Owner: The Skinny on McKinney! URL:http://www.juliewinter.com Join Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:22:37 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Insider tips from the top real estate group in North Texas. Learn all about buying a home, selling a home, and just plain living in McKinney, Texas. Site statistics:Click here
Painting The Town Green. 2007-09-17 18:38:00 McKinney is about more than just recycling residential garbage. McKinney is the home to several unique projects with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green
Building Rating System™ as set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council. The rating is the national standard for the design, construction and operation of green buildings.According to the the USGBC, commercial and residential buildings use a full two thirds of electricity and 40% of all energy used. With 136 million tons of construction and demolition waste annually, these buildings contribute 40% of the green houses gases. Many U.S. cities are joining in to require builders to use more energy efficient practices and materials, especially in Texas.Wal-Mart chose McKinney to build their only two environmentally sustainable stores. They will be prototypes for future stores nationally. There are some really cool features like used cooking and motor oil for heating fuel, 12'' shorter buildings that reduce th Read more:Painting
Did you know about our Farmers Market? 2007-09-12 15:07:00 I love fresh produce. While our wonderful United Market
Street grocery store has amazing fruits, vegetables and meats, I like to support local farmers and enjoy the farm fresh bounty of the season. Last year McKinney started a farmers market on Saturday mornings between April and October just east of the square. I was driving to downtown Dallas before I read that my favorite grass-feed meat guy, Robert Hutchins of Rehoboth Farms was going to be set up in McKinney too. He's got a place right outside Greenville that is supposed to be heaven on earth. I keep missing the open house he has but am committed to getting there this year. It's best to email him the order ahead of time if you need any quantities or have your mouth set on one of his juicy, flavorful steaks. My personal favorite is his pork chops. I put them in a brine all day and then cooked them on the grill with some dry rib rub...oh my goodness, they were delish!Robert also brings dairy products from Wagon Creek Creamery in O
No Fat Cats at MISD. 2007-09-10 13:50:00 The McKinney ISD school board recently voted to reduce the 2007-08 tax rate of $1.517 per $100 assessed value, down from $1.84 for the 2006-07 school year. The 2005-06, taxes were assessed at a rate of $2 per $100 assessed value. That's our second tax decrease in as many years. Board member Mark Rude said, “Historically, our financial staff has done a good job of keeping us three to five percent below budget. In fact, last year, we generated a surplus for the district”.While Texas has long been one of the few states with no personal income tax and no corporate income tax, our local tax rates have always felt high. McKinney hovered around $3.00/$100 of assessed value for sometime as did most of the growing suburbs. Frisco and Little Elm with Frisco schools were always the lowest in the area due to the large commercial tax base Frisco has. There's a list of all the rates listed on the Collin County Appraisal District website. The local rate is based on city rate, Collin County Comm
McKinney is Smokin! Well, not for long. 2007-09-06 14:05:00 Our City Council recently voted in a ban on cigarette smoking similar to Plano, Allen and Frisco. According to the McKinney Courier-Gazette, "The ordinance prohibits smoking in restaurants, parks, and private clubs, such as country clubs or fraternal clubs. Smokin
g is allowed in parking lots of parks, public sidewalks, homes that are not used as childcare facilities, tobacco shops, cars, and designated hotel and motel rooms. No more than 10 percent of hotel and motel rooms can be designated smoking rooms. All smoking rooms must be on the same floor, adjacent to the other smoking rooms and must require separate ventilation systems to prevent comingling of air in non-smoking rooms."The first thing I thought when I read the article was, "Is there any way we can ban smoking inside people's houses?" I'm all for an individual's rights but as a Realtor, a smoked in house has a limited pool of prospective buyers. It is so difficult to get that smoke smell out of everything even when nobody
Which upgrades will get you the most at resale? 2007-08-11 10:11:00 Personally, I think one of the most important upgrades
you can choose is the lot. Whether it's trees, creek, a greenbelt, water view, park view...anything other than just the typical interior subdivision lot, the better you look at resale compared to the competition. Of course, there are some views that can be perceived as negative like power lines, busy roads or highways or commercial developments.The next upgrade choices are inside. Flooring is a good place to put money with wood, then tile, then higher grade/thicker carpet pad being the order I would choose. Kitchens these days need to have granite. I listed a property in Autumn Ridge where all the houses were built in the mid 1990's. The seller had completely redone the kitchen with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, fresher cabinets, etc and there were multiple offers the first 2 days on market. It sold above asking price in a so-so market largely due the smart kitchen upgrade she had done. Fixtures including plumb
