Review of 9 homes for sale in East Austin, 78723

Last week I showed homes to a client who wants to live a short distance from the LASA (Liberal Arts and Science Academy).  We have focused in on zip code 78723 which includes University Hills, Walnut Hills, Gaston Park and Delwood.  I am amazed at some of the prices - some homes are listed for $170/sq ft, even up to $199/sq ft.  The house I liked the best was 7005 Langston Drive, now under contract.  It has been beautifully remodeled, and in my opinion looks better in person than in the photos.  The investor/remodeler was originally asking $259K, but had dropped the price to $229,900 for 1660 sq ft.  I told my client that would sell fast at that price, and within a few days it was under contract.  A home that my client liked quite a bit is 3404 Lakeside Dr.  It backs to Little Walnut Creek and has a wonderful canopy of trees that make the backyard extremely private.  The biggest obstacle for that house is the steps in the master bedroom.  I’m sure most buyers are having difficulty imagining going up and down a few steps to get into and out of the bedroom (you have to take the steps up to the master bathroom).  This house also needs work done on the retaining wall which has scared off at least one buyer. 

Two other homes we saw were updated and ready for move in - 1313 Briarcliff, and 1304 Glencrest.  Briarcliff is beautifully remodeled, but it would help if it were staged.  There were a couple of corners that seemed like wasted space (in the living room and master bedroom), but with the right furniture, the space might be usable.  The kitchen is wonderful and the sunroom with it’s unique windows is truly inviting.  The remodelers did a good job turning a 1955 home into a usable floorplan for today’s homeowners.  I wasn’t as excited by the remodel job at Glencrest, but it will work for someone.  The sellers may have to come down on their price a bit, though. 

Another 5 homes we viewed all need updating - 3011 Northeast, 6905 Tulane, 7000 Bryn Mawr, 5514 Delwood and 3002 Susquehanna.  The most reasonably priced is Susquehanna at $125K.  That one is just waiting for an investor to make it beautiful!

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com

Parade Homes 2010!

Have you ever dreamed of living in a Parade Home?  Do you know what a Parade Home is?  Every year the Home Builders Association (HBA) puts on a “Parade of Homes” as a fundraiser and a fun event.  Usually 5-8 custom builders design, build and decorate a home on a selected street, usually in a new subdivision, and then open the home for display to the public for about a week.  Part of the fee collected then goes to a charity chosen by the HBA. 

Parade Homes often are cutting edge.  The builders spend a lot of time working on the projects in order to showcase the best of their work.  In 2010, the Parade will be held in Rough Hollow, a neighborhood bordering Lake Travis.  This Parade will showcase homes from $750K to $1.3M.  Some will have lake views, some hill country views.  They will all have access to the lake via the marina and there is a new restaurant in the neighborhood, the Grille.  

It would be pretty exciting  to be one of the Parade Homeowners!  With only two of the homes sold so far, there are at least 3 choices available for those interested in the opportunity.  These builders have plans ready, which the new homeowner can modify, or one of the builders is willing to work with the buyer’s plans.  To learn more about this rare opportunity, call me!

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com

Which areas are selling well around Austin

If you have thought about buying an investment house in the Austin area, you should have some idea of what areas are selling well, and which areas aren’t.  One indication of how well an area is doing is the amount of inventory compared to the number of sales per month.  If you look at areas of Austin, South Austin is doing extremely well, while the Lake Travis area is not doing so well.  Here are some numbers to show what I mean: 

Zip code: 78734 (Lakeway and area)
Active homes today: 373
Sold in last 6 months: 180
Basically 12+ months of inventory

Zip code: 78669 (Briarcliff of South side of Lake Travis)
Active homes today: 168
Sold in last 6 months: 70
Basically 14+ months of inventory

 Zip code: 78749 (South/SW Austin)
Active homes today: 95
Sold in last 6 months: 295
Sold in last 60 days: 94
2 months of inventory - means houses sell fast, many in less than 30 days

Zip code: 78745 (South Austin)
Active homes today: 90
Sold in last 6 months: 283
Sold in last 60 days: 94
Less than 2 months of inventory 

Zip code: 78758 (North Austin)
Active homes today: 53
Sold in last 6 months: 113
Sold in 90 days: 64
Less than 3 months of inventory

This is not a comprehensive list, but it gives you an idea.  There is simply too much inventory in the Lake Travis area for homes to sell quickly.  There are exceptions in which homes sell quickly in the area, and those exceptions are typically homes near the average price ($250K) or homes that have been updated well and are still priced well (comparable to new construction, and not much higher). 

