As I've been telling anyone who will listen over the past 8 months, some cities are not drowning in falling home prices and/or rising unemployment. The "mortgage meltdown" 2007 didn't crush the real estate market nationwide. Despite the national trends, several major markets are doing just fine.

To identify the healthiest real estate markets, Forbes magazine recently examined the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas. The magazine studied key factors such as unemployment and job-growth data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, home price data from the National Association of REALTORS®, and information on gross metropolitan product growth provided by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. After all that research, what did they find? They were able to compile a list of 10 cities that Forbes sees as "practically recession-proof". They are listed below along with the percentage of growth for median-priced homes in the past year.

Oklahoma City, Okla. Median home price: +8.2 percent
San Antonio, Texas +7.9 percent
Austin, Texas +6.4 percent
San Jose, Calif. +11.2 percent
Raleigh, N.C. +4 percent
Salt Lake City, Utah +2.5 percent
Houston, Texas +1.1 percent
Seattle, Wash. +1.2 percent
Charlotte, N.C. +3.3 percent
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas +.5 percent

Notice a trend? That's right... Texas is quite obviously the "most recession proof" state with 40% of the nation's top 10 metro areas (North Carolina is the only other state with more than one city on the list). I've heard experts say that that this is due to our state's low unemployment and continually high job growth (thanks in large part to the rebound of the tech sector). So, Texas is still the place for low, stable home prices with slow & steady gains. It's a fantastic place to be buying or selling real estate!

Ryan Cave, The "Caveman"
Truth, Honor & Personal Integrity
214-789-9366
www.CaveRealty.com 

I hope that helps save a few foundations...

I got this email from a builder (Grand Homes) because of my industry involvement (seems like I'm on just about every builder's email list). I'm not endorsing this "sale" as I don't know what it will really be like. However, I thought many of my readers might like to know about it just the same... Please post a comment (below) to let us know about your experience if you have been to one of these in the past, or if you go to this one (i.e. What was it like? Were there deals or was it junk? Was it Grand Homes or another builder? Etc.).
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Grand Homes Model Home Furniture and Accessory Sale!

Ever wanted your home to look like a Model Home? Here's your chance...

Special pre-sale date for Realtors + your clients, friends and family!
Thursday, May 15, 9am til 5pm

Open to the Public. Next weekend only! Furniture, rugs, bedroom sets, pool tables, art, tapestries, breakfast and dining tables, lots of chairs, large glass tables with pedestals and accessories up to 75% off. Cash and Carry Only - All Sales Final! Open to the public:
Friday, May 16 from 9am til 6pm  
Saturday May 17 from 9am til 6pm  
Sunday May 18 from 10am til 3pm

Location: 2801 Technology Dr., Suite 101, Plano, TX 75074
Driving Directions: Take George Bush (190) to Jupiter (1 exit east of 75). North on Jupiter, Right on Technology, Left at Suite 101.

Invite your Friends and Family!
**Arrive early! There will be a line to get in.
Cash and Carry, All sales final! No refunds, returns or exchanges.
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Ryan Cave, The "Caveman"
Truth, Honor & Personal Integrity
214-789-9366
www.CaveRealty.com 

Real Estate Agents sell homes (well, the good ones do anyway); and to help sell homes, we take pictures of them... inside and out, high and low, this room and that room, front yard and back... all so potential Buyers can see these pictures, which will help them decide if they want to take an actual tour of the home. To take the best pictures, we turn lights on (or off), use our camera's flash, some Agents will climb up on furniture or counters, others will crouch down under a shelf or stairs, some even hire professional photographers (who bring-in additional lighting and know all kinds of tricks) to take the best possible pictures and show the homes in their best light (pun intended). I always felt that there were some Agents that seemed to go to extraordinary lengths to get great shots that showed homes in a manner that they deemed most enticing to potential Buyers... little did I know how far they'd go.

