TEXAS (Texas Real Estate Center) – A total of 17,324 existing homes were sold in Texas last month — an 11 percent decline from February 2007 — according to MLS data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. The median price rose 1.4 percent to $142,700 during the same period, and the state finished the month with a 5.9-month inventory on existing homes.

Here is how select cities fared in February:

Amarillo

• 274 homes sold (3.4 percent increase over previous year)
• Median price of $122,700 (16.9 percent increase)
• 5.1-month inventory

Austin

• 1,705 homes sold (10.5 percent decrease)
• Median price of $180,300 (1.6 percent increase)
• 4.7-month inventory

Beaumont

• 153 homes sold (14.5 percent decrease)
• Median price of $120,600 (1.3 percent decrease)
• 6.5-month inventory

Brownsville

• 82 homes sold (22.4 percent increase)
• Median price of $90,000 (2.6 percent increase)
• Inventory data not provided

Bryan-College Station

• 122 homes sold (14.1 percent decrease)
• Median price of $129,600 (2.6 percent decrease)
• 6.5-month inventory

Corpus Christi

• 284 homes sold (20.7 percent decrease)
• Median price of $136,700 (12 percent increase)
• 8.1-month inventory

Dallas

• 3,640 homes sold (11.6 percent decrease)
• Median price of $147,700 (4.3 percent decrease)
• 6.2-month inventory

El Paso

• 328 homes sold (34.8 percent decrease)
• Median price of $133,800 (7.9 percent increase)
• 9-month inventory

Fort Worth

• 717 homes sold (17.1 percent decrease)
• Median price of $112,900 (1.0 percent decrease)
• 6-month inventory

Houston

• 4,919 homes sold (11 percent decrease)
• Median price of $151,300 (2.8 percent increase)
• 6.3-month supply

Lubbock

• 222 homes sold (6.3 percent decrease)
• Median price of $101,300 (2.2 percent decrease)
• 5.3-month supply

San Antonio

• 1,529 homes sold (10.1 percent decrease)
• Median price of $142,800 (0.2 percent decrease)
• 6.5-month supply

Texarkana

• 65 homes sold (27 percent decrease)
• Median price of $94,200 (10.3 percent decrease)
• 7.9-month supply

Victoria

• 59 homes sold (3.3 percent decrease)
• Median price of $119,100 (10.5 percent increase)
• 4.9-month supply

Home sales data for these and other Texas cities are available on the Center's website. You can also keep track of all the latest Austin real estate market data at our webiste, www.LivingInAustin.com

Thanks to everybody who came to our free homebuyer's seminar at Austin Community College today. We really enjoyed meeting everyone.

Some of the comments we recieved:

• "Thank you for such an amazing and educational program! I look forward to contacting you all soon so I can get started on the purchase of my first home. Your program gave me hope. I now feel like it is possible to purchase a home!"


• "Very informative, and you were very knowledgable. You presented the information on my level and answered questions with sincerity."


• "This is a wonderful idea to host a seminar for home buyers. It was very informative and had a nice, relaxed environment."


• "This was a very informative and well-done seminar."


• "Answered all my questions."


• "I would recommend anyone attend this seminar first before buying a house."

Thanks for all the kind words! We look forward to seeing many of you again soon.

Our next free seminar for Austin homebuyers is set for April 26th. Just go to our main website, http://www.livinginaustin.com/ to sign up.

Texas ranks high when it comes to home values in college towns, according to College Real Estate LLC.

"When it comes to bragging rights for attractive college real estate markets, Utah and Texas are the biggest winners," says Stuart Frazier, co-founder and director of client relations at Arlington, Texas-based College Real Estate.

The College Scorecard looked at 291 markets ranked by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and matched them with the 321 schools that have NCAA Division I men's basketball programs.

The three top spots on the real estate list are: Thibodeaux, La., home of Nicholls State University; Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, where Webster State University is located; and Provo-Orem Utah, home of Utah Valley State College.

Austin came in seventh with a 7.95 percent increase in home prices in 2007. Austin is home to a number of colleges and universities, including the University of Texas, St. Edward's University and Austin Community College. Nearby San Marcos is home to Texas State University.

San Antonio, which saw home prices climb 8.25 percent last year, ranked sixth on the College Real Estate Scorecard.

"While home prices have been depreciating in these college towns, residential properties in these regions may represent bargains right now," Frazier says. "Investors must keep in mind, though, that they have to do their homework before deciding to purchase property in markets that are experiencing declines in home prices. We just don't know for sure whether these markets are seeing short-term or long-term housing collapses."

