Austin, TX

Dallas tops U-Haul list as No. 1 U.S. destination for movers in 2024

Published

1 year ago

January 7, 2025

Dallas tops U-Haul list as No. 1 U.S. destination for movers in 2024

Editor’s note: As the year comes to a close, we look back at the 10 most-read real estate stories in Dallas for 2024 — including new honors for several local suburbs, market trends, and a sports star who razed his mansion. These are the 10 hottest real estate headlines of 2024 in Dallas:

1. 3 Dallas suburbs shine on new list of best small cities in America. Living in the big city isn’t for everyone, which is why many are flocking to the suburbs and less-populated cities around Dallas. To demonstrate the popularity of suburban and rural communities, a new study by WalletHub has singled out three of Dallas’ top suburbs on their 2024 list of the “Best Small Cities in America,” released October 1. Leading the pack as the best small city in Texas was Rockwall, followed by Allen and Flower Mound.

2. Texas tree group issues dire warning to Dallas owners of oak trees. In January, a nonprofit dedicated to trees issued a warning to Dallas citizens who own oak trees: Put down the pruning shears. Homeowners and landscaping types may have been tempted to do some spring pruning, but when it came to oak trees, then was not the time. The reason: oak wilt, a devastating, incurable fungus that had been slowly spreading over a large part of the U.S.

3. Laid-back Dallas suburb named 5th best in U.S. by Travel + Leisure. The Dallas-Fort Worth city of Coppell had new bragging rights in July: It was declared the No. 5 best American suburb to live in by a recent Travel + Leisure report. The report analyzed feedback from Realtors and data from “recent livability rankings” to determine the 10 best U.S. suburbs with the most “affordable housing, top-rated schools, and excellent job opportunities.”

Coppell is the No. 2 best suburb to live in Texas, and No. 5 nationwide.
City of Coppell, TX Municipal Government / Facebook

4. Dallas landlord must pay $48 million for charging bogus fees to tenants. A Dallas-based company that rents out single-family homes was ordered to pay $48 million to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission that it reaped millions of dollars via deceptive business practices — including forcing tenants to pay undisclosed fees on top of their monthly rent. Invitation Homes, based in Dallas, is the nation’s largest owner of single-family homes for rent.

5. 2 Dallas-area ZIP codes make list of hottest U.S. housing markets in 2023. Despite higher mortgage rates, Dallas’ housing market continued to attract more people in 2023, according to a report by Opendoor released in January 2024. Two Dallas-area ZIP codes in particular – in Forney and Aubrey – earned top 10 status on the list of “hottest ZIP codes in the U.S.”

6. Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott razes his mansion in Prosper. In 2019, Dak Prescott acquired a 9,000 square-foot mansion built on seven acres of land for the sum of $3.3 million. In October 2024, he razed it to the ground. According to TMZ Sports, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback mowed down his Prosper mansion “to nothing more than a pile of rubble” while watching its destruction from feet away.

Dak Prescott Prosper Dak Prescott’s home was razed in Prosper.
Redfin

7. 2 Dallas-area ZIP codes rank as hottest U.S. housing markets in 2024. The Dallas-Fort Worth housing market is growing hotter by the day, and two ZIP codes in particular were listed in Realtor.com’s new survey of the hottest housing markets in America, released in August: 76021 in Bedford, and 75028 in Flower Mound.

8. Custom ’50s house with rare metal kitchen cabinets is for sale in Dallas. In February, a ’50s home in original condition was for sale in Dallas with a rare feature: a set of original metal kitchen cabinets rendered in a breathtaking pastel pink. The home was in Lakewood, just a few blocks west of White Rock Lake at 6946 Delrose Dr, where it was listed for $1,100,000 by Simone Jeanes with Allie Beth Allman.

6946 delrose 50s house 6946 Delrose Dr. facade.
Courtesy

9. Dallas makes new list of easiest U.S. cities to pay off a mortgage. Whether a homeowner’s mortgage is for 15 or 30 years, paying off such a large debt can be an arduous process. But luckily for homeowners living in Dallas-Fort Worth, paying off a mortgage is much easier than in most other metropolitan areas in the country, according to a new report by SmartAsset. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington earned a ranking of No. 13 in SmartAsset’s September study analyzing the top 40 large U.S. metros where it’s easiest to pay off a mortgage.

10. 2 Dallas neighbors top the list of best real estate markets in America. For those looking to rent an apartment or buy their first home, Dallas-Fort Worth is the place to be: According to an August report by WalletHub, DFW towns McKinney and Frisco were crowned the No. 1 and No. 2 best real estate markets in America, and two more in the area — Denton and Allen — also ranked among the top 10.

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Austin, TX

Democrats go statewide in Texas House races

Published

9 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Democrats go statewide in Texas House races

AUSTIN — For the first time in modern Texas politics, Democrats will field candidates in every one of the state’s 150 House districts.

