Cool Austin Texas Real Estate Blog

One of my agents listed a current model home for sale in the Ranch at Brushy Creek subdivision, which is located just north of Avery Ranch off Parmer Lane. 

As you can probably tell from the photos, this is a gorgeous and highly upgraded home:

Features:

• 4 Bedrooms, 2.5 Bathrooms
• MODEL HOME!
• Upstairs gameroom and media room
• Large oak trees in backyard
• Stainless appliances
• Beautiful tile throughout most of downstairs
• Granite countertops
• Study with built-in desk and bookshelves
• Too many upgrades to list!
• Convenient to Parmer, 620, and Toll Roads
• Leander ISD

If you have any questions about real estate in the Austin/Cedar Park area, please give me a call anytime at 512-796-7653 or email jason@austintexashomes.com.  If you are looking to relocate here, you might be interested in checking out my online relocation package:

Austin Texas Relocation Package

You can search for Austin homes at http://www.austintexashomes.com/.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!  

The other day, I was talking to my seven-year old daughter while we were cleaning up the house.  Of course, we must clean up (pick up) before the maids come each Friday, so this has become part of our weekly ritual now. 

She asked me where one of our todder's toys went, and I told her, "We keep them by the fireplace."  As an aside, we have had a fireplace in each of our two homes dating back 13 years, yet I have NEVER had a fire.  I don't like the process of creating a fire, or cleaning it up, or the danger posed with children.  I would probably consider a gas log at some point, but that is not the point of this post.

When I said the word "fireplace", it struck me as funny.  Fire place.  The place where fire goes.  Then, I started thinking about other home-related words, and how basic some of them are.

The bedroom is the room where the bed is.  The living room is where you spent much of your living time.  The gameroom, breakfast room and dining room are all aptly named.

Perhaps someone could answer these questions for me:

• Why is the kitchen not called the "food room" or the "eating room", or "the room where everyone congregates when we have guests over"? 
• How did the garage, which serves such a non-glamerous function, get such a cool French-sounding name? 
• The same question goes for the patio (actually a Spanish word), or the "sitting place", as I like to think of it now.  Actually, in our case, I may just start calling it the "toy graveyard".

"Ceiling fan" seems too utilitarian sounding to my ears - I would like to suggest "sky cooler" as an alternative.

I understand the terms "formal living" and "formal dining", but I would like to re-name them thusly:

• "Catch-all room that no one ever sits in"
• "Room used twice annually"

Maybe that's too many syllables?  Doesn't formal sort of imply that you should be wearing a tuxedo or a formal dress to sit there?  I don't even own a formal dress.

"Media room" is also a little boring.  How about "room for massive HDTV and surround sound system" or just "guy room"? 

Roof?  How about "house hat"?  Sorry, Mr. Johnson, but your house hat has severe hail damage. 

Foundation?  I like "underhome" better.  Did you have to get your underhome repaired?

Attic?  I will now refer to this area as the "up top". 

Well, I am getting hungry now.  I am going to get a snack from the food box in our eating room. 

Welcome to my mind.

Thanks for reading!

Houston, Dallas, and Austin were named by Forbes.com as the top three cities on their "Best Cities for Recent College Graduates" list, which was published online this morning.

As a lifelong Texas resident (born and raised in Dallas, lived in Austin area since 1988), I know from experience that this is a terrific place to live and work.  Some might say that I have no basis for comparison, which is true, because I have never wanted to live elsewhere. 

Austin was #3 on the list, with an average starting salary for college grads of $38,700.  Houston and Dallas were slightly higher.

From the cities listed, Austin had the highest percentage of people in their 20's, at a whopping 26%.  This confirms the perception of Austin as a youthful town. 

The article cites that Austin has recently enjoyed a boom in tech companies like 3M, Advanced Micro Devices and Intel.  Additionally, Dell Computer is headquarted in nearby Round Rock, which is about 20 minutes north of Austin.  

It also mentions that the city's labor force tends to weather recessions well, since other major employers are the Texas state government and the University of Texas.

To read the entire story and see which other cities rounded out the top ten, here's the link:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/26/cities-grads-best-forbeslife-cx_ae_0626realestate.html

If you have any questions about real estate in the Austin area, please give me a call anytime at 512-796-7653 or email jason@austintexashomes.com.  If you are looking to relocate here, you might be interested in checking out my online relocation package:

Austin Texas Relocation Package

You can search for Austin homes at http://www.austintexashomes.com/.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!  

We have been in the same location with a stellar deal on rent for almost four years, but the landlord wanted to increase our payment by about 80% starting August 1st after our lease is up, so we went looking.

