Central East Austin Real Estate - Mueller and More

The Agave Design Series is a popular range of homes out at Nine Sixty Nine. What’s changed that has made them all start selling? To my mind there are two stimuli right now - builder incentives and the tax credit.

The green homes are around 6.5 miles from downtown along MLK - the road which becomes 969 - hence the name of the development. It has been voted Austin’s Best Cubist Neighborhood for it’s array of colorful homes designed by local architects, and the Agave Design series are within reach of more first time homebuyers with list prices between $212,969 and $247,969.

So the $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers becomes a factor. You buy a new energy efficient home. The government gives you a check for $8,000 at tax time, and your utility bills are low. Kaching!

The other new factor is the recent incentives for buying the homes. Right now these include $10,000 in design center options with a home that closes by May. So you can get appliances, different landscaping, and anything that you like at the design shop. You also get to take advantage of changes in pricing.

With all this free money, appliances and more appealing purchase prices, it’s no surprise that there are 4 homes on Toscana currently under contract for sale. There are only 6 inventory homes left, and my guess is that they won’t last long now that spring is in the air.

Check out the available homes at Nine Sixty Nine - you can build to suit, buy a resale home, or grab one of the last remaining inventory homes.

Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor® who expertly represents buyers of Agave Homes in Austin. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Call 512 694 8873 if you want to learn more or contact Garreth.

What do you get when you buy a contemporary Agave Design home in East Austin? Stylish protection from the elements in an energy efficient home.

I was out there in 78724 this morning in the chilly Austin weather, looking at the homes on Toscana. They’re designed by three popular modern architects - Rick Black, Eric Standridge, and Salas Design, and look pretty striking in the hillside. Even on a dreary day like today. Did I mention it was cold?

Not all of them are ready for move in - some are 2 or 3 months away from that. One thing I did notice when I was in them is that they all had their heating systems turned really off. I’d expect that from an empty home in construction. The other thing I noticed is that they were all pretty warm inside.

Why? Because they’re high performance homes. They are carefully designed and constructed to meet the rigors of Austin Energy’s Green Building Program and are rated at 3 stars. So they require less energy to heat and cool, meaning lower utility bills. And meaning they felt far warmer than a brown home without the heating turned on. (I’m officially coining the term brown home for all homes that aren’t green.)

The Agave Design series of homes at Nine Sixty Nine are priced at around $217,000 to $258,000 and vary in size from 1408 to 1887sqft. The compliment the larger Architect series.

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® who helps people find green homes in Austin at developments such as Nine Sixty Nine. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. See available homes on Toscana, or call 512 694 8873 to get updated listings and prices emailed to you.

Austin’s Nine Sixty Nine development will soon enjoy a new retail center, according to information shared with local homeowners last week.

In recent posts about life at Agave, Austin, residents debunked the misconception that the Nine Sixty Nine development was inconvenient for Austin amenities.

A new retail development at the junction of 969 and 183 will be extremely convenient for the development, which is half a mile further East.

The development at 969 features two series of Agave homes - “design” and “architectural” in addition to the Villas and the planned Fiore (a 5 star green community).

Agave homes feature modern architecture and energy efficient designs as you can see from the pictures (courtesy of Alana Chandler).

The homes are set in the hills and have excellent sunset views of downtown Austin - six miles to the West. The architects involved in nine sixty nine include Rick Black (of Club De Ville fame), CasaBella (Mexican American Cultural Center), The Lawrence Group (Carver branch library) and Clayton Levy Little (Arnold’s Bakery).

Homes are available at Nine Sixty Nine for immediate and future move in.

Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor® who expertly represents buyers of Agave Homes in Austin. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Call 512 694 8873 if you want to learn more or contact Garreth.

As a Realtor® serving the Agave community, I can give some facts on the neighborhood and the homes available there, but there’s no substitute for getting information directly from the neighbors.

If you’re thinking of relocating to Agave in Austin, here is an interview with Agave resident Alana Chandler which has her thoughts on life at Agave (and one of her photos!). This is part II of my series on living in Agave Austin.

Q. What are your favorite three things about living at Agave?

My first favorite thing is waking up every morning in our dream home without the bills to go with it (in all respects…I can’t believe Vicinia had the vision to merge top modern architects with relatively great home prices, and they are truly air-tight and energy efficient)

Secondly, I can’t imagine any other neighborhood where every neighbor knows every person in their collective subdivision. I always say it’s either like getting a membership to a free country club, or going back in time.

Agave (our subdivision) defines the word “community”. Just as an example, we are having 14 of our neighbors over tomorrow for drinks and nibbles, including one who just moved in yesterday. (I’ve never known more than 4 neighbors in previous homes I’ve had…and we’ve only lived here 5 months! AND this is just a small nugget of our friends here!)…
Q. Who was your architect?

CasaBella designed our home and I’m sure they’ll be whipping out their pencils again soon in a few years because, as our income grows, we already have plans to build on. We can’t imagine ever moving OUT…even if we struck a chest of diamonds when building the
addition. (**crosses fingers**)

There are 10 award-winning modern architects in the Agave subdivision of Nine Sixty Nine who are truly some of the top architects in the city, and they design all the plans…but to be honest, we chose our plan because of the truly massive kitchen and the flow for entertaining that CasaBella envisioned…(which, now we see, is a good thing, considering this community!) We’ve used it quite a bit. Truly a chef’s kitchen.