Keep track of UT campus area real estate at our website, www.LivingInAustin.com

The Top 5 Cities to Find a Job, according to ABC News:

1. Salt Lake City, Utah, tops the list in job growth with opportunities in nursing, education and banking.

2. Witchita, Kan., where aircraft and petroleum industries have bounced back and looking to hire for their production lines. There are also plenty of opportunities for health care workers.

3. Austin, Texas, is a vibrant and young city with an entrepreneurial spirit, so a good place to think about opening a small business. Also a wide range of career choices in technology.

4. Atlanta, Ga., is a hub for the financial and technology industries with positions in accounting, civil and electiral engineering and jobs at Fortune 500 companies like Coca Cola, UPS and Home Depot.

5. Fort Worth, Texas, with job opportunities in teaching, construction, even vision care products and aircraft equipment.

So what is the fastest-growing career field, nationwide? Health care. The industry grew by 36,000 jobs last month alone, says ABC. "These opportunities range from home health-care aides and medical assistants to equipment technicians and occupational therapists. For some of these, certificate programs can be completed in as little as a year, so it's viable path to pursue at any age."

The local job market, of course, always makes a big impact on the Austin real estate market. We'll continue to keep up with it all at our website, www.LivingInAustin.com

>>Click here to search ALL UT campus-area condos currently for sale.

I was quoted in an article that appeared today on Business Week magazine's website. The story focused on real estate values in college towns across America.

Some Austin real estate investors say properties near college campuses like the University of Texas at Austin can still be great investments even in tough economic times, since there will always be a ready supply of students who need housing in those areas.

Here is the Austin portion of the report:

In Austin, home prices near campus are already so high that investors can't necessarily expect to cover a mortgage with rental income unless they come up with a significant down payment, says Jay Carter, a Realtor with LivingInAustin.com. But buying a home can still make a good investment in terms of appreciation.

Carter says enrollment is growing, but there's a risk that the credit crunch could spread to the student loan market, pushing up interest rates and making college more expensive. "The area around the University of Texas campus is tighter than ever, and demand will always be there no matter what the economy is doing," he says. "UT students are competing [for apartments] with a large number of non-UT students who just want to live in that area of town. There's a huge urban boom in Austin."

Here is the current (always-updated) list of condos for sale (by ALL real estate companies) close to the UT campus.

Michele was very excited about Duke's first appearance in a LivingInAustin.com TV commercial. He wasn't there for any particular reason...we just needed any lame excuse to put our dog on television, so mission accomplished! :-) And perhaps one of these days, we'll have a bigger ad budget so we can hire a lighting technician to help illuminate the other side of my face. Oh well.

We hope you'll join us for our next home buying seminar at Austin Community College, set for Saturday, March 22nd at 1pm. Just go to our main website, http://www.livinginaustin.com/ for details and registration.

Here is the script I used for the commercial, which will soon be running on several Time Warner cable TV stations:

LEARN HOW TO BUY A HOME THE SMART WAY AT OUR NEXT WORKSHOP FOR HOME BUYERS AT AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE.

IN TWO HOURS, YOU'LL LEARN HOW TO AVOID THE WORST MORTGAGE MISTAKES.

WHICH AREAS OF AUSTIN ARE BETTER INVESTMENTS

HOW TO NEGOTIATE THE BEST DEAL ON YOUR HOME, WHETHER THE MARKET IS UP OR DOWN

AND WE'LL GIVE YOU A STEP-BY-STEP HOME BUYER'S CHECKLIST....

PROTECT YOURSELF...LEARN BEFORE YOU BUY.

IT'S A FREE CLASS FOR HOMEBUYERS -- AT LIVINGINAUSTIN.COM.

I hate to say this, but at some point, the nationwide housing bust will catch up to us here in Austin. It's just a matter of time.

I say this because I'm already starting to see the signs: Austin's supply of homes on the market is rising, and while average home prices are currently going up instead of down, this trend will inevitably reverse as long as supply remains on the increase. Lenders, meanwhile, are tightening up the once-endless flow of cheap money, which means fewer borrowers are getting approved. I have also noticed that yet another cut in interest rates from the Fed is expected later this month.

And now today, President Bush said, "it's clear our economy has slowed." His comments came after the Labor Department said employers made their deepest cut in staffing in almost five years during February.

