Comments on: Austin Real Estate Appreciation http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/ Austin Real Estate Blog Fri, 11 May 2012 17:13:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Mare http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-247 Mare Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:48:33 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-247 Hi Tony - Thank you for the list! Man, talk about reviving an old 'thread!' Hi Tony – Thank you for the list!

Man, talk about reviving an old ‘thread!’

]]> By: Tony http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-246 Tony Sun, 29 Apr 2007 16:07:48 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-246 http://www.main.org/neighbor.php Has a pretty good listing. My neighborhood as well as a few others are not listed so it clearly is not comprehensive. http://www.main.org/neighbor.php

Has a pretty good listing. My neighborhood as well as a few others are not listed so it clearly is not comprehensive.

]]> By: Steve Crossland http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-245 Steve Crossland Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:07:33 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-245 Hi Mare, Not that I know of, but a great resource for getting a lot of opinions about different areas of Austin is the online forum at: http://www.city-data.com/forum/austin/ Statesman.com has some info but many of their articles are dated. Steve Hi Mare,

Not that I know of, but a great resource for getting a lot of opinions about different areas of Austin is the online forum at:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/austin/

Statesman.com has some info but many of their articles are dated.

Steve

]]> By: Mare http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-244 Mare Sun, 28 Jan 2007 01:52:16 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-244 Hello Steve, I have another question for you. Is there any website that maintains a comprehensive list of ALL neighborhoods in Austin and the surrounding areas? Hello Steve, I have another question for you. Is there any website that maintains a comprehensive list of ALL neighborhoods in Austin and the surrounding areas?

]]> By: Steve Crossland http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-243 Steve Crossland Fri, 26 Jan 2007 03:15:49 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-243 > what city would folks here choose for a comparably priced home and why - pflugerville, cedarpark, RR, Austin ?? I continue to advise investors to stay in Austin. > Austin homes per my research are generally older construction and generally offer negative cashflows because of smaller rents. Rents in Austin are much higher than the surrounding areas. And they are appreciating better overall. See: http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2007/01/21/austin-rental-market-update-2006-summary/ > In your experience, Steve, does living around road construction tend to keep a home on the market longer and/or affect selling price? I've never marketed a home ro sold one that had road construction issues. My first thought, however, is that if I owned a home affected by road construction I'd wait until it was over to try to sell. I certainly can't help the home get a better price, so there is no upside and only potential downside. Steve > what city would folks here choose for a comparably priced home and why – pflugerville, cedarpark, RR, Austin ??

I continue to advise investors to stay in Austin.

> Austin homes per my research are generally older construction and generally offer negative cashflows because of smaller rents.

Rents in Austin are much higher than the surrounding areas. And they are appreciating better overall.
See: http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2007/01/21/austin-rental-market-update-2006-summary/

> In your experience, Steve, does living around road construction tend to keep a home on the market longer and/or affect selling price?

I’ve never marketed a home ro sold one that had road construction issues. My first thought, however, is that if I owned a home affected by road construction I’d wait until it was over to try to sell. I certainly can’t help the home get a better price, so there is no upside and only potential downside.

Steve

]]> By: Mare http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-242 Mare Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:48:01 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-242 Someone in my real estate class mentioned this, and I wanted to share: www.tinyurl.com/2uhl46 If they do go through with this water park/hotel, surely they'll have to widen 1431, and that will be a mess. In your experience, Steve, does living around road construction tend to keep a home on the market longer and/or affect selling price? Sabby - I think it depends where in Austin proper you are looking. I think that rentals closer to UT will have a better return. And don't discount older construction - it's rather 'trendy' around here, especially if you do some remodeling. If you look at any other suburb (Round Rock, Pflugerville, Hutto), looking for a home to exclusively rent may not be a great idea now. Prices are lower and so are the interest rates, and there's plenty of new construction with some crafty incentives. There are two homes in my neighborhood that have had 'For Rent' signs for going on 6 months now (one home was rented just a couple of weeks ago). South Austin might be another story. I have not looked at any numbers, and this is just my opinion, but living down there is becoming increasingly popular (and home prices are increasing). You might check out the Onion Creek/Slaughter Lane area. I think condo sales are down, and that might be a good place to look also (on a side note, a condo might not be the best idea if this is your first investment property, but again, this is my opinion). Best of luck! Someone in my real estate class mentioned this, and I wanted to share: http://www.tinyurl.com/2uhl46
If they do go through with this water park/hotel, surely they’ll have to widen 1431, and that will be a mess. In your experience, Steve, does living around road construction tend to keep a home on the market longer and/or affect selling price?

