Whar's the Beef? you say...It's in Allen, Texas of course!   Katie and I attended the 2010 Rancher's Reserve Cattle Drive festivities culminating at the Allen Event Center this morning.  The cattle drive is one of the FREE activities associated with the Texas Stampede Event.  In its 10th year, the Texas Stampede has helped thousands of families by raising money for Children's Medical Center of Dallas.  This is the first year it will be held in Allen, Texas.  The American Airlines Center in Dallas hosted the first 9 events.   I welcome this event to the community as a volunteer, but also because my family has personally benefited from the excellent medical care at Children's.  It's a cause I can believe in!     Of course, this beef would be about as tender as 3-day-old boots fresh off th... 10/27/2010

Rancher's Reserve Steaks and Tom Thumb are teaming up with Texas Stampede to bring the Longhorn Cattle Drive to Allen, Texas on Wednesday, October 27th. The herd will arrive at The Village at Allen a little after 11:00am and will end at the Allen Event Center at 11:30am. If you want to experience the wild west, this here cattle drive is a great start! So, grab the little buckaroos, your boots and get ready. It's about to get western! The cattle drive is part of the events of the Texas Stampede in Allen, TX November 12-13, 2010. It is a FREE event for all to enjoy! 10/24/2010

Elle Realty hosted its 3rd Home Buyer Workshop in conjunction with the Texas Association of REALTORS last night in Allen, TX.  Attendees received valuable information about programs that are available to assist them, financing information, credit score requirements, homeowner's and title insurance products, and the general process involved in purchasing a home.  Afterwards, they met with the real estate professionals and developed a plan to obtain their personal goals.  Here are just a few highlights from the workshop:   Craig Fulton, Branch Manager of Ovation Home Loans, shared information about loan products available, guidelines for obtaining each one of those types of loans, and expectations for buyers regarding the process of the loan origination.  He answered multiple questions fr... 10/22/2010

When Life Gets This Good!     Life at the TOP can be good!   ~~ We all love to be at the TOP! Whether it's in our careers or our family lives! ~~ Keeping on TOP of the housing market is what I do best! Call or Text for a housing market analysis in your neighborhood today.   10/20/2010

The Pumpkin Festival is a FREE event, open to the public and will include a variety of fall-themed activities for the entire family.  All events will take place in The Grove, which will be filled with thousands of pounds of pumpkins!   When: Saturday, October 23Where: The Grove at the Village at Allan on Stacy Road and Hwy 75 Pumpkin House * Pumpkin Decorating * Face Painting * Balloon Art Story Time * 2:30 and 3:30PMYour guests are invites to join us for fall-themed storiesPumpkin HockeyPumpkin Hockey with The Allen American's Ice AngelsPie Eating Contest * 4:00PMEach participant will be given an entire pumpkin pie loaded with whipped cream to consume in under 90 seconds.Canine Costume PartyFour-legged friends are invited to play in Canine Commons Dog Park and show off the Halloween Co... 10/14/2010

If you're a "Real Housewife of Collin County", then you KNOW birthday parties. Or at least you SHOULD. Birthday parties are big business nowadays. But if you're NEW to Collin County you may not have the foggiest idea of some great places to celebrate your little one's birthdays. The fact that you're reading this blog means you're IN LUCK. I just so happen to have hostessed not one but TWO birthday parties this past weekend. SCORE! Birthday party #1: For: My 9 year old, Mason Where: The Rodenbaugh Natatorium in Allen, TX When: Friday night, from 6 to 8. The scoop: Combine FIFTEEN eight and nine year old boys with the sugar/carb mix that comes from ice cream cake and cake balls. Add to that some sugary juice and pizza. Energy IN must equal energy OUT, correct? YES! That's where the marvel... 10/05/2010

The ALLEN WRANGLERS are the one of newest teams to be added to the IFL (Indoor Football League), making the league of 25 teams one of the hottest tickets in town.  Miko Jennings, VP of Marketing & Sales with the Wranglers announced the team name and Allen as the host city yesterday in a press release.   The Wranglers will play home games at the Allen Event Center, beginning in March 2011.  For season tickets and more information, the team website www.allenwranglers.com will be available soon.    The complete 2011 schedule will be released October 15, 2010.  Adding an indoor football team to the Allen Event Center gives the hometown crowd one more exciting team to rally behind.  It also makes Allen more than a nice place to visit....it's a great place to BE! 10/01/2010

