Austin TX Real Estate - Hill Country Austin Lakeway Homes for Sale: October 2009

The Hill Country Galleria - Bee Cave Austin TX - had their trick or treating event last night.  This was Alyssa's first time to trick or treat as last year, she wasn't even one yet, and she didn't like her ladybug costume.

We had visited the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary a couple of times, and she became obsessed with the Tigers and "big cats" so I bought her a Leopard costume.  "I don't like that, Mommy!"  I heard that for two weeks.  Yesterday afternoon, she decided she liked it when I put the head band on her head and took her to the big, three-way mirror. After that, I didn't have a problem putting the costume on her!

We even saw a big Elmo.  She smiled, but wouldn't go up to him.  I picked her up for a picture, and a lady walked right in front, so I had to crop it down, but it's still cute.

We'll be sure to stop by the Hill Country Galleria next year too! They were great hosts!

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Bee Cave Austin TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Real Estate - Austin TX Homes for Sale are Selling Strong * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

I use my blog in many ways to enhance relationships with friends, family, clients, and others across the world wide web, which includes ActiveRain.

I've been here at ActiveRain since the beginning, back in the Summer of 2006.  I didn't completely understand the concept of blogging, but gave it a shot.  Weeks and months went on, and I feel I figured it out.  A blog is just a "Web Log" which is like a diary.  I started making my blog more personal, about me and my experiences, instead of just plain real estate information, and the followers came.

I'm definitely not afraid to talk about my opinion when I'm analyzing statistics and market activity.  I think my neighbors and clients like the bluntness and the no sugar-coating as they know they're going to get a good deal when negotiating with me.

I recently did a series that explained The Simple Steps to Follow when buying a house in Austin TX.  These steps are almost universal across the country, with a few differences per area customs.  I've emailed these steps out to many buyers I'm working with.

I also get my message out with Twitter and Facebook.  Whatever I post publicly on ActiveRain, Twitter auto-posts.  Then, Twitter has an auto-post to Facebook.  My posts are out there so no matter what platform you're on, you can see my latest information.

Whenever people bug me about pictures of my daughter, I always say, "You haven't read my blog lately, have you?"  I've never had anyone ask twice for an update as they know where to go!

I had a closing a couple of weeks ago with a Relocation buyer.  After several weeks of email communication, and only one phone conversation, they drove into town.  Her first question to me was, "How's that Topsy Turvey working for you?"  She read on my blog about the Topsy Turvey and was interested in using it herself next year.

Many people use their blogs to have one-sided conversations with themselves. With my blog, I feel I'm having several conversations at once with different people about different topics, and it's a great thing! No longer can someone hide behind a phone and still obtain new business in today's market.  You have to put yourself out there for all the world to see, and you can't be shy about it!

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* How I Use My ActiveRain Blog to Enhance Relationships * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

For the past few weeks, I've been learning a lot about SEO and how to get my blogs and websites ranked higher up in the search engines, without paying ungodly amounts of money to all those spamming companies.  I've spoken to a few of my regular blog visitors and they've all noticed a change in the formats and how the blog posts are written.

Is that good or bad?  It's good on my part, but I can see how it's a little more robotic on their part. However, I'm not blogging just for conversation with other members of ActiveRain.  I'm blogging in order to help capture more of my audience and dig deeper into how they are searching different words.

Below are a few examples of how I went from being ranked almost no where for main words, to being consistently ranked on page one.  Granted, I'm not in the first position on all terms, but I've made it to the first page, and for only working on this for a few weeks, that's a huge leap in this competitive Austin market.

With "Lake Pointe Bee Cave TX Homes for Sale" I'm ranked #1 and #2!!  I'm ranked higher than their main HOA page!!

I was very surprised, but as I would receive leads through my PPC accounts, I found many people searched the term "Hill Country Austin TX" so I incorporated that into my blogs and appear many times on page one.

Falconhead West is the community I live in and there are a couple of other Realtors that live here too, so I'm making sure I'm found being ranked high and often for future business as I meet and get to know my new neighbors.

