KB Home posts third quarter net loss

Homebuilder KB Home recorded a higher net loss in the third quarter, as market volatility led to a decline in home sales when compared to the previous year.

Los Angeles-based KB Home (NYSE:KBH), which has a significant homebuilding presence in Dallas-Fort Worth, recorded a third quarter net loss of $144.7 million, or $1.87 per diluted share, up from $35.6 million, or 46 cents per diluted share for the same period last year.
KB Home’s third quarter financial report included a pre-tax, non-cash charge of $82.2 million for inventory and joint venture impairments, the company said.

A charge of $58.1 million on a valuation allowance against net deferred tax assets also hit in the third quarter.

KB’s revenue for the third quarter was $681.6 million, down significantly from $1.54 billion for the third quarter of last year. The revenue drop is attributed mostly to a decline in housing sales.

Also, I was told Choice laid off 28 employees. Portrait Homes also shut is doors last week.

Residential new home builders are feeling the pain of the market and negative media on real estate.

Brad Holden
Holden New Homes

Homebuilders get creative to woo buyers, Realtors

Southern Land Co. believes its Tucker Hill residential development in McKinney is so unique that eventually it will sell itself. Burdened with the realities of today’s soft housing market, however, company officials are pulling out the stops to increase foot traffic — and sales — in the sagging market.

“The idea is to get people here,” said Jim Cheney, vice president of corporate communications with Tennessee-based Southern Land. The company has used everything from community concerts to plane rides to reel in buyers.

Tucker Hill’s $248 million planned community broke ground in early 2007 on 800 acres zoned for 2,100 homes and amenities such as pools, walking trails, a dog park and other green spaces. Houses will range from $350,000 to more than a $1 million.

So far, there are 30 houses finished in Tucker Hill, with contracts on 10. The homes are close together, with small front yards, large front porches and garages along alleys in the back. It is an example of neo-urbanism, a pedestrian-friendly design style with a diverse range of housing. The 16 planned phases will take more than a decade to finish. Joe Rider, vice president of community development sales and marketing, said 75 to 100 houses will be started in 2009.
To help increase foot traffic through the neighborhood and promote a small-town feel, Tucker Hill gave away trees during a spring market attended by several hundred. And over Labor Day, the community sponsored Arts on the Lawn, which included music acts and entertainment and was attended by 900 people.

“These events allow us to give folks the vision of what the community will be like,” Rider said.
Kathy Self, operations manager for Arlington-based First Texas Homes, which has homes in 51 communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said that regardless of marketing strategies and promotions, buyers and banks are simply too conservative for much success in the current market.

“You can throw a big party out there, it’s not going to get people in,” Self said.

Margaret Pesnell, marketing director of Hillwood Residential, said the focus has shifted away from wooing buyers and more toward impressing Realtors. Hillwood recently flew two groups of Realtors to Costa Rica to promote property there for second homes. The company also has a 15-year-old incentive program in place, “which right now is more important than ever,” Pesnell said. A Realtor who sells two new homes is rewarded with a free trip.

“As important as these Realtors are to us all the time, we need to be in front of them even more,” Pesnell said.

David Brown, director of the Dallas-Fort Worth office of the housing market research firm MetroStudy, said Tucker Hill’s “unique product and design” will set it apart from other subdivisions.

“It’s a new type of concept for the D-FW market,” he said, adding that there are just a few other communities being built in the area with similar concepts. “To capture the buyer, they’re having to raise the bar and give them a reason to come to the community, other than just another house.”

30-year mortgage rates fall sharply

Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped sharply again this week, falling to the lowest level in seven months.

On Thursday, Freddie Mac’s nationwide survey found that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages had declined to 5.78 percent from 5.93 percent the previous week.

It was the fifth consecutive weekly decline and dropped the 30-year mortgage rate to the lowest level since the week of Feb. 14, when it stood at 5.72 percent.

Freddie Mac says the big drop in mortgage rates is fueling a boom in refinancing, with mortgage applications up 58 percent since mid-August.

Rates have continued to fall following the U.S. government’s takeover of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sept. 7. The government has pledged as much as $100 billion per company to shore up their capital, a move that assured a continuing flow of funds into the nation’s housing market.

Fannie Mae — officially the Federal National Mortgage Association (NYSE:FNM) — and Freddie Mac — officially the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (NYSE:FRE) — are government-sponsored, publicly traded companies that together hold or back about half of the nation’s $12 trillion worth of home mortgages.

The two mortgage guarantors have taken huge losses on a wave of home foreclosures.

