Central East Austin Real Estate - Mueller and More

What’s Mueller Austin like at night? If you’re thinking about a relocation to a home at Mueller Austin, and are curious as to the night life of this new subdivision, here’s a few photos I took while walking our dog, and an update on the October itinerary, which includes Mueller’s Night Out.

Mueller is a master planned community  - an urban infill designed by Roma Design. The new urbanist motif, also dubbed urban renaissance, traditional neighborhood design and neo-traditional design has been designed with night time in mind too.

The streets are wide and pedestrian friendly, and above all well-lit. That extends to the trails and parks also, as seen in the photos of lake park shown above and below. This makes it condusive to strolling and the enjoying the mild Austin evenings right now, and the program of events in October reflects this.

Tuesday October 7th is Mueller’s Night Out - our local version of The National Night Out. Houses at Mueller have large front porches, and garages at the back of the houses, accessed by separate allies. This makes the streets perfect for walking about in the evenings and for sitting on porches meeting neighbors at events such as these.

The amphitheatre in Mueller’s Lake Park will host several outdoor movies on Fridays 10th, 17th and 24th. Yoga and Story Building with Move Your Tale are also scheduled, as are nature walks of the Southwest Greenway, which examine the native landscaping used at Mueller.

If I had to sum up the night time scene at Mueller, I’d have to say: light, community-based and full of opportunity! It will be interesting to see what is added as the Mueller Town Center develops.

Homes in phase I and II of Mueller Austin are currently available in the $120,000 - $910,000 range. You can search for homes at Mueller at my website.

Garreth Wilcock is a real estate consultant in Austin Texas. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate and lives and works in Mueller. Find out about his Mueller Move Up program, or cost saving representation for Mueller buyers.

Where’s a good location to buy investment property in East Austin? This is a rather general question, and there are a variety of different answers depending on your investment goals.

When I’m looking for long term appreciation, there are developing areas that might be of interest. When I’m looking to force the value of a property by undertaking improvements then the target areas are different, and the market for similar properties is a key factor. When I’m looking to buy a lot and develop something new, then the criteria are different again.

I spent Monday of last week investigating homes in Austin’s Upper East Side. There were a few homes that looked interesting in the MLS, that fit the criteria for my exit strategies:

1. They were identified in the MLS as needing cosmetic work
2. They were identified as having potential upside in the MLS

There are two types of information in the MLS - the parts that are available to the public as can be seen on my Austin Texas MLS Search site, and the parts that are restricted to the Realtor®-client relationship. The Realtor® Code of Ethics constrains what parts of the protected information I can make available here, but suffice it to say, I saw things that made them seem interesting to me, and decided to check them out.

The first is at 5700 Coventry Lane. It’s in an area where leasing has occurred quickly and is listed as of today at $115,000. You can see details at my Austin MLS search site. (If it’s no longer visible it may have sold) Here is what the public MLS description says:

“Great i[n]vestment opportunity on corner lot. Home needs a bit of cosmetic work, appears to have good bones. Minutes to downtown. Priced over $100,000 BELOW ASSESSED VALUE.”

Sure enough, the preliminary tax appraisal value for 2008 of $248,317 is far higher than the list price. I took a look inside the home, and there is certainly an opportunity to complete the remodeling job that is underway, and force the value. There are no other homes for sale in 78723 that are below $60/sqft (the average is $147/sqft) and this one is priced at $45/sqft.

As I outlined in a previous article, tax appraised value is a completely different kettle of fish to actual home value, but it was enough to get me interested to check it out on the first day it came on the market.

The second is at 6302 Hyside Drive, details at my MLS search site before it goes under offer. It is listed today at $89,900 and it’s preliminary 2008 TCAD value is $130,879. The public MLS description is:

“Build your own equity in this home…the house has great opportunity and at this price, you can quickly change the home’s value with some work. You won’t find other properties with this much upside potential.”

These both look like potential picks for an investor who is looking to force the value of a home.