Lakeway TX is a very popular city in the area, and I have family that live there, so I'm also trying to make sure I capture the eyes of their neighbors.

What you'll notice is that Google isn't finding just my ActiveRain site, but it's also finding my outside blog along with the localism links as well.  When you blog about hyper-local content, Google loves you!  I'm appearing multiple times for each blog, but on different platforms, and you never know which platform the consumer will like. Even my blogs for the different restaurants and shops in the area are highly ranked on page one.

I am a TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) approved instructor, and I teach MCE classes about creating an internet presence, and I've definitely learned some new things the past few weeks.  Thank you to Katerina Gasset for your help and advice with some of the information beyond just the basics.  I had never thought about how important long tail keywords were.  I always concentrated on the short tail keywords as I felt that was more and most important... but it's not!

Some of the blogs I wrote for the above results are:

Geronimo Park - Apache Shores - Lakeway TX - Quaint Little Park

City of Lakeway TX - Lakeway City Park - Halloween Goblin Glow

Falconhead PGA Golf Course - Bee Cave TX

Real Estate - Lakeway TX Homes for Sale - Austin Texas - Market Activity

Falconhead - Bee Cave TX - Golf Course Community Great Place to Call Home!

Lake Pointe Austin - Bee Cave TX - Market Activity

Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate - Sales Have Increased

Hill Country Galleria Bee Cave Austin TX - Concert Series

Falconhead West Bee Cave TX - TailGate Party was a Success

Falconhead West Bee Cave Austin TX - Tour and Tailgate Party

Real Estate Hill Country Austin TX Homes Are Selling!

Lake Pointe, Austin TX Market Activity

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Hyper-Local Blogging is Loved by Google Juice * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

New Construction Homes - Austin TX - The color brick you choose for your new home says a lot about your personality.  When our brick started crumbling and falling apart around us, and we were forced to choose a new brick, it was very hard.

The brick we originally chose has a lot of depth to it with reds, oranges, blues, browns, greens, and greys.  It was called Western Sunset, and had many colors you would see in the sky during an actual sunset.  In a nutshell, it had personality, and we liked that a lot!  It's the brick on the right.

We also liked that it was not "brown" like all our other neighbors chose; be it light brown or dark brown or medium shade brown, they are all chosing to use brown.  I didn't want to be just like everyone else, so we eliminated brown from our choices.  Because of that, there were only a couple of options of brick to choose from.

As you can see from the picture on the left, we chose a darker red. It has red and black, with a little orange and brown to give it further depth.  That was something we really looked for, a brick with multiple colors. Something about it we don't really care for is that the bricks aren't actually rectangular.  Each brick has a notch out of it on one corner, so it looks like the brick is installed in uneven lines, but the mortar is just going around the beveled joint.

Before deciding on a brick color, drive by several homes with that color as it'll appear differently on different styles and sizes of homes.  Also, it'll look very different if your samples are using a different color mortar than you will be using.

Right now, about 1/3 of the house is the new red and the rest is the old.  They're slowly making their way around, but the rain hasn't helped.  I thought it was cool that the two bricks meshed up at a window like this so you could see the difference without showing two different pictures with different lighting.

More rain tonight and tomorrow, so hopefully they'll finish the front today and start to work on the next side on Friday. And just a reminder, we are living in this brand new construction home as they're doing all this work. I can't get out my front door or the garage doors. It's currently a safety and fire hazard, but we're managing.

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time New Construction Homes Austin TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* New Construction Homes - Austin TX - Choosing a Brick Color * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Geronimo Park - Apache Shores - Lakeway TX is a quaint little park that has a lot to do.  We didn't even know this park was back here.  We were just driving around looking for more boat ramp options to launch our boat on Lake Austin or Lake Travis.

This cute bridge goes over a stream to get to Geronimo Park.  It must have been built by some short people because my husband had to duck under the signs on either end, and he's barely six feet tall.

You can sit by the stream that runs through it and just watch all the water bugs scurry around. The water was completely clear, which is unusual, so we could see to the bottom. Also, because of the rain we've had the last couple of weeks, the water is moving pretty fast, and the little water falls within the stream are flowing nicely.

