Below is a spreadsheet representing sales data from the MLS of the Ft. Hood Area Association of Realtors.  The data consists primarily from sales in Bell and Coryell Counties with a majority of the sales data coming from Killeen, Copperas Cove and Harker Heights.

 

If you have any questions about this information, please contact my office at 254-690-4321.

 

$Amount	Active	Under Contract	Sold 3 Mon.	Sold 6 Mon.
			6/25/08-9/25/08	4/1/08-9/24/08
0-$50K	84	18	37	85
$50,001-$100K	440	107	212	455
$100,001-$125	334	42	152	352
$125,001-$150,000	326	50	135	307
$150,001-$175K	263	42	112	224
$175,001-$200K	182	18	60	131
$200,001-$250K	139	21	44	99
$250,001-$300K	87	6	20	45
$300,001-$350K	31	1	6	11
$350,001-$400K	33	4	3	5
$400K And Up	35	1	8	4
Total	1964	310	789	1728

David Michonski, CEO of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy and a member of the National Association of REALTORS® appeared on Fox Business News last week to talk about the government’s bailout of the financial institutions that are on the verge of bankruptcy due to the growing number of defaulted loans. Ultimately, he believes that this is great news for the housing market! Click Here to watch the video. 

The CTC Foundation and Pluckers Wing Bar are teaming up to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Spouse Scholarship program which offers free tuition to the spouse of a soldier who received a Purple Heart. Every Monday, starting today, Pluckers will donate 20 percent of a patron’s bill to the scholarship program when the customer mentions the Wounded Warrior Spouse Scholarship. The scholarship provides free tuition for up to 30 semester hours in one year. Pluckers is located at 3000E. Central Texas Expressway an features a variety of foods from hamburgers to specialty sandwiches and most notably – a variety of buffalo wings. For more information about the scholarship program, call ext. 1472.

By Olga Peña
Killeen Daily Herald

Following years of service to the military community, a Harker Heights civilian businesswoman is now assuming the role of a local link between Central Texas and national Army leaders.

Jean Shine was sworn in Tuesday as the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for the Fort Hood area.

The investiture ceremony for the position was held at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Shine told the Herald she will represent Central Texas, being responsible for making sure those living in the communities surrounding Fort Hood are well informed on the Army's mission as it relates to them.

She will serve as a bridge, Shine said, between these military and civilian communities.

"My passion for all of my adult life has been service to our great soldiers and their families. This appointment will allow me to continue and expand that service," Shine said. "Central Texans, both military and civilian, will have an advocate working closely with the Secretary of the Army to insure that Fort Hood remains 'the Great Place.'"

Former state Rep. Dianne White Delisi of Temple also was selected to serve as a CASA. They join four other CASAs in Texas.

"We (Shine and Delisi) will have the same duties in different geographical areas. We will be working in concert on common interests," Shine said.

Shine and Delisi replace the late Tommy Joe Mills, who was appointed in 1986 as a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for North Texas. Later, he was appointed as civilian aide at-large and also served as civilian aide emeritus.

"It is my honor to follow in the footsteps of two previous civilian aides, Roy J. Smith and T.J. Mills. I hope to continue to build on their many accomplishments," Shine said.

In a document from Army Secretary Pete Geren, Shine received an outline of the duties and responsibilities of a CASA.

Shine was charged to provide representation for the Army throughout the country, help generate community support for the soldiers and their families, and explain Army policies as they impact Texas and the Fort Hood region.

Department of the Army regulations state that civilian aides are "special government employees who agree to serve as a representative the secretary of the Army without salary, wages or related benefits."

The secretary of the Army appoints at least one CASA to each state, but can appoint others to be designated to specific geographic regions, as in the case of Shine and Delisi.

Shine is the president of Shine Team Incorporated in Central Texas, and a member of the Association of the United States Army, and both the Killeen and Harker Heights Chambers of Commerce.

Shine, who is actively involved in a long list of civic, philanthropic groups, will continue working from her Harker Heights office but said there will be some travel to Washington, D.C. and military installations throughout the country for briefings and conferences.

As a military dependent, Shine attended three high schools and the University of Arkansas.

Not only was Shine a military child, but she went on to marry into the Army, serving as an military spouse during Vietnam.

Shine has won numerous humanitarian awards for her volunteer work and philanthropic efforts. She founded or was involved in the launching of such programs as the Military Child Education Coalition, Friends of the Central Texas Veterans Cemetery and Trees for Troops, among many others.

Shine also served on the Killeen Independent School District Board of Trustees for nine years as president, was a founding board member of the KISD Education Foundation and is part of many other organizations.

Shine and her husband, Bill, have two sons, Steven and Scott and two grandchildren.

Bill also served as a CASA from 1991 to 2005.

CASAs are appointed for two-year terms, with the possibility of serving other terms at the discretion of the secretary of the Army.

