Mary Ann Daniell, Realtor Fort Hood Texas Real Estate Services

Phones are ringing again and buyers are out there looking at homes, which is good news for local home owners who have their Killeen Fort Hood homes listed for sale.

After months of no showings on some of my listings, several of them were shown multiple times last week, and it's just a matter of time now (hopefully) until offers start to come in.

One of these homes, which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, Beautiful Home - Bargain Price, has TWO interested buyers now who have made several trips to see the home. Neither buyer has made an offer yet, but their agents tell me the home is at the top of their lists.

Fort Hood area home builders are also feeling the pressure for their products as the building permits have increased significantly the past two weeks! This is always a good sign that the market for home sales is starting to heat up.

So it's shaping up to be an interesting summer here at Fort Hood. There is a great inventory of both new and resale homes in Killeen, Harker Heights, and Copperas Cove, pricing is better than it's been in several years, interest rates are LOW and the First Time Buyer $8000 tax credit is still available, with no payback required. If a new home isn't in your plans, maybe it should be!

It's a simple question. Where do we go from here?

These sellers are a wonderful military family who understand that the local Fort Hood real estate market is in a state of flux. So they have made sure to keep their home spotlessly clean (with 4 children!!). They've installed a couple of upgrades to make sure they are more competitive in the market. They are ready to show at the drop of a hat. AND they understand and agree that they must price their home aggressively to get it sold $10k under market) as well as agree to pay all the buyer closing costs and prepaids when the time comes. Our marketing is the best the area has to offer and we know that the property is as well positioned on the internet as possible,

But still no buyer has made an offer. In fact, it's only been shown three times in three months. There are 22 homes for sale in this subdivision. ONE resale home has sold in the past three months. Two brand new construction homes (by less quality builders) have sold.

So where do we go from here? Their PCS date is coming up and they will have to move on. They'll leave it on the market through the summer in hopes that a buyer who needs this Killeen location will turn up. And then if it doesn't sell they will have to make the hard decision to keep it on the market or turn it into a rental.

These sellers are not alone right now here at Fort Hood. There are many, many other properties out there that are facing the same issues. Some are holding out hope that the Corps of Engineers Homeowner Assistance Program will come to the rescue, but as of last week, the Fort Worth office of the Corps told me that they were pulling all their information on that program off the website because it looked like the funding for the program was "either on hold or canceled". I'll be checking the Corps of Engineers website daily until there is an update.

Here's a quick review of the new Fish City Grill, one of the many new restaurants in the Market Heights shopping area in Harker Heights Texas. We found ourselves in the area on Saturday after meeting buyers at their new home to do a walk through and decided to give the Fish City Grill a try for lunch. It was early, probably around 11:30, but the restaurant was already looking pretty busy. There were people seated at tables and booths as well as in the bar. The interior is very attractive, not too "nautical", very tasteful and comfortable. The wait staff was wearing T-shirsts with witty sayings you have to be sure to read! There were lots of creative specials on the board but we stuck with basic fried oysters. The service was fairly fast. The waffle fries could have used another half minute in the fryer, but the oysters were first rate as was the slaw with apple cider dressing. We ended the meal with beignets and coffee, which were both very good, even if the beignets were not particularly traditional.

Fish City Grill is a franchised chain and their menu is online. We will go back... for the food and to find out what was up with the waitress who was wearing a Nanook of the North fur cap with ear flaps as she waited tables!

If you are a first time buyer, getting ready to start looking for a home at Fort Hood, here's a quick peek into a real house hunt in the Fort Hood Real Estate Market:

My latest buyer already had a target subdivision and price range in mind when we met for our first consultation. He and his wife are first time buyers and are looking for a home that is close to Fort Hood and close to her work in Killeen. They also want their children to attend Copperas Cove schools, so it's been pretty easy to narrow down their choices.

They've been looking at new construction but just didn't find anything that quite fit their needs and time frame (before the holidays). So we moved on to looking at existing homes, which are a pretty good value in the market right now since sellers are paying most if not all of your closing costs.

The buyers picked five properties off the internet to see this past week, and here's what we found when we got to the homes:

Property #1 - First Impression: Big pile of rocks and dirt in the front yard (lots of work required to remove). Front porch and door were covered in dog paw prints. The interior was, frankly, filthy. Looking into the back yard we saw that the dogs had pretty much destroyed it, and they had chewed chunks out of the back porch posts, too!

Property #2 - First Impression: Nicely maintained yard. Attractive brick with stone accents. Spotless interior, nice floorplan with a fireplace and playscape in the back yard for the buyer's children. Well priced! These sellers are as perfect as possible for an unoccupied home.

Property #3 - First Impression was not good. Yard is full of dead grass and weeds, not a bush, tree or flower to be seen. And this home was occupied! Interior was surprising in that it was clean, neat and nicely decorated, perfect for showing to a buyer. Many buyers would never get past the dead yard to even consider this home. It was very well priced, though, and the buyers took a chance and went in to see the interior. It appears the seller is pricing the home low to offset the condition of the yard.

Property #4 - First Impression: Beautiful yard, neatly trimmed, healthy, green, with nice landscaping touches. Interior was clean, neat, with a big covered patio overlooking the healthy, landscaped back yard. This floorplan was actually the same as property #3. These sellers had painted several walls a variety of "interesting" colors that didn't appeal to the buyers. This was the highest priced home we looked at. This home had been on the market three days.

Property #5 - New construction. The builder had confirmed the home was finished and ready for buyers to move in. When we got to the address, we were greeted with a bare concrete foundation....... I guess he thought we were going to pitch a tent and use the Port-a-John out in the street!

After looking at these five homes, the buyers said they would call in the morning with their decision of which home they wanted. But it didn't take 20 minutes before they called back with their choice! Property #4 was the clear winner. We met the next morning, wrote the offer, and by the end of the day had everything negotiated and signed. They will be spending the holidays in their new home in Copperas Cove!

UPDATE 1/2/09: Rates were at 5.5%!

Great news from local Fort Hood lenders this morning! Late yesterday afternoon the VA rate plummeted from 6.75% to 6% and stressed buyers can, for the moment, give a sigh of relief.

If you've been waiting out the rates before committing to a home at Fort Hood, this could be the time to jump in. Rates have been volatile the past month, swinging between 7% and 7.5%, so 6% is looking pretty good today!