CELINA, TEXAS REAL ESTATE: A CITY READY FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH
Updated August 22, 2022
BY RON LYONS, REALTOR & HOST OF THE RON LYONS REAL ESTATE SHOW & THE CELINA RADIO SHOW
Ron Lyons, THE Celina Real Estate Pro
I'll say what needs to be said: most real estate agents are terrible. Don't get me wrong, I love them personally, but work-wise? Nope. Why do I say this? Because real estate is a "fallback" career for MOST agents. The truth is, it doesn't take much to become a real estate agent in Texas. Most of them aren't "masters" of their craft but rather "barely get by" and hurry to happy hour type people. And how many real estate agents are there in north Texas? A recent study showed one agent per eight residents. That's insane. One to eight.
Proof of the super saturated Realtor component in Celina is evidenced by a recent post on the 'All About Celina" Facebook page where someone asked for a Realtor referral that REALLY knew Celina. As of the time of this post, there were over 321 responses to the post. Three hundred and twenty-one! Folks, we DO NOT have that many highly qualified agents in Celina. We have a FEW highly skilled agents in Celina and many people with real estate licenses.
For me, real estate is a way of life. I live it, breathe it and exercise my real estate muscles every day. I own quite a few properties in Celina and care very much about the city, property values, and where we go as a community.
Another thing I do is exclusively focus on Celina. Sure, I COULD do real estate anywhere in Texas. But, I want to be a specialist in a city and focus all of my time, effort, and skills on that city, which for me is Celina, Texas. I am a master of my craft and love putting my skills to work for clients who always become friends. I love the deal. In fact, I love the ART of the deal. I have major command presence, and I thrive on conflict. That probably makes me the worst person to work in line at Chic-Fil-A but the BEST person to handle your very important real estate deal.
You can read all about me right here, but for now, let's learn a bit more about Celina, Texas.
Celina, Texas, 27 Years Ago
Back in the early '90s, I had been working in my family's real estate business for a handful of years. It sounds somewhat braggadocious, but the truth is, I was good at it. In fact, too good for my age. Since it was the family business, I had a burning desire to strike out on my own and do my own thing.
I decided to become a police officer, put myself through the academy, and ultimately ended up getting hired by the Celina Police Department. On my very first day on patrol in Celina, I pulled into the town square and saw a pickup truck with a few young men in the bed trying to rope a friend who was running on foot ahead of the truck. I knew I wasn't in Dallas anymore.
Back then, the population in Celina, Texas, was about 1900 people. The highway that ran through town was called State Highway 289 (later to be known as Preston Road.) There wasn't a real estate boom taking place, and many people had not yet heard of Celina, Texas.
I used to patrol the small, quiet streets of Celina and think about what it might cost to buy a home there. Many of the homes for sale were pier and beam, wood-framed houses. There was a small number of brick homes for sale in Celina, TX, but not enough to make more than a small neighborhood.
There must have been two or three Realtors in Celina, TX, back in those days, and as far as I could tell, they handled every real estate transaction that came along. There were no sizeable real estate brands in Celina back then, and quite honestly, they probably weren't needed as everyone knew everyone in town.
Fast forward to today, and there are so many Realtors in Celina, Texas, that you can throw a rock and hit five of us. Every day that you go to your mailbox, you can count on three things, bills, junk mail, and something from a Celina. TX. Realtor. I realize that every piece of mail you get says, "Hey, I'm the best Celina Realtor" or "Hello, I'm the highest-rated Realtor in Celina." Of course, you truly do need the best Celina, TX Realtor, so later in this article, I will outline what you should look for before hiring a Celina, TX Realtor.
Celina, Texas One Hundred Forty One Years Ago
Celina, Texas 141 years ago, was just a collection of north Texas dust and a handful of tumbleweeds. A gentleman named John Mulkey (who would later become the City of Celina, Texas' first Postmaster) had the idea that a city should be built on that patch of earth. His hometown was in Tennessee and was called Celina. For reasons unknown, Mulkey thought that Celina was a fitting name for this town in the making as well.
In 1881, Mulkey's little town received its first post office. Little did Mulkey know that his little dream for a city was going to one day be the second-largest city in Collin County and set for a significant boom in the 2020s. From his perspective of only 150 residents in 1884, it probably never seemed possible that his town would one day become what it is today.
Later, in 1902, the St. Louis, San Francisco, and Texas railway was making tracks through the area and established a depot just north of where most of the town was situated then. History tells us that the townfolks of Celina decided to pick up and move closer to the train depot, which is where you will find the modern-day City of Celina, Texas. If you were to trace the one mile or so line to the former location of Celina, Texas, you would find that it sits in the general vicinity of the Glendenning Parkway and the Old Celina Cemetary.
The Old Celina Cemetary (https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/5735/old-celina-cemetery) is interesting because the oldest known grave within it is one belonging to a child that died in 1884, just a few years after Celina, Texas showed up on maps with its official post office. There is nothing left of the original Celina townsite other than the Old Celina Cemetary. A historical marker was placed there in 1976 that details how the land was donated in 1884 by a man named WJ Bounds.
Back then, the townfolks placed the houses and the buildings that had made up "old Celina" onto giant rollers and pulled them to the location of "New Celina." imagine the undertaking, moving a town!
In 1907, Celina, Texas, was incorporated and a short eight years later, had the first road made only for vehicular traffic known as the "Celina Pike."
Of course, over the decades since then, Celina Texas has continued to grow and improve. Today the City of Celina is working with the North Texas Turnpike Authority to extend the build-out of the North Dallas Tollway through Celina.
In 1910, the land that is now downtown Celina, Texas, was a bit of property owned by William Willock. A company was employed to plat the town and sell the lots to people who wanted to build new homes in Celina, Texas. Some of those original homes still exist and are considered some of the most beautiful homes for sale in Celina. As the population increases, home sales in Celina, Texas, will indeed take off. Still, these older, original houses will stand for many years as a testament to the skill of the innovative homebuilders in Celina, Texas.