It’s only October and some homebuyers are telling us they are planning to hibernate until next spring.

Just because the temperatures have reached into the chilly mid 80’s doesn’t mean if your plans include buying a home you should break out your sweaters and wait until April to buy a home.

For the last 3 years I’ve noticed a trend. Buyers who have a lease expiring in March/April will begin looking for a home the summer before.

They like to tell me “We’re not in a hurry” when I meet them at an open house.

What they don’t realize is they should be in a hurry.

Each year around March when they get serious about buying a home the prices are substantially higher. What most consumers don’t realize is real estate prices don’t increase in a linear…

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We have a great benefit through the Texas Association of Realtors YOU can take advantage of, too!

Sears Commercial offers Realtors discounts on appliances including air conditioning units, electronics, lawn and garden items, and mattresses. The discounts are better on Kenmore appliances but they are available for other brand names including Samsung TV’s, etc.

This is a benefit we are able to pass on to our friends. If you are interested in taking advantage of this program send me a message and I will give you the rest of the program details.

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One of the reasons I bought our current rental home is I knew there was a new elementary school that would be built in the neighborhood in the next few years.

Now that the school is built the neighborhood has become very desirable and that purchase has turned into a great investment.

Today there are many new schools being built or recently announced. These schools will likely be rated very highly in the future. If you pay attention to announcements about neighborhoods being re-zoned to these new schools I expect there will be some great buying opportunity for long-term investors who understand how these schools will impact real estate values.

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If you’ve been listening to the radio in Austin over the last few months you’ve probably heard about some of the celebrity real estate seminars coming to town.

Before you sign up for any courses check out this blog written by a real estate appraiser.

Like most get rich schemes chances are the person getting rich won’t be you.

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Rutledge is a 10!!

In the last couple years we have seen a shift towards a preference for homes zoned for Round Rock ISD. In part this shift was due to Rutledge Elementary being downgraded to a 7 on the website Greatschools.org.

About a month ago Rutledge was upgraded back to a 10. This is great news for any property values of homes in Avery Ranch zoned for Leander ISD.

Unfortunately this change is still not reflected on some of the websites like Zillow but you can see the school rating on greatschools.org.

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How accurate is a Zillow or Trulia  Zestimate in Austin, TX? That is one of the most common questions I am asked about Austin real estate. Check out the infographic below to learn more about third party estimates. Also read this article here about how Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff sold home for much less than Zestimate. Feel free to contact me at 512-791-7473 or fill out our quick “What Is The Value Of My Home?” if you’d like a more accurate estimate of your home’s value!


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One of the most important drivers of real estate values is the school ratings.

When I bought our current home in Avery Ranch Patsy Sommer Elementary which is now rated a 10 didn’t exist. I knew the school district owned land for the school and when it eventually would get built it would be great for the property values in the neighborhood.

In my opinion there are some good opportunities right now in neighborhoods that are being re-zoned to new schools.

For example this article shows the projected re-zoning of neighborhoods in the Leander school district.

Two of the neighborhoods shown in the map are projected to be re-zoned from an elementary school where the school rating is currently a 5 to a brand new elementary school.

Both…

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You may remember me talking about $/SF not being a reliable metric to use when pricing real estate in Avery Ranch.

I have a great example from 2 homes we sold in the Avery Ranch neighborhood in May.

The homes are of a similar size but the home on the right was 13 years newer, in much better condition and on a beautiful private lot compared to the home on the right, which backs up to Avery Ranch Blvd.

I’m often asked “What’s the average $/SF in Avery Ranch?”

If you used the average $/SF in the neighborhood to price the 2 homes you would have underpriced the home on the right (or made a ridiculously low offer) and overpriced the home on the left (or paid too much).

When estimating real estate value it’s important to consider all aspects…

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