Sabby – I think it depends where in Austin proper you are looking. I think that rentals closer to UT will have a better return. And don’t discount older construction – it’s rather ‘trendy’ around here, especially if you do some remodeling. If you look at any other suburb (Round Rock, Pflugerville, Hutto), looking for a home to exclusively rent may not be a great idea now. Prices are lower and so are the interest rates, and there’s plenty of new construction with some crafty incentives. There are two homes in my neighborhood that have had ‘For Rent’ signs for going on 6 months now (one home was rented just a couple of weeks ago). South Austin might be another story. I have not looked at any numbers, and this is just my opinion, but living down there is becoming increasingly popular (and home prices are increasing). You might check out the Onion Creek/Slaughter Lane area. I think condo sales are down, and that might be a good place to look also (on a side note, a condo might not be the best idea if this is your first investment property, but again, this is my opinion). Best of luck!

]]> By: sabby http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-241 sabby Thu, 25 Jan 2007 05:38:16 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-241 Hi Mare, Steve and everyone else, Even though the commute from Cedar Park down on 183 is a pain but Cedar Park prices are still holding up well. Its far from major employers and the commute is rough so I dont know what the value proposition for that city is yet. Can anyone chime in on this point please? Heres a question: Looking for a investment/rental property - what city would folks here choose for a comparably priced home and why - pflugerville, cedarpark, RR, Austin ?? Austin homes per my research are generally older construction and generally offer negative cashflows because of smaller rents. But thats based on my limited information so far. Hi Mare, Steve and everyone else,

Even though the commute from Cedar Park down on 183 is a pain but Cedar Park prices are still holding up well. Its far from major employers and the commute is rough so I dont know what the value proposition for that city is yet. Can anyone chime in on this point please?

Heres a question: Looking for a investment/rental property – what city would folks here choose for a comparably priced home and why – pflugerville, cedarpark, RR, Austin ??

Austin homes per my research are generally older construction and generally offer negative cashflows because of smaller rents. But thats based on my limited information so far.

]]> By: Steve Crossland http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-240 Steve Crossland Thu, 25 Jan 2007 04:29:37 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-240 Hi Mare, Thanks for your comment. It reminded me of this blog article and that I want to do an updated version that includes all of 2006. Hopefully I'll find time someday soon. With regard to Cedar Park, I think your right. That entire corridore up 183 through Leander is growing very fast yet prices seem to be holding. Take Care, Steve Hi Mare,

Thanks for your comment. It reminded me of this blog article and that I want to do an updated version that includes all of 2006. Hopefully I’ll find time someday soon.

With regard to Cedar Park, I think your right. That entire corridore up 183 through Leander is growing very fast yet prices seem to be holding.

