December 2, 2024 • 18 mins
🎙️ Podcast Episode: Navigating the Dallas-Fort Worth Housing Market with Letitia Wilkerson 🎙️
In this episode, we sit down with Letitia Wilkerson, a seasoned real estate broker with EXP Realty, to explore the dynamic Dallas-Fort Worth housing market. Letitia brings her expertise in working with both homebuyers and sellers in one of the nation’s hottest real estate markets.
Tune in as Letitia shares Current market trends in Dallas-Fort Worth, Her approach to guiding first-time homebuyers and experienced sellers and Key tips for out-of-state buyers looking to make the DFW area zip code their home.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's move to Texas. And if we're going to do that,
let's talk to Laticia Wilkerson at Laticia Wilkerson real estate. Hello,
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Latisha. Hello. How are
you today? I'm great. And
yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm doing just terrific. Thank you so much for asking. So,
let's talk a little bit about Texas, the Dallas Fort
Worth area. If I'm being perfectly honest about it, I've
been to Dallas a couple of times, but it was
for conventions and, and, you know, as well as I
do in that environment
really don't get out of the downtown area. Let's talk
about what it's like living in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, I actually love living here and obviously a lot
of other people do too because I believe in the
last say four years, there's over 3 million people have
moved to the Dallas Fort Worth area. So, um, it's
getting a little crowded here. I've relocated several people in
that length of time.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Do you think COVID had anything to do with sort
of the, the population shift coming your way?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, I think at first it was because the cost
of living was very reasonable, but because of those moves
and uh people coming from the east coast and the
west coast where uh property is much more expensive. They
came and made the prices go up.
(01:23):
So, so we're not as affordable as we used to be.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So, would you call it a buyer's market or a
seller's market these days?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Right now,
I'm gonna say it's more of a buyer's market.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
What's the average time that uh some of your properties
are staying on the market?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Mm, anywhere from 45 to 90 days.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And you mentioned the economy of the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Talk a little bit about uh that these days the
cost of living and, and how are things going in
the marketplace?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, the economy is pretty good because everywhere you go
they are hiring. So there's plenty of jobs here. Housing
market price point,
they're not going back to the price point. It was
for 2020 but they're not rising like they were in
2022
2021 2022. You know, you were, there were people that
(02:19):
had bought a house, say in 2019 that sold in
2022 and made 100 $150,000 off those houses.
That's just how high they went up in a very
short period of time. So it's made it a little
bit difficult, especially since the interest rates came up. And
the interest rates being as low as they were then
(02:40):
had a big impact. On the price point as well.
So now that the interest rates have went up, prices
have stopped going up. Actually what you could get for
a house two years ago you can't get for, you
can't get the same price point. Right now.
Builders here are given incredible incentives. I mean, anywhere from
(03:00):
10 to $25,000 buying down interest rates, uh dropping price
points right now, I've had so many people get some
amazing deals in the last couple of months. It's, it's
unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And since you brought it up, let's talk a little
bit about whether the houses that are on the market
these days are new build or, or if they are uh,
already uh pre owned homes.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, the new builds and the builders are giving the
pre-existing owners a run for their money right now because
they can offer so much as far as the incentives
that regular homeowners can't offer because depending on what their
situation is, they may not have enough equity in it
to offer what the builders are offering. So, for example,
(03:47):
you got a builder that has dropped their prices and
they're offering 45,000 in incentives to go and you could
use it however you want to use it where a preexistence,
a homeowner can't do that.
So of course, the pre-existing homes are staying on the
market longer than builders, the new
bills.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And I know as a fuller realtor that, that every
buyer is, is different and every seller is different and
until you spend some time talking to them about what
it is they're attempting to do you, you can't, you know,
really be very, very specific. But, but in general terms,
these days, what are you seeing for trends in what
buyers are looking for in Texas?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
They're looking for affordability, one thing. So a lot of
people are, oh, I'm gonna wait to the interest rate
drop and it's never going back to where it was
three years ago. It'll never happen again. Two and 3%
interest rates never.
Uh, however, um,
we've been in the sevens last year, we were like
(04:49):
over a point higher than we are right now. So
it is a little bit more affordable and the homes
have become more affordable because the appreciation has stopped. Like
what we've seen happen two or three years ago is
not currently going on.
