The Best of Amarillo Real Estate

Clients need the hard facts about the mortgage market

The Taylor Team — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:00:00 GMT

TOP STORY: Clients need the hard facts about the mortgage market

The current upheaval in the market has given rise to significant opportunities to help your clients make informed decisions. Tom Sherman, President of Mortgage Services Unlimited in Dallas, emphasizes the importance of educating clients.

For your sellers, the following points are key:

Home values will stay stagnant or potentially decrease.
Qualified borrowers are looking for deals.
Fewer borrowers are qualifying for home loans.
Rising foreclosures tend to negatively affect home values.
Increased “days on the market” (DOMs) increases the likelihood that buyers will aggressively negotiate prices down.
Continued stress in the financial markets will affect consumer confidence.
Loans may take longer to close.
Appraisals are becoming more difficult to obtain.
Properties should be funded before contract contingencies are removed.

It’s critical to encourage sellers to price homes to sell -- and sell quickly -- decreasing the need for price reductions.

1,570 Listings on MLS in Amarillo.....Up over 200

The Taylor Team — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:24:00 GMT

Wondering why your home hasn't sold yet? This could be part of the reason! Existing home inventory is up and the competition is stiff! Driving through Amarillo looking down the streets you'll see real estate signs just about everywhere.

The past 5 years or so have been so upbeat in the real estate market it appears that the general public hasn't caught on yet to the fact that prices are NOT going up quite as much as they were previously! In the industry, we refer to that as a softening of the market!

MLS email is a means by which realtors communicate with each other. Many of the emails during each day consist of emails from realtors begging for someone to show their listings, reducing prices (often drastically), offering selling bonuses or just flat out begging!! Ok....I said it! Begging!!! Yes, realtors have been reduced to begging to get someone to show their listings. Showings are down, prices are still too high (oh my gosh, did I really say that???) and we have an abundance of inventory. Basic economics folks........too much inventory, not enough buyers......you know what happens next!!! Yes you do.....don't deny it!! It's time to take some reductions in listing prices and get those homes sold....IF YOU NEED TO SELL. If you just have your home on the market to see how much you can get out of it, you may not have that need as desperately as someone who has recently been transferred.

GET IT SOLD! Call your realtor......I would hope that would be me.......and get that price reduced and get it sold!

Need to find a home? Need to sell your home? Call me, email me and check out my website. You can do a full MLS search on my website if you like. Soon, I'll have a really cool search that is dynamite! For now the MLS IDX feed is what we're using! I've just purchased another and you'll love it!! It'll be online soon!! Keep checking: www.thetaylorteam.info

Thanks for reading,
Johnny

Moving to Amarillo??

The Taylor Team — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 01:52:00 GMT

Moving to Amarillo?

You lucky person!! No....I really mean it! Living here as long as I've lived in Amarillo you'd think that I'd be ready to go somewhere else or .....well.....get outa town! Not so!!

Amarillo is a great place to live and to raise a family or even to retire! I've sold homes here in Amarillo to folks that are doing all the above!

If you're looking for a place to raise a family, Amarillo is tough to beat!! Great job outlook, great schools, pretty decent shopping (for you ladies) and oh what a wonderful group of medical facilities!

NEW TO AMARILLO?    You ask..."What is there to do here?" What's there NOT to do here, I'd ask. Area Amarillo Attractions include: Lake Merideth, Palo Duro Canyon (The Panhandle's Grand Canyon), Wonderland Park, Splash Water Park, The American Quarter Horse Association, Will Rogers Range Riders, Amarillo Dillas Baseball, Amarillo Dusters, arena football, the Amarillo Gorillas Hockey Team, Amarillo College Lamplight, Amarillo botanical Gardens, Amarillo Little Theatre, Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo Opera, Amarillo Youth Choirs, Black History Cultural Center, Cal Farley's Boys Ranch, Amarillo Civic Center, Amarillo Discovery Center, English Field Museum, Performing Arts Center, Kids Inc., Kwahadi Dancers, Lone Star Ballet, Lone Star Rising, Texas (the Play), Amarillo Symphony, Tri-State Fairgrounds, Westgate Mall and Wildcat Bluff to mention a few!   That doesn't even include all the great new places to shop that have recently moved into Amarillo!

