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Why you should register YourName.com
2007-07-08 00:57:00 A Realtor friend of mine, from a city and state which shall remain unnamed, called me the other day to ask if I knew what could be done about the fact that a disgruntled party in one of his deals (not his client) had registered the dot com of his first and last name and ... More About: Register , Regis
Pros and cons of owning rental houses
2007-07-07 20:54:00 I came across this article today by Robert Bruss (www.RobertBruss.com). It’s a really good overview of rental property ownership. Robert Bruss writes real estate articles that are published in newspapers around the country. A closer look at investment purchases Friday, July 06, 2007 By Robert J. Bruss - Inman News What is the best investment you ever made? ... More About: Rental , Houses , Rent , Ouse , Cons
The Home Warranty Clause and how it works in a Real Estate Sales Contract
2007-07-07 01:20:00 Some years ago, our Texas Association of Realtors Sales Contract for Home s was changed to include a fill-in-the-blank spot where the Seller can contribute a certain amount of money toward the Buyer’s purchase of a Residential Service Contract (commonly called a Home Warranty), such as those offered by American Home Shield. The clause in the sales ... More About: A Real Estate , Estate , Real Estate
Austin office market continues to be robust
2007-07-07 00:22:00 The Austin commercial real estate market is back to where it was before our downturn began in 2001 according the the Austin Statesman article below. Why is commercial real estate important to residential home owners and investors? Because the commercial market is a strong indicator of the residential market. Office space fills up because of ... More About: Market , Conti
Quick-turning an Austin rental home - pros and cons
2007-07-04 04:02:00 I moved two new renters in on Sunday July 1st. Both moved into homes that had been vacated by tenants with leases ending Saturday June 30th. There are all manner of things that can go wrong with such a tight turnaround, especially on a weekend. Nevertheless, I’ve always been a proponent of quick-turning a rental ... More About: Rental , Home , Austin , Quick , Rent
What Your Kitchen Cabinets Say About You
2007-07-03 19:02:00 Sylvia and I just picked kitchen cabinets for our new home yesterday, then I saw this article from Realtor Magazine Online this morning about how people pick kitchens. Our primary criteria for picking cabinets was 1) what would be expected in a home in this price range for resale value, and 2) Is it something ... More About: Kitchen , Cabinet , Chen , Kitchen Cabinet , Cabin
Less demand for entry-level homes pushes Austin 2Q starts down
2007-06-28 23:33:00 Looks like the new starter home segment of Austin ’s sales market is slowing down a bit, which is great news for landlords. The renters who would otherwise be purchasing those homes are remaining in the rental pool. Also, many of the starter homes were being purchased by investors, which means the rental supply won’t be ... More About: Homes , Demand , Push , Entry
Where are U.S. Home Prices Most Likely to Drop?
2007-06-23 19:11:00 The PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. has updated its 2007 U.S. Market Risk Index, ranking the 50 biggest metropolitan statistical areas by the likelihood that home prices will be lower in a couple of years. Mark Milner, PMI’s chief risk officer, notes that the new risk model “gives more weight to the recent volatility of an ... More About: Home , Like , Where , Drop , Prices
Mark Dotzour on the Texas Real Estate Market
2007-06-23 00:35:00 Dr. Mark Dotzour, the Real Estate Center’s chief economist, discussed the Texas housing market on Tuesday’s edition of NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The 12-minute segment is available online. I’ve posted the transcript of Dotzour’s remarks below, but the video on the MacNeil Lehrer news hour website is worth the 12 minutes watching time to get a ... More About: Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market
Central Texas home sales stay hot in May
2007-06-20 23:26:00 This is from todays Austin Business Journal. I haven’t had a chance this month to do my own stats yet. The difference between the stats I run each month and the stats published by the Austin Board of Realtors, is that I filter out Condos and Townhomes and report only single family home sales. Looks like ... More About: Sales , Home , Texas , Central , Stay
Austin School Quality and Real Estate Values
2007-06-19 17:52:00 One of South Austin ’s last remaining new home neighborhoods, Olympic Heights, with homes (new and resale) priced below $200,000 is about to get a shot in the arm due to a favorable shift in the elementary school it attends. Olympic Heights kids may now attend the “Exemplary” rated Baranoff Elementary. Many young families intentionally seek ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , School , Real
Travis County Tax Appraisal Values Still Rising
2007-06-18 18:26:00 Sunday’s Austin Statesman has a front page story about rising tax appraisal values in Travis Count y , and how those value increases are affecting home owners who are being priced out of their neighborhoods. One lady, quoted below, now has property taxes alone of $1500/mo, which is probably more than her house would rent for. This ... More About: Values , Value
Austin Rental Market - May 2007 Update Stats
2007-06-16 08:16:00 The average rental price in Austin is up 7.6% from May of last year to $1377. The Median rental rate is up 3% to $1175/mo. Days on Market is down 27% and number of homes leased is down 15%. In short, our Austin rental market for single family homes continues to chug along very well, ... More About: Rental , Update , Stats
Does it matter what kind of car a Realtor drives?
