Articles from Austin Real Estate Guy Blog

Austin Mid-2007 Economic Update
2007-08-09 10:26:00
I saw an interesting update on the Austin real estate market this morning that was put together by a local research firm. Some of the highlights for you numbers people:1.7 million square feet of space absorbed and rents up almost 6%. A lot of that was in the Domain and in Southpark Meadows.City apartment occupancy was at almost 97%. Rents were up slightly to an average of $0.94 per square foot. Keep in mind that this average includes anything from subsidized rents (Section 8) to high end downtown apartments. Absorption for the first half of 2007 was over 4600 units, which is the strongest number in several years.Absorption of office space has slowed to just over 86% in June, largely due to a lot of new space.The vacancy rate for industrial space dropped to 11%. Warehouse space has a vacancy rate of 9%. There is still quite a bit of industrial space under construction.From another report, residential home prices appreciated 11% in early 2007.Mar ...

Austin Toll Roads - Love Them or Hate Them
2007-08-03 15:57:00
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization wants to upgrade some Austin highways. The problem is that they are short of money needed for the upgrades. The answer may be more toll roads for the Austin area. Many people hate the idea of having any toll roads at all, but there are at least a few who don't mind.I was touring north shore Lake Travis real estate a few days ago. The agent leading the tour told the group that with the new toll road 183A open, the trip from deep inside Lago Vista to downtown is just 55 minutes in traffic. The stretch on 1431 from Lago Vista to Cedar Park still takes a while, but once you get on the toll road the trip is pretty fast. Before 183A opened, the trip was a good 15-30 minutes longer. This is great news for people selling real estate on the north shore. Before 183A opened, much of the area was just too far from the downtown Austin area for people to want to live there and commute. Now m ...

Central Texas Water Prices On The Way Up
2007-08-02 15:17:00
The LCRA is thinking about raising the price it charges for water in some rural areas of Central Texas. They claim that the topography of the Hill Country is such that their cost to run water lines is very expensive. because of this, the LCRA wants to raise the cost it charges users of its water as much as 41%. The area in which the rise is expected covers much of north-central Hays County and part of Travis County including Bee Cave and areas to the west and south of Bee Cave.What the LCRA is saying is that there are fewer homes per mile of water pipe in these areas than in more developed areas. This means that there are fewer people to spread the cost of the new infrastructure over. Over time, many people in the Hill Country have been practically begging for LCRA water. This has been true for many developers who couldn't have otherwise built in areas such as Belvedere and other new subdivisions. Rather than split the cost of taking water ...
Texas

Will Housing Slump Help New Home Sales?
2007-08-02 14:47:00
Strange title, I know, but read on. An article from Bloomberg News talked about how housing woes are putting a squeeze on corporate profits. The gist of it was that slowing home starts have reduced the demand for everything from lumber to counter tops to wiring, plumbing and other building material. This, in turn, has lead to a drop in profits for some of the businesses making or transporting these items.That makes me wonder... The combination of Katrina and Rita, along with huge demand from India and China, caused the price of many building materials shoot through the roof. Cement, lumber, copper and other materials were seeing prices climb dramatically. The other thing that rose was the price of petroleum related products including gasoline and diesel, which raised transportation costs for building material. One result was a dramatic increase in new home prices in certain areas.That was then. Now we are seeing a slump in the housin ...

Another Huge Development For Southeast Austin
2007-08-01 16:08:00
A Canadian developer has plans for a very large development in the southeast Austin area. Over the next 20 or so years, Carma Texas, Inc. plans to add around 7,500 single-family homes, over a million square feet of retail space and around 3,500 condos and townhomes. The project is east of Interstate 35, just west of Highway 183 on around 25,00 acres. The development is outside of the Austin city limits for now and nobody knows whether or not the area will be annexed over time.This is just one of many developments announced or planned for areas in the area just east of Austin. This is an area that is flat, making it easier to build on than areas in the hills in the western Austin area. Large tracts of farm and ranch land at relatively affordable prices have been available over time and this is another reason that the area is attractive to real estate developers. ...

I Left But My Business Stayed
2007-07-31 12:14:00
I was a bit nervous a week ago as I got ready to head out of town for a few days. My daughter and I were off to Utah to the place you see to the right. The high canyons were such that we weren't going to have access to TV, internet, email or mobile phone coverage. Sounds great, right?I was nervous simply because my real estate business relies on communication. I did the right things in terms of making sure I had other agents lined up to babysit my listings and the only contract I was working was a co-listing. These are what they call the strawberry pinnacles. The name would make more sense if you saw them at sunset, when they turn pink in the setting sunlight.The cool thing about getting back to Austin was knowing that even though I was completely out of touch for a few days that my business remained just as I had left it.I suppose I should leave Austin more often... ...

Cielo Development in Bee Cave
2007-07-24 09:08:00
Some time ago I was asked to participate in a focus group for a developer who was considering a project in the Bee Cave area. Those of us in the group, who met with the developers, were asked to keep quiet about this project until it was announced. Today, the Statesman broke the story about Ceilo, a sort of Tuscan-style development to be nestled in the hills of Bee Cave off of RM 620.Cielo will be a 400 unit development that will be a mix of condos, luxurious flats and townhomes. Starting in the upper $300,00s, the units will be built into the landscape, taking on a Tuscan style. Surrounded by the Balcones Canyonland Preserve, the area will be surrounded by an undeveloped and protected nature preserve.When the focus group met, the developer, Southern Land Co., told us that they envisioned an area with lush landscaping and huge views. I had two words for them - deer and water. My suggestion was to ditch the landscaping that worked so well in Sout ...