I am happy to announce that we will be moving our office to the Spicewood/Mopac area, which is much more central and easier to accesss.  The fact that our current office is about 30 minutes from my house, and our new office is only about 15 minutes certainly makes it more palatable. 

Additionally, the new landlord is throwing in SIX MONTHS of FREE RENT, so this $20,000 incentive went a long way.  The new digs have new paint and carpet, as well as slighly more square footage than our present office.  Since the owners have 12 office buildings in the same complex, that will also make it far easier to upgrade within the same area if we outgrow this spot.  They will give us the same rate for the space we have, then we negotiate based on the difference in size.

We will likely be moving everything ourselves, since my business partners used to be in the children's furniture business and they have the necessary equipment and trailer.  I am thankful that we were able to purchase all of our desks and cubicles for ONE DOLLAR from the master tenant as part of our sublease negotiations in 2004.

We should be in the new space during the latter half of July (they are giving us two weeks ahead of the official start date to get settled in). 

Overall, I am looking forward to having a much shorter commute and a location that will make it even easier to recruit agents. 

I will post all of the specifics when we make the move, as well as changing the address on my profile.  I just wanted to share our good news!

I have been selling homes full-time in Austin, Texas for over 11 years, and I had an experience this week that is a first for me.  I thought I should share it here in an effort to inform others who might have this happen soon.

Before I get to the jist of this post, let me explain that I have had deals that didn't work out for a myriad of different reasons during my career, including:

•  
  • Too many repair items (i.e. bad inspection)
  • Buyer lost job
  • Buyer got cold feet
  • Buyer got sued
  • Buyer got caught money laundering
  • Seller died two days before the closing
  • Buyer had money stolen from his entertainment manager who fled the country

As you can see, I have had my share of losses, so the idea of losing a sale is not completely novel to me anymore.

However, I have NEVER lost out on a potential sale because of an appraisal issue.  Unfortunately, I may be able to add this to my list very soon.

I have a home under contract with some past clients who wanted to upgrade to a newer, larger home over the summer.  We looked at quite a few places, because they are relatively picky, and we landed on a terrific home on 1.3 acres with over 3800 square feet.  It was built a few years ago by a very reputable builder and it had plenty of upgrades.  The contract sales price was $377,000. 

The initial third-party appraisal came in at $380,000, and everything was moving along nicely with regard to the financing.  Everything was submitted to the underwriter, and we thought we would be closing in a couple of days from that point.

Not so fast, Jason.

Apparently, since the home is located in a "lower density" suburban area, it automatically triggered a desk review of the appraisal, which came in at $325,000. 

This is $55,000 UNDER the original appraisal. 

After looking at the review, it was obvious that the second appraiser used only ONE comparable sale to establish the value of this home.  Additionally, the home that they were using was 715 square feet smaller than the home I am selling. 

They adjusted the square footage difference at $25/s.f., even though every home in the area has sold for $97 - 115/s.f. over the past two years.  This home was thrown out of the original appraisal because it is not similar enough.

How does this make any sense?

The neighborhood is filled with custom homes on small acreage lots, and the comp that the review appraiser chose as "most similar" (his words) sold for just over $100/s.f. with an almost identical finish-out.  However, this home is worth a mere $85/s.f.?

A second desk review was performed, which also came in at the low price.  Everything was submitted to a second investor (bank), and we are waiting on THEIR (third overall) desk review now. 

It peeves me that I have a buyer that is imminently qualified to purchase this home, with 20% down, and we did our due diligence to establish the value.  The home was originally listed at about $390,000 and we felt that was fair based on what is available these days.  Now, we are at the mercy of someone who has likely never even visited the subdivision.

So, the upshot is that I am on the verge of losing a sale with a ready, willing, and able buyer, motivated seller, nice listing agent, solid financing, and six weeks of work all because of a (likely non-local) appraiser's opinion. 

If this home were listed at the review appraisal price, it would likely receive 20+ offers in a matter of days.  The "fire sale" price that they have come up with is simply not an indication of the value.  We are stymied because there are not enough recent sales in that particular neighborhood.  

Our mortgage guy told me that he has only had one review appraisal in the past three years, and THIS MONTH alone he has had 4 or 5 get flagged.

It appears as though we now must be more careful than ever about where we show properties, because of the lack of confidence that banks have adopted.  Even though this community has sales in excess of $550,000, the banks are so skittish about collateral that they will not lend money on this property even when the loan amount is $25,000 less than their review appraisal indicated.

Sorry for the long post - I could go on, but you get the picture.  I will hear the final verdict shortly, and I can find out whether I have lost my very first transaction over an appraisal.  Not like I need the money or anything, right?

Thanks for your time.  I welcome your input below.

