May 2009

Why I Never Do Move-out Walk-throughs with Departing Tenants

May 27, 2009

I recently had a tenant express frustration over the fact that I wouldn’t come meet him to conduct a final move-out walk-through at the rental property. I’ve been moving tenants in and out of rental property in Austin since 1990, and I’ve learned a few lessons in doing so. One is that there is no upside for a [...]

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Shameless Plea for Votes for Crossland Team Blog

May 26, 2009

The Texas A&M University Real Estate Center wants to know about favorite Real Estate Blogs in Texas. Here is their request in today’s email newsletter, the RECON (Real Estate Center Online). WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BLOG? COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – A recent survey by the National Association of Realtors shows that a growing number [...]

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Zillow Home Prices Remain a Joke for Austin TX

May 26, 2009

I just received this news flash via email from Zillow: Home values in Austin increased 8.7% According to the latest Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, home values in Austin increased 8.7% in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the first quarter of 2008. Nationally, home values decreased 14.2% during this same period. Uh, sorry [...]

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What if Owning a Home was Like Owning Quicken Software?

May 24, 2009

I opened up my Quicken 2006 Software today to catch up on reconciling some bank statements, and downloading credit card charges and stock account info. I was greeted with this message: After April 30, you will no longer be able to access the following through Quicken 2006: – Downloads of your bank, credit card, credit [...]

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Austin Real Estate Market Update – April 2009 Sales

May 21, 2009

The median sold price for houses in Austin was up 0.56% for April compared to April 2008. The average sold price was down 3.56%. Number of sales is down 21% from a year earlier for single family homes. In short, Austin remains a stubborn real estate market for those who were expecting some sort of [...]

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City of Austin Energy Conservation Audit and Disclosure (ECAD) Program

May 15, 2009

The new Austin Energy Audit ordinance is in play now, and we’re already starting to see it affect some deals. The official start date of the ordinance is June 1, 2009, but that means any home subject to the ordinance that is closing on or after June 1 will have to comply. Covered homes must [...]

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Should Realtors Charge Transaction or Admin Fees

May 12, 2009

At a recent closing with my buyers, I noticed on the settlement statement that the listing agent charged the seller a $495 “Transaction Fee”. Good grief. I know agents who do this, and it’s not that uncommon to see a transaction fee of $195 to $495 billed to either the buyer or seller at closing, [...]

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Why I Don’t Like “Book Rate” Repair Vendors

May 4, 2009

My long time appliance repairman John at Austin Appliance informed me today that he’s only coming into Austin once a week now, and will eventually stop serving Austin altogether. He lives in Spicewood and mainly works Marble Falls now. Darn it. My veteran vendor team people keep getting older and retiring on me. John’s also [...]

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Austin Real Estate Investing – Then and Now

May 2, 2009

Since the end of WWII, rent prices in the U.S. have run parallel to relative sales prices consistently over time. By this I mean that a $60K home would normally rent for about $600 per month, or 1% of its sales value. The chart below illustrates the gap in sale to rent value ratios that has [...]

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