Take Care,

Steve

]]> By: Mare http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-239 Mare Thu, 25 Jan 2007 03:58:04 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-239 Hello Steve! This is a great topic. My husband and I held off on purchasing a new home in Hutto for the reasons you cite - we were uncertain the home would hold its value. Like Sabby, I would would like to know your thoughts on Cedar park. After doing some (limited) research, it does look like an area that will continue to grow, yet retain its value. We've looked most specifically at Cat Hollow. The west side of I-35 north of Austin looks like our best bet overall; however, we're probably going to hold off for another year. We are currently in Round Rock (recently annexed to Pflugerville), and while we're happy to see some positive appreciation, we would like to move to a more 'stable' area. We were in a hurry to sell (and buy) when we were not ready, due to the strip club that was going to be built on Grand Avenue (about 2 miles down the road from us), for fear it would hurt our property value to the point where we would be upside down on the mortgage. We weren't sure if this was a justified fear, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Again, thank you for the stats - it's food for thought. Hello Steve! This is a great topic. My husband and I held off on purchasing a new home in Hutto for the reasons you cite – we were uncertain the home would hold its value. Like Sabby, I would would like to know your thoughts on Cedar park. After doing some (limited) research, it does look like an area that will continue to grow, yet retain its value. We’ve looked most specifically at Cat Hollow. The west side of I-35 north of Austin looks like our best bet overall; however, we’re probably going to hold off for another year. We are currently in Round Rock (recently annexed to Pflugerville), and while we’re happy to see some positive appreciation, we would like to move to a more ‘stable’ area. We were in a hurry to sell (and buy) when we were not ready, due to the strip club that was going to be built on Grand Avenue (about 2 miles down the road from us), for fear it would hurt our property value to the point where we would be upside down on the mortgage. We weren’t sure if this was a justified fear, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Again, thank you for the stats – it’s food for thought.

]]> By: Steve Crossland http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-238 Steve Crossland Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:10:00 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-238 Hi Sabby, Pflugerville is currently a tough market for resale and rental homes. They don't move very fast. Coming years may be different. It's in a good location but has some traffic problems and lack good retail shopping. New retail is starting to move in though but I'm still not recommending PF to our buyers unless they have a lifestyle reason to be their (friends, family or job close by). Steve Hi Sabby,

Pflugerville is currently a tough market for resale and rental homes. They don’t move very fast. Coming years may be different. It’s in a good location but has some traffic problems and lack good retail shopping. New retail is starting to move in though but I’m still not recommending PF to our buyers unless they have a lifestyle reason to be their (friends, family or job close by).

Steve

]]> By: sabby http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-237 sabby Sun, 14 Jan 2007 19:43:34 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-237 What do you folks think about Pflugerville homes? Both rental and price appreciation? From my information, it is a suburb of Austin and after the initial RR hype is dying down now, it is being regarded as the next RR like city, and same for Cedar Park. Is this a logical trend - are there some numbers to back this trend? What do you folks think about Pflugerville homes? Both rental and price appreciation?

From my information, it is a suburb of Austin and after the initial RR hype is dying down now, it is being regarded as the next RR like city, and same for Cedar Park. Is this a logical trend – are there some numbers to back this trend?