Um,
but at the same time, it's a lot of, they
(05:11):
just can't afford these interest rates in those notes right now.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
But the reality is, and you said it yourself, nothing
is going to go back to those prices of a
few years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Nothing. And so what I've been doing on my end
and so I really, I'm gonna do what's best for
my client and right now what has been best for
them and has worked for me is to take them
to the new bills
to get inventory homes not necessarily building from the ground
up but homes that are brand new that the builder
(05:44):
has already built because they're offering such amazing incentives that
the pre-existing you just can't compete.
Now, if you have a pre-existing house on the market
right now, it needs to be, they need to step
with their best. I'm telling clients that are coming to me,
be prepared to pay some kind of closing calls to
be able to offer the buyers something or else your
(06:07):
house is gonna sit on the market. That's proven to
be true. It's unfortunate, you know, it's very unfortunate because
there are people out here that uh are having issues
or having problems because everything is expensive.
Um And they taxes, the property taxes here in Texas
is an issue as well. So I try to guide
(06:29):
my people to what's gonna work best for them and
getting them interest rates, buy downs to make their note
monthly note more affordable. Um And that's what I really,
really try to do. Um because that's what's important to people,
that monthly bill, that monthly note.
(06:51):
So whatever I can do in my expertise is to
get them some money paid from the sellers so that
they can either buy the rate down or they could
save money in their pocket by not having to bring
20 more $1000 to the closing table. So I'm just,
I have to adjust to whatever the market is issuing
(07:11):
us at that time.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Are there any particular places or pockets of, of new
build homes that you're sort of concentrating on these days?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Oh,
my God, they're everywhere. Texas is growing so fast. All
the little towns are just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. So,
this kind of depends on the client. If they're in there,
they work from home,
which a lot of people do these days, they're not
as cautious as where they need to be. They're gonna
(07:41):
go where the price is best and things like that.
But I do have those people that are still driving
into work,
the traffic with the 3 million more people that have
moved to the area in the last few years. It's
made people way more cautious of where they're living as
to where they were. Didn't used to be that way.
It was like, ok, as long as it's a 30 minute,
(08:03):
no more than 45 minute ride. We're good. Well, now
those 30 minute rides have turned into hour rides. So
people are way more cautious of,
um, where they're living. But the further out you go,
the less expensive the home is.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So what are some of the outlying areas and towns that,
that you'd be recommending these days?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Um, I would go like Ennis for Ferris. If you're
going out east, there's Rockwall, there's Forney, there's Crandall.
Uh, if you wanna go out north, there's, um, several
different cities out that way, just a little small, used
to be small, but they're growing because builders are building
(08:42):
up all of those areas and they're making them less
expensive
to live in. So it's pushing people for that. You
got those people that want to be in the city.
They're trying to educate them on most major cities. The
closer you get to downtown, the more expensive it's gonna
be.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
How about your best advice for first time homebuyers?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I try to get them in the situation, make sure
that you have some money saved, make sure that you
uh get your credit to the highest capacity that you
can work on. That, put some money up so that
you don't feel overwhelmed because you're going from,
you know, rent where it's somebody else's responsibility because there
(09:26):
is things that, you know, come up on a home
that you can't call anybody to come fix anymore, that's
gonna be your responsibility. So I just like them to
be in a better position to know have your credit good.
So you can get the best possible interest rate. You
can't save some money so that you just not house
poor when you first get out there. But there is
(09:49):
a few programs that are um
out here that can help kind of help with your
down payment assistance and things like that. But I like
to educate them on, on a lot of things. Make
sure that you get your homesteads in place because I've
had clients that come back to me three years later,
they never filed their homestead. Well, you have wasted a
lot of money because that's gonna help with your monthly mortgage.
