September 20, 2010 – According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) report released today by the Austin Board of REALTORS®, the impact of the expired homebuyer tax credits is still being felt in the Austin real estate market, yet the gap in year-over-year sales volume narrowed slightly compared to last month.

The volume of Austin area home sales in August 2010 was 1,490, down 15 percent from the same month in 2009. The median price for August 2010 was $200,000, up 5 percent from August 2009. In addition, the number of days on market increased one percent to 77 days for August 2010 when compared to August 2009.

“This continues to be a unique year in evaluating trends in the real estate market due to the impact of the recently expired homebuyer tax credits,” said John Horton, Chairman of the Austin Board of REALTORS®. “Though we’re down in sales volume by 15 percent compared to this month last year, that gap is smaller than we experienced in July and year-to-date figures reveal that we’re generally on pace with 2009 volumes.”

So far this year, 12,729 single-family homes have been sold in Austin, a two percent increase compared to the same time period in 2009. In addition, the median price year-to-date was $195,000, up three percent from 2009, and days on market decreased 11 percent from 2009 to 72 days.

Chairman Horton continued, “The most important thing I see in these results is that our year-to-date sales volume shows steady demand and our real estate values are holding strong. That’s good news as we head into the fall season.”

-Austin Board of Realtors

Austin Rising Real Estate, one of Austin’s leading real estate firms helping first time buyers, is looking to team up with HGTV to find new buyers for the filming of season 8 + 9 of their TV show “My First Place.” If you are in the market to purchase your first home, we’d love the opportunity to meet with you, help you submit your application and get you in direct contact with the casting director. For more information, contact us at 512-297-8242 or at FilmUsHGTV@Austin-Rising.com.

Click here to see a sample episode of “My First Place”

MY FIRST PLACE 8 & 9

HGTV is looking for fun, high-energy people in Austin, TX, Boston, MA, San Francisco, CA and St. Louis, MO who are buying their first place! Singles, couples and families are all invited to apply.

My First Place is returning for its 8th and 9th seasons and will again focus on the trials and tribulations of looking for, bidding on, and buying your first place—whether it’s a single-family house, townhouse or condo. We’re looking for fun and interesting people who are willing to share their personal and financial struggles during the home-buying process.

We’ll follow you for at least 10 shoot days over a 3-month period during some of the more stressful (and rewarding) days of your life, so if this sounds like fun, please apply! In addition to the once-in-a-lifetime experience, we are able to reward homebuyers with a specially chosen gift we think will make your house feel like home. Upon airing of your episode, you’ll also receive a DVD copy of your show—giving you a lasting memory of your first time buying a home to cherish for all time!

My First Place has new episodes airing now at 8:00 PM Eastern on Thursday nights, but be sure to check your local listings!

MY FIRST PLACE APPLICATION RULES

PLEASE NOTE: WE CANNOT travel more than 60 – 90 minutes (by car) outside of the selected cities. Please be sure these locations work for you!

The IRS requires that we file a 1099MISC for you on re-sellable gifts totaling $600 and over. This includes lamps, furniture, art, etc. but not materials or services. We require a signature on this form before taping, but it is your responsibility to file it with the rest of your taxes for 2010. If this sounds like an exciting, fun experience to you (we think it is!) and you are planning on buying your first place in Austin, Boston, San Francisco, or St. Louis, contact Austin Rising Real Estate to submit your application.

]]> http://www.austinrisingrealestate.com/2010/08/hgtv/feed/ 0 http://www.austinrisingrealestate.com/2010/04/austin-asian-resource-center-aims-for-completion-by-2012/ http://www.austinrisingrealestate.com/2010/04/austin-asian-resource-center-aims-for-completion-by-2012/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:51:55 +0000 Bryan Kosarek http://www.austinrisingrealestate.com/?p=1971 By Yvonne Lim Wilson
Friday, 19 March 2010

The Austin Asian Resource Center is well on its way to being built, according to an update to the Austin City Council Mar. 11 by Schiller Liao, a member of the AARC Board of Directors.