Is now a good time to flip homes, if inventory is higher than a year ago?

There is certainly a risk with every type of investment, and one key to successful investment is to eliminate as many unknowns as possible. Some of that comes through experience, other times from professional advice, other times with speed of execution.

So how does this apply to flipping homes in a market with higher inventory? Right now, it’s a good time to build in more risk factor into the predicted profit.

You have to be very realistic about the pricing of the end result, and you have to turn things around very quickly to minimize the potential for market fluctuations to catch you off guard.

One way to achieve an aggressively priced end result is to buy the home at a deep discount. Every investor is looking for a good deal. The most successful are the ones who find the deals, recognize the deals and act on the information fastest.

Garreth Wilcock is a real estate consultant at Keller Williams. He specializes in helping people find Central and East Austin real estate. Call 512 694 8873 or contact him at his website if you want a free valuation of your Austin home. You can search the Austin MLS at his website.

The Austin Metropolitan real estate market shows a minimal risk of house price depreciation in the next two years according to a risk report by PMI. This is not the picture in many of the other metropolitan areas in the US. This once again shows that despite the national economy impacting real estate, real estate market data must additionally be analyzed locally to get the full picture.

I found the report in an article called Risk of Home Price Declines Intensifies in Q2. The article cites the Economic and Real Estate Trends report from PMI, a quarterly report analyzing data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight/Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Despite the title, Austin is one of the 15 areas that has a minimal risk - less than 1% chance - of experiencing real estate price depreciation in the next two years. In our case, all that has happened is that the rate of appreciation has slowed. The report addendum shows the rate of appreciation has dropped from 10.66% to 4.98% from second quarter of 2007 to second quarter of 2008.

I compiled some MLS data for Central and East Austin single family home sales, and compared what I saw with the report. This includes houses, townhomes, condos and lofts.

Median list price for single family homes is at at a plateau and appears to be holding stable up to the third quarter of 2008.

Sold price per square foot in Central Austin has declined slightly in the last year. Given that list prices are stable, I looked deeper into sales price over list price ratios. This year to date the amount paid for the homes vs. the list price has dropped just over 1%.

Garreth Wilcock is a real estate consultant at Keller Williams. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Call 512 694 8873 or contact him at his website if you want a free valuation of your Austin home. You can search the Austin MLS at his website.

Homes at Mueller Austin are filling fast as Phase II is well underway and new neighbors are moving in. How long will it be before development is complete, and what implications does this have if you’re trying to sell your home at Mueller?

This is the first part of a three part series which examines the status of development at Mueller, what the challenges for re-selling your home are, and how to compete with the builders if you need to sell in a growing development.

At what stage of development is Mueller Austin?

348 Homes sold in Phase I of the Robert Mueller Airport Redevelopment in Central East Austin, with the first pioneers moving in at the end of 2007. As pioneers ourselves, we were lucky enough to win a high ranking in the pioneer lottery and close on our home in February 2008. By the summer of 2008 we already had parks, a pool and the energy efficient Gold LEED award winning Mueller Central building.

Around 350 homes are available in Phase II, out of a total of around 2400 planned houses in nine planned residential phases. The remaining planned 2200 housing units will be apartments and condos, and Phase III of residential development will commence in Summer 2009. So for years to come, the builders at Mueller are going to remain active selling their homes until the residential development is complete.

Will I be able to sell my Mueller home? Invariably, life circumstances change. People move to other cities, circumstances change and you may need to relocate. What happens if you bought at Mueller and need to sell? Will you be able to sell your home?

Firstly, you have to consider the nature of the title you hold to the home. If you live in an affordable home, there are restrictions on the sale. In the first year of ownership, you must sell it back to the Mueller Foundation at the price you paid for it. If you wish to sell it after this period, the Mueller Foundation has first right of refusal to buy it at market rate (as determined by a third party).

If your original purchase was at market rate, then you have the right to sell your home to whomever you wish. The question then becomes: Under what terms can I sell my home? and What is the market value of my home? We look at these in part III.

