Alexander Chandler Realty's Fort Worth, TX Real Estate Blog

Greater Fort Worth Builder's Association Rally day in Austin, TX

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:50:55 -0500

Rally Day 2009 was an enormous success! Nearly 1,000 builders, developers, remodelers and associate members from around the state joined the Texas Association of Builders at the Capitol on February 25 to participate in the day's events. Governor Rick Perry, our key speaker, enthusiastically addressed TAB members on the South Steps of the Capitol. In his speech, Perry mentioned his support for businesses, low taxes and plans for the recently passed federal stimulus bill. "Texas supports the healthiest housing market in the nation", said Gov. Rick Perry in his Rally Day address to the Texas Association of Builders at the Capitol.

Immediately following the Rally, TAB members and Texas legislators enjoyed BBQ and catfish on the Capitol lawn. The weather was beautiful.

Throughout the day, every Senator and Representative was visited by Rally Day participants. TAB members left a folder of key issues along with a tool kit with the legislators. The capitol building swarmed with TAB members taking advantage of the opportunity to meet face to face with lawmakers and their staff. Our participants effectively informed them of the issues important to our industry and our position on specific bills.

Culminating the Rally Day events, TAB hosted a legislative reception at the historic Driskill hotel in downtown Austin. Everyone who participated in Rally Day was invited to attend, including the legislators. The reception was an enjoyable conclusion to a successful Rally Day at the Capitol!

If you are searching for Fort Worth Luxury Homes, visit Alexander Chandler Realty's nationally recognized website for Fort Worth Real Estate and see our featured listings, virtual tours or request a home analysis. You can also select on of our agent experts. View Alexander Chandler Realty's Trulia Blog for more real estate info. View our main blog at http://www.fortworthtxrealestateblog.com/

You can also view Alexander Chandler's profile on Zillow, and Trulia.

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Omni Hotel Opens in Fort Worth Texas

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 09:49:54 -0500

The Fort Worth downtown area welcomes the new Omni Hotel. According to Fort Worth Mayor, Mike Moncrief, the Omni Hotel is "a perfect compliment to a world class convention center. It will change the dynamic of Fort Worth".

The Omni hotel will definately have an impact on Fort Worth's economy. It will bring an estimated 1 Billion to the local economy over the next 20 years. The hotel will also host the NFL AFC champions in the 2011 Superbowl in the new Dallas Cowboy's Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The Omni opened January 17 to visitors and was well worth the wait. It is over 68,000 square feet, has 1,614 guest rooms, 5 restaurants, a full service spa, and 89 condo units available for purchase. This will be a great addition to downtown Fort Worth, TX real estate.

The hotel will be a wonderful place for visitors, conventioners or for locals for a weekend getaway. If you are visting Fort Worth to search for Fort Worth homes for sale be sure to look up Alexander Chandler Realty at our nationally recognized website for Fort Worth Real Estate and, see our featuredlistings, see virtual tours, or request a home analyis and then select one of our agent experts.

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Alexander Chandler Realty's Fort Worth, TX Real Estate Website Honored

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:10:14 -0600

Alexander Chandler Realty's website was honored at the National Association of Realtor's convention this past November. Cyberhomes.com featured Alexander Chandler's website in a demonstration because it is one of the most sophisticate and user friendly website in the country.

Alexander Chandler Realty's website is an awesome tool for buyer's and sellers to find a wealth of information. It features a zip code map of Fort Worth Homes where a consumer can easily click and all available homes for sale instantly pop up. The neighborhood Cyberhomes box leads consumers to a neighborhood search where demographics and instant home evaluations can be looked up instantly. And for those that want to catch up on current events in Fort Worth, Texas a link to Alexander Chandler's activerain community blog. This blog is also linked to Localism.com. Alexander Chandler Realty also has an active blog on Trulia.com.
Searches are easy and to pick an agent their is a convenient Fort Worth real estate agent page. There is a link page and a virtual tour page where all Alexander Chandler Realty's listings are featured. If you would rather just look at pictures and brief desciptons there is a featured listing page. Alexander Chandler Realty's website took months of research and even more to create and is always being improved for the benefit of the consumer.
If Alexander Chandler Realty went to all this trouble to provide you with all these services just think how great the service will be when you become a client.

