Christmas Cheer, Texas Style

Your holiday adventure continues as you get back on the bus and head over the river and through the woods to Johnson City’s 22nd annual Lights Spectacular. Sit back and relax with a cup of warm apple cider and enjoy the carols and light displays as your driver maneuvers through the stunning lights along historic streets. The tour will return you to Oak Hill around 9:30pm where visions of sugarplums, sparkling lights and memories of Christmases long past will dance in your head. So grab someone special this Christmas season and take it all in on THE 2011 MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS TOUR OF LIGHTS

A holiday busload of family fun awaits you this year as L’Avventura Dolce rolls out the welcome wagon for the first annual Central Texas Magic of Christmas Tour of Lights. This year’s tour will leave from Oak Hill and take you on a relaxing voyage full of Christmas delights. The first stop on this Yuletide voyage will have you strolling through over two million twinkling points of festive cheer at the Marble Falls Christmas Walkway of Lights. The Walkway of Lights could be just the ticket when you are faced with the loss of Zilker Park’s Trail of Lights.

Killeen Real Estate Deal of the Week

Killeen Realtor, Dan Villarreal of Premier Properties, shares another Killeen real estate deal of the week...

This 4 bedroom, 2 bath home at 3604 Selena in southwest Killeen is an awesome deal at only $89,900.  The VA foreclosed home offers four spacious bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a large living room that's open to the kitchen and formal dining room.  In the living room is a beautiful fireplace and close by the kitchen is a computer nook. 

For more information on this and other Deal of the Week, visit Dan at www.FtHoodTexasHomes.com

stop...Elvis time

New Laws and the Homestead Exemption in Texas

Hey, Guys, here we are at the beginning of September and you know what that means...thanks to the hard work of your political heroes in Austin, a whole mess of new laws (nearly 700 of them) go into effect.  Following is an explanation of just one of the new laws that has an effect on real estate and what we do every day:

AUSTIN (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, KXAN.com) – A state law that took effect yesterday has changed proof of residency requirements for homeowners applying for the property tax homestead exemption.

The new law requires applicants to provide a copy of their Texas driver’s license or state ID card and vehicle registration receipt. The documents must show the same address as the property for which the exemption is requested.

Applicants who do not own a vehicle must provide a copy of a utility bill with the correct address. They must also provide an affidavit stating he or she does not own a vehicle.

The new requirements also apply to applications for the over-65, disability, disabled veterans, homeowner’s surviving spouse and manufactured (mobile) home exemptions. They do not apply to homeowners who already have homestead exemptions.

Elvis Slept Here...

 

On this date in 1977 Elvis Presley left this world that he had impacted so much. All around the world fans will be celebrating his life today. As a tribute to the King of Rock and Roll, I would like to share this blog about Elvis Presley in Killeen, Texas.

For nearly six months in 1958, Elvis Presley was stationed at Fort Hood while completing basic and advanced military training. He left an entertainment career, where he was at the top of his game, to serve his country as a tanker. What a great American.

While Elvis was at Fort Hood, he lived with his parents on Oak Hill Drive in Killeen, a small town right outside the base. I grew up in Killeen and the fact that Elvis once lived here was a part of our small town lore. An older lady who lived on Oak Hill when Elvis lived there loved to share a story of how he used to have to get out of the car a couple blocks up the street, sneak down to the creek that runs behind the houses (including her house) and work his way down to the back of his parent's house to avoid all the girls on the street out front.

The house at 805 Oakhill in Killeen was listed for sale in 2003 and I had the pleasure of showing it. At that time it was in very good, mostly original condition. The kitchen and bathrooms were 1950's classics with all the modern ammenities of that time. The house sold agian in 2006 and that buyer "updated" the entire house (kitchen, bathrooms, etc.) to modernize it, and in essence destroyed what it is that made it a piece of Elvis history. In 2009 the house was listed and sold again, this time as a foreclosure.

While Elvis' time here may have been short, the effect on what was then a very small military and farming community was long reaching. Today, Killeen is still a military community, though no longer tiny, supporting one of the largest military bases in the free world. As such, the majority of our clients and customers are new arrivals to the area. One of the things I enjoy most is driving my new buyers by the "house where Elvis lived" and watching their shock that someone as large as Elvis once lived in a town as small as Killeen.

Richard W. Overall, Jr REALTOR
http://www.overallrealtor.com/

Can You See Yourself as a REALTOR?

Killeen-Ft Hood Area Home Prices Down Slightly

The Texas Association of REALTORS® has just released the Texas Quarterly Housing Report for the second quarter of 2011 which reflects what's going on in 47 of the state's markets. This latest report shows that while recent real estate prices indicate strength in the Texas market as a whole, the Killeen-Ft Hood market has not fared as well.

The median price of homes in the Killeen-Ft Hood market was $121,800, 2.71% lower than the same quarter of 2010. Statewide the median price was $150,400, 1% higher than the same quarter on 2010.  The average price of homes in the Killeen-Ft Hood area in 2011-Q2 was $126,780, 5.36% lower than 2010-Q2 versus Texas as a whole which had an average price of $201,288, or 4.6% higher than the second quarter of 2010.

The decrease in the average price of Killeen-Ft Hood, Texas homes seems to indicates more activity among lower priced homes. This interest in lower priced homes includes many investors buying foreclosed and distressed properties at below market value. Investors are returning to real estate as a preferred investment vehicle due to instability in other investments, such as stocks and bonds. 

Another important market indicator is the inventory of homes available for sale compared with the demand to

buy homes. The Killeen-Ft Hood area had 7.1 months of inventory in the second quarter of 2011 compared to 6.9 months in Q2-2010. Statewide, Texas had 8.1 month of inventory in the second quarter of 2011 versus 7.2 months of inventory in the second quarter of 2010.  A market with 6 to 9 months of inventory is considered to be in balance.

To find out more about the Killeen-Ft Hood real estate market or for information on how you can take advantage of these great home prices, please visit http://www.overallrealtor.com/ or call me today at 254-394-6637.