Selling's "Secret" Formula. 2007-09-26 10:29:00 You hear a lot about "location, location, location" when people describe a house. True, location is a pretty important part of the formula but the big picture is still a formula.Price - The property needs to be priced in accordance with the competitive properties based on current market conditions. I like to ask the seller to take the out of area's buyer perspective and pretend that they are here looking for a house with their home's similar criteria. This pulls up all the similar houses in the area including those outside of their immediate neighborhood. If they have a special feature like a swimming pool, creek lot, media room, etc, we can see how many of the competitive properties have those features. It's important to look at current actives as well as pendings and solds for the past six months. The pendings tell us how about the immediate activity of that product and the solds tell us what "worked".Location - This element has several layers to consider. The outer layer would be Read more:Formula
Graduate from A&M and never leave McKinney? 2007-09-21 15:41:00 It could happen...McKinney recently beat out Frisco and Allen for the new Collin Higher Education Center to be built in the northeast corner of US 75 and Highway 121. While Collin County Community College District is already a well respected community college where you can get an Associate's Degree or continue your education in a variety of fields, Collin County residents have needed to commute to Dallas, Denton, Sherman or Ft. Worth for their higher education needs. The new concept will allow easy transition from an Associate's Degree to a four year degree. Right now eight universities including Texas A&M, SMU, Baylor, TWU, UNT, Texas Tech, Texas A&M Commerce and UTD are in the running as potential partners. Upon graduation with either a bachelor's or master's degree, the diploma will bear the name of the university partner.One of the primary benefits to attending a community college is cost. The credit hours are less expensive and there are addition opportunities for scho Read more:Graduate
Painting The Town Green. 2007-09-17 18:38:00 McKinney is about more than just recycling residential garbage. McKinney is the home to several unique projects with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green
Building Rating System™ as set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council. The rating is the national standard for the design, construction and operation of green buildings.According to the the USGBC, commercial and residential buildings use a full two thirds of electricity and 40% of all energy used. With 136 million tons of construction and demolition waste annually, these buildings contribute 40% of the green houses gases. Many U.S. cities are joining in to require builders to use more energy efficient practices and materials, especially in Texas.Wal-Mart chose McKinney to build their only two environmentally sustainable stores. They will be prototypes for future stores nationally. There are some really cool features like used cooking and motor oil for heating fuel, 12'' shorter buildings that reduce the Read more:Painting
Did you know about our Farmers Market? 2007-09-12 15:07:00 I love fresh produce. While our wonderful United Market
Street grocery store has amazing fruits, vegetables and meats, I like to support local farmers and enjoy the farm fresh bounty of the season. Last year McKinney started a farmers market on Saturday mornings between April and October just east of the square. I was driving to downtown Dallas before I read that my favorite grass-feed meat guy, Robert Hutchins of Rehoboth Farms was going to be set up in McKinney too. He's got a place right outside Greenville that is supposed to be heaven on earth. I keep missing the open house he has but am committed to getting there this year. It's best to email him the order ahead of time if you need any quantities or have your mouth set on one of his juicy, flavorful steaks. My personal favorite is his pork chops. I put them in a brine all day and then cooked them on the grill with some dry rib rub...oh my goodness, they were delish!Robert also brings dairy products from Wagon Creek Creamery in O
No Fat Cats at MISD. 2007-09-10 13:50:00 The McKinney ISD school board recently voted to reduce the 2007-08 tax rate of $1.517 per $100 assessed value, down from $1.84 for the 2006-07 school year. The 2005-06, taxes were assessed at a rate of $2 per $100 assessed value. That's our second tax decrease in as many years. Board member Mark Rude said, “Historically, our financial staff has done a good job of keeping us three to five percent below budget. In fact, last year, we generated a surplus for the district”.While Texas has long been one of the few states with no personal income tax and no corporate income tax, our local tax rates have always felt high. McKinney hovered around $3.00/$100 of assessed value for sometime as did most of the growing suburbs. Frisco and Little Elm with Frisco schools were always the lowest in the area due to the large commercial tax base Frisco has. There's a list of all the rates listed on the Collin County Appraisal District website. The local rate is based on city rate, Collin County Comm