“We’ve been working on it for a decade now and we’ve been working very diligently since then,” he said. “We want to see completion by April 2012 and have a grand opening by May for Asian Heritage Month. We will do every effort to do that.”

The AARC, located at 8501 Cameron Road, would serve the entire community of Austin as a gathering and educational space, similar to the city’s Mexican-American Cultural Center.

Liao described the space as a multi-purpose space where business meetings can take place, especially as a site to welcome business people from China and other Asian countries. It would be also be a family-friendly area with open spaces for children.

“This project is not just for Asians, but it is for all Austinites and for all Texans,” he said.

Voters approved a $5 million bond for the project in 2006. The project has since been scaled down in scope, but still provide a multi-function hall for 600 people, classrooms, conference rooms, a library, art exhibition space and outdoor areas with water features.

The design concept will be LEED silver level certified and will incorporate solar energy, xeriscaping (using native plants that require less water) and rainwater harvesting, among other green features.

“I salute you with the LEED certification. That’s very exciting aspect,” said council member Chris Riley.

Mayor Lee Leffingwell congratulated Liao and other board members on the progress they have made on the center.

“The MACC [Mexican-American Cultural Center] took 30 years, and Phase 1 opened a few years ago. It looks like in relative terms you’re moving in light speed,” he said.

Councilman Bill Spelman also offered his congratulations on seeing the project near fruition.

“I am in awe of your master plan. I look forward to your being able to break ground on this thing in 2012 and I look forward to going here all my life,” he said.

http://impactnews.com/southwest-austin/258-recent-news/7679-austin-asian-resource-center-aims-for-completion-by-2012-

Since the Fed’s mortgage program ends tomorrow and the tax credit ceases 4/30, what will the future for mortgage rates and home prices be?

The recession that wiped out thousands of jobs in Central Texas also erased $6.5 billion from the market value of Travis County properties.

The 5.3 percent drop in values from 2009 was the first decline since 2003, according to preliminary figures from the Travis Central Appraisal District.

The news means tough decisions for local government leaders, who must decide whether to raise tax rates, cut budgets or both to compensate for tens of millions of dollars in lost property tax revenue.

“It means more belt-tightening,” said Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe, who presides over the Commissioners Court. “It’ll probably be some combination of cuts and small tax increases.”

The drop does not necessarily mean lower tax bills for all homeowners. Housing prices declined only slightly last year, despite the recession.

Meanwhile, the commercial market suffered more, with rising office vacancies and foreclosures or bankruptcies for some large properties.

Chief Appraiser Patrick Brown estimated the total market value of the property in the county at $116.9 billion , down from $123.4 billion last year.

“These are predictions, not promises,” said Brown, who is still analyzing the figures before sending out notices to taxpayers in a few weeks.

Residential property assessment increases are capped at 10 percent, no matter what happens to market values, under a state law that cushions homeowners during hot real estate markets.

But the law also requires that assessed values continue to rise until they eventually catch up to market values.

“Many people have been getting assessed values below market for three or four years,” Brown said. In those instances, “many homeowners will see an increase in assessed values, even though market values aren’t climbing.”

The preliminary 2010 valuation is hardly unexpected, given the state of the economy, but declines have been rare for Central Texas in the past three decades.

The last decline was 5.3 percent in 2003 , reflecting the tech bust. That year, the county’s market value dropped by $4 billion, to $71.9 billion. The decline in taxable values was half as large, in part because of the effect of the 10 percent cap.

The 2010 estimate says more about where the economy has been than where it is going.

Last year, home sales fell off across Central Texas, and builders cut back on starting new homes. But home prices only dipped slightly.

Brown credited the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time buyers and the region’s continued population growth for cushioning the residential market.

The commercial market suffered more. Office vacancy rates continued to rise, with some newer suburban complexes having few or no tenants.

