Hello Fort Worth Insiders!
Texas is on Fire & Fort Worth has $5B under construction right now.
Between the Ross Fire, apartment fires and more Data Center votes , Texas feels more divided than ever on what’s priority right now. The comments show lack of support for DC’s but the votes aren’t reflecting that - why? Thousands of acres are burning yet fire planning isn’t talked about enough - why? $5B worth of construction is happening in Fort Worth while commute times are ever increasing, tax hikes are up for discussion while home values are down.
What’s most important to you about Fort Worth? Tell me, so I can make sure it’s a priority.
Here's what I found this week
Kirstine
THE 474 GIGAWATT FREEZE
Summary: Fort Worth's council has started a 90-day pause on new data center projects and set up a new oversight commission, while a $10 billion campus on the city's south-east edge cleared its site plan with a 7–4 vote and a separate $2 billion CyrusOne campus advances on the Jack/Wise County line.
The biggest story in Texas right now, and almost nobody is talking about it properly.
On 3 August, Governor Abbott froze the entire ERCOT queue of data centres waiting to plug into the grid. Every single one now has to pass an audit before it gets power.
The queue is 474 gigawatts. That's more than five times the most electricity Texas has ever used at once. About 90% of it is data centers.
The audit asks three questions of every project: Are you bringing your own power, or taking ours? Are you bringing your own water, or drinking the community's? Are you paying your own way, or living on tax breaks?
Any project that fails gets denied.
Why it matters: This is the biggest quality-of-life story in the region right now. Data centers pull on the same water and power resources that your home does, and they sit next to neighborhoods. Buyers are already asking what's being built behind a subdivision before they write an offer and homeowners near proposed sites need to know how it reads to a future buyer. Watch for nearby power studies, permit filings and land sales, because the land trades happen months, sometimes years, before the announcements.
Extra detail: Detail worth noting: the Jack/Wise campus would sit on 485–940 acres near FM 2210 and Texas 199, run at least 144 megawatts off the Wise County Power Station, and use closed-loop cooling of roughly 200,000 gallons per building. The abatement on the table is 15% for 10 years, plus $1.5 million for emergency services and full school taxes paid.
Insider Nugget: This site already has the power connection installed. Land has already transferred ownership & many nearby neighbors are looking to sell.
Sources: WFAA / Wise County Messenger / DataCenterDynamics / Utility Dive
🔥 FIRE WATCH: THE ROSS FIRE & WHAT IT MEANS FOR ALL OF US
North Texas has been burning. Here's the real picture, and what you can do about it.
The Ross Fire, by the numbers
It started at about 1.30pm on Monday 24 August, near Palo Pinto - roughly 60 miles west of Fort Worth. That same day, DFW hit 109 degrees and broke a record. Within 24 hours the fire had grown to 80,000 acres.
As of this week it has burned 90,400 acres across Palo Pinto and Jack counties and sits at about 38% contained.
157 structures destroyed, including 18 homes
140 more damaged
453 structures saved by crews
Around 100 head of cattle lost
447 personnel assigned to fight it
It is now the second-largest wildfire in North Texas history. Only the 2011 Possum Kingdom Complex was bigger, at 148,000 acres.
The cause? Investigators say it was human-caused - sparks from equipment after a tyre blowout. One blown tyre. 90,000 acres.
Governor Abbott secured a federal FEMA Fire Management Assistance Grant to help cover the cost of fighting it.
It isn't just out west
Fort Worth Fire has been running flat out. Between 5 July and 22 July, the department responded to 467 grass and brush fires. In the same window last year, it was 53.
That's a 780% increase.
And it's not only grass. On 26 August a three-alarm fire tore through the Mariposa Park Apartments on Calmont Avenue. About 50 flats damaged. 57 people displaced. A firefighter and four residents treated for smoke inhalation. The roof and attic were already gone when crews arrived, and the building started failing fast.
Fort Worth has been in moderate drought since 11 August. That's the whole story in one line.
Burn bans are live right now
Tarrant County - 90-day outdoor burning ban, approved 13 August, covering unincorporated areas. Cooking, welding and fire pits for social gatherings are excluded. Breaking it is a Class C misdemeanour with a fine up to $500.
Wise County - 90-day ban also in force.
Check before you burn anything. Conditions change weekly.
HOW TO HELP
Please give money, not stuff. Cash lets crews and families buy exactly what they need, and it doesn't create a sorting problem for people who are already stretched.
