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Articles from Austin Real Estate Guy Blog

This Isn't Important 2007-10-12 14:20:00 Hey folks, this isn't of importance to you.  I am doing a test to see how quickly a post from this blog gets indexed by the search engines.Technorati Profile ...

Wincor Nixdorf - What? 2007-10-10 12:14:00 There was an article in the paper today about a company that moved to Austin for ribs, brisket and technical talent.  Wincor Noxdorf is a company from Germany that makes things like ATMs that can take bulk check deposits.  Not something you hear about every day, is it?  It seems that they moved their U.S. headquarters, as well as some office space and call center operations, to Austin in 1999.  They must like it here because they just added more space.  What I thought was funny was the statement about having a very computer-savvy population and the importance of rib houses and brisket.  I've heard of plenty of high-tech companies that moved here, opened offices here or were born here because of the highly educated work force, but this is the first time I heard smoked meats being a reason!Email Sam or call 512-293-2422. ...

Finally Some Good Real Estate News 2007-10-09 13:09:00 Business Week has a great article that isn't what we've all been reading lately.  Rather than talk all doom and gloom about the real estate market(s) in the U.S., the article has some pretty good news to share.  The article talks about how 97 markets in the country have seen healthy appreciation this year.  It talks about affordable markets.  It talks about hos strong real estate is in the south.  It specifically mentions Austin as having one of the most affordable median prices for homes.  Click here to read the article.Technorati Profile ...

Home Buyers and the Internet 2007-10-07 09:25:00 There seem to be two kinds of home buyers out there using the internet these days.  Those who are ready to buy right now and those who are many months out.  Regardless of which kind of buyer, most people looking to buy a home these days jump on the internet before they ever contact a real estate agent.  There are tremendous online resources available that can help buyers research cities, schools, neighborhoods and much more.  Of course the online buyers also love to look at listings.  They will visit realtor.com, austinhomesearch.com, my site and many others that have lots of listings to look at.People who are looking a bit farther out usually want to remain anonymous.  I get notifications about people emailing listings from my Austin real estate website all the time and most leave a rather generic email address and a fake phone number.  I'm always curious as to who these people are, but I am not going to bother them.  Once they get to the po ... Internet

U.S.A.F. and Family 2007-10-04 11:22:00 This post has absolutely nothing to do with real estate, but it is relevant to what is happening in the world today.  Whether or not you support the war in Iraq, I hope you support our troops.  Read on to see just what the heck I am talking about.I had the honor and priviledge to be in attendance last Tuesday at two ceremonies that took place on McGuire AFB, NJ.  My brother-in-law, Rick Martin, has for two years been in command of the USAF 305th Air Mobility Command.  The job of the 305th is to support U.S. Air Force operations including transporting supplies, equpment and troops, combat support and humanitarian aid throughout the world.  Rick also took the lead in combining McGuire AFB, Lakehurst Naval Air Station and Fort Dix Army Post into onc unified, multi-service militar installation.  The first ceremony we attended was the change of command, during which Rick handed command of the 305th over to another officer.  The second ceremony was one duri ...

Great Reasons to Live in Austin, TX 2007-09-28 13:40:00 I keep three blogs and even at the risk of having duplicate content, I am posting this list on all three because there are so many great reasons to live in Austin.  Take a look:• Austin ranks as the 4th Best City in Overall Standard of Living by Expansion Management, June 2006• Austin ranks 2nd among the Top 10 Best Big Cities in the country by cnn.money.com, 2006• Austin ranks as the 3rd Smartest City in the country by Bizjournals.com, June 2006• Austin ranks in the Top 5 “Smart Places to Live” by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and the Austin Business Journal, June 2006• Austin ranked 28th in Best Places for Business and Careers by Forbes, May 2006• Austin ranks 2nd in the 50 Best Places to Live by Men’s Journal, March 2006• Austin ranks 6th in the Top 10 Cities for Walking by Prevention magazine, August 2006• Austin ranks as the Best Place to Live in America for Hispanics by Hispanic magazine for the second year in a ...

Keller Williams and Luxury Real Estate 2007-09-27 15:12:00 Many people look at Keller Williams and think of us as Joe's Generic Real Estate Company, thinking we are only involved in low and mid-priced homes.  A lot of sellers of high end properties don't consider Keller Williams because they see some of the smaller, boutique agencies who specialize in high end homes.  If you took a look at the numbers, you might be surprised by what you see.About six weeks ago I was invited to a meeting that was to be a presentation from a lender about the state of the lending industry and also a presentation about how to market luxury real estate in Austin.  After the meeting I asked how they determined whom was invited and it was interesting what I was told.  The Elite 25 of Austin were invited.  You can probably figure out from the title what those folks are all about.  From there, another 75 or so agents were invited.  The qualification for being invited was that the agent had to be on the buy or sell side of ...

Homes Prices To See Double Digit Dip 2007-09-27 14:43:00 But not in Austin.  According to a CNNMoney.com report, there will be double digit depreciation in many markets across the country.  Click here for the report.  As can be expected, the big losers are in California, Arizona and Florida.  But if you take a closer look you will find areas in all parts of the country being affected.  Areas like Detroit and East Lansing in Michigan, Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio, Portland-South and Portland-Biddeford in Maine, Worcester and Peabody in MA, and Grand Rapids in Wyoming are all on the list.Many areas with the biggest drop were some of the most expensive areas.  Many that saw the least depreciation or healthy appreciation are the areas in which the cost of housing is still relatively low.As for Texas, the only places on the list were at the bottom, meaning they are barely losing value.  These areas were the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission region and Fort Worth-Arlington.  Austin, Houston, San Antonio and ...

