Texas Realty Blog

Tech Roundup: Top 8 Mobile Tools for Real Estate and Business Use

By DeeinAustin™

I receive questions each week from real estate agents, small business owners and other professionals about mobile marketing tools and where they can find more information.

Mobile software is used on mobile devices such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, PDAs, and/or other cell phones and handheld devices. Some are specifically for real estate while others have more general applications.

This article lists the the top mobile real estate or business tools that stand out in today's marketplace.

Top Mobile Real Estate Tools for Home Buyers

Home buyers typically want to search for listings information from their phone. Besides listing information, some mobile sites and software provides also provide local real estate information and chat. A few top home buyer tools:

Austin Real Estate Today Launching Next Week

By DeeinAustin™

Quick reminder today about some great news! TexasRealtyBlog will be moving to our new site, Austin Real Estate Today BETA, next week.

The site is currently up for testing, with changes being made each day. BETA will be a soft launch, importing our past 500+ posts.

The longterm vision for Austin Real Estate Today will be realized in subsequent phases. The goal is to work with you and other audience members to create an interactive online community for hot issues, builder alerts, market updates, and discussion around key topics affecting Austin real estate.

We're Looking for Austin Real Estate Today Sponsors and Partners

Gotcha Guide™: Green-ify Your Home Service Contract

NOTE: This article is part of the forthcoming book, the Gotcha Guide™ to Buying or Investing in Real Estate. by DeeinAustin™

I was elated to see the Home Warranty of America (HWA) announcement of their GreenPlus Program earlier this year.

GreenPlus is an upgrade to HWA's 13-month contract, which covers appliance and mechanical systems. GreenPlus makes Energy Star exchanges, replaces your water heater with a tankless version, and upgrades your heating system to 90% efficiency upon disrepair.

This is especially useful in Green cities like in Austin, where our mayor is preparing to roll out a Climate Protection Plan, requiring all Austin home owners to make green upgrades before they can sell their home.

The Dark Downside of Home Service Contracts

New 'Austin Real Estate Today' Community Website to Launch in April. We're Moving!

By DeeinAustin™

We're excited to announce big changes to the Texas Realty Blog website!

Upgrades will occur within the next few weeks and completed by end of April. Planning has been in the works since last Fall to create an interactive Austin Real Estate community.

You spoke. We listened. Here is the Press Release Sneak Peak...

"AustinRealEstateToday.com is the virtual water-cooler and interactive online community for Austin real estate news, developments, builder alerts, market updates and insight."

Top 'Austin Real Estate Today' Features That You're Going to Love

Austin Home Auction Live! Website Launches

By DeeinAustin™

I received a notice yesterday that Austin's Home Auction Live! website launched. You may not realize that home auctions are one of the fastest-growing businesses in this national housing climate.

Increased foreclosures and luxury home inventory are the top real estate sales at auctions.

Have a home that won't sell? Need to get rid of land or home inventory? Have equity, but no time to go through the real estate sales process? A real estate auction may be right for you.

Even better, the process is actually quite simple.

HOW THE REAL ESTATE AUCTION PROCESS WORKS

1. You or your real agent will contact the real estate auction website or auctioneer. You will need to have equity because you will sell at a discount.
2. The auctioneer will gather all details of your home. Some auctioneers will research and produce a marketing plan for the home if it's an upper-tier.
3. The potential buyers will inspect the property 7-14 days prior to the auction, so you need to provide full access or risk losing money at the auction.
4. Auction Day! If the home is listed with an agent or broker, they will usually need to be in attendance. Same thing goes for a buyer's agent.

WHAT CAN YOU BUY OR SELL AT A REAL ESTATE AUCTION?

Austin Real Estate To Bloom Bigtime in 2010

by DeeinAustin™

Ok. So I am officially excited. I've been sniffing the pollen of the new mixed-use real estate developments, condo towers, and the new urbanist communities coming in Greater Austin 2008 through 2010.

Central Austin development took a step forward last week, with two huge projects breaking ground.

The Four Seasons Residences luxury condo tower in Downtown Austin broke ground last week, as did the first phase of the highly-anticipated Crestview Station in North Central Austin.

Both are scheduled for completion in 2010.

COOL! CRESTVIEW STATION NORTH CENTRAL AUSTIN FINALLY BREAKS GROUND

"Crestview Station will be one of Austin's biggest transit-oriented developments...to the tune of $100 million. It will be on the Capital Metro commuter rail line currently scheduled to start service this year, and is expected to bring housing and retail and office space to the neighborhood". ~Austin American Statesman 1/30/08. 

