Austin TX Real Estate - Hill Country Austin Lakeway Homes for Sale

Austin Round Rock TX - Forbes' Top Spot for the Recession Easing

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:50:56 -0500

Austin Round Rock TX - Tied Washington DC area for Forbes.com number 1 spot for the "Cities Where the Recession is Easing." Just another reason why buyers should be getting off the fence and moving on with their lives instead of worrying about the National News!!

Between December 2007 and December 2009, when the rest of the country was having lots of job losses, Austin TX jobs increased 0.98%. The estimate of job growth prediction over the next three years is said to be just over 8% with Dallas TX just behind at a little over 7%. This is great news!!

Overall, Texas has four markets in the top 10 list, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. San Antonio actually has the highest job growth prediction over three years at an 8.32% increase. It's no wonder why people are moving to Texas faster than any other state in the country!

Where else did Forbes.com place Austin Round Rock TX on various lists?
Ranked 1 in Job Growth 2007-2009
Ranked 2 in Three-Year Job Growth
Ranked 3 in Unemployment
Ranked 13 in Home prices
Ranked 31 in Metropolitan Gross Domestic Product

What other reasons do you need to move 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 Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Austin Round Rock TX - Forbes' Top Spot for the Recession Easing * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

A Tool from RainCamp - Have You Used Xtranormal.com?

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:07:18 -0500

ActiveRain's RainCamp came to Dallas TX back in mid-February. At that time, I (we) were given many great and new technology ideas to use in our businesses.

The first thing I talked about was Klout.com. Klout tracks your "popularity" on Twitter. I went from a rating of 10 up to 21 in just a couple of weeks. Great tool as it got me to mingle more with people I don't know.

On to something new...

I downloaded State from xtranormal.com. This is a very interesting tool as you can create videos with animated characters and they take your text and act out whatever scene you create for them. I took it a step further and did a voice-over so it didn't sound robotic, though I do talk fast, but that's normal. Here is it... what do you think?

Using the program, you can have your actors walk around, make hand gestures, move their eyes, and many other things. There is a fee to download a group of actors, but it was something like $10. (Just a heads up, I did receive a charge of like $0.26 on my credit card saying it was an international charge, and I'm assuming it came from this as I don't buy anything international.)

I am probably going to start emailing this out to my database and giving people an actual voice to the emails they're receiving from me when they ask for listings.

Thanks for a great new tool, RainCamp guys!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* A Tool from RainCamp - Have You Used Xtranormal.com? * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Real Estate - Austin TX - My Audio Message to Austin Buyers and Sellers

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:36:29 -0500

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Real Estate - Austin TX - My Audio Message to Austin Buyers and Sellers * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Zilker Park Kite Festival - Austin TX - Fun for the Entire Family

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:14:06 -0500

Zilker Park Kite Festival in Austin TX was a huge event this weekend. This was my first time to attend, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I did not know that we were to bring our own kite and fly it with the others. I thought there were a set number of people who were registered for contests who would be flying their kites...

There were hundreds of kites flying around Zilker Park, it was amazing. There were one-eyed octopus kites, skull and cross-bone kites, Winnie the pooh kites, butterfly kites and lots of ladybug kites... kites of all different shapes and sizes...

Many kites got tangled up and those were fun to watch to see what would happen. Some strings broke and created run-away kites crashing down.

They had other fun activities for the kids like a train tunnel, bounce houses, and face painting. Alyssa enjoyed sitting on this big rock and just watching everyone go by. She's a people-watcher like me.

Next year, I'll be better prepared with our own kite. The Zilker Park Kite Festival in Austin TX was a huge success!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Zilker Park Kite Festival - Austin TX - Fun for the Entire Family * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

The Little Buckaroo Ranch - Spicewood TX - Farm Animal Fun

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:37:47 -0500

Little Buckaroo Ranch in Spicewood TX off Hamilton Pool Rd was a hit with my daughter, Alyssa. We went there on a field trip a few days ago, and she hasn't stopped talking about it since.

She got Fish kisses. They are on well water and keep fish in the tanks to eat the bacteria, and then the horses feed the fish by squishing the water out and putting their own food back into the water. The cycle of life!

She watered the miniature horses and saw some standard size ones too. We watched one of them jumping over a log and she tells me she dreams about this every night. How cute...

She pet Peter Cotton Tail, the bunny, and then went for a ride pulled by a tractor. She pet the top of a rooster and thought that was great!