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

New Team Blog Themes

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:00:32 -0600

I am looking into setting up a team blog and everyone is super duper excited. Before I got started I would like to know if anyone can tell me whether we can keep the same basic format of our current activeraian blog? The problem is that the themes that it looks like we have to choose from are from companies of which I have no affiliation and the one available that does not have a corporate logo looks like a vomit nightmare. Does anyone know the answer to this? You can check out my blog to see what I would like to keep. http://activerain.com/blogs/alexanderchandler

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

T Boone, Chocolate Cake, Windmills & Fort Worth, TX

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:45:43 -0600

I just got an email from T Boone Pickens, Pickensplan.com, and thought I would share my experience of seeing him at a Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce luncheon. TBoone is serious about his plan and I do not believe his motivation is only financial. The event was the 25th anniversary of the "T" which is Fort Worth's Transportation authority that is pushing for a fleet of natural gas buses. T Boone told us all about his plan to end our dependence on foreign oil but the funny thing was that I never thought I would be eating chocolate cake and listening to a billionaire talk about windmills, gas conversion, and how no one will loan him any money to build those windmills. So he is focusing on natural gas conversion.

T Boone says 70% of our oil is imported and the only way to end this madness is to convert heavy duty trucks to natural gas. He estimates full conversion could take place in 4-5 years based life expectancy of current trucks. T Boone met with President Elect Obama and relates that Obama was proud to say that he wanted 1 million hybrid cars on the road within his term but the basic problem is there are 250 million cars on the road. The hybrid plan will not even make a dent and Obama did not have an answer to that.

He called ethanol an "ugly baby" which it is because we can not realistically use our food source to meet energy needs. The answer of course is natural gas and the room full of people with vested interest in this turned their ears forward. Fort Worth lies over the Barnett Shale one of the largest natural gas reserves in North America. Natural gas, according to Pickens, is the 2nd largest natural resourse in the US. If the Pickens Plan is implemted then Fort Worth real estate will certainly benefit.

It only makes sense because, "A battery will not move an 18 wheeler". Critics rarely have anything legitmate to say to T Boone because he simply asks them what their plan is and is met with silence. "If you do not have a plan then your plan is foreign oil." That makes sense. It particularly makes sense when you consider "foreign producers of oil are not our friends." Pickens is now 80 and may not see the finish line admittedly but hopes his grandkids will. To learn more about the Pickens Plan simply go to www.pickensplan.com

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Inside Dallas Cowboy's New Stadium

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:28:20 -0500

Recently, my company, Alexander Chandler Realty, with a couple of friends from Republic Title had the opportunity to tour the new stadium still under construction. Jack Williams of the Dallas Cowboys was kind enough to grant us a tour.

The stadium is now only 15 minutes from downtown Fort Worth real estate which is great for us Fort Worthians. We were all given hardhats, safety glasses and these neat flourescent vests so no one would pour concrete on us or something. Immediately, the size of the new stadium creates a sense of awe.

Features

This photo was taken from one of the endzones and you can see Ranger Stadium in the background. At the field level there are box seats that are actually 18" below the field and they will be able to see all sideline action. The stands above that row are for when they would like to see the game from outside the box. Above that is another row of box seats and we were in Jerry Jones' box although there was nothing in it yet. Above that is another tier of seats and higher up is the hall of fame boxes. The field level boxes are sold out but for around 2.4 million there are some other left. The great thing about box ownership in this stadium is you own it and can go to any event in the stadium. Each owner receives 20 tickets to each Cowboy's game.

One of the incredible features of the new stadium will be a gargantuan video screen above the field the is 70' x 170'. Now that is a TV! A side benefit to all this is they may finally get Interstate 30 lane expansion finished between Fort Worth and Dallas. That project has been going on for a decade and now they finally have a good reason to finish it. Thank you Jerry Jones. I heard an announcer in the game against Green Bay, which they won, that Jerry Jones has owned the Dallas Cowboy's for 20 years. It seems like yesterday but I think I can speak for everyone in Fort Worth, TX that we are looking forward to having the stadium in a central metroplex location close to our Fort Worth Homes. It is scheduled to be completed by next year. They are working like gangbusters so let's hope for the best.

