Real Estate Information

I have a corporate client who might be selling a performing note in the near future.  I am definitely not an expert in this field and am not brokering it or anything like that.  I would simply put you in contact with the person at the company who handles it.  Though my knowledge of note sales is limited, this sounds like a pretty good one.  The note is around $140,000 on a property worth about $190,000.  Based upon an approximate asking price and the note payments, it would likely be a 15% cash-on-cash return (and, remember, this is a secured note backed by a property with equity).  The property is located in the Austin area.

If you are someone who invests in instruments such as these and you are interested in finding out more, contact me via email, online form, or at 512-735-7200 and I'll get you in touch with the right person.

The National Association of Realtors recently released this article.  It think it does a nice job explaining the "seasonally adjusted" numbers and the two graphs provide a nice comparison.  If you would like to buy or sell a home and help contribute to the statistics on these nifty charts, please don't hesitate to contact me via email, online form, or at 512-735-7200.

When looking at national existing home sales data, it is apparent that there are large seasonal trends in the data. Sales in existing homes tend to spike in warmer months, June through August, and reach their nadir in colder months, December through February. On average, homes sales nationally are approximately 1.6 times higher during the summer than they are during the winter. The graph below details the unadjusted national existing home sales data from January 2003 through November 2011. Although we can reasonably ascertain an upward trend in sales between 2003 and 2005, and a downward trend in sales between 2005 and 2008, it is much more difficult to make comparisons between adjacent months due to the seasonality. Furthermore, events like the Home Buyer Tax Credit (HBTC) of 2009 and 2010 are also obscured by the seasonal effects.  

In order to provide more clarity, NAR produces seasonally adjusted sales in addition to the unadjusted sales data. Seasonal adjustment simply removes the effect of seasonality, and calculates what sales would have been in its absence. The graph below presents the seasonally adjusted national existing home sales data from January 2003 through November2011. We first notice that the upward trend in sales from 2003 to 2005, and the downward trend in sales from 2005 to 2008 are much more evident. Furthermore, the effect of the HBTC is also apparent. In particular, there were large spikes in sales in November 2009, the original expiration date of the tax credit, and in June 2010, the ultimate expiration date.

Finally, we note that seasonally adjusted sales have increased in three of the last four months through November to 390,000 (or a 4.68M annualized rate). November unadjusted sales were 353,000 which was 78% of the average summer (June through August) unadjusted sales of 453,000. Typically, November sales are 75% of the total summer sales. The higher ratio of November sales relative to summer sales in 2010 is partly attributable to the acceleration of sales into April and May due to the HBTC.

Copyright National Association of REALTORS®. Reprinted with permission.

I just listed a foreclosure property at 1210 Windsor Road #224 in Austin, Texas, 78703.  This updated condo is 1 mile west of Capitol & walking distance to 12th & Lamar. The kitchen has granite counters, slate floor & back splash, stainless steel appliances, 42" cabinets, & a breakfast bar. It has updated bathrooms, lighting, & ceiling fans. There is hardwood flooring in the living & dining rooms. Set between two courtyards, this unit has no side neighbors. There is also a community pool. Washer/dryer included. HOA fee covers electric, water, gas, & trash. Corporate Owned. Offers responded to within 24 to 48 hours.

For more information on this great opportunity for owner-occupants or investors, including a virtual tour, photos, and school information, click here.  To request a showing, contact me via email, online form, or at 512-735-7200.

I just listed a foreclosure property at 7702 Cloudberry Circle in Austin, Texas, 78745.  The corporate owner made a lot of improvements in November 2010 in preparation for selling it.  Updates include painting the interior walls, doors, and baseboards as well as the exterior trim, new carpet, new lighting fixtures (including ceiling fans), new tile grout, new stove and vent hood, refreshed oak cabinets, new vinyl flooring in the laundry room and multi-season room, and much more. 

For more information on this great opportunity for owner-occupants or investors, including a virtual tour, photos, and school information, click here.  To request a showing, contact me via email, online form, or at 512-735-7200.

I've just updated the Neighborhood Home Sale Data for November.  If you would like to view information on sold homes, this is the place to do so.  Addresses, sold prices, bedrooms, bathrooms, size, and more are available free of charge.  Summary data is available, too.  I currently track over 85 neighborhoods in Austin and Cedar Park with more being added each month.  To take a look at the information, visit www.RealEstateInAustin.com/Neighborhood-Sales-Data.

If you are looking for a great Christmas light display, I suggest going to visit Chinati Court in Cedar Park.  All twelve homes on the cul-de-sac are decked out with a dazzling array of lights.  Storyboards declare 'Twas the Night Before Christmas,' two Lionel trains run through two yards, Christmas carols ring out, and more.  On Friday and Saturday evenings, you can buy hot chocolate and donuts with the proceeds going to Brown Santa of Williamson County (they are also a toy drop off for Brown Santa).  Take some time to enjoy the roaring fire pit, too.  This is the 11th year that the Chinati Court neighbors have put on this display and the 7th year they have been a part of Brown Santa (last year they raised $2,700).  My wife and I took our kids and nieces last weekend and spent more than an hour viewing the display and talking with the neighbors while drinking hot chocolate. 

Chinati Court is located just off Sun Chase Blvd in the Ranch at Cypress Creek in Cedar Park.  It is suggested that you park on Sun Chase and walk down Chinati Court to view the display.

The folks on Chinati Court don't move very often so I can't offer you the opportunity to buy a home on their court at this time.  However, if you'd like to be in their area, check out these available homes that also attend Westside Elementary.