She fed the goats alfalfa and talks non-stop about them...

After all the fun Farm things to do at the Little Buckaroo Ranch, we had a picnic lunch at their little park. Alyssa learned about the Hula Hoop, sat on a hay bull, and also rode the horse swing.

After all this fun, do you think she took a nap???

NO!!!

The Little Buckaroo Ranch was a lot of fun and I'm glad we stuck it out. It was rescheduled seven times due to rain, cold, and snow. We were supposed to go back in November, and just managed to get a good date in March. It was worth it!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* The Little Buckaroo Ranch - Spicewood TX - Farm Animal Fun * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

REBAR Camp Austin TX

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:27:41 -0500

REBAR CAMP - Real Estate Bar Camp - Austin TX at Third Base on 6th street was last week. I met a lot of new people as well as saw old friends.

This was my first experience with a REBar Camp, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was told this was a little unusual this time around. There were five sessions, three groups at a time. A couple of times, there were two groups talking about the same thing at the same time.

Also, I found it very pitchy. I wasn't expecting that at all. There were companies there hosting sessions just to talk about their product. Honestly, as I am an honest person who speaks her mind, I didn't learn a single thing this day. I was there for over six hours, and didn't walk away with one new idea. I was very disappointed. I would have been extremely upset if I made the drive to another city for this like I did for RainCamp last month.

Other than the bad or unusual experience, I got in some networking and here are some pictures with some familiar faces who traveled from Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* REBAR Camp Austin TX * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Psychology of Real Estate - Working with Buyers and Sellers - March 24

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:16:01 -0500

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 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

Real Estate - Austin TX - Foreclosures are Not very Prevalent

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:47:06 -0600

I get calls and emails all the time from Austin TX Home Buyers saying "I want to buy a foreclosure because I want a deal!"

Well, I'm here to say, "Stop watching the National News!!"

I'll tell you up front, yes, sometimes, you can find a good deal. However, EVERYONE is looking for the same great deal so it's usually gone before you even hear about it.

Here is what is going on around the Austin TX area. We do not have the foreclosure market like other areas of the countries. To show you facts, I pulled up several zip codes. It's easier by zip codes because many areas aren't within "city limits" so pulling information up by city wouldn't be very accurate.

Zipcode - # of Actives - # of Foreclsoures
78738 - 209 - 2
78734 - 327 - 13
78733 - 77 - 2
78735 - 95 - 3
78746 - 163 - 0
78736 - 28 - 0
78704 - 144 - 2

Some people are looking at the above list thinking, but all you listed are the more expensive areas and those people are more well-off than lower-end areas. That has two sides. The first side, the higher priced people made lots of mistakes too as there are many multi-million dollar homes in foreclosure across the country. The second side is that the higher priced areas should be better off with more people understanding how to manage their money.

Are these generalizations? Yes they are, as there are plenty of people living in a modest home who know how to manage their money... but they're also in the group of people who utilized the 100% financing more frequently.

So, to see some "average" neighborhood stats, look at these numbers...

78613 - 402 - 11
78717 - 106 - 5
78664/78665 - 484 - 22
78732 - 154 - 9
78723 - 111 - 4

As you can see, foreclosures are not that prevalent in the Austin TX area. Ok, East Round Rock has 22 foreclosures, but they also have 484 active listings on the market to choose from! Why narrow your search down to less than 5% of the listings?

Cedar Park has 11 foreclosures, but with 402 active listings on the market, wouldn't you be more likely to find your "needs and wants" with a larger pool of homes?

Basically, I'm just pointing out that we're all looking for "the deal", but don't limit your pool of possibilities with such a large transaction. This isn't a $50 shirt you're getting on sale for $39. Secure a great Buyers Agent who will represent you and your needs, and you'll be sure to get a "deal"... especially if you contact me!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Real Estate - Austin TX - Foreclosures are Not very Prevalent * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

SXSW® Coming to Austin TX March 12 - 21, 2010

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:37:35 -0600

SXSW® - South By SouthWest is coming back to Austin TX March 12-21, 2010. What is SXSW®? It's "the premier destination for discovery". Oh, what does that mean? It's basically a ten day event for conferences and festivals with live music and independent files and new technologies and trade shows.

The schedule for SXSW® is pretty intense with something happening at every second of each day starting at 9am on Friday, March 12.

