collin county homes for sale: Collin County, TX: Off the market does not always mean unavailable. - 10/29/10 12:36 PM
Today, one of my listings that came off the market in Prosper, TX is being shown to a prospective buyer.  That listing actually came off the market a couple of weeks ago.  The owner decided not to sell the house.  That was, until a buyer made contact through their agent and asked me if this home was still available.  We reactivated the listing, for this buyer, and they are touring it now.  They have no competition for this home.  Nobody else is aware the home is available.  And, the owner is thrilled that this buyer liked their home enough from the marketing … (1 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Prosper, TX: Affordable homes of Prosper, Texas - 10/28/10 11:12 AM
With one of the highest home sale averages in the DFW Metroplex, Prosper, TX is a hot commodity.  But, don't assume there are no affordable housing options in Prosper, Texas.  Luxury homes are defined in DFW as homes with a price over $350,000.  In Prosper, I consider the luxury market to start at $300,000.  But, all of these Prosper neighborhoods contain homes that are much more affordable:
Glenbrooke
Legacy Homes is down to a single spec home left before they are all closed out in Glenbrooke.  D.R. Horton is still building.  Starting in the $140,000's, this neighborhood sits on the Western … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Web Commercials: The 'Wow Factor' bar keeps rising. Are you keeping up? - 09/22/10 09:48 AM
Have you done any web commercials yet?  As I talk to homeowners and buyers in my area (Collin County,TX), I find that this is not a common advertising component in many agent marketing strategies yet.  However, the "Wow Factor" from the perspective of the homeowner is out of this world!  The bar keeps rising on coming up with new and impressive ways to market homes.  Are you keeping up?
Web commercials are surprisingly easy to build.  The first one will likely take the longest, but the learning curve is rapid.  The clients love it, and you can generate new business from a web commercial … (1 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Rainy days are great days for showing houses! - 09/08/10 02:12 AM
When I went into real estate, I vowed not to only work in fair weather, which is most of what we see in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.  But, I vowed to work in all weather conditions.  If the post office can deliver the mail in snow, sleet, and pounding rain, then I could sell a home in those less-than-idyllic weather conditions, too.
What I learned through the years, by showing in all sorts of weather, is that rainy days are great days for showing houses!  If we're lucky enough to see consecutive rain days, then day 2 is even better than … (7 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Collin County, Texas: Ask for the CCAR Pulse Report - 09/07/10 02:49 AM
How do you get your real estate information?  If it's from the Dallas Morning News, you may want to know that many real estate agents in Collin County, Texas wouldn't use the Dallas Morning News real estate section to wrap fish.  Online attention grabbing headlines?  Those have no bearing here.  So, where do you go to get honest and factual information about how the real estate market is doing in the North Texas Region?  Ask a local real estate agent, tied to the Collin County Association of Realtors, to give you a copy of the CCAR Pulse Report and review the … (2 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Dallas / Fort Worth: Why would you want to buy a home in DFW at the Bargain Basement? - 08/24/10 01:59 AM
As we picked up the pieces after the tsunami that hit our housing market in Summer, 2008, the North Texas region took stock of the situation.  We took a hit, but it wasn't quite the catastrophe that we feared.  Some sections of DFW are still digging out of the rubble, but we're mostly back on high ground with merely a few bumps and bruises.  I never thought I would be so thankful for working in a single-digit appreciation market. 
It's now end of Summer, 2010.  We've been in a steady recovery mode all year.  What's left in our distressed property market … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: What if your home were mis-priced by $100, $10, or even $1? - 08/17/10 08:14 AM
What would happen if your home were mis-priced by $100, $10, or even just $1?  What if that amount caused a error so big that your home sat on the market, with only a trickling of showings, for six months to a year or longer? 
We have fewer buyers in DFW than we did in 2007.  It's fact.  Even though our market has done pretty well in comparison to the rest of the major real estate markets in the country in 2010, lending restrictions, credit problems, and low consumer confidence have resulted in bringing fewer viable buyers for us to serve than just … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Let someone else go be the mega-superstar agent! The trade-off is too great to me. - 07/26/10 12:08 PM