For data on other areas or specific investment advice, call me.

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com

There are condos downtown that aren’t highrise… in Clarksville

With all these new highrise condos downtown, it’s refreshing to see some that are not towers, but just neat low-rise complexes tucked away in historic downtown - aka Clarksville.  If I ever decide that my backyard is just too much to care for, and I wanted to be in downtown Austin, walking distance to Whole Foods and many restaurants and shops, I just might pack up my belongings and move to The Gardens on West 7th.  This small condominium community tucked away in Clarksville is pretty neat.  I especially like the 1-story unit currently for sale for $499,900.  It is a mixture of Santa Fe style (fireplace in living room) meets traditional (crown molding and wainscoating in kitchen/dining area).  About the only downside is the lack of a garden, but there is a good sized patio surrounded by trees which make the home very inviting.  Unlike some condos I’ve seen, this one does have a good amount of closet space.  It has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, plus a study.  The kitchen is beautiful as is the living room.  This one is really one-of-a-kind. 

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com

Preparing Your Home for Sale

This year’s home sales, while fewer than the past couple of years, have followed the same trend we normally see.  Sales are at the lowest point in January, picking up every month through June, and then declining for the most part through the end of the year.  Average prices follow the sales trend for the most part, too.  Average prices tend to peak in June.  So, if you are planning ahead and want to sell when prices are likely to be strongest, you have about six to eight months to get ready!

That might sound like a lot of time, but when you consider that Thanksgiving and the winter holidays fall in that timeframe, it really isn’t a lot of time to prepare.  So, planning carefully and sticking to your plan can be critical to having your home ready by March 1 when the Spring/Summer selling season begins. 

The first step should be to consult with a real estate agent and a stager to get advice about preparing your home.  These days all of us need to do a little de-cluttering before putting our homes on the market.  The real estate professional and stager can give you specific ideas about what furniture and artwork should stay in the home and where it might best be placed, and what might need to go into storage to make the home feel more spacious.  I recently met with a client whose living room furniture was just too big and overwhelming for the space he had.  He was planning to put it in storage, but my advice was to keep the beautiful furniture in the home, but to move some pieces around to different rooms.  Once you have general advice about what to keep and what to pack up, its time to start packing and de-cluttering.  I’ve known clients who spent a year just going through their belongings and determining what to keep and what to give away, through away or sell.

The next step is to make all the minor repairs that you’ve been meaning to get to for the past few years!  It’s much better to take care of them up front than to have buyers notice little things indicating the house hasn’t been as well maintained as it could be.  Buyers will equate this to a lower price.  A minor repair does not include changing counters to granite, but it might include fixing all cracks in the walls, cleaning up the cabinetry, servicing the HVAC, fixing all leaky plumbing and any electrical issues.  You might also paint inside and out and change the flooring.  New paint and flooring can have a huge impact on the sale of your home.  Finally, if you have an older house, a pre-inspection can be a huge benefit so there are no surprises once you are under contract.

The third step is to spruce up the yard.  Landscaping is important to buyers and it can make the different between a buyer coming to see your home in person or not.  Dead limbs or dead trees must be removed and fresh mulch is always a plus.  Flowers or plants with color will be especially beneficial in the front yard to add to the street appeal.  Overgrown bushes should be trimmed so the buyers can see the front of the house.

The final step, just before listing the house, is to clean it until it sparkles!  Nothing is more enticing to a buyer than a super clean home that is ready to move right in.  In my opinion, cleanliness is more important that granite countertops!

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com

Don’t skimp on your roof. Get a Quality Roof.

Preliminary estimates say that the June Hail storm cause over 18 million dollars in damages in North Austin.  Over 500,000 homes were affected.  Where you one of them?

Whether you know it or not, hail damage can creep up on you and eat away at your roof and electric bills.  So it is strongly advised to get a roofer and your adjuster out to look at your roof and assess the damage (preferably at the same time).  Once your insurance company agrees to pay for a new roof installation, you should get your roof replaced by a professional roofer as soon as possible.

A few things though that you should know about your roof.

Tear-off: The price of your roof replacement should include tearing off the old roof down to the decking and replacing rot-damaged deck areas and carrying off the debris.