Intelligenger says at 10 weeks, It's a Boy!

Green Boy, Yellowish-Orange Girl.

You decide?

Big Papi in Texas

Life was good!

A Little Kid in Aruba

Possibly the best video that I have ever made . . . Enjoy!

Builders think they’ve found sweet spot

In a North Texas housing market where starts are off a third from last year’s pace, mortgage lenders are cutting staff, Realtors are competing aggressively for a contracting number of sales and the number of foreclosures is the only thing on the rise, the first sign of hope — be it however modest — has emerged.

Houses in the $250,000 to $300,000 price range actually saw sales increase by 0.7% in the second quarter from 2,412 to 2,450, according to research by the housing consultant Residential Strategies.

While that number is far off the North Texas housing market’s glory days from earlier this decade, every other price point has continued to see dramatic drops, according to Residential Strategies data. Houses priced from $111,000 to $200,000, for example, saw a drop in sales of 14% in the last quarter. And closings on high-end homes — those costing $501,000 or more — did no better than hold steady.

Area builders are responding, with starts on houses in the $251,000 to $300,000 price range up 6.4% in the last quarter. All other price points saw a decrease, as many builders are trying to unload their inventory of finished homes.

“There’s lots of activity in different parts of the region,” said Bob Morris, executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas. “It’s not new spec-built product. It’s been sitting on the market for six to eight months. There’s no rational reason to bring new product into the market.”

The numbers reflect “current market realities,” said Jim Gaines, research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. It’s difficult for builders to get reasonable financing for houses at lower and higher price points, he said.

“The segment of population that can afford homes are in the above-median price bracket,” he said. “And a lot of these buyers may be saying now is a good time to hire a builder who might be selling a $250,000 or $300,000 house that a year ago would have been a $300,000 to $350,000 house.”

‘Not business as usual’

Nationally, home sales are off by 62% since the peak of the housing market in January 2006, according to numbers from Residential Strategies. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, closings are off 32% from their peak.

“It’s not business as usual, but it’s not a disaster,” said Jody Reese, principal with Residential Strategies. “You’ve got to readjust.”

And that’s what many builders have done, he said. Custom builders that had ventured into lower- and midpriced homes have moved back to houses priced between $350,000 and $600,000, Reese said.

“They just went back to their roots, figuring there was still a market there and more money to be made,” he said. “It’s gotten pretty competitive.”

Drees Custom Homes has houses for sale in more than 30 communities in the area, said Jamie Ovalle, director of marketing. Out of those, there are about five that have homes priced in the $150,000 range. Most of the new building is in the higher-end, Ovalle said, and the majority of the company’s sales are near Drees’ midpoint range of about $280,000.

Drees homes are selling well in areas like McKinney, Fate and Allen, Ovalle said, without disclosing sales figures. “It’s what’s hot at the moment,” she said.

The top market areas, according to Residential Strategies, include Southlake, Frisco, Allen, Castle Hills, Keller, Colleyville, Plano and Lucas. In many of those areas, homes priced at $300,000 and up are driving the housing market.

In Flower Mound, Lantana and Highland Village, houses priced in that range made up 68% of the annual starts, according to Residential Strategies research. In west Allen, the higher-end houses made up 86% of the starts. Of the 376 annual starts in Keller and North Richland Hills, 92% were at $300,000 and up.

“It all depends on where you build and what you build,” said Greg Alford of luxury home builder Alford Homes. The builder, with 28 years of local experience, has seen success lately in Dallas’ Preston Hollow neighborhood, which has attracted a number of builders during the past couple years.

The main impact of the sagging market is that finished houses are sitting empty longer.
“A lot of home builders just jumped into Preston Hollow thinking they could make money, coming in with bad designs and crazy prices,” Alford said. “That’s a lot of the inventory that you have sitting there. There are reasons that homes aren’t selling in some cases.”

Alford is sold out of homes in Preston Hollow. He just started building a spec home and has recently purchased a second lot there, he said.

During the past couple years, he has sold 30 to 40 houses in Prosper and now has an inventory of five. Alford sells an average of 18 homes a year, and will be close to that this year, he predicted. But profits won’t be what they were, because it’s a buyer’s market and builders are willing to cut prices on finished homes.

“We’re doing things differently than what we typically would do if it were a seller’s market,” Alford said. “Our goal for this year is to be in business and be profitable. 2009 is going to be a slow-going, getting back to normal.”