Part II of this series looks at the challenges of competing with new home construction, and part III looks at the solutions to yield a successful sale.

Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor® residing in Mueller Austin. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Find out about his Mueller Move Up program, or cost saving representation for buyers at Mueller Austin.

University Hills Real Estate Listing: You don’t need to have a wife called Peggy or a niece called Luanne Platter to be King of the Hill in Austin’s Upper East Side. I am proud to present this home which is at the highest end of Syracuse Cove in University Hills.

6811 Syracuse Cove, Austin, TX 78723

• 3 Beds, 2 Baths
• 1235sqft on 0.23 acre
• Austin ISD (Winn / Andrews / Pearce)
• MLS# 9357342
• $163,977
• Virtual Tour

This is a rare opportunity to own a newer home in University Hills, Austin.

It has new paint throughout, new ceramic tile in wet areas and new carpet. Why settle for a remodel when you can have this practical open floorplan built to modern code standards? There is ample storage with walk-in-closets in each bedroom.

Open floorplan, plenty of windows make a bright living and dining area. Huge elevated lot on cul de sac give a commanding view from the porch. Close to Mueller, with easy access to 290, I35, 183.

See more information on 6811 Syracuse Cove in University Hills at my MLS site

• Search for homes in 78723
• View University Hills market data
  
• Find out how much your Austin home is worth

Garreth Wilcock is a real estate consultant at Keller Williams. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Call 512 694 8873 or contact him at his website if you want a free valuation of your Austin home. You can search the Austin MLS at his website.

Is it a good time to buy a Central Austin home? This is a question I get asked on a regular basis, and there is no simple answer. Two groups of people ask me this - homebuyers and investors.

The “average” Texas homebuyer remains in a home for 5-6 years, and when they sell their home, they buy another one. It’s a long term game - and if you sell a house in the market and buy in the same market, then you’re effectively in the market for the long term.

In the long term, housing has increased in value. Central Austin has improving transportation links, a healthy economy, and due to the scarcity of new building space is more insulated from price fluctuations than outlying areas. Is it a more stable long term bet than other places in Austin? Certain parts definitely are. And within those parts certain homes are underpriced and others are overpriced.

An investor may look at Austin housing market data, and conclude that the factors affecting home price would indicate that Austin still has a balanced market (between three and six months inventory - Austin is six months as per the Real Estate Center).

Then when they ask is now a good time to buy?, I look at the specific neighborhood within Central Austin that they are targeting and see how it compares with the overall Austin picture.

I ask what an investor’s aims are. If they want to remodel a home or flip it, I check on the ease of selling a home in the same market that they are buying in. If they are looking for a “buy and hold” rental home, I check what the rental market inventory in that area is right now.

An investor may track home prices and look for the long term appreciation trend. When the price appreciation dips below that trend line, they may conclude that houses are undervalued and choose to buy.

The chart on the left shows average sales price in Austin since 1979 using data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Center. If you ask five different people whether “the market” is well priced for investment right now, you would get five different answers - it depends on the neighborhood, and the exit strategy.

Right now, Central Austin home prices are levelling off and mortgage rates are reasonably low at around 6%. There are certainly neighborhoods in Central Austin to invest in, and homes that are being sold below current market value.

Garreth Wilcock is a real estate agent in Austin Texas. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Call 512 694 8873 if you want a free valuation of your home or contact him here. You can save custom property searches of the Austin MLS at his website.

You are about to close on your brand new home in the perfect subdivision, and you schedule the final walkthrough with the builder. You could be about to make a costly mistake, unless you prepare yourself for the walkthrough process.

You are no doubt excited at this point at the prospect of moving in, but it pays to check your emotions at the door when you do the walkthrough, and to enlist as much help as you can. This is the time to get things rectified and to get plans to rectify things you find in writing. Here’s are my top five tips for Austin homebuyers to getting the most from the homebuying walkthrough process.