I have written a number of times about our two-year old daughter Abby, who is ridiculously cute now.  To make matters cuter, she pronounces the letter "f" as an "s" sound, so we get to hear this type of banter each day:

"Mama, kitty cat too sussy cute."  In the preceding sentence, "sussy" is "fluffy". 

"Dada, I was you."  I have actually shared this phrase here on my blog before - it's Abby's way of saying "I love you."

"Dada, make a sunny sace."   You can probably decode this one by now.

She likes to see "sours" (flowers), "goggies" (doggies), and "sroggies" (froggies). 

Anytime we are near a cute animal of any kind, she asks, "Can I pet him?"  Sometimes, it is a rabbit, and they are simply too fast to pet effectively.

Recently, I have realized that Abby is the most independent child we have had, although some of this may stem from the fact that she is our youngest and my wife and I are too tired to properly conduct our parenting duties, so she is forced to fend for herself more.  I am (half) joking.

One very cool result is that Abby is the first of our three children to take an active interest in potty training.  When our older kids were smaller, people would say things like, "Well, they'll get the hang of it before they leave the house.  Hahahahaha!"  I wasn't so sure, and I didn't honestly appreciate the smug and overly confident laughter.  But I digress...

Abby has successfully completed both of the major potty functions IN THE ACTUAL POTTY now, so we are well on our way to a new joyous day in the Crouch household.

The other day, my wife made the remark that Abby enjoys helping with housework.  WHAT?!?  This was such a foreign concept that it took me a minute to process this information.  My other kids become decorative pillows when the subject of chores is raised.  They sort of melt into the couch upholstery, zapped of all youthful energy.  I have sometimes thought it would be funny to say this in rapid-fire succession:

"Kids!  Ice cream time!  Chore time!  Ice cream time!  Chore time!" 

I could then watch them leap up, then slump over, then run, then fall to the ground in a fetal position and a glazed expression of fierce ennui.

Maybe tomorrow I will do just that.

Thanks for reading!

I am the broker and owner of Austin Texas Homes, LLC.  We currently have about 14 agents licensed with our company, and I have hired a few additional agents recently that are due to start this month and next month.  One of these new agents with our company is a member here at ActiveRain and she contacted me because of my profile and blog.

I also wrote a post awhile back which discussed the fact that I was looking for agents.  While it didn't generate anything directly, the process of writing it helped me to better clarify my thoughts for an ad that I placed on Yahoo HotJobs.  In the ad, which is relatively long and allows links, I referenced this post of mine, which was my first featured post on AR back in August 2007:

View from the broker's desk - what makes a good agent?

I also included this line in the ad:

Please note that "sense of humor" is on my list. Don't contact me if you are missing this gene, because I can virtually guarantee that we won't get along. :-)

Interestingly, almost everyone that has interviewed with me as an agent has mentioned this tidbit.

• One agent told me the "sense of humor" part was the exclusive reason that he came to meet with me. 
• One of the guys who came by mentioned that he had read through much of my blog.  This, of course, is encouraging to me.  If he liked what he saw there, we will likely get along very well.
• Another person mentioned that almost every ad that he saw was dry and boring, but mine stood out to him.

I learned how to make my writing interesting and compelling (and transparent) by blogging here on ActiveRain, so I am thankful for this experience. 

If you are interested in seeing the entire ad, here it is:

My Ad Looking for Agents

I hope this is helpful for those of you who are actively involved in recruiting.  Thanks!

I had a deal that I was working on recently which got a little heated near the closing, because the closing was delayed because of some mortgage matters.  Additionally, there were a handful of questionable repair items and we weren't sure if the seller was going to get them cleared up in time or not.  I was the buyer's agent for the transaction.

There was a bunch of junk still left near the back of the property a couple of days before we were supposed to close, and I asked the listing agent about it.  The response from the seller was terse:

"That stuff was there when I moved in and I never did anything with it because I didn't use it."

Before I forwarded this to my client, I responded to the listing agent and told her that I was pretty sure that the buyers would want this removed before closing.  She later let me know that he did remove everything, so I was able to tell my client that it was handled by the seller after all (what a surprise!). 

I gave the seller credit rather than acting like I did something special, because it made the buyer feel better about the seller in this case.

A few years ago, I sold a $3.5 million home to some clients.  The inspector uncovered about $6000 worth of repairs that the buyers wanted to have completed by the seller. 

I got a call one day from the seller (not my client).  He asked me if I would be willing to split the repairs with him.  If so, he would sign off on them and I could simply give him $3000 after closing.  I agreed to his request in the interest of preserving my soon-to-be $105,000 commission check.  He promptly signed and returned the repair request.

I never told my buyer clients about that conversation, because I know that it would have upset them unduly and perhaps put the deal in jeopardy.  Rather, I let the seller take credit for being a generous nice guy who was handling things for them. 

