I have to admit that the fall came on a bit quicker than usual this year.  In fact, we sometimes seem to skip fall altogether in this area.  I have lived in Texas my entire life (born and raised in Dallas, lived in Austin for 20+ years now), and I've seen years that transition from late summer to winter with nothing in between. 

For those of you who prefer using the word "autumn" instead of "fall", I applaud this, because it shows a romantic/poetic side.  In fact, maybe I should start trying to implement this into my everyday speech.  I bet I could get some of my friends to start saying it if I make a concerted effort.

Although it's late October, I am still surprised to see nighttime temperatures in the 40's.  Yes, the FORTIES!  This is Texas! 

I was on Twitter for an hour or so last night, and I saw something that I have never in my life seen before: one of my friends was complaining about Austin being too cold!

I have worked with clients from all over the country, and we've lost potential home buyers to other, cooler parts of the world in the past, but I haven't heard anyone discussing the fact that this area was too cold for them before now.  It made me wonder where she was from, but I didn't get a response to this question.  Perhaps the Mojave Desert? 

My wife made a funny comment about our cool weather last night, "Clearly, global warming is making things colder."  (Please refrain from commenting on the hidden politics of this off-the-cuff humorous statement.  I don't like debating my friends.)

I once wrote a post about the perceived negatives of purchasing in Austin, Texas:

"High Property Taxes, Heat, and Tornadoes, TOO? Why would I want to move to Austin, Texas?"

It was a hot summer, but I like when we get a real fall/autumn - every day seems like a day that I would like to play golf.  Even though I rarely play, it just sounds appealing when it's 72 and breezy. 

Jeremy Blanton, C Tann Starr, and I are serving as judges for a very cool new contest.  Jeremy's post about it is below, in case you missed it:

I don't consider myself to be a social marketing guru (yet), but I do spend a little time each week on all of the top social media sites that I know about.  Sometimes, it's just a few minutes per week.  Obviously, I spend the majority of my online time right here on ActiveRain, but I have become more active on Twitter lately - both are highly addictive, in my humble opinion.  Facebook also seems to have some interesting potential as a business tool, if used properly.

I just wanted to take a minute to share some of my experiences with the other two sites.  Clearly, I have written a good number of posts about sales and referrals that have come from ActiveRain already.  My primary advice on AR is to be yourself and write about stuff that actually interests you, rather than simply focusing on real estate all the time.

FACEBOOK

When I was first invited to Facebook by Jennifer Bukaty last fall, I knew a very small handful of people on there at the time.  I would get random email messages like this:

• You have been SUPER-POKED by Rob
• Mary hurled a ghost at you!
• Tom set you up on a date with Monica Lewinsky
• Sue wants to dirty dance with you in front of your kids!

What the heck is all of this stuff, anyway?  Clearly, this site must be worthless for business, right?  Actually, that's not true.  At this point, if you are not a member of Facebook, the jokes above make zero sense to you, more than likely.  If you ARE a member, you are probably still laughing (at least I hope you are). At any rate, I kind of avoided the site for awhile, then decided to re-evaluate it later, and I'm glad that I did.

Despite all of the silliness and random applications, and Scrabble games, and videos, Facebook has also brought me a handful of leads.  As a bonus, my AR blog has developed a strong following among my Facebook friends (over 1700 now), and sometimes they comment directly on Facebook.  But how?  Well, I learned how to "feed" my AR blog posts to Facebook awhile back, and this gets me additional exposure in a group of non-AR members.

I have had a handful of decent leads from Facebook so far, all of which came (so far) from people which I did not previously know, but who have seen some of my posts and know that I am a real estate broker in Austin.  I am still pleasantly surprised when I realize that one of my "real life" friends found my blog via Facebook.

TWITTER

Using the ActiveRain feature to automatically send links to your public posts straight to Twitter is very cool indeed, but I would recommend also actually hanging out there sometimes, rather than just sending the occasional link.  When you develop relationships, it will begin to pay off and they will read your stuff IF they get to know you.  Otherwise, it seems a bit random in the middle of all of the conversations going on and no one will pay attention.  I was guilty of this before, but I have changed my ways now. 

