The Texas Transportation Commission has decided to spend $1.s billlion to move forward on several area road projects. These projects include:
So it appears there is some good news to this mess we’re in. Read the details.
Austin is #1 on the Forbes list of cities where you get the most bang for your buck. Forbe’s used five factors to determine their list. Here are the factors with Austin’s ranking for each:
Job Growth Projections Rank: 1
Inflation Rank: 24
Median House Price/Median Household Income Rank: 8
Median Income/Cost of Living Index Rank: 5
Gas Prices Rank: 9
Not surprisingly, San Antonio follows on the list at #2. Read the full article to see the complete list.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently conducted a study in the 100 most populous metro areas in the country. They analyzed whether it makes more sense to buy or rent in each area. Of the top ten areas where it makes more sense to buy than rent, five of them are in Texas. Austin comes in at number ten. So, all of you renters out there, start looking. With the mortgage rates as good as they are, now is a great time to make that move.
One of my client’s home was shown on KVUE last night. I represented him when buying the house. Patrick Easter, who you will see in the clip is the developer who built my client’s home and is placing another one next to it.
The story covers manufactured homes and the benefits they can provide. One of the biggest misconceptions about manufactured homes is that they are all mobile homes and cheap. This is simply not true. Homes manufactured in a warehouse can be more efficient, built faster, and built better than many other homes since they are constructed in a controlled environment. Many people are realizing this and that is why manufactured homes are growing in popularity. Watch the story for more info.
I attended the City’s Waller Creek Workshop recently and was very impressed with the ideas they had as well as changes they had implemented due to citizen feedback. They are continuing to take feedback through their online survey until the end of this month. I urge each of you to give your input. The Waller Creek development can be a major attraction for our city. Let’s make sure we get it right.
I submitted an email to the Mayor recently through ABOR’s Take Action website. I received a form-letter response back. It points out a few directions that the city council gave to the task force that will be formulating the recommendations regarding the ordinance. If these directions are followed, then the ordinance could actually be very helpful and less damaging as many of us feared. Here is the full email: Read the rest of this entry »
Villa Muse, the large entertainment project, announced that it will look to build elsewhere instead of in East Austin. They had been in discussions with the city to be removed from Austin’s ETJ but Austin ultimately decided against doing this. Being out of the ETJ would have prevented Austin from annexing the land in the future. According to Mayor Wynn, the project could have moved only a few thousand feet and been out of the ETJ but ultimately they decided against this. Hopefully, the project can be salvaged as I think it would be a great boon for the city.
This time Austin sits atop the list of Greenest Retirement Cities
In my previous post, I mentioned the City of Austin’s proposed ordinance that would require sellers to obtain a certificate of compliance before selling their home. Well, a lot of people have questions about this issue, so The Austin Board of Realtors has launched a new site at www.keepaustinaffordable.com that will hopefully answer these questions and also allow you to inform your friends and neighbors. So go take a look at the site and please share the information.
The City of Austin is proposing an ordinance that could have a major effect on the sale of homes within the city. They are proposing that each home sold must have a certificate of compliance stating that the home meets certain energy efficiency requirements. The home would have to get an inspection by the city to receive this certificate. This means a longer process as well as increased costs of selling.
This seems a bit extreme to me. Most home purchases already go through an inspection process even though it is not required. Any good Realtor would recommend you get one before making your purchase. Then both parties negotiate on what is fixed or not fixed, not the city. Any delays caused by this new process could wreak havoc on getting loans done in timely fashion. Your rates could change or the loan could go away completely while the parties wait for the certificate.
ABOR is having a forum tomorrow to discuss the issue with City Council candidates. Hopefully, the candidates will see that will just produce more bureacracy than good.
Here is an excerpt I received in email from the Austin Board of Realtors:
The City of Austin is introducing an ordinance to mandate energy efficiency retrofits for all types of properties in Austin, including single family owner-occupied homes. This is ordinance is being looked at as part of Mayor Will Wynn’s Climate Protection Plan.
They intend to enforce it at the point of sale. In other words, prior to the sale of any single family owner-occupied home, a certificate of compliance proving the required efficiency retrofits have been done must be done prior to closing.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO OUR HOMEOWNERS
- Without a Certificate of Compliance filed of record prior to closing or at point of sale, a single family home cannot be legally sold in Austin.
- Delays in the time from escrow of a purchase agreement to closing due to the compliance and inspection process could exceed, by days or weeks, the typical 30 to 45 day time frame in a sales transaction today.
- Immediately upon the effective date of the ordinance, the city will have to implement methods and processes to meet the demand created by the sale of some 25,000 homes per year. That’s 25,000 inspections, assuming the first inspection results in the issuance of a certificate of compliance. City inspectors say that at least 50% of all inspections result in a subsequent inspection to correct problems found. That’s an additional 12,500 inspections, at a minimum, or some 37,500 new inspections in a typical year to determine if single family owner-occupied properties comply with the new proposed ordinance. Who will pay?
- Homeowners will bear the expense of retrofits to obtain the certificate of compliance. These expenses will vary from home to home, but the range could be anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 per home.
- Expect delays in acquiring another home as homeowners scramble to comply with the new ordinance, especially if that homeowner needs to sell his or her existing home prior to closing on a new one.