Austin Texas Real Estate Blog

I have been away for awhile.  Time to get back into the blogging groove, as it were.  I sincerely haven't had adequate time for posting lately. 

With the impending expiration of the tax credit, I have a couple of buyers who have been trying to find the right place.  Granted, they would have bought a home anyway, and if we hadn't found the right place, we would still be looking in May, but I'm happy to report that we did in fact find the right homes for them as of today.  :)

This may be my most extended absence from writing since I first started here in August 2007, but at least I have a good reason for it, right?  My marketing consulting business continues to thrive, so I have been working some pretty long hours lately.  I strongly prefer this to not having enough to keep me truly busy.

Everyone I meet lately seems to be asking the same question: what will happen on May 1st?  Will all of the home buyers turn into pumpkins?  Will the market dry up?

My most sincere answer: I don't know.  I've been in real estate for over 13 years, and we've never had a tax credit to deal with before now. 

Overall, I have been amazed at how active the market is lately, with homes selling fast and with multiple offers.  I would love to see this continue, but only time will tell.

I wasn't planning to make this a long post, so I won't.  Thanks for reading!

Next week, Jeremy Blanton and I will be offering three classes from our venture, 210 Consulting.  Two of them are "encore" presentations, and one is completely new.

On Monday, April 26th, at 10am Eastern time, we will offer a two-hour class entitled, "How to Chug Google Juice AND Get 15 Years of Fame".  This course will focus on:

• The importance of blogging
• Finding good local material
• Composing SEO-friendly blog posts
• Using images (and where to find them), and
  
• How to build a solid online following of loyal readers

Sign up at http://budurl.com/chug for this one.  The cost is $60.  For a $10 discount, use this code on or before Saturday: 210

On Tuesday, April 27th, at 2pm Eastern, we are teaching "Cashing in On Your Social Media Investment". In this 2 hour webinar we will cover how to build your social media strategy to increase your business.  Many people try social media networks but get sucked into the social end and forget the purpose they joined.

We will teach you how to listen to your consumers as well as add valuable content to connect with those around you. We will discuss how to maximize your efforts on:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Posterous
• Flickr
  
• YouTube and More!
  

In addition, we will share our tips & tools that we have used to build our own personal business.  This class will also be priced at $60.  You can sign up at http://budurl.com/cash210. For a $10 discount, use this code by Saturday: 210

If you're interested in taking BOTH of the above classes, you can do that for $90, which is a $30 savings.

Lastly, on Thursday, April 29th, at 1pm Eastern time, we will be teaching a one-hour class entitled "Fundamentals of Facebook". This is basically a beginners guide to using Facebook effectively to promote yourself and your business.

By the time you finish this 1 hour course, you will know:

• The difference between Facebook Pages & Profiles 
  
• The basic elements to running a successful page
• What to post
• Choosing the right title for your page
• How to get fans to your page and how to get them interacting on your page.
  

If you have been hesitant with using Facebook for your business or think it only about throwing sheep and mafia wars then this is the class for you.

As an experiment, we are offering this class for a phenomenal intro rate of ONLY $19!  Here's the link (sorry no discount code on this one - it's already cheap): http://budurl.com/facebook101

If you want to take all three of these courses, the cost is $109 for FIVE hours of solid social media training.  Our normal rate for coaching is $125/hour, so this is roughly an 83% discount.  :)  In order to take advantage of that offer, please contact Jeremy at jeremy@210consulting.com. 

If you are interested, but you can't make it to the live classes, go ahead and register and we will send you a recorded version that you can listen to at your leisure.

If you have any questions, feel free to call or email anytime.  Thanks!

Facebook logo photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/88526923@N00/2114874155/

I have a new listing that already appears to be generating interest from other agents.  Located in the heart of Pflugerville, it's convenient to both I-35 and Toll 45.

Features:

• Built in 2001
• 1967 square feet per tax records
  
• 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms
  
• Covered patio
  
• Located in the Heatherwilde subdivision
  
• Immaculately maintained!
  
• 4th bedroom could be nice study/office
  
• Large, open kitchen with lots of counter space
  
• Tons of natural light
  
• Brick fireplace/hearth
  
• 9 foot ceilings
  
• Breakfast bar
  
• Large boat pad at side of home (10' wide)
  
• Easy walk to community pool and playground!

