Prosper, TX

The Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009 has extended the tax credit of up to $8000 for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residents. It also authorizes a tax credit up to $6500 for qualified repeat home buyers. Are you eligible? Are the qualifications as clear as mud? You can check the full requirements at http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. Your tax advisor is also a great source for getting the scoop in plain speak.

Thanks to Colonial National Mortgage (Russell Dobbs, Sr. Loan Officer 972-989-9811) for putting together this brief synopsis of the differences between the qualifications:

$8,000 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

*First-time buyers only, defined as someone who has NOT owned a primary residence in the last 3 years.

*The tax credit does not have to be repaid unless the home stops being the primary residence within 3 years.

*The tax credit is equal to 10% of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $8000.

*The tax credit only applies to homes priced at $800,000 or less.

*The sale must occur between January 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010. However, if a binding contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.

*For homes purchased before November 6, 2009 under the original program, the income limits are $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.

*For homes purchased after November 6, 2009 under the new extended and expanded program, the income limit is $125,000 for single taxpayers and $225,000 for married couples filing jointly.

$6500 Move-Up / Repeat Home Buyer Tax Credit

*To be eligible, buyers must have owned and lived in their previous home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years.

*The tax credit does not have to be repaid unless the home ceases to become the primary residence within three years.

*The tax credit is equal to 10% of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $6500.

*The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.

*The credit is available to homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where the binding contract is in place by April 30, 2010, the home purchase qualifies provided it is completed by June 30, 2010.

*Single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

Have a blessed day!

Ronda

Having trouble finding builder specs in Prosper? They're still out there. But, with some of our builder models having been sold in Fall 2008 and Spring 2009, they can be harder to find. As of 11-16-2009, we have 31 homes available from builders that are 2008 or 2009 finished construction or 2009 incomplete construction. That's actually 20% of our current housing market in Prosper, Texas. But, they are spread out, and most builders are down to just one or two homes available, so they aren't as visible as last year at this time.

In price order, here are some of the better values being offered in Prosper in new construction. Builders will likely keep inventory levels low going into 2010, too, so be sure ask to include resale options in your housing tour. We say 'McMansion' lovingly in Prosper, Texas. We're known for big lots and beautiful brick homes with tons of personality. If you don't find the perfect home, a build job takes about 5-6 months, weather permitting. And, we can find you a residential lease to tide you over until the home is done, so you can begin prospering in Prosper this week:

Summit View Lake - DR Horton Homes has incomplete construction from the $180k's.

Cedar Ridge Estates - Bloomfield Homes has complete construction from the $250k's.

Lakes of La Cima - Gallery Homes has complete construction from the $280k's.

Gentle Creek Estates - Grand Homes has incomplete construction from the $290k's. I also have an amazing 2002 resale offering in Gentle Creek Estates Golf Community, with a 6-car detached garage on 1.6 acre lot, for $750,000.

Lakes of Prosper - Highland Homes has incomplete construction from $300k's.

Greenspoint - Newport Homebuilders has complete construction from the $330k's.

Whitley Place - Darling has what I think is the best value in new construction in Prosper in The Ridge at Whitley Place: 4231 Rocky Ford - complete construction. Originally $465,000. Now $417,990. Last finished spec of 2009.

Saddle Creek - Drees has complete construction on 4-bedroom home $490k's. 1230 Saddle Creek Drive. It sits alone right now, but this new community is located between Preston and Business Preston. Great location in Prosper.

Deer Run - new Drees neighborhood offers incomplete construction on .40 acre lots from $530k's.

Greenspoint - Greencraft Builders - Chris Miles' energy efficient premium model home is LEED Gold, 16+SEER AC, and more. Quartz countertops. This truly cool house is finished and offered at $549,000.

Quail Lake - REIG, Inc dba Stonebrook offers finished construction from $620k's that has been reduced to $549,900. Quail Lake is quickly becoming one of my favorite Prosper subdivisions.

Whitley Place - Huntington offers complete construction at 4080 Chimney Rock. This is a 5,111sf McMansion priced at $589,990. I've toured it. It's magnificent!

Whitley Place - Darling offers 4071 Chama in The Glen at Whitley Place at $639,990. This home has an interior courtyard and a guest casita. I've toured this one, too. I love this house. If I were in the market for a new home personally, it would make my top 3!

Whispering Meadows - Dave R. Williams, a renowned local builder, is offering 2140 Meadow View at $679,900. This amazing home sits on .80 acres. Not too little land, and not too much. AAHHH - space. It's a good thing!

Whispering Farms - REO (real estate owned) 5-bedroom McMansion (I told you - this is a good term in Prosper!) has over 5,500 square feet of living space and sits on just a tad more than one acre. 951 Woodview is offered at $999,000.

New in every price point! Prosper has something for everyone. Let's set up a tour customized to suit you.

