Market updates from our good friends at Austin Title

This information is great.

Sales appreciation rates by mls areas.
http://www.austintitle.com/eflyers/statsmap/Q2-08/mapQ2-08.html

NAR nationwide market comparison.
http://austintitle.com/eflyers/j4-08/NAR_1stQTR_Statistics.xls

Midyear Economic Forecast. http://www.austinhomebuilders.com/associations/1360/files/Mid%20Year%20Economic%20Forecast.ppt

Reshaping Austin's Skyline.
http://www.austinfitmagazine.com/skyline/

Austin Summer Events Calendar.
http://www.austintitle.com/calendar/events_calendar.php

Austin Real Estate Market May 2008 Stats

Although the national real estate market is still suffering, Austin is still a bright spot. The average price for a home sold in May 2008 was $263,151, up about 5% from a year ago. Also, May 2008 saw the highest number of sales per month in the last eight months. Still, all is not perfect here. The number of homes sold continues to be well below the numbers for 2007.

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/06/16/daily41.html?b=1213934400%5E1654304&surround=etf

Part III - New Road Planned to service growing Round Rock medical center

Plans for a new roadway in Round Rock, Arterial A are described in this article from Community Impact.

http://www.impactnews.com/round-rock-pflugerville/community-corridor/125-community-corridor/1158-arterial-a-round-rock

The long term significance of these three plans is that Dell may be one day replaced as the major employment center by these Hospitals.

Three medical schools, colleges reveal development plans for Round Rock

Part II of the growing Medical Center for the Austin Area.

This article from the Statesman shows the locations of the new nursing school for Texas State University, Texas A&M Health Sciences Center and Austin Community College. All are locating next to Setons planed new hospital.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/18/0618rrmedschool.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=52

Northeast Medical Developments - Part 1

I have a lot to cover, sorry for the delay in postings.

The continued population growth of the Austin MSA toward the north is creating a surge in medical developments. In this article from the Austin Business Journal, http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/06/02/daily54.html?b=1212724800%5E1647459&surround=etf , Travis County has secured the land for a 50,000 sf Community Health Center close to the intersection of Braker and North Lamar.

Post your listings for free in Community Impact Newspaper

I have just uploaded the excel spreadsheet you will need to post your listings for free in the Community Impact Newspapers. The following is their instructions"

Thank you for your interest in submitting your listings with Community Impact Newspaper. We require realtors/owners to submit their listings using the attached submission form. If you have residential and/or commercial listings in any of the zip codes to which our newspaper is distributed (see list below), please use the attached form to submit the details of those listings to be considered for publication. The zip codes are:

Round Rock/Pflugerville edition: 78664, 78665, 78681, 78660, 78717
Cedar Park/Leander edition: 78613, 78641, 78717
Northwest Austin edition: 78727, 78729, 78750, 78758, 78759
Georgetown/Hutto/Taylor edition: 78628, 78626, 78633, 78634, 76574
Southwest Austin edition: 78749, 78745, 78739, 78748, 78735, 78736, 78737

TREPAC, the best value out there for us REALTORS!

Don't believe me? Follow this link.

http://www.texasrealtors.com/web/4/33/SavingsCalculator.cfm

What was your total?

If we are serious about real estate as a profession, we should all be happy to contribute to an organization that returns that much money to us.

Austin City Council Elections are decided by less than 10% of the voters

Vote. Please Vote.

This is really a scary fact. That over 90% of the registered voters will let so few of us decide their city taxes, their school taxes, the direction of the police, the administration of roads and utilities is appalling really.

Here is a perfect example of the consequences of not voting. If Laura Morrison (for point of sale) manages to defeat Cid Galindo (against point of sale) in the election going on RIGHT NOW, then it is very likely that an ordinance requiring a permit to sell any home in Austin will be implemented. This will initially be a small new tax, say an average of $1,500 per home. But like all taxes it will be reviewed every year and undoubtedly raised. When is the last time any of us heard of a tax going down? If the Federal Government, believes $600 per taxpayer will stimulate the economy, what do you think the result of this new tax will be? What type of wasteful beauracy will need to be created to administer this tax? What effect will this have on the affordability of homes in Austin? Will this encourage buyers to look just outside of the City Limits of Austin when choosing a home?

All these questions can be set aside simply by using the existing tax systems to encourage and implement energy conservation. This model, imported from California, is not well though out and California should not be a model for Texas. Green is good. Conservation is now a necessity. We are the stewards of our planet. I will support City tax dollars going toward conservation. Let us come together to set measurable goals and pull our immence local brain power to find the very best solution to this problem.

Here is a link to the Austin American Statesman giving the current state of the election.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/03/0603place4.html?plckCurrentPage=0&sid=sitelife.statesman.com

Home buyers say convenience is what they want - Realtor Magazine

In the new issue of Realtor Magazine, statistics show that our clients overwhelmingly want a One-Stop Shop model. These results are an affirmation of GMAC Real Estate's business model and a great marketing tool for us.

http://rodomino.realtor.org/rmomag.nsf/pages/reallifebusinessjune08?OpenDocument

Austin #6 on Kiplinger Personal Finance's 2008 list of Best Cities to live, work and play

Kiplinger in conjunction with Kevin Stolarick, research director at the Martin Prosperity Institute, a think tank that studies economic prosperity has ranked Austin as number six in the country. Houston is number one.

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/05/26/daily26.html?b=1212033600^1643295&surround=etf