Texas Realty Blog

City of Austin Adopts Anti-chaining Ordinance

The City of Austin takes pet care and advocacy seriously. City leaders have unanimously passed an anti-chain/tether ordinance that goes into effect October 1st 2007.

At first glance, the ordinance may seem strange to "outsiders" or non-pet owners. Once you read the actual information on the city website, you understand that the purpose of the ordinance is to keep outdoor dogs from becoming vicious.

ANTI-CHAINING ORDINANCE DETAILS

• You cannot chain or tether little Fido to any object.
• If you have six or more dogs that are less than 6 months old, their enclosure must be 50 feet from an adjacent residence or business.
• If Fido lives outside, your yard enclosure must be a minimum of 150 sq. feet for each dog 6 months of age or older.
• You can temporary tether Fido under certain situations, which are provided on the city website.

Get advice on alternatives to chaining as well as full ordinance details at: City of Austin - Anti-chaining Ordinance for Dogs At-a-Glance.

Houston Investor Launches CashOffersToday.com

Investor Steven Johnson, recently launched his CashOffersToday.com website, where he can make a cash offer on a home within 23 hours. Steven been a full-time investor for many years wholesaling properties in Central Texas, including Houston, Austin and San Antonio.

Out-of-state investors sometimes ask if they can really wholesale in a hot market like Texas. The answer is always yes, but you have to buy the right deal.

One of Steven's current deals is a property in Port Arthur for $35k and rents of $800 (picture) through the Katrina Evacuee Voucher Program. He will probably flip that home to a rental investor within the next week or so.

Other investors like Paul of PaulPaysCash.com in Georgia are seeing that marketing themselves on a professional level has been paying off. 

If you want to be like Paul of Georgia or Steven in Houston, read the investment books we've reviewed in the left column. They provide excellent advice on getting started as a real estate investor or taking an investment business to the next level.

Home Builders Predict 'Homes Of The Future'

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is a good resource for buyers, sellers and investors. You should their site every few months to learn about upcoming trends, the current industry and other news about building or remodeling homes.

The results of the latest study by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) predicts what the typical U.S. home will look like in the year 2015. Attendees at the  annual convention in Orlando, Florida took a stab at envisioning the home of the future.

HOME FEATURES IN 2015

• Size. The average size of U.S. homes has been consistently rising, but homes will remain between 2,300 and 2,500 square feet.
• Outdoor kitchens and second master suites will become more common along with 2.5 to 3.5 baths.
• CRS Magazine said homes will have 2.5 to 3 bathrooms, use more bold colors and have an average ceiling height of nine to 10 feet. Luxury homes will typically have 12-foot ceilings.
• Fiber networks and smart homes. The average 2015 home will have a fiber optic network, programmable and automated features, smart kitchens, remote management systems, high-tech security, etc..
  
• Home will be more green with energy-efficient appliances and programmable thermostats standard. There's also a trend towards recessed lighting.

If you're thinking about building or remodeling a home, you should take these guidelines into consideration. Although they're technically just predictions, you have great insight into what experts envision.

Read more: Homes Of The Future - NAHB Takes A Guess.

Track Texas Markets Online for FREE

I was browsing through market updates at the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center and saw their links to news from the Texas Real Estate Business. The magazine requires registration to view articles, but those of you interested in residential or commercial real estate can access market updates for FREE.

Texas is expected to continue growing at a feverish pace during next few decades, especially along the Dallas to San Antonio corridor on Interstate Highway 35. This corridor is the main transportation artery in our state for Texas' largest cities including Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio.

Large commercial developers and investors, including foreign investors, have continued to purchase huge tracts of land along the corridor and in these cities to provide housing and jobs for the population boom.

Buyers, sellers and investors should be aware of factors that influence the housing market, such as where jobs are leaving or going, environmental issues, transportation, development on the horizon, etc.

Here are some top FREE resources for Texas real estate market updates that can keep you ahead of a housing boom OR bust:

If Texas Real Estate is HOT, Why the High Foreclosures?

Here's a good question. If the Texas real estate market is so hot, why are our best cities (Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio) experiencing the highest foreclosures in the nation?

Great question! In recent years, Texas home sales outpaced our counterparts along with nice appreciation in our largest cities. My hypothesis is that foreclosures are the downside of a frenzied real estate market.

FACTORS IN THE TEXAS FORECLOSURE RATE

1. Home seller refinances. In 2003-2004, mortgage rates were at historic lows. Many home owners refinanced to make improvements or purchase consumer goods. This is a set up for a foreclosure because the owner has removed their equity, perhaps overimproved the property and now have higher property taxes and mortgage payments.
2. Adjustable rate and zero down loans. Texas was a buyer's market at the same time rates were historically low.  Zero down loans or adjustable rate mortgages were the mortgage product of choice. Most of those adjustable loans were 3-5 year, so the rates have been increasing every 6 months. A refinance in Texas requires at least 80% loan to value ratio on homestead properties and 90% on investments. For buyers with no equity, but an increasing payment, a foreclosure is one of the few options.
3. Risky investor loans. Investors have been buying in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio in droves. Most were putting less than 10% down and had high interest rates, but little or no cashflow. In Austin and Dallas, it was common to buy negative cashflow and negative equity properties on speculation. Now, San Antonio and Houston are especially seeing a glut of low-end investment properties, so days on market has increased.