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Fully investigate when referring

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:53:45 -0500

We learn by asking questions which brings me to the topic of referrals. The other day I received a call from an agent who said she might have a possible referral. My company has a great internet presence so not sure if she found me from there or active rain or localism.com. Any way, my interest was peaked so I asked her to tell me about.

The first thing she mentioned was the prospect needed a "lot of nurturing" which could be a good or bad thing. Before I could ask what that meant she asked me if I would be handling the referral personally. I replied it would depend on price range, area and needs of prospects. I further explained that my company has wonderful agents and I would match the client to the agent that would be best suited to help. Having done a lot of relocation for a fortune 500 company this seemed reasonable to match the prospect to the most qualified for the situation. The agent then said, "I just wanted to know if you would be handling it. Thank you for your time," and hung up.

Most Realtors out there in blog land and elsewhere are independent contractors and running their own business. A broker or relocation director has an obligation to qualify leads before accepting them. A broker, relocation coordinator or agent should investigate who will be handling the lead when referred out respectively. An agent that blindly accepts any lead when they may not be the best choice is imprudent. For example, Fort Worth, TX and the D/FW Metroplex is a big place with lots of Fort Worth Homes and my company has a general policy to focus on areas and refer out if a prospect is out of our area of expertise. This focus has doubled our business in the last year because as a group we are not all over 120 square miles. Often, our clients are pleased that we are interested in their interests before our commissons. We have also made great relationships with other agents around the Metroplex which has been invaluable.

I never did find out who the agent was or the prospect. What I do know is an opportunity for the prospect to be matched based on his/her needs was lost due to a lack of investigation.

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Shula's Restaurant Opening Party

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:55:04 -0500

Recently I had the pleasure of going to the opening party of Don Shula's new restaurant in Fort Worth, TX at the Sheraton in downtown Fort Worth which is very close to some of my Fort Worth Homes. It was more of a preopening party. They filed us thru the restaurant which was larger than I expected it to be. There was a lot of memorabilia about. Then they funneled us upstairs to a banquet room where you could stand in line and get Don Shula's autograph. There he is asking me what to do. I told him my name & he took it from there. You see the 347 in the background. That is the name, Shula's 347 Grill. That is how many games he won in the NFL. What was funny is a former assistant of mine was called to fill in a cancellation at the bigshot private dinner and was seated next to Mrs. Shula and she did not know who Don Shula was in the first place. I bet Mrs. Shula was glad not to have to talk about football. I lost the autograph but did make it out of there with a bottle of steak sauce. I wish them well. Even better is I ran into a fellow who works for the Dallas Cowboys and arranged a showing of the new stadium under construction. My next blog will be about that.

Even if you do not get a free bottle of steak sauce it is good to go to as many openings and public events as possible to get your name out there.

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Internet listing browsing

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:55:20 -0500

Recently, I was browsing the internet looking for Fort Worth Luxury Home listings the way an average person would without knowing it and found some things that may be of interest. One thing of interest is you can tell a little about an agent or company in how the remarks read.

When I post listings to the internet I use the three second rule. (I was inspired by cooks for the title in my restaurant days. When they dropped something occassionally they would pick it up and plate it and say, "Three second rule". Anyway, make the assumption that a person's attention span is about three seconds. The first line is critical and should grab someone's attention and give information at the same time. Think of it as a small newspaper ad where your space is limited. Save the flowery stuff for the remaining lines.

With all the sites out there most people do not know that many of the Realtor listing websites download from the same MLS system. It is a question of format. Again, you can judge a company or agent by their website or lack of one. 85% of people start their property search online according to National Association of Realtor's statistics.