There is a typical playscape at the park, but they have two things that most parks don't have. Remember back in the day when you would get on a car or animal or whatever shape, and there was a huge spring at the bottom and you would go back and forth, front to back? They had a modern-day version of one of those!

They also had this little thing that simulated a dump truck.  There were two handles, and one operated the scoop back and forth and the other moved the scoop up and down, and then the entire thing swiveled so you could dump the gravel wherever.  My engineer husband loved this!!  Toys for the adults at a park is always a plus!!

We'll definitely keep Geronimo Park - Apache Shores in Lakeway TX in mind on hot days next summer as it has a cover over the playscape which you don't find very often.

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Apache Shores Lakeway TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Geronimo Park - Apache Shores - Lakeway TX - Quaint Little Park * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

The parking lot of the Lakeway Commons has a place set up for pictures. You can come and go at your leisure.

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Speechless Sunday - Fall Harvest of Pumpkins * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Real Estate - Homes for Sale in Austin TX and Central Texas rose 6.4% in September!!  That's huge!!  That's the first substantial increase, year-over-year, in more than two years!!

What else did the Austin Board of REALTORS® report?? The median sales price in the area was also up, by 2% to $185,250.

In August, homes for sale were strong with 1748 closed transactions. However, in September, which is traditionally a slower month since school just started back in session, closed transactions were at 1780 strong. To compare, there were only 1673 sales in September 2008.

There are many reasons why we're having an increase in sales, and it's not just the $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers. Have you looked at rates lately? They're well below 5% still. I'm not a big fan of the tax credit because, as a country, we're already broke and shouldn't be handing out money like that.  However, I'm a huge fan of the low interest rates!

Because of the rates, people are still able to sell their starter homes and move up to larger homes, and potentially keep their same mortgage payments.  How great is that!  They could have an 1800 sqft home with an interest rate of 5.75% and turn around to buy a 2500 sqft home with an interest rate of 4.875% and equal out the price to payments.

Even if your family isn't getting larger, your kids are getting bigger and need more room.  This is the perfect time to make that change!

If you have any questions or concerns about homes for sale in Austin TX, whether you're a buyer or a seller, please call or email me today!

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate
and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar
Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in
between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Homes for Sale in Austin TX, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Real Estate - Homes for Sale - Austin TX - Sales Increase 6.4% * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Buying a House in Austin TX can be simple, if you break down the process.  There are several steps, but knowing what those steps are, and in what order to do the steps, can make buying a house less intimidating.

A couple of months ago, I wrote a seven part series on the main steps of buying a house, but I wanted to put those steps all in one place for easy reference for anyone buying a house in Austin TX to find and follow.  Below are the links to those steps with a brief description of each.

• Getting pre-APPROVED verse getting pre-qualified for a home.  Ask for a Good Faith Estimate and compare apples to apples between lenders.

• Looking for houses.  Drive the different neighborhoods multiple times for narrowing down where you want to concentrate your search. Make the drive to and from your office in rush hour traffic as well.

• Looking at houses.  Know upfront how much you're willing to spend to make a house your home, so you can look past cosmetic issues while you concentrate on structural and functional issues.

• Writing an Offer. Make sure your REALTOR® pulls up as much history about the property and the comparables in the neighborhood to give you enough information for an educated and well thought out offer to the sellers.

• Inspections are important, but you're buying a house "as is".  Inspections are for the buyers' knowledge of the house; they are not so the buyer can give a laundry list to the seller for items to fix.

• The Waiting Game is hard.  At this point, you've turned in all your paperwork to the lender and you're just waiting for the closing date to arrive... do NOT make any changes to your work history or to your credit!!

• Practice writing out your name.  It sounds silly, but if you have an illegible signature, you need to learn to write your full name out, probably including your middle initial if the lender used it.

By following the steps above, buying a house in Austin TX should be a breeze for you... though I'm not guaranteeing that it'll be stress-free.  There are lots of emotions throughout each step above, and as long as you're prepared with what comes next, the emotions won't get the better of you.