In Bee Cave, the Hill County Galleria went into bankruptcy last May and was sold in January for $75 million — less than half of what developers had borrowed to build it.

“The worst is behind us in terms of commercial values dropping, but the appraised values are reflecting transactions from last year, when they were still declining,” said Charles Heimsath, president of Capitol Market Research , an Austin real estate consulting firm.

Heimsath said the apartment market, where occupancy rates have hovered around 89 percent, will probably be less affected than suburban office buildings and industrial properties, where the rates are lower.

Total property values are not yet available for Hays and Williamson counties, but Chief Appraiser Alvin Lankford said Williamson County’s value might be down slightly.

“There is a possibility of a loss, but I’m not prepared to say how much,” Lankford said. A drop would be the first in the decade he has served as chief appraiser.

Property values in Bastrop County are expected to increase about 4 percent, said Chief Appraiser Mark Boehnke. He credited new development for offsetting any softness in property values.

“If you are in Central Texas, the market was pretty good,” Boehnke said. “I think that’s hard for some people to understand, given what they were hearing on the news” about the recession.

In Travis County, the estimated rate of decline varies among taxing jurisdictions.

The estimated drop in taxable property values — factoring in homestead exemptions and other deductions — for the Austin Independent School District, for example, is nearly 5 percent, while the City of Austin’s decline is about 6.4 percent.

City of Austin officials, who are expected to disclose budget options in a couple of weeks, declined to speculate what the drop will mean.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to be in (City Manager) Marc Ott’s position,” Heimsath said. “He’s going to have to find places to cut in the city’s budget and probably have to make a recommendation to the council to raise the tax rate, and that’s very challenging, particularly in bad economic times.”

At the Austin school district, Chief Financial Officer Nicole Conley-Abram said officials had anticipated a drop in property values. “But it’s certainly not good news.”

All school districts in the county are at the state-allowed maximum property tax rate.

Falling property values also could add to the state’s projected $11 billion-plus shortfall when lawmakers convene next year. Under the school finance formula, state aid must increase as local revenues drop.

lcopelin@statesman.com; 445-3617

snovak@statesman.com; 445-3856

http://www.statesman.com/business/travis-property-values-face-first-drop-since-2003-545370.html

Austin area home prices are expected to stop falling in the final quarter this year, according to Federal Housing Finance Agency and Moody’s Economy.com data.

The Fiserv Inc. (Nasdaq: FISV) report released today projects Central Texas residential price tags rising in the first quarter next year, reaching levels from before the recession by 2016.

The document estimates prices will have fallen about 4.8 percent by the time it reaches the trough at the end of the year. It said prices began the free fall in the final quarter 2008.

The city fared relatively well compared to 374 markets also included in the report. Markets that experienced the greatest price bubble — certain markets in California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada —won’t see home prices reach peak levels until 2025 or later. Austin prices are expected to hit the last peak on or before six years from now.

“The picture is not uniformly grim,” Fiserv Chief Economist David Stiff said. “In fact, our analysis projects that some markets are poised for a relatively fast recovery, including some areas that never experienced large declines in prices. Markets that could see prices come back within the next few years include Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Columbia, South Carolina and several metro areas in Texas, Washington and upstate New York.”

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2010/04/05/daily50.html

Before I-35, East Avenue was a Thoroughfare with a View
East End Cultural Heritage District

New Plans for Waller Creek Improvements

by SHELTON GREEN / KVUE News
Posted on April 7, 2010 at 9:20 PM
Updated yesterday at 10:25 PM

The Mexican American Cultural Center in downtown Austin was packed Wednesday night with neighbors, downtown business owners, employees and the curious. All of them showed up to learn more about the latest redevelopment plans for Waller Creek.

It’s kind of been left alone to fester on its own and I just wonder what they have in store,” said Marvin Chaney an Austinite who showed up to hear and see the final Master Plan for Waller Creek.