For consumers, I recommend that they do browse around but pay attention to the websites. When performing Google and Yahoo searches make a note of what individuals come up on sponsored links because that means they have made an investment in their marketing which is vastly important when listing a home. Of course, when looking for Fort Worth Homes and Fort Worth Real Estate there is only one website for your needs. Good luck browsing but remember you can learn a lot just by browsing around.

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Trulia a fast one

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:47:26 -0500

Recently I went to Trulia.com to join and have my company's listings input and found that someone had decided to do me the favor already. This person or entity had also done this favor for at least a half of a dozen other companies within a geopgraphic region. What I found in my investigation that whoever it was was not registered in the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors and they did not have any one's permission to post listings. What they were obviously doing is posting listings as bait for buyers. I find this sort of thing troubling. Especially troubling when the website no where mentions a name and only has a contact me fill in the blank page. My board is investigating this whole thing but I thought I would warn the community because there are those types that will try to take a free ride on your hard earned work.

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Supply and Demand Curve

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:10:58 -0500

National news will not give the debate over whether increasing oil production will decrease price a rest. I received a lesson from dear ol' Dad the other day who happens to be an economist. We were discussing the local Fort Worth Real Estate market where the Star Telegram mentioned that prices in some areas have increased slightly due to a lack of inventory.

Dad credits this to basic supply and demand theory. There is an equilibrium point on any curve and this is true with supply and demand. The principle here, as it applies to everything including oil and real estate, is this: if the demand is steady and the supply shrinks the price rises. How political pundits do not accept this basic principle is beyond me and every economist in America.

The Fort Worth homes market has steady demand due to the economic success credited in part to the Barnett Shale which is one of the largest natural gas reserves in North America. My family has been involved in the gas industry and I can tell you the supply and demand curve works there too. Gas is sold in futures and so is oil. Demand for natural gas increases during the winter months so the price will naturally rise. Investors purhase gas futures in advance to sell when demand outreaches supply. Again, the same thing happens with oil. When supply is high investors also buy cheap which happens in real estate as well as gas and oil.

I wish I knew how to work the computer better so I could post a pretty graph but your going to have to visualize it. The tip here is you do not have to be Adam Smith to benefit in a market if you stick to basic principles. Good luck and for the economy of Fort Worth, Texas, buy natural gas!

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Inspection Blues and how to avoid them.

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 07:00:23 -0500

The home inspection is a crucial part of the home buying process and dotted with liability. Recently, I witnessed a broker of over a decade help a family member purchase a Fort Worth home and not bother to have it inspected or perform a walk thru. The result is the air conditioner is broken and it has been 100+ degrees around Fort Worth, TX.

When asking for repairs a common mistake is not to itemize and priotitize needs. For example, asking for a laundry list of minor handy man items can cloud the issue on more important issues. I recently witnessed a purchaser ask for a blanket list of repairs without itemizing and it clouded the more important issues.

Fort Worth Real Estate is bought much the same way as everywhere else and priorities should be met. It is the agents duty to help the client stay focused. Is their a time crunch for move in and is the home one of a kind or fits the client's needs perfectly? These things should be considered. Remember that often the sellers have an emotional attachment to the home so your wording in a repair request can be as important as the request itself. This helps keep the emotional factor to a minimum. One last thought is to place yourself in the shoes of the buyer or seller while negotiating and good luck!

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100

Fort Worth Real Estate Blogging

Alexander Chandler (Alexander Chandler Realty) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:05:41 -0500

Thank your for reading this post about Fort Worth Real Estate. Every other day I get asked how the market is in Fort Worth. The market is strong because of the Barnett Shale economic impact and other factors. According to Andy Taft, President of Downtown Fort Worth Inc in a luncheon mentioned that Downtown Fort Worth had a 96% commercial occupancy rate. This is phenomenol and could be one of the more successful occupancy rates in the country. But how is the rest of the market. With the infusion of jobs and capital the Metroplex is strong. New construction sales are behind from previous years but it was getting a little overbuilt. West Fort Worth is very strong which includes the Cultural District of Fort Worth.

Alexander Chandler, ABR, GRI

Alexander Chandler Realty

817-806-4100