Real estate
BY JONATHAN PERRIELLO
InstaMortgage-Dallas Director Sal Ali talks local housing trends Sal Ali is the director at InstaMortgage-Dallas and operates the branch with his brother from an office in The Realm at Castle Hills. A Lewisville native, Ali and his brother began in real estate in 2012. In 2021, they joined national mortgage brokerage firm InstaMortgage and opened their own branch. The company focuses on housing markets in Lewisville, The Colony, Frisco, Plano and Dallas. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. What are some trends you are seeing in Lewisville and the surrounding housing markets? After years of inflation and high interest rates, banks have begun opening mortgage programs to make loans more affordable. As soon as banks started marketing programs like down payment
assistance or grants towards closing costs, they were allowing a new wave of buyers to come into the market, ... which has helped make housing affordable again. Since these changes, the housing market has increased substantially. How are trends differing in other cities? One of the biggest impacts of moving north that I’ve noticed is the property taxes are higher. That’s because it’s all of these new areas and new developments. The taxes are high to support all the construction that’s happening. How would you describe the health of the market? The health of the market for Lewisville is above average. It’s such a healthy market because we’re so central and connected to the highways. It’s in the middle of the highest tax rates in the north and the lower ones further south, and residents don’t have to sit through hours of traffic to commute. Do you think mortgage rates will increase? I can’t guess further than the rest of this year. As we approach the election, historically speaking, the markets improve and interest rates get better. I do
COURTESY SAL ALI
anticipate interest rates to go down, whether that is a quarter percent or a half percent at most. Is there anything else buyers should know? It’s important to contact not just one mortgage broker so you can get different perspectives. That’s very important because this is likely the largest investment of your life, and you want to go into that investment feeling comfortable.
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