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Arlington – July 5, 2014

Arlington is a mid-city within the Dallas, Fort Worth area and Tarrant County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s, the city has an estimated population of 374,000 at the end of 2011 which makes it third largest municipality in the metropolitan area. Located approximately 20 miles west of downtown Dallas and 12 miles east of downtown Fort Worth, It is the largest city in the United States without a public transit system.

Arlington is home to the University of Texas at Arlington, the International Bowling Museum, the Texas Ranger’s Ballpark in Arlington, the AT&T stadium (prior known as the Dallas Cowboy’s stadium), Six Flags over Texas theme park, and Hurricane Harbor waterpark. The city also offers other popular entertainment spots such as Levitt Pavilion Arlington, which is located in downtown Arlington. Levitt Pavilion hosts 50 free concerts per year featuring acclaimed artists and a diverse variety of music entertainment groups. Theatre Arlington is yet another well liked location for entertainment and has actually been a part of the community since 1973. Theatre Arlington was established with a goal of having a professional live theatre provided to the city. The theatre consists of quality entertainment year round with a semi-professional staff and designers, and the theatre also offers classes for people of all ages. Outside of entertainment, are popular spots for retail shopping which consist of The Parks Mall at Arlington and the Arlington highlands which is continuously growing.

The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) is a valuable asset to the city for both economical and academic reasons, but from that stems amazing talent from athletes and artists from the cities’high school teams which hold various state championships to their credit in a variety of sports and arts. It’s safe to say that the youth in the city all together are offered a variety of different educational and learning opportunities for their extracurricular activities and the city makes it a great home for both students and families.

Seller Tip of the week:

Bathrooms can be a selling point in any home. These bathroom tips can help make a home really stand out.

Do not leave towels around and wipe down sinks and shower areas after each use
Re-caulk the tub if the caulk is not sparkling white
Repair or replace broken tiles in the shower/tub
Replace shower curtains and keep them clean
Put out fresh towels and decorative soaps

Jeanine Batcher – Keller Williams

GreatDFWhomes.com

Plano - July, 9 2014

Plano is a city in Texas located in Collin County with a population of 269,776 (according to 2010 census) and consists of 71.6 square miles. Like University Park and Highland Park, Plano has been rated as one of the wealthiest cities to live in the Dallas Metroplex. Plano was also nominated as one of the best places to live in 2005, 2006, and 2011 by CNN money, and was selected as the safest city in America in 2010 and 2011 by Forbes magazine. The city’s median household income is greater than $79,000 with only 8% of residents considered to be below the poverty line. Furthermore, Plano is home to the headquarters of numerous major corporations such as Bank of America Home Loans, HP Enterprise Services, Capital One, JC Penny, Ericsson, Frito-Lay, Dell, and many more.

This city offers not only a safe and wealthy environment, but in addition, their schools consistently score among the highest in the nation making it the ideal suburban home to start up a family. Plano is named after the flat plains of the area, but still offers many beautiful trees that you can find all around the city. Two of the popular Open Space Preserves (Bob Woodruff Park and Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve) are actually connected by biking trails which in essence allows the area to remain as one really large park totaling up to 1121 sq. ft. Plano is featured as a more laid back city, but if almost 4,000 acres of parks isn’t your cup of tea, it’s important to remember that Plano is 1 of 12 suburbs of Dallas that participates in the DART transportation system which offers access to other parts of the Dallas area for commuters.

Seller Tip of the week:

As simple as it might sound, lighting is actually a very important feature when selling a house. The lighting can cause the home to look brighter, more welcoming, and just a whole lot cleaner.

Remember to replace all broken lightbulbs and fixtures
Make sure to upgrade the wattage in all light fixtures to the highest level safety will allow when showing your home
Dust and wash all light fixtures
Replace fixtures with a more modern look if needed
Dust blinds, windowsills, and plant ledges
Clean interior and exterior of all windows and glass doors
Keep blinds open, shades pulled up, and remove all draperies to allow maximum light

Jeanine Batcher – Keller Williams

GreatDFWhomes.com

University Park - June 9, 2014

This week we will be focusing in on Dallas County’s inner suburb city, University Park. University Park consists of a total area of 3.75 sq. mi and population of 23,068 (as of 2010 census) and is also the home of Southern Methodist University. University Park is one of Texas’best educated cities with 82% of its adults over 25 holding an associate’s degree or higher. The city mainly consists of mostly upper-class homes and the Southern Methodist University itself, but also features many well-groomed parks.

There is always something interesting going on in this favored community. Not only does the city lie in the depths of a selection of major food chain restaurants and popular individually owned facilities, but it is only a bike ride away from a variety of shopping centers such as Knox Park or the Northpark Mall which is an upscale shopping mall that has yearly sales of over $1 billion dollars and is considered the 19th largest mall in the U.S. The Northpark Mall is famous for holding an array of major events annually such as Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure. This week in particular marks the end of an ongoing Pop-Up Art Show ft. Ross Simonini that the mall will be showcasing.

Whether you are a student or looking into starting a new family, University Park city will offer you many different tools that will not only allow you to engage in the Dallas lifestyle, but will also offer an amazing experience while living there.

Are you trying to sell your home for every penny its worth in a hassle free way? Here are a few basic tips that are fairly simple, but will gather much greater appeal for the house that you have just put on the market.

Seller Tip of the week:

Make sure to air out the home especially if you are a smoker, have dogs, cats, or even small children in diapers. Most people are turned off by even the smallest odor so doing this will result in definite positive feedback. You can do this by:

Steam clean the carpets if they are not being replaced (if replacing, notify us for consultation on choices that will be more appealing to buyers)
Polishing or waxing floors

Cleaning all counters and restrooms with bleach

Replacing or cleaning A/C filters, vents, and intake grids

Use air fresheners in each room such as Glade “Plug-ins”(avoid floral scents as they can be too strong)

When show casing the house, try keeping the temperature between 70-75 degrees.

Jeanine Batcher – Keller Williams

GreatDFWhomes.com