Consider who is working for whom. The builder’s sales staff and general contractors represent the builder. They have no formal responsibility to the buyer aside from a nebulous sense of customer satisfaction. They’re nice people, and may want to make small talk as you focus on the walkthrough. This is distracting. Take charge of the situation and let them know that you’re trying to concentrate.

Your REALTOR® on the other hand, is explicitly representing your best interests. Their job is to help you with the process and ensure you get what you are due.

Be prepared. This isn’t just for boy scouts, this is for walkthroughs. Print out a checklist, take a clipboard and take some tools with you so that you can control the process. And make sure that you allow plenty of time - don’t let the builder rush you through the appointment. Make sure that the builder has all of the utilities turned on and systems enabled.

Handy items to take along:

• Clipboard, pen, pencil, checklist. The National Association of Homebuilders has a good overall checklist.
• A flashlight for inspecting the far reaches of the attic
• Hosepipe for spraying windows and gutters
• Level for checking doorways
• A digital camera and/or video camera for documenting what you find
• Your team…

Assemble a team. Ask your REALTOR® to come along, and anyone else who you know who is accustomed to looking at real estate - if you have a friend who is a general contractor, they might be a good choice. Despite what the builder might tell you, you can take as many people as you like with you, and you are more likely to spot things if you do.

Here are some suggested team roles - not every role requires a person, but it’s good to have your different hats on when in the walkthrough:

• Documentor - to take notes and photos of everything that you find
• Eyeballer - paint and drywall finish, chipped surfaces
• Faucet operator to turn on all of the faucets and check the toilets flush
• Switcher - make sure all lights and fans work as designed
• White-gloved sergeant - check that everything is spotlessly clean
• Opener - windows, doors and cabinets should all open and close freely
• Waterer - see that drainage is correct and gutters work as designed, and windows and doors shouldn’t allow water penetration.

Get a licensed real estate inspector. The best source of advice on structural issues is a licensed home inspector. Unless your REALTOR® is also an inspector, they can’t tell you whether the HVAC unit has the correct temperature differential, or if the GFCIs are functioning correctly. Their advice will be to hire a professional

The builder might suggest that hiring a licensed home inspector is a waste of money as the home has already been inspected by the City. It isn’t. I’ve never been to a home inspection on a new home where the inspector hasn’t found something that could have had costly consequences if not corrected before move-in.

On numerous occasions, home inspectors that my clients have worked with have found that the HVAC was not operating effectively. It’s a bit disappointing when buying a new home, bur sometimes the HVAC is not filled with enough refrigerant. They’ve also found dishwashers that don’t drain, GFCIs wired up incorrectly, missing attic insulation and unsecured ranges that could tip over.

An inspector will not comment on the finish of items, such as paint overspray or drywall dings, so make sure you have that covered by the rest of the team.

Take notes, take pictures and video. The builder will give you some blue tape with which to mark items that need rectification - items that get put onto a punch list. The builder will take notes, and may even explain why some items don’t need to be addressed. In their opinion.

Be prepared to take advice on this from an external source if the explanation isn’t satisfactory - the builder doesn’t represent you after all. It is key to take notes of your own so that you can cross check later. Be prepared to demand that things get resolved to your satisfaction before you sign off any acceptance forms.

Take photos or document what you see by video. I’ve found pieces of blue tape that never got removed (as they were out of plain sight) when I’ve been back to check on alleged completion of a punchlist. I wouldn’t have known what things to check without photographs and notes to review.

This is the biggest purchase of our lives for most of us. Preparing for the walkthrough and conducting it in a thorough fashion will ensure that you get the most for your money and that your dream home is really move-in ready.

Garreth Wilcock is a real estate consultant at Keller Williams. He specializes in Central and East Austin Homes. Call 512 694 8873 or contact him at his website if you want a free valuation of your Austin home. You can search the entire Austin MLS by map  at his website.

It’s now possible to find homes in Mueller Austin using google maps! As a new development, there’s a lag between streets being built and the ability to find them on maps.