If you have any questions or concerns about Austin TX Real Estate, please call or email me today!

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate
and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar
Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in
between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Real Estate - Buying a House - Austin TX - The Simple Steps to Follow * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

I've been told be someone, who will remain nameless, that I'm not "funny" when it comes to ActiveRain and my blog posts and that I don't laugh enough, at myself or at others. 

For you, Mr. Funnyman, here are some things that crack me up...

• I laughed all the way to the bank when my first buyer here in Austin allotted my largest commission check ever because another agent didn't return his emails.
  
• I laughed when I received a referral from an agent who contacted three Austin Realtors, and I was the only one who responded back.
• I laughed pretty hard when I received a referral a few weeks ago from an agent that told me, "Honestly, you weren't the first call, but the "other person" never returned my calls or emails."
• I laughed a little harder when I responded to an email that was meant to go to another agent, but the buyer liked that I responded back promptly letting them know I wasn't the "other person" and they're working with me now.
  
• I laughed hysterically when I received a voicemail last month from someone that said, "Jason, I've called a couple of times and also emailed you, and you have yet to return my messages.  I just want to sell my house, so please call me!!" I'll be listing that house after the Holidays.
  

See, I'm a funny funny person and I see humor in lots of things. 

What makes you laugh??

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Bee Cave TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* What Makes You Laugh?? * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Happy Anniversary, Mike!  Today marks 4 years since the day that mightly large Justice of the Peace came over to marry us.

We didn't have an actual "wedding" as we had other plans for that money.  We wanted to add a covered patio, gas stove instead of the electric, new dishwasher, and updated light fixtures and fans.  We then sold that house earlier this year for less than what we paid for it after putting in $20,000!!

So, we spent $150 for the JP to come to the house and our families insisted on coming over.  We had only been in the house for five weeks, so I had to quickly unpack everything and make the house look presentable.

After the JP pronounced us, the UT game was put on... how romantic...

Then, we had some friends trickle in for a big party.  We had about 80 people at the house.  I catered in On the Border and the evening was topped off with some Red Velvet cake, that was wrong, and the cake lady made me a new cake on Monday, but that's another story.

December will mark 7 years together, as we met being set up on a blind date that he was 25 minutes late picking me up for.  He told me a couple of years later that he wasn't planning on showing up.  Sometimes I wonder...

And then I ran away...

but he caught me....... just kidding, we ran upstairs to get ready for walking down the stairs.

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Bee Cave TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Happy Anniversary, Mke! We met on a blind date... * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Real Estate Opinions - What's more important, Pricing the home properly or the marketing?  Yes, I understand the majority of people will say it's a combination of both, but that's not my question. 

If you could only do one thing for a listing, would you price it properly and aggressively from day one or would you market the heck out of it and hope for the best?

I've recently run into two different situations with sellers who have their homes on the market.  They're both using two different strategies, or at least their agents are.

The first one has had the house on the market for 11 months.  He is using an agent who works exclusively in his gated community.  He says they have had 67 showings on the house and never hear anything about feedback.  He says the agent doesn't think it's a good idea to reduce the price because they're not getting feedback that it's overpriced, and he just wants an offer, any offer, so he can have a starting place with negotiations.

Since the agent is exclusive to this community and is a member of the country club there, he's assuming she has a lot of marketing in place that is supposed to just make people write an offer... but 67 showings and 11 months later, nothing, nada, zilch.

The second one has had the house on the market just over 2 months.  How many price adjustments has she had??  FOUR!

The first thing I saw is that the original asking price was $4.  This is so when a consumer is looking at properties, they can't tell what the true original asking price is or was so when the agent makes adjustments, the consumer doesn't know where the number actually started... until their buyer's agent looks at the history.

This house was listed for $475,000 on 8/12.  Reduced substantially to $430,000 on 8/22.  A buyer should think, "WOW!  This seller is serious, I wanna buy it!"  However, further history shows the seller bought it less than a year ago for only $410k.

