Austin Real Estate News

A new neighborhood off Hamilton Pool Road in West Austin’s Bee Cave / Lakeway area is now open for sales – learn more about the community on our new Rocky Creek Neighborhood Profile page. Here’s a quick overview of the community:

• All new construction
• Current builders are Highland Homes and Drees Homes
• Prices range from the low $300s to just under $600,000
• Home sites are 70 feet, 80 feet, or 110 feet wide
• Around 150 sites are now available, ultimately Rocky Creek will have about 400 homes
• 4.5 miles down Hamilton Pool Road, making it about 6 minutes from the Hill Country Galleria, and 25-30 minutes to downtown Austin
• Community Pool scheduled to open Summer 2011

Reilly Realtors has completed one of the first contracts for a new home in Rocky Creek, so we know the neighborhood and builders quite well. Our experience with new construction is unparalleled, so give us a call at 512.600.1800 to learn more about Rocky Creek.

“Housing Bulls Should Try Texas” – that’s a featured story in today’s Wall Street Journal. The main reasons given in the article are:

• Demand – 19% population growth in the last ten years, strong economy, and below average unemployment (8.3%).
• Laws – After the 1980s real estate bust, Texas enacted laws to keep investors from taking advantage of the real estate market. Plus Texas has “tight limits on home equity lines of credit” helping to keep foreclosure rates lower than most.
• Taxes – Since Texas is one of the few states that taxes property, but not income, demand for high priced homes (with high taxes) is smaller.
• Supply – Thanks to the environment in which Texas home builders work, new home supply is pretty much in balance with demand – in Austin it’s a 3 months supply (other states have over 10 months worth). Additionally, Texas has not seen a glut in the lot market. For example, in Austin there is a 37 months supply (24 months would be great – and Austin is seeing a decline in supply) – whereas cities like Denver and Phoenix have 90 months and 98 months respectively.

So, investors should take a look at new Texas home builders. And those interested in purchasing a home in Austin should find more confidence with data like this.

Please let us know if we can help you with an Austin real estate purchase or sale. Our professional REALTORS are ready to serve you! Call Reilly Realtors at 512.600.1800.

At AustinHomeListings.com we are always adding new neighborhoods to our Austin Neighborhoods Guide to help our visitors get to know the many communities in the Austin area. The newest addition is the Grandview Hills neighborhood in the Four Points area. Learn more about this established community and its new custom home section on our Grandview Hills Neighborhood profile page. You can search for Grandview Hills homes for sale directly from that page, or use our Austin home search tools to do an area wide search for Austin Homes for Sale. Find something you want to see? A member of our professional real estate team would love to show you homes. Contact Great Austin Properties at 512.600.1800 – we look forward to hearing from you!

Mueller is a much talked about development in Austin thanks to its plan (a sustainable urban village), its location (minutes from downtown on the old airport grounds), and its uniqueness to Austin. Phase 1 of the residential area is now complete, and builders have already started construction on homes in Phase 2. We recently helped a client purchase a home at Mueller and want to tell you about the courtyard home our clients fell in love with.

Part of making Mueller pedestrian friendly involves small narrow lots – and because people tend to want high square footage these days, that leaves little room for yards. That means many homes in Mueller have a teensie yard (if any) – which works for many thanks to the ample green space and parks in the community. However, if yard space is important to you and Mueller is your goal, you should definitely check out the Mueller Garden Court homes. Though these homes do not have traditional backyards, they share a common front courtyard. See the image below that shows twelve homesites facing green space.

So, your front door faces neighbors across the way, and you (and your kids) have a common area to share with neighbors. That’s what drew our customers in – on top of the fact that they love the Mueller concept.  Oh, and they just love the The Muskin Company home they found. The Muskin Company’s Garden Court home they purchased has a great floorplan, energy efficient construction, and contemporary styling with cottage charm. Mueller appears to be the perfect fit for their family of four.

We found our clients a great home at Mueller and a great deal - we’d like to do the same for you! Call us today at 512.600.1800.

Learn more about this great community on our Mueller Austin Homes for Sale page or start your Mueller Home Search now.

At AustinHomeListings.com we are always adding neighborhoods to our Neighborhood Quick Search (top right of every page of the site) and to our neighborhood profiles. We just add West Cypress Hills, a community west of Austin near the new Hill Country Galleria. The West Cypress Hills neighborhood is a relativiely new subdivision where both resale and new homes are available for purchase. While the community is on the edge of town, if hill country living with great neighborhood amenities are what you are after, you will want to check out West Cypress Hills. To learn more, read our West Cypress Hills Austin Neighborhood Profile. 

Be sure to check out our other Austin neighborhoods  or start your home search now by using our Austin home search tools today!

Austin, Texas is known for its real estate affordability as compared to other idyllic places to live. While one million dollars in a city in California just might get you a fixer-upper, in this Texas town that’s far from the case. For example, check out this newly listed home in one of Austin’s most sought after communities, Spanish Oaks. For $1M on the nose you could live at 11919 La Barzola Bend:

We highlight this home not only because it’s our newest listing, but also because we think it’s one of the finest homes at this price point we’ve seen. And we’ve seen a lot of homes. Besides the great location in Bee Cave with easy access to Highway 71, 290, Southwest Parkway, and FM 2244 (Bee Cave Road) and across the street from the new Hill Country Galleria, 11919 La Barzola sits on a hill behind the 24/7 guard gated entrance in Spanish Oaks. The attention to detail is what sets the home apart as you can see from the photos on the 11919 La Barzola Bend virtual tour website. 

If you are interested in this home or other Austin homes for sale, or if you just want to learn more about Austin real estate, please contact Michael Reilly at 512.600.1800. Or start your Austin home search using the great search tools at AustinHomeListings.com. 

Catellus Development Corp, the master developer behind the redevelopment of the old Robert Mueller Municipal Airport into a 711 acre “mixed-use urban village”, today announced the process for getting on the list to purchase a new home. (If you don’t yet know about the Mueller project, I recommend visiting the site, http://www.muelleraustin.com.) Because of the great demand for these homes, the developer has a instituted a registration program called the Mueller Pioneer program. An important note about this process is that it is not on a “first come, first serve” list. There is timeframe to register and after the deadline, a company will be hired to randomly create a priority list of buyers.

This is the process to registering as a Mueller Pioneer.

Starting March 5, 2007 until April 30, 2007, complete a registration form, which will be available online or at Mueller Central, 4550 Mueller Blvd. (703-9220). They want to know which home type from which builder you’re looking to buy. (The builders were announced today.) Registrants may only select one home type and one builder. Due to anticipated high demand, families that register for more than one builder will be disqualified from the Pioneer program. Next, obtain a pre-qualification letter from the builder’s preferred lender. Obtaining the pre-qualification letter requires a $50 nonrefundable payment to the builder’s preferred lender. For those people, interested in buying an affordable home, the registration form is the same, but the pre-qualification will also include income certification from the homebuilder’s preferred lender and, if you need it, consultation with credit counselors.

This is the process after the registrations are submitted:

Catellus will build the list of prospective Pioneers using a randomizing process, overseen by a third party, to assign priority numbers to each Pioneer registration. Each builder will then work directly, in order, with each prospective Pioneer to complete home sales. Catellus will not sell Mueller homes directly. Please note that some builders will not enter into a contract with you if the purchase of a home in Mueller will be contingent upon the selling of your current house.

For more information stay tuned to www.austinhomelistings.com for more exclusive Austin Real Estate News.