Articles from Austin Real Estate Guy Blog

Mansfield Dam Floodgates Open
2007-06-28 14:40:00
With the huge amount of rain the Lake Travis catch basin has collected recently, floodgates on most Highland Lakes are open. Mansfield Dam has 4 floodgates open. Check out what the sight looks like below.Rain has been falling for more than a week and the Marble Falls area, about 45 minutes upstream from the dam, got over 19 inches of rain in one 24 hour period. That send Lake Travis up a foot an hour yearly yesterday according to the LCRA, which manages the lakes.This place always draws a crowd. If you look in the lower left part of the first photo you will see people standing behind a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. The last time I saw the floodgates open the fence wasn't there. Safety first - thanks LCRA.With the floodgates on Mansfield Dam open, the water going through Lake Austin is higher and rapid so that lake is closed. Tw floodgates are open also that are dumping water from Lake Austin into Town Lake, so that lake is also ...

Lakeway Medical Center
2007-06-21 15:04:00
A large regional medical facility has finally been approved by the Lakeway city council that will bring the south lake Travis area some tremendous facilities. Included in the plan are a hospital with a level two trauma center and an emergency services helipad. Also to be in the complex with the hospital will be retail space, medical services, a restaurant, a rehabilitation center, an extended stay hotel and a daycare facility. This is a really large project for Lakeway, which used to feel out in the country. It will be developed on 54 acres. The hospital itself will have a level two trauma center. Brackenridge is currently the only level one trauma center in the area. The major difference in being level two is that the hospital will not be required to have neurosurgeons and trauma surgeons and level two emergency facilities are usually not designed for pediatric trauma referrals. This is why the hospital will have a helipad; qui ...

Austin High-End Home Glut
2007-06-20 13:28:00
I was at a meeting last week when Michael DeMarco of Laurel Haven Homes gave an update on his business. Laurel Haven has built in the western Travis County area for a while and their specialty has been high-end homes. By that I mean homes in the $800,000 and up range. Michael said that they are not going to continue spec homes in the $1 million and up range. There are too many on the market, especially in western Travis County. In the Lake South Area of the Austin MLS there is about a 2 year supply of homes in this price range. The biggest challenge for people like Michael is finding land to build on and come in with a price of $400,000-$700,000. The problem is that lot prices have skyrocketed. There are currently 515 single-family homes on the market for over $1 million. Over the past month, 40 homes priced at over $1 million have sold. That gives us around a 13 month supply of homes priced at over $1 ...

Lake Travis Schools Again
2007-06-11 11:21:00
After the post about football and education I had a comment posted by Dan. His comment made me think I need to post about the level of education the Lake Travis ISD provides. As someone who has had kids in the district, who has subbed for 4 years in the schools, who knows a lot of kids and who still works with a community service club at the high school, I see the level of education being provided. The LTISD does an excellent job of educating kids.I went to the awards ceremony at the high school last year and was amazed at the number of kids who were National Merit Scholar semifinalists and finalists. I was amazed at the number of students getting numerous UIL awards. I was also amazed when watching scholarships being presented at the number of students going to really first class colleges and universities. There were two students going to the U.S. Air Force Academy, which is not an easy place to get into.The high school does a great job in terms of ...

This Might Get Me In Trouble, but...
2007-06-08 10:31:00
Austin Realtor's wife left a comment after my post about Robin Hood (property tax redistribution) as it relates to the Lake Travis ISD. I have seen what she commented about - "lesser" school districts getting new band uniforms, computers, etc. every year thanks to districts like Lake Travis being robbed by the state.Here comes the comment I may get in trouble for: I would rather have the football program see cuts (rather than the huge expansion) before seeing the district lose teachers and aids and having class sizes going up because of budget challenges. The idea that football is more important than academics is just crazy. Sure, school pride is good, but does LTHS really need that massive new weight lifting complex more than new books or a couple more aids? No offense to coach Dicus or anyone else, but I just had to say this. ...

Austin Homes - Stats
2007-06-07 08:35:00
From Alamo Title Co.:The month of May 2007New listings were down by 11.89%.Solds increased by 2.55%.As for Average Prices:The "New Listings" average list price is up 26.31% to 337,378.Sold average sales prices increased 7.89% to $245,616 compared to $227,646 in 2006.The week of May 27- June 2, 2007(compared to the same week in 2006)New listings up 27.30%.Pendings down 28.84% Solds up 20.38%.As for Average Prices: May 27- June 2, 2007 (compared to the same week in 2006) The "New Listings" average list price increased 20.15% to $326,938. Sold average sales price increased 7.03% to $262,083.In 2006 it was $244,860 for the same week. ...

Robin Hood Haunts Lake Travis
2007-06-05 15:24:00
I listened to Rocky Kirk, the superintendent of the Lake Travis ISD, today at a lunch. Rocky gave an update on school district growth and a few other things.At the end of Rocky's talk Russ Eitel asked a question about property tax reform. Rocky told us that although many people think the state legislature ended what we call Robin, it really didn't. Robin Hood is what we refer to in Texas when we talk about the reallocation of property tax collections. Property wealthy areas send money to the state and the state sends the funds to other property poor districts. For the Lake Travis ISD, this means that over 50% of our property tax collections go to the state for redistribution. That is why our property taxes are so high in the Lake Travis ISD and other districts in the area.Is this fair? The property poor districts must love it. I hate it. If we weren't sending over $26 million to the state this fall, we might actually hav ...

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