Fall is Approaching… Service Your HVAC!
While it’s a time to rejoice that going outside soon is no longer a brutal experience, it’s also important to remember that sooner than later our furnaces will be called upon. Oh, that distinctive smell that we all know that’s only made by a furnace awakening from an 8-month slumber…
You’re supposed to have your HVAC serviced both in the spring and fall. While most people do their servicing in the spring to ensure they won’t sweat to death should their HVAC fail, it’s even more important for safety purposes to service it in the fall. There is no substitute for a qualified technician, but there are some items you yourself can cover.
What you can do:
– Clean the condenser coils on your outside unit. A hose with decent water pressure can ensure your coils stay clean and unobstructed, and can greatly help your systems efficiency.
– Examine your pilot light. This may or may not require you to remove your front panel (you can do it, I promise). If your pilot light has a steady blue flame, you’re in great shape. If you see yellow, orange, or it’s flickering, call your service professional.
– Smell for gas leaks. If you detect gas, turn off the gas line to your furnace (the valve should be near the system) and call your service professional immediately.
– Replace Your Filter Regularly. This can’t be stated enough. You can tell a lot about how a homeowner cares about his or her home by checking the filter. You should change it at least once every two months. If you don’t mind spending a little more money on the front end, you could always buy a reusable, electrostatic filter.
Architectural Corner – The Alexander
In the mid 1950’s, successful LA builder George Alexander & his son, Robert, moved to Palm Springs. They founded The Alexander Company, & over 2,000 homes later, transformed Palm Springs a mecca for Midcentury Modern Architecture.
Teaming with architecture firm Palmer & Krisel, Alexander was able to devise a quasi-modular system by offering 5 different rooflines & a variety of exterior veneers to produce custom-looking homes which were affordable to the middle class.
Alexander homes weren’t just for the everyday American. designing Elvis & Priscilla Presley’s Honeymoon House among others. Sadly, the Alexander Company came to an abrupt end when Robert & his entire family were killed in a 1965 plane crash. To MCM lovers, however, their mark on American architecture will live on forever.
What to Expect from the Fall Market
The real estate pendulum is always swinging. In 2011 it was a buyers market,10 years later it is the opposite. Granted, the DFW equivalent of a buyers market was nothing compared to such markets as Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix and a few others, but it was a trying time that saw sellers make great concessions to bring a buyer to the closing table. Today, it is an absolute beating for buyers. Thanks to a diminished inventory, millions of people fleeing high-tax, high-regulation states, and historically low interest rates, There is simply more demand than supply.
Typically, the fall sees a significant decrease in activity, and sales prices tend to level off all the way through winter. There are quite a few factors that contribute to this. Fewer buyers equate to longer listing times and, in theory, price reductions, but in the fall there is also an inventory of homes that for one reason or another didn’t sell during the summer. It could be price, condition, or a number of other factors, but these properties remaining on market and dropping their prices leads to an statistical leveling off or even slight dip in sales prices compared to the spring and winter.
Does this mean you can expect to get a great deal? Maybe. Does this mean you can take your time with the process? Probably not. I worked with many analytically-inclined buyers in the early 2010’s, and it seemed like they were always looking for an excuse to not pull the trigger. Call it “analysis-paralysis”, or call it being motivated by fear over desire, but even the fall market of 2021 is not for the reluctant.
The playing field will be more level this fall than it was in May, but just remember Dallas is among the hottest markets in America. You may have to deal with multiple offers, but likely nowhere near as many as were faced in the spring.
Architectural Corner – French Eclectic
More than just a style, French Eclectic is a variety of characteristics influenced by French architecture. Americans returning from WWI, along with trench foot and cool bayonets, brought back an appreciation for French homes, particularly in Normandy and Brittany, and within a few years an “Americanized” version became popular. From 1920-1935 these homes enjoyed their heyday, but we still see the style on new construction today.
Commonly constructed of stone, brick or stucco exteriors, French Eclectic homes varied in formality, with formal designs boasting symmetrical windows, informal homes very asymmetrical. Fittingly, French front doors and stone or rock trim were very typical. Fixtures and windows were also – you guessed it – French. In informal homes, a founded tower with conical roof was a common feature, and both styles utilized steeply-pitched roofs and towering chimneys.
Vague Specifics August 2021
As it turns out, Americans taking their first vacations in almost 2 years was just what the market needed to calm down a bit. The moment kids finally got out of school, the frantic state of the real estate market finally relaxed, and frankly, I couldn’t be happier.