Government may soon back troubled mortgage giants

WASHINGTON

The government is expected to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as soon as this weekend in a monumental move designed to protect the mortgage market from the failure of the two companies, which together hold or guarantee half of the nation's mortgage debt, a person briefed on the matter said Friday night.

Some of the details of the intervention, which could cost taxpayers billions, were not yet available, but are expected to include the departure of Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, according to the source, who asked not to be named because the plan was yet to be announced.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and James Lockhart, the companies' chief regulator, met Friday afternoon with the top executives from the mortgage companies and informed them of the government's plan to put the troubled companies into a conservatorship.
The news, first reported on The Wall Street Journal's Web site, came after stock markets closed. In after-hours trading Fannie Mae's shares plunged $1.54, or 22 percent, to $5.50. Freddie Mac's shares fell $1.06, or almost 21 percent, to $4.04. Common stock in the companies will be worth little to nothing after the government's actions.

The news also followed a report Friday by the Mortgage Bankers Association that more than 4 million American homeowners with a mortgage, a record 9 percent, were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June.

That confirmed what investors saw in Fannie and Freddie's recent financial results: trouble in the mortgage market has shifted to homeowners who had solid credit but took out exotic loans with little or no proof of their income and assets.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost a combined $3.1 billion between April and June. Half of their credit losses came from these types of risky loans with ballooning monthly payments.
While both companies said they had enough resources to withstand the losses, many investors believe their financial cushions could wither away as defaults and foreclosures mount.
Many in Washington and on Wall Street hadn't expected Paulson to intervene unless the companies had trouble issuing debt to fund their operations.

This summer, Congress passed a plan to provide unlimited government loans to Fannie and Freddie and to purchase stock in the two companies if needed.

Critics say the open-ended nature of the rescue package could expose taxpayers to billions of dollars of potential losses.

Supporters, however, argue the Bush administration had little choice but to support Fannie and Freddie, which together hold or guarantee $5 trillion in mortgages -- almost half the nation's total.

Representatives of Fannie and Freddie declined to comment on the government assistance plan.
Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said officials "have been in regular communications" with Fannie and Freddie, but refused to comment saying, "We are not going to comment on rumors."

Concern has been growing that a government rescue of Fannie and Freddie could not only wipe out common stockholders, but also be costly for scores of investment, banking and insurance companies that hold billions of dollars in their preferred shares.

Paulson has been in contact in recent weeks with foreign governments that hold billions of dollars of Fannie and Freddie debt to reassure them that the United States recognizes the importance of the two companies.

The two companies had nearly $36 billion in preferred shares outstanding as of June 30, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mudd, the son of TV anchor Roger Mudd, was elevated to Fannie Mae's top post in December 2004 when chief executive Franklin Raines and chief financial officer Timothy Howard were swept out of office in an accounting scandal. Syron was named Freddie Mac's CEO in 2003, replacing former chief Gregory Parseghian, who was ousted in after being implicated in accounting irregularities.

He formerly was executive chairman of Thermo Electron Corp., a Waltham, Mass.-based maker of scientific equipment, served head of the American Stock Exchange and was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in the early 1990s.

Fannie Mae was created by the government in 1938, and was turned into a shareholder-owned company 30 years later. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 to provide competition for Fannie.
A government takeover could cost taxpayers up to $25 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

But the epic decision highlights the size of the threats facing the housing market and the economy. On Friday, Nevada regulators shut down Silver State Bank, the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank. And earlier this year, the government orchestrated the takeover of investment bank Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase.

Dallas home prices drop slightly, but hold their own

The average price of existing single-family homes in Dallas dropped 3.2 percent in June when compared to a year earlier, according to Standard & Poor’s latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Despite the yearly drop in average price, the Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., home markets are considered to be among the strongest metropolitan areas in the S&P’s index of 20 key cities, S&P says.

“On the plus side, Denver and Boston were the best-performing markets for the month (of June), returning +1.5 percent and +1.2 percent, respectively,” S&P said. The report goes on to say both Denver and Boston are outdone by Dallas and Charlotte, which “have recorded four consecutive months of positive returns.”

Nationally, home prices declined 15.9 percent in the 20 cities for the year ending in June. Las Vegas and Miami were the weakest markets in the index, with Las Vegas seeing a 28.6 percent drop in prices, and Miami experiencing a 28.3 percent decline.

Two Dallas companies named in patent infringement case

A Chicago company has filed a lawsuit claiming a consortium of homebuilders and home product manufacturers violated antitrust and patent laws and confidentiality agreements when they formed a Web site identical to a site established by the plaintiff.

The federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall names several nationally recognized homebuilders and home product manufacturers, including Dallas-based Centex Corp. and Lewisville-based Overhead Door Corp.

Other defendants include Builder Homesite Inc., a consortium of homebuilders and home product manufacturers; New Home Technologies; Beazer Homes USA Inc.; Capital Pacific Holdings Inc.; Capital Pacific Homes; Centex Real Estate Corp; Weekley Homes; KB Home; Lennar Corp.; Pulte Homes Inc.; Standard Pacific Corp.; Toll Brothers Inc.; Georgia-Pacific Corp.; Hearth & Home Technologies Inc.; Honeywell Inc.; Kohler Co.; Masco Corp.; Owens Corning; Progress Lighting Inc.; Square D Co.; Therma-Tru Corp.; Weyerhaeuser Co.; Whirlpool Corp.; and New York International Corp.

The suit filed by Chicago-based OLA Inc. alleges that its subsidiary, HomeBuilderShowroom.com, built a Web site called Builder’s On-Line Assistant back in 1999 to offer the home building and product manufacturing communities a place to showcase home upgrades and standard products online. It also was created, so homebuyers could make selections for their homes while participating in a virtual home tour online.

An attorney for OLA says the company applied for a patent in January 2000, but because of the length of the process, OLA did not receive official patents until 2006 and 2007.
OLA says early in the process, the company engaged interested homebuilders and home product manufacturers, who were part of a consortium that agreed to sign confidentiality agreements so they could try out and learn more about OLA’s Builder’s On-Line Assistant Web site.

OLA says despite some of the consortium’s main members signing confidentiality agreements, companies in the consortium later decided to build a comparable Web site called “Envision.” All of the manufacturers and homebuilders involved in the joint venture ended up associated with the business entity, Builder Homesite Inc., which also operates through subsidiary New Home Technologies Inc. Builder Homesite announced its formation in March 2000.

In a statement, OLA’s attorney Scott Clearman says, “The defendants obviously saw the benefit in OLA’s idea, but they apparently didn’t think they needed the company’s permission to use its patents or to honor their confidentiality agreements.”

Dallas-based Centex Homes and Lewisville-based Overhead Door Corp. said, as a matter of policy, the companies do not comment on pending litigation.

Private investor buys Greyhound Building in Dallas

The Greyhound Office Building at 15110 North Dallas Pkwy. in Dallas has been sold for the second time in four years.
The previous owner, a doctor living in Anaheim, Calif., sold the property to a local private investor this month who did not want to be identified.

Greyhound, the single tenant, has a lease with the 93,087-square-foot office building extending through 2012, but has already moved out of the property, leaving only its data center behind, according to Marcus & Millichap’s Ron Hebert, a senior associate and director of the firm's national office who handled the deal.

Hebert says the building has been on the market since December of last year. He sold the same building in June 2004.

The six-story office building is located at the northeast corner of Belt Line Road and the North Dallas Tollway.

The final sale price was not disclosed, but the property was listed for $10 million.
Greyhound previously moved its headquarters to the Patriot Tower, formerly Dallas One Center, on St. Paul Street in downtown Dallas. A spokesperson for Greyhound says the company already had operations in the Patriot Tower and decided to consolidate by moving the entire headquarters into one location.

Nexregen Firewheel REIT aims to let small investors get in via the Internet

Real estate veteran Ray Wirta has put a new spin on property investing in Texas.
His Nexregen Firewheel Real Estate Investment Trust is selling shares of Firewheel Village shopping center in Garland to investors.
Mr. Wirta wants to make it easier and less expensive for small investors to buy real estate on the Internet instead of going through a financial adviser.
Nexregen, which stands for the next real estate generation, is offering 275,000 shares at $10 apiece, or $2.75 million.

So far, it has raised about $2 million from about 60 investors, said Mr. Wirta, vice chairman and former chief executive of real estate giant CB Richard Ellis.
Nexregen may face investor hesitancy given the credit crisis and a weak national economy. For the same reasons, REITs have performed poorly.
Equity REITs returned 1 percent this year through Monday. In 2007, they posted a negative 16 percent return.

"I believe that real estate is a great savings vehicle," said Mr. Wirta, who lives in Laguna Beach, Calif.

Nexregen's prospectus says his net worth exceeds $25 million.
His partner, Harold Hofer, a Southern California real estate lawyer, has been involved in shopping centers for 25 years.

