Entries from September 2006
You may have heard of this video that ran on British television last year. It was a program called “The Heist” http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?AVbJdLiORK.iBxKkpWhmWAThe Real Estate career is one where you need to have good skills of persuasion in order to be successful. I think I’m pretty skilled in this arena which serves me well when it comes to helping a buyer or seller decide to work with me or someone else. It also is useful in negotiations with other parties. As such as I’ve spent a lot of money and time researching various forms of persuasion. Most of my education in persuasion came from working with a group of consultants who used all the forms of persuasion that are contained in the video below. It wasn’t until I had stopped working with them did I come to understand how powerful these forms of covert persuasion can be.
Now Ghandi and Martin Luther King used these strategies as did Hitler. I do believe you can’t make someone do something against their will. Well watch this video and you’ll see you can get someone to will themselves to do something that they would otherwise consider very wrong.
This is a very powerful demonstration of the power of influence, persuasion, hypnosis, NLP and language patterns you may not discover with the naked eye.The video was taken offline for several months but it is available again for at least a while. Take some time and watch it, you’ll be truly amazed I think. If the link doesn’t work, go to video.google.comand search for the heist derren and you’ll find it. The Hiest By Darren Brown
There are many lessons here for every fan of persuasion. http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?AVbJdLiORK.iBxKkpWhmWA I will try to break down some of what happens in this video so you can see for yourself what’s happening.
Categories: Buying · Internet Links · Motivational · Rants · Resources · Selling
Fort Worth-based Taurus of Texas Holdings LP, a subsidiary of Boston-based Taurus Investment Holdings, has purchased 2,200 acres of wooded land south of Manor from an investment group that includes local developer Jim Carpenter. Plans are to develop a $2 billion master-planned, energy-efficient community with more than 8,000 homes ranging from the $150,000s to $500,000, townhomes, condominiums, and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and office space.Whisper Valley Ranch is slated for development near the ten-lane Texas 130 toll road, which is scheduled to be completed in mid-2007. About 1,965 acres is on the east side of Texas 130; another 241 acres is to the west. The land also borders the recently improved Travis County Northeast Regional Park.
The first homes could be underway by mid-2007 and ready for residents by the end of the year or early 2008. Final buildout of the community is expected to take seven to ten years, according to Douglas Gilliland, president of Taurus of Texas. Community amenities will include 11 soccer fields, nine baseball fields and stocked fishing lakes, with nearly 600 acres left as open space or developed with walking and jogging trails.
Most of Whisper Valley Ranch’s 300,000 to 400,000 square feet of shops and offices would be built west of Texas 130 in later phases. Major employers in the area include Dell Inc., Samsung Austin Semiconductor LP and Applied Materials Inc.
Categories: Austin Housing · Business Growth · Buying · Infrastucture · Market Update · Transportation
As predicted the median house price in Austin has risen again showing we are in a Seller’s market in many areas of Austin. The average median price was up 8 percent to a record $182,500.
Buyers are snatching up homes at a faster clip, which bodes well for the market next year, says John Rosshirt, chairman of the Austin Board of Realtors.
Nationally, the most recent figures show that the median sales price was $231,100 in July, as home sales dropped 5 percent year over year. This is not the case in Austin where property values continue to rise across the city.
Some of the areas that have seen a lot appreciation lately.
Supply and demand isn’t the only thing pushing prices higher, said Eldon Rude, director of the Austin office of residential market research firm Metrostudy.
Rising construction costs for both materials and labor also are a factor, Rude said.
According to some local contractors, structural steel materials have risen 20 percent in the past year, metal roofing rose 15 percent, and drywall prices jumped 40 percent during that time.
“Builders are paying more for their lots and to build the houses. They’ve been getting more and more expensive,” Rude said.
(Source: Austin American Statesman)
We can see that Austin market is not being affected by the rest of country in terms of real estate prices. Our market continues to
Categories: Austin Housing · Buying · Market Update · Nationwide Update · Selling
Click here for the latest edition of This Week in Downtown. You’re invited to theOpening Reception for “The Avenue: Austin’s Main Street Since 1839″ - the rich visual history of Congress Avenue. Show opens on September 29th.
Also happening this week:
On Stage - Black Arts Movement - BAM! - features a diverse selection of performing arts; three behind the scenes look films take a stark look at the music industry, and the hilarious CAST PARTY lights up Mansions at Judges Hill.
