Is it really all "Doom & Gloom" for Dallas Real Estate?

This is an email I sent out to my friends and past clients and thought it blogworthy…

A few years ago it seemed the whole nation began to show concern that real estate bubbles throughout the country were about to burst and I tried my best to keep my friends and past clients informed by letting them know Dallas is not directly affected by the decline in home prices in locations such as Miami, Las Vegas and California. Ever since that time negative real estate statistics continued to be published in the media about the declining national real estate market and I continued to defend our local real estate market. I am frequently asked, “Jeff, how is your business doing with the real estate market doing as poorly as it is?” So let me—yet again—answer that question and hopefully quell your fears.

First of all, my business has never been better and thanks to all of you I finished 2006 as the 63rd most productive agent in my company out of 1,300 other agents. This equates to ranking in the Top 7% of Realtors nationwide. Again, a sincere thank you for your support and confidence in my abilities as a real estate professional. I hope to continue that success in 2007...so keep the referrals coming! :)

Second, I would like to address our “poor real estate market”. Brace yourself for this mind boggling statement I am about to make. Many of the doom and gloom real estate reports that are published address NATIONAL real estate statistics and not LOCAL real estate statistics. The average Joe in Dallas reads one of these reports in the Wall Street Journal and thinks his home in North Dallas is immediately worth less. This is ridiculous and I question their intellectual fortitude. Furthermore, the real estate numbers Dallas is producing this year when compared with 2006 might come up short by 2% here and 3% there. (Note: Number of sales are down in many areas but prices are going up!) But remember, 2006 year was the 3rd best year for real estate EVER in our country’s history. So by those standards, 2007 might end up in the top 10 best years for real estate EVER. That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Which leads me to this recent report from CNNMoney.com. Out of the 100 largest markets in the country Dallas ranks 9th in projected appreciation (3.6%) from April 2007 to April 2008. Our worst one-year decline of –7.7% occurred in ‘87-’88. Dallas does not see 20% fluctuations which allows our growth to remain strong and steady.

So the next time someone starts telling you how bad our Dallas real estate market is, you can tell them with confidence that Dallas is one of the strongest real estate markets in the country. And if they’re looking to buy or sell you can tell them to call me!