Big D is ranked just behind a suburb of Phoenix  and Los Angeles as markets with a combination of strong economic growth & building are contributing to the home sector.  Each market on the list has job & household growth & surging home starts.  Growth in central Dallas put the city near the top place nationally for growth according to Realtor.com.  North Texas created almost 117,000 jobs in the last year & area home sales were up 16% in the 1st quarter + home starts rose 22%.  SIMILAR IS HAPPENING IN TYLER & EAST TEXAS.

This is a new low for the year!  The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.58% with an average 0.5 point for the week ending April 14, down from last week’s 3.59%.  A year ago it averaged 3.67%  The 15 year averaged 2.86% with an average 0.5 point, down from 2.88% last week and 2.94% a year ago.  Five year adjustable rates can be even lower.  STILL A GREAT TIME TO BUY, BUT CONTACT YOUR REALTOR TO FIND A HOME.

In states with declining populations easier to get rentals and buy a home.  With the increase in population in some states, then rental prices are going up and a shortage of homes to buy.  This will cause building prices to go up and harder for 1st time home buyers to get a loan.  The American dream of home ownership will not happen.  RIGHT NOW INTEREST RATES ARE STILL LOW.  Call your Realtor to look at & buy a home – also checking with your lender.

From 2009 to today new homes, condos, apts. total 5.6 million.  Over the same period 1.7 millions housing units were obsolete & demolished.  A net of 3.9 million housing units to the country’s stock is not adequate in light of 17.3 million additional people in the county over the same period.  With an average of 2.5 persons per household, then a total of 6.9 million new housing units are 3.9 millions short of 3 million homes, according to Lawrence Yun NAR chief economist.  MORE TO COME

All things seem to change and the new color COLORS are (1)  LEMONADE,  (2)  PISTACHIO and (3)  PETTICOAT.   Can add complimentary colors for accents, but rooms painted these colors are pleasant and up-to-date.  If you already painted a room another color, then use one of these 3 newer colors as the accent.  Color is fun to play.  If have trouble hire a decorator.  All this is according to the March 2016 Southern Living  magazine.

The word REALTOR was 1st coined by Charles Chadbourn in 1939.  He is from Minneapolis.  He noted in the newspaper a headline, “Real Estate Man an Embezzler”, so he read this & decided something needed to be done to raise the status of REALTORS.  2 years before that the National Association of Realtors adopted the CODE OF ETHICS, to let the public know that professional Realtors could be held accountable and not just some one selling properties.  BE SURE THE REALTOR YOU DEAL WITH IS A MEMBER OF NAR!!

Median home price of residences in Texas during the 4th quarter 2015 shows  a 5.5% increase from same time in 2014.   Housing inventory also rose from 3.4 months compared with 3.1 months the year before.  A balanced supply is 6 to 6.5 months.  Falling oil prices could cause some lay-offs & up the housing inventory.  Some of these workers could move to construction.  Texas homes are on the market about 60 days.  WITH INTEREST RATES STILL LOW NOW IS A GOOD TIME VISIT WITH A LENDER AND BUY!!

A chance observation of a pair of sneakers belonging to a great 11 year old skateboarder & also a LEGO lover, helped propel the company’s turnaround.  LEGO refocused on its core product.   Stayed with not only their normal size, but added some smaller bricks inside their boxes.  Instruction manuals were more exacting & more labor-intensive.  10 years later and with the successful LEGO MOVIE & related merchandise and for the 1st  time surpassed Mattell to become the world’s largest toy maker.  The craftsmanship needed to work with LEGOS did it!

In the face of loosing their selling position of LEGOs, they sold off their parks & reduced the number of products to new & underserved globalmarkets.  In 2004 they visited an 11 year old boy in a midsized German city.  Their mission?  To figure out what really made LEGO stand out.  They thought they knew about their new digital behaviors.  He was also a skateboarder.  Asked which of his possessions were his trophy and it was his beat-up Adidas sneakers.  They were his gold metal.  Because of those scuffed sneakers he showed the world he is ONE OF THE BEST SKATEBOARDERS IN THE CITY.  More to come

How did the Danish toymaker fall so far behind and jumped so high this week??   The company’s problems can be traced back to 1981, which the world’s 1st handheld game, Donkey Kong, came to the market, inspiring a debate at LEGO headquarters what this meant for the future their product.  About 1990 Lego moved to other products, but NO turn around.  Men & women born after 1980, lacked the time and patience for LEGOs and ran out of ideas & storylines to build around.  This generation wanted INSTANT gratification.  NEXT TIME IS HOW THEY TURNED IT AROUND.