About Palo Pinto County, TX

Real Estate in Mineral Wells is a little unpredictable right now, as it is in many places. This is only a snapshot report for our residential properties in Mineral Wells only. It does not include outlying county areas.

Lowest priced active listing at: $22,000

Currently, we have 126 active listings ranging in price from $22,000 to $32,900,000.00. The highest priced being 3,290 acres of land.

116 active lisings - currently for sale (10 of these are foreclosures) $22,000 to $32,900,000

6 active contingent - which means that there is a contract, but there is some type of condition that has to be met in order for the buyer to purchase the home (such as getting financing.) $84,900 to $159,900

4 pending - waiting to go to closing (2 of these are foreclosures) $34,900 to $175,000

The average days on the market have been 174, with the shortest period of time being 6 days and the longest 922 days.

Lowest price sold for past 30 days

Within the past 30 days, we have had 11 residential properties sell, ranging in price from $33,500 to $385,000.

6 were sold for under $100,000
4 were sold for under $200,000
1 sold for under $400,000

The average days on market for a sold listing were 120. The shortest being 3 days and the longest at 286 days.

Two of these sold properties were foreclosures.

As you can see, we have a very diverse selection of homes and property for sale in Mineral Wells. If you would like more information on our area, please feel free to contact me at any time.

The Resurrection Of The Historic Baker "Crazy Waters" Hotel In Mineral Wells, Texas

A group from Southlake Texas are planning a $54 million renovation of the 14 story Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells Texas. This is big news for the small town of 17,000 people in Eastern Palo Pinto County. The development group has been working on bringing this a reality for 3 1/2 years.

The hotel is the largest building in Mineral Wells and in it's day was one of the largest health spas in the country. The Baker Hotel opened in Mineral Wells Texas in 1929 during the height of the mineral water craze. In it's heyday, the Baker included mineral baths, golf course, three dance floors, and a rooftop nightclub. Hollywood Stars like Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Judy Garland strolled the halls and danced away in the ballrooms. In the 1940's the FDA ordered Mineral Wells to stop making medical claims about the waters and traffic dropped off.

The hotel has been vacant for almost 40 years now. Plans to reduce the 450 original rooms to around 155 by expanding them and bringing them up to modern day standards. The spa area and pool will also get a major renovation and the new lobby will be spectacular. All of this at a price tag of over $54 million. The developers have stated they will be using local contractors for the renovations which will give a boost to the local economy.

This is all very exciting to save such a important part of Texas history.

Happy Trails,

DK

and it is pretty simple. Know your market, your area and experiment! As we all know, real estate is local. What works well in one area does not work as well in another. Some people love open houses, others not so much. There have seen so many mixed reviews and articles and thoughts about open houses, I decided to determine the answer for myself (which is what I would suggest anyone do.)

I have a nice property located on the main street that is the North/South route into and out of Mineral Wells. The home has been renovated, has updated appliances, updated wiring, plumbing, everything and is zone commercial and residential. The location is excellent for a small office but has parking for residential off the main road and a side road. Perfect opportunity for me to have an open house as countless people will be driving by day in and day out and will be able to see the banner announcing when it will be and at what time. Truly, I expected to see several couples or interested parties come through based on this fact alone. But, we advertised and let people know.

The day of the open house arrives, I get there a little early and pop my cookies in the oven to cook, turn on all the lights and turn up the heat a bit since it had been very cold the previous night and there was quite a chill in the home. As I walked through opening blinds and closet doors for people to peek into, I made sure there wasn't anything that needed to be picked up or straightened. The home looked ready to go and I went into the dining room to decorate the table for refreshments. A Spring platter was put out with a bright and happy tablecloth and I was all ready! The place looked great and I couldn't wait to show people the built in cabinets and huge kitchen, the crown moldings, etc.

An hour into the open house and my broker pops by to see if I need anything or need any help. Nope, I said, all is quiet. I haven't had anyone come by yet. She stayed for a little bit, but then had errands to run and left. I had brought some work with me, so I had things to do while I waited...and waited...and waited. A couple of hours go by...still no one...funny thing runs through my mind...I remember my sellers telling me that when they had had the home for sale as FSBO, they had open houses quite often and didn't even advertise and would get "tons" of people in and out during their open house...hmmmm.

It's the last hour and still no one. I had a couple of clients to contact, so I made some phone calls, worked on my newsletter for next month some more and low and behold, saw some people walking up to the front door. The two ladies pop their head in and ask if they could just walk through and look. They lived next door and knew the owners and wanted to see if the house looked the same. Sure I said, take a few cookies as well!

In the end, it wasn't a waste of my time as I was able to get some work done, but it also confirmed what I had felt in the beginning...Mineral Wells typically does not have a high success rate for showings at open houses. I try to go to any open house I see, whether it be for one of our listings or another real estate office. Most often, the response that I receive when I go is that I've been the only one to show up or maybe one or two others have come by. But, in the best interest of my sellers, they really thought it would be a good idea.

So, if the question is in your head...Should I have an open house? Visit a few open houses in your area first. Try to determine if you feel it has been a success or if you think that people really don't have an interest and talk it over with your sellers. Some care, some don't. But, the true test is experiment. If it works out and you have a good turnout, all the better. If it turns out that it wasn't the best use of your time, well you now know and will be able to educate your sellers the next time one mentions that he/she would think it would be an excellent idea. Your experimentation and expertise is what is going to help get the house sold and the better you know your market and what people like and don't like, the more success you should have in selling your properties.

There was a fair amount of activity last week in Palo Pinto County real estate. We had a few sales, put some properties into pending status and have many that are active.

Currently we have 834 active listings in our county. These listings include land, commercial, residential and multi-family properties. Prices range from $5,000 all the way up and through the $1,000,000.00 price point.

3 properties sold during the past week (11/9/09 - 11/15/09).

(1) 2 bedroom, 1 bath brick home that sold for $65,000.00. (Mineral Wells)
(1) 21 1/2 acre tract of land that sold for $75,900.00 (Graford)
(1) 3 bedroom, 1 bath home that sold for $159,000.00 (Possum Kingdom Lake)

5 properties were pending through 11/15/09.

(1) 3 bedroom, 1 bath bank owned home listed for $19,900.00, (Gordon)
(1) 3/4 acre lot listed for $54,000.00. (Possum Kingdom Lake)
(1) 2 bedroom, 2 bath home listed for $59,500.00. (Mineral Wells)
(1) 3 bedroom, 1 bath home listed for $65,000.00. (Mineral Wells)
(1) 1 10 acre tract of land listed for $100,000.00. (Mineral Wells)

Unfortunately, 18 properties expired. These people may renew with their agents, go with another agent or opt to keep their properties off the market for a period of time.

Normally, November through February are fairly slow for the real estate market in Palo Pinto County. We will be keeping an eye on things to find out if the home-buyers credit will make a difference here.

**All information was obtained through our local multiple listing service.**

Below is a market update for Mineral Wells, Texas through 10/30/2009. The numbers provided were obtained using the North Texas Real Estate Information System. This update is for the Mineral Wells area only, no other cities in Palo Pinto County are included.