Home Staging Tips: Define the Room: Dining Room before and after I had the pleasure of helping a homeowner stage the dining room in her Allen, TX house.  As you can see from the photo below, the room was used for many activities except for dining.   Tip: When staging your home, it's important to define each room, in other words, tell potential buyers how the room should be used by placing specific furnishings in the room.  That way they can imagine themselves living in the home. Our goals for the room: 1.  Clear out the clutter, including the personal items and collections 2.  Maximize the architectural details 3.  Maximize the square footage 4.  Define this room as the formal dining room This is how the dining room looked after we staged it: This is what we did: 1.  Took the table and ... 09/30/2010

Hi, my name is Katie and I am a much-loved Miniature Schnauzer who calls Allen, Texas home.  I love living in Allen as much as my humans do.       One of the main reasons I love living in Allen is because of a place that I can enjoy in a very special way.  Canine Commons, located in the center of The Village at Allen Shopping Center, is a 2-acre, fenced-in, off-leash dog park.  It is divided into a smaller section for pups 20 lbs and under (me) and a larger area for the Big Guys (visited occasionally).  Unlike other area dog parks, there are 350 trees to provide shade and comfort during the summer months (not to mention fixtures to be appreciated as only we dogs can), there are water fountains, picnic tables, and trash cans scattered throughout.  Dogs have a chance to exercise, play, an... 09/29/2010

Wow!  Yesterday I received a comment on the blog I wrote about Cabela's coming to Allen, Texas from a guy named Mark Develde who said that he was excited about that and would like to add the store information to his website.  I thought "ok...cool" and went on with my business.  This morning I re-read the comment for some reason and decided to look at his website.  WOW!!!  Is an understatement!!  Mark and his partner are developing a website that lists all businesses and things to do in Allen.  No wait...that's not correct.  They are developing a VIRTUAL TOUR of every restaurant, business, park, and activity center in the town.  A visitor (or any resident for that matter) can see the storefront, inside views, and know exactly what to expect when they visit that place of business.  How co... 09/28/2010

The 2-Story, Hunting-Fishing-Boating-Camping-Outdoors Megastore will open its 100,000 square-foot store on 14 acres of land off Cabela's Drive, just south of the Village at Allen shopping center in May 2011.  It will not only create 120 new jobs, but will also aid the City of Allen in its continuous efforts to lower property taxes.  Part of the 15-year contract includes a requirement that Cabela's will make minimum annual sales of $40 million in taxable items, or pay a penalty.  With the addition of Cabela's to Allen's retail base, the AEDC has been able to decrease the property tax rate for the 17th year in a row.  That makes Allen a great choice for homebuyers wishing to re-locate to the DFW area.  Today, we drove an hour to attend a crappie fishing seminar presented by a local fishin... 09/25/2010

When searching the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), I'm often amazed to find listings with one or no photos. I wonder how the listing agents expect to effectively market the properties. There was a time when this was not a big issue but those times have passed. We need to take a look at where we were to understand where we are now and why photos are so important. There was a time when the MLS was simply a computerized tool to share listings with other REALTORs replacing the listing books of days past. As time went on, brokers started displaying the listings of other brokers on their web sites through the Internet Data Exchange (IDX) protocol. These IDX search portals allowed the public to access all active listings within a particular MLS. As Internet usage grew, so did the utilization ... 09/23/2010

I've written about the ineffective nature of Open Houses in our market place on more than one occasion.  I'm beginning to think that Broker Opens are even less effective these days.  We decided to hold a Broker Open today on one of our listings.  We sent out over 13,000 emails (there is company that emails agents in our market), listed it in the MLS as a broker open, dropped off flyers at the offices closest to the event, and had a couple of our business partners with huge Facebook followings advertise it for us. We offered a free lunch and a drawing for a $100 VISA card. Today we picked up the food, placed signs out to direct people to the property, set up our inflatable RE/MAX Balloon on the front lawn, and got the home into "Show Ready" condition. One of our team agents and I procee... 09/15/2010

