Liberal family new to Texas: please help us find our neighborhood and school (Dallas: sale, how much)

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by apple44

Well, if the tax authority says your home's value is 1.065M, asking for 1.1M has some basis, no? At least I wouldn't say delusional. But it really puzzles me how the tax authority arrived at that number, and why the owner didn't protest against it. That's real money lost....

Honestly, no. DCAD can get to be off market value by 100,000’s when you’re talking about properties that have not changed hands in decades. The owners of this particular house bought it 35 years ago. I don’t know why they didn’t protest. Some owners confuse DCAD value with market value and don’t want to contest it. Me? I was thrilled I convinced dcad to downgrade the condition of our home this year because that lowered our tax bill. This house is listed in “very good” condition. That is supposed to mean recently updated kitchens, baths, & finishes. This house should be average or below condition based on the pics.

Per DCAD - This house has a huge lot (84x184), much larger than the houses next to or behind it by about 60%.

IMO, the realtor is doing a huge disservice to the owners by not leading the listing description with “Gorgeous .43 acre lot with mature trees. Remodel or build your dream home on one of the largest lots in the neighborhood. Walk to sought after Lakewood Elementary”. Instead I totally missed how huge that lot is until I looked on DCAD. Instead the realtor is touting the “new carpet.” This is a prime example of why you need a savvy realtor even in a great market. This guy has cost the owners major money (ETA: googled the realtor and he works out of Denton.)

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by apple44

Apologies for my ignorance, but why is it not a realistic option for most people?

Traffic & noise. Also they are usually considered among the least desirable lots in the neighborhood so they will sell at a discount vs interior lots and take longer to sell. You can usually tell when the real estate market is supe hot because homes on major streets like Royal, Walnut Hill, Lovers, Mockingbird will start selling briskly. The house on a busy corner in my neighborhood that has been for sale on & off over the past 5 years just sold in one week.

[apple44]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Honestly, no. DCAD can get to be off market value by 100,000’s when you’re talking about properties that have not changed hands in decades. The owners of this particular house bought it 35 years ago. I don’t know why they didn’t protest. Some owners confuse DCAD value with market value and don’t want to contest it. Me? I was thrilled I convinced dcad to downgrade the condition of our home this year because that lowered our tax bill. This house is listed in “very good” condition. That is supposed to mean recently updated kitchens, baths, & finishes. This house should be average or below condition based on the pics.

Per DCAD - This house has a huge lot (84x184), much larger than the houses next to or behind it by about 60%.

IMO, the realtor is doing a huge disservice to the owners by not leading the listing description with “Gorgeous .43 acre lot with mature trees. Remodel or build your dream home on one of the largest lots in the neighborhood. Walk to sought after Lakewood Elementary”. Instead I totally missed how huge that lot is until I looked on DCAD. Instead the realtor is touting the “new carpet.” This is a prime example of why you need a savvy realtor even in a great market. This guy has cost the owners major money (ETA: googled the realtor and he works out of Denton.)

[turf3]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Honestly, no. DCAD can get to be off market value by 100,000’s when you’re talking about properties that have not changed hands in decades. The owners of this particular house bought it 35 years ago. I don’t know why they didn’t protest. Some owners confuse DCAD value with market value and don’t want to contest it. Me? I was thrilled I convinced dcad to downgrade the condition of our home this year because that lowered our tax bill. This house is listed in “very good” condition. That is supposed to mean recently updated kitchens, baths, & finishes. This house should be average or below condition based on the pics.

Per DCAD - This house has a huge lot (84x184), much larger than the houses next to or behind it by about 60%.

IMO, the realtor is doing a huge disservice to the owners by not leading the listing description with “Gorgeous .43 acre lot with mature trees. Remodel or build your dream home on one of the largest lots in the neighborhood. Walk to sought after Lakewood Elementary”. Instead I totally missed how huge that lot is until I looked on DCAD. Instead the realtor is touting the “new carpet.” This is a prime example of why you need a savvy realtor even in a great market. This guy has cost the owners major money (ETA: googled the realtor and he works out of Denton.)

