Businessman Carl Thomas expresses confidence in Cedar Creek Lake real estate market with agency opening

by David Webb

David Webb is a veteran journalist who has written for the mainstream and alternative media for three decades. He is now a freelancer who lives in the Cedar Creek Lake area. He is a regular contributor to cedarcreeklake.com. E-mail story ideas to davidwaynewebb@yahoo.com.

KAUFMAN -- Local businessman Carl Thomas is betting on big things happening in the Cedar Creek Lake area real estate market by opening a new agency to serve the community in the coming years.

Despite widespread concerns in the industry about the threat of high employment rates and the struggling economy suppressing real estate transactions, Thomas said he is confident the Cedar Creek Lake market will rebound and thrive. The opportunity for growth in Kaufman County is enormous, said Mr. Thomas, who also owns the national security firm Thomas Protective Service.

The real estate agency, Carl Thomas and Associates, Inc., opened this summer. It opened with five licensed agents who will offer services in the purchase and sale of residential, rural, vacation, HUD, historic and business properties.

"We think it is untapped," Mr. Thomas said. "Kaufman County is going to be experiencing a lot of business growth in the next year or two. We're expecting big things to happen."

Mr. Thomas, a former Dallas County sheriff, is not alone in his anticipation of the real estate market thriving again, especially in Texas.
With mortgage interest rates at a 50-year-low and home prices more affordable than they've been in years, it is a buyer's market and a good time for homebuyers to purchase, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Sellers also can benefit from current conditions because the steep drop-off in real market values seen in some other areas nationwide has not occurred in Texas, according to real estate market analysts.

Those incentives combined with the overall stability of the Texas real estate market and economy offer encouragement to real estate purchasers and sellers, said Jim Gaines, an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, in a Texas Association of Realtors press release. It is now considered less expensive to own a home than to rent one in most U.S. cities, according to real estate market analysts.

"As always, it's important for buyers to evaluate their own local market and even their own submarket - down to the neighborhood level, in many cases - to make informed buying and selling decisions, Mr. Gaines added.
Mr. Thomas said he believes both real estate agencies and agents will enjoy good times in this decade.

"Entrepreneurship is alive and well in this country for those who are willing to take a chance to succeed," Mr. Thomas said.

The new agency will focus on expanding services to clients at a time when other real estate companies are closing down or cutting back, said Wendy Thomas, president and CEO of the real estate agency and the security firm. The goal is to make the agency a "one-stop" experience with the company's representatives helping arrange all related needs for real estate transactions, such as financing, inspections, insurance, title work, improvements, security services and anything else that is required.

"We're going to meet the needs of anyone who walks in the door," Miss Thomas said.

Miss Thomas said Carl Thomas and Associates, Inc. plans to expand to other areas of Texas and to add new real estate agents to the staff.

Tell us what you think!