Entries from August 2006
UT is up and running with classes and also two fascinating exhibits that pry our perceptions of literary greatness open at the Harry Ransom Center - This Week in Downtown.
Also happening this week:
On Stage - Epic movies, French film noir, and more at the Paramount
Music Scene - Down home music downtown, Tejano Live on the Plaza, Violin virtuoso joins ASO and four days of jazz.
Gallery Watch - Along with the Ransom Center exhibits, LBJ Library shows how Central Texas got the power, fashion B Scene at the Blanton and labor clay day for kids
Special Events - Batsfest!, City Wide Garage Sale, and don’t forget about Cap Metro’s Golden Tickets contest
Sporting News - Fila Relays and Football season begins!
Street Closings - Click here to learn about traffic changes coming up.
Categories: Austin Music · Comedy · Downtown austin events · Family
I’ve had people who moved here recently want to know about the best Italian food in town and so I went looked up a list that I believe are pretty good. They offer nice ambience and excellent food. Go to http://www.10best.com/Austin/Restaurants/Italian/index.html
My favorite on this list is Vespaio. It’s on South Congress and I’ve always had awesome food there with great service. it’s very popular place so you have to get their early otherwise you’ll be waiting for a table for a long while. But they have a cool bar scene so go relax and have a couple of drinks.
Categories: Food · Resources
I’m here to tell if you want to have some fun this week and laugh your butt off then go check on the Out of Bound Improv Festival this week. There will be some kick ass improv comedy from improvisors from all over the country.
Categories: Comedy · Downtown austin events
Wow in the last week or so there have been lots of multiple offers on many listings we have out there. I’m not sure what’s caused the uptick on it but its been pretty damn busy for us.
I don’t really like multiple offer situations because it forces the buyers to have to bid up on a house and pay more for it then they wanted too. It can also back fire on the sellers if they get greedy and try to squeeze more money from the buyers.
If you are a seller don’t get greedy you will end with a bunch of pissed off buyers and agents. Make sure that your agent will send in the TAR form for dealing with Multiple Offers. This will prevent you from getting in trouble with other buyers who want to buy your home.
If you are buying then read this article on what steps to take to ensure your success in buying the home. http://www.recgov.org/realestate/good.htm
As always consult your trustworthy real estate agent on what to do. Don’t try doing this yourself!
Categories: Buying · Rants · Resources · Selling
Another new Condo development is slated for Central Austin near the Univesity of Texas campus. Our company AvenueOne Properties is the listing broker for the development. For info on Pre-Sales contact me
A local developer plans to turn an aging multifamily development in Central Austin into high-end condos.
Marshall Durrett, president of Grandview Street Partners Ltd., is building a 16-unit, $10 million condominium building at the intersection of 32nd and Grandview streets.
A series of duplexes and fourplexes on the site dating back to the 1930s will be demolished in coming months. Construction on Grandview Street Condominiums will begin in January.
The condos will all be part of a single building, with 10, two-story condos on ground level topped by six penthouse units. The condos will range in size from 2,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet and be finished-out to luxury specifications. Prices will range from the mid-$500,000s to mid-$800,000s, Durrett says.
The nearly 1-acre site is between Seton Medical Center, downtown, the University of Texas and the Tarrytown neighborhood, making it ideal to capture a wide demographic, he says.
“We’re not trying to be a downtown loft,” he says. “We’re trying to create a unique community within the condo building itself.”
Austin-based Barley + Pfeiffer Architects designed the building, which should receive high marks in the city’s Green Building Program. Jeannette Spinelli with AvenueOne Properties is brokering the units. Pre-sales will begin in October.
One unique feature of the condos is a configuration that allows for an elevator to each of the two-story units from the underground garage. Owners can choose to have an elevator installed for added convenience.
-Source: Austin Business Journal - 2:08 PM CDT Monday
Categories: Business Growth · Buying · Market Update
This cracked me up when I read this story about builder hiring actors to be a fake family in their model home. Sales for new homes in California and other places are slowing down. Centex wanted the to use a fake family to give the place a more homey feel. It sounds kind of corny, especially when they have visitors to the open house helping the “family” sing Happy Birthday to “Mom”, but I don’t know how effective it will be in converting lookers into buyers. See the story from the San Diego Tribune below.
A Little Improv Goes a Long Way in Selling a Home
Centex Homes has begun staffing model homes with actors in hopes of stimulating the once-sizzling San Diego. Calif.-area new-home market.
On a recent Sunday open house, Mom, Dad, and the two kids chatted about Grandma visiting as they interacted with would-be buyers, serving them fresh-baked cookies and showing off their rooms in a $700,000 model home in Ventura County, Calif.
Centex calls it an “improvisational theatrical model home experience.”
“Think of it as a docented tour, a combo of Williamsburg village and `Desperate Housewives,’ ” says Centex’s publicist, Jim Garfield. “Staged homes tend to be so cold. We’re looking for a way to put the heart back in the home.”