As with Facebook, I have developed a healthy readership on Twitter, with about 425 "followers" there.  I got a lead today from a guy that I only knew tangentially - awesome!  So far, I have received about five leads from my relationships there, as well as solidifying some friendships and contacts that I already knew from ActiveRain.  In case you didn't realize this, there is a large contingent of AR members on Twitter, which makes it even more fun.

For specific instuctions on how to achieve this, please check out my post here:

How to Feed Your ActiveRain Blog Directly to Facebook and Twitter - Get More Exposure for the Same Effort!  

If you have questions, I would be happy to help, time permitting.  Thanks for reading!

Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jasoncrouch

A good friend of mine in California emailed this story to me today.  In yet another vote of confidence for the Austin, Texas real estate market, HousingPredictor.com has ranked Austin #6 on its list of Top 25 Appreciating Markets!

I hadn't actually heard of this site before, but here's the description I found there for their service/research: 

"We examine more than 20 micro market characteristics in each market place, including income levels, employment trends and changes, school enrollment, business trends, regional political influences, real estate sales history and current housing market velocity. The factors are all considered to come up with each local market forecast."

They are predicting that Austin will experience 4.0% appreciation in 2008.  This may prove to be an optimistic estimate, but we did get about 2.0% or so when many other markets around the country were dropping precipitously. 

I was speaking with someone today at lunch about the fact that sales activity was down overall, yet prices went up.  I guess the averages can be a little deceptive sometimes.  Either way, I feel that Austin is poised for great things in the upcoming years.  Here's a recent post that I wrote on this topic:

"How IS the Austin Real Estate Market these days?"

Interestingly, they noted in the article that no one area of the country contained the lion's share of good potential markets.  Rather, they are just sort of spread out across the U.S.  If you are interested in seeing the entire list of the top cities, visit http://www.housingpredictor.com/top2008.html. 

I would love the opportunity to speak with you if you are sincerely considering a move to or from Austin.  Please feel free to give me a call anytime on my cell phone at 512-796-7653 or email me - Jason@austintexashomes.com.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!  You can also search the entire database of available Austin homes at our website, www.austintexashomes.com.   

A couple of weeks ago, I added Feedburner to the sidebar of my ActiveRain blog.  If you aren't familiar with this service, it allows you to syndicate your blog via email without the requirement of a specific feed reader.  In other words (simpler words), someone can sign up and receive all of your new "public" posts by email.  My wife and mom were my first guinea pigs, and I signed up myself just to see the format, which I really like, since it seems to keep both the formatting and images intact.

I have been watching the stats page at Feedburner, wondering if they were working properly.  Later, Darren Rowse (Problogger) mentioned on Twitter that he heard they were stuck, which I think may be true, since I know that I am not showing up as a subscriber there, nor is my wife.  Wow - the first two sentences of this paragraph managed to make me feel both smart and connected and pretty geeky.  But I digress...

The cool part about Feedburner is that I do have 2 subscribers whose names I don't recognize.  They aren't members of ActiveRain, and they aren't in my immediate group of friends or family.  Instead, these are actual CONSUMERS who chose to subscribe to my blog.  As such, I am very pleased to see them on the list.  I only have their email addresses at this point, but I know that their names are Brenda and David, and I love them both.  Sorry - couldn't help myself. 

I have been blessed with a large following here on ActiveRain, with 938 subscribers as of this writing, but David and Brenda (and hopefully many others which will follow) hold a special place in my heart.

Recently, I began to get an inkling of just how much "reach" my blog actually has, when my wife saw a friend who it turns out regularly reads my blog, then later met a random lady who also claimed to be a reader of mine.  Of course, they never comment on anything to my knowledge, so I had no way of knowing this.  It made me feel great.

A few days ago, a neighbor of mine who is an agent emailed me to ask some questions about joining AR, and she mentioned "It is funny that you live just a few doors down the street and I find out more about you from your blog than anywhere."  Again, I had no idea that she even knew I had a blog, much less that she was regularly reading my posts.

I would definitely recommend setting up Feedburner if you haven't already done so.  I only wish that I had done it sooner. 

