Another high rise condo development for downtown was announced this morning in the Austin American Statesman. This time it’s the Aussie’s who are putting a 30 story high rise project with a Hotel in it. I wonder how much these condos are going to costs? I’ll keep you posted!
Read the article at:
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/realestate/06/22townlake.html
Categories: Downtown Austin Projects
Dear Travis county homeowners look out as your property taxes are going through the roof again. I;ve had 2-3 people a week call me about their property taxes going up and what they can do about it. I read this article recently in another blog that is a RANT I agree with about your property tax increase. http://pstern.austin360blogs.com/entry.aspx?q=d69f0bc2-095b-4500-8dcd-97e300ac6c67
I know of one person whose property taxes went up over 100% in East Austin which is outrageous. Keep me posted on what your property tax situations look like. Let’s be informed about this!
Categories: Property Taxes · Rants
Mayor Will Wynn wants to bring 20,000 people into downtown Austin in the next few years.
As Mayor Wynn tirelessly reminds the citizenry, a vibrant 24/7 downtown with high density is essential to achieving other Austin goals – a strong tax base, less traffic, and less suburban development in environmentally sensitive areas. With downtown development booming, now is the time to steer a course that produces the balance of office, retail, and housing necessary for a vibrant and walkable city. Yet after decades of lopsided development that shorted the housing component, Austin now must play catch-up on residential.
This is quite a big goal and as you've seen here recently downtown projects are starting up rapidly. It seems like we find out about a new one every month. So this is great for Austin right? Well yes if we can figure out some logistical issues that are going to happen with all these new people moving to downtown. Isn't traffic congested enough at Lamar and 6th? We'll need 40 to 50 residential towers to reach that goal. That is a TALL ORDER as the article suggests. If that were to become a reality are we headed to achieve the Tokoyo Effect with all the tall buildings obscuring everything downtown? The Austin Chronicle just published a great article on Downtown's Tall Order that I recommend everyone read.
Categories: Downtown Austin Projects · Transportation
Austin area employers are expecting to hire at a hefty pace during the third quarter of 2006. The recent Manpower Employment Outlook Survey found that from July to September, 37 percent of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees. None expect to reduce their payrolls, says Manpower spokesperson Shirley Sanders. "Austin area employers have weaker hiring intentions than in the second quarter when 50 percent of the companies interviewed intended to add staff, and 3 percent planned to reduce headcount," Sanders says. "Employers are more positive about hiring than they were a year ago when 27 percent of companies surveyed thought employment increases were likely and 3 percent intended to cut back." For the coming quarter, the survey found that job prospects appear best in the durable goods manufacturing sector, the wholesale/retail trade, education, services and public administration. Hiring in construction, the non-durable goods manufacturing sector, transportation/public utilities and the finance/insurance/real estate sector is expected to remain unchanged.
[Austin Business Journal]
Categories: Business Growth · Market Update · Resources
Today before noon, the City Council completed approval of new site development regulations for single-family and other non-multi-family residential development. The vote was 7-0 (all council members in favor). These regulations go into effect on October 1.
One amendment was made to the ordinance they considered. The name of the residential design commission was changed to the "Residential Design and Compatibility Commission."
The Council also extended and modified the interim regulations, which are currently in effect and will remain in effect until Oct. 1. The interim regulations are the same as those adopted on March 9 but the front yard setback averaging system in the March 9 ordinance has been replaced with the averaging system proposed by the Task Force that will go in effect on Oct 1.
New front yard setback averaging system: The minimum front setback is the lesser of the setback prescribed by Section 25-2-492 (25 feet in SF-2 and SF-3) or the average of the setback of as many homes, up to 4, closest to the subject lot on the same side of the block. In the case where there are no adjacent houses within 50 feet of the front lot line on that side of the block, then the 4 homes across the street that are the closest will be used to establish the setback average.
The ordinance they approved is online at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/downloads/sfregs_june22_modified%201st%20&%202nd.pdf, save for the name change of the residential design commission.
The Council also approved the other items that allow the Task Force to continue working on issues that they were not able to address in the past few months (see items 72 and 74 online at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/agenda/2006/062206/council_062206.htm).
As always, more info at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/sf_regs.htm.