Austin Job Market Very Tight 2007-09-22 14:51:00 The headline in the Statesman's business section this morning read:  "Area job market is tightest in 6 years."  The seasonally adjusted job growth rate in August was 4.1%  The Austin area's unemployment rate was 3.5%How many 5 county markets in the U.S. can say that right now?  Other area are losing jobs and Austin is adding like crazy.The last time things were close to this was back in the dot com run-up in 1999 and 2000.  The jobless rate was an insane 2% back then.  Employers were offering large signing bonuses as well as other incentives.  So just what is going on here?Austin is a great place to live.  We have the most interesting topography in the state with great rivers and lakes.  We have a very highly educated work force.  We generally have great weather.  For an MSA with just over 1.5 million people, there is a lot to do here in terms of music, hiking, biking, museums, etc.  We have an excellent univ ...

Sunset Harbor on North Shore of Lake Travis 2007-09-20 15:26:00 I got an email from Kryste Dolen, the daughter of Jeff Dolen the developer of Sunset Harbor.  Susan must have seen my north shore Lake Travis real estate update.  The email said:  "I wanted to give you some updated info regarding the development.  After a long battle we finally received our zoning change and are working towards starting construction.  As of right now  the construction has not started and probably will not until January sometime.  Also the development is located on 30 acres and will consist of 112 condos or hill county villas, as we like to call them.  It will also offer a community club house with a restaurant, fitness center, and on site management office.  There will be private boat docks that the residents can purchase and a day docks.  It will be a beautiful development with green space, walking trails, multiple swimming pools and exquisite landscaping.  I am not 100 percent sure about the garage size ...

Why Are Austin Home Prices Continuing To Rise? 2007-09-19 15:46:00 I ran some numbers this afternoon to support a discussion that fellow agent Phil Walthall and I were having today.  What we were discussing was the decline in Austin area home sales, but that prices continue to rise.  If you are into numbers, this will make sense to you.  The Austin market is Travis and four surrounding Counties.  From April 1 through April 19 of this year, 1158 Austin area homes sold.  The average price was $258,767.  This is straight from the Austin MLS.  From September 1 to today, the 19th, there have been 731 homes sold.  By the way, I’m talking strictly about single-family homes.  The average price for these homes was $268,678.  This brings me back to the discussion Phil and I had.  Phil’s comment was simply that there were probably fewer lower priced homes sold and that skewed the average sale price higher. Everyone has been reading about the home lending crisis.  What Phil and I suspect ...

Austin Home Buyers - Don't Put Off Buying 2007-09-18 14:34:00 I was in a discussion with Gary Keller, the Keller of Keller Williams, and other REALTORS last week and part of the discussion was the local real estate market.  You read all the time lately about the national real estate bubble and that just isn't true.  Real estate is a local thing.  Just as real estate is local, local is local.  What I mean by that is that one can generalize about a city-wide real estate market when the truth is that one part of the city can be red hot and another can be slow.In general, most of Austin's real estate market is great.  Are we feeling the effect from other markets that have gone in the tank?  Sure, but not much.  Are we feeling the credit crisis?  Sure, but not much.  Will our market slow down because of what has happened in other markets?  Sure, but not much.  Austin's economy is still incredibly healthy.  Job growth is strong.  I've posted about this before and I wi ...

Lake Travis from the Lakeway Spa and Resort 2007-09-14 13:16:00 I went to my Lakeway - Lake Travis Rotary Club meeting the other and decided to take my camera. I wanted to take some pictures from the Lakeway Spa and Resort, which is where we meet. What used to be the Lakeway Inn for many years changed when Dolce bought...(read more) ...

Hill Country Galleria Mall Opens October 24 2007-09-13 13:41:00 I just got back from my LAkeway - Lake Travis Rotary Club meeting, at which the developer of the new Hill Country Galleria Mall gave us a great update.  Highlites:Dillards will have a soft opening September 21 and the official opening September 26.  The western most entrance to the mall, where Dillards is, will be open as will the parking around Dillards.  The entrance by the Tetco gas station will also be open.  People are asked to not drive into the rest of the mall, which is still under construction.The mall will have 600,000 square feet of retail, 140 luxury apartments, 43 townhomes/condos and a 400-600 seat ampitheater.  It will also have 9 ponds, which is more than what is required, 10,000 caliper inches of trees, including many with 6" to 8" trunds.  The area between the new road behind the mall and Lake Pointe will remain green and may have ball fields some day.The grand opening of the mall will be at 9:00AM on Wednesday, October 24.  ...

Search Austin Homes By Map 2007-09-10 11:46:00 I added a search by map feature to my website a couple of months ago and I am wondering if people like it.  Below the map, searchers can still input search criteria, but they can also zoom in and out, drag the map and hover over a property to see the details pop up.  The problem I have with this feature is that it takes a while to load.  So, readers, I have a favor to ask of you.  Will you tell me what you think of the search by map feature?  Just click the search Austin homes by map link.  My questions are these:Does the long load time discourage you from using it?If you are familiar with Austin, the map may work for you.  If you're not familiar with the area, would you use this feature or just go for search criteria?Other thoughts, criticisms or feedback is welcome. ...