Dallas-Fort Worth is No. 1 for real estate potential

Plus: Texans approve increase to homestead exemptions

November 06, 2025

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👋 Welcome back — it’s Friday Jr.!

  • 🗓️ Programming note: We’re off Tuesday for Veterans Day but will be back as usual on Thursday.

Today’s newsletter is 762 words, a 2.5-minute read.

1. Zombie foreclosures near historic lows

According to ATTOM’s Q4 2025 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, about 1.4 million homes, or 1.32% of all U.S. residential properties, were unoccupied. That’s a slight decline from Q3’s 1.33% vacancy rate.

During Q4, 228,943 residential homes nationwide were in the foreclosure process. Roughly 7,448 of them, or 3.25%, were “zombie” properties, meaning the owners had abandoned them before foreclosure was complete. That’s down from Q3’s 3.38% zombie rate.

In Texas, 2.86% of foreclosures were zombie properties (205 in total), with Jefferson, Galveston, and Lubbock counties leading in the share of vacant homes.

2. Dallas-Fort Worth is No. 1 for real estate potential

Dallas-Fort Worth continues to dominate the U.S. real estate market, according to a new report from the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Metroplex was ranked the No. 1 market to watch for the second year in a row in the 2026 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, which draws on survey responses from 1,700 real estate executives and professionals.

Overall, the report found that industry leaders expect to navigate a “fog” of economic uncertainty and shifting real estate demand. Despite this, 55% of respondents still expect excellent profitability in 2026, down 10% from last year.

A MESSAGE FROM THE MARKETING MILLENNIALS

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3. Catch up quick

💵 Dallas–Fort Worth’s most expensive new listing. (WFAA)

💪 Rental payment reporting boosts mortgage eligibility. (VantageScore)

🤔 Buyer agents willing to cut rates for home sellers but not for buyers. (CPC)

🎖️ Veterans Day free meals and restaurant deals and discounts. (Military.com)

🚨 Government shutdown becomes the longest in American history. (TheGuardian)

A MESSAGE FROM DAVE YOUR MORTGAGE GUY

If your buyer’s loan officer won’t give them a full estimate, that’s a red flag. Big time. They could be hiding costs, low balling rates, or just being lazy. And if that deal crashes last-minute when your buyer is caught off guard with the true numbers, guess who’s dealing with the fallout? You. Don’t let that happen.

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4. Buyers are putting more money down

Homebuyers are bringing more cash to the table, with the median down payment hitting 19%, the highest in more than twelve years, according to the NAR annual buyer and seller report.

  • First-time buyers put down a median 10%, while repeat buyers contributed 23%, marking the largest gap between the two groups since the early 2000s.

  • The report found that 74% of all buyers financed their purchases, though nearly one in four paid entirely in cash, matching last year’s record high.

  • About half used personal savings for their down payment, while a quarter of first-time buyers drew on 401(k)s, stocks, or other investments.

NAR noted that while most buyers did not need to make major sacrifices to buy, roughly one-third of first-timers found the lending process harder than expected, with debt-to-income ratios and credit scores cited as the main hurdles.

5. Texans approve increase to homestead exemptions

Texas voters approved all 17 constitutional amendments on the ballot, including two that directly impact homeowners.

Proposition 11: Increases the homestead exemption for people over 65 and those with disabilities to $200,000, benefiting about 2 million seniors.

Proposition 13: Raises the standard homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000. The amendment increases the mandatory property tax exemption for public school funding purposes and will take effect this year, impacting nearly 5.7 million Texas homeowners.

6. Man convicted in the killing of a real estate agent

The final defendant in the 2019 murder of Minneapolis real estate agent Monique Baugh has been convicted. Lyndon Wiggins, 40, was found guilty of aiding and abetting first-degree murder, according to Law & Crime on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Wiggins and three others lured 28-year-old Monique Baugh into hosting a fake home showing on New Year’s Eve 2019 before kidnapping and killing her.

Wiggins faces life in prison, the same sentence given to his accomplices Cedric Berry, 47, and Berry Davis, 46, in 2021. Meanwhile, Wiggins’s girlfriend, Elsa Segura, who arranged the fake showing under a false name, had her sentence reduced from life to 20 years.

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