Pennsylvania Company Helps Rescue Chilean Miners - 10/13/10 02:47 PM
I was just watching the 19 miner exiting the rescue capsule and the news story went to the owner of the company that built the drill used to penetrate over 2000 feet to where the miners have been for 69 days. 
This is not your standard drill.  It hammers on the surface it is going through like a hammer tapping on glass, breaking up the rock as it goes.  A series of air jets blow the crushed debris back up the shaft.  This is a much more efficient and faster way of drilling. 
Center Rock Inc. is the name of the … (0 comments)

Austin Neighborhood Update - Briarcliff - 10/13/10 01:27 PM
Briarcliff is a community in the Austin area that is an actually small city.  It sits around 45 minutes west of downtown Austin and has homes with Lake Travis frontage, golf course homes and homes with amazing Lake Travis and Hill Country views.
Searching for Briarcliff homes online can be a bit tricky as most auto-populate from Travis County as being in Spicewood.  Spicewood is a larger geographic area that contains the city of Briarcliff as well as some wonderful lakefront subdivisions.  Searching by placing the name Briarcliff in the subdivision box, if one is available, will generally pull up current Briarcliff … (1 comments)

Austin Home Price Appreciation - 10/13/10 11:02 AM
I listened to a guy present some stats on Austin real estate historical appreciation rates yesterday.  Since 1979, our area has seen an average price appreciation of single-family homes, townhomes and condos of 5%  We have seen significantly higher and lower numbers, but nothing like other markets in the country.
We have never seen an appreciation rate of 17% for the median price of Austin homes and that was in 2000.  Then the tech bust hit and the following years were 1%, 0% and 1% respectively.
More recently, the Austin housing market has seen a drop from 9% in 2006 to … (0 comments)

Attack of the Hummingbird - 10/06/10 02:44 PM
I have some native Texas bushes in front of my Apache Shores home that hummingbirds absolutely love.  This season I had a mating pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and what turned out to be a really aggressive Rofous.
Almost every time the Ruby-throated pair showed up, the Rofous would chase them away.  I started spending more time on the porch to see if they would get used to my presence and they did, often coming around when I was talking on the phone.
This little Rufous started getting aggressive with me.  He would sit on a tree branch and bark these high-pitched … (3 comments)

Call Directly to Someone's Voicemail - 10/05/10 04:23 PM
Ever need to leave a quick message for someone, but don't have the time to have an actual conversation?  Try Slydial.  Just call 267-759-3425.  You will be prompted to enter a valid 10 digit U.S. or Canada phone number - land line or mobile.  Slydial will connect you directly to the person's voicemail and you can leave your message.  This way you won't risk getting caught on the phone with someone who is a talker.
Slydial is also an app for for the iPhone, Blackberry, Androids and Windows Mobile.
Posted by Sam Chapman.  Check out Sam's Austin real estate blog or … (0 comments)

Man-Made Global Cooling - 10/04/10 02:55 PM
OK, not really, but I got your attention.
Have you ever read anything about changing ecosystems and how man has been a primary cause?  Look at the state of the real estate market.  Look at how many buyers have disappeared.  Look at how many more can't get a mortgage.  The cause?  People.
Stupid politicians wanted people who could not ordinarily get into homes to have loan programs for them.  Banks got greedy because they knew the feds would bail them out if they got into trouble.  Investors and investor wannabees speculation caused home prices to soar in many markets. It became … (1 comments)

Fall is Here - Will Austin Have Color? - 10/04/10 10:59 AM
Fall is here.  When I woke this morning the outdoor temperature was in the low 50s and I was loving that.  I thought back to fall of 2008 and the brilliant color we had in the trees.  That was unusual and I was wondering if we might see that again this year.
What it takes is decent rain throughout the year, which we had.  Then it takes sunny days and cool, dry nights, which we have had.  It these conditions hold, the Austin area might just see some nice fall colors again.
What am I making a big deal out of … (0 comments)

Stats - People Not Looking For Homes - 10/01/10 03:24 PM
I just looked at some stats for the last 7 days on my Austin real estate website and found some interesting things.  I looked at number of total visitors and the number of visitors going to my Austin home search page.  Looking at the data, I found that just 57% of visitors went to the home search page.
From looking at more data, 14% of visitors were on my Austin homes by neighborhood page.  Most of my traffic comes from outside of Texas so this surprised me at first.  People who don't know Austin don't know neighborhoods.  However, many may end up … (0 comments)

 
Sam_chapman Rainmaker_large

Sam Chapman

Lakeway, TX

More about me…

of Private Label Realty

Address: 8300 N Mopac #110, Austin, TX, 78759

Office Phone: (512) 293-2422

Cell Phone: (512) 293-2422

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Information and observations on the Austin real estate market including market stats and developments in and around Austin that affect residential real estate conditions. Perhaps a few other odds & ends as well!


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