NEED A JOB?   Check out all these major employers for Amarillo.
Amarillo Independent School District 4100 employees. Tyson Foods, Inc. 3700 employees, BWXT Pantex 3200 employees, Baptist St. Anthonys Health Care Systems 2900 employees, City of Amarillo 2063 employees, Northwest Texas Healthcare System 1797 employees, Wal-Mart Super Centers 1605 employees, Texas Department of Criminal Justice 1494 employees, Amarillo College 1332 employees, Affiliated Foods 1179 employees, United Supermarkets 1164 employees, Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. 1068 employees, Xcel Energy 1000 employees, VA Medical Center 888 employees, Texas Tech University Health Science Center 880 employees, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad 887 employees, West Texas A&M University 834 employees, American General Annuity Insurance 748 employees, Owens Corning Fiberglass 700 employees, Anderson Merchandisers 650 employees, Toot 'n Totum 630 employees, Potter County Courthouse 590 employees, Taylor Petroleum Companies, Inc. 520 employees, Hastings Entertainment, Inc. 519 employees, Amarillo National Bank 500 employees, Cactus Feeders 500 employees, Texas Panhandle MHMR 451 employees, Nationwide Insurance 422 employees, Baptist Community Services 415 employees, Cal Farley's Boys Ranch 413 employees, Texas Department of Transportation 405 employees, H.J. Dana Enterprises dba McDonalds Restaurants 373 employees, ASARCO, Inc. 350 employees, Region 16 Education Service Center 337 employees, Plum Creek Specialty Hospital 324 employees, American Quarter Horse Association 302 employees, AT&T 300 employees, Park Central Retirement Community 300 employees, Amarillo Globe News 285 employees, Friona Industries 275 employees, CS Stars 268 employees, Atmos Energy Corp 260 employees, Maxor National Pharmacy Services Corp 256 employees, Dillards Department Store 230 employees, River Road Independent School District 244 employees, Amarillo Civic Center 244 employees, Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic 235 employees and that's only a few. All these figures are from the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce web site. http://www.amarillo-chamber.org/major%20employers.html

This is just two reasons that moving to Amarillo is a great idea!

I am a realtor and if you're looking to find a home here in Amarillo, please feel free to give me a call! I'll be happy to provide you with all the information you need to make an informed decision on where to buy as well as what to buy! I love what I do and you'll be happy you use me as your realtor!

Here's a link a video you might enjoy!    http://www.retvofama.com/taylorlt.htm

Tell me what you need........

Hope to hear from you!! Johnny

Our Market....How Scary is it?

The Taylor Team — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 02:44:00 GMT

What's happening in the Real Estate Market in Amarillo? Are prices falling?

Well....it may not be as bad as you think. Yes, at first glance it would seem that the market has softened somewhat since last year. But is it all that bad afterall? Here are some facts you might be interested in knowing.

Historically the Amarillo market has continued to appreciate somewhere between 3% and 8% annually! Considering some of the markets in the country, that's pretty impressive. We've had a number of great years with consistent appreciation in real estate values and as we all know.....all good things must come to an end. But...don't fret too much. I don't think it's coming to an end at all! We're still seeing lots of movement in the market however, if you're selling a home right now you may have to make some serious adjustments in your thought processes of selling your home.

If you're buying a home, you'll also have to make some adjustments. Perhaps you've heard that now it's a buyer's market in Amarillo, Lake Tanglewood, Canyon or Bushland. Well.....let's look at what's really happening.

Home values have continued to increase over the past 5 years at a pretty consistent rate. We've had little or no corrections in those past 5 years and now it appears we're having a bit of a correction. If you can correlate your investments in the stock market to your real estate investments you'll better be able to understand this concept. I call it a "softening" of the market for a short time. I don't see a dropping of values in the market. What I see is a reduction in the appreciation rate at this point. That's not to say that prices could'nt drop, but based on our recent history....that's not likely as I see it right now.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.