Entries from November 2007
My friend Clay Primrose who is a executive consultant sent me a this inspirational message about Thanksgiving. It made me really think about my life and all I have to be thankful. I do see a lot or people who get depressed on this Holiday because they focus on the things that aren’t going well in their life.
Two funny things about people occur to me on this Thanksgiving break–
One–they usually are thinking that whatever’s going on, IT’S ALL ABOUT THEM.
Two–Their attention can get so focused on barriers, losses, bad things to the point where they no longer see their freedom, their good fortune, or the good things that might be happening.
Neither one is true or accurate perception.
The universe doesn’t really have a center called YOU. It’s a big unfolding play and we all have bit parts. All we can do is play our part the best we can. But it is certainly not all about you, that is for sure.
It’s healthy to take your attention off the barriers, the stops and the losses–and look around–even if you’ve been getting hammered lately. Notice your freedoms, notice the things you are thankful for that didn’t have to be and notice the good things in your life and think about the good things that might be yet to come into your life. Quickly one sees it actually isn’t as bad as maybe they were thinking.
I guess it’s just a bit of laziness.
It’s a lot easier to see what’s going on with you than what’s going on with other people and how the world looks from their point of view.
It’s a lot easier to see what’s bad for you right now than what you should be thankful for and what good might be just around the corner.
So these are things we should talk about over a beer or a soda with friend to help each other out with these two things.
Now here’s a documented fact: People are healthier, happier and live longer in the company of friends.
Categories: Motivational · Rants
Tagged: depression, Thanksgiving
Austin comes in 8th in the list of the best job markets in the nation:
Austin, the third Texas metro to crack the top 10, is definitely on the rise. It has been consistently strong as of late, adding 69,000 jobs since 2004, the equivalent of 1,900 per month. And its unemployment rate has slimmed nicely from 4.6 percent in mid-2006 to 3.8 percent now.
Quick stats
Private-sector jobs as of mid-2007: 592,100
Unemployment rate as of mid-2007: 3.8%
Private-sector trend since mid-2002: Added 74,300 jobs
Five-year growth rate: 14.3%
Private-sector trend since mid-2006: Added 20,900 jobs
One-year growth rate: 3.7%”
Categories: Business Growth · Market Update · Nationwide Update · Resources
Tagged: austin, best job markets, texas
The number of active listings are up 25.61% this week over the same week in 2006.
New listings are up this week, while pending and sold homes are down compared to sales for the same week in 2006.Please review the numbers and browse our site for additional information on the current market.
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The Week in Review
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| October 28 - November 3 , 2007(compared to the same week in 2006)
New listings up 24.90%
Pendings are down 14.72%
Solds down 4.86%
As for Average Prices: (compared to the same week in 2006) The “New Listings” average list price decreased 2.16% to $285,033. In 2006 the new listing average list price was 291,340. Sold average sales prices increased 5.96% to $251,793. In 2006 it was $237,629 for the same week. We had 9,033 active listings during the same week in 2006? Today there are 11,346 active listings! That is a 25.61% increase from 2006.
| The Month in Review |
October 2007
Units for Sale: (compared to the same month in 2006)
New listings are up by 13.92%.
Pendings are up 3.37%.
Solds decreased by 17.26%.
As for Average Prices:The “New Listings” average list price is up 14.47% to 306,739.Sold average sales prices increased 6.24% to $239,726 compared to $225,654 in 2006. |
MLS Stats are courtesy of Alamo Title |
While the weekly numbers only give us a narrow view of the market, our analysis is that while the overall numbers of sold homes is down from last year. The average sales price is still rising. However there are more homes for sale and that will have an impact on the pricing for areas where there are a lot of homes for sale. Sellers are still to price their homes so that they are 10-20% below the competition if they want a quick sale. Buyers can have more leverage in areas where there a lot of homes for sale.
Categories: Austin Housing · Austin Housing Market · Austin Real Estate · Buying Real Estate · Housing Market · Investing in Austin Real Estate · Real Estate · Selling · homes for sale in Austin texas
Tagged: listings,
While not without its challenges, the Austin housing market is “probably the brightest spot in the national housing market,” according to a new-home market research and consulting firm. When Residential Strategies, Inc. (RSI) reviewed the numbers for Austin going into the fourth quarter, the one statistic that stood out was the 2-month supply of finished vacant housing on the market at the current slowing sales pace. “This is terrific news,” said RSI, whose Austin partner is Mark Sprague. (more…)
Categories: Austin Housing · Austin Housing Market · Austin Real Estate · Business Growth · Buying Real Estate · Housing Market · Investing in Austin Real Estate · Nationwide Update · Real Estate
Tagged: builders, mortgage, mortgage qualification, qualify for a house
