Driftwood and Dripping Springs Homes - 11/30/11 02:22 PM
I was at the Salt Lick, one of the most popular barbeque spots in the Austin area, not long ago and decided to take a look at homes in Rim Rock Ranch, also called just Rim Rock.  This is a very nice community near Driftwood, TX, which is to the southwest of Austin and southeast of Dripping Springs.  I had been looking at Friendship Ranch homes, which is in the Dripping Springs area, but closer to Austin, homes earlier and found the 2 neighborhoods to have some similarities.
Both offer large home sites on several acres and both are pretty quiet thanks … (0 comments)

Austin Equestrian Communities - 11/29/11 04:58 PM
There are a number of horse-friendly communities in the Austin area, but I will talk about a few in western Travis County and north and central Hays County. Saddletree Ranch and West Cave Estates both straddle the Travis/Hays County line.  Each has relatively small home sites, starting at one acre.  Madrone Ranch is a nice equestrian community just northwest of the city of Dripping Springs.  It features large home sites, views and privacy.
One nice thing about all of these neighborhoods is that the two school systems serving them, Lake Travis and Dripping Springs, each have quality schools.
… (2 comments)

Lakewind Estates - 11/29/11 04:50 PM
I had a call last summer from a very nice lady from San Antonio wanting to look at Lake Travis waterfront homes.  The first area we looked in was Lakeway.  The home was technically waterfront, but on a cove that is too small for a boat dock.  The second place we looked in was Lakewind Estates.  This neighborhood was developed by Toll Brothers, but there were a few custom homes on a very deep Lake Travis cove.  they ended up not buying because their budget would not get them what they really wanted - a home on true deep water.  That … (0 comments)

Austin Real Estate Blogs - 11/28/11 01:43 PM
I learned about blogging around 4 years ago and have figured out that it can be quite beneficial in terms of picking up leads.  I started my first Austin Real Estate News blog using Blogger.  Later, when my website host built a blog in as a feature for those choosing to upgrade, I started usint it as my promary real estate blog.  I also found ActiveRain and post here from time to time.
I have never traced a lead to ActiveRain and that may be because when I found AR I was clueless about SEO, picking a blog name, etc.  I … (0 comments)

Buyer Activity - 11/28/11 01:39 PM
I've had a flurry of buyer actity lately.  One couple has been very interested in Pemberton Heights homes.  This is an older neighborhood in north-central austin and has some very stately homes in it.  They have also been interested in West Rim, a neighborhood west of downtown Austin that has some really amazing $1 million and up homes.
I almost sold a home in West Cave Estates to a couple relocating to Austin from California.  They wanted some land and privacy and West Cave offers both.  They wanted to be fairly close to the Lakeway/Bee Cave area, but also to southwest … (0 comments)

Congratulations to the Lake Travis High School Volleyball Team - State Champs Again! - 11/27/11 03:36 PM
Congratulations to the Lake Travis Lady Cavalier Volleyball Team for winning a second straight Texas state championship.  The girls have been on a 50-0 run and that is absolutely amazing.  Speaking of amazing, click to learn more about Lake Travis High School sports - volleyball isn't the only incredibly hot sport at this school.  The football team will probably win its 5th straight state title.  I know of families moving to the Lake Travis area just to get their kids into the incredible sports programs. 
Learn more about Lake Travis schools.  And if you are interested in Lake Travis homes, call … (3 comments)

Whole Foods Coming to Bee Cave - 11/26/11 09:46 AM
OK, this isn't the best shot because of weather conditions, but it shows the new Whole Foods that is being built at the Hill Country Galleria Mall in Bee Cave.
People all the way from Steiner Ranch to Lakeway to Bee Cave to Spicewood and even as far as Dripping Springs and Marble Falls have been very excited about this store coming to Bee Cave.
The approximately 35,000 square foot store should open in the spring of 2012.
… (3 comments)

More Austin Neighborhood Pages - 11/22/11 04:48 PM
I have continued to add neighborhood pages to my Austin real estate website.  I am adding by region and today added a number of Dripping Springs Neighborhoods.  I also added a couple that are between Bee Cave and Dripping Springs with two actually straddling the county line.  As such, some of the kids in these neighborhoods attend Dripping Springs Schools and others attend Lake Travis schools.  One of the neighborhoods is West Cave Estates.
Another few neighborhoods I added today and yesterday are Belvedere, Sunset Canyon and Sawyer Ranch.  The latter two communities are 20 minutes west of downtown Austin in … (0 comments)

