Donna Harris, REALTOR® & ASP - Hill Country Austin Lakeway Homes

Party at the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary! As you can see below, the Tigers will join in with you as they have their own pool furnished with their own kegs! They had two of them between three tigers.

I'm just kidding because there is no alcohol allowed, but it was hilarious watching the Tiger attack the keg and splash around. Why is a beer keg the toy of choice?? I wonder how parents explain that one to kids who are old enough to ask questions like that.

Makes you wonder...

Below are a couple of more pictures from our trip to the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary in Austin TX with lots of Austin Wildlife.

**Are You Packed Yet?**

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the
surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park,
Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in
between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

All my blog posts were first published on donnahomesblog.com.
Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary - Party with the Tigers *

The Iron Cactus Restaurant at the Hill Country Galleria - Bee Cave TX- definitely redeemed themselves on Wednesday night!!

For those who did not read about the initial experience, you can read about it right here at The Iron Cactus Restaurant - One Horrible Experience.

As I mentioned in the previous post, as an edit at the bottom, the Chief Operating Officer, Bryan Soltis, contacted me and we had a very nice conversation. It ended with me saying I would go again and report back on how it went.

I also met with Nathan Hanna, the Iron Cactus Manager at the Hill Country Galleria location in Bee Cave. He asked me to ask for him on my next visit. However, I wanted to compare apples to apples. I knew that if I asked for Nathan upon my arrival, they would roll out the red carpet, but I wanted to experience the Iron Cactus hospitality the way it is everyday. With that, I didn't ask to speak with him until we were almost done with dinner.

Monique, our server, had no idea who I was so her service was not swayed one way or another. She greeted us with a huge smile and very upbeat personality. Almost like she really wanted to be there!

My mom asked for her opinion on two different entrees and instead of giving a politically correct answer that so many give, she gave her honest opinion, and my mom ordered Monique's favorite. My cousin-in-law wanted the other item my mom asked about so she confirmed that the entree was good, and Monique was quick to answer, "Yes, those are very good too, but she [my mom] asked what my favorite was."

After we were eating for awhile, I asked to speak with Nathan. Her knee-jerk reaction was one that I got many times when I was waiting tables, "Did I do something wrong?" I told her that she hadn't done anything wrong, but I just wanted to speak with Nathan.

Nathan came over and said hi. I told him everything was great! He appeared to be very happy about that.

In my conversation with Bryan, he mentioned that he was going to use my original post as a learning tool. Monique came back to the table to verify if everything was ok. I asked her if she knew why Nathan came over, because I thought maybe he told her after he stopped by. She said no.

I proceeded to say, "A few weeks ago, I had a very bad experience, and was asked to come back." Without saying anything else, her response was that she was shown the email and was shocked at what happened. I reiterated that she was great, and she let out a sigh of relief.

Needless to say, sometimes a first impression isn't the only impression you should get from an experience. If you have a bad experience, you might have caught someone on an off day. I'm so glad I went back to give the Iron Cactus Restuarant another chance because this time I saved room for dessert, and the FRIED cheesecake things were awesome!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the
surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park,
Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in
between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

All my blog posts were first published on donnahomesblog.com.
Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.

* Iron Cactus Restaurant - Hill Country Galleria - Bee Cave TX - Revisited *

Homes in Lake Pointe Austin - Bee Cave TX Market Activity - tell an interesting story. At the end of July, I wrote a blog post called Lake Pointe Austin TX Market Activity, and it explained how things were going in May, June, and July 2009.

I have decided to revisit the community to show you the Lake Pointe Austin - Bee Cave TX activity over the past 90 days of July, August, and September 2009.

Two months ago, there were 42 properties on the market, where as now, there are only 33. Did that many more homes sell?? You would think so, but that's not exactly the case.

Two months ago, there were 9 Pending properties and 14 Sold properties during the previous 3 month's activity. Strangely enough, the past three months show the exact same figures of 9 Pending and 14 Sold properties. That means, there weren't more that sold, but less new listings coming on the market. In the past 60 days, there have only been five new listings in Lake Pointe, but 18 listings have Expired or been Withdrawn from the market.

How do the numbers stack up against two months ago??

In July 2009, the average Active property was listed at $583,371 and on the market for 109 days. Do you think the sellers lowered their prices to get them sold?? Of course not! The current active property is listed at $586,982 and they've been sitting there, an average of 159 days!! What are these sellers thinking? What are their listing agents telling them?

In July 2009, the average Pending property was listed at $433,850 and on the market for 94 days. Do you think the sellers that actually received offers and contracts on their home had lower prices? But of course they DID!! The current Pending property is listed at $424,144 and only on the market for a mere 65 days!! That's great news for those sellers!

What does that tell me and you?? The homes that are sitting and sitting on the market in Lake Pointe Austin TX are still priced well above where buyers are going to even submit an offer. And if they are submitting low-ball offers, at actual market price, the sellers' heads are still in the clouds expecting higher prices so they'll sit and sit and become more stagnant on the market.

If you have a house to sell in Lake Pointe Austin TX, please contact me so we can work the numbers together and price your house to sell and not to just sit on the market with a sign in the yard!!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the
surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park,
Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in
between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

All my blog posts were first published on donnahomesblog.com.
Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Lake Pointe Austin - Bee Cave TX - Market Activity *

Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate shows over and over again that we're in a good place in the market. Are we as strong as we were a year ago? Not quite... but look at the chart below to tell you some of the story.

In the Third Quarter in 2008, the market was very strong. There were well over 6000 units sold through Hill Country Austin TX. Fourth quarter last year was not a fun time as interest rates spiked and mortgage criteria changed on a daily basis. That was then followed by the First Quarter of 2009, trying to get out from under some rocks, but consumers were scared.

First Quarter of 2009 also saw the least amount of sales in several years.

However, things have changed! The Second Quarter of 2009 shows about 5500 units being sold, which is almost as much as Third Quarter of 2008.

I can't wait to see what happened in the Third Quarter as yesterday was the last day, but I can't imagine the number going down. Sales had to of gone up because consumer confidence continues to go up. The $8000 tax credit didn't hurt either, but that's not where even fifty percent of the sales have been.

Stay tuned for Third Quarter stats of Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate as I'll post them when they're available, hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

**Are You Packed Yet?**

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the
surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park,
Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in
between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

All my blog posts were first published on donnahomesblog.com.
Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate - Sales Have Increased *

Homes for Sale Austin TX - I hear over and over again that it's not a good time to put your house on the market. I don't know why people think that, because they're missing out on all the action!

In just the past two days, according to the Austin MLS, there have been 273 new listings for homes for sale Austin TX. With all the activity for the new homes listed, 317 properties have had price adjustments, some up but mostly down.

Even though there have only been 258 properties that closed in this two day time frame, there have been 251 properties marked as Pending. Another number to look at is 447, as this is the number of listings that have either expired or been withdrawn from the market.

At first glance, it looks like we just keep adding more and more listings to the market without getting the inventory number down, but when looked at closer, 273 new listings offset 956 properties that are no longer available for sale because they've sold, are contract pending, expired, or withdrawn from the market.

When you see numbers like that, it shows our market is decreasing its inventory, and the supply and demand will probably start to sway back in favor of the seller more than the buyer.

Homes for Sale in Austin TX are jumping off the shelves, and buyers need to jump off the fence they're sitting on. Aren't those fence posts starting to get uncomfortable? Some even give splinters, especially when interest rates go up as you're slowly sliding down.

**Are You Packed Yet?**

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the
surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park,
Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in
between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

All my blog posts were first published on donnahomesblog.com.
Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Homes for Sale Austin TX - Inventory is decreasing *