Avery Ranch: A Master-Planned Community in Austin, Texas
Avery Ranch is an 1,800 acre master-planned community with over 4,000 homes on over 17 acres.
The community has amenity centers, tennis courts, pools, and hike & bike trails and is located approximately 16 miles north of downtown Austin, just west of Round Rock, and east of Cedar Park in Williamson County.
Avery Ranch is bounded by Brushy Creek to the north, Great Oaks Drive, to the east, the new 45 Toll road to the south, and the new 183A Toll road to the west.
Avery Ranch is surrounded by first-class schools, shopping and entertainment, and is also home of The Golf Club at Avery Ranch, a 226 acre 18-hole golf course bordering a 60-acre lake.
Market Activity For Avery Ranch for 2011
The actual house at the median point of the homes for sale is 2,374 square feet and boasts a 2-car garage, hardwood and tile floors downstairs and granite counters in the kitchen. It sits on a lot that is about a quarter-acre and is fully fenced.
Photos of Typical Homes in Avery Ranch
Note: these homes were not for sale when these photos were taken. They are shared here to give you an idea of the types of homes in this subdivision.
We certainly do. The almost-600 homes in the Grand Mesa section of Crystal Falls are situated on large home sites with native trees, and many have sweeping view of the Texas Hill Country.
A few the homes in Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls are at the Western-most edge of Williamson County while the rest are in the Northwestern part of Travis County. All are in the city of Leander, Texas and are served by Leander ISD.
Texas StrongIn addition to sweeping Hill Country views, Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls has a LOT of native Texas limestone, used for the exterior of homes, for extensive landscaping of homes as well as common areas, and along the carved out stretches of road that traverse the area.
Stacks of limestone also define the entrance to Cap Rock, as part of a small man-made waterfall.
We also noted a deer hiding at the edge of a small forest, and some cacti, also used as drought-resistant landscaping. We particularly liked photographing the cacti because of the intense coloration and prickles.
One of the draws of this are is the Crystal Falls Golf Club and Course, located Southeast of Crystal Falls Parkway, at the Southeastern edge of the Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls subdivision. For 2010, club membership rates began at $1200 for an Annual Weekday Single Membership. If you decide to play Crystal Falls, you'll want to bring a lot of extra balls. The course is well-known for sloping fairways that will send your ball off into the grass, or off of a cliff.
Please note: these houses were not for sale when these photos were taken. They are shown here to show the types and styles of homes that can be found in the Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls subdivision.
How do people find the value of a home? Meaning, what a home (usually their home) is worth? Of the most common ways to find the value of a home, a formal house appraisal is the most accurate. If you REALLY want to know what a property is worth, you need to know why most (cheap and easy) ways to find a home value aren't accurate.
If the value you find for a property isn't right, then what good is that?
On-line (Internet) "instant" home values websites These are probably the worst way to find the home values - they rely on incomplete information, and the data is often out of date. Yeah - they're fast but what good is fast if it's wrong?
What a neighbor's house sold for last year Another unreliable source of information - unless the neighbor's house is exactly like yours and the sales price has been confirmed by someone with access to the real numbers for the sale.Even then, the market TODAY might not be what it was when the neighbor's house sold and we all know that timing matters a lot in real estate.
The tax records Although these should be a good source of home values information, tax records are frequently wrong since the tax district doesn't usually know about updates or renovations to a home unless the updates required a permit. Tax records also don't show that the homes sales prices in an area are going up or going down. Tax values also rely on huge databases of information that may not be up to date.
A local real estate agent An experienced real estate agent can give you information about other homes that have sold in your area, which can give you an idea of what your home might sell for if you are planning to sell it. Unless you really are planning to sell, though, and are looking for an agent to list your home, a local agent might not want to spend the several hours that it takes to pull the best sales data for homes like yours that sold in the last few months.
A house appraisal Otherwise known as a real estate appraisal, a house appraisal is the formal way to find the value of a home. Real estate appraisers have to have formal training, pass difficult exams and use very well-defined ways (approaches to value) to figure out the actual, current market value of a home.
Read the article Appraisal Steps: Determining Market Value of Property to understand what an appraiser does to figure of the value of a property.
Sometimes, you just want an idea of what the value of a home is. In that case, check out the on-line home value sites. Or, check out the tax records just for fun. If you're planning to sell your home, call a local real estate agent who knows your area well. If your home is unusual (really big, really small, on a huge lot, heavily upgraded . . .) or you want the most accurate market value opinion for your home, you should bite the bullet and call a local real estate appraiser to do the job.
Short answer: the amount of real estate appraiser education and training, as defined by the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board (TALCB). Also: the types of properties the appraiser can appraise.