On 9/4, the price was reduced to $420k, and further reduced to $415k on 10/7 and then $400,000 on 10/16.

As far as I can see, I can't see any marketing on this house.  It seems the agent is feeding off the builders' traffic as she has done a couple of open houses and put a balloon on her sign that blows in the wind.  The house is now priced lower than what the seller bought it for, but still no nibbles...

So, is it the marketing that gets people to write offers or is it the pricing strategy of lowering the price aggressively every few days that will make people write the offer?  If seller number two had an agent that aggressively marketed the house as "barely lived in and better than new" and did some target marketing, would they have more bites?  If she started out with the $430k price instead of the pie in the sky at $475k, would they have more bites?

If seller number one priced the home better to show buyers he was a serious seller, instead of letting it sit on the market for 11 months waiting, would he have already received the offer he was looking for in the price range he's willing to accept?

Two very different ideas of selling a house, yet both houses are yielding the same results, no offers!!

I'll ask again... if you were only allowed to use one strategy to sell a house, which would you choose, pricing or marketing?

It's a hard decision, I know.  But think back to one of your hardest listings to sell and if you had to do it all over again on that particular house, which would you choose?

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Real Estate Opinions - Is it the Pricing or the Marketing? * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

The City of Bee Cave TX finally opened their long-awaited Bee Cave Central Park.  Bee Cave's park was actually completed several months ago, but because of the drought in the area, the City of Bee Cave decided to postpone the opening. They wanted to allot enough time for the grass to grow in and the trees to take root so it wasn't very muddy.

Just in time for this past weekend, the City of Bee Cave made it happen!!  For the occasion, my mom's group of friends decided to have a playdate at the Bee Cave Central Park.  Over 50 people showed up!  And even with so many kids running around and climbing on the equipment, there was still plenty of room for more kids.

The space is quite large and it's anchored by a covered Pavilion with water fountains and restrooms.

There is even a Basketball Court with about 6 different nets with room for several games to play at once.

At the other end of the parking lot is another, smaller Pavilion along with more play equipment, geared for the smaller kids who don't want to play with the bigger kids.

The hours for the Bee Cave Park are a little ambiguous as the sign says from "Sunrise to Sunset" and those times differ throughout the year.  However, the sign below is a little more specific when it says from 8am to 30 minutes before Sunset.

I imagine my daughter and I will be spending a lot of time here...

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Bee Cave TX listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* City of Bee Cave TX - Bee Cave Central Park - Finally Opened! * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

The City of Lakeway TX had their annual Halloween Goblin Glow last night at the Lakeway City Park on Hurst Creek.

This was our first time to go, so I didn't know what to expect.  There were five hot air balloons and every so often, they would light their fire and make the balloons glow.  You could go right up to the baskets of the balloons and trick-or-treat. They gave out lots of candy.

There was also face painting, hair spraying with colors, people on stilts, and a balloon artist.  Alyssa got her hair sprayed Orange to go with her LongHorn Cheerleader outfit.

And, of course, you can't forget the Live Music.  There was a great band, whose name has slipped my mind, but there was lots of dancing from the little ones.

Here are some pictures I took of the Goblin Glow balloons lighting up.

There are always Austin TX Activities with some Austin TX Entertainment for all ages and areas in and surrounding Austin.

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
*City of Lakeway TX - Lakeway City Park - Halloween Goblin Glow* was first published on donnahomesblog.com

FINALLY!!  I can see some progress being made on my house!  The brick was supposed to be replaced last week, but they got scared of rain, yet it didn't rain until Friday.  They finally showed up on Wednesday this week, one guy.  On Thursday, late afternoon, one guy.

I felt they were humoring me by sending just one guy over, so I sent a nasty-gram to the Regional Manager person... however, I have yet to receive a response...

After much damage to the house yesterday, that's all been repaired, and the brick is going up...

They still say it's going to be two weeks, and let's hope that the rain stays away!

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* I Can See the Progress * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Here is my very own University of Texas Longhorn Cheerleader!  She is dressed and ready for today's game against that Okie team, the Red River Rivalry.

