Round Rock, TX

Round Rock:

The average price is up 4.4% from a year ago to $215,727. Single-family home sales are down 16.3% when compared to this time last year. The months of inventory is down slightly to 5, which favors buyers somewhat. Since last month the number of active listings is down slightly to 1024 units, but the number of listings is still up 13% compared to this time last year. Round Rock is in the top 25 most active Austin MLS markets.

Mary "B" Battaglia GRI, CRS

www.maryb.com

"Referrals Appreciated!"

It has been a long six or so months, but it looks as if the Dunkin' Donuts at the corner of A.W. Grimes and Gattis School Road is opening soon. Officially, I have read "Mid-November", but yesterday, the pink "D" was on the door, then the sign was up. Only thing missing is four types of hot, delcious coffee and a smorgasbord of yummy donuts and muffins.

Dunkin' Donuts holds a special place in my heart, as I stopped at one every work day for years when I worked in downtown Chicago. $1.50 for a large coffee beat Starbucks in price and taste. We lived in Hyde Park on the South Side before moving to TX. My wife was pregnant and I used to walk the dogs down the street to the local D&D on Saturday mornings to help satisfy her cravings. In the Windy City, you could find a D&D every couple of blocks, so it was quite a shock when we discovered that there was only one in the Austin Area back in 2002.

We managed to survive - We live about 10 minutes from Lone Star Bakery and their Round Rock Donut. In the last year or so, Central Donuts also opened near Gattis School Rd and Greenlawn. Actually, my older daughter prefers the selection at Randall's. But I digress...

My wife and I anxiously await fresh, hot, D&D French Vanilla Coffee. She loves their apple fritters, while I am a Double Chocolcate kind of guy. Got a favorite?

There was a commercial when I was growing up. The song went: Dunkin' Donuts - It's worth the trip... Not to be confused with the "Time to make the donuts guy..."

***Update***
There is a sign in the window that states, Opening December 15th!

I read in the local Community Impact newspaper today that there is a huge new development planned at the northeast corner of I-35 and Highway 79. It will encompass the entire area fronting 79 from 35 to Mays. Current businesses which will be vacated include Bealls, Chase Bank, Hollywood Video, KFC, and the UPS Store, among others.

Among the components mentioned for the new development are:

• A four-star hotel with 200 rooms
• Conference center with 35,000 s.f. of meeting space
• Medical/professional office space (200,000 s.f.)
• 40 two-bedroom condo units
• 210 apartment units
• Large retailers (100,000 s.f. of shopping)
• Restaurants
• New entertainment
• Public spaces, such as pocket parks, commons, and esplanade

When complete, the 13-acre tract will have just over 1 million square feet of new construction. The first phase is set to begin in early 2009.

More exciting news for Round Rock!

All images are courtesy of www.impactnews.com.

If you have any questions, please give me a call anytime at 512-796-7653 or email jason@austintexashomes.com. If you are looking to relocate to the Austin or Round Rock area, you might be interested in checking out my online relocation package here:

Austin Texas Relocation Package

Our Austin TX real estate website is at http://www.austintexashomes.com/. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Round Rock, Texas was founded around the year 1851 on the banks of a local creek called Brushy Creek, and the city was named for a large, circular rock which was situated in the middle of the creek. Wagon Wheel tracks can still be seen on the rock today, and the rock was in the middle of a low water crossing on Brushy Creek, which at the time was part of the famous Chisholm Trail which was used to herd cattle from Texas to Kansas. The town was originally called Brushy Creek, but changed its name in 1854 to Round Rock in honor of the rock and the stories surrounding it. Round rock was the reputed birthplace of Sam Bass, an infamous train robber of the day, as well as Soapy Smith, an old west con man who made Round Rock his home in the mid-1800s.

The city, which has a current population of around 75,000 inhabitants, has a rich and colorful history. The area northwest of downtown on Sam Bass Road is still referred to as "Old Town", a reference to the shootout between Sam Bass and the Texas Rangers in 1878, an event which is re-enacted every year in downtown Round Rock during the yearly Frontier Days festival which is held on the fourth of July.

Round Rock is also known as the Sports Capital of Texas, and is home of the Round Rock Express, a minor league baseball team that plays in the Dell Diamond, which is a local sports arena and concert venue built by the Dell Corporation, which has its corporate headquarters in Round Rock and is one of Round Rock's most well known employers.

