-two inch raised panel cabinets, high ceilings, a pass-thru bar to the family room, a huge walk-in pantry, and a family-sized work-island complete the gourmet feel.
If you are ready to go from "Just Browsing" to "Let's Get Serious," this home is now ready for occupancy. For your own personal tour, call the NewHome Hotline at (817) 929-3400. You may also visit Karen Anne Stone's website at www.NewHomeHuntersDFW.com .
One of the things I enjoy doing... is snooping... or maybe "scouting" is a better word... scouting around all the new home neighborhoods that are pretty well sprinkled all around the Fort Worth area.
Today I came upon two new models... that are a pretty exciting "find"... in my opinion. I've got some preliminary pictures that I want to share. The models aren't quite finished yet... that's why you see a lovely (?) truck in front of one of the models... but I was so excited... I wanted to get them online as soon as I could.
Here is the first of those two model homes. This looks like it is really going to be a great one story home. I really like the way it is set up inside. Great floor plan arrangement.
As you enter, there is a cool room at the right of the entryway... great for a den or office... and great for someone who works a lot from home.
Just a little further in... there's a great area that will be set up in the model as a dining room. If it were my home... I think I would probably use it as a second living area... rather than a formal dining.
The kitchen set-up is quite spacious. Lots of cabinets and counter space, an island for food prep... and a nice breakfast area that should pretty well take care of all of your dining needs... should you want to use the formal dining area as a second living area.
Off the kitchen area is a very nice family room with a great stone-accented wood burning fireplace. The home has a split-master arrangement with the master at the back, and also two additional bedrooms.
If you wanted... and have a need for a fourth bedroom... the front den/office room could easily be a fourth bedroom. It has been more of a tendency recently, I have seen, that most buyers would use the fourth bedroom as a den/office anyway... so this home works out great for that. Pricing-wise... since the model is not yet open... I think this home is going to end up in the mid 140's or so.
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When you're ready to go from "just browsing" to "let's get serious"... give Karen Anne Stone a call at her New Home Hotline at (817) 929-3400. Also... when I get some interior photos... I will put this on my website at www.NewHomeHuntersDFW.com . Please come take a look... you'll be glad you did !
On Sunday afternoon, February 17, the Lady Frogs of TCU in Fort Worth met with the Lobos of New Mexico at the Daniel Meyer Coluseum, shown below. It was an extremely hard-fought game... with both teams going all-out ! This was the third from the last home game for our Lady Frogs, and they knew they were in for a battle from the start !
The Lady Frogs of TCU had a sluggish start. Going scoreless in the first nearly eight minutes, our killer Lady Frogs fell behind 11-0... and remained behind throughout the first half. But... our Fearless Lady Frogs showed what they were made of, and clamped down hard on defense... as shown below. Adrianne Ross, who made her 100th career start for TCU, scored eight points, and had four assists, which tied for the team lead.
TCU regrouped well enough to end the first half only down by six points... 24 - 18. Over an eight minute span covering the end of the first half and the start of the second, Our Lady Frogs went on a 19-0 run. They scored seven straight points to end the half, and opened the second half with a 12-0 run. When the second half started, everyone was wondering what would happen. But... the Lady Frogs came out on fire... playing like women possessed !
Playing almost the entire game, Helena Sverrisdottir piled up a total of 24 points in the 38 minutes she played. Lorie Butler-Rayford pulled out an incredible double-double with 12 points and 11 hard-fought rebounds. Without Lorie's efforts, our Lady Frogs would have been in deep trouble.
The Lady Frogs took the lead near the end of regulation, but New Mexico came back hard, and the second half ended with the score tied at 46-46 apiece. This was to be the Lady Frogs first overtime game of the season, and the crowd at Daniel Meyer Colusium knew it would not be easy... both teams had played their hearts out !
In overtime our Lady Frogs came out "pumped." They had five minutes of overtime to play, and knew if they were going to win... now was the time. Lorie Butler-Rayford helped send the game into overtime by scoring the final points in regulation. Lorie scored six points in the overtime frame, also pulled down three rebounds in OT, two of them extremely important offensie boards.