]]> By: Todd http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-236 Todd Tue, 19 Sep 2006 19:57:12 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-236 Hi Steve. Thanks for clarifying the tax rates for the Round Rock area. You initially said 'vs.' so I assumed it was a comparision. My reasoning for mentioning trailers was the lifestyle of the area has dramatically changed from being extremely rural in 1995 to a booming, suburban area in 2006. I was saying that this is a much different 'apple' to compare to the established Austin 'apple'. That is a good point you have on running out of space within the city limits. That is definitely one thing that is affected by supply and demand. Just as Andrew stated above, a huge metropolis like the S.F./Bay Area where there are over a dozen million people, you'll see the price of S.F. go up dramatically. But we are talking about Round Rock, which is only a 15 minute drive north of downtown. I understand that traditionally people in Austin don't commute as much as say people in California. But I would run statistics on how many of the new residents (that have more than doubled the population in just the last few years) are from places like Los Angeles, New York, or any other big cities that don't see much difference in value of commuting 5 minutes to 20 minutes. Other cities/areas comparable in size (Like Portland, Sacramento, etc), the areas that are new, booming and within 15-20 minutes of downtown are going up just as fast or faster than most of the older areas in the city limits (also where the neighborhoods aren't often as nice as a new area). Going back to San Francisco, if you look out the same distance from downtown San Francisco at housing prices 15 minute drives in any direction (except for Oakland), you'll see that there still are extremely expensive housing because they are 'close', just like Round Rock is. As an investor, I look for new(er) but relatively established neighborhoods, within 10-25 minutes from downtown, new stores/strip malls (a good indicator because they have done their research as well), income levels, education levels. I wouldn't want to buy an older house for investment purposes because if you are buying a 15 year old house and plan to hold it for 10, your house will eventually be 25 years old. The can be a lot more problems with an older house than a newer one. Plus, renters tend to treat 'new' homes better than old homes, which as you mentioned, would be hard to find in the Austin city limits. I do agree that you should look at Austin and not just the outside areas though. I would love to chat with you sometime on the subject. Hi Steve. Thanks for clarifying the tax rates for the Round Rock area. You initially said ‘vs.’ so I assumed it was a comparision. My reasoning for mentioning trailers was the lifestyle of the area has dramatically changed from being extremely rural in 1995 to a booming, suburban area in 2006. I was saying that this is a much different ‘apple’ to compare to the established Austin ‘apple’.
That is a good point you have on running out of space within the city limits. That is definitely one thing that is affected by supply and demand. Just as Andrew stated above, a huge metropolis like the S.F./Bay Area where there are over a dozen million people, you’ll see the price of S.F. go up dramatically. But we are talking about Round Rock, which is only a 15 minute drive north of downtown. I understand that traditionally people in Austin don’t commute as much as say people in California. But I would run statistics on how many of the new residents (that have more than doubled the population in just the last few years) are from places like Los Angeles, New York, or any other big cities that don’t see much difference in value of commuting 5 minutes to 20 minutes.
Other cities/areas comparable in size (Like Portland, Sacramento, etc), the areas that are new, booming and within 15-20 minutes of downtown are going up just as fast or faster than most of the older areas in the city limits (also where the neighborhoods aren’t often as nice as a new area). Going back to San Francisco, if you look out the same distance from downtown San Francisco at housing prices 15 minute drives in any direction (except for Oakland), you’ll see that there still are extremely expensive housing because they are ‘close’, just like Round Rock is.
As an investor, I look for new(er) but relatively established neighborhoods, within 10-25 minutes from downtown, new stores/strip malls (a good indicator because they have done their research as well), income levels, education levels. I wouldn’t want to buy an older house for investment purposes because if you are buying a 15 year old house and plan to hold it for 10, your house will eventually be 25 years old. The can be a lot more problems with an older house than a newer one. Plus, renters tend to treat ‘new’ homes better than old homes, which as you mentioned, would be hard to find in the Austin city limits.
I do agree that you should look at Austin and not just the outside areas though. I would love to chat with you sometime on the subject.

]]> By: Steve Crossland http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-235 Steve Crossland Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:29:14 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-235 Hi Todd, Thanks for your comments. > There are a lot of errors in the article. I’ve only seen Round Rock property taxes as 2.76% Many areas of Round Rock have property taxes over 3%. Teravista is 3.25%. Avery Ranch, Brushy Creek, Cat Hollow, Sendero Springs - to name a few - are all above 3%. What I stated was that Round Rock property taxes range from 2.75% to 3.25%, which is in fact correct. > The data is for houses built 1990-1995. Most of the ‘good’ houses in RR are newer. The same could be said for Austin. Either way, it's apples to apples the way I did it. The idea was to eliminate the data being skewed upward by new homes. > In 1995, you will probably see a bunch of double-wide trailers and run down houses. The data includes single family homes only, no mobile homes. > A gap will stay the same in an area, relatively. Not true. Look at Travis Heights 10 to 15 years ago compared to today. Certain areas can and do gap up well ahead of surrounding areas for a variety of reasons. > ... average price will be $400K and Round Rock only $210K. That will never happen. I disagree. It could very easliy happen. Austin is running out of space to build inside the city limits. Round Rock has plenty of big plots of land yet to be developed, especially to the East. > Past data doesn’t predict future data. If it did, Sacramento would still be going up 25% per year. I understand your point. But demographics and growth patterns are in fact much easier to predict than, for example, stock market prices. Central Austin and Downtown are going to continue to see growth and price increases. The only question is how high the prices will go and what the cycles will look like. Thanks for your comments. I really do appreciate hearing other points of view. Steve Hi Todd,

Thanks for your comments.