If you're interested in seeing this home or any other in the Austin area, feel free to call me anytime at 512-796-7653 (cell).  If you would like to search the Austin MLS, visit my Austin real estate site at http://austintexashomes.com. 

I hope to hear from you soon!

Jason

I listed a home for some friends of mine last week, and I expect it to sell quickly, considering the features and price.  It's nestled in the back of a culdesac in Block House Creek, and it's conveniently located to both 183 and 183A (toll). 

Features:

• Cute, well-maintained home with 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms
• 1195 square feet
• Vaulted ceilings in living area
• Cute kitchen
• Refrigerator, washer and dryer, and lawnmowing equipment will stay!
• Carpet replaced 2008
• Roof replaced 2009
• Oversized culdesac lot
• Nice upgraded tile in kitchen/breakfast
• Floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace
• Large deck (part covered, part uncovered)
• Sprinkler system
• Storage shed/workshop (has A/C unit and lighting)
• Walk to nearby pool/playground

If you are interested in seeing this home, please give me a call anytime at 512-796-7653 (cell).  You can also search for Austin homes for sale at our primary website, www.austintexashomes.com.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Recently, during our family's 12-day road trip to Atlanta and back, we ended up with a supremely flat tire which left us stranded on a highway outside of Mobile, Alabama in a small town called Tillman's Corner.  It was nearly 10pm, and I had a van filled with our stuff, along with me, my wife, and our four kids (ranging in age from 11 years down to 11 months old).

It was windy and brisk outside, so the thought of unloading everyone in order to access the somewhat inconveniently placed spare tire didn't fill me with enthusiasm. 

I turned on my iPhone and figured Google could help me solve this dilemma.  Thankfully, I found Steve Laurendine of Tire Champ.

I explained my problem to Steve, who said that he needed to go pick up a tire from his shop, but he could probably meet us in "about 35 minutes".  Having encountered services like this in the past, I figured we would be lucky if he arrived within the hour.  He pulled up behind us 32 minutes later. 

Not only was he friendly and professional, no one even had to get out of the car, which was a godsend.  All in all, Steve finished the job in just under an hour, which including a full replacement of the tire.

At this point, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Sure, but he probably charged you an arm and a leg, right?".  Um..no.  In fact, I was very pleasantly surprised by his rates.  He charged me $100 for the service, along with $30 for the tire (plus tax, of course).  Needless to say, I was more than happy to pay this amount, especially under the circumstances. 

According to his business card, Steve provides a full array of services, including new tires, used tires, A/C service, alignments, brakes, shocks, and general tune-ups.  I wouldn't trust anyone but him with my business in that part of the world.  Mobile, Alabama is lucky to have him.

While I was talking with Steve, I promised him that I would blog about my good experience in order to help him garner more business if someone should happen to come across this post of mine.  I gave him my business card, and I told him a bit more about where we were headed the next day (which was New Orleans).

As if his roadside assistance wasn't enough, I was overwhelmed by his service when I received this email the next morning at our hotel:

As you can see, Steve takes service seriously.  How many tire guys have you ever known who would go out of their way to provide help in this manner?  If you are ever stranded in that area, the only Mobile Alabama Roadside Assistance worth contacting is Tire Champ.  Steve Laurendine is a man of integrity, and I hope he is wildly successful.  It's nice to come across one of the "good guys" every now and then.

Steve can be reached anytime at 251-518-9619.  I recommend him wholeheartedly.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/acameronhuff/4312241339/

We have a listing in the Avery Ranch area that shows exquisitely well. 

Priced at $264,900 (just reduced), the home at 14812 Staked Plains Loop has some terrific features, including:

• 3 bedrooms with large home office, 2 full bathrooms
• 2238 square feet
• Built in 2004
• 0.25 Acre Lot
  
• 3-car garage (workbench stays!)
  
• Fresh exterior trim paint.
  
• Large trees in front & back yards
• Formal dining
• Spacious utility room with upgraded cabinets
• Kitchen has Corian-type countertops
• Large open floorplan with tile throughout living areas
• Large covered patio with privacy fence and plenty of trees
• Master bath has jetted tub and separate shower
  
• Huge walk-in closet with built in shelves and drawers

If you have any questions, or if you would like to schedule an appointment to see this home or any others in the Austin MLS, please give me a call anytime at 512-796-7653 or email jason@austintexashomes.com. 