Home insurance policies cover at least one layer of shingles. If you let your roofer skip the tear-off and your two-layer roof is damaged by hail, you wind up responsible for the expense of tearing off both of them.

Decking: Rotted roof decking should be replaced with decking of its same thickness. In new construction, builders are using seven-sixteenths inch OSB (oriented strand board: glue and wood shavings). Older construction usually has three-quarter inch solid lumber decking.

Tuttle Roofing sells Pabco Premier Shingles in four quality grades, starting with “basic:” 25-year limited warranty, 110 mph wind resistance, on up to “best:” lifetime warranty, 110 mph wind resistance. The heavier the better, the more years warranted the best.

“Good” grade has a 30-year warranty and “better” has a 40-year warranty. Price? You get what you pay for.

It is not wise to skimp on quality and performance of the main components protecting you and your most valuable assets from harsh conditions.

Roofing felt: Roofing felt comes in 15-, 30- and 43-pound weights. The 30-pound is better than 15 because it’s thicker and provides more of a vapor barrier. Felt should be lapped 19 inches for double coverage if the roof pitch is less than 3-12, meaning a 3-inch rise for every 12 horizontal inches.

Valleys and vents are prone to leaks from water and/or ice damage and products such as Ice and Water Shield create a membrane material that seals tightly around the nails to prevent seepage.

Staples vs. nails: Use galvanized or zinc-plated shingling nails of sufficient length to penetrate shingles, felt and decking at a rate of 2 pounds per square. The nails usually must be 1 1/4 inches or longer.

Staples eventually “back out,” but nails don’t. Good roofing nails have a wire welded to their shanks that prevents their turning and working free.

To get a higher rated Wind-Storm Compliance, Tuttle uses 6 nails per shingle instead of the usual 4.

Flashing: Sometimes, “drip-edge” — L-shaped galvanized or painted steel flashing — is used on jobs where drip-edge was used originally or where shake or wood shingle roofs or two-layer composition roofs are being replaced. The drip edge hides the deck edge. The felt should be nailed over the flashing, and vent-stack flashings should be replaced.

Closed valleys: In the past, the “open valley” was made by flashing the junction of two roof plains, shingling down almost to the valley bottom and cutting the merging shingles off diagonally so the flashing showed. Now Tuttle uses a 6 layer valley. It consists of overlapping the valley with felt, then Ice & Water Shield, felt, Aluminum flashing, Felt again, then the shingle.

Build a good relationship with your roofer, and make sure that they are not trying to give you a lower quality roof to fit into your allocated price.

Home Owners’ Associations in Austin

Home Owner’s Associations get mixed reviews.  Some of my clients insist they don’t want to live in a neighborhood with an HOA due to past experience.  Other clients like the fact that the HOA can help maintain the value of the neighborhood by enforcing rules about lawns, home additions and other things that can affect the value of the homes in a neighborhood.  An HOA’s most important role is to maintain the amenities within the neighborhood – the pool, tennis courts, parks, community center, entrance and common area landscaping.  So why, with such an important role, are so many people against HOAs?  I think it boils down to the loss of some degree of freedom when you live in a neighborhood with an HOA.  You may not be able to choose a wild and funky paint color for the exterior of your house, build a mother-in-law house on your property, or have more than four dogs due to the HOA.  One of my clients wasn’t able to park his work vehicle at his house.  For most of us, the rules are fine and we abide by them, but over time, things change, and sometimes rules set in place many years ago seem to have less relevance in today’s world.  I also believe that over time, some HOAs begin to feel a sense of power and control, and may at times go beyond their rights and responsibilities.  When this happens, it’s time for the HOA Board to do a self-assessment and see if there’s room for improvement.  In addition, homeowners who feel a change is needed are encouraged to get involved.  That’s the best way to make change!

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com

What Kind of Home Can You Buy in Austin for $100K or less?