If you are curious about how to add the Feedburner subscription form to your blog, you can visit Justin Smith's post on this topic here:

How to SuperCharge Your Activerain Blog With Feedburner (Part 2)

Have a great week! 

I had to run some errands earlier this evening and I went by to see a friend of mine briefly.  He lives in a neighborhood that inspired this post, truth be known.  When you are looking to buy a home, there are a few items which may not come to mind immediately, so I thought a short list of reminders might be helpful:

STREET LIGHTS

Does the area where you are purchasing have streetlights at all?  How many?  Are there any near the home you are specifically considering?  My friend's house is in a neighborhood with ZERO streetlights, which makes evening walks an impossibility unless you are a daredevil.

SIDEWALKS

Again, this particular neighborhood had no sidewalks at all.  This is not bad if the area is really rural and has little traffic, but if you have small children, it does make it less safe regardless.  Many of the small acreage areas in Texas (maybe 1/2 acre to 2 acres or so) don't have sidewalks.

NEIGHBORS

Needless to say, if there are a lot of burglar bars on the windows nearby, that is a red flag.  Additionally, if you see appliances in the front yard, I would probably avoid that area if possible.  Ditto any cars up on blocks.  If you want to get a good feel for the neighbors, show up on a weekend or (even better) an evening after work time to see what's going on.  In most cases, you will be able to tell very quickly if the neighbors are your type of people.

YARD CARE

Ideally, any listing that you are visiting will have a yard that is in decent shape.  The notable exception would be for a short sale or foreclosure property, when the seller has sort of given up on things.  Barring that, however, the yard probably looks okay.  However, pass close attention to the surrounding yards.  Does it look like the neighbors are preparing to harvest straw in the summer?  Are the flowerbeds and lawns filled with weeds?  Often, this is indicative of a neighborhood that has transitioned to primarily tenants rather than owner-occupants.  I have found that this can swiftly drag your property value down if the next area is lax, namely:

DEED RESTRICTIONS

I live in an area with relatively strong but not unreasonable restrictions.  Deed restrictions are ultimately designed to protect the value of your property, even if some of the rules and regulations seem a bit arbitrary.  Having sold homes in both restricted and unrestricted areas, I can now spot each one very quickly when driving through any part of town.  We have clients who sometimes request a neighborhood without restrictions until they see the results of that method. 

Usually, a good homeowners' association (please note that I said "good") will have a management company responsible for keeping the rules and noting violations.  The only time that no restrictions are a good decision (in my humble opinion) are when purchasing a large piece of land or a property with commercial potential. 

I would love the opportunity to speak with you if you are sincerely considering a move to or from Austin.  Please feel free to give me a call anytime on my cell phone at 512-796-7653 or email me - Jason@austintexashomes.com.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!  You can also search the entire database of available Austin homes at our website, www.austintexashomes.com.  

Not that it matters, but this post has pretty much nothing to do with real estate.  It's just something that bugs me, and I thought it warranted mentioning.

Today, I was out with my family for awhile - we had lunch at a new Mexican restaurant, then went to Fry's Electronics to return a couple of items and buy better versions.  "You get what you pay for" appears to still be alive and well with regard to electronics.  Note to self: a $20 webcam may seem like a stellar and wise purchase, UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY USE IT.

At any rate, when we were approaching Fry's, we stopped at a light and I looked over to see a guy holding what appeared to be a large cardboard poster of an oil can.  It had some stuff written on it for the oil change/lube place behind him and he was shaking it around and gesticulaing wildly, as if to say, "You are crazy not to use Jiffy Lube!".  Okay, so I am exaggerating.  He looked bored to tears and he had headphones on.  If he had a free hand, I'm pretty sure he would have been picking his nose with it.

This led me to make the best improvisational joke I have made in weeks:

"Pam, look at that guy over there.  When did the sandwich board concept make a comeback?  Maybe we are entering the Great Depression again after all.  (using my "old timey" voice) - 'Hey mac, check me out, with my handlebar mustache.  You can buy mustache wax and a cherry phosphate right here for a nickel!'"

