October 2006

Forecast: Austin Real estate boom to continue in 2007

October 26, 2006

From today’s Austin Business Journal email newsletter. The report doesn’t contain info about residential sales and is focued on the commercial side. But as commercial goes so does residential. The new jobs filling the commercial space are the same people moving into Austin and buying homes. Source: Austin Business Journal With rents and occupancy rising [...]

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Questions Families Should Ask Before Buying

October 26, 2006

Here is a snippet I got from Realtor Magazine. It’s a pretty good list, but I would add to it “How are the schools in the neighborhood”? Good schools are a very important factor for most families with kids. Family real estate specialist Elena Thurston, an associate with Keller Williams Realty in Phoenix, tells buyers [...]

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California Home Prices Decline in 8 Counties

October 25, 2006

Why do we care about California Home prices in Texas? A large number of Austin area buyers, especially investors, are from California. Many of these buyers have either cashed out of homes in California and moved to Austin, or they have used equity in California real estate to finance investments in Austin. This is not [...]

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Despite Warnings, Consumers Opt for Riskier Loans

October 24, 2006

Source: The Washington Post, (10/24/06) Borrowers continue to choose risky nontraditional mortgages, even after state and federal regulators have issued widespread warnings about the unstable and rapidly rising payments associated with this kind of financing. About 26 percent of mortgage loan originations by dollar volume in the first six months of 2006 were interest-only loans, [...]

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Austin Real Estate Market Update – September 2006 Sales

October 19, 2006

Below are the sales stats for September in Austin, houses only (no condos or townhomes). The average sales price across all MLS areas in Austin is up 5.89% over September of 2005. The most important factors in Austin’s real estate market at this time are shrinking inventory and continued strong demand. Overall, Austin has less [...]

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Austin “Just Sold” Marketing Allowed to Show List Price Again

October 12, 2006

Austin Realtors may now advertise a sold property’s list price in marketing pieces and on Web sites again. This has been disallowed in recent past, for reasons which I never completely understood or agreed with. The rule change does require that marketing materials have the words “List Price” next to the list price, lest a [...]

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Pretty Kitchens not Great Layout

October 10, 2006

When you are looking at new homes for yourself, pay very close attention to the arrangement of the kitchen. Builders know that a beautiful kitchen will sell a house, so they will dress it up to look especially appealing. This beautiful kitchen could be a pain if you are not careful to notice the efficiency [...]

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Austin Rental Market – September 2006 Update

October 7, 2006

Below are the stats for the Austin Rental Market for September 2006 and for 2006 year-to-date. We are now in the slower rental season in Austin. From September through around March is not the ideal time to rent a home in Austin. It’s not a disaster to have a vacancy during this time frame, but [...]

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Austin Central Texas new home market stays hot

October 3, 2006

This is from this morning’s Austin American Statesman. Pretty good article overall, with some good info. I was especially interested in the comments about investors inflating the new home sales in Austin. We sell very few brand new homes to Buyers because I worry about exactly what the article mentions, among other things. My personal [...]

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