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2008 Relay For Life of Lake Travis - Sign Up or Donate Now 2008-02-05 14:26:00 I just registered this year's Keller Williams team for Relay For Life.  Doing that gave me a Relay For Life website, where people can learn about the event, sign up to participate or make an online donation.  Click here for the site.OK, so what is Relay For Life and why is it important?  Relay is the signature event of the American Cancer Society and there will be somewhere around 5000 Relay events around the country this year.  Everybody seems to know about the Susan Komen Race For the Cure and other specialized fundraisers.  But just as cancer doesn't discriminate, neither does Relay For Life.  We're out to fight all types of cancer.There are three primary reasons we Relay.  First, to celebrate and honor survivors, their families and caregivers.  Second, to raise aswareness of and to educate people about cancer and prevention.  Third is to raise money for researching a cure.This year, the Lake Travis event will be at the L ...

HUD Foreclosures in Austin 2008-01-31 12:15:00 Interested in HUD foreclosures?  There is more to them than you may realize.  First, just because a house is a foreclosure, that doesn't automatically make it a great deal.  If you are a new investor or buyer looking for HUD homes, you need to become educated.Buying a HUD home is done via a closed bidding process.  There are limited time lines and other things to consider.  For example, HUD homes are winterized - they do not have utilities turned on.  Inspections are needed, but to do that the prospective buyer needs to arrange to have the utilities turned on.  HUD homes are sold as is, so inspections are not done so you can see what repairs are needed and renegotiate to have repairs done.  You need to get in and know what kind of work you are in for.  HUD properties are usually priced below the market value as they often are in need or repair.  After the inspection you need to determine whether or not you can make the nec ...

MLXchange Online Survey 2008-01-30 10:55:00 Fellow Austin real estate agents:  Fed up with the MLXchange as much as many others are?  Go to http://www.keysurvey.com/survey/99246/12f2/ and leave a comment.  We need to bury these people with comments about why MLXchange is bad and we need to demand that they give Tempo back to us. ...

Homeland Security Western Travis County Office 2008-01-28 11:36:00 For severl months I have bee hearing rumors about a Homeland Security office somewhere on Highway 71 west of Bee Cave.  I have no way to confirm this or how many people would be employed there.  If any readers know anything, please let me know.  I can be reached at 512-293-2422. ...

Austin 2008 Housing and Economic Outlook 2008-01-25 14:31:00 Several things caught my eye today in the news and from the National Association of REALTORS (NAR).  First, Anglos Angelou, who I have heard speak several times, gave his economic outlook for Austin 2008.  He basically said that he expects 2008 to be flat, but we should expect to see a better economy in 2009 and beyond.  Angelou predicts that Austin will see job growth of around 2.3% in 2008.  That is around half the rate we peaked at in early 2007.  He expects 2009 to be stronger, with the Austin area adding about 23,000 jobs.  That would be a job growth for 2009 of around 3%.  Population growth is expected by Angelou to be around 85,000 people over the next two years.  The Austin area grew by around 42,000 people in 2007 and around 59,000 in 2006.What Angelou said about the local housing market was interesting.  He predicted that we will continue to see rising apartment rents and slow movement of homes in the $180,000 and under price range ...

Austin Home Search Inaccuracies 2008-01-25 11:08:00 If you use my Search Austin Homes page or the search page on other Austin real estate agent's sites, you may not get accurate information returned to you.  The Austin Board of REALTORS® changed MLS systems to a system called MLXchange a few months ago.  Although you as a non-Board member can not access the actual MLS itself, your search on my site pulls from the same data.REALTORS® in the Austin area are finding that information that we get sometimes is not accurate.  We are seeing things like searches specifically asking for listings with a pool returning homes without pools.  We are seeing things like the number of bedrooms being 1 when the house actually has 3 or 4.This is very frustrating for agents and for buyers.  Before we know that the system was returning inaccurate data, agents were embarrassing ourselves by showing homes that didn't really match the buyer's criteria.What I am getting at is this:  if you use my search page or ...