> There are a lot of errors in the article. I’ve only seen Round Rock property taxes as 2.76%
Many areas of Round Rock have property taxes over 3%. Teravista is 3.25%. Avery Ranch, Brushy Creek, Cat Hollow, Sendero Springs – to name a few – are all above 3%. What I stated was that Round Rock property taxes range from 2.75% to 3.25%, which is in fact correct.

> The data is for houses built 1990-1995. Most of the ‘good’ houses in RR are newer.
The same could be said for Austin. Either way, it’s apples to apples the way I did it. The idea was to eliminate the data being skewed upward by new homes.

> In 1995, you will probably see a bunch of double-wide trailers and run down houses.
The data includes single family homes only, no mobile homes.

> A gap will stay the same in an area, relatively.
Not true. Look at Travis Heights 10 to 15 years ago compared to today. Certain areas can and do gap up well ahead of surrounding areas for a variety of reasons.

> … average price will be $400K and Round Rock only $210K. That will never happen.
I disagree. It could very easliy happen. Austin is running out of space to build inside the city limits. Round Rock has plenty of big plots of land yet to be developed, especially to the East.

> Past data doesn’t predict future data. If it did, Sacramento would still be going up 25% per year.
I understand your point. But demographics and growth patterns are in fact much easier to predict than, for example, stock market prices. Central Austin and Downtown are going to continue to see growth and price increases. The only question is how high the prices will go and what the cycles will look like.

Thanks for your comments. I really do appreciate hearing other points of view.
Steve

]]> By: Todd http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-234 Todd Mon, 18 Sep 2006 20:09:25 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-234 There are a lot of errors in the article. I've only seen Round Rock property taxes as 2.76%, I've never seen 3.25. The data is for houses built 1990-1995. Most of the 'good' houses in RR are newer. Look at Galt. In 1995, you will probably see a bunch of double-wide trailers and run down houses. Same with RR. They didn't start building/booming until 5-6 years ago. Even if the article is correct, here is the problem with it. The average house price is considerably higher in Austin. This means you are paying much more and would be harded to get a good cash flow from, even if the rents are a little higher. If that appreciation is true, then I see Round Rock as being the better deal, from now on. Let me explain: A gap will stay the same in an area, relatively. If Austin goes up 20% one year and Round Rock 10%, the following year some correct will happen because Round Rock is more affordable and more desirable and a correction will occur. You can't expect Austin to keep doubling percentage-wise to Round Rock because then Austin's average price will be $400K and Round Rock only $210K. That will never happen. Past data doesn't predict future data. If it did, Sacramento would still be going up 25% per year. There are a lot of errors in the article. I’ve only seen Round Rock property taxes as 2.76%, I’ve never seen 3.25.
The data is for houses built 1990-1995. Most of the ‘good’ houses in RR are newer. Look at Galt. In 1995, you will probably see a bunch of double-wide trailers and run down houses. Same with RR. They didn’t start building/booming until 5-6 years ago.

Even if the article is correct, here is the problem with it.

The average house price is considerably higher in Austin. This means you are paying much more and would be harded to get a good cash flow from, even if the rents are a little higher.

If that appreciation is true, then I see Round Rock as being the better deal, from now on. Let me explain:
A gap will stay the same in an area, relatively. If Austin goes up 20% one year and Round Rock 10%, the following year some correct will happen because Round Rock is more affordable and more desirable and a correction will occur. You can’t expect Austin to keep doubling percentage-wise to Round Rock because then Austin’s average price will be $400K and Round Rock only $210K. That will never happen.

Past data doesn’t predict future data. If it did, Sacramento would still be going up 25% per year.