Coming to Allen in November, the Texas Stampede Rodeo supports Children's Hospital in Dallas by inviting the top guys and gals in the rodeo circuit to compete for great prizes while raising money for an awesome cause.  For the first 9 years, the event has been held at the American Airlines Center downtown Dallas.  This year, it will move to the Allen Event Center on November 12-13, 2010.  There will also be a cattle drive down the streets of Allen!  Tickets are now available to enjoy the rodeo excitement, as well as great shopping and music.  Dierks Bentley will be in concert on the 12th and Montgomery Gentry will perform on the 13th.  To get your tickets or find more information, visit www.texasstampede.org.  Don't forget your boots! 09/10/2010

Regardless of the reasons used to explain the current mortgage crisis in the United States, the grim reality is that more homeowners are in financial distress than at any other time in the history of residential real estate, according to the Distressed Property Institute.  Hence, real estate Short Sales.  If you're not yet familiar with them, you soon will be.  They are reshaping the way lenders liquidate homes in default.  Historically, these homes would simply be foreclosed upon.  Today, the Short Sale offers a favorable alternative. Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary defines a Short Sale as, "a sale of a house in which the proceeds fall short of what the owner still owes on the mortgage."  The lender decides that selling the house at a moderate loss results in less loss and expense... 08/30/2010

Welcome to Allen, Texas! Our residents enjoy a wholesome community atmosphere with something for everyone. The City boasts an award-winning park system featuring neighborhood and community parks, hike and bike trails, and greenbelts. City facilities include a 27-hole public golf course, a large fitness and aquatic center, a recreation center, youth center and extreme sports park, a senior recreation center and a 54,000 square feet public library.Allen ISD offers a diversified curriculum with 13 elementary schools, three middle schools, a freshman center and a high school. The high school campus (582,000 square feet) features an on-site Collin County Community College campus.Residents have access to excellent medical care with five hospitals in a ten mile radius. A variety of health and ... 08/22/2010

WINNER Top 100 rank: 16Population: 84,000 Compare Allen to Top 10 Best PlacesThis town is a 30-minute drive from downtown Dallas, so it's no surprise that many residents work in the big city. When not at the office, they have plenty to do right at home; Allen has a symphony, a ballet, malls, and even its own minor league hockey team. Parents appreciate the top-rated school system and low crime rate. Their children appreciate MTV-featured "The Edge" -- one of the largest outdoor skate parks in the nation. --J.S. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2010/snapshots/PL4801924.html   08/15/2010

Allen TX - Market Report - July 2010 The median price of homes sold went up to $236,278 in July from $200,500 in June. The median price of homes for sale went down to $235,000 in July from $249,700 in June. The number of homes sold went down to 84 in July from 117 in June. The number of homes for sale went up to 671 in July from 648 in June. Homes sold were on the market for 58 days compared to homes still for sale that have been on the market for 85 days. There are about 6.2 months of inventory currently for sale. If you would like to buy or sell a home in this area, please contact me. I would be glad to work with you! Click here to view Allen Listings   If you would like to view the slide show in a larger format, you can do the following: 1. Click Menu, then click View Fullscreen (in ... 08/10/2010

Allen TX - Market Report - June 2010 The median price of homes sold went up to $200,500 in June from $195,500 in May. The median price of homes for sale was $249,700 in June compared to $249,900 in May. The number of homes sold went down to 117 in June from 136 in May. The number of homes for sale went up to 648 in June compared to 607 in May. Homes sold were on the market for 55 days compared to homes still for sale that have been on the market for 81 days. There are about 5.8 months of inventory currently for sale. If you would like to buy or sell a home in this area, please contact me. I would be glad to work with you! Click here to view Allen Listings   If you would like to view the slide show in a larger format, you can do the following: 1. Click Menu, then click View Fullscreen (i... 08/10/2010

Allen’s Insightful Buyers Guide Allen, TX ($150K-$175K)   We continue our peek into the Allen real estate market with our Insightful Buyers Guide for Allen, TX.  As of today, July 10, 2010, there are currently 51 homes for sale in Allen, TX in the $150-$175K price range.  According to MLS data, homes in this price range have the following features: · Homes range in size from 1499 to 2730 square feet · Average house has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths · Average square feet is 1991 · Average listing price is $165,240 · Homes were built between 1973-2009 · The average price per square foot is $82 · Average Days on Market is 64 · Most homes have a 2 car garage. · About 12% of homes (6 out of 51) feature a swimming pool   In this price range, buyers can find their ideal home in the following neighbo... 07/27/2010