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Average price was down 10%. Sold listings was up 36%! Average days on the market was down 33% from 74 to 49! Clean them up, price them right and away they go!
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Nice of our gvt to tell effectively legislate away your ability to easily sell your home... this bill has already passed the house: ( http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2454).
Home owners take note & tell your friends and relatives ...who are home owners!!! Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act.
H.R. 2454, the "Cap & Trade" bill passed by the House of Representatives, if also passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us has ever experienced. The Congressional Budget Office (supposedly non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the average cost to every family of four will be $6,800 per year. No one is excluded.
In effect, this bill prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator. To get this permission, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home measured. Then the government will tell you what your new energy efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water efficiency requirements.Read More
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The fed has announced they won't keep up the pace of the actions they have been taking to keep interest rates artificially low. Thus, towards the end of this year and into next year expect rates to head into the 6's. So, if your thinking of buying take advantage of these rates in the 5's while you can!
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There are lots of reasons why folks look to lease a home for a year or so. Fortunately, the Austin area, including surrounding towns like Buda, Kyle, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Georgetown and more, have a good supply of nicely kept homes available at reasonable monthly lease rates. When leasing a home it is important to ask for the help of a licensed Realtor who can gain access to these homes, compare lease rates and assist with the lease forms. Typically, the property owner compensates the Realtor who assists you in finding and leasing their property. This is much like the seller paying the commissions for the Realtors involved in the sale of their home. The Realtor who represents you works for you, not for the property owner. Take advantage of the services of a Realtor in your next lease transaction as it won't cost you any extra and could save you a good bit. The property owners typically use standardized leasing forms and other documents that have been produced for their benefit, make sure you use the services of someone who will make sure that you receive the expertise in your representation that you deserve. I would be glad to help you in your next search for a lease property in Hays, Travis or Williamson counties. Give me a call at 512-826-2600 to get started or visit my website at: www.andycookhomes.com to find lease properties in the area you are interested in and then call me to go take a look at them. Andy Cook Realtor (512) 826-2600 www.andycookhomes.com
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And visit Aquarena Springs! What a pretty place. Beautiful clear water. You can clearly see the bottom of the riverbed thru the glass bottom boats. At depths of over 20 feet you can see the spring water bubbling up thru the sandy bottom as soft shell turtles swim by. The little ones got a kick out that. A great way to spend a hot summer afternoon in Central Texas. The boat rides are cheap, and if you go to the Aquarena Springs website: http://www.aquarena.txstate.edu/, you can print out a coupon that gives you $2 off the boat ride for everyone in your party (I think the limit per coupon is 8). Go see some nature, take a walk out on the boardwalk and check out all the carp in their "holes" right by the walkway, really neat. When you get back to reality -- call me and let's go buy or sell some good real estate together. Andy Cook 512-826-2600 www.andycookhomes.com
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The kiddos sure do love going for a hike / wade / swim at the nearby state parks. They have recently been to McKinney Falls State Park and Pedernales Falls State Park and have had a great time. Visit the website for Texas Parks & Wildlife and find a park near you. Each of these two parks are very near my favorite area: South Austin & Buda. That makes it an easy drive to the park to enjoy a day trip for the kids. At McKinney Falls they went Armadillo spotting and found 3 of these crazy critters plus one unidentified swimming snake. Pedernales Falls yielded no Armidillos but had a large supply of lizards which the kids love to spot. I think next up is going to be Bastrop or Lockhart State Park. Maybe we'll see you there. Andy Cook www.andycookhomes.com (512) 826-2600
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We have some great new homes coming on the market in Buda that are designed and built with limiting their impact on the environment in mind. Green Builders of Austin has several homes under construction in the new developments at Rutherford West near Driftwood and Elm Grove which is near Buda. As you can tell from Green Builders website they are constructing high quality homes in great settings. I would be love to tour these homes with you. Let's go see these soon before they are all gone. Andy Cook www.andycookhomes.com 826-2600
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Now listed at $189,900. This is by far the best price per square foot for a remodeled home in the desirable Cherry Creek neighborhood. Check out the lieting information and pictures on my website at www.andycookhomes.com. This home won't be on the market long at this great price, bring your buyers by before it disappears. Andy Cook 826-2600