Austin Real Estate Slowed in June, But...
2007-07-21 13:39:00
The Austin American Statesman had an article today about how cool June was for home sales in Austin. Home sales in June were down 6% compared to June, 2006. Is that a problem or a sign of things to come? I don't think so. June, 2006 saw a increase on home sales 22% compared to June of 2005. That was a huge spike and June of this year would have had a tough time showing any growth at all. On to the but part... Another article in the business section today talked about how strong the Austin economy is. A strong economy almost always leads to a strong real estate market. Our 5-county region had an unemployment rate of 3.5% and we added 29,000 jobs in June, 2007. Those are great numbers. Another interesting number to look at is job growth in the construction field, which grew over 9% in June. Not that this is all residential, but some of it probably is. Although it is true that there is too much inventory in ...

Spring in Austin in July?
2007-07-19 15:05:00
Yes, Spring is set for July 24 in Austin. Let me explain... A high-rise condo tower will break ground in downtown next Tuesday. The tower, which is to be 42 stories, is one of many planned condo towers for the downtown area. After taking reservations for more than a year, some projects are underway and some are still in the planning stage. Looking at the downtown Austin area these days reminds me of the construction in the mid 80s and late 90s. There seem to be a lot of cranes on the horizon.Spring is reported to have 36 stories of condos with the rest being parking and retail. Of the condos, they will range in price from $237,000 to $530,000. The top story was to have four units, but apparently has been pursed to be combined as one, larger unit. Can you imagine the view these folks will have? Each unit is supposed to have glass walls in the living room and bedrooms, which will make for great views in all directions from just ...

Lake Travis is Open Again
2007-07-18 13:08:00
The LCRA has reopened Lake Travis after about 18 days of being closed. The lake was closed after heavy rain in the watershed flooded the lake with a lot of debris that was carried in by flood waters. Lake Travis also had a higher than desired bacteria count after the flooding. Most of the debris has probably ended up on what is once again dry land, but boaters need to remain aware. What may look like a small stick may actually be a branch on a floating tree. Just because Lake Travis is open doesn't mean that it is safe, so be careful out there. ...

Short Sale Tax Consequenses
2007-07-18 13:01:00
Did you know that there can be a pretty big negative about doing a short sale? A short sale is done when the owner of a home is behind in payments, owes the lender more than the house is worth and has a severe financial handicap. If the lender agrees to a short sale, the lender accepts less than what is owed on the house. Here's the problem - the difference between what is owed and what the lender gets is considered to be taxable by the IRS. The debt relief, they say, is the same as income. Learn more about the short sale. ...

Are You Into Stats For Austin?
2007-07-10 11:05:00
If you are...The week in review:July 1- July 7, 2007(compared to the same week in 2006)New listings up 41.28%.Pendings down 2.29% Solds down 2.05%. As for Average Prices: July 1- July 7, 2007(compared to the same week in 2006) The "New Listings" average list price increased 7.21% to $292,656. Sold average sales price increased 9.03% to $279,657.In 2006 it was $256,502 for the same week.Last month in review:June 2007New listings were down by 15.63%.Solds decreased by 3.27%. As for Average Prices:The "New Listings" average list price is up 16.82% to 325,115.Sold average sales prices increased 6.64% to $254,211 compared to $238,378 in 2006.Did you know that we had 9,187 active listings during the same week in 2006? Today there are 10,340active listings! That is a 12.55% increase from 2006. So how does this affect your listing? Check out our "Months of Inventory" chart on our website to get the details for your ...

Home Sales in Austin Still Strong
2007-07-07 13:04:00
The Austin real estate market is still in good shape, especially compared to the national market. In May, the median price of a single-family home in the 5-county area rose from $174,480 to $183,160 compared to May, 2006. The average price of a home rose from $237,136 to $250,734 since May, 2006. The number of homes sold in May, 2007 also went up by a little more than 2%.When you look at our area's average and median prices, don't be fooled. What keeps our average price somewhat low is the fact that a huge number of homes that sell for fairly low prices. Gosh, that makes sense, doesn't it? When people discover Austin, many want to live around the hills and lakes. They see areas like the ones below and mentally apply that average price to the area and that just doesn't work. This is Lake Austin, which is west of downtown in the Hill Country. ...

Lake Travis Closed
2007-07-06 08:32:00
In case you haven't been watching the news, Lake Travis has been closed by the LCRA until further notice. Why? Recent flooding has washed all sorts of unwanted stuff into the lake. Swimming and boating are not safe until the water drops and debris clears. What kind of stuff may be in the water? Read more about why you should stay off Lake Travis after a flood. ...

A Good Time To Look At Lake Travis Waterfront Properties
2007-07-02 11:27:00
Lake Travis has gone from almost half empty to flooding in just a couple of months. This might sound strange, but now actually may be a great time to look at waterfront properties. Take a look at what I mean:This is the lake from the same place at almost 20 feet over its full level. This was taken just 3 days ago.So why would anyone want to look at lakefront property when the lake is flooded? Are you kidding - how better to see the risk of flooding than to see the lake when it is flooded? The floodplain is still above where the level of Lake Travis is, but seeing property, whether an existing home or a place on which to build, would be very telling right now. Anyone up for it? Call or email me. ...

[First] « Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next » [Last]

3668 blogs in our database.
Statistics resets every week.