2007-06-16 07:02:00 I was out one evening last month with a friend of mine who is also a Realtor . We drove in his $50K Mercedes SUV, which, at two months old, still had the new car smell. He had written up two Buyer deals that day and remarked to me that he thought his new sled was ... More About: Matter
Showing Property Only After Offer Received
2007-06-05 18:02:00 I’m making phone calls to preview a batch of homes this morning for an investor. One of the listings has showing access as “Appointment with Agent”. I called the agent and the conversation went like this: Me: Hi. It’s Steve Crossland with the Crossland Team at Keller Williams. I want to preview {property address} today. Can ... More About: Property , Offer , Prop , Pert , Rope
Real Estate TV shows should be viewed with skepticism
2007-06-04 05:12:00 Turns out “Flip This House” got flipped. One of the star flippers is nothing more than a con man who had his friends and family posing as buyers and who really didn’t fix or sell the houses he was shown to be flipping on Flip This House. Amazingly enough, the only episode I ever saw ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Skepticism , Real , Stat
How to Protest Your Property Value at Travis County Appraisal District
2007-05-31 04:36:00 Tomorrow (May 31st) is the last day to file a tax protest against the appraised value of your property in Travis County (and other Texas Counties as well) with the Travis County Appraisal District . I haven’t personally protested property values for several years because nothing I own has been over-appraised, but I did file many ... More About: Property , Protest
Austin Real Estate Market - Sales Update April 2007
2007-05-30 16:40:00 Average and Median Sales Prices are up 6% and 6.6% in April from a year ago. Average price per square foot is up 4% from $126 last April to $131 April 2007. The Austin market keeps chugging along at a happy pace, refusing to overheat but still outperforming most other parts of the country. There ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market
Pulte chips in $500K for new Dripping Springs School
2007-05-24 23:13:00 Why would a homebuilder give half a million dollars to the local school district? Because new schools help home sales. Belterra’s new elementary school, “Rooster Springs Elementary”, will open next fall, and it was surely a selling point for the last two homes we sold there. For the Highpoint subdivision in Drip ping Springs, being able ... More About: School , Ping , Chips , Chip
Austin Apartment Rental Market Still Going Strong
2007-05-23 23:57:00 Apartments somewhat mirror the Austin residential real estate rental market (houses and duplexes), though not always directly. A weak apartment market, such as that which occured in Austin from 2002 through 2005, hurts the rental market for homes and duplexes. Renters who would normally not rent an apartment can’t resist the free rent and other ... More About: Market , Rental , Mark , Tron
Austin unemployment reaches 6 year low at 3.2 percent
2007-05-19 22:51:00 Austin unemployment is almost too good. When I attended a local economic a couple of months ago, the economist from Angelou Economics warned us about the unemployment rate getting too low. I think it was 3.5% at that time. At the current rate of 3.2%, he told us it can start limiting the ability of ... More About: Austin , Unemployment , Year
Austin Real Estate Market and News Journalists
2007-05-19 19:35:00 The article below is from today’s Austin Statesman. I’m still amazed at the choice of words and phrasing used by newspaper journalists when writing about the Austin real estate market, and how they often focus myopically on “number of sales” when interpreting ups and downs of markets. Let’s look at a few examples. First, the headline ... More About: News , Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market
1031 Exchange may not be so sweet a deal down the road
2007-05-19 04:07:00 I run into a lot of investors looking to take advantage of the 1031 Exchange . If you’re not sure what a 1031 Exchange is, there’s a good article about the 1031 Exchange on the Texas A&M Real Estate Center website. As the article states, “the key advantage of a 1031 exchange is that it allows ... More About: Sweet , Deal , Road , Chang
Does a Politically Incorrect Street Name Affect Home Value? - Part II
2007-05-18 05:48:00 In July 2006 I wrote a blog article titled “Austin Street Names - Does a Politically Incorrect Street Name Affect Home Value ?”. I was simply curious whether or not street names such as Gun Fight, Shoot Out and Gattling Gun would dissuade buyers from purchasing a home on a street so named, and if such ... More About: Part
Appraisers Feel More Pressure to Boost Values
2007-05-17 18:25:00 This story below outlines some of the problems appraisers are having with being pressured to over-value homes. Most of the pressure comes from Lenders, but increasingly they feel it from Realtors also, according to a recent survey of appraisers. The problem appraisers have in a rising market is that appraisers are tied to a strict valuation ... More About: Values , Value , Sure , Boost , Feel
Brokerage Firm Stops Posting Home Reviews
2007-05-16 06:03:00 Saw this today in the Wall Street Journal. The Discount Broker Redfin has stopped allowing members of the public to post comments about MLS listings on the Redfin site. They’ve been fined $50K by the local MLS in Seattle. Interesting. Seems kind of creepy to me - many of the comments the hired “reviewers” would ... More About: Reviews , Home , Brokerage , Stops
Dear Steiner Ranch Open House Realtor
2007-05-13 23:08:00 Dear Steiner Ranch Open House Realtor , It would be a really, really good idea to make arrangements for the Seller’s barking, growling dog to NOT be left roaming inside the home during your open house. Saying to people “he doesn’t bite” as the dog emits a low guttural growl - and shows teeth - isn’t conducive ... More About: Open House , Ouse
Understanding the History of Texas Property Taxes
2007-05-13 19:01:00 The current issue of Tierra Granda magazine has a wonderful overview of the history of Texas Property Taxes . It discusses how things used to be, what happened to cause changes, and where we are now. It also explains the protections in place against rising tax burdens for Seniors. Most people don’t know this, but Seniors ... More About: History , Hist
Austin Rental Market - April Update
2007-05-10 08:46:00 The number of homes leased in Austin this April 2007 dropped quite a bit from April 2006, down 17% from 671 homes leased last year to 554 homes leased in April of this year. I’m not sure why that is, but I’ll talk to some property managers and see if they are having more renewals ... More About: Market , Rental , Update
Feds Want Real Estate Customers to use Discount Brokers
More articles from this author:2007-05-10 07:11:00 I saw the article below in today’s Wall Street Journal. I’ve also seen expanded, much longer versions of the same story from different news outlets the past two days, but this one keeps it short and to the point. The Federal Government, to put it simply, wants you to use Discount Brokers . Since that particular ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Customers , Real 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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