Austin Neighborhood Pages - 11/21/11 04:16 PM
I started adding neighborhood pages to my Austin real estate website a while ago, but got sidetracked for a while.  I started adding more today and reorganizing to make them more friendly to visitors.  I also want to add more content for search engines.
Each neighborhood page has a title and a neighborhood description.  If appropriate, photos have been added.  Added today were Coronado Hills, Crestview, Hancock and a few others.
I have studied page views for my neighborhood pages that were added between 6 and 12 months ago and they get quite a few page views.  My thinking is that … (0 comments)

Using Dragon Dictation? Better Proof Messages Before Sending - 11/21/11 02:19 PM
I had a rather funny text exchange with my daughter yesterday using Dragon Dictation.  This is a voice to text thing on many smart phones that lets you talk into the phone and the program turns speech into text.  BUT I quickly realized that I need to proof messages before hitting send.  Yesterday's conversation:
Daughter:  Are the Martins still there?
Me:  Martin slept with Matt this morning at 10:45.
Me:  Meant Martins left with Matt...
Daughter:  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'M CRYING!
Daughter:  That was really bad.
Me: Hell right you are.
Me:  HOW!  Darn this speech to text!
Daughter:  You should use it … (0 comments)

Emtpy River and Life Finds a Way - 11/21/11 09:20 AM


The incredibly dry Blanco River just west of the city of Blanco, TX.  And this was a week after over an inch of rain fell.  This would normally have a couple of feet of water flowing and would be 100+ feet actoss.  It has been like this for months.

This is a huge oak tree in Blanco.  If you look closely you will see prickley pear cactus growing in the notch where the trunk splits.  Isn't it amazing where life will find a way to grow?
Blanco is north of San Antonio and southwest of Austin in the … (2 comments)

Lake Travis Drought Continues - 11/09/11 12:30 PM
I just went to the LCRA Lake Travis weather site to see how much rain fell with yesterday's passing cold front.  It was disturbing to see that the station has recorded barely over 7 inches of rain all year. 
In a normal year we could see an additional 2 inches before the end of the year, but that doesn't look likely.  The area gets around 32 inches per year on average so 7 inches in 2011 is pretty ugly.
Having said that, this is a great time to look at Lake Travis waterfront homes.  If they have water now, they will … (0 comments)

Why Austin Absolutely Rocks - 11/07/11 05:23 PM
Site Selection rated the top business climates in the country and Texas came out number one on the list.  (November, 2011)
Austin is the #1 Most Popular City for College Graduates (Yahoo Finance, January 2011)
Austin is the 26th Most Dynamic City in the World (The Atlantic, December 2010)
Best Performing City Among Top 50 Metro Areas - Austin is #1  (Texas Workforce Commission and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2010)
Austin is 2nd Best Place to Find a Job (Ajilon Professional Staffing, March 2011)
There is a lot more where this came from.  Check out my page on what … (2 comments)

Lakeway Regional Medical Center Update - 11/04/11 01:40 PM
I saw a video update from the CEO of the Lakeway Hospital and just posted an update, including a list of services that will be offered by the staff of board certified physicians. on my Austin real estate blog.
Some of what will be offered includes:
Emergency physiciansPrimary Care physiciansGeneral SurgeonsCardiologistsCardiac and Thoracic surgeonsInterventional RadiologistsNeurologistsGastroenterologistsUrologists NeonatologistPain Management SpecialistsObstetricians/GynecologistsOncologists
Take a look at the Lakeway hospital update.
… (1 comments)

Check out this amazing vodio about Texas - 11/02/11 12:39 PM
This is very interesting.
 
… (0 comments)

Finding Photos for Real Estate Websites and Blogs - 11/02/11 12:32 PM
I took this shot a few years ago when Lake Travis was looking particularly inviting.  I have this on my website and have used it in blog posts.  So is taking your own photos the only legal way to get good images for your website?  Absolutely not, but remember that I used the word legal.
After finding a number of my own photos on other real estate websites and asking the webmasters to remove them, I realized that there is a lot of theft on the web.  I wondered how I could get good photos when I was not in a … (0 comments)

Open Houses that Pick Up Clients - 11/02/11 12:22 PM
I used to do a lot of open house but quit after never getting any business from them.  They I heard a colleague talk about how to hole an effective open house - the kind of open house that will actually get buyers into your car.  I did an open house the way my associate described it and what happened?  I got a lady into the car and showed her waterfront houses on Lake Travis.
So how does this work?  Read more about getting clients from open houses.
… (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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