“Tonight’s vision is to get in front of the public and let these folks discuss what kind of ideas they have, what can happen along the surface once the tunnel gets rid of the flooding threat,” said Stan Evans with city of Austin’s Watershed Protection.

Evans and other city staffers told KVUE that city engineers had to first come up with plans on controlling the flooding of Waller Creek before developers could even begin talking about redevelopment.

“Then the idea is to use this project to really help reconnect with east Austin with the Lady Bird Lake trail system, with the University of Texas, with the Capitol,” said Jana McCann with McCann Adams Studio, the Austin firm working with the San Francisco development company ROMA.

The city had tables full of artists renderings of hike and bike trails, promenades, restaurants and shops along Waller Creek for citizens to study and submit ideas.

A rough estimate of the improvements to Waller Creek from 12th street to Lady Bird Lake could cost 34 million dollars.  It’s unclear at this point where the money will come from.

The Austin City Council has the final say in June. If approved construction on the Waller Creek tunnel could begin in 2011 with a completion date scheduled for early 2014.

http://www.kvue.com/news/Waller-Creek-improvements-90165617.html

WASHINGTON (U.S. Census Bureau) – Parts of Texas have some of the lowest rates of mail participation so far in the 2010 Census, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Nationally, 46 percent of households have mailed back their forms. But in parts of Texas, the participation rate is significantly lower. Among those Texas cities with the lowest mail participation rates as of Monday, March 29, 2010, are:

Brownsville, 25 percent (Census 2000, 63 percent)
Laredo, 27 percent (Census 2000, 63 percent)
Austin, 33 percent (Census 2000, 68 percent)
Houston, 33 percent (Census 2000, 64 percent)
San Antonio, 37 percent (Census 2000, 72 percent)

“We’re concerned about the relatively low response from parts of Texas,” said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves. “Every household that fails to send back their census form by mail must be visited by a census taker starting in May — at a significant taxpayer cost. The easiest and best way to be counted in the census is to fill out and return your form by mail.”

For every percentage point increase in mail response, taxpayers will save an estimated $85 million in federal funds. Those funds would otherwise be required to send census takers to collect census responses in person from households that don’t mail back the form.

*Read interest rate disclosures and follow daily rates here. To speak with one of Austin Rising’s preferred lenders, visit our Team page.

February 2010 Market Update

Our market update allows you to follow five simple market indicators so you can understand what’s happening in the Austin real estate market.

According to the Multiple Listing Service report, the volume of Austin area homes sales were up 4% in February 2010 compare to the same month in 2009. “These results demonstrate that Austin’s recovery is continuing steadily,” said John Horton, Chairman of the Austin Board of REALTORS®. “Our area has been identified as one of the first to emerge from the recession and the real estate trends of recent months clearly support this assertion.”

We will continue to see a good amount of activity  up to April 30th due to buyers looking to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit.

According to Forbes Magazine, the Austin area tied for first place on a list of large metropolitan areas where the recession is easing first. Austin’s low unemployment rate and job growth from 2007 to 2009 – just below one percent, which was more than any other city included in the research – were cited as key factors for the ranking.

Mr. Horton continued, “It appears we’re beginning to see an impact from this steady improvement, particularly in increases in pending sales and new listings, as well as a decrease in the length of time homes are staying on the market, all of which are indicators of future demand.”

What this means for you: Since Austin has less housing stock than other cities in Texas, the demand for existing housing can potentially be higher. If a home is priced right, you will see increased interest in a property. When searching for a home in Austin, analyze what is happening in each area (available inventory, average sales price, sales discount, ect) and present the most competitive offer you feel comfortable with submitting. Although interest rates should stay relatively low in 2010, you will benefit more by paying a little higher sales price with a lower interest rate than submitting low offers and potentially getting stuck with a higher interest rate.

The chart below is from the Austin American Statesman

“What this newest data continues to support is the fact that, although the recession very much has come to town, is that Austin continues to be one of the fastest-growing large urban areas in the country,” City of Austin demographer Ryan Robinson said.  Read Full Article