I took a drive in the Cook subdivision off of Texas Pike this afternoon. Owen County Plan Commission agreed to the 100+ residential home subdivision, I believe for the primary use of Cook employees. I think the development started in 2022 and finished in 2023 with the first phase of around 25 homes completed. There are nine vacant, brand new construction homes, still sitting there. There are more phases to complete by the tentatively scheduled end of 2025. This area was annexed by the town of Spencer (correct me I am wrong). One home owner in the area informed me that their property tax bill went up this year by 20%. Now, of course this is hearsay as I cannot confirm that there might have been other reasons, but it is alarming if that is true.

This update is to share that there is already an abundance of reasonably-priced homes, and with the new 4 Oaks subdivision, there is already five homes anticipated to be placed on the market soon with the end total of approximately 260 households. That will make it around 360 new construction households in Spencer (plus, there are also two new construction homes in downtown Spencer that have been on the market for over 180 days). Final point, these homes are well-priced in the low 200s, so it seems excessive when clearly people are not buying what is already available.