]]> By: Andrew Ao http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-233 Andrew Ao Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:57:10 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-233 i live in SF bay area. here SF is the metro center. similar to austin, the price appreciated much faster than the suburb in the beginning. however, suburb started to pick up much faster (not in $ amt but in %) when it reached closer to buildout. i wonder if it would be similar to the case in austin. (disclaimer, i never set foot on austin yet.) i have not much idea how far austin metro area has been developing. but i assume that austin might have been fully built out and a lot of suburban is not yet developed. if that assumption is valid, supply is limited in austin but is not in round rock. therefore, i wouldn't be surprised that the house in Round Rock appreciate much less than those in Austin. sooner or later, employment might draw in enough families to fully populate into Round Rock area, and traffic limits the appeal of lower cost housing in farther away. if that turns out true, it would be very logical to see Round Rock would outpace Austin. Now investment in north west could be a more attractive proposition. i live in SF bay area. here SF is the metro center. similar to austin, the price appreciated much faster than the suburb in the beginning. however, suburb started to pick up much faster (not in $ amt but in %) when it reached closer to buildout. i wonder if it would be similar to the case in austin. (disclaimer, i never set foot on austin yet.)

i have not much idea how far austin metro area has been developing. but i assume that austin might have been fully built out and a lot of suburban is not yet developed. if that assumption is valid, supply is limited in austin but is not in round rock. therefore, i wouldn’t be surprised that the house in Round Rock appreciate much less than those in Austin. sooner or later, employment might draw in enough families to fully populate into Round Rock area, and traffic limits the appeal of lower cost housing in farther away. if that turns out true, it would be very logical to see Round Rock would outpace Austin. Now investment in north west could be a more attractive proposition.

]]> By: bigmouth http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-232 bigmouth Wed, 16 Aug 2006 01:42:45 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-232 34% over 8 years translate to just over 4% each year. That's pretty sucky when you compare that to the rest of the country. Even those "cooling off" market, you still see a 5-7% growth in the last quarter. They call it "cool off" when the appreciation rate falls to single digit, we call it hot when the growth rate is in positive. 34% over 8 years translate to just over 4% each year. That’s pretty sucky when you compare that to the rest of the country. Even those “cooling off” market, you still see a 5-7% growth in the last quarter. They call it “cool off” when the appreciation rate falls to single digit, we call it hot when the growth rate is in positive.

]]> By: Steve Crossland http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-231 Steve Crossland Tue, 15 Aug 2006 13:34:00 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-231 For most people, whether you are an owner-occupant or an investor, sticking to the median size and value for the particular area in which you purchase is prudent. Some investors deviate from this and purchase higher end homes, or the very lowest end homes - in both cases hoping for better than average appreciation. Some look for growth areas on the edge of booming areas, hoping to beat the population wave (i.e. the 130 Toll Road). These other strategies may or may not work in Austin depending on a lot of other variables. For me, when I see a home in an area surrounded by plentiful cheap and empty land, I stay away. For most people, whether you are an owner-occupant or an investor, sticking to the median size and value for the particular area in which you purchase is prudent. Some investors deviate from this and purchase higher end homes, or the very lowest end homes – in both cases hoping for better than average appreciation. Some look for growth areas on the edge of booming areas, hoping to beat the population wave (i.e. the 130 Toll Road).

These other strategies may or may not work in Austin depending on a lot of other variables. For me, when I see a home in an area surrounded by plentiful cheap and empty land, I stay away.

]]> By: Bill http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-230 Bill Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:34:08 +0000 http://ben.crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/08/14/austin-real-estate-appreciation/#comment-230 Good analysis. I think the graph and numbers really showed a convincing notion of "location, loation, location". My question is that if we focus on "Austin Only". We can probably further devide the city of Austin into few geogrphical areas and find that it essentially follow the same pattern where traditional high valued areas like downtown, Terry Town, Travis Heights appreciate much more steadily than some other areas. My question is for an investor who focus on "Austin Only", what area tend to give them the most cost-effective returns? Good analysis. I think the graph and numbers really showed a convincing notion of “location, loation, location”.

My question is that if we focus on “Austin Only”. We can probably further devide the city of Austin into few geogrphical areas and find that it essentially follow the same pattern where traditional high valued areas like downtown, Terry Town, Travis Heights appreciate much more steadily than some other areas.

My question is for an investor who focus on “Austin Only”, what area tend to give them the most cost-effective returns?

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