Have a blessed day!

Ronda

I always love this time of year because the weather is turning colder and the holidays are approaching! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's always it gives us the opportunity to get together with friends and family, when throughout the year, we seem to busy to do so. We started out this year with my parents coming down for the kids games on Halloween and them staying to help the kids carve pumpkins.






Robert's dad and Karen came down, as they always do in November and we had a great time, as usual.


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I love the holidays because it reminds me of all the good times I had with my family when I was a kid, because of tradition and for all the great times and memories we have made and continue to make with my children.

We start out decorating our home with fall leaves and flowers and pumpkins and move on to overdoing it with Christmas decorations! (Robert always teases me about have 20 boxes of decorations for Christmas and only one for every other holiday!)

Halloween is only fun because the kids love to dress up and my parents have joined us on Halloween since Reagan was a baby.

Thanksgiving is always special. When I was a kid, it always meant traveling to Stillwater, OK to be with my family there and family, from everywhere, would be there. We talked, played, road dirt bikes, went to movies and just enjoyed being with each other. Although we stopped that several years ago, Thanksgiving still means being with family, usually at my parents, aunt and uncles in Granbury, eating too much turkey, drinking too much ;), playing with ALL the animals out there and watching football.

Christmas was amazing and is still my favorite holiday. My mom made it perfect every year and still does! We always celebrated on Christmas Day and continue to do so with my kids. Christmas Day is much like Thanksgiving, but with TONS of presents! We get together, eat too much, drink too much and just have a great time!

I'm looking forward to the holidays and being cozy with my family and seeing my kids' faces light up as they dig into the mounds of presents...priceless!

You know statistics and marketing - slant the figures to make your point. It's really easy for people to report that the housing market is bad right now. They'll believe it. Media attention continues to pound home that we're in a recession. But, when you drive around town in Prosper, Texas, you see the new slabs being poured and homes in framing stage and new businesses moving in. That doesn't look like a recession, does it?

If I run figures today, I can make the situation look really dire, as many agents haven't put in all of the home activity into our MLS yet. The transaction files are sitting on someone's desk waiting to be input. So, to show a more realistic and accurate picture, we have to back up a couple of months. Let's pick September. September, 2008 was dramatically different than September, 2009 in Prosper, right? September, 2008 we were in the throws of recession. Housing was miserable, right? Wrong. Take a look at the comparison (based on the Collin County Association of Realtors CCAR Pulse Report of September, 2009) and tell me if we really had it so bad:

New listings:

9/08 - 43

9/09 - 40

You can make it sound really bad by stating it as a 7% reduction in new listing inventory. Reality - we had 3 fewer new home listings than last year at the same time.

Closed sales:

9/08 - 25

9/09 - 22

Oh, no! 12% fewer home sales. We closed 3 fewer homes in September than in the year before.

Average sales price:

9/08 - $348,766

9/09 - $315,545

Now, on this issue, I admit it got pretty hairy. Media attention that we were in the midst of the deepest buyer's market conditions in history caused buyer's to offer extremely low and seller's to fall for it. There are some foreclosures factored in, but so much of the negotiations were seller's afraid the buyer would walk away and buy another home. Fear, and a need to sell by some, caused a real downward turn in average sales price. That 9.5% reduction included short sales, foreclosures, and discounted builder spec homes that were finished inventory from 2008 that needed to be sold in 2009.

Average days on the market:

9/08 - 201

9/09 - 161

Yep - It's going down. The builder inventory levels are tighter in 4th quarter, 2009. That is pushing many buyers back to resale homes, which is helping them sell faster. If we take the entire year, the days on market average drops even further to 154 days. Just a little over 5 months. Considering the fact that we're in a growing area with new construction competition and lots of new neighborhoods, that's not a bad average at all. That number can drop even further if the home is properly staged, neutralized, and clean.

Housing inventory:

9/08 - 235

9/09 - 205

11/11/2009 - 147

Total housing inventory dropped 12.8% by the end of September, and we're down to less than 150 homes currently available in the Town of Prosper. I took a new listing just today on a $750,000 home in Prosper. Other agents were telling the owner to wait until next Spring. Not me. 4th Quarter and 1st Quarter are historically our two best quarters for luxury home property sales, due to the corporate nature of the North Dallas Suburbs. (Thank you, Legacy Business Corridor - JCPenney, EDS, Frito-Lay, Ericsson, Dr. Pepper, Crossmark, and others). Corporate moves happening around fiscal year-end mean moves must take place to get funds spent in the current budget or the next year's budget. These are motivated buyers and sellers.

The best advice I can give a seller or buyer in Prosper, Texas is to let these facts speak for themselves. The truth doesn't always hurt.

Have a blessed day!

Ronda

Prosper Homes, Condos & Townhomes: (75078)

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