“But John, you strapping yet annoyingly sensitive narrator,” I hear you ask, “surely a slower market is bad for appreciation!” Well, fictional person, as a homeowner myself and someone who plans on living in Dallas for at least the next 15 years, I want to see home prices remain as close-to-affordable as I can.
I’ve had several people ask me the last few weeks if Dallas is in for a market correction now that things are slowing down. To this I have a short answer and a long answer. Short answer: no. Long answer: Dallas was, for decades, one of the most undervalued markets in the United States. We are now victim of our own success, as hundreds of thousands of people migrate to our business-friendly environment, and we have rapidly caught up with the prices of other major metropolitan areas. Dallas is still cheap in the aggregate in that our (non-property) taxes are low, and the cost of goods-and-services still lags behind many regions. Prices – both housing and goods-and-services – are rapidly catching up, however, and the national labor shortage has done nothing to ameloriate that.
Interest rates still hover around 3% for a 30-year fixed mortgage. I may have mentioned this before, but the Dave Ramsey/Robert Kyosaki mantra of always paying cash is, for now, on it’s ear.
It’s really doubtful we’re going to see 20% appreciation in the coming years, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see 10+. The moral is this: the odds are really high that real estate is going to outperform the stock market in the next few years. I’m not an analyst and of course there will be outliers, but 10% return is nothing to scoff at. You may be paying 20% more than you would have paid a year ago, but buying real estate is still the most time-tested method of accumulating wealth.
MLS Statistics – August 2021
Vague Specifics – July 2021
Minus the humidity, we had a pretty easy summer in 2021, but as of Saturday, July 24th, the humidity burned off and the dry heat arrived. If you need an air conditioning tech and you live in East Dallas, call Jesse Simmons at 214.769.2483. He, like most technicians, is booked several days in advance, but even if your unit is working just fine it’s a good idea to get it checked. He found my air conditioner was dangerously low on coolant; the thought of my wife sitting in a non-air conditioned house was a bit terrifying.
Thanks to kids getting out of school and subsequent family vacations, there is usually a bit of a real estate lull in late June and early July, but this year it was more pronounced than most. It makes sense to attribute this to this being is the first vacation a lot of families have taken since 2019, and they’re making the best of it. It was nice to have a bit of a break from the craziness, I must admit. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still getting multiple offers all over the place, but it would seem sellers are waiting a little longer before accepting an offer than during the spring.
Interest rates remain at or near historic lows. As of 7/24, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hover around 2.99%, 2.375% for a 15-year and 3.25% for a 30-year jumbo. VA-30’s are at a ridiculous 2.875% (thanks to our veterans for their service). I’ve said it before, the best way to slow down the real estate market will be for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. A $320,000 mortgage (figuring 20% down for a $400,000 home) at 3% interest will cost $1,746 per month (before taxes). Bump that up to 5% and it’s $2,114 per month. Crank that all the way up to the historical average of 8% and it’s $2,745 per month. Then add property taxes (Texas has among the worst in the nation), and you have a lot of people unable to afford the average home in D/FW.
Should I Get an Inspection?
Home inspectors are an underappreciated, often quickly maligned and even demonized lot. As with every industry, some are better than others. Their job is to point out every imperfection – be it code deviation or function – in a property, and the results of their findings often makes even the nicest home seem like a shanty on paper.
Home inspections typically run from $300 – $600 depending on the property’s square footage and extra services (termite inspection, sprinkler system, pool) required. They are jacks-of-all-trades and masters of none, and when they notice a deficiency in a property, they often defer their prognoses to experts such as plumbers and HVAC technicians. Although their reports are comprehensive, they only address “components and conditions that are present, visible, and accessible”. They can turn the air conditioner and heater on and off, but they cannot remove the condenser coils or dissect the compressor. They can note an exhaust vent is insulated with an unknown substance, but they cannot cut it open to determine if it’s asbestos. Essentially, they are bound by law to perform a broad overview of the home, but they must do so with their hands behind their back, so to speak.
With this in mind, should you spend the money to purchase an inspection? Absolutely. It would take a half-dozen contractors, from HVAC techs to structural engineers to plumbers – to do what they do, and although a home inspection is nowhere near the detail of these individual specialists, it would be virtually impossible to hire contractors whose reports would overlap what an inspector reviews. Inspectors are not perfect, and even the best ones err, but at the same time their services are essential, not only in providing an overview of a property’s condition, but in giving a buyer peace-of-mind with his or her purchase.
DFW MLS Statistics – July 2021