Alan In Austin: March 2008

Would you believe me if I told you that the best buys in real estate are rarely about the price of the home?

Real Estate investors use a variety of methods  to find the best deals. Some think the best buys are: bankruptcies, REO's or short sales.

Others try to time the market and buy only when they think it is a buyers market. I have some friends who buy only distressed properties.

So how can you know that what you buy is a good deal? Here are four steps to help:

1. LOCATION: Is a home with beach front worth more than a home across the street from the beach? Perhaps but location is more than this. Look for a home that has only one or two connected neighbors, in a community where there are few or no rentals, has a large lot, is built well on that lot.

2. POTENTIAL: The potential of a home is its true value. Not what you pay for it. But what it can become. Explore the area and learn about it. What potential is there. Is a new school being built nearby, a new employer moving in nearby, is the city planning re-development nearby and investing in that project.

3. ACCESSIBILITY: Has to do with how easy is it to navigate the city, your job, schools, market places from the home.

4. LIFESTYLE: Every home has a lifestyle. Some just need to be improved upon. As practical as I am, when buying a home I try to make sure that the lifestyle is one the next buyer will love. Buying a home is also an emotional process. What is lifestyle, it could be mature landscape and large backyard that could lend to outdoor living or Architectural design of the home itself or the community amenities.

Texas State University presents Round Rock Higher Education Center.

The Story of the RRHEC

The Round Rock Higher Education Center is the beginning of a vision created by the City of Round Rock, the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce, Round Rock ISD, other employers, Austin Community College and Texas State University, formerly Southwest Texas State University, of making quality higher education and workforce training locally accessible to the residents of Round Rock and the surrounding vicinities.

Phase one is complete. Texas A&M has purchased adjoining property for the purposes of building a residents college. The three Higher educations centers will be anchored by a large commercial project with retail shops and various food venues.

The plaque right honors the Avery family farms. The Avery family donated much of the land ti help give this project life. Want to know more?

CLICK HERE

We have all faced the seemingly impossible situation. Maybe you have faced it more than once. Usually a crises brings it on but not always. I talked with a man in a Starbucks the other day who looked a little depressed. I ask him if he was OK. He replied: "My wife and I moved here from California we thought it would be good to try something different. We wanted to start a company and hoped it would succeed. It did, beyond our wildest dreams"! He said emphatically as if that were not a good thing.

I asked a few more questions and discovered that there was no crises it was simply that success had not filled the empty void in either of their lives as they thought it might. So they were left wondering "What Now?"

So what should you do when you don't know what to do? Here are some things to consider:

1. Do the things you know to do and do them well. Examples: Follow-up, market, make new friends, keep things organized, love your family.

2. Seek counsel from wise people who care about you not just those who agree with you. In most instances wisdom comes with age and experience. Seek those people out and do not re-invent the wheel.

3. Do not make major life decision on your own while you lack clarity. Some people believe buying something or moving, quiting their job, even getting a divorce will fix the confusion. As stated above we all go though difficult and deeply challenging times. During those times what we don't do may be more important that what we actually do.

WELCOME TO ROUND ROCK TEXAS...

So why is called Round Rock? Glad you asked. You can find a part of the historic Chism Trail running through Round Rock. Cattlemen moving their cattle to market would cross Brushy Creek (picture left) with their cattle.

The reason they chose to cross in this area rathar than other places along brushy creek was because of the picture below.

 Here it is the famed ROUND ROCK of Round Rock Texas. Cattlemen would pass the word that this location was a good place to move your cattle across the creek. If you were to look closely you can still see the cattle and horse prints marking the rock. Located on a street called Chism Trail its only a short drive to the heart of Round Rock Texas.

A number of historic buildings form a kind of downtown square. Most have been given new life these days as restruants, coffe shops, sports bar and retail shops.

The earliest residents of the Round Rock area were the two hundred tribes that were the ancestors of the Tonkawa Indians As early as 8000 B.C., groups of hunter-gatherers roamed the plains from the Guadalupe River north to the headwaters of the Neches They often made their temporary villages along the banks of rivers and streams, including Brushy Creek and the San Gabriel River.

Round Rock has been able to retain its charm and keep up the fantastic growth it is experiencing.