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New data that is just coming out shows that the Buda & Kyle areas showed a 7% increase in the average price of homes that sold in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the first quarter of 2007. Sales price in Q1 of 2007 averaged $165,500 and increased to $177,029 in Q1 of 2008. Number of solds in Q1 2007 was 235 compared to 215 in 2008. The average days on the market decreased from 72 in 2007 to 65 in 2008. The housing market is still moving along fairly well down here in southern areas of Austin and Northern Hays County! Andy www.andycookhomes.com
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For those shopaholics out there I can't think of a better place to live than right here in either South Austin or Buda. What a laundry list of shopping selections within 20 minutes of easy driving to a wide range of destinations. South Austin has all the wonderful shops of Sunset Valley which are centrally located near Mopac and 290. Just a skip up Mopac from Sunset Valley and you land at Barton Creek Square Mall, which has been recently been renovated and is very nice. While you are in the neighborhood you may as well stop for lunch at Rudy's and grab some of Austin's best B-B-Q. Further South in Austin, along I-35, you have the brand new Southpark Meadows, on the grounds of the old concert venue / cow fields where I once saw Willie Nelson on the fourth of July. Southpark Meadows has a lot of the same shops as Sunset Valley plus a few more, and a nice new movie theater. Buda offers the new Cabela's, which is like an Academy on lots of steriods. Buda and South Austin residents can easily make the quick ride down I-35 the outlet stores near San Marcos. For those who like rankings, the Prime Outlet Stores of San Marcos were recently ranked the third best place in the World to shop. That's some heavy duty shopping right there kids. I can't forget all the funky dives along South Congress which have become quite the trendy place to be. Yep, for all you shoppers out there South Austin and Buda is the place to be, myself, I will be on the back porch in the shade - or maybe the pool. Andy Cook (512) 826-2600 www.andycookhomes.com
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I used to go to the library all the time as a kid. I would ride my bike all the way across town (well it wasn't a real big town) most days during the summer to get a new book and get my reading club card stamped. Nowadays the kids have this thingy called the internet that apparantly Al Gore invented. That danged ole internet seems to be replacing quality time at the library for a bunch of kids. Despite that, we sure have a bunch of good libraries around Buda and Austin. Here are some danged ole internet links to remind you about them: Buda Library: http://www.buda.lib.tx.us/ Austin Library: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/ I've heard they can still do the thing where you "check out" a book and take it home and sit and read it then bring it back! Cool. Andy Cook www.andycookhomes.com
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The Austin area is full of them. We have a gajillion city, county & state parks to choose from and most of them are really great. I haven't been to all of them, only a few. But, I have seen or heard about a bunch more than I have been to and I can't wait to go visit them soon. Some of my favorites are: Zilker, Emma Long, Mt. Bonnell, Town Lake and Circle C. You can search this handy site on Austin360 to find the perfect park for your outing: http://www.austin360.com/news/content/recreation/guides/parks/search.html. Enjoy our great weather this time of the year. Do what I did the other day -- go fly a kid with some little kids. It's amazing how much joy they get from holding the string handle on a dragon kite with a ten foot tail as it soars only a couple of hundred feet above their heads. And, I could just lay there in the grass, relax and listen as they talked about their dragon. AC
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Oh, there is nothing like spending a beautiful spring afternoon sorting, sifting, filing, and sorting again the many forms and documents that go along with closing on a HUD contract. But, then again not everyone gets to experience the thrills of such good times. Buying a HUD home can be cumbersome for the buyers. However, it will definetely be tedious for your Realtor. Dealing with HUD is very straight forward and not all that difficult as long as you stay organized on your paperwork and don't miss any deadlines. My suggestion is to hire a Realtor to do this stuff for you .. actually, I don't think that HUD will allow you to play there games if you aren't a licensed Realtor these days. We are lucky here in the Austin area in that the regional office that sells HUD properties for this area is located in Austin. Thus, nearby for those late minute dropoffs to meet deadlines! Despite the achey feelings an agent sometimes experiences while completing a HUD closing, it is well worth it for your client to be able to purchase a place they will make their home. Here is a link to the HUD website for more ACTUAL information regarding making a HUD purchase and locating HUD properties in your area: http://www.hud.gov/. I feel better already, now where was that Inspection Request Form???
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You don't want to live your whole life and never see the Weiner Dog Races held each year at the beautiful Buda City Park! The Kentucky Derby has nothing on this. Where else can you see hundreds of skillfully trained weiner dog racers al in one setting? You are also very likely to be able to pet, give treats to and possibly hold in your arms some of these world class athletes --- you can't do that at the Kentucky Derby. Check out the link to the Buda Chamber of Commerce for the most up to date information on this event, which is sponsored by the Buda Lions Club: http://www.budachamber.com/. Come see it, you don't want to miss it. Andy
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