When I checked this morning, the following streets are now mapped:

Littlefield, McCloskey,Pinckney, Tom Miller, Zach Scott, Comacho, Emma Long, Antone, Cal Rodgers, Sahm, Mattie, Scales and Lawless. The one way alleys for garage access are also shown. The Berkman Drive connection to Manor Road is not yet mapped, and this can be an easier intersection to leave the neighborhood by if you want to head South on Airport.

View Larger Map

The satellite view still shows the airstrip and hangar buildings, and there is no street view (which is one reason I take photos of Mueller homes while I’m out walking).

The other geographic information systems that I checked - mapquest, yahoo, and microsoft have no street information for the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport streets.

Can I search for my new home at Mueller on a map? That depends where you look.

If you use map searches on the Austin MLS to search for the street, you won’t yet find it - they’re mostly powered by mapquest data.

If your REALTOR® sets up a map search within the MLS, then the home may show up or it may not. It depends on whether the listing agent has manually placed the new home within the mapping software - the Austin MLS interface uses Microsoft Earth maps which don’t yet have the street information.

If you know anyone who wants expert Mueller real estate advice, let me know, and I’ll point them in the right direction!

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin real estate agent. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate and lives and works in Mueller. Find out about his Mueller Move Up program, or cost saving representation for Mueller buyers.

Homes in Mueller Austin: people planning a relocation to the Robert Mueller Airport Redevelopment in Austin Texas are often curious as to the feel of the neighborhood.

One thing that I always mention is the walkable nature of the development, and the greenspace that you see as you take those walks. The Mueller redevelopment plan calls for “a network of greenways and parks“. The Mueller community framework diagrams show green areas throughout, and these plans are becoming a reality:

• 73 acres of perimeter greenways and uninterrupted hike and bike trails
• 30 acre community park
• 32 acres of neighborhood and pocket parks

In the photos below, you can get an idea of the housing density, but you can also see the wide sidewalks. While walking our dog last night on the hiking trail to the Southwest Greenway, I was passed by cyclists, dog-walkers, runners and walkers.

One neighbor I stopped to chat to last night has moved to Mueller as his youngest child is now in college. Another neighbor I bumped into has a two year old and comments on how many young children there are, and how she visits Ella Wooten Park every day. A client wrote a contract yesterday and said that she never thought she would be able to afford to buy a home in Austin, let alone so close to UT.

Mueller Austin has a diverse set of residents and a diverse selection of housing, and it all shares a walkable neighborhood of greenspaces. I’m proud to call it home.

Garreth Wilcock is a real estate agent in Austin. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate and lives and works in Mueller. Find out about his Mueller Move Up program, or cost saving representation for Mueller buyers.

East Austin Real Estate: University Hills and Vintage Hills have been targets for home renovators and flippers in Austin, Texas for the last few years. Here’s my monthly round up of University Hills Neighborhood data.

The Neighborhood of University Hills is bounded by highways 290, 183 on the North and East, and by Northeast Drive and Little Walnut Creek on the South. As the name suggests, the area is set on undulating hills, and given its location, it is a short hop away from the University of Texas. Given it’s ease of access to I35, 290, 183 and the new Mueller Redevelopment, it is convenient to much of what Austin has to offer.

The subdivisions of Vintage Hills and University Hills were started in the 1960s and 1970s, and many of the original owners still live there. The neighborhood email list was set up by Robert Crumley just over a year ago, and is thriving as more tech-savvy residents move in.

I took a look at the last year’s University Hills MLS sales data for single family homes, and gleaned the following charts:

The market over the last 365 days (to September 23, 2008) shows a healthy time on market. Around two thirds of homes that sold got an accepted offer in under three months.

In addition, the average sales price achieved was close to the list price as you can see from the charts above. The market is evolving all the time, as amenities are added to Mueller Austin, but the last year has looked pretty good in University Hills.

Garreth Wilcock is a real estate consultant at Keller Williams. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Call 512 694 8873 if you want a free valuation of your home or contact him here. You can search the Austin MLS at his website.