The bottom line is that no market is ever going to be completely predictable. Texas is unique in many aspects, but home buying decisions should always be based on the property's current value.

Link: San Antonio foreclosure and the Texas A&M research on the issue.

Check out the interesting post about Affordable, Luxury and Modern Home market in Texas.

“Flipping” Houses for Profit, Business District Hour Topic this Sunday

Real estate investing is a hot topic, so it's great news that it will be discussed during the Austin Business District Hour this Sunday, July 15 at 3 p.m. CST on 1370AM. Local and national listeners can stream the broadcast live at www.talk1370.com and can call in to ask questions at (512) 390-1370.

I encourage anyone interested in investing in Texas to call in! Austin Business District has been making waves on the local magazine scene. Another interesting tidbit is their new real estate portal, Real Estate Business District. The publishers of the site encouraging real estate businesses to submit their advice and tips for publication or contact them to form a partnership.

POTENTIAL QUESTIONS TO ASK THIS SUNDAY ON 1370AM (from 3-4pm)

• How can I get started in real estate investing? What are some resources?
• How's the Austin and Central Texas real estate market?
• How can I know if it is feasible in my area to "flip" houses for profit?
• What's the best way to finance properties?
• What about asset protection?

You can listen to previous podcasts from Austin Business District on their website.

Austin Board Announces 'ListHub' Internet Listing Tool

Here's some exciting news! Well, maybe not, but it's interesting to me and I'll tell you why in a few moments.

The Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABOR) recently announced a new marketing tool for listings. Increasingly, there are more places to market and find properties for sale via the internet. Although  I don't think ListHub is mind-blowing, the fact that ABOR is finally providing us with tools to market our listings elsewhere is a step in the right direction. <<---Reason this is interesting!

Per ABOR, "ListHub allows brokers to take control of their internet marketing by sending their office’s listing inventory to real estate search websites, like Google, Trulia, Vast, and many more. When ListHub posts your listing, the branding and links will all refer back to the broker. Brokers also get click traffic reports to see the results of their marketing efforts. Since ListHub is integrated with Tempo, there is NO data entry required."

"ListHub allows you to send listings to your first destination – Google base – for FREE!  Just go to ListHub and create your account in minutes.  Within 72 hours, your listings will be searchable on Google". 

I may give ListHub a call because I use several tools that already post on these sites. VFlyer and the Keller Williams Listing System (KWLS) are examples. My question is whether Google and others will recognize duplicates. Otherwise, it will be pretty annoying to see the same property listed 2-3 times on each search site.

Read more news from ABoR.com. See our previous post on real estate Web 2.0.

Get Your Get-Away at HomeAway.com

One of my friends mentioned a great get-away website called HomeAway.com. The site was started by a millionaire retiree from Dell years ago when their stock was booming. Essentially, he's a "Dell-ionaire".

The entrepreneur started the vacation site to allow home owners to post their seasonal rentals. I really like the site and have been using it to find great deals in all areas of the U.S, but the site also has listings in Mexico, Europe and other countries.

I think it's a great idea to rent one of the getaways at the site because you save on hotel taxes and will have a more unique place to stay. Most homes have full kitchens and all of the amenities you'd want in a home-away-from-home. The rates are usually much better than if you chose to stay at a resort for the same period of time.

Check it out: Vacation Rentals, Vacation Home Rentals, Condo Rentals at HomeAway. Another great site is BedandBreakfast.com.

Real Estate Industry Should Be "Anti-Competitive"

  By DeeinAustin™

I was speaking with an agent who moved to Austin from Dallas. She marveled at how open and sharing my fellow Keller Williams Realty agents are here in Austin. I recently held several classes for agents to share our insights, resources, tools and ideas about how they can improve their business.

On the contrary, the nature of real estate business in larger cities like Dallas or Houston and at other brokerages can be different, as there isn't much sharing due to the fact that 90% of agents view each other as "competition". This may be why the real estate industry is sometimes held in a bad light.

SAGE BUSINESS ADVICE FROM ATOP THE "SOAP BOX"

I believe sharing in the real estate industry sparks creativity and inspires change. Business owners, agents and brokers are not all the same.

Macintosh Real Estate Users Are People Too

It's no secret that I am an avid Apple/Mac fan. I worked for Apple before I started investing in real estate. I love the company, it's technology, and ease of use. Sadly, my days were darkened when I left Apple to become a real estate agent. Although I love the field, Mac users were often treated as second-class citizens when it comes to real estate software and applications. Websites didn't work, MLS was a lost cause, and even popular database programs would falter.

For those of you who own a PC and are thinking of switching, the dawn of a new day has arrived in Mac real estate! Buyers, sellers, and agents have great choices. One choice is to buy one of newer Apple computers that can run Windows. If you aren't quite ready to take the leap, there other Mac OS options.