Austin Real Estate

Fortunately, buying a home in Austin isn't affected by snow, as this article states, but the rest of it is very applicable. The normal selling season is heating up early this year, thanks to the extended $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit and the $6,500 repeat buyer tax credit.

The USA Today article notes that it's now taking on average eight weeks to get a home loan processed (according to the National Asscoation of Realtors), so it's important for buyers to act soon in order to take advantage of the credits. Buyers must close (not just find a home, but CLOSE) by April 30 to get the tax credit.

Link to full article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2010-01-19-spring-home-buyers_N.htm

Two recent rankings that show Austin in a favorable economic light, which in turn is good news for both commercial and residential Austin real estate:

Best Places to Launch

The best metro areas for small business startups
CNN Money.com

The future of the Austin real estate market looks promising, based on a research forecast done by Moody's Economy.com (and released on Forbes.com).

"With an estimated 32% GMP [gross metropolitan product] growth from 2007-2012, Austin, Texas, is the winner for big metros. Atlanta, Seattle, Orlando, Houston and San Jose, Calif., also appear high on the list. What do they all have in common? They're tech hubs with proximity to universities and a healthy increase in population. Austin's population, for example, is expected to increase by nearly 15% by 2012, according to Moody's Economy.com forecasts."

Some of the main factors considered were "innovation, human capital, infrastructure and the actual quality of a place."

With the holiday season here, what better way to give than by donating or volunteering. 

Here is a list for volunteer and donation opportunities:

Today we see more good news about the Austin economy, which always translates to good news about Austin real estate as well. Here's an excerpt from the Austin Business Journal:

"Austin is the most likely city to experience retail growth for the rest of 2009 and into 2010, according to a ranking today by Pitney Bowes Business Insight.

The report lists the top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas experts expect to experience quarterly retail sales growth for the remainder of 2009 and into the next year. The data includes figures from drug store, high-end, mid-tier and value retail sectors.

Good news for the national housing market, which trickles down to mean good news for Austin real estate as well.  The Austin Board of Realtors reported that in October 2009, 1,823 homes were sold, a 38 percent increase from 1,322 in October 2008. In addition, the median price of Austin homes in October 2009 was $182,000.

Here's more about the national situation:

Freddie Mac's quarterly report on home prices shows they rose for the second consecutive quarter in all but two of the regions in tracks.

Maybe that's a little harsh, but that's the headline from a recent article in Business Week about the housing market. They point out that "interest rates are at historic lows but cyclical trends suggest they will soon rise. Home buyers may never see such a chance again."

That's true, and that's why we're encouraging people to buy homes, if they can. Along with the first-time and repeat home buyer tax credits ($8,000 and $6,500, respectively), now is a great time to buy Austin real estate. 

Read the full article here:

More good news for the local economy, as well as the Austin real estate market: Austin was just ranked the third fastest recovering city in the country, with nearby San Antonio being #2. The article, published by Forbes.com, says what we've been telling people for months now:

"The state's housing prices never ascended to the unsustainable levels the rest of the country hit at the peak of the housing bubble. Thus, it didn't crash as hard. These factors have toughened the local economy against a recession that is inextricably tied to real estate."

Other Texas cities fared well, too, with Dallas and Houston both ranking in the top 10. And in case you're curious, #1 goes to Omaha, Nebraska.

Who in their right mind would have thought that a real estate company would have anything to be thankful for in 2009? It was only the WORST economic climate in our lifetime! But we refused to be part of the recession.

When we stop and reflect, we find that there are many reasons to be thankful in 2009. Here are the Top 10 Things We’re Thankful For at Goldwasser Real Estate.