The table linked in from TALCB, above, provides the best summary of the differences in Texas between the licensing levels for a Certified Residential and a Licensed Appraiser (as well as for a General Appraiser, the highest-level of license that also permits the licensee to appraise commercial property.)
To obtain the license level of a Certified Appraiser in Texas, a candidate needs more education (both undergraduate education and appraiser-specific education) and more documented hours of appraisal experience, over a longer period of time. Each licensing level requires the applicant to pass an exam (the National Uniform State Appraiser Examination) specific to that level of licensing. The exams are developed by the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB).
If you want to join the profession: study the differences and talk to appraisers at different license levels to decide which level to pursue (hint: Certified).One More Thing: How Much Property the Certified Appraiser Can Appraise
"May appraise 1-4 unit residential properties without regard to transaction value or complexity of the appraisal for federally related transactions (FRT) and non-federally related transactions (Non-FRT). May associate with a Certified General Appraiser, who must sign the report, to appraise nonresidential properties."(From TALCB)
Shopping for a home in Austin Texas?
The tax rates here can be confusing to folks moving in from other parts of the country.
A property can be taxable by different governmental entities such as Austin Community College, Austin Independent School District, or a utility district. For reference, the complete chart for the Travis County 2011 Tax rates can be found on the Travis County Website. Since parts of NW Austin are also taxed by Williamson County, you might also refer to the 2010 Williamson County Tax Rate Schedule.
Confusing, isn't it?
Let's talk specifics.
In the MLS (Multiple Listing Service, known as ACTRIS here) area called NW (for Northwest), the tax rates for homes currently listed for sale range from 2.08 to 2.6444. Of the 145 homes currently listed for sale and the tax rate field is populated, the median tax rate is 2.4699. (Median = the one in the middle where half are higher and half are lower.)
Here is an example of the estimated tax schedules for two homes NW Austin. One is listed for sale for $194,000 and the other is listed for sale for $195,000. 
Note that the estimated taxes for these vary by $351. (One is $5010 and the other is $4659). These estimates are based on the assessed values of the properties which are supposed to be the same as market value, but might not be!
You should also note that each of those two examples show that different entities are assessing taxes on these properties.
And note that the actual tax may vary in the end, depending on whether or not the homeowner qualifies for any Travis County property tax breaks or property tax exemptions. Or perhaps they qualify for Williamson County tax breaks or tax exemptions.
On a $200,000 home, if all $200,000 is taxable (depends on whether or not the home and/or owner qualify for any exemptions):
The median price of a home for sale in NW Austin as of September 23rd, 2011 is $232,917. At the median tax rate of 2.4699, that would suggest a yearly tax of $5753.
If you've done the math on what your new mortgage is going to run, you now know that the property taxes are going to add up to a non-trivial part of your cost of ownership.
The really important thing to keep in mind is that the tax rates vary by area.
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Real Estate Agent in Austin, Texas, serving Austin, Round Rock and the surrounding communities.
Do you want to sell your property for less than it is worth? Or pay too much for the home you are buying?
We didn't think so.
When you need to keep your money in your pocket, and out of the pockets of others, you need to hire an Austin real estate agent that can pin down the numbers and protect your financial interests.
Alison knows the Austin real estate market numbers and can explain the important ones to you in easy-to-understand language.
Call her at (512) 585-4758 to start the conversation about your home in Austin.
When you need to sell your home for the most you can get, presentation is everything.
To put your property's best foot forward, you need these professional services that Alison will provide:
Why waste time on actions that won't get your home SOLD? Call Alison to guide you through the home selling process with patience, expertise and professionalism.
You live here in Austin, or perhaps you are moving in from out of state.
You know a few neighborhoods but wonder what else is out there - the areas that you might like but don't even know about - yet.
Most people start their search on-line, and when they're getting serious, they call a knowledgeable agent to help them make the right choices when buying a home in Austin, or the surrounding areas in Travis and Williamson Counties, including Round Rock, Cedar Park and Pflugerville.
Other people cut right to the chase - they call and say, "I want to buy a home in such and such a neighborhood and I need to make a move NOW!".
Either way works - you are the one who knows what you want and Alison can help you find the right home in the right area at the right price.
About Alison:
According to Alison's parents, it started when she was about 6 and had her first journal. While other little girls were drawing kitties and other sweet things, she was drawing floor plans.
Dream houses, vacation houses, tree houses, tiny houses, gigantic dorm-type dwellings for my extended family. If it could be called a home, she drew out the plan.
Alison considered becoming an architect, but inexplicably graduated with a degree in Chemistry instead and then went to work in what was then-called “High Tech”. Fast forward a few years, a few kids and a few homes of her own later, she knew it was time to honor her calling and officially “Go into Real Estate”.
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