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hill country austin tx real estate: All Texas Contracts are As Is... but You Can Still Have an Inspection Contingency - 02/10/11 01:30 PM
How is my contract contingent upon inspections when I have to check a box that states I'm accepting the property in its "as is" condition?
One of the most important things to know when buying a house in the state of Texas is that every single sale is an "as is" sale. Most people think only foreclosures and short sales are as is, but that's simply not true.
In the standard Texas, promulgated contract, there are two options to check. One option is to accept the property as is, while the other option is to accept the property as is as … (7 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Getting Pre-APPROVED and not just Pre-Qualified - 02/09/11 10:05 AM
When buying a house in Austin TX, you need to be Pre-Approved for a Mortgage before looking at properties in person. This is the first step whether you're a first time home buyer or buying your fifth house. Notice that I used the term Pre-APPROVED and not pre-qualified...
What's the difference?
A pre-qualified buyer is someone who made a phone call to a mortgage professional, gave that person a few pieces of verbal information, and the mortgage person said you're pre-qualified.
A pre-APPROVAL means the mortgage person ran your credit, collected bank statements, W2's, and paycheck stubs, and ran numbers … (7 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Lake Pointe - Bee Cave Austin TX - Year End 2010 Market Report - 01/06/11 10:40 AM
Lake Pointe Bee Cave Austin TX is a very nice neighborhood in West Austin. Over and over again, I say how consistant the Austin TX real estate market has been, and this neighborhood is a shining example of that.
Below is a graph showing the List price to the Sales price ratios for the Lake Pointe neighborhood in the 4th quarter of 2010. As you can see, even in the Winter months when real estate is typically slower and houses sell for slightly less than average, the homes on the market under 30 days were sold very strongly at almost 99% … (0 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Hey Listing Agents, Continue to NOT Return Calls to Consumers!! - 08/13/10 04:40 PM
Hey Listing Agents, continue to not return calls to consumers!! As McDonald's says, "I'm lovin' it!!" First, it makes me feel great when I return a call and a consumer is so excited that I called them back so promptly. Second, by you not returning their calls, they're calling me instead and in return, you're helping to build my business!! I bend over backwards to give my new, existing, and potential clients great customer service!! I got off the phone a little bit ago with a very nice gentleman who was ecstatic that I returned his call in under 30 minutes … (18 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Real Estate - Austin TX Homes for Sale - Closings up, Pendings down - 06/26/10 07:05 PM
Real Estate - Austin TX Homes for Sale - Closings for residential real estate in Austin TX were up in May, by 24% compared to May 2009, with a total of $508M in inventory, being 2074 single family homes. That sounds like a great number, right? Well, let's look at some other things going on. The median price of Austin TX actually decreased 2% in May over last year, to $192k, however, this number is up from last month April 2010 at only $190,700. Two percent is nothing to lose sleep over, as Austin is still a bargain being under $200k, … (4 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit - Legislation to Extend is Bad Idea! - 05/26/10 04:37 PM
Yesterday, Congressman Ron Paul introduced legislation to extend the First Time Homebuyer tax credit. He makes a couple of good points, but the point that I think is ridiculous and makes no sense is, "Renewing the first-time home buyer's credit will help Americans purchase a first home with their own money, instead of having to rely on government-funded or backed programs." You might want to read it again. It says it will help people buy with their own money. How does that happen when the tax "credit" is a credit given after a buyer buys the house? If they don't have … (82 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: RE/MAX Austin Skyline - New location in West Lake Hills - Austin TX - 04/06/10 03:38 PM
RE/MAX Austin Skyline has moved to a new location.
4611 Bee Caves Rd #200Austin, TX 78746
This is actually in West Lake Hills, but people still call it "Austin". It's just under 2 miles East of the previous location on the same street, so it'll be easy to find.
**Are You Packed Yet?**
Donna Harris, REALTOR®RE/MAX Austin Skylinewww.DonnaHomes.comDonna@DonnaHomes.com
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an … (5 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Austin TX - Ranks Fifth Best Place to Retire - 03/20/10 07:54 PM
Austin TX makes the number five spot for "100 Best Places to Retire" for 2010 according to TopRetirements.com.
This list has only been published since 2007, so it's definitely not a list that is set in its ways for years and years. However, the top four spots have been unchanged with Asheville NC, Sarasota, FL, Prescott, AZ, and Paris, TN. Austin TX moved up to the number 5 spot from last year's number 9 spot. That's a great jump, and also goes along with the latest Forbes survey of Austin TX being the number one area of easing out of the … (12 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Senna Hills - Austin TX - Homes for Sale Market Report - 03/06/10 08:24 PM
Senna Hills Austin TX is having a great year thus far. It's only March and look at the market activity and homes for sale happening around here.
As you can see, there are still several Active listings on the market, but you can also see that within the past three months, several have sold.
