Morris "Bill" Austin

Austin & Central Texas in general is a great to be right now. While we always wish things were better, it ain't all bad. We still have job growth, population growth, and income growth (knock on wood). These are the building blocks for a solid local market place. With that being said, here's the rub.

New home starts are down 48% for the last quarter of 2008 and for the year starts are down 36% (YoY). Builders pulled back on the reins so hard I suspect that available homes will be back at 5-6 months supply sooner rather than later. We peaked at a bit over 9 months supply in December and have fallen back to the 7 month range already. In the "under $200K Range" starts were off for 2007 & 2008 combined by 59%. Case in point. I have been working with a couple in the $150K price range the last several months. We have written offers on 4 homes & all 4 were multiple offer situations. The last 2 we wrote for over asking price (net) and thankfully finally got an accepted contract. Is this a trend? Maybe.

My point is this, are we headed to a market place with to few homes available especially in the >$200K range? Will the "sellers" of the resale homes be ready or able to move up/down as they need?

What's your take locals?

Bill Austin - 512-709-6343 - baustin.realtor@gmail.com2

I am excited on a couple fronts today.

I have a new client / listing to work with. A very nice 1 story, 4/2, 2L, 2D, & 1993sq/ft in Beckett Meadows. This is in the 78749 zip code which is one of the fastest selling zips in the country. It will not immediately got into the MLS so I can use the new "Coming Soon" portion of our market centers website.

The owners are very picky and want to address each and every issue we discussed before it hits the market in the MLS. I do have permission to arrange showing before hand through me. Give me a call if you have questions and a buyer who you'd like to show a home to before anyone else gets a chance to see it. The home is in tip top shape and would not disappoint right now if you show it. Like I said, the owner wants to do a couple touch ups and only has weekends to work on it so he needs a few weeks.

Bill Austin - 512-709-6343 - baustin.realtor@gmail.com

Saddletree Ranch is my choice as a place to live. We settled here for many reasons like location, schools, reasonableness of restrictions, & amenities. I found myself coming home last evening when at the entrance I saw the sign/notice that our board was meeting that evening. I decided to attend the meeting since I had not done so in some time. Having been a board member, including a couple years as President, I know what work goes into this process.

To our home owners I say, be asured we have a thoughtful board that took the time to deliberate each issue before them. It's obvious that they want to maintain a balance that keeps our neighborhood standards high and our home values strong. I hope that one of the reasons you settled in Saddletree Ranch was the reasonable restrictions and understand that when an issue arises we should simply correct it through the proper channels. I know the "channels" sometimes are annoying to us as individuals but an association must have a process in place so the wheel does not have to be reinvented for each issue.

Thanks to our Board for your service. I know the hours are long and the pay is low but heck you did volunteer (humor intended).

Bill Austin

01-17-2009

Thursday January 22, a group of my associates and I will be having an evening presentation geared toward our Investor Clients. We have reserved our learning center at the Keller Willaims Realty office at 1801 S. Mopac Expressway, Austin, TX from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. We have a great panel and are prepared to share a great deal of information with the attendees. Due to the overwheling response and limited seating we have filled all available slots. We plan on having additional presentation on a variety of subjects into the future. I'd be happy to keep you in the loop if you contact me at baustin.realtor@gmail.com.