  Come for a vist you may stay for life.

                       *Dell Diamond Ball park home of the Round Rock Express.

Economic news has been bleak recently. One of the measurements used to gauge our economy is called "Consumer Confidence". It is a measure of how confident people are both here and abroad in the US economy. While this measurement has some real statistics attached to its results it is also a measure of our feelings.

Much of consumer buying is feeling related. If we feel wealthy we don't mind spending money. Conversely if we are feeling poor we hang on to our money, conserve our resources and becomes hesitant to risk in business ventures.

Most of us would agree that it is not in our best interest to live by our feelings. While our feelings are real and sometimes helpful to us they can also paralyze us and keep us from opportunities that present themselves. It is difficult to overcome fearful feelings and that can freeze us into inaction at a time when action may be most profitable.

The bad economic news recently has certainly included "housing". Those who are homeowners are concerned about their net-worth as it relates to equity in their homes. The Stock Market has also been a major source of concern. Quarterly stock reports show many 401ks losing money.

What are we to think? Notice I did not say how are we to feel.

If we use logic to trump our feelings it will help us navigate a difficult economy. Our money can work better for us now if we spend with our head and not with our heart. When we think about how to spend our money it makes sense to buy things that hold their value and appreciate.

I have a letterman sweater that my parents bought for me in high-school. It is really nice, it still fits (it was big on me in high-school) and it keeps me warm but it certainly has not increased in value. I have a piece of artwork I purchased in a gallery in Las Vegas about 6 years ago. I bought it for about 3000.00 dollars framed. I have been offered 7500.00 for it several times including recently. Its real value is probably about 10000.

The lesson for me is that when I spend my money I want to spend it on things that appreciate. When I first married my wife we barely made enough money to get by each week. In fact we planned to eat at her parents once a week and our friends house once a week so we could make it through the week. Thankfully they let us mooch. Ha. Once my wife got a raise at work we took a small allowance of about 10.00 per week each. I would take four dollars and buy an ounce of silver from a local coin vendor. I used the rest to buy snacks. Have you seen the price of Silver recently? Wish I had used all 10 dollars on silver. The snack only appreciated my weight.

How can we put our money to work now in this economy?

Of all the things I have spent my money on over the years none have returned a better investment over time than Real Property Investments. I have and do invest some in the stock market but since it is frustrating to me that I have little or no control over what happens there, it has been much more rewarding to invest in Real Estate.

There is not room enough here to talk about all the things that contributed to the current housing crises. Suffice to say these three things played a major role:

1. Greed by all parties

2. Soft lending practices allowing high risk borrowers to purchase with little or nothing down.

3. Market ignorance.

In no way is this post meant to judge those who have been taken advantage of or are just in difficult market places across the nation. I have a great deal of sympathy for the vast majority of people who are faced with a huge crises as it relates to their home.

Is now the right time to Buy a Home?

Yes, for some. For those who have a down payment, good to excellent credit the time is not only right but it is ripe.

How and Where do I buy?

Buy where there is still an upside. I live where I do now because of these four things.

1. There are more jobs being created here than any place across most of the nation.

2. Our community is at the new center of where our city is developing these jobs and new commercial retail

3. Our city is among the fasting growing in our State

4. Our community is situated within 3 miles of two major interstates that will move traffic into the major cities of our state.

Your Realtor will know your community and know how to recognize a good buy one that has a great upside. If you only focus on Bankruptcy or short sells you may not get the best buy. The original purchase may have been inflated, the community my have little or no upside as it relates to the whole of the city. Your Realtor has access to the resources that can help you get the best buy possible in the location that will provide a great upside thus putting your hard earned money to work hard for you.

 Every summer night, hundreds of people gather to see the world's largest urban bat colony emerge from under the Congress Avenue Bridge. (For information on emergence times, click here.) These 1.5 million bats are fun to watch, but they're also making our world a better place to live.

The Modern Batman now lives in Texas, that is Austin Texas for sure. You can even become a Bat Conservation member. There is another colony living under a bridge in Round Rock Texas. The population there is about half the size of the one under the congress bridge. Quite a site to watch these creatures of the night take flight. They love bugs and of course are people friendly.