Ever get a phone call from the staff of a real estate training organization and hang up the phone just befuddled?  These representatives work for some very good former real estate agents.  At one point in their careers, they could point to a level of success in real estate.  They capture their 'unique' spin on the industry, and what made them successful.  And, they now make a living on the public speaking circuit.  New agents, desperate to grow their business, attend these events in hopes of gleeming a fresh idea or two.Veteran agents (let's say those in business longer than their … (1 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Housing Market: Don't put down any MONEY or meet ANYONE until you check it out! - 04/05/10 05:56 AM
A very smart lady from Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas named Bethany has my appeciation today.  She reached out via craigslist.com regarding one of my team's listings in Frisco, TX a few days ago.  The offer, in an email, came back quickly, and just seemed too good to be true:  A 3-bedroom, 3-living area home in Frisco with a big yard that would lease for $800 per month?  WOW!  She filled out the online request for information and received an email that just didn't have a good ring to it.  So, she checked it out.  With a little bit of research on another … (2 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Home Sellers: What are you doing to identify and overcome objections? - 03/31/10 04:40 AM
Just yesterday, some feedback came in on a home that had been vacated the day before.  There were some spots on the carpet and a mark on the master bedroom wall.  So, I got into my car with my steam cleaner and my supply of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and headed on over.  In one hour, the objections that the agent brought to our attention were resolved.  The few little coffee dribbles on the beige carpet where the coffee table had been sitting were removed and the mark on the wall, caused by a fabric headboard, wiped off with very little effort.  … (2 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Collin County, TX: Is your home selling vacant? 5 things you must do today! - 03/30/10 02:22 AM
The vacant housing market in Collin County, TX is still only a small portion of our community.  We're fortunate to have missed the scene in real estate of having every home on the street or in the neighborhood up for sale in vacant, and possibly distressed, status.
If you are attempting to sell your home, and have vacated the premises, you aren't necessarily an abandoned and distressed sale.  But, the buyers all want to treat you as if you are.   "They must have moved out for a reason", they say.  Buyers justify offering below list price on just about every home.  Heaven … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: DFW home tour: Prosper, Texas Weekly Resale Home Tour - 4th Saturday $1 million + homes - 03/23/10 05:24 AM
This coming Saturday is the 4th Saturday of the month, so the weekly Prosper, TX resale home tour will consist of four resale homes in the mega-luxury $1 million-and-over category.
Who buys in this price point?  An entrepreneur.  Someone who has been financially savvy.  Someone who is in a profession that may require a good amount of entertaining.  A celebrity.  A well-known sports figure.  The owner of a title company.  And, many others.  Surprisingly, many times the $1 million-plus buyer is a family of two.  Empty-nesters in some cases.  People who put career achievement over family expansion in other cases.  They tend to be charismatic people.  They aren't shy.  … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Health Care and The DFW Housing Market: Intertwined, They Be! - 03/23/10 04:04 AM
Have you noticed what has been missing from the DFW area for the last three years?  Our normal corporate relocation market.  DFW has a foundation of solid Fortune 500 companies that turned out, like clockwork, thousands of corporate relocations every year.  But, these companies were not immune to the economic downturn in 2008.  They have large departments of very smart individuals who do forecasting and future planning.  They knew to dig in and get lean, and ride out the storm.  They made a switch in the way corporate moves were handled.  Instead of buy-outs, direct reimbursement became the buzz word.  Associates … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Dallas / Fort Worth: Prosper, Texas: Weekend Housing Market Update 03-13-10 - 03/12/10 11:49 PM
Many people in DFW will be heading down to Lower Greenville Avenue for the Saint Patrick's Day parties.  I'll happily be spending the weekend in Prosper, Texas, meeting with buyers and sellers. 
 