I was on an airplane to (or from, I can't remember) a real estate convention when I recall hearing about Agents editing photos for the first time. I heard one Agent say to another, that they often adjusted the contrast on photos to make darker pictures appear lighter (or vice-versa). "Ok" I thought, this was normal, nothing too out of the ordinary here (I've done it). After all, who hasn't taken a picture, only to discover later that the flash didn't go off, and had a need to lighten up the contrast (or, conversely, darken an overexposed picture taken in the sunlight). After all, this is not much different than if you had used the flash in the first place to brighten a room. Then, I heard a different Agent mention that they had used Photoshop to "green-up" grass that was still pale from the winter or "blue" the sky in a pic. taken on a cloudy/overcast day. "Hmmm" I thought, "that seems a little strange, but I guess it's not much different than taking the shots a few days or weeks later (when the grass would be greener and the sky more blue)." Something didn't sit right with me on this though, the more I thought, the more it bugged me... then I about lost my lunch when I heard an Agent say that, yes, they had edited photos too... that they would never display pictures with power lines or a water tower in them, so they had "photo-shopped" these items out of pictures before. My stomach turned at this thought and I believed that this was certainly crossing the line ethically.

At a later date, I asked a few agents about this practice and one said that, while they felt that it was wrong, it wasn't much different than if the "editing Agent" had returned to the property and taken the shots from a slightly more favorable angle (so as not to show the power lines, water tower, or whatever). He then said that "photo-shopping" items out of pictures (or adjusting colors of grass, sky, etc.) was not terribly different than turning the lights on or off, using a flash, or standing on a chair or counter, to get the best possible shot... that it was all manipulation of what people would see when they came to the property and saw it in normal lighting, from normal angles.

On a related note, I've heard of MLS providers and real estate boards disallowing and demanding removal of "edited pictures." However, I've only heard of them demanding removal of the blatantly edited (i.e. where the Agent had added his contact information, or his picture, to the shot). I can't remember if they demanded removal of the one I saw where an Agent had combined four images into each picture (like placing four pictures in a square and taking a photo of it... theoretically giving him room for forty pics. in the MLS instead of ten). Is this over the line or just ingenuity?

Ultimately, I thought I was OK since I had not edited pictures beyond occasionally adjusting the contrast of a shot where the flash didn't activate... but wait, is using a flash falsely lighting the home? Then, I have also stitched multiple photos together into a panoramic shot (similar to taking a pic. with a wide-angle lens... see below). Am I wrong for doing this? I just thought I was helping the Buyers better grasp the layout of the home and the Sellers to better display it. I hold my moral standards very high and believe that, to many, Real Estate Agents already have a bad name (look at anytime we're portrayed on TV shows or commercials). So, I would never want to exacerbate the stereotype, much less do anything unethical. However, I'm curious to know what my readers, both Agents and home Buyers/Sellers, feel about the practice of editing photos. Where should we draw the line and what is acceptable vs. unacceptable? After you've thought about your response, put yourself into one of the other shoes (Agent, Buyer or Seller)... does this change your opinion? I ask this because I've heard Buyers say that they don't want to be deceived with edited photos or inaccurate property descriptions, but then turn around as Sellers and ask that the pictures or description of their home be sugar-coated as much as possible. Speak up and let me know your thoughts...

Stitching a panoramic picture to give a better feel for the actual floor plan/layout of a home:

VS.

Collin County residents will soon have just what they need: more shopping!  Two retail centers being constructed on U.S. Highway 75 in Allen will add over 1 million square feet of stores. If two new shopping centers, with over a million square feet of new stores, don't prove we're in a recession, I don't know what does.  :-)

Ok, seriously... A large part of the Watters Creek at Montgomery Farm shopping center (located on the south-west corner of Bethany and 75) is said to be less than a month away from opening its doors. Two restaurants and a Market Street grocer have already opened to much success (I love P.F. Changs and I'll be trying out the Brio Tuscan Grille tomorrow). Just three miles north, on the east side of U.S. 75 at Stacy Road, the Village at Allen and the Village at Fairview will open this fall with their own strong lineup of major retailers.