(10:14):
The amount of money that you're paying in taxes. Um,
basically just trying to educate them on the responsibility of
being a homeowner.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Can you explain a little bit more about those homesteads?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The homestead is when that house is where you first
e say that's where I'm gonna lay my head. This
is where I call home. So in the state of Texas,
you get a discount when you file a homestead on
a property
and it decreased the amount of property taxes that you're
paying
Speaker 1 (10:44):
without filing that homestead, you'd be paying more in taxes.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You pay more in taxes if you do not file
that
Speaker 1 (10:50):
homestead and that's probably not something that a first time
buyer would know all on their own. Is it?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
No? Well, I try to make sure everybody that walks
away from that closing table. You, if I'm representing you,
you know about it. But it seems like people get
brain frogs after that day for whatever reason, then they
call me. But I'm always here to assist people whether
it be 23 years, uh or however long ago.
So if you have questions, I don't mind answering them,
(11:19):
but I make sure that everybody walk away from that
table knowing you need to file a homestead and you
used to have to wait till the first of the year. Now,
you can file them as soon as you get that
driver's license, that address on your driver's license change to
that home that you're considering your homestead.
Once you get that driver's license changed, you immediately file
(11:40):
your homestead and it will go into effect
as soon as you file it with whatever county at
the appraisal districts, with whatever county that your home is in.
As soon as you do that, they're gonna reach out
to the mortgage company, they're gonna show them where your
property taxes have been decreased because you have filed your homestead.
(12:01):
So it can save you anywhere from 100 to 250
of just depending on what price point and what your
taxes are. But that's in the long run. You're saving
a lot of money
Speaker 1 (12:12):
and you'll get those property tax savings every year.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Right. Yeah, absolutely.
Until you buy another home or put your homestead on
another home, you can only have one home that has
a homestead. Any of you have multiple properties. The only
one that you will get a homestead on is the
one you live in. You will pay regular taxes on
any investment properties or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
And with all the people moving to the Dallas Fort
Worth area, what's your best advice these days for people
that are in the market to sell their homes
Speaker 2 (12:45):
right now, this market you better put your best foot forward.
I'm gonna say declutter, try to make any kind of
necessary repairs that you normally know of. You know, if
you wanna paint things like that, unless you are planning
or you're good with taking a decrease in price point
from what your market value is. But if you're trying
(13:05):
to get market market value for your home, I would
say make it look like you would want it to
look if you were buying a house.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And how about for somebody who's looking for some investment property?
What's your best advice to them these
days?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Um Me
because I do a lot of that as well. A lot.
I do some off property marketing, uh homes and stuff
like that, that people just don't want to be bothered,
you know, trying to repair anything, they don't wanna repair anything.
They know they're not gonna get market value, but they
need to get what they can get and go call me.
(13:42):
Now you do get some of those on MLS that
people have actually
put out there, but you're gonna have probably have, if
it's a good deal, you're gonna have multiple offers multiple
and you're gonna be fighting against everybody else. But I
would say call me because I can get you around
all
that.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Let's talk a little bit about folks that are, are
considering moving
to the Dallas Fort Worth area. What, what other than
call you, which we know is good advice what other
advice would you, you have for someone that maybe has
never been to DFW at all and, and maybe for
work or family reasons is considering moving to the area.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Well, you know what, I've noticed most people that come here,
they may complain but they end up loving it because
you got good restaurants, good food.
There's so many different places that you can, you, you
would probably wanna do a good tour of the Dallas
Fort Worth in the surrounding areas to see what fits
(14:39):
best for you. I always tell people, ok, this is
what you're telling me you want. This is the price point.
You're telling me that you wanna be in, these are
the areas that I consider you to look at because
like I said earlier, the closer you get to downtown Dallas, the,
the closer you get to downtown Fort Worth, the more
expensive things are.
So if you're looking for something that's affordable more than likely,
(15:01):
you're gonna have to go further out the job market
I think is pretty good here. I don't think we
have a high unemployment rate or anything. Now, I don't
quote me on that, but I really don't think so
because everywhere I go they're hiring doctor's offices, restaurants, post office,
everybody's hiring around here. Look at what, what it has
(15:22):
to offer as far as a job and the kind
of wages that you need to earn
and then you just gotta kind of, spend a couple
of days here and see which area of town because
there's so much to choose from. Dallas Fort Worth area
is huge in the south in the surrounding areas. Dallas
Fort Worth Houston. That's a, a lot. It's, it's the,
(15:44):
the landscape is humongous. So what some people like about
some area towns, other people don't. So the first thing
I would do is to talk to my agent, tell
them what you're looking for. What, what are the needs
that you have? What do you need to be close to?
