A Grim housing glut in Collin county (Dallas, Plano: real estate, mortgage)

[usc619]

here's the article from WFAA

ALLEN — The slump in the housing market has been evident for a while now. Just look at Collin County, where there are too many homes and not enough buyers. Moderator cut: copyright

[loves2read]

once again the city fathers have allowed their reach to exceed the consequences of their rush to gain tax dollars--buildng more and more is not always the best answer...

[DentonPirate]

This is not the result of city decisions. This is the result of years of making loans to people who couldn't afford the homes they were buying. We in the appraisal industry have been waiving the red flags for years, but the mortgage industry and home builders just kept on. I saw this in the 80's and here we go again.

On the flip side, it's a great time for buyers. You can buy a home for a lot less than you could last year. It's a real buyers market.

[loves2read]

the city had to approve the development plans----

[KantLockeMeIn]

And lenders had to approve loans which they knew people wouldn't be able to afford. And people signed contracts on homes they knew they could only afford at teaser rates.

I don't think it's going to be that bad here... homes haven't appreciated at an insane rate. With the job market here and affordability, I think people from high price areas will be relocating here due to the housing slump that is beginning elsewhere.

[dallas76]

It is not the city, the developer, or the lenders fault. The fault lies completely on the home buyer. As the buyer you know your financial situation. People were greedy. And this is the fallout all over the DFW area and the country. I really don't have much sympothy for people who buy houses they can't afford.
The lender may have a small amount of responsibility, but he did not put a gun to peoples heads and say sign the dotted line or I will shot.

[texasplanner]

I live in Collin County and what I see is an influx of the white collar 'transient'. Meaning that many people move here to stay 3-5 years and all they care about (generally speaking) is the value of their house. They were steered to 'new' developments because, oh wait, you don't want to live in places like East Plano (which has more trees and personality as well as homes that go up to $1 million) but west or north Plano. They have to have new homes because we all now that it's important to have new. So the developers met the needs. I also agree with a previous poster--the banks will loan people money, even though they may not be able to handle the mortgage. The big joke is that there are these big McMansions are owned by people that can't afford to furnish 'em. It's probably more of a "look at us, we can affrord a 5000 square foot house" so we're important.

Don't get me wrong...my favorite county in the Metroplex is Collin County and places like East Plano, Wylie, Parker, Lucas, Wylie. As for areas that you can get square footage for good money, the City of Garland is a pretty good bet. I'm going for an interview out of state, but if we were going to stay, Garland is where we would buy.

[momof2dfw]

True.

The people were clamoring for it. We want a Brand New House. Must have the best. Nothing small or no such thing as a "starter home". What is kind of sad and funny is our first house was a new "starter home" at all of 1600 sq ft. It is in a nice area and now the homes in that area are from 20-15 years old (wow, I've been married that long....). The neighborhood looks GREAT! It has been well taken care of and the homes were built pretty good. Sure they were "cookie cutter" and built by a tract home builder but we did something in both of our first two homes that were such. We picked out the floorplan we liked best and made sure it was NOT the model home plan. So there were VERY FEW of those plans built in the neighborhood. I digress..... The people aka buyers wanted the NEW house. No exceptions. I would have bought an existing home if it would have been our best option at the time but there are TOO many people that refused to look at anything but a brand new home. So the builders kept building. It does not hurt them or bother them that the resales are hurting in their developments. They have their own mortgage companies and give incentives to people and sell the loan off before the ink is dry. The lender/builder comes up w/ these plans to get the buyer the house no matter what. I've heard plenty of stories from people that had no business buying a home because of their bad credit and loads of debt but they would still get the house only to lose it later or file bankruptcy. Can't really blame the builders if they had willing buyers sitting their pounding on their desks to get them the house. The builder gets their money so they are fine. Then we had everyone and their mama getting into the home building here which did not help. That and they were building whole streets of spec houses knowing that someone would buy them. The builders in a way did shot themselves in the foot. Especially the lower end builders.

The city. Yes the cities could have done something. They CAN put a temporary moratorium in place. They can't stop developments that have already been approved but they CAN put a hold on approving any new developments for a certain time period. Some cities have done it in order to let the infrastructure get caught up. If not they face a shortage of emergency personal, city services, lack of roads and not enough school space. A wise city and its leaders look at a moratorium as a good thing. It also insures that if they are closer to getting to build out they can insure that what space is left in the city is used to the best possible way. If more retail is needed to serve the citizens they can change the zoning. If they see that enough homes of high density have been built and they need to insure a lower density they can change the zoning to suit such. So the city can be held accountable in a way. Especially when we have faced water shortages.

As for the not so bad here........... well no it is not as bad here right now as other markets in the country. BUT............ those people that we could count on to come here to fill the need of buying these homes can not do so if they can not sell their home in the market that has been hit hard. Then we have the mentality of those people coming here that can finally afford to buy a brand new home that was something they never would have dreamed possible in their home state so they want brand spanking new. It is a circle and a vicious one at times. Will our market hit rock bottom like others and like it did in the 80's? I hope not and I don't see it happening IF the builders slow down their pace and stop throwing up spec houses left and right. Oh, and then we can't forget the people that because a neighbor put their house on the market or one sold in their area for x amount so lets put a sign out and see. Those don't help at all. We had one in our neighborhood and when I heard that I just cringed. That just helps create the buyers market even more so.

[maddyzmommy]

Why do so many people on this board dislike west Plano? It's so odd to me. I'm in a fifteen year old house there - not a McMansion, a pretty place - and I think this is such a lovely part of town. I know Garland has some pretty areas, Firewheel for instance, but c'mon! You're seriously thinking Garland is a growing/happening place where you'd advise others to buy real estate? I have friends over there who can't wait to get out, they're so sure it's on its way down. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. I don't know which parts of west Plano you guys find so unappealing but I think it gets knocked on this board an awful lot while places that are widely known as undesirable get trumpeted all over the place. I like Dallas as much as the next gal when I want to go out to a play or a game but I can't name two neighborhoods that area as affordable AND as nice as most of the neighborhoods in my part of Plano. Tiny, narrow streets, infrastructure that cannot support the growing population, McMansions crowding into established neighborhoods - that's my view of residential Dallas. And that's the nice part with the two neighborhoods I'd even consider moving into. West Plano affords a much better quality of life, in my opinion, and if you're looking for a place to move I think you'd do well to look here, too. And if you ever need medical care, trust me, Garland is NOT where you want to be. Seriously. You don't.

M

[lh_newbie]

Yup, Dallas is just McMansions and tiny streets. Stay away.

Apparently, Garland is evil, too. Wow, why would anyone live in Texas?