The October housing statistics were released today (the national numbers are provided by the National Association of Realtors while the Texas numbers are from The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University).

Nationally, compared to October 2009, the number of homes sold was down 25.9%.  It is hard to get a true picture, however, because this time last year there were first-time homebuyers closing on houses as the original tax credit deadline was in sight.  So we are comparing against artifically inflated numbers from last year, which will continue through the November reporting period.  Compared to September 2010, October sales were down 2.2%.  These figures from NAR are seasonally adjusted.  Using actual sales data, the number of homes sold year-to-date is down 2.9%.  Fortunately, historically low interest rates continue to move the market along.  32% of the buyers in October were first-time buyers, 19% were investors, and 49% were repeat buyers.  Distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) accounted for 34% of the national sales in October (up from 30% in October 2009 and down from 35% in September 2010).  71% of the sales were financed with a mortgage.  Prices were down 0.9%.

Again this month, the Austin numbers look worse as sales were down across all comparable time periods.  Compared to October 2009, the number of homes sold was down 31.9%.  Compared to September 2010, the number was down 2.35%.  Prices, however, were up again.  This does not mean that prices have jumped in Austin.  Because the tax credits skewed to the lower side of the housing market, far fewer of the entry level homes sold in October.  As a result, the percentage of homes with higher prices increased, tilting the average and median prices.  The number of contracts being accepted on homes has actually increased for the first time in a number of months (up 15.5% this month through today compared to the same time frame in October).

For the fifth month in a row, the year-over-year comparison for Austin home sales has declined.  This followed 9 months of increases, which was itself preceded by 27 months of decreases.  The 9 months of increases stretched from September 2009 to May 2010 which perfectly coincides with the tax credits.  While a lot of analysis has been done (and continues to be done) on the effect of the tax credit, I think I can simply sum it up by stating that it temporarily halted the real estate market's slide.  However, the market resumed it's decline when the market interference stopped. 

Based solely upon my current observations of market activity, I expect the November numbers to be down significantly, but that December will stabalize and may even show an increase.  The early part of 2011 should be about on par or slightly higher compared with the same period of 2010.  As we hit March through June, I expect the numbers will decline.

October 2010 Existing Home Sales

* National numbers are seasonally adjusted so no year-to-date numbers are provided.

I find that many home buyers are looking for a home within the boundaries of a specific school.  To make searching for homes by school nice and easy, I have just added a page for each school within the Eanes, Lake Travis, and Round Rock Independent School Districts (to go along with Leander which was completed earlier).  Each school's page has a current list of homes for sale which attend that school, a link to the most recent TEA scorecard (as well as the rating), a map to the school, and a link to the school website. 

The pages for Lake Travis and Round Rock also contain links to view the homes for lease.  This feature will be added shortly for Eanes and Leander.

If you have any comments or suggestions on how to improve these school searches, please don't hesitate to let me know via email, online form, or at 512-735-7200.

The September housing statistics were released yesterday (the national numbers are provided by the National Association of Realtors while the Texas numbers are from The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University).

Nationally, compared to September 2009, the number of homes sold was down 19.1%.  It is hard to get a true picture, however, because this time last year there were first-time homebuyers closing on houses as the original tax credit deadline was in sight.  So we are comparing against artifically inflated numbers from last year, which will continue for the next two reporting months.  Compared to August 2010, September sales were up 10.0%.  While NAR talks about seeing the beginning of a housing recovery, I don't suspect we'll see much until the foreclosure mess is cleared up and the unemployment rate begins to fall.  Fortunately, historically low interest rates continue to move the market along.  32% of the buyers in September were first-time buyers, 18% were investors, and 50% were repeat buyers.  Distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) accounted for 35% of the national sales in September (up from 29% in September 2009 and 34% in August 2010).  71% of the sales were financed with a mortgage.  Prices were down 2.4%.

The Austin numbers look worse as sales were down across all comparable time periods.  Compared to September 2009, the number of homes sold was down 28.0%.  Compared to August 2010, the number was down 15.5%.  Prices, however, were up again.  This does not mean that prices have jumped in Austin.  Because the tax credits skewed to the lower side of the housing market, far fewer of the entry level homes sold in September.  As a result, the percentage of homes with higher prices increased, tilting the average and median prices.  The number of contracts being accepted on homes continues to decline (down 12.7% this month through today compared to the same time frame in September).

For the fourth month in a row, the year-over-year comparison for Austin home sales has declined.  This followed 9 months of increases, which was itself preceded by 27 months of decreases.  The 9 months of increases stretched from September 2009 to May 2010 which perfectly coincides with the tax credits.  While a lot of analysis has been done (and continues to be done) on the effect of the tax credit, I think I can simply sum it up by stating that it temporarily halted the real estate market's slide.  However, the market resumed it's decline when the market interference stopped. 

September 2010 Existing Home Sales

* National numbers are seasonally adjusted so no year-to-date numbers are provided.

India's wealthiest man, Mukesh Ambani, has moved into his new home.  Worth approximately $1 billion, this 27 story home in Mumbai, India, has spectacular views of the city and the Arabian Sea.  The home has almost 400,000 square feet and contains a gym, dance studio, ballroom, and theater.  There are three helipads and underground parking for 160 cars.  There is a staff of 600 to operate the house.

The full article can be found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/8063385/Indias-richest-man-Mukesh-Ambani-moves-into-630m-home.html.

We don't have any billion dollar homes in Austin, but perhaps you'd be interested in viewing the homes we have priced above $5 million in the Texas capital.