In our business, much of our success is determined by our ability to communicate well, and to present information to our clients in a way that will not upset them. 

I would never advocate lying to preserve a sale, but there are times that I allow others to take the credit, mainly because it can go a long way toward preserving goodwill. 

Thanks for reading!

Dear Rookie Who Might Happen to Stumble Across this Post,

I remember my first year in the real estate business vividly.  I had been co-owner of a small printing and marketing company, and most of our customers were Realtors.  After doing that for awhile, I began to realize that the people making big money as agents (at least that was my perception) weren't necessarily all that spectacular, and I had a revelation that real estate was not rocket science.  Why not just get licensed and sell houses?

"List to Last!", we were told.

"Buyers are liars."  That one started to seem more accurate at the time.

Read this book.  Check out this program.  Visit this seminar.  My head was spinning.

While I am certainly glad that I chose this path 11+ years later, I still look back on that first year and wonder how I made it through. 

I made about $13,000 that year, although it would have been more if I had a better and clearer understanding of human behavior as it pertains to real estate.  That being said, my partner and I lost far more clients than you could imagine, usually for reasons beyond our control.

One musician client was the tour drummer for a big-name act, and he was loyal and ready to purchase from us.  Unfortunately, his manager stole his money and left the country.

We worked with an older couple in west Austin who chose the luxury home that would work best for them, then they were forced to divert their attention and funds away in order to help their son in a custody battle with his ex-wife.

There was the lady who spent a ridiculous amount of our initial months looking for the perfect place, only to decide to stay put.

I could go on with more examples, but I won't.

The point is, starting in real estate is tough, no matter what your background is.  You are starting a business, and as such, there are a lot of variables involved.  However, if you can plug away and manage to stick around for more than 2 or 3 years, you will likely begin to make some good money. 

There is an intangible quality of stubbornness or persistence or hunger that you can almost feel with some new agents.  These are the ones who will make it.  I was that guy back in 1997 as a rookie.  I even wore a business suit to look a bit older!  However, my clients would often give me the business because they could tell that we were "hungry".

I am in the process of hiring for our company as we speak, and I am amazed at some of the resumes that I have seen and interviews that I have conducted lately.  I am a great mentor/coach/teacher, and thankfully over the years I have developed a keen sense of what it takes to make it in this business. 

I have built my business on my personal integrity, and I would advise you to do the same.

Our business is growing nicely, but it could definitely be better this year.  When the national economic scene makes a turn for the better, we will be poised to do very well. 

The same goes for you - if you can make it during these "lean times", you will come out the other side and wonder how it ever seemed so difficult.  You are up for the challenge.

If you ever have questions, feel free to call me.  I don't mind, and I am a nice guy.  Just ask anyone who knows me.  My cell phone number is 512-796-7653 and my email address is jason@austintexashomes.com.

Thanks for reading!

This month's contest for the Inspired by Song! group is "Get this Song Out of my Head!", which is a reference to "Earworms", or songs that play over and over again in your mind.  I have no idea why we decided to torture ourselves in judging this particular topic, but we are in for the long haul now.  Here's the announcement in case you missed it previously:

"Get This Song Out of My Head!" - June Inspired by Song! CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT  

Not surprisingly, many of my very worst offenders are songs from kid shows or video games.  I have seen a couple of tunes in early entries to this contest that I could have used, but there is one that I thought about today that I remember hearing so many times as a child that I know every note, every nuance from the original recording. 

Earworms aren't always bad songs, mind you, despite the harsh name. I actually like the songs that I have chosen, but they have a certain "stickability" for me.

If you come across this song during a sporting event, or a classic rock marathon on VH1, or just while listening to the radio in your car, you will likely have it stuck in your brain for a minimum of a few hours.  In my case, it is coupled with another song from the same band, which makes it extra "fun" to endure, usually at full volume.

STOMP, STOMP, CLAP!

STOMP, STOMP, CLAP!

STOMP, STOMP, CLAP!

STOMP, STOMP, CLAP!

Yes, in the late 1970's and early 80's, this song was ubiquitous.  Football games.  Basketball games.  Skating rinks.  You name it - "We Will Rock You" was inescapable.  Of course, you would also hear it along with "We Are the Champions", the slower ballad which accompanied the rock anthem. 

I will always remember hearing it during a Dallas Cowboys game that I attended as a kid, probably around 1980 or so.  I stomped and clapped until my legs and hands hurt.  I probably also blew out a vocal chord or two while singing and cheering for the team.

I could definitely write an entire post (and I may) about the aforementioned kid's theme songs and video game themes, but for now, enjoy this video of my favorite earworm tunes: