IN MAY OF 1992 BETSY AND MARK McCann decided it was time for a bigger house. Their real estate agent listed their three-bedroom, two-bath Lake Highlands home for $109,000. The McCanns thought the price was too high, but the agent insisted that since the home was completely updated the McCanns could get their price, even though comparable homes in the neighborhood were selling for $85,000 to $90,000.
“We had an open house in June, but got very little traffic. So we brought the price down to $103.9. Still no nibbles,” says Betsy. The house sold in July for $99,900.
During that time the McCanns were looking for their new home. Wanting to remain in Lake Highlands, they narrowed down the choices to Moss Farms, Merri-man Park and the White Rock Elementary area. “We wanted to stay in the Richardson School District, and we wanted a four-bedroom house, but everything we looked at was more than we could afford,” says Betsy. “We lucked out. A man who was eager to sell had listed his house in White Rock Elementary for $150,000. Since it needed fixing up, we got it for $137,500.”
The McCanns closed in August with an 8 percent, 30-year fixed mortgage. “Moving was a great surprise,” says Betsy. “All the neighbors came over to greet us. They brought banana bread. They even had a happy hour for us.”
HUD Heaven
This past summer Blanche Meredith, a single woman living in an apartment in Bedford, took the plunge. She bought a three-bedroom HUD house in DeSoto.
“I had been looking for a long time. I decided to make my move because the interest rates were good and I saw all the HUD homes disappearing,” she says.
Meredith, a customer representative with Aetna Health Insurance Company, wanted to live in or near Oak Cliff, where she grew up. She had bid on four other HUD homes in the area but lost each time to bids that came in higher man the original list price. “When I saw the DeSoto house, it was in a rough state-pink paint and pink carpet. It needed some work. But when I looked at the list of improvements HUD was going to make, I went after it,” she says.
The 5-year-old house was among several other HUD homes on the cul-de-sac, all of which had sold. It was listed for $62,000. Meredith put in a bid of $56,000, and a week later she closed with an 8 percent loan. With the improvements made by HUD, which included painting the walls white and putting in camel-colored carpet, the house was in move-in condition.
“It’s a great house on a quiet street,1’ she says. “I’m still pinching myself.”
The First-Home Buyer
This past December, Dr. Byron Cryer closed on a three-bedroom, two-bath home in Oak Cliff’s Kessler Park. A single physician at the Dallas Veterans Medical Center, Cryer had been renting a duplex in Oak Lawn and was ready to buy his first home.
“Over the past six months I drove all around Dallas and finally narrowed it down to three neighborhoods-Lakewood, the Turtle Creek/Oak Lawn area and Kessler Park,” says Cryer. He wanted an older home, centrally located in a neighborhood with a stable, low-crime reputation. “I found that in Kessler Park you could get more for your money. The houses had large rooms and the area is hilly and full of trees.”
His real estate agent found a house listed for $140,000. Cryer offered $120,000 and got his price “without a lot of wheeling and dealing.” He put down 5 percent and took out a loan for the rest at 8.5 percent. “This has been a real learning experience. I plan to be in this home for a long time.”
A Pricey Bachelor P
For some homeowners who have held onto high-priced homes in the hopes of riding the market ail the way back up, the current real estate market is not promising. Take Stuart Coleman (not his real name) in Far North Dallas.
Seven years ago the bachelor paid $490,500 for a house in the estate area east of Preston, west of Hillcrest and north of LB J. It was a 4,100-square-foot house on a I-acre creek lot with a pool and 13 giant pecan trees. Coleman put on a $16,000 roof, added an updated Muttchler kitchen and made other improvements.
He had more than 5600,000 in the house when he put it on the market three years ago for 5699,000. After the house sat there for nine months, he took it off the market and leased the house. Frustrated with the hassles of leasing his home, he put it back on the market last year at 5419,000. It sold in December for $360,000.
Downsizing After Divorce
After their divorce last fall. William French (not his last name) and his wife sold their three-bedroom home in East Dallas for $150,000, which was just about what they paid for it two years earlier.
William, who is in the advertising business, set out to find a smaller house, but wanted “an older style with architectural interest, nothing cookie cutter.” He also wanted something in move-in condition.
He found a quaint three-bedroom, one-bath house in Hollywood Heights listed for $89,000. He bought the house for $87,000. Since he had very little cash on hand, he put down only 3 percent on the house. He qualified for an 8 percent FHA loan. He’ll be facing a monthly mortgage note of $750.
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