Round Rock is about 17 miles north of Austin and 10 miles south of Georgetown, and has around 21,000 households, and an area of just over 26.3 square miles, a small percentage of which is water. Round Rock is considered to be a very safe community, and has been named one of the best communities for young people by The Alliance for Youth, which attributes this fact to a program called New Horizons, which encourages students to remain in school and development the life skills necessary for success.

Along with the Dell Corporation, there are numerous large employers in the Round Rock area, including Toppan, Sears, and TECO/Westinghouse. The median household income in Round Rock is around $70,000, and Round Rock has a very diverse population, with roughly 47% of the population having children in the household under the age of 18 and 65% of the households including married couples. The median price for a house in Round Rock in 2006 was about $150,000, and round Rock offers various choices of accommodations from luxury homes to smaller starter homes, as well as apartments, duplexes, and condominium projects.

The Round Rock School District Schools are also considered excellent, and over 85% of graduating seniors take the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and the city has an excellent library that offers children's programs and a summer reading program for kids too. There are many recreational facilities including the Clay Madsen Recreation Center, which includes a 14,000 square foot skate park, summer camps and day camps for school students on break. The center also offers swimming lessons, a game room, and two basketball courts, as well as a T.V. room for children to safely recreate all year round.

Round Rock also has quite a few well known hotels, restaurants, and opportunities for nightlife, along with excellent medical facilities, including Round Rock Hospital and the new Dell Children's Hospital, which is associated with the Seton Hospital system.

Round Rock is an excellent place to visit and catch a ball game, or enjoy the natural beauty and scenery, and learn about Texas history. The city is also an excellent place to consider when choosing a location to raise a family and settle down, or retire in a safe community with close proximity to big cities yet all the advantages of small town living. Come on over to Round Rock and take a look at its many advantages, and you might just want to stay a while!

Escapeso Realty provides real estate services in Central Texas. Their site provides a quick search for Austin homes. They also have analysis of the Austin real estate market and the Round Rock real estate market.

You may live in the best city, suburb or town in the world. Everyone you know may be jealous of your general location, emitting sighs laced with envy whenever you mention it. But, if you don't live in a neighborhood to match, none of that matters. You may as well live in squalor, because it is the little things - the people to your left and right, the homes around your own, the community - that are most important. That is why places like Teravista, TX, located right outside Austin, exist.

History

Teravista, as a small, relatively new neighborhood, is less a place of history and more a place of possibility. The close-knit community grows larger every day. Plans are developed and made reality at a rapid fire pace. Already, there are numerous shopping centers, a large golf course, an on-site elementary school and miles of greenbelt trails for running, hiking and biking. A new mall and movie theater are scheduled to open in fall 2008, and two medical facilities, Scott and White, and Seton Medical Center Williamson, are just opened. It is clear from the buildings and structures and organizations that come into Teravista on a regular basis that the citizens of this neighborhood are determined to make up for a lack of history by creating their own.

Economy

Teravista's economy is largely rooted in Austin. The nearby city offers employment in the industrial and technology fields, as well as possibilities in numerous other large organizations, which are more and more choosing the Lone Star's capital as their home base. However, that's not all Teravista has to offer. The neighborhood's continual development means a continual flood of new jobs. The two hospitals in and of themselves call for a number of doctors, nurses, nurses' aides and other medical staff to keep them running. The elementary school, golf course and retail sites require similar manpower. So despite Teravista's small size, the economy is quite large.

Real Estate

The real estate market in Teravista is very much like the economy: growing. There are a wide range of homes, varying in style and price. Typically, houses start at $150,000 and work their way up to the mid-two hundred thousands. Each home is as beautiful and intimate as the neighborhood it has been placed in, luring families, young and old, to the charming community.

Attractions

Perhaps Teravista's greatest attraction is the luxury, 18-hole golf course right inside community limits. The course is 7,200 yards long and, as a public course, operates under a daily fee structure. Residents, however, are offered a discount. For a slightly smaller fee, they can play on the rolling hills of green calling to them from their backyard.

For those who don't golf (and those who do), there is also a Resident's Club, with a two-story great room used for numerous events throughout the year. Information about upcoming happenings, new groups and community news are posted in the club as well. And of course, there are the greenbelt trails. Anyone who has ever loved nature loves the miles of landscape begging for a walk, bike or jog.

Teravista is small, but it is also packed with opportunities for fun, employment, togetherness and, most importantly, home.

Joe Cline is a professional real estate broker, investor, and REALTOR with RE/MAX Capital City Austin, Texas.

Find out more about Austin Texas Real Estate and homes in Round Rock, Texas. If you think Round Rock might be the place for your next home be sure and check out Mayfield Ranch homes for sale..