It's only a little bigger than the others - that's because there's no alley behind it and there's a little bend in Mercedes. Most of the extra lot size is depth of backyard, which isn't a bad thing, but trust me, the extra 10 feet of width isn't going to cut traffic noise from Abrams, especially not when they eventually make it a 6 lane divided road. You won't want to use that oversized backyard with 4 or 6 lanes of 40 mph traffic 24 hours a day running 15 or 20 feet away.

[Johnhw2]

Originally Posted by apple44

Well, if the tax authority says your home's value is 1.065M, asking for 1.1M has some basis, no? At least I wouldn't say delusional. But it really puzzles me how the tax authority arrived at that number, and why the owner didn't protest against it. That's real money lost....

If the owners were over 65 and claimed this as their homestead, the real money loss is seriously mitigated by the value freeze for seniors by the major property taxing entities. This wont help buyer of course but may well be why they did not protest it and lower it.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by turf3

It's only a little bigger than the others - that's because there's no alley behind it and there's a little bend in Mercedes. Most of the extra lot size is depth of backyard, which isn't a bad thing, but trust me, the extra 10 feet of width isn't going to cut traffic noise from Abrams, especially not when they eventually make it a 6 lane divided road. You won't want to use that oversized backyard with 4 or 6 lanes of 40 mph traffic 24 hours a day running 15 or 20 feet away.

Per DCAD, it’s significantly larger than neighboring lots. 20-30 feet deeper than the next two houses and then by the middle of the 6400 block it’s 2X as large as those lots are 75x125 (10 feet more narrow & 60 feet more shallow).

Agree that it’s still a corner lot of busy intersection and you would need to do a lot of sound treatment. I had a friend who lived in Greenway Parks on the corner of Inwood and it was always loud in his backyard. Not so noticeable indoors.

Is the city really taking Abrams to 6 lanes? They’d have to take land to the east or west by eminent domain to accommodate 6 lanes as Abrams is already very “scrunchy” feeling.

[Leonard123]

Originally Posted by apple44

Yes I hear that, but see this one in Lakewood. It's been on the market since October last year, and price has been cut and cut and cut...
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...26706519_zpid/
Crazy thing is this home has a tax assessment of 1.065 million. Unthinkable.

It's unthinkable anything near that part of Dallas would go for a tenth of that. You couldn't pay me a million to live there.

However, all the most expensive and high-demand new houses in Collin County back right up to busy high-speed roads and highways, so that is evidently no deterrent for all the panic buyers.

I'm not sure you can make much of a Zillow listing. There may be a lot we don't know that a real estate agent would be in a better position to find out.

[NP78]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Per DCAD, it’s significantly larger than neighboring lots. 20-30 feet deeper than the next two houses and then by the middle of the 6400 block it’s 2X as large as those lots are 75x125 (10 feet more narrow & 60 feet more shallow).

Agree that it’s still a corner lot of busy intersection and you would need to do a lot of sound treatment. I had a friend who lived in Greenway Parks on the corner of Inwood and it was always loud in his backyard. Not so noticeable indoors.

Is the city really taking Abrams to 6 lanes? They’d have to take land to the east or west by eminent domain to accommodate 6 lanes as Abrams is already very “scrunchy” feeling.

I don’t believe there are any plans for Abrams to expand.

[NP78]

Originally Posted by Leonard123

It's unthinkable anything near that part of Dallas would go for a tenth of that. You couldn't pay me a million to live there.

However, all the most expensive and high-demand new houses in Collin County back right up to busy high-speed roads and highways, so that is evidently no deterrent for all the panic buyers.

I'm not sure you can make much of a Zillow listing. There may be a lot we don't know that a real estate agent would be in a better position to find out.

You should take a look at real estate listings in that area. Lots of $1M+ homes.

[Leonard123]

Originally Posted by NP78

You should take a look at real estate listings in that area. Lots of $1M+ homes.

I know. That's what I was saying. Some of the most expensive properties are also ones that seem the least desirable. I often get the impression that the worse the house, location, and terms of sale, the more people are willing to pay.

A few neighborhoods made sense, but when I saw people falling over themselves to pay so much to live right up against 380 and worse, I realized people had lost their collective marbles.