Imagine Austin - the City's Comprehensive Plan update - is seeking input from Austinites on a Vision for the future of the City. This is the first step in creating a new Comprehensive Plan for the city, which will direct city policies on long-term growth and development. Residents, property owners, and workers can participate in this phase of the process in two ways:
First, anyone can take the Issues and Aspirations survey, online or at any Austin library. Second, Austinites can host their own planning party-- ask for a " Meeting in a Box," and invite a few people over to participate. The Imagine Austin Meeting-in-a- Box has everything you need to host your own meeting.
Check it out and do your part in shaping the future Austin!
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Homebuyers Credit Redux
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I'm learning that many do not know that the new homebuyer tax credit that Congress passed last month applies to current homeowners as well as 1st time homebuyers. So, here is a quick highlight of key points of the incentive:
Also, the $8,000 tax credit still exists for 1st time home- buyers (defined as someone who has not owned a home in the last 3 years) and income limits have been raised to $125,000 for a single taxpayer and $225,000 for married couples filing jointly. Below is a chart that reflects the changes from the original rules enacted with the First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit to the one to the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009.
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So PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) produces a newsletter called Economic and Real Estate Trends that covers a pretty wide gamut of economic risk and models projecting residential real estate risk for the top 50 MSAs, and Austin is among the best performing of these MSA's.
So what does this mean for buyers in this market? Well for those that can qualify under the more stringent lending requirements, it means that you'll be able to take advantage of a buyers market (buying at a discount) with little risk of a downside in the next several years....below is more information related to the data here. I've provided a link to the original report from PMI below.
PMI provides a range of financial products for residential mortgages, public finance obligations, and mortgage-backed securities. This includes residential mortgage insurance and structured finance products to mortgage lenders, depository institutions, commercial banks, capital market participants, and investors in the United States.
What do they say about current trends and risk for the MSA's?
Basically there's a significant amount of risk in three large pockets, California, Arizona and Florida. Austin came out ranked a minimal risk (see map below) and performing 2nd best in appreciation among all MSAs.
What are the Numbers they track?
The numbers they track relate to risk which ties in the present housing industry strength, extent of economic and population growth and the exposure to prior hyper appreciation and exposure to sub-prime loans. Basically the Austin-Round Rock MSA performed really well in this context with a minimal risk ranking, and the second best performance in appreciation of all the tracked MSAs.
The full report that this information is drawn from can be found at http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/63/63356/pmi_eret_fall08.pdf
Let me know if you have any questions about this and what it means for buyers or sellers in the Austin market.
There was a great article in Business Week about real estate trends and looking at patterns in appreciation following artists moving into neighborhoods. Basically, it asserts that artists can act as the forerunner for re-development of neighborhoods and are a pre-condition in many cases setting the foundation for the run-up in appreciation of an area. The article mentions specific cities where this is the case and Austin's own eastside is among these. Below is the link to the article.
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/sep2008/bw20080923_944330.htm
There are numerous ways to spot this trend in action, most of it just simply by driving around and being in transitional neighborhoods. In East Austin in particular, the early signs of this change were when the East Austin Studio Tour http://www.eastaustinstudiotour.com/ got underway - which has been around for over 5 years now. The seminal event in this case was the need for large spaces where artist could expand into (and ply their trades) with low overhead.
I'll try to expand on this topic in a future post.
Sam
My family and I just returned from a 12 day overland journey into Mexico for a pretty amazing adventure. There were so many incredible things to share about the special time that we spent there and the absolutely incredible beauty of San Miguel de Allende, Patzcuaro, Zacatecas and the Pacific Coast. I think the most profound thing was the way that we were so completely disconnected from the busi-ness of our daily lives and the way that we were able to really re-connect as a family. Our boys Niko and Gabe are now 8 and 12 respectively and it's pretty clear that we're living on borrowed time before the teenage years hit.
On that Friday we came back through San Antonio on our final leg to Austin from Zacatecas (a stunningly beautiful colonial city), and we tuned into the local NPR affiliate there and learned of the complete economic meltdown happening in the stock market and in the financial sector. What a change 12 days can make.
So what does this mean for the housing market? Well, the housing market has fared one heck of a lot better than the stock market generally on the national scale, and in a few pockets (Austin being one of them), the housing market has stayed pretty robust, thank you very much. There was an article that just came out the other day in Forbes that I'd like to share with you that gives you a picture of what's happening in Austin as a stark contrast to the rest of the country. Below is a snapshot and enclosed is the full article.
The economic storm sweeping the country has left Americans with few places to hide. But those looking to hunker down might want to head to Texas, where they can get the best value for their dollar. That's because Austin and San Antonio lead our list of places where your money goes farthest. Residents of both enjoy affordable housing and promising prospects for job growth in coming years.[1]
If you have any questions about the current status of the housing market in Austin or would just like to talk about what's happening in your neighborhood, I'd be happy to hear from you. Feel free to call me at 512-633-4650 or email me at Sam@ArcherAustin.com. I've invested in some new tools that I think will help give you a better picture of Austin on a per neighborhood basis - with data provided on a weekly basis. If you'd like to receive these reports on an ongoing basis so you can keep on top of local real estate trends let me know. I'm really excited to share this with you. Even if folks aren't thinking of buying or selling in the near term everyone seems to be perennially curious about the market. It seems to be handily outperforming the stock market at this point.
Thanks and be sure to check out my blog at www.samarcher.vox.com where I'll be posting timely information on real estate trends and resources. And if you want any tips on tips and tricks on driving to and through Mexico, let me know.
Sam
[1] Forbes Best And Worst Bang For The Buck Cities, 10/10/08
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