Texas Department of Agriculture Hay & Feed Hotline - 877-429-1998. If you've got hay, feed, spare pasture or a livestock trailer, this is where it goes. Ranchers who saved their herds still have nothing to feed them.
STAR Fund (State of Texas Agriculture Relief) - $25 covers a bale of hay. texasagriculture.gov
Local feed stores in the affected towns - ring and ask if you can put $50 on an account for displaced livestock. Helps a rancher and a small business at once.
Don't drive out to look. Extra traffic gets in the way of fire trucks, evacuations and people moving cattle. Give through vetted organisations instead.
FIRE SAFETY: WHAT I'D ACTUALLY DO AT YOUR HOUSE
I sell homes for a living, so I'll say this plainly - the five feet closest to your house matters more than anything else you own.
The first five feet
Clear leaves and pine needles out of gutters, off the roof, and off the porch and deck. Embers land there, not on your walls.
Move firewood, propane tanks and pot plants away from the house. No mulch right against the siding - use gravel or stone instead.
Screen the gap under your deck with 1/8-inch metal mesh so embers can't blow in.
Five to thirty feet
Mow. Dry grass is fuel.
Trim tree limbs up off the ground and away from the roof.
Space shrubs out so fire can't run from one to the next.
Don't park on dry grass. A hot exhaust in tall grass is a fire.
Out on the road and the ranch
Check your tyres. The Ross Fire started with a blowout.
No dragging chains behind a trailer. Sparks travel.
Spark arrestors on mowers and equipment. Don't mow midday in a drought.
Keep a fire extinguisher and water in the truck if you're working land.
Before anything happens
Photograph every room and open every cupboard while you film. That video is what gets your insurance claim paid.
Know two ways out of your neighbourhood.
Pack a go-bag: documents, medicine, chargers, pet supplies, spare keys.
Ring your insurance agent and ask two questions: what's my dwelling coverage, and do I have replacement cost or actual cash value? Most people find out the wrong answer at the worst moment.
Where to check conditions
Texas A&M Forest Service burn ban map - tfsweb.tamu.edu
Texas Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal - texaswildfirerisk.com (look up your own address)
InciWeb, for live fire status - inciweb.wildfire.gov
Sources: KERA - Ross Fire 90,000 acres, 157 structures · FOX 4 - cause identified as human-caused · Governor Abbott - federal assistance · WFAA - Fort Worth grass fire surge · NBC DFW - Mariposa Park apartment fire · Tarrant County burn ban · Fort Worth Moms - how to help
💧 THE WATER BILL NOBODY HAS COSTED
Texas needs $174 billion over 50 years to avoid an extreme water shortage. That's the draft 2027 State Water Plan.
This year the state's water fund had $1.28 billion available. Applicants asked for $4.2 billion. It denied 13 of 23 projects - the first rejections in the fund's 11-year history.
North Texas Municipal Water District alone asked for $419 million for one pipeline and treatment plant. And Cedar Creek and Richland Chambers reservoirs are not enough for the growth already coming.
Why it matters: Water is now a real estate story. Where the pipes go, the houses follow. Where they don't, growth stalls. People are calling water free when it comes from a Water Well - but what is the real cost?
Sources: Texas Tribune · Dallas Morning News
🏠 THE COST OF KEEPING YOUR HOUSE
Insurance is the silent killer. The average Texas premium is on track to hit $4,529 by the end of this year. For a $300,000 home in the North Texas corridor, expect $3,200 to $5,200 depending on your roof age and claims history.
Why so high? Texas logged 878 major hailstorms in 2024 - nearly double the next state. Now add wildfire.
Small mercy: the rate of increase has slowed hard, from 18.7% in 2024 to 4.3% in 2025.
Your homestead exemption went up to $140,000. Proposition 13 passed in November 2025 and lifted the school-district exemption from $100,000. In Tarrant County that's worth close to $2,000 a year. Filing is free through the Tarrant Appraisal District. Deadline for 2026 is 30 April.
If you have never filed one, do it this week. It is the single easiest money you will find. Don’t know how? Reply back and I’ll help you.
Tarrant County has proposed a fourth straight rate cut - 18.6 cents. But with average taxable value near $278,000, the actual bill lands around $516. Flat. The rate falls, the values rise, and they cancel out.
Sources: Dallas Fed · Tarrant Appraisal District
💵 THE REAL ESTATE MARKET RIGHT NOW
Prices are flat and sellers are paying. NTREIS figures put Fort Worth's median at $335,000, down 0.6% on the year. Tarrant County is $350,528. Denton County is $434,748.