Encouraged into Allen, at least in part, by the Allen Economic Development Corporation, these projects are expected to have a major impact on the community while each having their own unique mix of retail tenants. They should not only make Allen a shopping mecca, but also bring many additional jobs, and dollars, (not to mention shoppers) into the community.

The quarter of a billion dollar (yes billion, with a "B") Watters Creek project has been in the works for three years and is finally slated to open in May. It will be the kind of urban, mixed-use development that you may recognize from Uptown, Southlake or Plano's "Shops at Legacy." The first phase of the project has tons of retail space as well as some apartments and office space. Again, no signs of a recession as the retail is already 80% leased and will be home to over 25 restaurants and stores. While landscapers are busy planting and preparing the project's greenbelt and ponds for guests, tenants like The Cheesecake Factory, Borders, Banana Republic, Sephora, Chico's, Ann Taylor Loft and Eddie Bauer are scrambling to get their shops ready too.

A very QUICK drive up the road, Dallas-based MGHerring Group is building the Village at Allen shopping center and the Village at Fairview retail and mixed-use development. The first phase of the Village at Allen, which is scheduled to open on the south-east corner of Stacy and 75 in October, will add another 300,000 square feet of retail to the city. A second phase, set for next spring, will add another 400,000. The Village at Fairview, on the north side of Stacy Road, will add more than 2 million square feet of retail, residential and more... it should start opening around August 2009.

The pre-fab, tilt-wall construction is supposed to go up very quickly and should make the shopping center ready to open in under six months. Tenants at the Village at Allen are said to include Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, TJ Maxx, Toys R Us, Chase Bank, Cheddars, Cold Stone Creamery, Mattress Giant, Men's Wearhouse, Nate's Seafood, Olive Garden, Sleep Experts and (what would life be without another) Starbucks. The second phase of retail development that's set for next March should include a Super Target, PetSmart, Hemispheres, Anderson's Furniture, Chair King, Famous Footwear, GameStop and Ritz Camera. (I can't tell you how excited my wife is that we're finally getting a Super Target.)

The Village at Allen will also include a Courtyard by Marriott Hotel with a conference center... and on a related note, have you seen the La Quinta they're building at Exchange and 75? I guess we have to have SOMEplace to put all the shoppers and conference-goers that will be visiting Allen. :-) Finally, the City of Allen will put an event center with over 6,000 seats in the Village at Allen for ice hockey and possibly concerts and a general entertainment venue.

The Village at Allen and Village at Fairview should nicely compliment an already booming Allen Premium Outlets shopping center (perfect for those who just can't get enough shopping). While my wife LOVES to shop, my love for shopping extends about this far: if I can figure out where they're building the Kwik-E-Mart among all this maddness (to stop for a Squishee) I'll be all set... oh wait, I don't shop, I was just watching an episode of a favorite show.

Ryan Cave, The "Caveman"
Truth, Honor & Personal Integrity
214-789-9366
www.CaveRealty.com

What: WATTERS CREEK JOB FAIR
When: TUESDAY, MAY 6TH FROM 9AM TO 6PM
Why: FOR THE UPCOMING "GRAND OPENING" OF WATTERS CREEK MERCHANTS
   IN ALLEN, TEXAS (you know, the new development at Bethany & 75)
Where: ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS & CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS AT:
   HAMPTON INN & SUITES
   830 WEST STACY ROAD
   ALLEN, TEXAS 75013
   (EXIT 37 FROM 75N / SOUTH SIDE OF ALLEN PREMIUM OUTLETS)
   214.495.7667 / www.hamptoninn.com
Who: List of Merchants attending "Job Fair":
   Ann Taylor Loft, Bath & Body Works, Jos. A. Bank, New York & Co., Sephora,
   Sunglass Hut, Swarovski, Vera Bradley, Victoria's Secret & Others
For more information please contact:
   Allen Chamber of Commerce
   (972) 727.5585 or www.allenchamber.com
(Watters Creek is a Smoke-Free Environment)
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Ryan Cave, The "Caveman"
Truth, Honor & Personal Integrity
214-789-9366
www.CaveRealty.com