Lot's of listing in McKinney, Why? (Dallas, San Antonio: transplants, for sale, foreclosures)

[MAR4500]

I was doing a search for homes in McKinney, TX on Ziprealty and was surprised to find a ton (over 1000) home for sale in McKinney compared to other cities in Collin Co. can anyone please explain. My wife and I (both RN's) are looking to relocate to McKinney from Los Angeles via San Antonio. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[TurtleCreek80]

Sure-
1) McKinney is nowhere near "built out" yet, so there is still a lot of new construction for sale and also a lot of builders who got stuck with tons of spec inventory when the market slowed down 2 years ago. Whereas Plano is probably 95%+ built out and other CC towns like Parker or Murphy are much higher end builds and had way less spec inventory to sell.

2) Nature of the residents is that many are transplants- moved to McKinney for jobs. They tend to move more often as other jobs open elsewhere or elderly parents need care and they move back "home."

3) A lot of McKinney (and everywhere) homebuyers got excited by the prospect of a 4,000sf home for $200k (half or less than the cost "back home") and they weren't prepared for high utility bills, high commute costs, high property taxes in McKinney....thus, when one or both jobs are lost or salaries are cut, foreclosure or near foreclosure rates are much higher there than elsewhere.

I would tread carefully in McKinney- there is always going to be a bigger newer house to compete with when you sell. Plano is the safest bet for Collin Co, along with Murphy or Parker that had a more narrow clientele base due to amount of land available and home prices.

[PlanoGirl]

I'm assuming on that site, you narrowed down under Collin County, then looked at the 4 major ones: Plano, Mckinney, Frisco, Allen.

Plano is the biggest with a population close to 300,000.
Mckinney is second largest. I think current population is about 130,000.
Frisco is the next, with a population around 110,000, I believe.
Allen is the smallest of the four, which a population around 90,000.

Plano is the most established, and is pretty much completely built out. As you typically see with more established area, you have less movement in and out. There are also many companies located within Plano, particularly in technology-related fields, that keep residents in the area.

Frisco is in two counties...Collin and Denton, so if you look up the listings for both of those counties, it's total is comparable to Mckinney's. Despite it's large population boom over the last 10 years, it's still far from being fully developed. I believe the predicted built-out population of Frisco (and Mckinney too) is in the 300,000 range.

Allen is smaller population-wise than the other three, therefore has less listings. I also think it's proximity to Dallas (over Mckinney and Frisco's) and nearby shopping/ entertainment gives it an advantage over its northern counterparts.

Hope I answered your question...a least a little bit

[txgolfer130]

Originally Posted by MAR4500

I was doing a search for homes in McKinney, TX on Ziprealty and was surprised to find a ton (over 1000) home for sale in McKinney compared to other cities in Collin Co. can anyone please explain. My wife and I (both RN's) are looking to relocate to McKinney from Los Angeles via San Antonio. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Simple, for the last 10 years McKinney was the fastest growing city in the country. It's still in the top 5 I believe. There were/are a lot of home builders that have a lot of inventory that is just coming back on the market. There were a lot of homes that have been on the market for a while, and these are in addition to unfinished homes that are being completed by builders who bought up the builders inventory from the bank after the weaker builders went under.

There are two new hospitals in the area- one just finished and is now open and one under construction now. Plus there is a ton of small office doctors in the area.

[nsumner]

You may be surprised to hear that out of the 1187 active homes on the market in McKinney, only 123 are new construction (all less than 4 months on the market) and 83 are foreclosures. The rest are all resales, lots of short sales too.

And you know, they are still opening new communities from all price ranges. It seems the demand is there. There has been 1534 sales that have closed since January new and pre-owned combined.

You would certainly have a lot to choose from when it's time to look. There are a lot of good deals out there.

Naima

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by nsumner

You may be surprised to hear that out of the 1187 active homes on the market in McKinney, only 123 are new construction (all less than 4 months on the market) and 83 are foreclosures. The rest are all resales, lots of short sales too.

And you know, they are still opening new communities from all price ranges. It seems the demand is there. There has been 1534 sales that have closed since January new and pre-owned combined.

You would certainly have a lot to choose from when it's time to look. There are a lot of good deals out there.

Naima

"Good deal" is relative; sure, you can get a lot of house for your money in McKinney. That is because the land is worth nothing and it's so far from everything else.

Is McKinney closer to the Oklahoma state line than it is to downtown Dallas?

[scyogi]

My Mckinney neighborhood observation. Currently around 18 resales, they have all been on the market for a while. Great homes (with maybe 2-3 exceptions), good Mckinney location--very walkable area), priced all over the place. We still have our 2 builders (Drees & Highland) building home, Maybe 2-3 specs are built and not sold BUT the majority of homes being built are already sold and tons of lots also have sold signs. We have had probably 4-6 short sales/foreclosures in the past 18 months. It is hard to know the full facts in a non-disclosure state. Most of our tax bills have gone down slightly this year. If you are driving to Dallas, yes I would recommend a different city because the commute is HARD! Big D, you make me smile! Mckinney is almost as close to Oklahoma as it is Dallas. I think the exact numbers are 30-40 miles (depending on where you are in Mckinney) to Downtown and about 75 miles to Oklahoma. It is far out, let there be know mistake about that But 121 makes getting to the airport a breeze, NDT can put me in Downtown Dallas in about 45 minutes during a non-commute time. Heading over to Arlington for games/six flags....well let's say this weekend it took 1hr. 45 min. to get there!!

[Lakewooder]

McKinney is about the same distance from Downtown Dallas as Fort Worth.

[scyogi]

A little longer...50 miles to Ft. Worth, hubby is currently making that commute! Not terrible with 121, thankfully he flies more than he actually goes into the office!

[LQQKOUT]

Highest transplant areas in the past five years. Frisco and Mckinney and Rockwall