New Toyota Headquarters Leads To Plano Housing Crunch
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) - Finding affordable housing in Plano is getting tougher according to some real estate agents and it might only get worse as more companies like Toyota move to North Texas.
Two-hundred-fifty employees rolled into the new corporate headquarters on Monday and 4,000 are expected by the end of 2017.
With so many in need of housing, some locals said they feel like they are being pushed out of Plano.
"It's just been impossible," said Cheryl Lowber, a Plano resident of three years.
Lowber, her husband and two daughters are trying to ditch their cramped apartment and buy a house in Plano.
"We go, we look at it, we really love it, and it's exactly what we want in the right place and we just can't get it," said Lowber.
What little amount of houses they find in their range of below $400,000, usually sell in days.
"It just kind of feels like we're being priced out of our area," said Lowber. "It's disheartening. We've pretty much given up hope."
Realtor Nick McCoy with Keller Williams Realty Plano said he just showed a house on Saturday. It had 100 viewings, 23 offers and sold by the end of the weekend.
"This is as crazy as I've seen it from a seller's stand point in my time in the business," said McCoy.
Affordable housing was already lacking in Plano, according to McCoy.
He said cash buyers are making the situation even worse. McCoy said some of the folks moving from California have cash from selling their homes in a better market.
"They're just adding to what was already happening and they're exacerbating the problem," said McCoy.
His advice to buyers is for them to come fully qualified with few contingencies.
The other solution, McCoy feels some might have to start looking outside of Plano or further out east.
"We've built a life here over the last three years," said Lowber. "It's just hard because it feels like we're going to have to leave."
Some real estate agents said some of the Toyota employees who have moved are currently renting. If they all decide to stay, it could create an even bigger shortage.