If you are looking to relocate to the Austin or Pflugerville area, you might be interested in checking out my online relocation package here:

Austin Texas Relocation Package

Our Austin TX real estate website is at http://www.austintexashomes.com/.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!

I was excited to have had the chance to attend RETechSouth just over a week ago in the Atlanta area.  For those of you who read my blog regularly, you already know that I took my family (me, my wife Pam, and our four kids) on a 12-day road trip in the process.

In the interest of making things a bit easier on myself, I will hereafter in this post refer to RETechSouth as "RETSO" (see image to right).  :-)

This was the third year for RETSO (my first year to attend) and they expanded the event to two days this time around.  It was held at the Gwinnett Center, which appears to be a newer facility.  Since I was staying with Ken Cook, who lives in Marietta, we had to get up at 5:30 in order to leave by 6:30 and make it to the event by 8am.  If you know anything about me, you may already know that I am not exactly a morning person, so this was a struggle, but I'm happy to report that I did it.

I was thrilled to get a chance to see some familiar faces, and to have the opportunity to meet some of my online friends in person for the first time.  I would list some of them here, but if I attempt to name everyone, I am certain to leave someone out and I don't want to offend anybody.

All of the sessions that I attended were well-done, and I learned quite a bit about Posterous from the Dakno guys, Brad and Bobby Carroll.  The talk about branding by Jeff Turner was a solid one, and I made sure to tell him afterwards that he lived up to the hype I had heard.  Andy Kaufman & Stacey Harmon even used my SXSW wrapup post as part of their presentation, "Jedi Tips for Conferences", which was flattering.  I learned quite a bit about Firefox plugins from Jason Berman, and about Facebook marketing from Amy Chorew. 

I had a LOT of people ask me if I was speaking, which I wasn't, mainly because I wasn't sure if I would be able to make the trip until somewhat late in the game.  Jeremy Blanton, my 210 Consulting business partner, did a terrific job talking about the "Basics of Blogging" to a crowd of around 30-35 agents.

There was a vendor section in the exhibit hall, but I will readily admit that I didn't spend much time talking to those guys.  One of them did have a creative idea however, offering free Segway rides for whoever was brave enough to try.  I wasn't.  I was also mildly concerned about scaring people, since I would probably be around 7'6" on one of those, since they make you wear a helmet. 

Most entertaining segment at RETSO?  Nicole Nicolay's "Tweet This Tune".  She played a series of songs, and whoever was the fastest to tweet the correct title won a prize.  I won a drink ticket and a t-shirt!  Nicole's mom is also a very cool lady, and a real estate broker in the Bay Area.

My sole criticism would be regarding the cost of food and drinks, and if I'm able to attend next year (hope I can), I would probably make it a point to brown-bag it or leave the premises for refreshments.  I was a little dismayed to pay $3.75 for a soda, and $13 for very mediocre food in the exhibit hall for lunch.  This probably had more to do with the venue than anything else, but it was pricey.

Overall, I have to give Brad Nix credit for putting on a great event, and I would highly recommend attending next year if you can.  The networking alone is worth the price of admission. 

I didn't actually hear how many people attended, but I think it was around 700 or so.  If you happen to know, feel free to put it in the comments below.   

Thanks for reading!  Hope to see you at RETSO 2011!

During my recent attendance at SXSW Interactive, I received an email from Sarah Solomon Bykrit, who works for Fleishman-Hillard out of Dallas.  She indicated that she was working on behalf of Chevy, who had identified me as "someone they want to meet while in Austin" based on my Twitter stream and following.

How cool is that?

Sarah invited me to the VIP area for a Cheap Trick/Bodeans concert at Auditorium Shores.  My wife and I got a sitter for the evening, and we were excited about seeing Cheap Trick play "live".  Believe me, we were not disappointed.  My wife said it was the best concert experience she ever had.  I would definitely rank it at or near the top of my own list. 

We got there a bit later than we had expected, so we missed most of the Bodeans' part, and the VIP seating on the left side of the stage was utterly packed, so we wandered back into the crowd.  We still had a great view of the show, and we managed to get on the stage seating for the last 10-15 minutes of the encore.

