Brian Martin: Northwest Austin Real Estate

NORTHWEST AUSTIN HOMES: How does hail effect the purchase or sale of your Northwest Austin Home?
On March 25th, there was a thunderstorm which included some of the biggest hail seen in Northwest Austin in about 10 years according to some residents. Hail the size of golf balls or in some areas, baseballs rained down on homes and cars throughout the NW Austin area as well as parts of Cedar Park and Round Rock. The storm left debris all over roadways and sidewalks. The area that was hit hardest was Jollyville. Some people don't even know where Jollyville is but it includes the areas of Hunters Chase, Milwood, and Anderson Mill. Many homes were damaged by the hail. Some had severe hail damage to their roof and windows. Many cars were damaged to the point of the car being "totaled". I was fortunate enough to be driving west on 620 toward the storm and pulled under one of the metal roofs at Sonic just in time. How does this hail effect a home that is currently under contract or those that are thinking of buying or selling? If you have a home with previous hail damage, what can you do? Let me tell you.

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Posted by Brian W Martin REALTOR for The Pinnacle Group of Keller Williams specializing in educating buyers and sellers to make smart decisions about their homes in Northwest Austin, TX

AUSTIN REAL ESTATE: Search for Foreclosures in Austin

Would you or someone you like to purchase a home at a reduced price? Are you willing to do some repairs or updates on a home so you can buy a house below market value? Now it is a bit easier to find homes that may be a great value. On my AUSTIN AREA HOME SEARCH system, there is now a new feature that allows you to SEARCH FOR FORECLOSURES FOR SALE IN AUSTIN.



You can select all of your criteria just like a regular home search and select the "foreclosures" button next to the "active listings" button. This will find all of the available foreclosed homes that are listed for sale in the Austin MLS. The results will include any available photos and details of each house.

Every foreclosure is not necessarily a good deal.

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Posted by Brian W Martin REALTOR for The Pinnacle Group of Keller Williams specializing in Assisting Buyers to find GREAT DEALS ON AUSTIN HOMES.

North and Northwest Austin Homes: What you get for the Money- $300,000-$400,000.

In an earlier post, I discussed what you can get for your money in NORTHWEST AUSTIN HOMES: Hunters Chase and Milwood Subdivisions.

Hunters Chase and Milwood are great areas to live and I am a resident there myself. It appeals to first time home buyers as well as couples or small families. As people move up in their career and/or their families grow, they start to think about moving up. This is where we would play the theme for The Jeffersons if this was on TV (Movin' on up...to the East side) Here in Austin, you don't have to move to the East side (unless you want to)***. Many people would like to move to a bigger home or a swankier area or both but still be close to work and the restaurants, shops and schools that their family is used to. Well, Northwest Austin is great for that. Less than five miles from areas that are great neighborhoods for first time home buyers and young families, there are great neighborhoods for move-up families. A move-up family is one or more people that own a home that they would like to sell and purchase a newer and/or bigger and/or fancier home.

Today I am going to focus on three general areas in Northwest Austin that are great for people looking to spend $300,000-$400,000 on a home. We will look briefly at what you can get in the areas of Great Hills, Canyon Creek and Balcones Village. There are other areas with a small concentration of homes in this price range like Balcones Woods and Jester but these are areas that have a good number of homes available in this price range.
Great Hills Austin Homes: This area is Southwest of the intersection of Hwy 183 and Loop 360. The homes are all around the Arboretum area. This area is all about location, location, location.

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North and Northwest Austin Homes: What you get for the Money- $300,000-$400,000.

***If you are interested in Moving on up to the East side, check out a great post by a fellow REALTOR Garreth Wilcock about what you can buy for $300,000-$400,000 in the Mueller Austin Development.
Posted by Brian W Martin REALTOR for The Pinnacle Group of Keller Williams specializing in Assisting People that would like to save money on their Move Up of Homes in Austin, TX

NORTHWEST AUSTIN HOMES: $8000 Tax Credit- How to get a 10% rebate of your homes value.

This is a follow up to my last article $8000 Federal Income Tax Credit: First Time Home Buyers can get an $8000 tax credit for buying a house this year.

Over the last couple of days, I have been thinking a lot about this $8000 tax credit that is being offered to first time home buyers that purchase a house, condo, town home etc. in 2009. While it seems like a good deal for people that are planning to purchase a home anyway, I have been thinking about if it will actually stimulate those people who were not already looking to purchase a house. For most first time home buyers in Northwest Austin, they will be looking to spend between $175,000 and $225,000 which is basically the range of average sales prices in the area. As you get closer to Balcones Woods or Great Hills and closer to Downtown Austin, it is more difficult to purchase a home in this range but for the most part, that is the range. When someone purchases a home for $200,000 in 2009, if they are a first time home buyer and they fit into the other criteria, they will receive a tax credit of $8000 this is equal to 4% of the sales price. That is pretty good if you consider the money will not have to be repaid and it is basically given as cash, especially if you file the credit on your 2008 taxes. You would get the money back pretty quickly. If the purchase was made with an FHA loan (with 3% minimum down payment) you would actually receive more money with the rebate than you initially put down on the property in the first place. Pretty good deal.

Now lets look at a great deal. The legislation allows for a tax credit up to 10% of the purchase price up to $8000. This means that ...

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Contact me today to speak more about how you can take advantage of this limited time opportunity.

Posted by Brian W Martin REALTOR for The Pinnacle Group of Keller Williams specializing in helping First Time Home Buyers make great decisions to purchase Real Estate in Northwest Austin, TX

$8000 Federal Income Tax Credit: First Time Home Buyers can get an $8000 tax credit for buying a house this year. Congress has recently enacted legislation that allows first time home buyers to receive a credit of up to $8000 on their income taxes. Unlike "credits" of the past, this will not need to be repaid. It is a dollar for dollar credit. This means that if you buy a home in 2009 and at the end of the year you owe $1000 in taxes, you will actually receive $7000 after filing for the $8000 tax credit. This new legislation definitely provides a fair deal of opportunity for prospective buyers. It also raises a lot of questions which I will address here. Who can get the $8000 tax credit? How is the amount of the credit determined? How do I file for the $8000 tax credit? Do I need to apply? What types of homes qualify for the $8000 tax credit? Can I claim the tax credit on my 2008 Federal Income Taxes or just 2009? Can the tax credit be used as a down payment? I don't have enough of a tax burden to have $8000 of tax burden credited. Can I still get the refund?

Click here to continue reading $8000 Federal Income Tax Credit: First Time Home Buyers can get an $8000 tax credit for buying a house this year.


There is a follow up to this article: NORTHWEST AUSTIN HOMES: $8000 Tax Credit- How to get a 10% rebate of your homes value.

Related Blog Posts:
Just Listed: Foreclosure - Incredible deal on great home in Buttercup Creek

Believe it or Not: NW Austin is a Sellers Market (There are deals for buyers too!)

Featured Property: Pflugerville Townhouse

NORTHWEST AUSTIN HOMES: Hunters Chase and Milwood Subdivisions- What can you get for the money?

Posted by Brian W Martin REALTOR for The Pinnacle Group of Keller Williams specializing in helping First Time Home Buyers make great decisions to purchase Real Estate in Austin, TX