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Go to search properties and change the drop down menu from single family home to lease.  It’s that easy.  You can schedule a showing by calling or emailing.  We are here to help with ALL of your real estate needs!

Downtown Austin - Austin's Real Estate Go-To Team

Downtown Condo For 130K??

Is anyone interested in a downtown condo approx 650 sq feet for $129K?

You should be prepared to put between at least 10-15% down.  HOA is $250 per month.

This condo will probably be under contract by the end of the week.  Call or email me today to schedule a showing.

How Do I Know When It’s a Good Time To Buy?

I’ve been asked similar questions from many home buyers asking if this is the right time for them to make the big move into a home. I would like to shout from the rooftops that this is a GREAT time to buy a home. Of course, each person and situation is different, but a lot of people couldn’t ask for a better time.

As the old adage goes, ‘Buy Low and Sell High.’  Well, the housing market is certainly low. Foreclosures, Short Sales, and limited pool of buyers have brought housing prices down in a lot of areas around Austin. Now is the time to negotiate. [Read more...]

Austin Rental Market Vacancy Falling, Rents Rising

A glut in Austin’s apartment supply is slowly leveling out this year and analysts expect vacancy rates to fall an estimated 9 percent, according to the latest market data from Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co.

The real estate investment firm said the city is forecast to add 19,100 jobs this year, prompting a rush of new residents and a rise in demand for residential rentals. At the same time, the apartment development pipeline has drastically thinned out, with 2,860 new units expected this year, down from 10,340 in 2009.

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Austin Named 2010 Smarter Cities

Pennybacker Bridge - Austin's Real Estate Go To TeamA nationwide environmental group has named Austin as one of America’s “2010 Smarter Cities.” Austin joins three other Texas cities on the National Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) list of US cities committed to solving future energy needs through a combination of renewable energy and conservation measures.

The NRDC study looked at a number of factors in determining which cities made the cut. Among these were usage factors such as the percentage of energy derived from renewable sources as well as the amount of energy used per capita. In addition, the study also considered whether or not community-wide planning geared towards anticipating future energy use was in place.

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Austin Ranked 3rd Most Recession Resistant City

Austin - Austin's Real Estate Go To TeamIn April of 2008, Austin was ranked the third most recession proof city by Forbes because of a lack of a housing bubble, low median home price, low unemployment, and strong job growth segments that would recover more quickly. Plus, Austin was known as “Silicon Hills” for its growing tech sector industries.

Now, over two years later, the Brookings Institute has released their quarterly in-depth analysis which also ranks Austin the third most recession proof city in the U.S.

The Brookings Institute analyzes the health of America’s 100 largest metropolitan economies. It examines trends in metropolitan-level employment, output, and housing conditions to look “beneath the hood” of national economic statistics to portray the diverse metropolitan trajectories of recession and recovery across the country. MetroMonitor looks at the particular industries that drive national economic trends, and takes into account metro areas’ unique starting points for eventual recovery.
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My Favorite Little Austin Deli

The Little Deli - Austin's Real Estate Go To TeamI stopped by one of my favorite hidden Austin lunch spots, The Little Deli, today for lunch. Located in the Crestview Minimax shopping center at 7101 Woodrow, this gem is a staple that has served delicious sandwiches to the Crestview, Brentwood and Wooten Park neighbors since 1992. As the neighborhood locals will attest, former owner Lucretia Doyer would yell your name as soon you walked in the door. She always knew her regulars and what they liked to eat.

Since moving out of the area a few years ago, I don’t make it back to The Little Deli as often as I like. There is a new owner, Tony Villani, and he has added pizza slices to the menu. Try the turkey mozzarella on an onion Kaiser roll. It’s a huge sandwich that will keep you going all day!

Friendly neighbors, quaint lunch spots and sense of family are what Crestview and Brentwood is all about.

4 Texas Cities Feeling Ease In Recession

According to a recent Forbes article, Texas has four of the the ten cities where the recession is easing. Below is a passage from the article:

Good Fortune In The Lone Star State

Downtown AustinIf one state is a poster child for economic recovery, it’s Texas, home to four of the 10 cities on our list. There’s more to why Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston are faring well than just the state’s energy industry. The tech, government and education industries supplement the oil state’s riches. As for housing, cities in Texas didn’t see the same run-up in home prices and rampant speculation that led to the spectacular bubble burst elsewhere in the country.

“The housing market got lucky, if you want to look at it that way,” says James P. Gaines, research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. “We didn’t have excessive overbuilding, so we don’t have a big overhang of unsold new homes, and because Texas has among most affordable housing in the country, the demand sustained.”

Like Austin and Dallas, Houston, tied for No. 4 on the list, is expected to experience a three-year 7.03% rise in jobs. But nowhere are jobs projected to grow more than in San Antonio, where four military bases should help drive its expected 8.32% increase.

To read the complete article click here

Are Interest Rates On The Rise?

Rising Interest Rates - Austin's Real Estate Go To TeamCNN Money is reporting that this should happen by the end of the month.

The Fed has been buying mortgage-backed securities, the bundling of home loans that are used to fund mortgage lending, since late 2008. But next month it plans to complete its purchase of $1.25 trillion in mortgages.

That could be bad news. There is wide agreement that the removal of this support will mean higher mortgage rates.

Higher rates on the way. But even if the Fed holds onto the mortgages it has already purchased, the act of no longer buying additional mortgages is likely to raise mortgage rates in the coming weeks. Experts say a jump of at least a quarter to a half percentage point is likely.

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