I was astounded at how good those guys sound, especially considering that they range in age from 58-63 years old.  Robin Zander's voice was vintage and well-preserved, and Rick Nielsen (guitarist) is just as crazy as he ever was.  Frankly, they seemed to have more energy than most bands half their age.  As with the Eagles concert we attended about 15 years ago, it sounded like we were listening to a CD through most of the night.

I had heard a rumor beforehand that they no longer played "The Flame" live, but this was not the case when we saw them.  In fact, it felt like they did an extended version!  They did pretty much every song that I knew in their repertoire, including "Surrender", "Dream Police", "I Want You to Want Me", "Tonight It's You", and the theme song from "That 70's Show". 

I'm not sure if my iPhone pictures really do the event justice, but I didn't have an actual camera on hand that night. 

The VIP area also had an open bar and free sodas, along with nicer restrooms, which makes sense, I suppose.  My wife mentioned that the only thing that could have made it any better was meeting the band, but you can't always get what you want, huh?  Wait...wasn't there another band that sang about that once?

Overall, it was an awesome and memorable night, and I'm thankful to Sarah and to Chevy for inviting me to attend and for making me feel important.  For a big company, they clearly understand the importance of forming relationships.

Well, our 11-day trip ended up getting a day longer before it ended, but we made it home safely yesterday in the late afternoon.  That was the longest trip my wife and I have ever taken together (we've been together for almost 19 years now) and taking the kids along added an extra dimension of fun and an extra layer of challenges.  I'm thankful to report that we also managed not to lose anything, and we are van-packing masters now.

The reason that our trip was extended was that we wanted to take the kids on a steamboat ride on the Mississippi River, and (despite the brochure and website info) they were only running this in the afternoons during this season, so we stayed in New Orleans and enjoyed the boat trip before heading to Baton Rouge that evening. 

The boat was a big hit with all four kids.  My two older kids took a lot of pictures with their cameras, and I've enjoyed watching them reminisce about the trip already.  My son particularly enjoyed sitting at the front of the boat with the wind in his hair, and our baby (who recently learned to walk) decided to attempt walking:

• on a slanted surface
• on something that is moving

I have little doubt that this improved her ambulatory skills in a dramatic way.

We took a ride up and down St. Charles Avenue, and we explained to the kids that this was the same one referenced in "Monopoly".  Some of the homes there are truly remarkable, and I like the fact that even the McDonald's, Borders, and Chase Bank are forced to comply with the strict historic building codes in that area.

We visited Beckham's Bookshop, which held a lot of promise, but didn't deliver in my humble opinion.  It looks like one of those old bookstores you see in movies, where couples meet and eventually marry, but it was sort of sad and rundown instead, and the books themselves seemed like something that might have been found at a yard sale, assuming the yard sale was held by people who didn't read very much.

We wanted to eat in New Orleans, but we didn't want to pay to park yet again, so we ended up finding a nice restaurant next to our hotel in Baton Rouge instead.  Although the food was excellent, the portions were pretty darn small.  I thought it was just me, but my wife also mentioned it, so I was not alone.  Ironically, the kids were served giant, oversized portions for their meals.  What?!?

We spent some time at the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge, which looks like an actual castle outside, and a cathedral on the inside.  It also contains a lot of information about the late Huey Long, who was assassinated.  After that, we headed out for Houston.  We had intended to stay with family, but my wife's dad just got released from the hospital that day, so we opted for one more night of hotel living before returning home.  My wife had an opportunity to meet some of her blogging friends for lunch, which was a treat.  They're a lovely couple, and they met via blogging, which I found to be incredibly cool.

Upon arriving home, I felt relieved and suddenly tired, although all of us were a little sad to see this trip come to an end.  We are already thinking about our next adventure.  If things work out, we might do this again in May, when we travel to Washington, DC.  I've never been there, but I am anxious to see it!

Here are the cities where we actually slept during our trip:

1. Shreveport, Louisiana
2. Jackson, Mississippi
3. Birmingham, Alabama (possibly where I will retire)
4. Marietta, Georgia (just outside Atlanta - thanks again to Ken and Myra Cook!)
5. Mobile, Alabama
6. New Orleans, Louisiana
7. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
8. Houston, Texas

I had never been to Mississippi, Alabama, or Georgia before, and some of the scenery, hills, and trees were breathtaking.  I think one of the things we all learned is that we are both tougher and more flexible than we might have realized.  I am thankful to have made some awesome memories with my family.