Categories: Business Growth · Infrastucture
Austin-area home sales jumped by 15 percent in May, as a record 2,620 homes changed hands. The median price of existing homes rose to $174,000, up 8 percent from May 2005, according to the Austin Board of Realtors. Rising demand means that homes are selling faster, in an average of 58 days, down 12 percent from a year ago. Austin's home market has been surging for months, but prices remain well below those in other tech cities and even below the national median. The national median price was $222,700 in April, the most recent data.
Source: [Austin American-Statesman]
This is why we are seeing multiple offers on homes in many areas that are priced correctly to the market. It's getting harder to find homes for my buyers and they need to be ready to pull the trigger when they find the home they want. I've seen some of them snooze and lose out on the home.
Categories: Market Update · Nationwide Update · Uncategorized
How does limited service representation affect a property's time on the market and selling price? Do agent experience and licensing level make a difference? Research sponsored by the Real Estate Center revealed that limited service representation and agent experience can indeed have significant impacts.
Changing Services, Fee Structures
Limited service representation and discount brokerages in single-family residential markets have been widely scrutinized by the real estate industry. The Internet portal Yahoo! moved from the sixth most visited real estate website to second (behind realtor.com) through its series of partnerships with limited service and discount brokerages.
Some of these brokerages offer consumers menu-based pricing, with fees for specific services, such as listing the property on a MLS system, rather than an across-the-board fee for full representation. Others advertise sharply lower commissions while still promising to provide consumers with all of the traditional services.
This evolution of services and fee structures in the real estate industry can largely be attributed to advances in technology that allow consumers to search for properties online. The agent's role has become more a transaction facilitator rather than gatekeeper of property listings data. Computers and advances in communications have also made the transaction process more efficient.
Research into how agent experience and qualifications affect sales performance is limited. Existing research focuses primarily on the relationship between qualifications and earnings, and finds that a positive relationship exists between Realtor designations and career success. Similarly, reports published by the National Association of Realtors indicate that agents who hold the Certified Residential Specialist certification earn, on average, three times more than the typical Realtor.
However, no research has addressed specific quality of service indicators of residential real estate agents. Such indicators would include marketing performance measures like time on the market and selling price.
Limited Service Research Results
Most of the study results were statistically significant, indicating valid relationships exist between limited service representation and agent experience and marketing performance (time to sale and sales price). Licensing type did not demonstrate such a clear relationship.
Interestingly, the empirical results from the models show that limited service listings sold for 1.7 percent less than typical exclusive-right-to-sell listings and took 17.1 percent longer to sell. Given that the typical discount offered by limited service brokers is approximately 2 percent, there does not appear to be any net gain to sellers using limited service representation.
If the limited service broker charges a total 4 percent commission, then the commission plus the 1.7 percent lower price is approximately equivalent to a 6 percent commission from the seller's perspective. If this result holds up in additional studies, it would indicate that limited service brokerage offers no dollar advantages to the seller over typical brokerage when using the exclusive right to sell contract.
Impact of Agent Experience, Licensing
Sellers using listing agents with less than two years of experience received 1.1 percent less for a house compared with sellers who used agents with two to five years of experience, and the marketing time was 1.9 percent longer. While 1.1 percent may not seem to be a large amount, it represents more than $1,900 for the average property in the sample. If the listing agent had more than five years of experience, the seller received 0.8 percent more than sellers who used agents with two to five years of experience, and the property sold 1.5 percent faster.
Buyers using selling agents with fewer than two years of experience paid 1.1 percent less for a house compared with buyers who used agents with two to five years of experience. If the selling agent had more than five years of experience, the buyer paid 0.4 percent more than buyers who used agents with two to five years of experience.
When both the listing agent and the selling agent had more than five years of experience, these impacts seemed to cancel each other out. When both the listing and selling agent had less than two years of experience, homes sold for 2.2 percent less than when the agents had two to five years experience. Further research is needed to investigate the effects of having an experienced agent on one side of the transaction and a relatively inexperienced agent on the other.
Finally, whether listing and selling agents were licensed as brokers or salespersons was analyzed. Results indicated that properties listed by brokers sold for 0.8 percent less than those listed by salespersons, and with a slightly longer marketing time (not a statistically significant difference). When the selling agent representing the buyer was a broker, the sales price was marginally higher, but not statistically significant.
The real estate industry will continue to evolve as technology and new business models are introduced. This study suggests that limited service representation is not necessarily a better deal than typical representation when considering exclusive right-to-sell listing agreements. Although results were less conclusive with regard to licensing levels, real estate consumers should be aware of the qualifications of agents hired to represent them.