UT has won 3 out of the last 4 games, and OU is coming off of some injuries, so if I were to bet on the game, I would put all my money on UT!

Hook 'em!!

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Silly Saturday - My Very Own UT Longhorn Cheerleader * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Austin TX Wildlife in and around new home communities is always interesting to see.

Here is my newest find on our back steps.  There are two, but I couldn't get the other one in a good pose.

As you can see, compared to the penny, these are tiny little guys.  So cute.  Alyssa and I were poking them with blades of grass to make them hop.  Each time, Alyssa would say, "Ribbit ribbit."

Here are some of the other Austin TX Wildlife creatures I've found in and around my home.

• The Mommy Toad to these two babies, I assume
  
• The Scorpian
• The Tarantula
• The Walking Stick
• The Katydid

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Austin TX Wildlife - A Creature Around Every House * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Falconhead PGA Golf Course - Bee Cave TX - is a very nice golf course.  My husband plays it all the time. Every single day, I have to drive past the driving range and some of the course, and the greens always look to be actually green and not brown.

Personally, I don't condone how much golf my husband plays, but I figured there had to be a way to cut down on the cost of his habit... a membership!!

Falconhead Golf Club manages the Falconhead PGA Golf Course and has several different memberships to chose from.  For my husband, I decided the Player Performance Program would fit him best.  It includes unlimited use of the practice facility and driving range.  That means, if he just wants to go hit some balls, it costs him (and me) nothing.  Some places charge like $10 a bucket, and those buckets add up.

You also get to attend a FREE Monthly Golf clinic to help improve your game.  Instead of spending hundreds or thousands on lessons, this is something offered complimentary for the members.

The other memberships are:

• Ambassador Program - This is best for husband and wife teams who like to play a lot, in addition to other family members. Guests receive a $20 discount. 1/2 price golf lessons are offered, and 20% off merchandise.
  
• Classic Program - Guests receive a $15 discount and 15% off merchadise
  
• Weekday Program - You're only charged a cart fee for your round of golf!
  
• Senior Weekday - Must be 60 years or older

These programs are subject to change but are as of today's date, October 15, 2009.

Falconhead - Bee Cave TX is a great place to call home!

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate
and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar
Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in
between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Real Estate - Austin TX Homes for Sale are Selling Strong * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Today is Blog Action Day.  This is the day every blogger across the world is supposed to write on the same topic.  This year's topic is Climate Control.

How is the climate effecting us or me personally?  This was the hottest summer ever recorded in Austin TX's history. Including the overnight hours, where it's supposed to be cooler weather, our temperatures averaged over 89 degrees.

We had 68 days over 100 degrees and most of those were at 106 and 107 degrees.  We were 1 day short of the record for 69 days over 100 degrees that was set way back in 1925.

I would take my daughter to the park at 8:30 in the morning to "beat the heat", yet it would be 95 degrees by 9am.  How much fun is that?  Heat just makes you feel lethagic and icky.

We had practically no rain over the summer and sit in a 24 month drought.  But what's in store for us this Winter and Spring? An El Nino!!  For the past month, we've gotten a lot of rain. It's not helping to fill Lake Travis yet because there isn't much run-off when the ground really needs it, but this back and forth of drastic weather needs to stop.

Just two days ago, the high temperature was barely 60 degrees and yesterday it was 90 and today is supposed to get to 92, but then tomorrow it's supposed to be 70.

I'm not sure how to stop these peaks and valleys and get the basic four seasons back, but Texas has always been a state of two seasons, hot and cold.  We never get a real Fall or real Spring. We get uncomfortably hot and insanely cold.

I'm sure others blogging for Blog Action Day '09 will come up with some terrific ways to move forward.

Makes me want to live in a climate controlled bubble sometimes...

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Blog Action Day - Climate Control - Makes me Wanna Live in a Bubble * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Last week, I wrote about a seller not allowing us an appointment to view her Austin TX Home.  Here's an update...

We looked at another house on that street, and as I drove past this house, I pointed it out to the buyers to show them which one we weren't "allowed" to view.  Then is dawned on me; there were no work trucks parked outside.

