Edmond sales, The Grove, `Dallas style'
Edmond sets a home sale record, somebody rightly calls me on a goof and somebody else wants to retire an architectural style possibly known only in Oklahoma City and surely not in Dallas — all from my inbox.
Edmond record
From Brian Preston, of RE/MAX at Home, who sends out his monthly Preston Report and blog from www.edmond4sale.com, his December report:
“We finished the year for Edmond, Deer Creek and Oakdale School systems with 4,714 closed residential closings, which is 304 more transactions than last year, for an increase of 7%!!! Way to go Edmond! And being last year was a record-setting high, that big increase is the new record. We were on our way to a record-setting year at the end of the third quarter, but the last three months were the best (for the past) six years and maybe ever.”
Total sales volume for the area was $1.44 billion, with $354.56 million in new construction, so existing homes alone hit $1 billion for the first time, Preston said.
Another first was the annual average price over $300,000 for the first time, at $306,944, and media price for the year at $257,000, the first time over $250,000, he reported.
“Active inventory is still down overall at 1,073. Even
though we have more homes than usual in the upper price ranges, we have absorption rates lower in this price ranges compared to previous years because more are selling. We had 49 homes sell for over $1 million, just missing that 50 milestone. And we still have quite a few homes under contract in the higher brackets to start off the year. Come a long way from 1995 when highest sale was around $730,000,” Preston wrote.
He added, “It helped having five months this year with over 100 closings for the month, including December. The last such 100-closing month was in 2015. Congrats to everyone on the record-year highs and hopefully we can break it again in 2020.”
For details, go to www. edmond4sale.com.
About The Grove
The Grove.
The Grove. The Grove. The Grove.
The GROVE.
From Ali Farzaneh, of Home Creations: Dear Richard, Hope all is well. I recently read your article on the Oklahoman in which you summed up last year's activity really well! I just wanted to point out that The Grove was not developed by Ideal Homes out of Norman nor do they build there. It was developed by Caliber, a real estate developer, and there are several builders including Home Creations that are currently building in there. Thank you for your article. Best, Ali Farzaneh, Home Creations
Do'h! I wrote back:
Mr. Farzaneh,
Oh, no. I knew that! I confused The Grove and Valencia (which is adjacent). I am so sorry. Thank you for letting me know. I will correct that at the first opportunity. Again, my apologies.
(What I did not tell him is that I have to work not to call The Grove The Grave because the first time I saw one of the neighborhood's billboards years ago, my contact lenses betrayed me and sent a glitch into my brain that has never fixed itself. Nothing personal. Now, my son-in-law is founder and head of school at The Grove Community School, a Montessori school in its first year near The Woodlands, Texas. And I have to work to keep that name straight, too.)
`Dallas style'
Bessie wrote:
“Dallas style.” What does that mean? This term has become boring, at least for me, after all of these years. Thank you.
I wrote back:
When Realtors and builders stop using the term “Dallas style,” it will go away. Until then ...
Here's what they say it means, from something I wrote 19 years ago. The only difference is the style is not as prevalent in new construction now.
“The label is peculiar to this part of the country. Ask for a `Dallas-style' home somewhere else and you'll probably draw a blank stare.
“A Dallas-style house has a somewhat steeper-pitched roof — a slope of 10 percent to 12 percent — full brick, including bricked gables, and lots of windows. Inside, ceilings are 10 feet high or higher, hallways are uncommon, kitchens are large and floor plans are open.”
Does anybody know what started calling that style “Dallas style”? Do tell!