Roughly 49% of closed DFW deals include a seller concession, median above $17,000. The median price cut is around $12,500.
Rents are falling. DFW rents dropped 2.7% to $1,461. Vacancy is near 12%. Landlords are handing out six to eight weeks free rent.
Mortgages are at 6.71% and forecast to sit in the 6.3–6.5% band for the rest of the year.
Here's the bit worth thinking about: rents falling while sale prices sit flat is unusual. It changes the rent-versus-buy sum completely. If you've been renting and waiting, run the numbers again - the answer may have flipped.
Insider Nugget: Most Realtors will tell you Rent is 100% interest but what they fail to highlight is the true ongoing cost of homeownership if you buy at the wrong time, wrong price or wrong address. Ask anyone who bought in 2021 how the cost of homeownership is going for them right now, they’ve been making payments for 48 months & many are selling at a loss.
📉 FROM JOB BOOM TO STANDSTILL
Texas added jobs at just 0.1% last year. In 2024 it was 1.6%. In 2023 it was above 2%.
For the first time in years, Texas grew no faster than the rest of the country. A Dallas Fed economist said he had never used the words "zero growth" about this state before.
Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine unemployment is 4.0%, up from 3.8%.
It's what economists call a low-hire, low-fire economy. Layoffs in North Texas hit just 1,093 workers in the first quarter - the lowest since mid-2024. But hiring has dried up too. If you have a job, you're probably fine. If you're looking for one, it's hard going.
⭐ TEXAS MIGRATION AT 20 YEAR LOW
Everyone says people are pouring into Texas. Half of that is no longer true.
Texas net domestic migration was 67,000 in the year to June 2025. Three years earlier it was nearly 219,000. That's a 20-year low - and North Carolina has overtaken Texas for net inward migration.
The reason is affordability. Property taxes, insurance and housing costs have eaten the advantage Texas used to sell.
But the companies are still coming. DFW leads the nation with 100+ headquarters relocations since 2018, and picked up 11 more in 2025 from Los Angeles, the Bay Area, New York and Chicago. Celestica's AllianceTexas expansion alone is 1,700 jobs and up to $876 million.
And Fort Worth crossed one million people - now the 10th largest city in America, having added 19,512 residents in a single year.
The read: the companies are still betting on us. The people have slowed down. That gap is where the next few years get decided.
Why is the Fort Worth Pulse here?
Why do I share what I share?
Did you know I’m a local Top 250 ranked Realtor in Fort Worth - BTW there are over 60,000 Agents in Fort Worth.
I share because I’ve helped hundreds of Clients Buy, Sell & Invest in Fort Worth and one hurdle that is ever increasing is the limitations on information we, as Realtors, are allowed to share directly. Did you know Realtors have restrictions on what we are allowed to advise and share? Such as School districts, upcoming growth, legislature that could affect your future home values and so much more… things you’d probably want to consider when spending six figures, right?
I share factual updates on the channel that I believe could affect your future home values, investments and your families quality of life - things I believe the public deserve to know about where they live. Things that affect how relocating Buyers make feel about the area and take into consideration for their plans to move.
If you're buying, selling, or looking to invest & develop - we should talk! Reply back here & let’s find a time to connect.
Kirstine Openshaw
Kirstine’s Featured Homes
Have Questions?
Simply Reply to this email, or Call Kirstine: 682-442-3441
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3 Acres
2,739 sqft
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Gifts For You, a thank you for supporting & sharing
Fort Worth has the heart. We track the pulse. So you never miss a beat.
🏡 I'm Kirstine Openshaw, Top 250 Fort Worth Texas Realtor. Clive and I own the Fort Worth Pulse Realty Group, your insider guide to Living in Fort Worth. I get you the home. Clive gets you the loan. Fort Worth's been in our blood since 2006. I believe when you know more, you win more. That's why I track the pulse, so you always have the edge. Let's get you home. 🏡 🔑 NMLS #2639452
Clive is my husband, a custom home builder and a Mortgage Loan Originator.
📍 Want to discuss how any of our Featured Stories affects your real estate moves this year? Simply reply back here or call/text 682-442-3441.
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Kirstine & Clive Openshaw
Founders of Fort Worth Pulse
Founding Fort Worth Texas Team
at SERHANT Texas LLC
NMLS 2639452
📞 682-442-3441
✉️ [email protected]
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