HomeCity Austin

Another “best of” for Austin, Texas! In a recent survey Microsoft ranks our beloved city among the top 5 most Wi-Fi friendly cities in America. Just how does a city earn such a prestigious ranking you ask? Microsoft officials turned to Intel’s annual “Most Unwired City” survey as a starting point, which ranks cities based on the number of commercial and public wireless access points (or hotspots), plus airports with wireless access and broadband availability. In addition, they also surveyed business travelers and asked them where they felt the most at home with their wireless devices. Finally, wireless industry experts were called upon for their recommendations. Here is the final ranking:

1. Seattle
2. San Francisco
3. Austin
4. Portland
5. Atlanta

It should also be noted that Austin was sited as one of the forerunners for Wi-Fi hot spots, before San Francisco and Seattle. Thanks to innovative programs like the Austin Wireless City Project. This program is dedicated to improving the availability and quality of public free Wi-Fi in the city. As a result of its ‘for-the-people’ attitude toward connectivity, you’ll easily find a high number of free Wi-Fi connections anywhere from public libraries and coffee shops, to the popular local hangouts the Crown and Anchor Pub.

In comparison to  most of the nation, Austin’s Real Estate Market remains strong.  However, the Austin Real Estate market can provide individuals the opportunity to find a “deal”.  One way to find your next Austin home is to search for homes that have been on the market for a long time and see their price history since it has been on the market.  The HomeCity website, http://austin.homecity.com/ provides our users the opportunity to search by days on market and to see the price history of every Austin home for sale.

The State of Texas’ Texas Education Agency (TEA) provides detailed information regarding the performance of individual Texas school campus(s) and school districts in and around the Austin, TX area.  TEA provides SAT scores, standardized testing results, spending per student and many other valuable pieces of data.  When evaluating the Austin, TX Real Estate market, many families will select the area based on the performance of a specific high school, middle or elementary school.

Once the school(s) has been selected, the challenge is finding the right home in Austin, TX.  Historically, the consumer would have to contact an Austin Real Estate Agent for guidance or spend many hours searching Austin Real Estate websites that have homes for sale in Austin, TX trying to find the Austin homes that feed into a particular campus.  To simplify this process, HomeCity Real Estate provides our clients and guests with the ability to search the Austin Real Estate market by school campus.  Now you can find only those Austin, TX homes for sale that feed into the particular school campus(s) you are interested in seeing.  To start your search by school campus go to http://austin.homecity.com/.

Four subdivisions that are environmentally friendly are being planned in the greater Austin area by Green Builders Inc. Georgetown Village will offer homes from 1,800 square feet to 2,400 square feet in Georgetown. Several models are near completion. The homes, to be built in the next six to eight years, will be priced from the low $200,000s to the $500,000s. The second project is Rutherford West in Driftwood. Rutherford West will be an 800-acre community, with 400 acres set aside as a conservation area. The development, which will take two to four years to complete, will have homes from the mid-$300,000s to more than $600,000. The 1.5-acre lots will be sold separately, with half going to the conservation easement. The model home is now under construction. In Buda, a green subdivision, called Elm Grove, will have 320 green homes priced from the low $200,000s to the low $300,000s. The remaining green subdivision is set to be built on 530 acres in Pflugerville. New Sweden Community, which has not broken ground, will add 1,600 homes to the Pflugerville community. The project, which is expected to take six to eight years to complete, will have organic farming, a community garden and a catfish pond. The organic farming will be cared for by tenants; the community garden will be tended by the homeowners association.

The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University is the nation’s largest publicly funded organization devoted to real estate research. Most of our $2 million in annual funding comes from real estate license fees paid by more than 140,000 professionals. A nine-member advisory committee appointed by the governor provides research guidance and approves the budget. View the latest report.

From the Austin Business Journal, October 29, 2007

HGTV is looking for a few curious homeowners to star in its real estate show “My House is Worth What?”

The show sends real estate professionals to price homes and give advice on how to make changes, improvements or additions that would add value to the home.

Producers are looking for homeowners that would like to know their home’s market value because of a compelling reason, such as they’ve outgrown their present home and are looking to move, or need to leverage the equity in their home to finance a trip or a wedding.

They are also looking for Realtors that know the market and can give professional evaluations.

Homeowners and Realtors can download an application to be on the show at www.pietown.tv/shows/myHouseIsWorthWhat.html.

From The Austin Business Journal, November 23, 2007

Austin is among the top ten cities in the country viewed as most desireable for relocation, according to a recent study.

The study, “Talent Markets: The Importance of Location in the Competition for Human Capital,” named Austin the sixth most desireable city for relocation out of more than 30 cities examined in the United States.

San Diego, San Francisco and New York were the top three most desireable cities for relocation in the study’s survey, but the three least preferred cities also included New York at number one, along with Detroit and Los Angeles.

“Employers and governmental entities within a given region can play an important role in attracting new talent by promoting the unique advantages they offer to residents in concrete terms,” says Allan Schweyer, president and executive director of the Human Capital Institute and co-author of the study. “Our study found that the ‘brand,’ or perception of a city, is a critical factor in the decision-making process for candidates. Therefore, cities and employers that understand, manage and promote their brands will be best positioned to attract and keep knowledge workers of all ages.”

While the foreclosure rate continues to rise across the country, property foreclosure rates in Travis County is down 15% compared to last year (source: KXAN).