This will begin a series of ten critical questions to ask when you are shopping for a mortgage. Just like a great REALTOR® can make all the difference in the world when it comes to finding, negotiating and closing on the home of your dreams, so to can a great lender/Loan Officer… and great REALTORS® usually know great lenders and Loan Officers.

I just got a cool a cool announcement sent to me from a friend. Thought it might interest residents of Allen, and Collin County in-general.
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Baum's Woodlands opening in Allen January 25, 2008, Dallas Business Journal By Lauren D'Avolio, Staff Writer

After a splashy grand opening in Dallas Jan. 17, a second local location of Jack Baum's Woodlands will arrive in Allen this April. The restaurant will have 6,800 square feet in a prominent space inside Watters Creek at Montgomery Farm, near North Central Expressway and Bethany Road. "We present ourselves as an independent restaurant. We never intended to open in the same city," Baum said. "The Allen location ... I felt it was a completely different market."  The 4,500-square-foot Dallas location, at 6073 Forest Lane, is creating 60 to 70 jobs; the Allen venue will employ 75.  Baum calls his latest endeavor an experience somewhere between Houston's and Jasper's. He says he knows "for a fact" that Woodlands will be in other cities, but has no plans to open additional locations in Texas. He declined to specify possible future sites, or the cost of opening each new location. Woodlands has dishes such as tuna tartar, butternut squash soup, mahogany chicken and bison burgers. It's food that Baum -- a Dallas restaurateur of more than 25 years -- called "not uncommon." But it's "up the fairway of what people want to eat." The first location of Woodlands opened in November in Chicago. Allen will make it's third. Baum is chairman and CEO of Food, Friends and Co. -- a Dallas-based restaurant management firm that operates 13 restaurants in eight states. He also started Dallas-based Hampton's and Newport's. In 1989, he and a team reinvigorated Sam's Cafe, which spawned Canyon Cafe. Watters Creek is a 1.15 million-square-foot, mixed-use development that will open by late spring. In July, P.F. Chang's China Bistro became the first of the project's tenants to open.  "I think Woodlands is going to do well (in Allen)," Baum said. "Because of the quality, we weren't going to be inexpensive. But we want people to feel comfortable with the concept that they can come in once a week and get their favorite item." All of the proceeds from the restaurant's Dallas opening will go to Vogel Alcove, a Dallas child care center for the homeless.

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For the last several years in Texas, home Buyers have been re-using surveys. That is to say, Buyers have accepted the Seller's property survey (which may even be from a previous Seller). Typically, this is done to save the cost of a new survey... which usually cost around $400 for a "normal" lot in a subdivision (i.e. could be more for acreage). However, when you're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home, do you really want to scrimp on $400? No, and here's why...

A survey is how you can tell where your property boundaries, easements, and more items lie. More importantly, it's a tool you can use should a dispute over such items ever arise. For example, if a neighbor says that your fence, deck or even part of your home is on their property, it's hard to argue when you're using a survey that was done ages ago for a previous owners (and not you). And should you then decide to buy a new survey, only to find out that they are correct (oops), it's even harder to hold anyone accountable. You're certainly not going to be able to get any action from the surveyor if there were errors. Most surveys are copyrighted or protected and not (technically) allowed to be copied or transfered to new owners. So, you can't even really go after the old surveyor in court... that would be like trying to sue the manufacturer of the car that you stole from the dealer's lot. Be safe and get your own survey, or don't complain when you find out that part of your pool is in a utility easement and the power company can lawfully tear it up without repair. A new survey will show you the most up-to-date boundary lines, easements and more... and give you someone to hold accountable should they turn out to be incorrect.

Time to look at the January sales numbers (see charts below). Comparing the month of January (2007 vs. 2008) you'll see that the number of sales for Collin County recovered a bit (in relation to the December numbers) and is only off by around 100. We still see a a slight increase in days on market and an even bigger decrease in the sales price/sq.ft. (decreasing for the second month in a row). Again, if this trend continues, it could signal trouble. I'm still not ready to cry out that prices are falling, but it will bear close watching. With that in mind, I'll reiterate the fact that Sellers should be aware that homes are still selling (my listing inventory continues to sell) but remember: the homes that are selling, for the most part, are those with the best marketing, in the best condition, with the best prices.

Number of Properties Sold in Collin County - Jan. 2007: 809
	Square Feet	List Price	Sale Price	Price per Square Foot	Days on Market
Avg	2571	$244,009	$235,628	$91	75

Number of Properties Sold in Collin County - Jan. 2008: 701
	Square Feet	List Price	Sale Price	Price per Square Foot	Days on Market
Avg	2613	$240,471	$231,175	$88	89