Or if you don't like living close to people,
(16:04):
you know, I have to sit down and get all
that from a person, then I can kind of figure
out where they may be comfortable at that is gonna
have the properties and the price point that they're looking for,
Speaker 1 (16:16):
you mentioned a whole list of towns outside of the,
the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex area.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Go
on and on. It's, it's so many, it's just it.
Now a lot of times I'm gonna tell you this
when you get a lot of people because Dallas is
full of people. That's not from here. Very few people
that you meet here are actually from here. So you're
gonna get a lot of people. Oh, don't go south.
Hold on. But that's not true. That's what they were telling.
(16:42):
So once upon a time, but uh South actually offers
you a lot because you can have the same identical
house out north and then you have it out here
and it may be 100 and $50,000 less and the
neighborhoods may be even better looking. So I, I just,
you know, you gotta, people have to get where they're
comfortable at, but I would definitely spend a couple of
(17:03):
days going, um, searching all around the area
to see what fits best for them.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Do you have one or two towns that are your favorites?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I actually like over here where I live, I li
I love Mansfield uh South Grand Prairie area, but we
got the boom in Mid Lothian, we got the booming
and now let me stop there. But Mansfield, a lo
a lot of people love Mansfield. It's right here close
to or
Arlington as well. So you know where the Cowboys Stadium
and all that, that's just right down the freeway from
(17:34):
where I live. So I consider where I live is
has access to many other cities. But booming right now
is the Midlothian Waxahatchee, Ferris Ennis,
uh Rockwall Forney Crandle. There's just so many surrounding areas
I can go on and on about the little different
towns that you never used to hear of. But now
(17:56):
that you hear about them all the time, we have
an area um it's kind of northwest of Fort Worth
called Godley. And man, that little area is booming right
now and a couple of years ago, you never heard
of it.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
So, Latisha, what's the best way to get in touch
with you?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
My business line is 4694410153. My website is Latisha Wilkerson
Real estate.com
and uh email address is Latisha dot Wilkerson at exp
realty dot
Speaker 1 (18:28):
com. All right, Latisha Wilkerson, Latisha Wilkerson real Estate. We
thank you so much for your insights. We thank you
for spending time
Speaker 2 (18:35):
with us. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure
for
Speaker 1 (18:38):
let's move to Texas. I'm Mark Erickson.
Let's move to Texas. And if we're going to do that,
let's talk to Laticia Wilkerson at Laticia Wilkerson real estate. Hello,
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Latisha. Hello. How are
you today? I'm great. And
yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm doing just terrific. Thank you so much for asking. So,
let's talk a little bit about Texas, the Dallas Fort
Worth area. If I'm being perfectly honest about it, I've
been to Dallas a couple of times, but it was
for conventions and, and, you know, as well as I
do in that environment
really don't get out of the downtown area. Let's talk
about what it's like living in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, I actually love living here and obviously a lot
of other people do too because I believe in the
last say four years, there's over 3 million people have
moved to the Dallas Fort Worth area. So, um, it's
getting a little crowded here. I've relocated several people in
that length of time.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Do you think COVID had anything to do with sort
of the, the population shift coming your way?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, I think at first it was because the cost
of living was very reasonable, but because of those moves
and uh people coming from the east coast and the
west coast where uh property is much more expensive. They
came and made the prices go up.
(01:23):
So, so we're not as affordable as we used to be.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So, would you call it a buyer's market or a
seller's market these days?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Right now,
I'm gonna say it's more of a buyer's market.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
What's the average time that uh some of your properties
are staying on the market?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Mm, anywhere from 45 to 90 days.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And you mentioned the economy of the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Talk a little bit about uh that these days the
cost of living and, and how are things going in
the marketplace?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, the economy is pretty good because everywhere you go
they are hiring. So there's plenty of jobs here. Housing
market price point,
they're not going back to the price point. It was
for 2020 but they're not rising like they were in
2022
2021 2022. You know, you were, there were people that
(02:19):
had bought a house, say in 2019 that sold in
2022 and made 100 $150,000 off those houses.