So what to do? How can we best position ourselves for what's coming?

If you're thinking about selling your home, my best advice would be to put the sign in your yard as quickly as you can, and price it correctly so it'll sell as quickly as possible.

If you plan to stay in your home, now is definitely the time to talk to a loan officer to see if it would make sense to refinance your home loan. Michele and I have started this process for ourselves, and are already finding ways to cut at least a couple hundred dollars off our monthly house payment. You should do the same. This is especially true for those who took out an adjustable or "interest-only" loan.

If you have not yet purchased a home but plan to, you are now in an enviable position. We're already seeing some very interesting deals out there, and will undoubtedly see even more beginning this summer. Now is the time to prepare yourself. I strongly advise you to learn as much as you can about the homebuying process. I can tell you from personal experience, the more you know about the process, the more effective you become at finding and negotiating the absolute best deal.

To help you meet this goal, we're now announcing our next free seminar for home buyers has been scheduled for Saturday, March 22nd at Austin Community College. We'll explain the "morgage meltdown" you've been hearing about on the news. You'll learn how to find the best fixed-rate, low-interest home loan for you and your family. How can you find the best deal on a home in Austin? What's the best way to find and negotiate with a "desperate" home seller? And what concrete steps can you take to avoid a "money pit" situation? We'll cover it all.

By the time this free two-hour workshop is over, our goal is for everyone to walk out of the classroom with a checklist of steps they can take to protect themselves when buying a home. Why is the class free? It's because when the time comes for you to pick out a real estate agent, we hope you'll choose us!

Personally, I'm not scared about what is happening in the economy. We're simply riding through the usual up-and-down economic cycle that this country has seen throughout its history. There is much opportunity to be found in an economic slowdown. Being able to see and take advantage of that opportunity all depends on what you know. So join us March 22nd -- you can register for this free class at our website -- http://www.livinginaustin.com/

See you there!

Austin Business Journal
Wednesday, March 5, 2008

The steel and glass residential towers set to reshape the downtown Austin skyline aren't a pipedream. They're coming--and they're going to be filled, a new study shows.

The analysis from Texas economist Ray Perryman suggests that while the nation battles a housing correction, Austin's residential market remains relatively healthy. Moreover, says Perryman, there is clear demand among Austinites to live in the city's vibrant downtown.

There are currently about 6,000 people living downtown. And with about 4,000 residential units under construction or planned around downtown, that population is expected to double over the next two years. Perryman says with the Austin area adding more than 40,000 new residents annually, the local housing market will continue to fair well, and rising energy costs and traffic woes will drive a growing interest in urban living.

"This housing market will fundamentally support the type of housing being developed downtown," Perryman said at a morning press conference at City Hall organized to discuss the report. "There is an amble population to absorb these units."

Asked whether those who desire to live downtown could actually afford to purchase units, most of which are over $500,000, Perryman says the market is there, particularly among young professionals coming to the area making good money in expanding fields like technology. He pointed out that if less than 1 percent of the entire area population chose to live downtown, they would fill up all of the existing units as well as those being planned downtown.

"We are seeing a remarkable resurgence in downtown Austin," says Mayor Will Wynn, who has been a staunch supporter of drawing more residents to downtown. Wynn calls the blend of condo projects such as 360 and The Austonian and rentals like The Monarch and AMLI 2nd Street a healthy mix. He also points out that projects like the redevelopment of the Green Water Treatment Plant site will include a strong affordable housing component, allowing residents who cannot afford high-priced units a chance to enjoy downtown living.

Perryman's company, The Perryman Group, was commissioned by the developers of the Austonian project to conduct the study.

Get the latest list of downtown Austin condos at our website, www.LivingInAustin.com

(Washington Post) Got a house to sell but worry about standing out from the competition?

Consider this: A research team at Cornell University has found that people will pay more for a house if its listing price does not end in a bunch of zeros.

In other words, the researchers say, you might make more money if you price your house at $325,425 rather than $326,000.

"It's a psychological bias," said Manoj Thomas, an assistant professor of marketing at Cornell's Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. "A bias in judgment."

The study concluded that because people are used to precise numbers for items that don't cost much and to round numbers for large amounts, consumers generally and home buyers specifically tend to perceive that a price is smaller if there are digits at the end instead of zeros.

Of course, selling your Austin home has a lot more to do than with just zeros. Call us or visit www.LivingInAustin.com for details!