McKinney is Smokin! Well, not for long. 2007-09-06 14:05:00 Our City Council recently voted in a ban on cigarette smoking similar to Plano, Allen and Frisco. According to the McKinney Courier-Gazette, "The ordinance prohibits smoking in restaurants, parks, and private clubs, such as country clubs or fraternal clubs. Smokin
g is allowed in parking lots of parks, public sidewalks, homes that are not used as childcare facilities, tobacco shops, cars, and designated hotel and motel rooms. No more than 10 percent of hotel and motel rooms can be designated smoking rooms. All smoking rooms must be on the same floor, adjacent to the other smoking rooms and must require separate ventilation systems to prevent comingling of air in non-smoking rooms."The first thing I thought when I read the article was, "Is there any way we can ban smoking inside people's houses?" I'm all for an individual's rights but as a Realtor, a smoked in house has a limited pool of prospective buyers. It is so difficult to get that smoke smell out of everything even when nobody
Which upgrades will get you the most at resale? 2007-08-11 10:11:00 Personally, I think one of the most important upgrades
you can choose is the lot. Whether it's trees, creek, a greenbelt, water view, park view...anything other than just the typical interior subdivision lot, the better you look at resale compared to the competition. Of course, there are some views that can be perceived as negative like power lines, busy roads or highways or commercial developments.The next upgrade choices are inside. Flooring is a good place to put money with wood, then tile, then higher grade/thicker carpet pad being the order I would choose. Kitchens these days need to have granite. I listed a property in Autumn Ridge where all the houses were built in the mid 1990's. The seller had completely redone the kitchen with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, fresher cabinets, etc and there were multiple offers the first 2 days on market. It sold above asking price in a so-so market largely due the smart kitchen upgrade she had done. Fixtures including plumb
Two Glasses of Wine 2007-10-02 21:44:00 I'm going to have to stretch to make today's blog entry about real estate or McKinney but I want to share this story anyway so here goes. In a recent blog, I committed to promoting local businesses, today's featured business is one of my favorite places in the world, Zin Zen. It's located right in the heart of Stonebridge Ranch, has a great patio and warm decor. The food and wines are awesome and reasonably priced (although check your bill if you order Silver Oak ;-D) but the glue that makes it really come together is the owners, Luetta and Lori. Visit their website and get on the mailing list, they do all kinds of special events centered around my favorite beverage, vino!Here's the story:When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hoursin a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 glassesof wine theory...A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items on hisdesk in front of him. When the class began wordlessly, he picked up ave Read more:Glasses
Peace of Mind While You're Out. 2007-09-28 15:52:00 Seeing as how I am "all about McKinney", I'm going to start doing small features on local businesses. I have this vision of being able to justify eating out so much by starting a "trying to stay Skinny in McKinney" blog that gives restaurant ratings. Lately though, I'm not sure how much of a service I'd be providing since we all pretty well know a Big Mac is a Big Mac is a Big Mac.Anyway, the service I'd like to feature today is Rachel's Pet Sitting. It's a bit of a shameless plug since she's my daughter but it's a neat little business. While there are plenty of wonderful veterinarians, kennels and dog day cares here in McKinney they can get expensive when you have two 80 pound labs to board. Even for a couple of nights, I have wound up paying more for the dog's lodging than I do for my own!The best thing about pet sitting is your pet gets to stay in their own environment. It's definitely cheaper than boarding with prices starting at $8/visit. As a bonus you get somebody look Read more:Peace
Alarming news. 2007-10-11 18:20:00 Until now (October 1) if your home or business alarm was triggered, the appropriate authorities came to the rescue. The city required you to register and pay the fees but if something happened, they still came running whether you had paid or not. McKinney has adopted a "No Permit. No Response" policy that has just gone into effect. The penalty for not being registered is a whopping $500! It's inexpensive and easy to register with the City online. Residential fees are $50 annually and business permits are $100. The permit covers all types of alarms including burglary, robbery, panic/duress, medical/fire.