REITs 101
Nexregen doesn't appear to differ much from how REITs started in the 1960s – as a way for small investors to own real estate, said Ron Kuykendall, a spokesman for the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.
He notes that as a private REIT, Nexregen doesn't have to follow disclosure or corporate governance polices or provide performance data, as the nation's 150 publicly traded REITs do. It also offers limited liquidity options.

Nexregen is registered with Texas securities regulators but is exempt from federal registration because it's selling shares in one state.
Its sole property – Firewheel Village – is fully occupied. Mr. Wirta and Mr. Hofer bought it last spring for $13.5 million. The plan is to sell the property after five or six years, letting investors cash out.

A prospectus describes the investment, costs and details about Firewheel, such as its $10.4 million interest-only mortgage at 5.7 percent. It also says that Mr. Wirta and Mr. Hofer as advisers will receive 4.3 percent in acquisition and other fees, compared with around 10 percent in commissions and fees charged by private advisers for private REITs.
Investors can buy shares in publicly traded REITs through Internet-based brokerage accounts for $10 or less per trade.

Diversifying portfolios
Maria Scott, a spokeswoman for the American Association of Individual Investors, said REITs play a role in diversifying investment portfolios.

However, consumers should understand REITs and make sure they fit into a long-term strategy, said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America.

A newspaper advertisement for Nexregen intrigued Randy Hood of Bedford and Craig Capehart of North Dallas, but they asked many questions before becoming shareholders. Mr. Hood wanted to know more about a Firewheel tenant in bankruptcy before making a six-figure investment for his parents and a family trust.

He and Mr. Capehart said they'd been looking for ways to diversify into local retail property and Nexregen provided an affordable way to do that.

Mr. Capehart suggested that Nexregen use simpler language on its Web site to appeal more to small investors. He has invested about $20,000 since November.
Mr. Wirta and Mr. Hofer have taken steps to address potential investor concerns. They plan to keep at least a 10 percent equity stake in the REIT and are offering a one-year money-back guarantee.

Texas is a test. If it works well, Nexregen will add other REITs in Texas and other states, Mr. Wirta said. Nexregen Firewheel Real Estate Investment Trust is hoping to raise $2.75 million by selling shares of Firewheel Village shopping center in Garland to investors. ">Nexregen Firewheel Real Estate Investment Trust Nexregen Firewheel Real Estate Investment Trust is hoping to raise $2.75 million by selling shares of Firewheel Village shopping center in Garland to investors.

First Pics of my Munchkin!

Above you will notice a large black sack of fluid. The 9 millimeter peanut in the middle of it is my baby.

I pretty much know that it is a boy for obvious reasons, and the fact that he was already bobbin and weavin' from the sonogram machine tool.

Only time will tell.

At the bottom I had the Doc sign it. Sweet huh!

DALLAS STARS TO BUILD NEW DR PEPPER STARCENTER McKINNEY IN CRAIG RANCH

Attention all hockey fans . . . McKinney is getting a StarCenter!!!

The Dallas Stars and Hicks Sports Marketing Group (HSMG) announced today that they will build a new Dr Pepper StarCenter ice arena in Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas. The Dr Pepper StarCenter McKinney will be built on 7.3 acres of land in Craig Ranch in far southwest McKinney. It is scheduled to open in August, 2009.
This new ice facility will mark the ninth Dr Pepper StarCenter in the Metroplex, utilized for youth and adult hockey, and general ice skating for the public. The city of McKinney will own the center and the Dallas Stars Hockey Club will operate it.

Hicks Sports Marketing Group is the exclusive sponsorship and marketing representative of the expansive Craig Ranch development. Just as the Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers, Liverpool Football Club and Mesquite Championship Rodeo are part of the Hicks Sports family, so now is Craig Ranch.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to be partnering with Craig Ranch,” said Jim Lites, president of HSMG. “This is a perfect location for a Dr Pepper StarCenter. The Dallas Stars have grown the sport of ice hockey to new levels in North Texas and we will continue to expose it to more kids and families and get them out there skating. More and more kids are playing hockey and this newest facility will only continue that trend.

“David Craig has hit a home run with Craig Ranch. We are impressed with his vision and we share his commitment to youth sports and top-notch facilities.”

The Dr Pepper StarCenter McKinney will have two sheets of ice, eight locker rooms, and a pro’s room where professional hockey players can teach classes. This StarCenter will also sport a girls’ exclusive locker room, as girls hockey is becoming more and more popular. It is expected that the facility will bring in 600,000 to 700,000 visitors annually.