Additional research may be warranted to analyze these effects on specific submarkets, such as the low-cost versus luxury housing segments.
This study was conducted to analyze whether limited service representation, agent experience and type of license have discernible impacts on residential property sales. Because time to sell and selling price are primary considerations for consumers when they list their properties with an agent, the study focused on these two measures of market effects.
The authors constructed a set of statistical models to examine these issues. A sample of more than 55,000 residential transactions from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex were modeled, controlling for location, physical characteristics of the property and market conditions. Average time on the market for the properties in the sample was 90 days; average sales price was $175,270.
Sales data included information such as whether the listing was a limited service listing (the MLS system required limited service listings to be marked as such) as well as information on the listing and selling agents. Agent information was matched with Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) data to track agent experience levels and license type with each transaction. Agents were categorized by whether they held broker or salesperson licenses, and further categorized into three experience levels:
Two models were formulated from this data. The first model analyzed the effect of selected variables on the number of days the property was listed on the market (the MLS system) until the contract date. The second model estimated the effect of selected variables on the selling price.
Categories: Real Estate Trends · Resources · Selling
NBC Universal Television Studio plans to headquarter production of NBC's fall 2006 series "Friday Night Lights" in Austin, bringing a substantial economic impact along with it. The announcement was made by Austin City Council Member Brewster McCracken, former Mayor Kirk Watson and representatives of the Texas Film Commission. The series will focus on the Texas tradition of high school football. "NBC Universal Television Studio's decision to come here is a big step for us as we capitalize on Austin's reputation as an emerging center for television and film production," Wynn says. "This production will generate millions for the local economy and will give us the opportunity to further showcase our vibrant community and Texas for its love of football." The network expects to hire hundreds of local professionals, from set building carpenters to production experts to extras who will play townspeople. The total cash infusion to the city for the 2006 fall series is expected to be more than $20 million. "Having 'Friday Nights Lights' produced in Austin creates an incredible opportunity for our local film sector, and it strengthens Austin's position as one of the nation's top three film and digital media communities," says McCracken, who chairs the Austin City Council's Emerging Technologies Committee.
[Austin Business Journal]
Categories: Business Growth · Market Update
According to a study by Bizjournals.com, Austin made a huge leap to No. 3 in this year's brainpower study, up from 26th last year. The educational levels of adults in nearly 16,000 cities, towns, villages, boroughs and unincorporated areas were analyzed. Communities were ranked in three population categories, based on a formula that rewards places with heavy concentrations of college graduates. The rankings reflect each community's collective brainpower, which is tied to its residents' abilities to innovate, create, compete and make money. A worker with a graduate degree earns 45 percent more, on average, than a colleague with a bachelor's degree, and 167 percent more than someone who never went beyond high school, according to figures released last year by the Census Bureau. The Bizjournals.com study found that America's brainpower is concentrated in technology centers, national and state capitals, college towns and affluent suburbs. Seattle, San Francisco and Austin rank first, second and third among large communities because they're the only ones where more than 40 percent of adults have bachelor's degrees.
[Austin Business Journal]
Categories: Market Update · Resources · Schools & Education
Downtown's residential scene continues to heat up, with work started on or scheduled to start on projects at the eastern and western perimeters. Combined, they will add almost 800 condominium or apartment units to one of Austin's fastest-growing neighborhoods. Two of the three projects will be high-rises and will be among the tallest buildings downtown when they open. The condominium tower, 360, at West Third and Nueces streets was named for its promised view. The 44-floor tower will have 432 units with one-bedroom units starting at under $200,000 and two-bedroom units under $300,000. Official groundbreaking is June 20 and the project should open in late 2007. Red River Flats, South Carolina-based Greystar Real Estate Partners' project, is set for the former Reddy Ice site at Red River and East Ninth streets. The four-story complex will include 120 units with monthly rent ranging from $1,350 to $2,520. It is currently under construction and the first units will be available in July 2007. Spring, the condominium tower at Third and Bowie streets, near the old Seaholm Power Plant will be 36 floors and include 220 units. Prices will range from $200,000 to $400,000. Groundbreaking is scheduled for January with an opening in early 2008.
[Austin American-Statesman]
Categories: Downtown Austin Projects · Market Update