That's just how high they went up in a very
short period of time. So it's made it a little
bit difficult, especially since the interest rates came up. And
the interest rates being as low as they were then
(02:40):
had a big impact. On the price point as well.
So now that the interest rates have went up, prices
have stopped going up. Actually what you could get for
a house two years ago you can't get for, you
can't get the same price point. Right now.
Builders here are given incredible incentives. I mean, anywhere from
(03:00):
10 to $25,000 buying down interest rates, uh dropping price
points right now, I've had so many people get some
amazing deals in the last couple of months. It's, it's
unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And since you brought it up, let's talk a little
bit about whether the houses that are on the market
these days are new build or, or if they are uh,
already uh pre owned homes.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, the new builds and the builders are giving the
pre-existing owners a run for their money right now because
they can offer so much as far as the incentives
that regular homeowners can't offer because depending on what their
situation is, they may not have enough equity in it
to offer what the builders are offering. So, for example,
(03:47):
you got a builder that has dropped their prices and
they're offering 45,000 in incentives to go and you could
use it however you want to use it where a preexistence,
a homeowner can't do that.
So of course, the pre-existing homes are staying on the
market longer than builders, the new
bills.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And I know as a fuller realtor that, that every
buyer is, is different and every seller is different and
until you spend some time talking to them about what
it is they're attempting to do you, you can't, you know,
really be very, very specific. But, but in general terms,
these days, what are you seeing for trends in what
buyers are looking for in Texas?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
They're looking for affordability, one thing. So a lot of
people are, oh, I'm gonna wait to the interest rate
drop and it's never going back to where it was
three years ago. It'll never happen again. Two and 3%
interest rates never.
Uh, however, um,
we've been in the sevens last year, we were like
(04:49):
over a point higher than we are right now. So
it is a little bit more affordable and the homes
have become more affordable because the appreciation has stopped. Like
what we've seen happen two or three years ago is
not currently going on.
Um,
but at the same time, it's a lot of, they
(05:11):
just can't afford these interest rates in those notes right now.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
But the reality is, and you said it yourself, nothing
is going to go back to those prices of a
few years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Nothing. And so what I've been doing on my end
and so I really, I'm gonna do what's best for
my client and right now what has been best for
them and has worked for me is to take them
to the new bills
to get inventory homes not necessarily building from the ground
up but homes that are brand new that the builder
(05:44):
has already built because they're offering such amazing incentives that
the pre-existing you just can't compete.
Now, if you have a pre-existing house on the market
right now, it needs to be, they need to step
with their best. I'm telling clients that are coming to me,
be prepared to pay some kind of closing calls to
be able to offer the buyers something or else your
(06:07):
house is gonna sit on the market. That's proven to
be true. It's unfortunate, you know, it's very unfortunate because
there are people out here that uh are having issues
or having problems because everything is expensive.
Um And they taxes, the property taxes here in Texas
is an issue as well. So I try to guide
(06:29):
my people to what's gonna work best for them and
getting them interest rates, buy downs to make their note
monthly note more affordable. Um And that's what I really,
really try to do. Um because that's what's important to people,
that monthly bill, that monthly note.
(06:51):
So whatever I can do in my expertise is to
get them some money paid from the sellers so that
they can either buy the rate down or they could
save money in their pocket by not having to bring
20 more $1000 to the closing table. So I'm just,
I have to adjust to whatever the market is issuing
(07:11):
us at that time.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Are there any particular places or pockets of, of new
build homes that you're sort of concentrating on these days?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Oh,
my God, they're everywhere. Texas is growing so fast. All
the little towns are just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. So,
this kind of depends on the client. If they're in there,
they work from home,
which a lot of people do these days, they're not
as cautious as where they need to be. They're gonna
(07:41):
go where the price is best and things like that.
But I do have those people that are still driving
into work,
the traffic with the 3 million more people that have
moved to the area in the last few years. It's
made people way more cautious of where they're living as
to where they were. Didn't used to be that way.
It was like, ok, as long as it's a 30 minute,
(08:03):
no more than 45 minute ride. We're good. Well, now
those 30 minute rides have turned into hour rides. So
people are way more cautious of,
um, where they're living. But the further out you go,
the less expensive the home is.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So what are some of the outlying areas and towns that,
that you'd be recommending these days?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Um, I would go like Ennis for Ferris. If you're
going out east, there's Rockwall, there's Forney, there's Crandall.
