Buying and Selling Homes in Texas Over the Years

By Val McGilvra

Looking for a home in the 20th century involved driving around, usually with a realtor, maybe using a Mapsco or getting listings from the newspaper or an agency's own magazine with properties. We made offers over a landline and sent the contract through a fax machine. Money was exchanged using cashier's checks.

Today, there are thousands of sites and Apps to use to search for/and or sell homes. There are discount brokerages that will offer a flat rate or will buy your home to free up your equity to purchase your next home. But like many people have learned, technology can come at a price. For instance, some sites will provide an “estimate” of your home value. Consumers need to be cautious about this. Find out how the price is determined and if it is based on “actual sales and analysis” of homes. The state of Texas is a “non-disclosure” state so obtaining sales information would be available only to Multiple Listing Service (MLS) participants. Some websites also provide customers with a convenient way to schedule a tour of a home, but once again read the fine print. You may think that you are speaking with the listing agent of the home but many times you are not.

Using technology to search for homes:

Real Estate agents are able to do just about everything from their phones now. So much information is available to us. These services we must purchase and use wisely, but allow us to respond quickly to a client's request for information. For the consumer it is easy to access some of this information but, like any area of business, if you are not trained to know what to look for and understand the data, it can lead to a lot of misinformation. When signing up for a website to search for homes, be cautious regarding what personal information you provide and make sure you know who is on the receiving end and what permissions you are giving them with that sensitive data.

Remember, a home is one, if not the, largest purchases/sales a person makes in their life. The National Association of Realtors and the Texas Real Estate Commission have made hundreds of changes/additions to

Real Estate laws in Texas since its inception in 1911 that have worked to create a regulated and professional industry. The contracts used by a Texas REALTOR® are written by a group of lawyers. They are revised to keep up with the needs and feedback from Realtors. The Texas Association of REALtors has a powerful advocacy group in Austin who read and monitor local and state real estate laws and bills. The latest HOA guidelines to place a cap on fees charged for their documents was one of their accomplishments as was pushing for the tax relief on property tax to homeowners.

A Home Buyers Wish List 30 Years Ago:

As family sizes grew and two household incomes became the new norm, home buyers wanted larger homes. In 1981 the median size of a new single-family home was 1,550 square feet. Just seven years later in 1988 that increased to 1,815 sq. ft. due to "the increasing affluence of households toward the upper end of the income distribution," the Realtors association reports. By the late 1990’s the median home was about 2,300 sq. ft., according to the National Association of Home Builders. But as homes get larger, yards will become smaller. Lots of 8,000 square feet were almost unheard of in 1980, but became the standard later in the ‘80’s. Then, in the '90s, lots became even smaller where the average size was about 6,600 square feet. Lots that small mean the homes are built very close together.

Out in the rural areas like Henderson, Kaufman and Van Zandt counties people were able to purchase larger parcels of land. Many people chose to buy mobile homes, as it was ready to go home (literally) and was affordable. Then, subdivisions started to be developed and these usually came with HOA (Homeowner Associations or POAs (Property Owners Association). Neighborhood rules, procedures and doctrines, called the CCR’s (Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions) were the new law of the land, so to speak. A homeowner paid a fee, either monthly or annually to the association run by a group of board (community) members continued on next page to regulate the subdivision. People initially regarded this as a good idea, until over the past decade the power became out of balance and the Texas Association of REALTORs began to lobby for changes and more regulation of the actions and control of these associations.

In light of the past few years, Texans are looking at their homes differently. After spending so much time at home and with family members things have changed. The desire to reconfigure the layout of homes to coincide with adjusted lifestyles has impacted homeowners' decisions to sell and remodel instead. With remodeling people have converted a dedicated space for home office or study areas. Installing kids playsets, pools and outdoor living areas have gained popularity.

When purchasing new homes buyers are seeking homes that have a “Flex Space” open floor plan and double master bedrooms (now called primary bedrooms). Luxury Vinyl Plank or (LPV) is high on people's list of flooring due to its’ ability to withstand water, wear and tear, easy maintenance and look of real wood. Living in small communities is still popular.

The Cedar Creek Lake Area has seen quite a boom in single-family new home developments over the past decade. More recently, Gun Barrel City has several that are taking off. The most recent planned community is called, “The Range” and is located at 104 Wesson, Gun Barrel City. This community has four homes nearing completion in Phase 1.

“We are so excited to offer these high quality homes within this lake community, “ said Sam Smith, Developer. My dream is to build homes that are exceptional quality and create a beautiful community. Being raised in the construction industry then spending my life working in many aspects of construction I decided I wanted to serve the homeowners looking for residential property. We wanted to be able to offer as much value as possible to each and every client. I feel we hit that target here at The Range in Gun Barrel City.

“Our floor plans offer flex space, family time areas and energy efficient features that will provide comfortable affordable homes,” said Kyle Henley, Project Manager. "We also worked as a team to design homes with highend design features but without the high cost to the homeowner.”

Data for the state of Texas by the Texas Real Estate Center, Texas A & M University.

Glossary:

Fax: an image of a document made by electronic scanning and transmitted as data by telecommunication links

Landline: a conventional telecommunications connection by cable laid across land, typically either on poles or buried underground.

Mapsco: Map of Streets atlas booklet

Multiple Listing Service (MLS): a database established by cooperating real estate brokers to provide data about properties for sale.

REALTOR®: real estate professionals who are members of the National Association of Realtors, a trade association in the United States.

By Russell Slaton