August 2007

Do Professional Guitarists and Realtors have anything in common?

August 22, 2007

I just wrapped up 3 days at the Keller Williams Mega Agent Camp in Austin. It’s really great, no matter what industry you work in, to get around a bunch of other people who do the same thing you do, and to share and trade ideas. The Mega Agent camp is not for Newbie Agents, [...]

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Texas Foreclosure Rates Down

August 21, 2007

From the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M: COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center, RealtyTrac Inc.) – Foreclosure rates may be on the rise, but recent information from RealtyTrac Inc. shows Texas MSAs were not among the top ten foreclosure areas in the United States for the first half of 2007. Among the other findings: Fort [...]

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Driving Around in Austin – How big is Austin?

August 19, 2007

Many people don’t realize how geographically spread out the Austin Metro area is. I’m going to share with you an example of the actual drive Sylvia and I made yesterday while tending to some listings. We live in Oak Hill (‘A’ on the map), which puts us about 12 miles from Downtown Austin. We left [...]

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Education and Technology in Austin Schools

August 16, 2007

It’s gone too far. The notion that we need to cram computers and technology down the throats of our kids at younger and younger ages has just gone too far. On page 20 of the Aug 10, 2007 issue of the Austin Business Journal is a listing of Austin Private Schools, listing the top 25 [...]

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Foreclosure Rates Continuing to Rise Nationwide – Texas subsiding

August 14, 2007

RealtyTrac, which sells foreclosed properties nationwide, released its midyear report, showing that California and Ohio cities account for 10 of the top 20 metropolitan areas in rate of foreclosures. Foreclosure activity appears to be moderating in parts of the country where it initially skyrocketed, including Texas and South Carolina, “but the overall trend is toward [...]

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Another Problem with Investing in 4-plexes in Austin

August 13, 2007

Today I received a call from an out-of-town Austin 4-plex owner looking for his 4th property manager in 2 years. When I receive calls from Austin 4-plex owners looking for a property manager, I tell them 2 things: 1) I don’t manage 4-plexes. Period. 2) None of the good property managers that I personally I [...]

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Austin Property Managers and Repair Kickbacks

August 8, 2007

I met yesterday with a remodeling contractor at a listing I’m preparing for sale. As often happens in Austin, he and I got to jawing in the front yard under a shady tree, talking about business, remodeling homes, Austin traffic, etc. More specifically, we ended up discussing property managers and what it’s like to work [...]

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CNN Story about Austin

August 8, 2007

I came across this article on the CNN travel website. It’s a nice write-up and overview of Austin along with some photos. It’s written from the perspective of travelling to and enjoying Austin versus a write-up about moving/living here. Story Highlights – Austin, Texas, has clubs and bar districts to keep a night person hopping [...]

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Austin tops the nation for business

August 6, 2007

The Austin Business Journal reported today that Moody’s research has named Austin #1 out of 400 metro areas for doing business. These small nuggets of news and ratings, rankings, “Best of” lists, etc. help support the notion that Austin’s strong real estate market is grounded in real, actual economic success. The article states: the Austin-Round [...]

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Another Austin Investor Horror Story

August 5, 2007

Sometimes I think I go too far in warning prospective newbie investors about the potential downsides of owning rental property, but articles like this one in todays Austin Statesman remind me that stern warnings are in fact appropriate. To be clear, I am a happy real estate investor and have helped many, many investors successfully [...]

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