Steve's Austin Realty Blog

We are purchasing some acreage lots in Oak Hill, and I just found out that other buyers on my street don't like the name of the street on which our lots are located and have requested the developer to change the name. The street name is ‘Sisquoc', which I think is a cool name. Sisquoc is a Chumas...

I'm starting to notice more and more blog postings at AR that include just the beginning of the post, then say "click here to read the rest" with a link to the Author's personal blog site. For those of you who do that, I aint' clicking over to your site. I'm not sure if AR has a policy on this or...

This article below is from the Austin Business Journal today. It's a recurring scenario for Austin, where those who don't like the local Austin laws or ordinances passed by Austin Lawmakers take their case to the State Legislature and push for laws that supersede or nullify local Austin laws. The...

There is debate among real estate investors regarding the difference between "Investing" and "Speculating" in real estate. Generally, the tone and context in which the word "speculation" is used tends to be negative. i.e. "That's not investing in real estate, it's {sneer - with furrowed eyebrow a...

How do we think of money anyway?Many Americans have a limited and distorted view of money and how they choose to allocate, or "invest" it in their lives. At the core, we are either predominantly Investors, Spenders or Savers. To me, as an investor, I think of every dollar that comes through me as...

I was reading the news short posted below, regarding falling Luxury Home prices in California, and noting that the "average" prices of "Luxury Homes" in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego range between $2M and $3M (see article below)What is considered a Luxury Home in Austin? $750,000 and ...

As I related in a previous post, Sylvia was Subpoenaed to appear in a Seller's Divorce Court as a result of us declining to work with a prospective listing client (the ex-wife) who was not being cooperative. It was the ex-husband's attorney who issued the subpoena, to protect the interests of his...

When it comes to house repairs, nothing is more frustrating than a problem which can't be remedied. One of our Buyers made a request for the Sellers to "have a licensed Plumber locate and cure leak at Master tub exterior wall as noted on inspection report". This was a leak that was showing up out...

Sylvia just got Subpoenaed to appear in front of the Divorce Court Judge of a Seller prospect we decided not to work with. The Prospective seller was a referral and we tried our best to work with her, but as the process moved forward, it became obvious that a lot of resentment and anger toward th...

The Average Sales Price for single family homes in Austin was up 4.8% from the year before, to $246,595. The number of homes sold sales was down 5.4% from January a year ago, probably due at least in part to freezing weather that shut the city down for several days, and otherwise cold weather in ...