Uh, if you wanna go out north, there's, um, several
different cities out that way, just a little small, used
to be small, but they're growing because builders are building
(08:42):
up all of those areas and they're making them less
expensive
to live in. So it's pushing people for that. You
got those people that want to be in the city.
They're trying to educate them on most major cities. The
closer you get to downtown, the more expensive it's gonna
be.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
How about your best advice for first time homebuyers?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I try to get them in the situation, make sure
that you have some money saved, make sure that you
uh get your credit to the highest capacity that you
can work on. That, put some money up so that
you don't feel overwhelmed because you're going from,
you know, rent where it's somebody else's responsibility because there
(09:26):
is things that, you know, come up on a home
that you can't call anybody to come fix anymore, that's
gonna be your responsibility. So I just like them to
be in a better position to know have your credit good.
So you can get the best possible interest rate. You
can't save some money so that you just not house
poor when you first get out there. But there is
(09:49):
a few programs that are um
out here that can help kind of help with your
down payment assistance and things like that. But I like
to educate them on, on a lot of things. Make
sure that you get your homesteads in place because I've
had clients that come back to me three years later,
they never filed their homestead. Well, you have wasted a
lot of money because that's gonna help with your monthly mortgage.
(10:14):
The amount of money that you're paying in taxes. Um,
basically just trying to educate them on the responsibility of
being a homeowner.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Can you explain a little bit more about those homesteads?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The homestead is when that house is where you first
e say that's where I'm gonna lay my head. This
is where I call home. So in the state of Texas,
you get a discount when you file a homestead on
a property
and it decreased the amount of property taxes that you're
paying
Speaker 1 (10:44):
without filing that homestead, you'd be paying more in taxes.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You pay more in taxes if you do not file
that
Speaker 1 (10:50):
homestead and that's probably not something that a first time
buyer would know all on their own. Is it?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
No? Well, I try to make sure everybody that walks
away from that closing table. You, if I'm representing you,
you know about it. But it seems like people get
brain frogs after that day for whatever reason, then they
call me. But I'm always here to assist people whether
it be 23 years, uh or however long ago.
So if you have questions, I don't mind answering them,
(11:19):
but I make sure that everybody walk away from that
table knowing you need to file a homestead and you
used to have to wait till the first of the year. Now,
you can file them as soon as you get that
driver's license, that address on your driver's license change to
that home that you're considering your homestead.
Once you get that driver's license changed, you immediately file
(11:40):
your homestead and it will go into effect
as soon as you file it with whatever county at
the appraisal districts, with whatever county that your home is in.
As soon as you do that, they're gonna reach out
to the mortgage company, they're gonna show them where your
property taxes have been decreased because you have filed your homestead.
(12:01):
So it can save you anywhere from 100 to 250
of just depending on what price point and what your
taxes are. But that's in the long run. You're saving
a lot of money
Speaker 1 (12:12):
and you'll get those property tax savings every year.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Right. Yeah, absolutely.
Until you buy another home or put your homestead on
another home, you can only have one home that has
a homestead. Any of you have multiple properties. The only
one that you will get a homestead on is the
one you live in. You will pay regular taxes on
any investment properties or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
And with all the people moving to the Dallas Fort
Worth area, what's your best advice these days for people
that are in the market to sell their homes
Speaker 2 (12:45):
right now, this market you better put your best foot forward.
I'm gonna say declutter, try to make any kind of
necessary repairs that you normally know of. You know, if
you wanna paint things like that, unless you are planning
or you're good with taking a decrease in price point
from what your market value is. But if you're trying
(13:05):
to get market market value for your home, I would
say make it look like you would want it to
look if you were buying a house.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And how about for somebody who's looking for some investment property?
What's your best advice to them these
days?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Um Me
because I do a lot of that as well. A lot.
I do some off property marketing, uh homes and stuff
like that, that people just don't want to be bothered,
you know, trying to repair anything, they don't wanna repair anything.
They know they're not gonna get market value, but they
need to get what they can get and go call me.