Saturday 03-13-10
10am-11:30am - Prosper resale home tour
Each week, we visit a different price point of homes.  To be involved in this caravan tour of resale homes in Prosper, email jrkallen1@yahoo.com or direct message your contact information to me at http://www.twitter.com/prospertxhomes.  I will email back the agenda, and we meet at the first home in the tour.  Today is Prosper resale in the $350k-650k price range - the … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Prosper, Texas homes: An EXPIRED Listing may be your perfect match! - 03/11/10 12:22 AM
Yesterday, I blogged about how lean the housing inventory has gotten for both homes for sale in Prosper, Texas and homes for lease.  When the market leans out like this, it becomes more difficult to find an adequate number of properties to match up to the buyer's search criteria.  In these times, we have to rely on our expertise in the area and the relationships we've developed in the community to create a larger pool of properties. 
Expired Listings
Going back over the MLS offerings that didn't sell in 2008 and 2009 is a great way to find properties matching the … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Prosper, Texas Real Estate: Is The Buyer Upselling Themselves? - 03/09/10 06:27 AM
Agents get accused of it.  Upselling.  Getting a buyer to spend more on their purchase - taking them into the next level of home than their original budget may have allowed.  The general public thinks this is common practice from a real estate agent.  But, I find the buyer does it to themselves in many cases, and I am the voice of reason talking them back down.
Once you get started with a home tour in Prosper, it's really easy for a buyer to get caught up on how much home they get for their money, and the budget begins to … (1 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Vistas of Gentle Creek, Prosper, Texas: Grand Homes is in Closeout! - 02/18/10 11:33 PM
The two best times to buy new construction in any city are phase 1 as the area is breaking ground and the final phase, as the community is in closeout.  Grand Homes is in closeout phase at Vistas of Gentle Creek.  With only two golf course lots left, you will need to move quickly to get them.  These aren't normal golf lots, either.  These are PROSPER-SIZED golf lots of approximately a quarter acre.  Grand also has two finished specs on the ground in Vistas of Gentle Creek.  I toured both this morning.  I was impressed with the layout of each, the … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Short Sales: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly of a Short Sale - 01/08/10 03:25 AM
When we hear the word 'short sale' in today's housing market, there is a collective UGH!  But, maybe it doesn't have to be that way.  When things seem bleak, we have to dig deep and think of creative ways to overcome obstacles.  We Realtors have he unique position of middleman.  There is very little we can do, right?  I am going to go out on an unpopular limb and say that we may be able to apply our expertise to this situation and make it better.
The Good
Not every short sale was a hot mess in 2009.  Seriously, I had … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: Collin County, Texas: Ask if that home is also for lease...you never know! - 01/04/10 05:25 AM
In 2009, most of the residential leases I worked were actually of homes that weren't even offered in the MLS as lease listings.  I either converted a listing for sale to a lease upon request from the prospective tenant, or a lease client called and asked me to find a home they could buy who would also consider leasing in the short-term.  Lease terms have been customized to fit the exact circumstances of seller and buyer, who in the early phase of the process were situationally forced to be landlord and tenant.  Just this morning, I took the 20th lease inquiry call on a home listing in … (0 comments)

collin county homes for sale: North Dallas Suburbs: UFC Real Estate Agents? - 12/29/09 07:08 AM
It's almost January 1st.  All veteran agents are putting the finishing touches on their business plans and getting ready for the starting gun to go off, beginning another real estate cycle.  If you have ever been to a bargain basement sale, or seen an Ultimate Fighting Competition, you know the knock-down, drag-out, hair-pulling, foot-stomping rush that can happen when items are deeply discounted and in short supply.  That is the only way I can describe the North Dallas suburban markets at this point in time.  Resale rocks!  First-time home buyers are in a mad dash to grab up homes in their … (1 comments)

 

Ronda Allen

Prosper, TX

More about me…

RE/MAX Dallas Suburbs: Prosper, Texas

Address: 1140 Monticello Drive, Prosper, TX, 75078

Office: (972) 816-4369

Mobile: (972) 816-4369



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