Comedy: Hideout Theatre presents Improvisational Comedy Shows on Friday and Saturday Nights at 8 & 10:00PM Come check out the Cops & Lawyers show on Sat. at 8PM in the downstairs theatre. Also Maestro Comedy show is a great audience treat! Don’t forget about the Velveeta Room and Esther’s Follies
Music Scene - Cyndi Lauper, Dixie Chicks, Burt Bacharach and Jenny Reynolds are all live in Austin.
Gallery Watch - Gem of a show opens at Texas Memorial; Animal Secrets revealed at Austin Children’s Museum; quilters and quilting take center stage at AMOA and George Carver Memorial Museum & Cultural Center.
Special Events - Walk for Peace; take part in the Silent Witness Vigil and Walk; be inspired by words at Poetry on the Plaza; and take the Commute Solutions challenge!
DAA - DOWNTOWN has done it again - racking up 5 Lone Star Emmy(r) nominations; catch some of the shows you missed; Streetscapes & Transportation and Economic Development Committees meet.
Street Closings - Lots of happenings this weekend - Click here to see where you might have to make a turn.
For everything you need to know about downtown Austin (living, working, playing, developing, parking, calendar of events, venue links and more) keep downtownaustin.com on your desktop, in your pda, on your phone.
Categories: Austin Music · Downtown austin events · Family · Resources
Endeavor Real Estate Group will break ground in mid-October on the mixed-use, 900,000-Square-foot 1890 Ranch Shopping Center on 90 acres at the new U.S. Hwy.183A and FM 1431. The center will be built in two phases estimated to cost more than $100 million.Phase one, slated to open in October 2007, will include 530,000 square feet of retail and 100,000 square feet of medical and office space, said Charlie Northington, principal for Austin-based Endeavor. Construction will begin on the 270,000-square-foot second phase in early 2007.
Plano,TX -based Cinemark USA Inc. has signed a lease for a 12-screen movie theater. PetsMart plans to lease nearly 28,000 square feet, Office Max plans to lease 20,000 square feet, and Target Corp. plans to build a 177,500-square-foot store nearby.
Other projects on tap for far Northwest Austin include Lakeline Station, a mixed-use development planned by Pacific Summit Partners for 335 acres near U.S. 183 and RM 620. The $400 million project is slated to include up to 3,000 homes, plus 150,000 square feet of neighborhood retail and would take up to eight years to complete.
This is another example of how Austin’s retail infrastructure growth is happening all over the city. There is plenty more business growth on tap for north Austin and Round Rock.
Categories: Business Growth · Infrastucture · Market Update
The Shores high-end condo project that’s nearly sold out in presales has secured a $50 million construction loan. Their lender Fremont Investment & Loan provided the $50.2 million loan. They wanted to wait until they had Pre-Sold half their condo units and now they have nearly SOLD OUT all the units. Pretty nice! This shows that is a fairly strong demand for luxury condo units in downtown Austin.
Categories: Business Growth · Buying · Downtown Austin Projects · Market Update
The mighty Dell Computers is going to add 500 engineering jobs which marks the largest hire they’ve had for central Texas since the dot.com bust several years ago. This is a positive sign for the real estate market as engineering jobs are generally higher salary based positions which bodes well for the Round Rock area. (Source: Austin Business Journal)
Categories: Business Growth · Market Update
“Even though this does not necessarliy apply to our market; finally, an appraiser that makes (and has) sense!” This is from my fellow agent Tom Coplen at AvenueOne Properties. It’s not so simple as to how to properly value your home value just by seeing that neighbor’s house sold for X amount. Many more factors go into determing what your house is worth on the market.
Categories: Buying · Nationwide Update · Real Estate Trends · Resources · Selling
Read this post on why real estate agents get a bad image. Thanks Bravo for putting this piece of crap program on TV so it make us look horrible in the eyes of customers. What’s next’s to show how professionel career people screw customers…..see this idea below…
They might want to do other shows, with different professions like Airline Pilots. They could show them talking about how they cheat on their wifes with the flight attendants while downing martinis before takeoff. Or doctors who get mad at healthcare compensation so they do something unthinkable to an unsuspecting patient. Scot Cook
At least is shows what NOT to do in the real estate business. Watch this show if you are an agent to see what greed really looks like in our business.
Categories: Rants · Resources · Selling