But seriously, why is this concept popular now?

I see home builders hiring folks that appear to have come straight from homeless shelters in order to advertise new communities.  While I find the concept of hiring the homeless to be very admirable, couldn't they find something for them that would be a bit less:

• degrading?
• hot?
• pathetic-looking?

Although I will always notice the guy wearing the gorilla suit doing aerobics outside of the discount clothing store, or the person who is wearing any type of mascot uniform (such as a large lightbulb, or a sack of groceries, or a Rubik's cube), it doesn't compel me to do business there.  Well, unless I happen to need a spare Rubik's cube.

There are probably ways to effectively drive traffic to your business or model home with this technique, and they might not even require nudity.  I have a few suggestions:

• Pay enough to get someone who smiles or at least doesn't look tired/bored/psychotic
• Give them something compelling to hold as a sign - "FREE ICE CREAM" or "FREE EKG" or something similar.  I sometimes see one of the car-wash workers near my office just standing there in his uniform and waving in a disinterested and vaguely angry fashion.  "WOW! That guy looks irritated.  I better get my car detailed here so that he won't kill anyone today."
• Give them water and an umbrella, or station them in the shade.  I once bought a sunhat and took it to a guy working for a sandwich shop in 100+ degree heat.  I have never experienced such gratitude.

If all else fails, and you are tied to this method, use a rainbow afro wig.  I bet it would work, and it evokes some great nostalgic memories of 1970's football games.

Rich Jacobson strongly recommended that I take my wife to see "Fireproof" a week or two ago.  I think his actual words might have been, "I will slap you around when I see you in Houston later this month if you don't go."  Fair enough - he thought it was worth seeing, so I took Pam to see it about a week ago.

This film is about firefighters on the surface and in a couple of previews that I saw, but it is essentially a movie about faith, marriage, and relationships.  Kirk Cameron stars as Caleb Holt, a firefighter with a bit too much pride for his own good.  His marriage is dying on the vine, for a number of reasons.  Neither he nor his wife is the sole party to blame in this case. 

Caleb's father approaches him with a proposition that he feels may save his son's marriage.  He asks if Caleb has any desire to save things, then sends him a handwritten book called "The Love Dare" which has specific daily challenges designed to help get things back on track.  The book turns out to be tied to his father's somewhat newfound Christian faith, which dampens Caleb's enthusiasm considerably, but he perseveres.  Frankly, I found myself wishing that his dad was MY dad, since he seemed incredibly gentle and loving. 

Much of the remainder of the movie details his journey and his attempt to walk through the book his father gave him.  No need to give away everything here, right?

There is some great comic relief provided by the guys who work in the fire station with Caleb.  All of the actors were virtual unknowns, but they had some chemistry that struck me as realistic.

I will readily admit that I spent the final 70 or so minutes of the movie either openly weeping or on the verge of tears.  There are a good number of very emotional scenes, and I guess I identified pretty strongly with the couple, since they are both about my age.  I have also known many couples who ended up in the same boat, but they didn't take the necessary steps to fix things before it was too late. 

Kirk Cameron was terrific and (in my opinion) believable in his role.  For those of you who don't know this, Cameron has been a very bold Christian since converting many years ago.  Make no mistake - this movie has a dual purpose.  In addition to providing some concrete steps to help with your marriage, it presents the Christian gospel in no uncertain terms.  As Christian-themed movies go, it was one of the best that I have encountered, but I read reviews of people walking out because they didn't realize what they were going to see and hear. 

The film was made by the same guys who made "Facing the Giants" in 2006, although I found "Fireproof" to be somewhat less heavy-handed in its message without diluting anything essential.

On a side note, it turns out that there is an actual "Love Dare" book that you can buy for just $8.79 at www.thelovedarebook.com (the real one isn't handwritten, obviously).  Although I feel like my own marriage is quite strong, I think I'll buy a copy just to see if I can make it even stronger. 

Overall, I would highly recommend this movie, whether your marriage is hanging by a thread or going strong.  If you have a spouse or significant other, it is imperative that you see it together.