Some home shoppers, including Ventura resident Filomena Silva, thought the idea was an entertaining approach. “It makes you feel right at home,” Silva says, after joining in to sing “Happy Birthday” to Mom.
Source: San Diego Union Tribune
Categories: Business Growth · Buying · Family · Nationwide Update · Real Estate Trends · Selling
Click here for the latest edition of This Week in Downtown. All little kiddos on the go will want to check out “Kid Metro,” the newest exhibit at Austin Children’s Museum, where you can take an imaginary ride on a=child-sized Capital Metro Bus. As Dr. Seuss once said…”Oh the places you can go!” Check it out - This Week in Downtown.
Also happening this week:
Comedy - Lots of hilarious Improv comedy Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at the Hideout Theatre. Plus there’s some great stand up comedy at the Velveeta Room and the always famous sketch comedy of Esther’s Follies.
On Stage - 10 MINUTES MAX, 70mm splendors, workshop performance of unproduced play.
Music Scene - Angelic strings, Bad Roger, Los Flames, Texas 4000 Tribute
Gallery Watch - Several new shows opening that will open your eyes to new perspectives; Explore the Story at the Bob Bullock; Science Sunday delves into DNA; ice cream social and movie at LBJ Library promotes Future Forum for young Texans.
Special Events - Bamboo Festival, Hot Sauce Festival, Keepin’ Austin Weird, BarCampTexas, The Peddler Show
Street Closings - Click here to learn about traffic changes coming up.
DAA - Streetscapes & Transportation and Security & Maintenance Committee meetings
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Categories: Austin Music · Comedy · Downtown austin events · Uncategorized
AUSTIN (statesman.com) Aug 11 - Work has started in the downtown area on six projects, with several more projects expected to break ground in early 2007. So far, these developments would add more than 3,000 living units.
Work should start Feb. 1 on Spring, a 36-story condominium tower at Third and Bowie Streets, said Robert Barnstone, one of the project’s developers. Rafii Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia, are the designers of the tower. Dick Clark Architects of Austin will design the interiors of the 220 units.
Just south of downtown, Crescent Resources LLC, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, plans to start work in early 2007 on Aquaterra, a 19-story, 173-unit condominium tower at 210 Barton Springs Road. The project will cost almost $50 million and should be finished in late 2008, said Steven Brandt, vice president of Crescent’s Texas operations.
These represent the first wave of large condo projects for downtown. Lots more is on the way. So stay tuned….We have a map of all the downtown projects underway at our office. If you want to recieve a copy of it contact us at tfischer@aveone.com
Categories: Business Growth · Buying · Downtown Austin Projects · Uncategorized
Click here for the latest edition of This Week in Downtown . Three amazing new exhibits open at the Austin Museum of Art. They’re colorful, beautiful and meaningful. Check them out This Week in Downtown.
Also happening this week:
On Stage - Exotic technicolor majesty and The Mirror reflect on days and times past.
Comedy - Lots of hilarious Improv comedy Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at the Hideout Theatre. Plus there’s some great stand up comedy at the Velveeta Room and the always famous sketch comedy of Esther’s Follies.
Music Scene - Schubert starts off the week, Concerts in the Park swing to a close and Joe Ely belts the Blues on the Green.
Gallery Watch - Sacred Heart of musical icons opens; 2 great new shows open at the Volitant, 30 new artists never before seen in Austin at Art on 5th for 3 days only this weekend.
Special Events - Austin Fall Home & Garden Show helps you spruce up this weekend.
Sporting News - Xtreme Championships
Street Closings - Click here to learn about traffic changes coming up.
Categories: Austin Music · Comedy · Downtown austin events · Resources
The Central Texas is very hot right and I’m not just talking tempertures of of 101 degrees. The real estate market is in shape to continue on it’s pace to grow even more in this next year and beyond.
Thanks to a shrinking supply of homes, rising home prices and the region’s job growth, a key driver of housing demand, the Central Texas housing market is on track for a record year, said Mark Dotzour, chief economist and director of research at the Texas A&M Real Estate Center.
Dotzour predicts that job growth in Central Texas will be about double that of the national average in 2007.
The Austin area will add 20,800 jobs in the next 12 months, a 2.9 percent growth rate, compared with a 1.5 percent rate nationally. “The state of Texas will outperform the nation, and Austin will outperform the state of Texas” on the job front, he said.
“I think we’re looking good,” said Dotzour, who addressed more than 500 real estate professionals Tuesday at the Real Estate Council of Austin’s annual forecast event. “Price appreciation in Austin is accelerating at an increasing pace as the East and West coasts let air out.”
There maybe a bubble happening in other parts of the country but all signs appear that Austin and the surrounding will see more growth and higher real estate prices. Read the complete story here at http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/08/16reca.html
Plus our real estate prices still seem cheap to investors and buyers from California or Florida. It’s a strange game!
Categories: Business Growth · Buying · Market Update · Nationwide Update · Selling