Didn't the seller tell me that we couldn't view the home because she was having work done on the stairwell?? 

I asked my buyers if they wanted to view the home since we were there and that I could call for an appointment, so I did.  I got Mr. Seller this time.  I introduced myself and explained the conversation I had with his wife.  He said she would kill him if he let me in the house.  I explained again that this was their only chance to view the home.

He said to come on in.  Upon entry, he says, "My wife hasn't 'cleaned' today which is why she didn't want you here."  I looked past him and said the house looked clean, plus I called on Thursday which would have given two days to clean.  He further explained that his wife doesn't allow people in unless she's completely vacuumed, mopped, and "cleaned" before the showing.

Long story short, this is the case of a Seller completely hindering the sale of their own house.  The house was clean, yet it wasn't clean enough for them, in which case, they weren't allowing people in to look.  The only "mess" was the very tiddy spot upstairs where there was a small drop cloth for the retexturing of the wall, but it was not a mess, nor a big deal.

As a seller, with your house on the market, you MUST let people into your home!  This house was actually the #1 house for the rest of the day... until they found a brand new home that they just had to have.  However, can you imagine that if the house was our #1 house for that long, after seeing 13 houses, they had to have missed out on some buyers potentially putting an offer on the house in their 190+ days on the market...

So sad, so sad... I'm thinking about calling the listing agent to let him know what happen.

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

All my blog posts were first published on donnahomesblog.com.
Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Austin TX Homes - Sellers Hindering Their Own Sale *

Round Rock - Cedar Park - Austin TX Homes for Sale tend to sell fairly quickly when they're priced well as this is a hot area to buy in.  It has great schools, it's convenient to all kinds of shopping, and you can buy more home for your money than in many other areas.

This weekend, I am showing houses to some relocation buyers.  They've lived here about 3 weeks now, and have been driving the areas around Round Rock and Cedar Park and narrowing down the list of houses I've sent them.  The list has been narrowed down to 14 Favorites and 7 Possibilities with a couple of new homes thrown in there too.

I was calling yesterday to schedule some appointments, and this one seller in particular really got to me, which is another reason why Austin needs a showing service in place so I don't have to be confrontational with home owners.

Me: Hi, this is Donna Harris with RE/MAX, how are you today?
Seller: Great, thank you.
Me: I'm calling about your house listed at 123 Main St. and would like to show it Saturday from 10-11am, would that be ok?
Seller: No.

Silence as I thought she was going to continue with her excuse.

Me: Umm, can I ask why?
Seller: I have people coming over.
Me: That would be fine. We're just wanting to see the floorplan and condition. We could look beyond any mess if that's what you're worried about.
Seller: No, I rather you not.
Me: So, you've been on the market for 189 days, my buyers have one weekend to look at houses, yours fits what they're looking for, and you want to potentially miss out on them submitting an offer on your home?
Seller: Can you come on Sunday?
Me: No, we're looking in another part of town on Sunday.  Thank you anyway.

With that, she went on to tell me why I couldn't show the house. She was having her stairwell re-textured and painted because it had some imperfections and she wanted to correct it.  Why would she wait 189 days to decide to have work done to improve the house instead of doing it 190 days ago before the "for sale" sign appeared in her front yard?

So, now she's trying to make sure her home shows better to help ensure a sale, yet she's not allowing people into her home who really want to see it.  I think that house will continue to be on the market day 190, 220, and possibly even 250+ days!

Sellers, it is part of your responsibility to help us sell your homes.  We can't sell them if you don't allow people into them.  And why schedule painters for Saturday when you know many Realtors show on those days.  I don't typically show on the weekends as I like to show during the week while home owners are at work, but a good portion is on the weekends, so maintenance should be done during the week days.

**Are You Packed Yet?** 

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com

Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way. 

For real time Austin MLS listings, click here.

** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **

All my blog posts were first published on donnahomesblog.com.
Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Round Rock - Cedar Park - Austin TX Homes for Sale - Allow the Buyers to View your Homes! *