I'm on Spring Break this week with my kids, but staying here in San Antonio, Texas. I used to live in Dallas (1989-1998) and while there is much to do we found ourselves traveling here for vacations. So, we moved here. Now that I live here, why travel somewhere else? I do for the summer, like to travel internationally, but for mini-vacations there is much to do. I'm posting 3 recent blogs that vacationers might appreciate. This week I'll be blogging about what I did here and include a few photos. Check out my Pinterest account for photos as that's my favorite place to pin them.
TOP 15 Things to Do in San Antonio, Texas
Spring Break Classes at the Garden - San Antonio, Texas
1. Get passports for my kids. We're heading to Cancun, Mexico this summer and the kids have never traveled internationally.
2. Check out a local restaurant - not sure which one yet. It will be downtown since we'll be in that area today.
3. List a house in Seguin, Texas - a small town east of San Antonio located near the Randolph, AFB auxilliary airport.
One of my favorite tools to determine market activity is Pending Sales. While new listings and sold homes are good measures of market activity, pending tells me what is IMMEDIATELY happening as it is most recent information. Just listed is not sales data, and just closed is 30-60 days after the executed contract. Pending is NOW. For other trends you may want to read: Housing Market Report - Austin, Texas (03.09.12)
I like this graphical interface as you can boldly see that Austin, in general, is doing very well. There is a 28.3% increase in Pending Sales this January compared to 2011. Looking over at the data to the right you can see that spread over a year, the increase averaged 10.3% increase.
More interesting, look at the line graph below and see the 6 year sales trend. We hit a peak in 2007-2008 then hit bottom in 2010. There is a slight improvement in 2011, then BOOM! That pent up demand from a three year lull resulted in a big improvement for 2012.
If you've been on the fence about buying a home, waiting for the last shoe to drop, it dropped. From this point forward, my Magic 8 ball says the market will continue to improve so there's no more time to waste. Call Cathy Bureau to sell or buy a home in the Austin-San Antonio Corridor.
For national information you may refernce this inforgraphic or refer to this blog. Real Estate Values.
The media has a tendency to focus on national reports which may or may not reflect on the market activity in your own community. Recently I expanded my service area to include the Austin metro area to better serve my clients. In the 6 years I have helped people buy and sell San Antonio Homes, I have found several clients have a need to be in the Austin and San Antonio area, the I-35 corridor. By being a member of both boards I can now serve Austin, San Antonio, and the metro areas in bewtween: Kyle, Buda, San Marcos, and New Braunfels.In the coming month I will be providing direct links for searches in those areas with monthly market reports.
In my MLS research of the market trends in Austin I came across this report provided by the Austin Board of Realtors.
The Austin area home sales volume is up by 10% comparing January 2011 to January 2012.
Austin Board of REALTORS® releases real estate statistics for January
AUSTIN, Texas – February 21, 2012 – According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) report released today by the Austin Board of REALTORS®, 1,051 single-family homes were sold in the Austin area in January 2012, which is 10 percent more than January 2011. During the same time period, the median price for Austin-area homes was $176,550, seven percent less than the same month of the prior year.
Leonard Guerrero, Chairman of the Austin Board of REALTORS®, commented, “It is encouraging to see last year’s momentum continue into the New Year. January marks the eighth straight month in which the volume of home sales in Austin has outpaced the previous year and the inventory of homes has decreased.”
Austin-area homes spent an average of 85 days on the market in January 2012, eight days less than the same month of the prior year. Compared to January 2011, the Austin market also featured six percent fewer new listings, 19 percent fewer active listings and 16 percent more pending sales in January 2012.
The Austin market had 4.1 months of inventory in January 2012, or 1.4 months less than January 2011. The figure, unchanged from December 2011, marks the lowest inventory level the Austin market has seen since the organization began tracking the statistic in January 2009.
January 2012 Statistics
For national information you may refernce this inforgraphic or refer to this blog. Real Estate Values.
It's spring break for many schools this month so I thought this would be a good thing to provide tourists and newcomers to San Antonio, Texas. I wanted to do a TOP 10 list but there are just too many great things to do here while visiting. Having lived in San Antonio, Texas since 1998 I have been to everything on this list. Besides the Alamo, I think my favorite is the Ghost Tours as you get a unique historical perspective tour of the city.
I listed the TOP 15 things to do in San Antonio by uniqueness, being quentesential San Antonio, and being family friendly. I also inclued a few extra resouce links. Use the S.A.V.E. coupons on these activities. When you are ready to relocate to our beautiful San Antonio, Texas don't forget to give me a ring, Cathy Bureau, Realtor (210) 560-1891.
My favorite ornamental tree in Texas is the Mountain Laurel for its intense purple color, pungent, grape candy-like smell, & it's one month blooming season - it keeps you in demand.
They produce pod like seeds every other year which some folks use to make jewelry. Butterflies love them. They make nice privacy fences as they mature at 20'. They only bloom from February to March when we have big rainfall in the earliest stages of spring and since we had a huge rainfall over the last few weeks, just this week alone I think I saw 10+ posts of photos on faceboon!
It can be found growing on the sides of the Texas Hill Country mountains, in Texas Parks and Wildlife trails, and in front of your dentist's office. The seeds blow and grow by God's grace. It requires very little water, perfect soil conditions, and grows intensely slow. But some how when people try to start them by seeding they just can't seem to find the perfect conditions so people buy baby plants to gain more success.
Thankfully, I received a baby one as a gift from the Texas Forestry Director last weekend during the Leon Valley Earthwise Living Fair, while they promoted the San Antonio $50 tree rebate program that I blogged about recently: Green Shade Tree Rebates - San Antonio, Texas.
Since the CPS & the Texas Forestry Department find my blogs with Google Alert, I'm making it publicly known that I'm planting my gift this afternoon when I'm done blogging! Thank you!
PS - The blog background I'm using is to promote the joint venture for the Alamo area coordianted efforts to add trees to San Antonio. More information can be found at alamoforestpartnership.org.
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I help you buy, sell, build, & renovate to save you money, improve your health, & increase the value of your investment. Expertise in commercial, corporate leasing, Green, Short Sales & Foreclosures.
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