What pattern do we continue to see in Senna Hills Austin Texas with the homes for sale? We continue to see homes newly Active on the market coming in priced higher than what is selling. Is this hurting them? Honestly, I think it is. When … (4 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Look at Your House from All Possible Angles - 01/19/10 05:54 PM
Have you ever looked at your house from a child's view? I have a two year old, and we play on the floor a lot. Much of the time, I get to walk around on my knees as we play. We also play in the bath tub, and you can't forget about the potty training... What does this have to do with real estate? Simple, get down to the level of a toddler before you put your house on the market. Every night I give my daughter a bath, I see that the painters forgot to paint under all three of … (17 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Internet Lead Conversion is a Science and Not for the Lazy - 01/15/10 03:33 PM
Internet Leads are not like "Regular" leads from ten years ago. If you don't know how to work or take the time to understand Internet Leads, your business is going to suffer greatly, as now the large majority of buyers and sellers start their research online.I've been working with Internet Leads since 2004 and I've got a very detailed process in place that has helped me close hundreds of transactions. You can read much of what I do along with example emails I send out if you read the new book Make the Move: How to Move Your Real Estate Business … (25 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Resolve for 2010 - Make the Move - How to Move your Real Estate Business Online - 01/05/10 10:05 AM
Have you resolved to change your ways in 2010? If you need help figuring out where to start, I highly recommend Claudia Wicks' new book, Make the Move: How to Move Your Real Estate Business Online. Why is this a great book? Because I'm in it, silly!! Just kidding... no, seriously, I am in it. I'm all of Chapter 15, starting on page 113: A Business Built on the Web. It's all about how almost all my business is created from something I do online. Why else is this a great book? Do you really need another reason? I already told … (19 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Recession Recovery - Austin TX - Best Retail Growth by Pitney Bowes - 12/10/09 10:29 AM
Recession Recovery - Austin TX has the Best Retail Growth in the U.S.! That's right! According to a new ranking put out yesterday by Pitney Bowes Business Insight, "Austin is the most likely city to experience retail growth for the rest of 2009 and into 2010." This helps the area in many different ways, the biggest I think is consumer confidence. If the consumers are more confident, they'll spend more. If they spend more, sales go up, companies hire more people, unemployment goes down... It's a chain reaction. According to Pitney Bowes, the data includes sales from all different forms including … (10 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Real Estate - Austin TX REALTOR® - Donna Harris Launches New Website Designs - 12/08/09 09:56 AM
Real Estate - Austin TX REALTOR® - Donna Harris with RE/MAX Austin Skyline launches her new website design! For two and a half years, I used the same website design, and it worked fabulously. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Two weeks ago, I decided to change things up a bit.. ok, a LOT! Both my branded and non-branded sites have been changed. www.donnahomes.com and www.austintxfreehomeinfo.info I also relaunched my www.donnahomes.net site, though it's technically still a work in progress as I get community information gathered around the Austin area posted on it. You can also find me on … (18 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Houses for Sale - Austin TX Buyers - JUMP or Get off the Pot! - 12/03/09 01:16 PM
I previously wrote a blog post that talked about how buyers narrow down the properties they want to see from thousands to about 10-15 properties. This is what happens from there...The average first time home buyer, because they've seen so many listings on paper (meaning online), can and will buy a house the first day looking at properties in person within 5 houses they view. The average move-up buyer can and will buy a house the second time looking at properties in person within 7-8 properties they view.Really? No way! With so much inventory, why wouldn't a buyer want to see … (11 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Are you Seriously Still on the Fence? All I Hear are Excuses excuses excuses... - 11/20/09 05:56 PM
Real Estate - Hill Country Lakeway Austin TX Homes for Sale are jumping off the MLS!! That means, houses are selling throughout the Austin TX area!! Are you still on the fence? How could you possibly still be on the fence right now? I mean, there is FREE money being handed out right and left, if you qualify. Does $8000 not mean anything to you? How about a potential $6500? With money like that being handed to you, seriously, how could you be on the fence? Here are two great blog posts that explain the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit … (10 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Seven Oaks - Austin TX - Hill Country Real Estate at its Finest - 11/18/09 12:59 PM
Seven Oaks - Austin TX- Hill Country Real Estate at its Finest is a very unique community just West of Austin. Seven Oaks is not within the city limits, sitting between Austin and Bee Cave TX on FM 2244- Bee Caves Rd.
Because Seven Oaks does not sit within the city limits of any city, there are no city taxes. Therefore, the tax rate is low, only a mere 1.8626%. What does Seven Oaks have to offer? Look at these pictures! Seven Oaks offers topography like no other. There are hills within the hills. There are views as far as … (3 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: How I Use My ActiveRain Blog to Enhance Relationships - 10/29/09 02:03 PM
I use my blog in many ways to enhance relationships with friends, family, clients, and others across the world wide web, which includes ActiveRain.I've been here at ActiveRain since the beginning, back in the Summer of 2006. I didn't completely understand the concept of blogging, but gave it a shot. Weeks and months went on, and I feel I figured it out. A blog is just a "Web Log" which is like a diary. I started making my blog more personal, about me and my experiences, instead of just plain real estate information, and the followers came.I'm definitely not afraid to … (12 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Hyper-Local Blogging is Loved by Google Juice - 10/28/09 04:17 PM
For the past few weeks, I've been learning a lot about SEO and how to get my blogs and websites ranked higher up in the search engines, without paying ungodly amounts of money to all those spamming companies. I've spoken to a few of my regular blog visitors and they've all noticed a change in the formats and how the blog posts are written. Is that good or bad? It's good on my part, but I can see how it's a little more robotic on their part. However, I'm not blogging just for conversation with other members of ActiveRain. I'm blogging … (82 comments)
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hill country austin tx real estate: Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate - Sales Have Increased - 10/01/09 02:34 PM
Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate shows over and over again that we're in a good place in the market. Are we as strong as we were a year ago? Not quite... but look at the chart below to tell you some of the story.
In the Third Quarter in 2008, the market was very strong. There were well over 6000 units sold through Hill Country Austin TX. Fourth quarter last year was not a fun time as interest rates spiked and mortgage criteria changed on a daily basis. That was then followed by the First Quarter of 2009, trying … (3 comments)
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Donna Harris, REALTOR®, CDPE & ASP - Hill Country Austin Lakeway Homes
Austin,
TX
More about me…
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
Address: 4611 Bee Caves Rd #200, Austin, TX, 78746
Office Phone: (512) 592-7127
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