2007 Austin Real Estate Market Stats by MLS Area 2008-01-24 09:23:00 I just got the latest Austin real estate market statistics from Keller Williams showing the number of units sold by MLS area.  This compares 2007 to 2006 and shows a slow-down in most MLS areas.  To make more sense of this, click to see an Austin MLS map.  You will want to enlarge the view in your browser in order to see things more clearly.Citywide Comparisons YTDAREACLOSED UNITS 2006CLOSED UNITS 2007% CHANGEFC149-35.71%SV13293-29.55%LH199141-29.15%NW1207867-28.17%2N800594-25.75%2664524-21.08%W476379-20.38%7265211-20.38%10N553442-20.07%LS1163953-18.06%LN448373-16.74%HW359300-16.43%CLN15421291-16.28%5E11496-15.79%3496418-15.73%10S1046889-15.01%1B633543-14.22%WW4337-13.95%OT6657-13.64%1A577498-13.69%11436377-13.53%UT349302-13.47%8E370322-12.97%BL6355-12.70%GTE466407-12.66%1N774677-12.53%BA450395-12.22%8W353314-11.05%6520463-10.96%5494443-10.32%NE532480-9.77%BW256231-9.77%HD479433-9.60%RRW16141462-9.42%SWW872795-8.83%4556507-8.81%DT167153-8.38%GTW944879-6.89%HS267250- ...

Austin Real Estate in 2008 2008-01-22 16:46:00 As I sit this morning after having read the newspaper, I am reflecting on how Austin’s economy and housing market are doing compared to back in 2001.  That was when our tech-heavy economy went in the tank after the national tech bubble burst.  That also caused the area’s housing market to take a big hit.That was a time during which tech stocks had seen massive run-ups in price because of investor speculation.  The internet had taken off and we entered a totally different era in terms of our reliance on internet based businesses.  Of course other tech based products were seeing rapid innovation as well.  Austin was very heavily reliant on technology companies.  We had rapid job growth in the late 90s and massive building of everything from single-family homes to retail space to high-rises downtown.What I am getting at is that Austin went the same way as the national economy, we just got hit a little later.  So now as we have seen home price ...

What a Thoughtful Gift 2008-01-15 09:02:00 I looked in my office mailbox this morning and found a thank-you card with a $50 gift card to Chili's.The card was sent by a lady I worked with a few weekends who was looking for a home to lease for her brother.  Rebecca called pretty last minute and sounded in a big hurry to find something that would work.  I did some research, found some houses, met her in Oak Hill and drove her around for a few hours showing houses.  Rebecca found one that she felt was suitable and I was to show her brother that weekend.  I got an email the next day telling me that Rebecca's brother went to Craigslist, found the perfect house and had already made a deal with the owner to least it.  That was disappointing.What a nice card this was to get.  It turned my initial disappointment into a smile.  Many people will use a real estate agent like a tour guide, never understanding the time and effort we put into our work and not showing much, if any, loyalty.  Rebec ...

2008 Relay For Life of Lake Travis Kick-Off Meeting Date Set 2008-01-06 14:20:00 The date has been set for the kick-off meeting for the 2008 Relay For Life of Lake Travis.  It will be February 15 at Buster's BBQ, which is on RM 620 in Bee Cave, at 6:30PM. For the last 6 years I have been involved in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Lake Travis, chairing it three times.  Although not the event chair this year, I do want to help the planning committee by recruiting cancer survivors, teams and participants.Relay For Life is an overnight event with three main purposes.  The first is to honor cancer survivors and their families and care-givers.  We do this by having survivors and their families take the first lap around the track wearing purple shirts while everyone cheers for them.  The second is to raise awareness of and educate people about cancer and cancer prevention.  The third is to raise funds for research.  Almost entire volunteer driven, there is only one staff partner from the American Cancer.What happe ...