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I lost one of my close friends, David Wilder, to throat and neck cancer at age 49 back in late March.  I can't believe it's already been over six months since he died.  As with most grief, it takes on a different feel after the passage of some time. 

In the interim, I have had some weeks when I could think of David and not feel the pain as sharply, but I don't think I have had many days pass without thinking of him at all. 

Yesterday, I made the mistake of thinking a little too long about the video they showed at his life celebration, and I had to stop and cry for a bit.  I realize that "mistake" may not be the right word, but you get the jist of what I'm saying, I hope.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I felt strongly led to participate in starting a new church in nearby Georgetown after David passed away.  I had prayed extensively about this, and I felt that God was telling me that this was the way to impact more lives for Jesus, which is what David excelled at during his life.  I never saw anyone who could present the gospel as persuasively and lovingly as he did.  He usually had a gleam in his eye when talking to someone who wanted to argue, as if to say, "You may not get it yet, but you will."

I am one of the people helping to determine the best place for our church to meet come next spring, when we are likely to outgrow our current smaller facility.  I did a presentation on Sunday for everyone detailing the places that the pastor and I had visited, and our "top three" options, all of which are middle schools.  When I was speaking, I felt like David was there with me.  Maybe he was.

Recently, I was speaking to a friend of mine who said something that stuck with me when we were discussing both faith and church:

"My family and I haven't been attending anywhere, but Jason, I feel like if I hang around you, I will end up back at church." 

This is a big compliment for me, since in my personal life I often feel like Paul from 1 Timothy 1:15:

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst."

When my friend and I were parting ways, I said something that I heard David say hundreds of times to me - "God bless ya, man!"

I realize that it may seem like a short and simple phrase, but it was something I picked up from David.  Hearing his words and inflection coming from my own mouth (and yes, maybe even a tinge of his northern accent) made me realize what a lasting impact he had on me. 

I walked to my car and started it, ready to leave.  As I was about to put the car in gear, it hit me.  The song on the radio was one of David's favorites, "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey.  I don't believe in coincidences (which my friend used to call "God incidences").  It felt a little like God was patting me on the back right then, and the feeling of His presence was palpable.

As I said back when David left us, I hope to be someone who picks up the torch that he was carrying, choosing to live each day looking for opportunities to spread the love of Jesus.  ActiveRain has given me a rather large platform to reach others, and I don't want to squander my opportunity.

If you are interested in reading some of my thoughts as I walked through Dave's illness and death, here are some of the posts I wrote back then:

My Friend David

This is the hardest post that I have ever written - An Update on my friend David

David Wilder (1958-2008) - See You Again Someday, My Friend

Life Celebration for my Friend David

According to an article released on Forbes.com yesterday, Austin, Texas was named #1 on its list of cities around the U.S. with "Best Bang for the Buck".  Not surprisingly, Texas managed to capture three of the top four spots, with San Antonio and Houston placing third and fourth, respectively.  Dallas was 7th on the list.

The picture to the right shows one of the least affordable areas of town, frankly, but it's a cool shot, and it gives some idea of the natural beauty that we have here.

So what did they use to determine this list?

• Job Growth Projections
• Inflation Rank
• Median Income/Cost of Living Index Rank
• Gas Prices Rank

• Median House Price/Median Household Income Rank

Austin placed first for job growth, and was in the top ten for every category except for inflation.

Here's one great quote from the article:

"Texas, as a whole, is one of the few economies that's performing extremely well because of the energy and technology sectors," says Andrew Gledhill, an economist at Moody's Economy.com.

This is in line with everything that we have told our clients for years.  If Austin is an option or a consideration, there is ample data to back up the soundness of purchasing in this area.  We experienced some appreciation over the past year, despite the fact that many markets around the country have dropped precipitously. 

If you are looking to relocate to a town that allow your dollar to stretch a bit further, maybe you should look at Austin as a great potential option.

I would love the opportunity to speak with you if you are sincerely considering a move to or from Austin.  Please feel free to give me a call anytime on my cell phone at 512-796-7653 or email me - Jason@austintexashomes.com.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!  You can also search the entire database of available Austin homes at our website, www.austintexashomes.com.