Q. Has your home lived up to your expectations?

It has far exceeded my expectations! Years ago I worked for builders in Plano, TX. These were 2 million dollar homes I sold and decorated so I’m a picky buyer…and, I kid you not, Vicinia (our developer) completely exceeds their building standards.

Just as an example, our builder (Nelson Klein) in Agave came out to fix an electrical outlet last week. This was on a Saturday night 5 months after we closed on our house after he got off work! (I thought it was broken but I’d tripped it.) Service and attention-to-detail is truly measured on what happens AFTER you close.

I actually had no idea how WELL it was built until after we bought it, as a matter of fact…when we added wiring for speakers, for example, the insulation was so dense and well-done, that the installer said they’d never seen anything like it. We noticed that throughout the building process: when something during building wasn’t up to THEIR standards, even if we didn’t complain or notice, they’d fix it instantly.  It amazed me.

They’ve even added features to the homes this year like sprayed-in isonene insulation to up our green rating.   Even more than that, I am in awe of how much I love the layout of my home…people comment all the time on how well it “flows”…it’s designed brilliantly…even down to the fact that CasaBella placed windows so that the breezes we get so well on our hilltop naturally flow great amounts of cool air through creating air-conditioning nearly year-round. In TEXAS.

Q. What are some of the misconceptions about Agave?

Unimaginable!! We all know each other! Perhaps because of our eclectic subdivision.  One can’t typically have a taste for the eclectic and be artsy and also be boring or stiff (that’s an oxymoron) & most neighbors are creative in some form or another.

Believe it or not, before we closed on our house I knew the majority of my neighbors…even a couple who hadn’t moved in yet and was moving from Boston and another couple who was building and moving from Omaha.  The residents had monthly happy hours and sent emails and there were barbecues, etc. So the day we moved in it was like old friends greeting us at our door to welcome us. Crazy, huh? …

Q. What are some of the challenges of living at Agave?

…Figuring out what to do with our money now that we don’t have to fix things and pay high energy costs? Ha Ha.

Okay, wait I do have one. We (the residents) just hired a great management company to manage our Home Owners Association. So now they have to write fines for anyone not following the covenants and rules.

And it’s hard to get something like that started and have everyone buy into it…especially when you have homes that have been here long before agave entered the subdivision or with owners who aren’t familiar with an H.O.A.

The exciting thing is that having a strong H.O.A increases home values. Our equities have already been skyrocketing since Agave’s inception and it’s actually going to be nice once this gets going to see our little community continuing to get even better, including every part of Nine Sixty Nine.

Oh, and there isn’t a coffee shop nearby. Thankfully, they will be building a cute retail center right at 969 (the road) and our entry so that will be taken care of on the horizon!

There is a selection of Agave homes available and under construction which you can see at my MLS site. Prices start in the 200ks for a modern, energy-efficient home.

Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor® who can expertly represent buyers of Agave Homes in Austin. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Call 512 694 8873 if you want to learn more or contact Garreth. At his website you can search the Austin MLS.

What’s a good way to find out what life in a new development is like? Ask a resident! Imagine you’re thinking of buying a home in a community like Agave in Austin. As a Realtor® serving the Agave community, I can give some input, but what I advise is to drive the area at different times, and get out and meet your prospective new neighbors.

For those out of town, I have gathered some blogs right here.

7301 Ava Lane and Agave House - you can see how the standard Agave house provides a great canvas for upgrades and modifications by owners.

In part II of the series, I’ll get some more opinions from an Agave resident so that you can get a flavor for the area.

There is a selection of Agave homes available and under construction which you can see at my MLS site. Prices start in the 200ks for a modern, energy-efficient home.

Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor® who can expertly represent buyers of Agave Homes in Austin. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Call 512 694 8873 if you want to learn more or contact Garreth. At his website you can search the Austin MLS.

Austin’s contemporary design community is heading towards the end of phase one, and phase two sees some interesting new home options.

The premis of the Agave development was simple - get 10 architects to design modern, energy efficient homes, and build them in a subdivision on a hillside within seven miles of downtown.

They have done just that - the contemporary homes share a space at the Meadows at Trinity Crossing with the Mediterranean Villas at Sendero Hills, just on the East side of Highway 183 where MLK Blvd East becomes 969 - hence the name nine sixty nine. By my GPS, this makes it 6.5 miles to the center of Austin.

The architects include Rick Black, Kevin Stewart and Emily Little, and the homes look fantastic from the outside, as you can see from the skyline below. And while Phase One is completing (you can see a list of remaining homes available at Agave / Nine Sixty Nine here) the plans for Phase Two hit a different price point too.

The Agave Architectural series was priced from $250k and the currently available homes vary from $240k to $370k. The Agave Design Series featured in Phase Two starts from around $190k and features the same green building ethos as the Architect series.

There are several available models to look around, and the interiors have the same striking visual appeal as the exteriors. If you’re looking for contemporary green living, they’re certainly worth a look.

Garreth Wilcock is a real estate agent with the Pinnacle Group at Keller Williams. He specializes in Central and East Austin Real Estate. Call 512 694 8873 if you want to learn more or contact here. Search the Austin MLS.