New MLXchange MLS System a Nightmare 2008-01-05 10:03:00 Some time ago the Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABoR) announced a change of MLS systems.  Replacing a system called Tempo, which most of us liked quite a bit, would be MLXchange.  The new MLXchange was supposed to have all the bells and whistles and everyone was going to love it.  ABoR even "tested" the system with 350 REALTORS®.  I don't know who tested and approved this system, but they must have bribed to approve it.The truth about MLXchange is that it has made many of us look like idiots.  Tempo had a Client Gateway, a personalized web page we could set up for clients to receive, view and manage listings that matched their search criteria.  Gateway could be bookmarked for easy access.  The Gateway in MLXchange can't be bookmarked.  Isn't that a step back wards?  In addition to that, if REALTORS® don't set up their MLXchange agent website, their clients may not be able to view listings.  Nobody ...

Central Texas Keeps Growing 2008-01-03 11:20:00 I posted a few days ago about the big population increase in Texas, but now I have some other stats more specific to Central Texas, which includes Austin.  If you understand anything about real estate markets, you know that job growth and population growth drive real estate.Back in 2002, after the tech bubble exploded, Travis County, which is home to Austin, lost over 11,000 residents.  We hadn't seen a decrease in population in ages before that.  The result for the housing market was a rapid run-up in the number of active listings, a much longer time to sell and home prices were very flat.  In 2006, Travis County grew by over 9,400 residents.  Williamson and Hays Counties grew in 2006 by over 11,500 and over 3,500 residents each.  That was greater growth than our area saw at the height of the tech boom in 2000 when Travis County had a population increase of over 8,500 people and Williamson County grew by over 11,300.Population projections by the Capit ... Texas

Home Prices Plunging 2007-12-27 09:57:00 The New York Times reported today that home prices around the country are seeing a rapid descent.  The story reported that of 20 major metro areas surveyed, all but three saw declining prices.  I would like to see some of the metro areas were left out.  Take a look here for the cities studied. What you will see is a good number of cities that anyone familiar with the news would have predicted to see falling prices.  Vegas, L.A., Phoenix, San Diego, Miami and Tampa were all very easy to pick as they had such dramatic run-ups in housing prices for several years.  Detroit is also an easy pick as Michigan’s economy is not in good health and Michigan is one of two states to see population declines.  Dallas and Atlanta are also reported to have declining prices, but each was less than a 1% decline.   I didn’t see Austin, Houston or San Antonio on the list.  All are major metro areas and all are doing relatively well in terms of th ...

Texas Highest Population Growth 2007-12-27 09:36:00 A new Census Bureau estimate just released shows Texas to have the highest population growth  of any state in the country.  This is in terms of the number of people, not a percent.  It was estimated that Texas gained 500,000 people during the year that ended July 1 of this year.  During the previous year, Texas also gained a lot of new residents, but estimates were that around half of those people relocated after Hurricane Katrina.  Besides births, this year’s population growth appears to be a result of a strong economy in Texas, with many people relocating for jobs.  People are also moving to Texas from other more expensive markets like parts of California and Florida.  Others are relocating to Texas to retire. The states leading the nation in population growth percentage are Nevada and Arizona.  Only two states had a negative population.  Those states are Michigan and Rhode Island. ... Texas

Congratulations Lake Travis Cavaliers 2007-12-25 07:20:00 36 - 34 was the final score and I have no idea who would have believed it - except for everyone at Lake Travis High School.  The LT football team had a record of 15 and 1 and ended their season with the state championship in 4A Division II football.  I didn't get to go to the game as I was out of town, but my friend Phil sent me a text at the end of the game announcing the win and the score.  I was lucky enough to watch the game on tape delay the next day and was really impressed with the play and coaching of both Lake Travis and Highland Park.Congratulations Cavs!!! ...