Here is to hanging out with you in Austin Texas downtown with some cool friends.

Come on down for a close look at some amazing creatures.

The Census figures suggest one in six Americans who are moving out of state are moving to TEXAS

DALLAS - Four Texas metropolitan areas were among the biggest population gainers as Americans continued their trend of moving to the Sun Belt in 2006 and 2007, according to Census Bureau estimates to be released Thursday.

Dallas-Fort Worth added more than 162,000 residents between July 2006 and July 2007, more than any other metro area. Three other Texas areas - Houston, Austinand San Antonio - also cracked the top 10.

So Why are so many people choosing Texas?

There are a number of Reasons besides the great climate.

           The Schools are some of the best in the nation. Fine arts is a required credit in Texas so all students are exposed to Art, Music and Drama. Affordable housing, Texas dogged the national bullet by having a steady market place during the recent Real Estate boom. Your money will go a long ways in Texas.

Some of us are night owls others go to bed early and rise early. I can do both in short spurts but I prefer late night living. A few years ago I read an interesting book. I think the title was: "Night the new frontier". The author talked about how because of growth of corporate America, there is a whole new group of individuals who live and work mostly at night. It has created a night world. Nothing scary about it in fact his research showed that there was much less crime and violence among those who live and work at night

So what is night like in Austin Texas?

Lake Travis at Sunset

 The 360 Bridge over the Colorado River

The University of Texas Clock Tower at night

Music at the Iron Cactus on Famed 6th Street

Creativity and ideas have always come easy for me. The money to fund them has been hard work.

My first and longest career was in the ministry. My first position was in a small church in Phoenix Arizona. In fact it had only about 60 regular attenders when I started and a membership role of about 100.

I was hired part time as the Children and Youth Minister. I kept my full time job at a pharmaceutical company and worked part time and weekends for the church. They paid me $50.00 per week. The Children's program consisted of 6 wonderful kids from 3 years old to about 9. The Youth program had 8 but only 2 to 3 were very regular attenders.

With no budget and no money for props we had to be creative and frugal. The first thing we did was build a little Western backdrop in the fellowship hall. I had collected some puppets over the years and one of them looked like Daniel Boone so we called the place "Booneville"

That first year we grew from 6 in our children's program to over 100 by year two we were pushing 200. The youth program grow to 75 and the church leadership put me on full time and we got our first budget. I wrote the curriculum and made most of the props to allow us to stretch the budget. Here are some of the things we did to grow.

-Round Up Sunday: Free Pony Rides, BBQ, Gunfights, Stuntman

-The Time Machine: An imposing piece of equipment with a secret back door entrance. The Bible came to life each Sunday as Characters from the Bible came through the time machine to tell their story.

-The worlds Largest Milk Shake: A 44 gallon Trash can decorated to look like a huge Milkshake glass. We served over 300 adults and children that day.

In addition to having a fun job it was all very rewarding. My wife and I got a call the other night from Ryan. We first met Ryan when he was 8 years old. He was very angry. His anger was the result of the family being abandoned by his mother who chose drugs over them. Soon after we met them my wife and I took Ryan and his sister to the mall to buy them some clothes and shoes for school. Ryan's dad did all he could to keep a roof over their head and food on the table but that was about all he could do. I remember rigging a contest (I am ashamed to say) so that Ryan would win the skateboard we were giving away. He had worked very hard and I knew his dad could not get one for him.

Ryan is now 24 years old. He called to tell us that he believes God has called him into Youth Ministry. "I want to help kids just like you helped me" he said. He starts his formal education this fall. It was a joy to hear from him.

I wonder how many Ryan's are living close to each one of us. Where maybe just a little kindness and encouragement can make a big difference.

Its Bluebonnet Season in the Hill Country so get a front row seat.

It is a great time of year to enjoy the beauty of the Hill Country.

The State protected flower is a gem among the many beautiful wild flowers you will see when you drive the hill country in the Spring time.

The blooms first start appearing along roadways and in meadows throughout the hill country in March, reaching their peak in April. There are several varieties of bluebonnet in the state but the Lupinus texensis, found all over Central Texas, is the showiest and most attractive species.

Plan to come and visit!