“The seven deadly sins are… Food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes, respectability and children. Nothing can lift those milestones from man’s neck but money; and the  spirit cannot soar until the milestones are lifted.”   -George Bernard Shaw

OWNERS NEWSLETTER – AUGUST 2007                                                                                            

AREA GROWTH – Last September, I mentioned that the city of Harker Heights had announced plans for construction of a 650,000 square foot retail center to be named Market Heights. Ground breaking on the project commenced last December and it is supposed to be the largest of its kind in Central Texas. The project is about to enter its second phase of construction. An opening date of July 2008 is still on track. Confirmed tenants include: Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Cinemark 16 screen theatre, an enlarged Target, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, PETCO, Old Navy, Circuit City, Lane Bryant, Chic-fil-A, Chipotle, Cheddar’s Casual Café, Cracker Barrel, Rack Room Shoes, rue21, Carolines, and several other well known chain stores. Across the highway, a Walgreens store has already opened, Taco Bueno is under construction, and Starbucks and Whataburger will also be building stores.  

TAX APPRAISALS – May first is when most homeowners began receiving their notices informing them of the estimated market value of their property for 2007. Appraisals for Bell County are up by $1.2 billion over last year’s. This is an 11.3% increase. The county’s property values were certified this year at $11.67 billion, up from $10.48 billion in 2006. About 40% of the increase is attributable to increased property valuations while the other 60% is due to new growth in infrastructure, businesses, and homes.  So far, 3,500 people have filed protests with the county and local residents have made 1,787 inquiries.

For those owners of property in Coryell County, this year’s appraisals are up by $160 million. Appraisals for Coryell County were certified this year at $1.87 billion, up from $1.71 billion in 2006. Below is a glance at the tax increases for several local cities: 

CITY             2006 VALUES      2007 VALUES    

Nolanville            $  83.27 million        $113.54 million

Harker Heights     966.44 million          1.12 billion        

Killeen                       3.5    billion               3.9 billion        

Copperas Cove       919.5    million              1.01 billion        

JULY TRAFFIC – Our rental traffic slowed significantly last month. We leased only twenty-one properties of which eighteen were single-family homes and three were multi-family. In June we leased fifty properties. In spite of the drop in activity, we managed to end the month of July with an overall occupancy rate of 96%. We successfully renewed the leases of 24 of our existing renters.

David Gerke

CO-Owner/Broker