How do you get in? You must have some kind of badge, paid in advance. They started selling tickets last year, and if you bought a Platinum Badge by September 25, 2009, you only paid $920. This same badge is $1225 at the door. The lowest badge is the Interactive Badge and prior to September 25, you could have paid only $395, but now it's $550. Make note of this for next year if you want discounted rates. You can find more details of the prices at the SXSW® registration page.

Come early, stay late, avoid the traffic.

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* SXSW® Coming to Austin TX March 12 - 21, 2010 * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Real Estate - Lakeway TX - West of Austin TX

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:19:46 -0600

Lakeway Austin TX was once a sleepy, retirement community West of Austin TX, but now it's experiencing growth and new construction, and many people call Lakeway TX home, from the old to the young.

Currently, there is a house listed for $154,000 as well as one listed for $2,195,000. That's a huge range of properties, but for the most part, the area median is just about $400k.

Even with the current market conditions being flat, it's not stopping people from buying and selling houses in Lakeway Austin TX. Just in the past 30 days, there have been 37 new listings come active on the market. The flip side, as you can see from this below chart, is that there are 59 properties that have been on the market over 120 days, ouch!

Lakeway Austin TX has new homes, pre-owned homes, houses, condos, greenbelt properties, golf course properties, properties with views, and even waterfront properties. What's your fancy?

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Real Estate - Lakeway TX - West of Austin TX * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Speechless Sunday - View from The Oasis at Lake Travis Austin TX

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:43:56 -0600

This is an actual house, not a hotel...

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

* was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Senna Hills - Austin TX - Homes for Sale Market Report

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:24:05 -0600

Senna Hills Austin TX is having a great year thus far. It's only March and look at the market activity and homes for sale happening around here.

As you can see, there are still several Active listings on the market, but you can also see that within the past three months, several have sold.

What pattern do we continue to see in Senna Hills Austin Texas with the homes for sale? We continue to see homes newly Active on the market coming in priced higher than what is selling. Is this hurting them? Honestly, I think it is. When you look at the asking verse selling prices, you want that to be as close to 100% as possible. Real estate isn't a game of, "Let's see how high we can start to come down in negotiations later..." but many home owners are viewing it as such.

Buyers are wise to that game, and they'll come in even lower than what you anticipate, and you'll end up selling much lower than what you thought you would get. Giving yourself the "buffer" to negotiate eats your margins. Pricing properly from the beginning helps to better ensure a higher selling price.

But who am I? I'm just a REALTOR® interpreting the numbers with almost 10 years experience under my belt...

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Falconhead Spillman Ranch - Bee Cave Austin TX - Market Activity

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:43:34 -0600

Falconhead Spillman Ranch in Bee Cave Austin TX is having some great activity going on. There have been several new listings come on the market, and a handful of sales happening as well.

Here is a chart showing the Active and Sold listings. The blue line shows the days on the market. Some are high, while others are low. It's all about price and presentation right now.

This chart shows the breakdown of how long properties have been on the market. As you can see, this past month has been busy! However, there are still listings sitting and sitting, just waiting for that right buyer.

Falconhead Spillman Ranch is the lead-in community to Falconhead West behind it, and some people are selling their homes in Falconhead Spillman Ranch to move to the new section of Falconhead West. All activity is good activity, and being a personal resident of Falconhead West, I welcome everyone!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

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

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Falconhead Spillman Ranch - Bee Cave Austin TX - Market Activity * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Falconhead West - Bee Cave - Austin TX - Community Park and Playground

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:20:29 -0600

Falconhead West Bee Cave TX is moving quickly on the community park and playground now.

In my last update, the Falconhead West playground was only the pavillion and the big playscape. They have now added the smaller playscape! YEAH!

Hopefully, we're just a couple of more weeks out, and ready for the awesome Austin TX Weather we're having!!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

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

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Falconhead West - Bee Cave - Austin TX - Community Park and Playground * was first published on donnahomesblog.com

Creating an Internet Presence & Converting Cyberleads at Trinity Title of Texas

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:17:11 -0600

Because of the lovely SNOWY weather we had last week, this class was rescheduled for tomorrow. Note the time difference. It's at 1:30 instead of 1pm. We also changed the room from Building 3 to Building 1. Hope to see you there!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

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

For real time Austin TX listings, click here.

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

Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Creating an Internet Presence & Converting Cyberleads at Trinity Title of Texas * was first published on donnahomesblog.com