The McKinney Community Development Corp.’s board of directors approved the funding of the new StarCenter last week.

“A lot of kids in McKinney are playing hockey and skating and having a StarCenter here makes good sense,” said McKinney City Councilman Brian Loughmiller. “It’s another opportunity to get ancillary development around Craig Ranch with it ultimately paying for itself. I, for one, am very excited about it.”

Added David Craig, founder and master developer of Craig Ranch, “There was an automatic attraction to the Hicks Sports Marketing Group for us and it’s a perfect relationship. I’m thrilled and honored to partner with Tom Hicks and the Hicks Sports Marketing Group. He’s a winner and we’re winners, and I think if you want to be the best, you have to partner with the best. Certainly, there’s no one better to do that than HSMG.”

Craig Ranch is a 2,500-acre master-planned, mixed-use development located in one of the most exciting growth centers of the Southwest - McKinney, Texas. A virtual city within a city, Craig Ranch allows business, entertainment, athletic and residential life to converge under the concept of “new urbanism,” which combines the feel of a traditional hometown.

The centerpiece of the community is the PGA TOUR Tournament Players Club at Craig Ranch, which is consistently ranked as one of the top golf courses in the United States by the USGA. The venue will be the site of the Nationwide Tour Championship in November 2008, and will be hosted by the prestigious Salesmanship Club of Dallas.

Currently under construction, the Town Center at Craig Ranch will be the heart of the development, featuring residences and loft offices above street bistros, fine dining, shops, boutiques and corner stores. A five-star luxury hotel will be adjacent to the Town Center, as will an amphitheater and a Veteran’s Memorial Wall, commemorating the 321 fallen American soldiers who hailed from Collin County.

The Cooper Aerobics Center at Craig Ranch was established in 2006 and offers an array of medical, fitness and wellness amenities to meet the needs of individuals, families and corporate clients.

The Michael Johnson Performance Center opened at Craig Ranch in June 2007 and is a 24,000-square-foot indoor training facility personally run by five-time Olympic gold medalist, nine-time world champion sprinter Michael Johnson.

There are 13 soccer fields and 14 baseball and softball diamonds at the Ballfields at Craig Ranch, which is home to the McKinney Marshals of the Texas Collegiate League, a wood-bat summer league on par with the prestigious Cape Cod summer baseball league. The facility runs tournaments nearly year-round, and is among the largest sanctioning bodies of Little League Baseball in the nation.

“This is an exciting time for Craig Ranch and the city of McKinney,” said Lites. “Hicks Sports Marketing Group is excited to be a part of it.”

Today's Texas Real Estate tops Hot on Homes for #1 Spot

August 7th, 2008

Today's Texas Real Estate(TTRE) tops Hot on Homes for #1 Spot in the DFW Metroplex on only their 2nd episode.

Neilsen Ratings for last Sunday show that as an average, TTRE rated .05 when Hot on Homes came in behind at a rate of .03.

The negative media about the housing market has placed a bad taste in buyers mouths all over the nation. Eventhough our market here in DFW is steady, the national media seems to daily find something wrong.

HotonHomes.com goal is to highlight the communities of new home builders for buyers to have many purchase options within the states of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. On the main page of the web site there is a big map where you can search for homes in Dallas and Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Baton Rouge, and Oklahoma City. Within this latter there are builder specials, community videos, library, realtors, markets, and othe info relating to real estate in each market. At the markets section there are links for Baton Rouge, Houston, Orlando and Daytona Beach, and San Antonio, among others. Each segment highlights the communities and what a property can have or be added to a property for an additional cost.

Today's Texas Real Estate is a 30 minute show highlighting each individual property with accurate details and a, "what you see is what you get" mentality. It allows not only builders, but individual realtors like myself, to highlight our actual listings and on top of that, have many leads from each show that is aired.

I strongly am asking all realtors that are looking for that advantage to watch one show and see how the concept makes sense for Builders, Buyers, Sellers, and Realtors.

The show airs on Channel 21 in the DFW Metroplex. For Time Warner Cable channel is KTXA 12 and dish is channel 21.

I will be showcasing the beautiful "Bellavista" in King's Lake in McKinney, Texas on the August 10th show.

http://www.todaystexasrealestate.com/

Opportunity of a Lifetime for First-Time Buyers

For aspiring home owners who find their goal stubbornly elusive, newly enacted legislation providing a tax credit of as much as $7,500 for first-time home buyers might just be the opportunity of a lifetime.