TCU went on to outscore New Mexico 13-5 in the overtime period, and won going away... 59-51. Helena Sverrisdottir, who scored 24 points on 10 of 15 shooting, was named Star of the Game, and was interviewed by MTN... Mountain Television Network, which fed the broadcast back to New Mexico's home town fans.
This evening I read another one of those panic articles on real estate. The headline of course blared on and on about home prices dropping "all across the United States."
The article was from the Reuters News Wire. It even had a nice pretty map along with the article.
As I read the cities from the nice, pretty map... I saw Los Angeles with a decline of 11.9 %, San Diego with a 13.4 % decline, Las Vegas with a 13.2 % decline, San Francisco with an 8.6 % decline, Denver with a 3.1 % decline, Chicago with a 3.9 % decline, New York declined 4.8 %, Boston declined 3.0 %, and Miami declined 15.1 %.
That was it. That was what Reuters was blowing their trumpet about. Texas was untouched. No declines, no bad news, no weeping and gnashing of teeth, no end-of-the-world.
So why then... are so many buyers afraid of the market ?
It's that doggone broad paint brush that the national media paints this negativity with. Maybe more like a paint roller. Nah... it's really more like they are using a power paint sprayer.
Why wasn't there any news about the markets across the country that are HOT ? I guess HOT markets are bad for TV ratings. Perhaps HOT market news is bad for selling newspapers ?
Well... all you folks at MSNBC, you guys at FOX, you clowns at CNN, you know-it-alls at CNBC. Texas is FINE ! Texas is ALIVE ! And... Texas is KICKING !
Please... all you national media types. Take your silly negative news paint brush and go somewhere else and play !
There have been times when I have gone on a listing, and while chatting with the sellers about the in's and out's of marketing their home, sometimes they get around to telling me that they recently refinanced.
My first reaction is usually to "cringe!"
Now why would I do that ? Well... most of the time they tell me that they were able to lower their payment by several hundred dollars because of the refinance. It is then that I ask them the question that usually tells the tale...
Gee, Mr and Mrs Seller... what was your loan amount before you refinance ? Oh... $235,000. Ok... and did you have to pay any "closing costs" when you refinanced ?"
Oh no... we refinanced with "no cash out of pocket." Our loan officer told us we could roll the closing costs into the mortgage... so "it didn't cost us a thing !"
My next question is always... "So, how much were the closing costs ? How much did you 'roll in' to the new loan ?
"Well... the closing costs came to about three percent of the loan amount, and then we paid two more 'points' to get an even lower rate. So... our total closing costs were about $13,000. But, that was ok... we rolled it into the new loan.
Of course, I asked them what the new loan amount was. They said... oh... it comes to $248,000 all together, but our monthly payment is still over $200 a month lower than it was before.
It was my hurtful task to gently tell them that they just pretty much wasted that Thirteen Thousand Dollars.
First of all... I never recommend refinancing unless the "spread" between the previous rate, and the new rate is more than 2 percent. This way, instead of rolling in the closing costs, the lender can "buy up" the rate rather than "buy it down". Doing that creates a "credit" which can usually pay for most of, if not all of the closing costs for the new loan.
Recapping... here are the two choices... 1) Roll in closing costs and extra points so that the rate is the lowest and the out-of pocket is zero... or 2) pay no points, and perhaps "buy up" the rate by a 1/4 to 1/2 %... which creates a credit which takes care of the closing costs. The second way leaves the seller with exactly the same mortgage amount as before, and also with a lower monthly payment... just not quite as low as with the first method.
In doing that... if things change, and the owner suddenly has a need to sell... he or she has not painted themselves into a "money corner" they cannot get out of.
As is usually the case... the best thing for the seller to do when contemplating refinancing depends on their individual situation. Sometimes it makes sense to roll in costs and points, but most of the time it's not the best alternative.
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