Right now there are 671 properties in the MLS for sale for $100K or less, out of a total of about 11,500 properties.  Of those, only 196 are in the city of Austin, and of those, only 63 are single family homes, primarily in East Austin.  Another 119 properties for sale for $100K or less in Austin are condos, mostly built in the 1980’s or earlier, all over Austin.  So, for those buyers on a tight budget, but wanting to stay in Austin, their best bet might be a condo.  A condo under $100K might be ideal for a young professional, first-time buyer (and this year, the first-time buyer can apply for the $8000 tax credit).  And if that professional doesn’t want to be disturbed by barking dogs, the Fox Hollow complex could be just right with it’s “no dog” rule.  Fox Hollow is located in Northwest Austin near Balcones Country Club, just off 183.  This convenient location has one unit available for $92,900.  This first floor unit has recently been remodeled and is clean and move-in ready.  The same floor plan is available in a less updated state for $110K - in the same complex.  Besides being a great location in NW Austin, these condos feed into excellent schools - Spicewood Elementary, Canyon Vista Middle and Westwood High School. 

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com

Austin Parade of Homes 2009 at Mueller

Every year the Home Builders Association holds a Parade of Homes which benefits local charities.  This year the Parade is being held May 23-June 7 at Mueller (pronounced Miller), the subdivision built where the old airport used to be.  Proceeds will benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, Austin Children’s Center and Austin Children’s Museum.  It costs $15 to walk through the five homes on Camacho Street.  These homes are all priced around $1M, and showcase the talents of five local custom builders. 

In past years, I’ve worked at the Parades as a greeter and builder representative.  This year I simply attended the Parade as a guest.  It was a lot of fun to walk through these homes and see what green features they’ve incorporated.  The City of Austin has strongly encouraged all builders, not just for the Parade homes, but for all homes in the subdivision, to be green.  Four of the Parade homes have received the highest green rating the City of Austin awards, a 5-star rating. 

My favorite house is the one by Streetman Homes.  It takes advantage of the view of the park and pond across the street from several rooms in the house, including the formal dining room and the master suite.  It also has a really cool third floor which they call the “sunset floor”, from which you can see downtown skyline.  This floor is intended for sipping drinks at sunset!  Even the sink is shaped like a martini glass.  Another of my favorite features is the water fountain in the yard.  Besides the yard, the home has two covered patios, a covered balcony off the master suite, and the covered but un-airconditioned sunset floor.  The decorating is flamboyant and unique, not your everyday home, but fun and idea-inspiring!

What I enjoy about going to these Parades is seeing new trends and new materials.  Two of the homes incorporate an entertaining area in the garage, which I know may be hard to imagine, but seeing it shows a clever use of space.  These homes are on very small lots, so the builders had to be creative in making plenty of outdoor living space.  One builder put a garden on the second floor, which is neat, but may not be so practical (how do you mow a second floor lawn?). 

All of the homes on the Parade are available for purchase, as are other, less expensive homes in Mueller.  Other homes in Mueller are selling for $239K and up. 

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com

2009 Property Tax Appraisals - Austin

Tax appraisals have just been released for 2009.  While the average home price in Austin has decreased slightly, the appraised values have increased in many cases.  How can the appraisal district justify increasing home values this year?  Unfortunately, they can make that determination, and then it’s up to the individual homeowner to protest if the value seems unreasonable.  I imagine the appraisal district will see a rise in the number of protests this year. 

I have decided to protest my tax appraisal this year for the first time.  I’ve helped a neighbor with his protest for a few years now, and he says the sales data I’ve provided him has helped him keep the appraised value closer to market value.  In order to protest your appraisal, you have to send in the 2009 Notice of Appraised Value form you received with the back side filled out and signed by May 31st.  Step 4 asks you to give facts that may help resolve your case.  For my protest, I’ve attached relevant sales data along with a statement about why I think the value is different than what the appraisal district has indicated.  While you can get sales data from various websites, that data is not reliable.  Texas is a non-disclosure state when it comes to home sale prices, so only the MLS will provide 100% accurate data.  If you think the appraised value of your home is above market value, contact your real estate agent for data to back that up, or contact me.

The latest figures for the Austin metroplex show that home sales are still down from a year ago (1,421 sales in March ’09, 1,829 sales in March ’08; down 22%), but that available listings are up slightly (9,704 in March ’09, 9,638 in March ’08).  This March, homes have stayed on the market an average of 88 days, as compared to 73 last March.  The average sales price this March was $230,893, while it was $239,777 last March.  These averages give a big picture of the market, but when it comes to an individual home, setting a price requires looking at many factors and not just the averages.  For example, newer or updated homes on larger lots are desirable and in shorter supply, so they can be priced higher than average and still sell in a shorter period of time.

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com

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