But like so many of the good things in life, time is of the essence for buyers who want to take advantage of this outstanding opportunity. Only homes purchased on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009 are eligible. Use the links below to learn more about the tax credit.

This is huge for first-time homebuyers.

Also see http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2008-07-26/Front+Page/index.html

Best Cities To Buy A Home Forbes.com

Lots To Like In The Lone-Star State Texas dominated our lineup of mortgage-worthy areas. Thanks to a business-friendly tax environment, many large corporations call the Lone Star State home, which creates jobs and tax revenue.

The University of Texas campus provides young blood and research-related jobs to No. 2 city Austin. This state capitol is a hip area on the rise. The vacancy rate has fallen by 37.5% in the last 24 months to just 1.5%, despite a lot of building in recent years.

And buying isn't much more expensive than renting. An average mortgage payment is $1,022.40, and average rent hits $767.

San Antonio, No. 5, and Dallas, No. 6, made the list thanks to affordable housing, which continues to appreciate. In both cities, the median home price hovers around $150,000, and a monthly mortgage payment of around $800 is pretty close to what one pays in rent. If you can pony up the down payment, these are great areas to live!

What a Night!

Absolutely PERFECT!

CASA BELLAVITA IS AVAILABLE!!!!! McKINNEY, TEXAS

Casa Belevita is the most esquisite and unique property in North Dallas.

This Executive home is located in gated communty of Kings Lake in prestigious Stonebridge Devolpment*Pool-spa-waterfall,open & covered patios including outside KIT+upstairs balcony*3 Bedrooms on 1st floor & 2 Bedrooms up-all with private bathrooms*1st floor study,exercise room or 2nd office,wine room with bar,chefs gourmet KIT,butlers pantry,Family room & Living room & Dining room*Upstairs is media room,card-Gameroom,Family room & 2nd laundry room*Constructed as Dream Home by Acacia Builders*Every room is a conversation piece.

Extraordinary home built by Acacia Custom Homes is located in the gated community of Kings Lake in Stonebridge Ranch. Stonebridge amenities include; pools, tennis, fish & release lakes, parks, trails & golf courses (2 private & 1 public).

Outstanding property!

See more pics at www.holdennewhomes.com

or call 469-733-2723 and ask for Brad for a viewing.

1639 Goodwin Aubrey, Texas 76227 NEW

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE MOVE - IN! Contact 469-733-2723 today!

Cape Cod style home with front covered porch & balcony, game rm, media-bonus rm, great for entertaining! Comes with full sod, wood floors, frosted glass front door, alarm system, automatic sprinkler, garage door opener, upgraded carpet, upgraded cabinets, Everstone (Granite composite) countertops, landscaping and fence. Master planned community, lakes, swimming pools, soccer fields, tennis courts, bike paths, playgrounds, restaurants, shops, WOW!

www.holdennewhomes.com

More on Todays

Today’s Texas Real Estate, an innovator in showcasing realtors and real estate, will premiere July 27th, 2008 on Channel 21 at 11:00 A.M. The show is a thirty-minute television program featuring available properties in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.

“Being a realtor myself, I wanted to take an innovative approach to marketing myself as well as my listed properties. This is the reason I started the show”
Executive Producer Lance Simpkins

· Discover a new way to market your listings as well as yourself
· Co-invest in your clients and your image through a visual experience
· Generate more leads to you and your listings via our website
· Earn more respect and recognition as a top realtor in your area

Broadcasting your properties on Today’s Texas Real Estate will drive more traffic, reduce your properties days on market, and generate more leads than traditional marketing.

Contact me today for information on airings and time slots.

Brad Holden
Sales & Marketing
Direct 469.733.2723
Fax (214)-387-8329
b@blitzdfw.com

Demographics

The 11:00 A.M. time slot on Channel 21 on Sundays has had an average of over 20,000 viewers to date from the beginning. This has created a very wide range of viewers due to a non consistent show maintaining its slot. The 10:30 A.M. slot is a show called “Your House and Home” which focuses on Home Improvement. It has been airing now for over 4 years and been very successful in popularity. Today’s Texas Real Estate will immediately air after and we hope to pick up additional viewers being industry related.

Pricing



As you can see the value above, Today’s Texas Real Estate has a value to their clients and will become a leader in the industry creating an awareness of the actual property, the value in comparison to their competitors, and quality of production.

The price for a two minute time slot will only stay at $2,000 until the end of August. If you sign a contract before the end of August your price will remain at $2,000 the entire year!

