Garreth Wilcock Homes at Mueller

The Springs at Walnut Creek is David Weekley's newest neighborhood in North Austin. It is 15 minutes on I35 from Downtown and close to major North Austin employers like Samsung. It's an interesting alternative for buyers who love the style of homes, and who have been priced out of Mueller.

While a Garden Home at Mueller might start at $325,000 for a 2 bedroom 1600 sqft home that is built on a zero lot line (which means the homes are 5' apart, and one side of the home has no windows as it is a firewall), prices at the Springs start at $211,000 for the Ashcroft - a 1700sqft 3 bed home that sits on a typical Austin new home lot.

So I anticipate that buyers looking for an energy efficient new home will consider moving North to the new community and enjoy much more home for less money. My view is shared by the builder who has moved one of their former Mueller sales staff up to the new neighborhood. The model homes are all but complete and the furniture was delivered last weekend which will make the models ready to visit for the holidays.

Mostly people start to search online for homes over the holidays, though rarely venture out to go home shopping in person. The floorplans are up, and the first homes have already sold - if you want more info on the homes out there, and want to know some pitfalls to avoid when working with a new home builder, give me a call on 512 215 4785.

HEB is coming to Mueller - it's set to headline at the market district at 51st and Berkman sometime in 2013. It's been eagerly awaited by residents since the inception of the development.

The fundamentals of real estate say that buying in the way of development is good for appreciation. So if you bought a small home next to the site of a multi-billion dollar retail park like the Domain, you might expect that more people would like your home over time as the number of jobs and amenities increased. So too you might expect a HEB to be a good amenity for a neighborhood - especially if it was a super energy efficient LEED certified bells and whistles store like that planned for Mueller Austin.

Of course the new store is developing as the Dell Childrens' Hospital is growing another wing, and other medical office buildings are being built. so progress is coming to Mueller in truck-fulls. Which is one reason that there are 221 new homes under construction in 2012, along with the projected ground breaking of the Austin Children's Museum in Spring 2012.

So what does this mean for house prices at Mueller? Read more at my sister blog. You might be surprised to see my opinion. 512 215 4785

The Mueller community is notable amongst Austin TX neighborhoods as it is vocal and active. Nothing unusual in that perhaps - look at Hyde Park - but people have only been living at Mueller for around 4 years. There are several different forums (ok fora for the pedantic) in which Muellerites communicate, and here is a quick run down of how to use each one.

MuellerAustinOnline.com is Mueller Austin's members only website sponsored by the Property Owners' Association - and is reserved exclusively for residents of the neighborhood. It has information on forms to use for property modifications, who to contact in case of emergency, and the events that are sponsored by the master developer are featured in the calendar. The POA is still run by the developer, and isn't planned to be handed over for some years yet - until a majority of homes are occupied.

MuellerCommunity.com is the grass roots website set up by Kevin - a young man who had planned on moving here but hasn't. Yet. He has a free solution for neighborhoods to use to facilitate communication between neighbors and local government. The URL redirects to a CitiCite site, and you can join one or more neighborhoods there, including ours.

MuellerAustin.com is the developer website which has had substantial upgrades in 2011. It has a list of homes for sale, information about commercial and residential real estate and now has a journal which keeps you up to date with events and interesting meetings coming up. Of course, it is a little slower moving than a blog perhaps (the whole site) but it is really a good starting point to get official news releases. Head over to homesAtMueller.com if you want the rumors and opinion!

Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor who specializes in Real Estate in Mueller Austin TX, and loves being part of the community there.

While writing about the Affordability Gap for homes at Mueller Austin Texas, I realized it would be a good idea to recap on how much home a buyer can afford and relate this to the Austin Median Family Income (MFI).

MFI is measured by metropolitan area by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In Austin in 2011, the median family income for a family of four is $74,875.

To make some assumptions about monthly debt ($500), annual property taxes of $7000 and an interest rates at around 4.125%. This is how much house you could afford -$260,000 - $287,000 (depending on which ratios you use)

This results in a monthly payment of $1700 - $1900 (including principle interest taxes and insurance)

There are lots of different mortgage calculators out there - I used one at CNN money none of them are perfect, as most don't factor in the Austin challenge - property taxes of 2.3%. The interesting thing to me is the difference that an interest rate of 6% makes. With everything else being equal, the same income could support $217,000 to $239,000.

For someone earning double the median family income, say $150,000 with other debts of $1000 a month, a $50,000 down payment and 4.125% interest rate, a home price of $583,000 to $634,000 is possible.

At Mueller market rate homes span the $290k- 900k range, with an affordable program with homes below $175k. There's a distinct gap for the family earning the median family income.

Ok, so all of Mueller is close to Downtown and the University of Texas, but it took me this long to get a good video showing where the new homes are, where current building is underway on condos and where the commercial area is.



Mueller will have so many new homes, with a large proportion being in the income qualified affordable program and around 30 new market rate yard homes. One of the more interesting new home types is the Shop Home - a vertically distributed live-work space which will be around the main tenants in the impending though organically growing Town Center.

Also there will be a 75000sqft HEB opening in 2013, so things are moving and shaking in what used to be an old airport - 711 acres lying dormant in a prominent position close to the heard of Austin. Here's Catellus dude Greg Weaver talking about the plans for the greenest grocery store you can imagine.



Then finally, the progress at the Wildflower Terrace has been incredible this year. It's been less than 12 months since the ground breaking (below)



And now applications are open to allow the senior affordable homes to be moved into this year - 2011!



Garreth Wilcock helps people understand Mueller homes for sale 512 215 4785