(13:42):
Now you do get some of those on MLS that
people have actually
put out there, but you're gonna have probably have, if
it's a good deal, you're gonna have multiple offers multiple
and you're gonna be fighting against everybody else. But I
would say call me because I can get you around
all
that.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Let's talk a little bit about folks that are, are
considering moving
to the Dallas Fort Worth area. What, what other than
call you, which we know is good advice what other
advice would you, you have for someone that maybe has
never been to DFW at all and, and maybe for
work or family reasons is considering moving to the area.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Well, you know what, I've noticed most people that come here,
they may complain but they end up loving it because
you got good restaurants, good food.
There's so many different places that you can, you, you
would probably wanna do a good tour of the Dallas
Fort Worth in the surrounding areas to see what fits
(14:39):
best for you. I always tell people, ok, this is
what you're telling me you want. This is the price point.
You're telling me that you wanna be in, these are
the areas that I consider you to look at because
like I said earlier, the closer you get to downtown Dallas, the,
the closer you get to downtown Fort Worth, the more
expensive things are.
So if you're looking for something that's affordable more than likely,
(15:01):
you're gonna have to go further out the job market
I think is pretty good here. I don't think we
have a high unemployment rate or anything. Now, I don't
quote me on that, but I really don't think so
because everywhere I go they're hiring doctor's offices, restaurants, post office,
everybody's hiring around here. Look at what, what it has
(15:22):
to offer as far as a job and the kind
of wages that you need to earn
and then you just gotta kind of, spend a couple
of days here and see which area of town because
there's so much to choose from. Dallas Fort Worth area
is huge in the south in the surrounding areas. Dallas
Fort Worth Houston. That's a, a lot. It's, it's the,
(15:44):
the landscape is humongous. So what some people like about
some area towns, other people don't. So the first thing
I would do is to talk to my agent, tell
them what you're looking for. What, what are the needs
that you have? What do you need to be close to?
Or if you don't like living close to people,
(16:04):
you know, I have to sit down and get all
that from a person, then I can kind of figure
out where they may be comfortable at that is gonna
have the properties and the price point that they're looking for,
Speaker 1 (16:16):
you mentioned a whole list of towns outside of the,
the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex area.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Go
on and on. It's, it's so many, it's just it.
Now a lot of times I'm gonna tell you this
when you get a lot of people because Dallas is
full of people. That's not from here. Very few people
that you meet here are actually from here. So you're
gonna get a lot of people. Oh, don't go south.
Hold on. But that's not true. That's what they were telling.
(16:42):
So once upon a time, but uh South actually offers
you a lot because you can have the same identical
house out north and then you have it out here
and it may be 100 and $50,000 less and the
neighborhoods may be even better looking. So I, I just,
you know, you gotta, people have to get where they're
comfortable at, but I would definitely spend a couple of
(17:03):
days going, um, searching all around the area
to see what fits best for them.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Do you have one or two towns that are your favorites?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I actually like over here where I live, I li
I love Mansfield uh South Grand Prairie area, but we
got the boom in Mid Lothian, we got the booming
and now let me stop there. But Mansfield, a lo
a lot of people love Mansfield. It's right here close
to or
Arlington as well. So you know where the Cowboys Stadium
and all that, that's just right down the freeway from
(17:34):
where I live. So I consider where I live is
has access to many other cities. But booming right now
is the Midlothian Waxahatchee, Ferris Ennis,
uh Rockwall Forney Crandle. There's just so many surrounding areas
I can go on and on about the little different
towns that you never used to hear of. But now
(17:56):
that you hear about them all the time, we have
an area um it's kind of northwest of Fort Worth
called Godley. And man, that little area is booming right
now and a couple of years ago, you never heard
of it.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
So, Latisha, what's the best way to get in touch
with you?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
My business line is 4694410153. My website is Latisha Wilkerson
Real estate.com
and uh email address is Latisha dot Wilkerson at exp
realty dot
Speaker 1 (18:28):
com. All right, Latisha Wilkerson, Latisha Wilkerson real Estate. We
thank you so much for your insights. We thank you
for spending time
Speaker 2 (18:35):
with us. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure
for
Speaker 1 (18:38):
let's move to Texas. I'm Mark Erickson.
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