Contact Olga Peña at openakdhnews.com or (254) 501-7555.

This is great news for our area! We moved up 20 spots from last year.

The Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best Performing Cities Index ranks U.S. metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The components include job, wage and salary and technology growth. The full report can be downloaded here.

The Best Performing Cities ranking depicts those U.S. metropolitan areas that are recording the top economic performance.

http://bestcities.milkeninstitute.org/

Don’t let those national economic woes get you down – we’re doing much better here in Texas!

HELP NEEDED FOR HURRICANE EVACUEES AT THE HARKER HEIGHTS REC CENTER

The Harker Heights Rec Center volunteering with the evacuees. One of the volunteer coordinators is asking for help from the community beyond what was requested earlier. Volunteers are needed to help serve meals during the breakfast hour 8am, lunch hour 12pm and dinner 5pm. The building is a capacity already. They are expecting to have evacuees there for anywhere between 1 to 2 weeks.

They would like donations of the following items:

• Clothing for Men, Woman and children. (The evacuees were bused in and could not bring much with them).
• Diapers, formula, wipes, baby blankets, and clothing
• Packaged snacks
• Books, magazines, puzzles, videos (vhs or DVD)
• Childrens books or small toys
• Strollers (gently used ones are great) They weren't able to bring them on the buses.
• Shampoo, Conditioner, soap
• Toothbrushes/toothpaste
• Lotions
• Deodorant
• Bandaids
• Hand sanitizer
• Towels
• Paper towels
• Clorox Wipes
• Detergent

The families are being taken to Union Grove Middle School in the evenings to use the showers in their gym locker rooms.

If you are able to help, please bring donations to the Harker Heights Rec Center on Miller's Crossing off of 2410 / Knights Way, behind the post office and City Hall. If you can volunteer, please stop by and sign in with the main desk. They will need a lot of help for many days.

I can’t remember how many years in a row Killeen has been ranked in the top 10, but once again Killeen has some of the most-affordable homes in the country, according to an annual study by Coldwell Banker. The survey compares the average listing price of a four-bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2,200-square-foot home in various markets. In Killeen, the average price was $145,812.

When you couple the affordability of homes in this area with the near historic low interest rates, it’s a great time to be a homebuyer in TEXAS!

Here’s a link to more information about this study: http://hpci.coldwellbanker.com/hpci_press.aspx

Hosted by the HHHS Cheerleaders

Saturday, October 4th, 2008
From 9:00am to 12:00pm at the Harker Heights High School Gym

Registration and Check-in -- 8:30am to 9:00am
Parent Show-offs -- 11:45am to 12:00pm 

For more information, or to get an application, please contact the Shine Team at 800-900-1018.

The announcement of the government’s bail out of Fannie and Freddie, has created quite a stir in the market - rates for CONV, VA and FHA loans were down to 6% with no points or origination on Monday! These are the lowest rates we seen in many months.

If you’ve been waiting for some good news on the housing market, this might just be your calling!

Call the Shine Team today to get the most up to date information about current interest rates – 800-900-1018.

Be prepared!  Effective Monday, September 1^st, anyone riding a motorcycle on Fort Hood must show proof that they have completed a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course by presenting a MSF card a post checkpoints.

Living in high cotton: Temple’s Cotton Exchange Saloon finalist for state renovation award
by Fred Afflerbach for Temple Daily Telegram

Come mid-November, downtown Temple will be buzzing with building restoration and renovation professionals attending the annual Texas Downtown Revitalization conference.

And thanks to some local entrepreneurs with a high tolerance for dust, mildew and dead critters - and a city employee promoting downtown Temple - these folks are in for a treat.

That’s because the historic Cotton Exchange Saloon building on South First Street is one of five state finalists for the 2008 Best Renovation/Rehabilitation award presented by the Texas Downtown Association.

The winner will be announced at the conference on Nov. 13.

Jill Hopper, Karen Steeves and other investors worked on the building for two years. Some parts of the building smelled so bad, Ms. Hopper said she had to wear a facemask. The group poured about $50,000 into the restoration project.

Today, Ms. Hopper and Ms. Steeves operate Design Center of Central Texas out of the bottom floor of the two-story, 4,800-square-foot, red brick building.

Ms. Hopper remembers well the first time she saw the building’s interior. It was the original, amber-colored tin ceiling that closed the deal.

“That’s what drew us to the building,” Ms. Hopper said. “We were just like, ‘Oh my god, we’ve got to have this place because we love the roof so much.’”

Nancy Glover, Temple Tourism marketing coordinator, said the recent renovation and history of the building provides a one-two combination that would impress visitors.

“These folks that are coming in for this conference are all downtown revitalization professionals and they all love history,” Ms. Glover said. “They love old historic buildings with colorful pasts.”

Source: Temple Daily Telegram