Today's Texas Real Estate

Todays Texas Real Estate will have it's first airing on channel 21 in the DFW metroplex featuring homes available for sale. The focus is to show the actual home instead of focusing on model homes as Hot On Homes, Channel 8, shows neighborhoods and homes that are examples.

Tune in and see if the hype is all of what it is meant to be. Hotonhomes.com has had a stronghold in the Television market here in DFW, but we will see if TTRE can make an impact which they just might be able to.

Today's Texas Real Estate gives you an exclusive look at the hottest available homes in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area. With the roller coaster trends of the housing market happening all over the country, it can be overwhelming to find the home of your dreams. Today's Texas Real Estate makes it fun and easy to shop for your new home on TV and the web.

Visit www.todaystexasrealestate.com for more details and a replay of the shows.

Also visit www.bimsdfw.com for a list of up to date inventory that builders are attempting to sell quickly in DFW.

Two Dallas cities named fastest growing, while Fort Worth population soars

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau says two Dallas suburbs, McKinney and Denton, ranked third and 10th, respectively, on the bureau's list of fastest growing cities, while the city of Fort Worth ranked fourth behind Houston for experiencing the largest numeric population increase during the period documented between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007.

The data shows Denton's population growing from 110,304 in July 2006 to 115,506 in 2007, while McKinney's population increased from 107,075 in July 2006 to 115,620 in 2007.

Meanwhile, the population of Fort Worth, which experienced a significant numerical increase in population during the past year, had approximately 681,818 residents living in the city in July 1, 2007, compared to 652,365 in July of 2006.

Fort Worth follows Houston, which ranked first in the nation in year-to-year numerical population growth, with a population of 2,208,180 in July of this year, compared to 2,169,248 last year.

Dallas in run-off for MillerCoors HQ

The Dallas area and Chicago appear to be the finalists for the headquarters of the MillerCoors joint venture, with a final decision expected to be announced by the end of the month, according to sources familiar with the search.

Real estate brokers in both cities feel sure that the headquarters is heading their way, said Dale Ray, managing director of the Dallas office of Jones Lang LaSalle, a worldwide real estate services provider.

Ray was in JLL's corporate headquarters in Chicago when reached by the Dallas Business Journal.

"They're hearing here that (MillerCoors) has picked Chicago, and we're hearing it's Dallas," he said. "There's enough discussion about it being down to (Chicago and Dallas) that it seems to have some traction to it."

Ray, who is not directly involved in the search, said MillerCoors has scouted locations in downtown Dallas and the suburbs, including Plano, Frisco and the Las Colinas area of Irving. Ray said he's heard the company is looking for 150,000 to 300,000 square feet.

MillerCoors will decide where to locate by the end of the month, said Julian Green, a spokesman for the company. He would not say whether the search has been narrowed, how much space the company is looking for, or how many jobs the headquarters will involve.

"We are actively engaged in a search for our headquarters, and a decision will be made soon," he said. "What operations will move and what corporate functions will be at the headquarters are decisions that remain to be made."

MillerCoors currently leases 12,357 square feet for a regional office at Hall Office Park in Frisco, said Jean Farris, director of leasing for Hall Financial Group. She declined to say whether MillerCoors had scouted the Frisco park as a possible site for its headquarters.

Farris said MillerCoors is looking for less headquarters space than it originally planned because the joint venture will maintain substantial operations in Milwaukee and Golden, Colo. MillerCoors LLC is the recently formed joint venture of London-based SABMiller, whose U.S. operations are based in Milwaukee, and Golden, Colo., where it has Coors Brewing Co., the Denver subsidiary of Molson Coors Brewing Co.

Farris also said the search has been narrowed to Chicago and the Dallas area.

"It's very sought after," Farris said. "I think any city would want it. It would be great for the Dallas area to win."

The MillerCoors headquarters competition between Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth is reminiscent of 2001, when the Boeing Co. shortlisted both cities, along with Denver, after deciding to move from Seattle, Ray said. Chicago won that battle, but much has changed since then, he said.

Dallas is proving remarkably resilient during tough economic times, and the city has the advantage in terms of real estate costs, the quality of available labor and quality of life, Ray said. "I believe Dallas has the edge," he said.

Dallas' central business district has changed for the better as well, said Mike Wyatt, executive director of the Dallas office of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. Boeing in 2001 cited the cultural amenities of Chicago when it chose the Windy City, but downtown Dallas has made great strides to improve the museum, art, dining and entertainment scene downtown, as well as the public transportation system, he said.

"Both cities are strong," Wyatt said. "We're such a pro-business city. I think that may help us this time around."