No title 2008-02-21 22:27:00 Oh Hail! I've lived in Texas all my life (many years) and have only seen hail coming down five total times, two of which have been in the past ten days! As we head into spring the chances of encountering (or enduring as some see it) a rough and tumble Texas thunderstorm increase exponentially. When I hear that first clap of thunder, the country girl in my head does a quick mental scan around the perimeter to see what's been left out or open. The Realtor in my head goes to my Clients properties. The vacant, the build to suits and those under contract come to mind first as the most vulnerable because damage to a property that's set to close can create a mess. To keep things moving ahead on a smooth track, it's important to be represented by professionals. I loved the email I got on Monday
The Importance of a Home Inspection. 2008-01-30 23:12:00 (As printed in the Allen News 1/31)It's always a good idea to inspect a house you intend to buy whether it's pre-owned or new construction. The TREC approved contracts provide for an option period that allows for due diligence including home inspections. Your Realtor can advise you as to how to negotiate the process with your builder. Even with residential service contracts and builder's warranties, it can still be frustrating to get blind-sided with necessary and possibly costly repairs once you've closed.Even the untrained eye can spot many symptoms of larger problems but a professional can provide a detailed report and further explanation of familiar issues such as:Water stains on ceilings and blistered or peeling paint on any surfaces, which may indicate a moisture problem or leaky roo Read more:Inspection
, Home Inspection
No title 2008-01-21 18:53:00 Smile! It's a Buyer's Market! (This article was published in the Allen News 1/12/2008) I get so tired of hearing all the bad housing news. Doom and gloom everyday. The reason it gets me so is that we live in North Texas and we're right in the middle of an awesome buyer's market. You see, from my perspective, it's either a buyers market or a seller's market. Either way there are bargains to be had. Seller's may be groaning but if you're staying in this area then good news, you're going to get a terrific deal on your new house! North Texas Real Estate Information System tells us that here in Allen there is a 4.6 month inventory. They show 84 pending sales and 116 new listings as of December 2007 too. While the inventory is up slightly versus a year ago, the fourth quarter is traditionally
Remember "Contract Pending Signs? 2008-01-21 18:46:00 Years ago the real estate contracts for pre-owned homes were described as caveat emptor or buyer beware. They have been revised by the Texas Real Estate Commission's Broker/Lawyer committee over the years to offer quite a bit more protection for the home buyer. One of the biggest caveats is in paragraph 23, the Termination Option. Also, known as the "option period" this paragraph when executed properly allows the buyer the unrestricted right to terminate the contract with a full refund of their earnest money. To take advantage of this option, the buyer must pay some "nominal fee" (usually $50 or $100) to the seller within two days of the effective date of the contract and specify the length of time (usually 5 to 10 days) they wish to have for due diligence. I say due diligence because it's Read more:Remember
It's the "Lease" you can do. 2007-10-18 11:12:00 There are many reasons that renting a house instead of an apartment is a good fit.1. If you're older than 25 and can't stand noise through thin walls on 3 sides of you in an apartment.2. You're moving to a new area and want time to get a feel for the community.3. You have a pet larger than 20 pounds or more than one pet.4. Have sold your current house and are waiting on the completion of your new one. It's often easier and cheaper to keep your furniture with you instead of in a 3rd party storage facility.Likewise, sometimes an apartment is just the ticket.1. Cheap deposits, usually around $300- $5002. Shorter lease term. Some apartments allow for 3 or 6 month, some even month to month.3. If your family has not relocated with you yet and you just need a place during the week for one person.
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