The hot Austin real estate market didn’t disappoint the speculators and only seemed to rapidly gain steam as the summer months drew on. But, how did we get here? Despite a brief 3-year decline during “The Great Recession” of the late-2000s, the Austin real estate market very quickly bounced back. Between 2011 and 2013 alone there were 9,000 more homes sold in Austin—going from a paltry 21,208 to over 30,000. Take a look at these numbers and more in the image below.

Key Statistics

• 936 more homes sold in August 2017 than August 2016.
• Home prices up 5.5% in 2017.
• 16% more homes put up for sale in August 2017 than August 2016.
• Inventory is still well below 2010’s balanced market.

In early September, Amazon took North American cities by surprise, announcing that they are looking to open a second headquarters. With the announcement, Jeff Bezos’ company set out the parameters as to what it will take to secure the contract to house Amazon’s HQ2. Tax incentives, reasonable real estate costs, ability to attract and retain high-quality tech talent, and proximity to a major airport are all key factors that will determine which major city will be welcoming HQ2. According to Re/Code, there are 22 cities in the continental United States that meet or exceed the criteria as well as at least two cities in Canada.

But, why are all these cities bending over backward in an attempt to woo the multi-billion dollar eCommerce giant? Continue

In recent weeks, we’ve glanced at some of the most popular cities in different regions of the country. We compared each of those cities to the cost of living here in Austin, Texas.

As the final blog post in this series, we’re looking at the Western U.S. The cities in this part of the country make up some of the most popular places to visit in the U.S., and in many ways, they reflect many of the lifestyle features that people cherish about living in Austin.

Don’t forget to read our previous editions, in which we compared Austin’s cost of living to moving to the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest. Let us know what you think of our findings in the comments below or on social media. To make fair comparisons, we use Best Places to reflect the price

There’s nothing wrong with entering the Central Texas real estate selling market with optimism. But if you’ve been trying to sell your home for a while without much traction or interest from buyers, your optimism might be waning.

Sitting on a home that doesn’t sell is discouraging. Fortunately, there are strategies that smart real estate agents use to pique the interest of home-shoppers. You can implement these tricks as a homeowner to gain more sales momentum for your property.

The truth is, there are several common sale-slowing factors that might be at play in your listing. Here are the three that we find exceptionally common, listed as the solutions you can use to get your Central Texas property out of its silent rut.

1) Make a prospective

It’s easy to forget that the technology we use every day once only existed in the imaginations of quirky sci-fi writers. Now, these innovations appear in our everyday lives and continue to change the way our communities, cities, and jobs appear and function.

With so many inventions changing the way we live, shop, work, and play, it isn’t a surprise to learn that our homes are also evolving to keep up with these emerging technologies. When houses are outfitted with some of the latest and greatest innovations, we call these houses “smart homes.”

Smart technology – whether in your phone, car, or home – is about automation. Home automation alleviates household upkeep to give you and your family more safety, control, and time to do what you love.