About Bell County, TX

On October 8-9, 2009, I took the course "Creative Land Planning for Profits" sponsored by the Texas Chapter of the Realtors Land Institute. It was taught by David R Jensen of David Jensen Associates of Denver, Colorado, and is a nationally recognized land planner. We studied old style subdivisions, as compared to newer style communities, discovered how to turn obstacles into opportunities and profits, learned how to determine the optimum use for sites and to develop a model plan, and work effectively with governmental zoning and planning boards as well as neighborhood groups to build consensus. These communities are places for people to live, planned around lifestyle components such as parks, open spaces, walking, and biking trails. Some development types are lake, golf, ski, marina/boating, health spa, equestrian, sports and other resort communities. Development trends are active adult communities, built green communities, and cluster developments. The four main elements that make up green development are environmental responsiveness, resource efficiency, community and cultural sensitivity and integrating ecology with real estate. Builders, developers and home buyers can all benefit from communities designed around green development principles. Some benefits include reduced capitol costs, reduced operating costs, good public relations, product differentiation, new business opportunities, reduced resource consumption and energy efficiency, leading to lower energy bills. As our cities, counties, states, and our country continues to grow in population, housing the most people on the least amount of land will need to be considered to accommodate the required communities needed, with the most use, and least impact on the land as possible.

WOO HOO!!! We've done it again. Killeen, TX is once again listed as one of the least expensive housing markets in the United States.

http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=36083

Although the type of house they use for comparison (2200 sqft single family residence with 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath) is not the norm in our market, we continue to show very well everytime they do this survey. So there you have it, Buyers...Prices are Low, Interest Rates are Low and, (for a short while longer) Uncle Sam has $8000 with your name on it. Come home to Killeen...The City Without Limits.

319 S 25th Street, Temple, Texas 76504

$14,000

	David Jirasek, ALC, CCIM, GAA JIRASEK REALTY (254) 770-0996 djirasek@ccim.net http://www.jirasekrealty.com
Listed by: David Jirasek, ALC, CCIM, GAA

Call David Jirasek, ALC, CCIM, GAA at (888) 662-3390 for more details.

This information has been secured from sources we believe to be reliable, but we make no representation or warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy of the information. All references to age, square footage, lot sizes, school district, zoning, income/expenses, etc. are approximate. Buyers should conduct their own independent investigations and rely only on those results. All information subject to change. It is illegal to discriminate against any person because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

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.