It’s a milestone party leaders hope will boost turnout, money and organization up and down the ballot, even as Gov. Greg Abbott enters the cycle with a well-tested ground game of his own.

Democratic leaders say the move is less about flipping deeply red districts and more about expanding the electorate and forcing Republicans to defend territory they have long taken for granted.

Houston Rep. Christina Morales, the new chief of the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee, said a full slate of candidates creates infrastructure that can benefit statewide races, regardless of the odds in individual districts.

Campaigns that once existed only on paper now bring door-knocking, phone banking and voter registration efforts, she said.

Morales also is coordinating with national Democrats, trying to harness energy from Texas’ high-profile Senate race, marked by a bitter GOP feud.

In that primary, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston.

The Democratic Senate contest, featuring state Rep. James Talarico of Austin and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, has drawn wide voter interest and donor support.

But attention and money only go so far.

Abbott enters the cycle with a major advantage: a mature, statewide voter-mobilization network built over decades of Republican control.

“Abbott has made it his own,” said longtime GOP strategist Thomas Graham, citing sustained relationship-building at the precinct level and focus on local concerns. “Democrats are still rebuilding a statewide party. The ground game heavily favors the governor.”

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Austin, TX

Environmental experts say Texas data centers come with uncertainty

Published

21 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Environmental experts say Texas data centers come with uncertainty

article

The main switchyard at a Midlothian power plant. The federal government is sending Texas more than $60 million to strengthen the state’s power grid. Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune

Texas is home to approximately 400 data centers — some currently operational, others still under construction and a number that are still in the planning stages. Experts say the boom comes with a lot of uncertainty.

Texas data center power demand

What they’re saying:

“Data centers are a relatively large power demand in a small area, something like, you know, 100 or 200 megawatts of power. That’s more than a small city or a small town would be consuming itself,” said Carey King, a research scientist with the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.

Over the past year, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas has received more than 200 gigawatts worth of large load interconnection requests, approximately 73% of which are from data centers. That has led to questions about whether the state’s grid is up to the task of supplying power to the facilities.

“Many of us who suffered through winter storm Uri still have PTSD over, you know, fears that the grid won’t be able to meet demand,” said Luke Metzger, the executive director of Environment Texas, a local nonprofit working to safeguard the state’s natural environment.

Question of infrastructure

That’s not the only question. King points out that there is also a question of whether all the proposed data centers will actually be built. He says if they don’t end up materializing, it could spell trouble for anyone making investment decisions based on the projections. And if infrastructure is built to accommodate the needs of projects that never come to fruition, those costs could be passed off to consumers in the form of higher rates.

Experts say these speculative data center projects have led to uncertainty around how much power will actually be needed to meet the demands of the state’s data centers.

Senate Bill 6, which was signed into law last June, outlined new requirements for data center projects, including stipulating that data centers put up more capital up front for things like transmission studies and interconnection fees. The bill is, in part, intended to reduce some of that uncertainty around speculative power loads.

Potential environmental impact

But concerns still remain around the potential environmental impact of the state’s data centers.

“There are an estimated 130 new gas-powered power plants that have been proposed for Texas, in part to meet this demand for data centers, and if they’re all built, that’s going to have as much climate pollution as 27 million cars,” said Metzger.

Above all, Metzger says the biggest uncertainty is water, as there is no central entity in the state that collects and compiles information on those needs.

On average, a single data center consumes millions of gallons of water annually, according to researchers with the University of Michigan. Metzger says that’s of particular concern here in Texas, where water supply is already being pushed to its limits.

“Texas is a very drought-prone state, and already, you know, you know, according to the Water Development Board, you know, we don’t have enough supply to meet demand,” said Metzger. “There is no way to make more water. And so, I think ultimately, you know that that could be the greatest concern for the state.”

Over the past year, residents across Central Texas have spoken out about data centers in places like Round Rock and Taylor, citing additional concerns including falling property values, noise, and health impacts.

What’s next:

Moving forward, experts recommend that local leaders undergo long-range planning to determine whether they’re able to allocate limited resources to data centers in the long run prior to approving these projects.

The Source: Information in this article comes from FOX 7 interviews with experts.

TexasTechnologyEnvironment

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Austin, TX

Silver Alert issued for missing 73-year-old man in Austin

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Silver Alert issued for missing 73-year-old man in Austin

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety has issued a Silver Alert for an elderly man who has been missing since Friday afternoon in Austin.

The Austin Police Department is looking for Charles Evans, a 73-year-old man diagnosed with a cognitive impairment. Evans was last seen at 5:37 p.m. on Jan. 9 in Austin.

Silver Alert issued for missing 73-year-old man in Austin

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Police describe him as a 6’3″ tall white male, weighing 225 pounds, has gray hair, hazel eyes, and who uses a walker.

Law enforcement officials believe his disappearance poses a credible threat to his health and safety.

Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is urged to contact the Austin Police Department at 512-974-5000.

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