Brookhollow home development to contain 2,500 lots

(Prosper) - Developers have tied up enough land in the town of Prosper for a 1,300-acre residential project. Landplan Development Corp. of Frisco unveiled that the development on U.S. Highway 380 east of Preston Road, called Brookhollow, will have lots for 2,500 homes. Developers purchased 760 acres for the project on the north side of U.S. 380 and have more than 500 under contract. The development is near the Stonebridge Ranch community in McKinney. Construction is scheduled to begin on the Brookhollow project in 2007.

Dallas developer lands eastern Frisco land

(Frisco) - Hanover Property Co. is continuing its aggressive North Texas expansion, snapping up 325 prime acres in for an 825-home residential development. The deal involved the assemblage of three adjacent tracts that are north of Panther Creek Parkway and south of Rock Hill Road in Frisco. Hanover targets middle-market, second-time homebuyers, generally looking to pay $200,000 and up for a new home. Hanover will be talking to homebuilders over the next two to four weeks to gauge their interest in the new Frisco development, dubbed Miramonte. Until it picks builders, it's hard to put a price tag on the neighborhood. It's the second big project the company is tackling this year. Three months ago, Hanover acquired 920 acres off F.M. 548 in Forney for a 2,700-home residential community called Devonshire. Seven homebuilders are already on board. Lot development of the first 600-home phase will begin in November, with lots ready in late 2007 and homes ready for occupancy in 2008. "That area of east Frisco, pushing into McKinney, is showing excellent results, producing 1,400 home starts a year," Ted Wilson with Residential Strategies Inc. said. "It also has an extremely tight lot supply, at 18 months, when equilibrium is 24 months. The prices are slightly less than what you see in west Frisco, but still high."

Collin County land prices holding their own

"As prices have inflated, the real estate market ballooned up and now air is coming out of the bubble. Collin County did not blow up," said Betty Magee of Magee & Associates, Realtors. The median price of an existing, single-family home in California for November of 2006 was $555,290, a 1.4 percent increase over the revised $547,870 median for 2005 as reported by the California Association of Realtors. In New York the numbers are less severe. The November 2006 statewide median sales price of $250,000 represented a 5.7 percent decline from the November 2005 median of $265,000. The November 2006 median did increase by 3.5 percent compared to the October 2006 median of $234,000. As for Collin County, the median price for November 2006 was $193,700, $361,590 less than California. According to the Real Estate Center, single-family homes sales for December of 2006 in Collin County were at 6,333, a 5 percent decrease from the following year. The 5 percent decrease can be seen as a positive compared to November homes sales that were down 7 percent from the previous year. While home sales are down, the December average price per home was up 2 percent from the previous year, indicating that there is a slight appreciation. The Dallas Morning News reported a 5 percent decrease in housing sales last week.

[Inside Collin County Business]

When to plant?

This question comes up over and over and with our changing climate it is still a hard question to answer. When I was younger everyone aimed to have their gardens planted on the Victoria Day Weekend (May 24). However, things have changed as far as when to plant. I follow the Average Day of Last Frost (ADLF) for our location and plant according to that. Last year the ADLF was May 9. One month

Guinea Hen Revisited

Charlie on GreenhouseHe's back and he brought his buddies! We now have three of the guinea hens frequenting the neighbourhood. They make enough noise that I can tell they are in the yard even with a well sealed house. One neighbour built a little shelter for him and now his buddies. One is feeding them. I'm getting some pretty neat pictures as seen above with Charlie sitting on the

Secret FortunesOne of my kids gave me this cute joke gift for Christmas. The can does say it is a real plant so that is a relief! Apparently a magic message that tells my forture is supposed to magically appear on a bean. Now this I have got to see! I don't know what others think but I'm very skeptical and you can be sure I won't be eating any of these beans. The can is about 4 oz pop can

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