Local Home Prices are Rising — and Will Continue

If you’re considering new construction, or a remodeling project, now is the time to secure your costs.

According to Trulia.com, home prices in Dallas rose 3.4% compared to the same period last year. Usually, this would be a modest increase. Coming out of a national housing recession, it’s slightly more impressive, but not shocking. After all, DFW is booming due to state policies that are business-friendly.

In Lakewood and the surrounding areas, we’re right in the epicenter of the growth, with some of the best real estate and prettiest communities in all of Dallas. We’re near the cultural heart of the city, by the finest restaurants, and minutes from sporting venues and museums. We don’t rely on toll roads here, and (in case you haven’t noticed), we avoid the hellish commutes that the suburbanites endure.

Yet, even with the rationale for why our real estate is booming, we’re really startled by the increases we’ve seen in local home prices over the past few months, and even weeks. We’re talking about average sale price jumps of over $10,000 in a matter of weeks –and supply is dwindling. Local experts are predicting home and lot prices will continue to rise for the forseeable future.

David Bush, one of the area’s most experienced realtors, offered his assessment: “The North Texas real estate market has not seen the inventory shortages we are currently experiencing in over a decade; the market is so unbalanced on the supply side that we will inevitably see home prices rise, and in the close in urban markets like Lakewood and East Dallas even more so. With that said if you are considering buying an existing home or building a new one waiting even a short amount of time will cost you every day you wait”.

If you’re considering new construction or a remodeling project and want to keep within a certain budget, it’s also important to keep an eye on material costs. We’re seeing price hikes on everything from paint and drywall to bricks and sod. We’ve been in the business for 18 years, and when these inflationary periods happen, they happen in waves. We believe this is only the beginning.

At times like this, savvy homebuyers secure today’s costs and avoid the risk of prices rising further. If you’ve got new home ownership or a remodeling project on your horizon, talk to us today about your plans and let’s work together to keep your dreams within your budget.

Comments And Letters

do best — bring out ideas and let people consider other possibilities. I think that’s what happening here, too, with the suggestions for Lincoln. I know that we have said in just about every post and article that Lincoln owns the property and can do what they want. But just like you have an opinion about what people think, what’s the harm in the rest of us offering up a few ideas for the property? It’s not as if Lincoln is going to be paying any attention anyway.”

– Rick Wamre

On Jeff Siegel’s post, “Why we care about local developments like Gaston-Garand-Grand”:

“I’ll never understand the issue some posters have with people sharing their opinion. We all realize that the executives at Lincoln are not reading this site (and especially the comments) and saying to themselves: ‘Hmmm, that is a great idea. I hadn’t thought of that. I’m going to change my entire plan.’ So what does it hurt for neighbors to weigh in? What does it hurt for people in the community to express their frustration at having another strip center (which will turn into Far West 2 in a few years)? Yes, we acknowledge that if we really wanted to have some ‘input,’ we would’ve broken open the piggy banks, turned over the couch cushions, and empty the change holders in our vehicles to buy the property ourselves. I, too, would like to see something better than another Casa Linda shopping center (no offense Casa Linda). With that being said, I’ll be relieved to not have to try to navigate drunk Far West patrons on Gaston Road for the next few years. So, Lincoln executives (since I’m sure you’re reading this comment, too), thanks for taking the initiative. If you’d like some input on how to make this property a truly high-end shopping center, there is no shortage of opinions to be found. If you want to make a quick buck and stamp out another strip center, that’s your prerogative, too. In the meantime, I’ll be looking under couch cushions and picking up quarters on the sidewalk, waiting for the eventual downturn of another strip center. ”

A Forest Hills Neighbor

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EmAil EDiTOR BRiTTANy bnunn@advocatemag.com

Q&A with Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell:

The Mondells moved to East Dallas in the 70s. Coming from similar backgrounds — Allen’s in reporting and Cynthia’s in public information — they soon began collaborating on projects. Now they’ve been married for 43 years and working together for 35. Decide for yourself whether or not that’s a good thing.

How did y’all come to be in East Dallas?

AM: “I got a job at KERA, so we arrived here in 1973, and I went to work for a program at the time called Newsroom. We came here from Vermont. I was writing the ‘As Yet Unpublished Great American Novel,’ and she was writing the ‘As Yet Unproduced Great American Screenplay,’ but we’re not independently wealthy, so we were running out of money. So we applied around, and we tried different places around the country to get jobs, and wherever we got the job that’s where we would go. So KERA gave me an offer, and we came here, and we liked it. Do you want to pick up from here?”

CM: “We liked the area because it was diversified, and we only had a bicycle, so it was easy to get around.”

AM: “No, the question now is…”

CM: “The question was ‘How did y’all come to be in East Dallas?’”

AM: “Well, we’ve gotten beyond that.”

CM: “Oh, well, I don’t listen to what he says.” *both laugh*

AM: “This goes on all the time. We’ve been married for 43 years, and we’ve been working together for 35 years.”

CM: “And I still don’t listen to what he says. So anyways, we liked the area because it was diversified, and the little shops around here were really cool. Since we couldn’t find our mountains and our vistas, then we wanted a strong community, and that’s why we chose this area.”

When did the two of you start working together?

CM: “We started working together when I raised money for a film named ‘Who Remembers Mama?’ in 1977. I raised money for the film, and KERA was going to give me the matching in-kind services, and one of the matching in-kind services was Allen was going to produce it for KERA.”

AM: “I never thought of myself as an inkind service.” *both laugh*

CM: “You’re an in-kind service. You and the Xerox machine. So, anyways, we really worked well together. I had renovated an office, and then Allen decided it would be good to leave KERA and work with me.”

So what is it like to work with your spouse?

AM: “We both felt like we wanted to make films that somehow could make changes in people’s lives, could make a better society, and we felt like together we would make these films that hopefully would make a difference. We would also