The 73-acre, mixed-use project between North Lamar Boulevard and Morrow Street will be the first big transit-oriented development on the new commuter rail line. Midtown Commons at Crestview, will be first residences. Too bad they're only rental apartments.

FOUR SEASONS RESIDENCES, DOWNTOWN AUSTIN ON THE WAY

Step Up to the Mic: Market Condition Reporters Wanted

By DeeinAustin™

What does American Idol, Next Great American Band, and Don't Forget the Lyrics all have in common?

Besides signaling the downfall of quality television and saving network tv from the writer's strike, they allow a select few to live out fantasies of having a national audience.

WE'RE LOOKING FOR HAMS

I'm excited to announce the Texas Realty Radio blogcast coming in 2008. This addition will compliment the Texas Realty Blog with more interactive content via audio and video podcasts. 

Even better, we're going to share the love...

KNOW A TEXAS MARKET EXPERT? THEY CAN BE A MARKET CONDITIONS REPORTER

If you know a savvy investor or sharp real estate expert in Greater Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, or the Houston/Bay Area, have them contact us to become a Featured Market Reporter for Texas Realty Radio. Monthly Duties:

• Tell us what's happening in your area and how it may affect the rest of us.
• Provide a quick, written summary in no more than 300 words.
• Record a 30 to-60-second synopsis to be aired to our listeners nationwide via your computer or our voicemail line.
• Optional: Provide video updates or post updates more than once a month.

Note: We may have more than one reporter per area to provide several points of views.

YEAR-END MARKET REVIEWER SPOTS AVAIILABLE

Top 5 REALTOR Magazine Tools That You Don't Know About

By DeeinAustin™

NOTE: The title and additional content added 1/3/08.

The January issue of Realtor Magazine will be a little different in 2008. The National Association of REALTORS® launched their Young Real Estate Professionals Network (YPN) nationwide at the November 2007 annual convention in Vegas.

The purpose of the YPN is to provide resources and additional support to meet the needs of young real estate agents, mortgage brokers and other professionals. I will be one of the YPN Featured Bloggers in 2008.

While, most consumers are keenly aware of Realtor.com since it's been the top home search site in the world for years, you may not be aware of the many tools offered at Realtor.ORG, including REALTOR Magazine Online.

When I became a real estate investor, before becoming an agent, I used real estate agent tools like REALTOR.org (not Dotcom) and Realtor Magazine for research and to stay updated. Both resources have a great deal of information and features that consumers should find useful.

TOP 5 REALTOR MAGAZINE (ONLINE) TOOLS THAT YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT

Woohoo, It's 2008! The Real Estate Market Better Improve!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of our readers! Texas Realty Blog was started March 2006, the heyday of the Texas real estate market. I'm looking forward to a great 2008 since the real estate market should improve as mortgage lenders ease borrower requirements.

This year, we plan to provide more interviews with local specialists video and photos, Texas real estate updates, market forecasts, community spotlights, commercial news real estate, and expert advice. We'll continue invite local experts to blog for us and topics in their area of specialty, may bring on additional staff writers, and will increase coverage of green-building and sustainability topics.

We'll post at least three times per week:

• Mondays- Top Stories, Hot Issues and Alerts
• Tuesdays to Thursdays- Market Updates, Forecasts, News, Technology, Interviews, Resources and Advice.
• Fridays- Builder, community, or broker spotlights and local interviews.

YEAR IN REVIEW: TOP 8 STORIES THAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

Austin Board of REALTORS® Criticism Generates Results, Problems

By DeeinAustin™

Last week, I wrote a much talked-about article about the controversy surrounding the Austin Board of REALTOR®'s late launch of the new MLS tool, MLXchange. Top issues included:

• Numerous kinks and flaws set members back during these last few weeks of the holiday season.
• Mac users could not access automated home reports or personalized sites. Worse, agents were told the issue "may never be resolved".
• I wondered why ABOR limits access by consumers to MLS statistics and data that is provided in detail by Houston and San Antonio.

GOOD NEWS!

Although I didn't see a press release or announcement, my own tests showed that Mac/Safari/Firefox users should be able to see properties from MLXchange as of last Thursday. I was elated and felt that ABOR escalated the browser issue after the public made it clear that this fix could not be ignored or delayed.

MO' CONTROVERSY, MO' PROBLEMS