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        <title>JBGoodwin REALTORS® - Austin &amp; San Antonio Real Estate Blog</title>
        <link>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/2017-09/</link>
        <description>Stay up to date on the latest Austin, San Antonio, and Central Texas real estate trends with JBGoodwin's real estate blog.</description>
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    <guid>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/austin-real-estate-mls-sold-comparison-2005-2017.html</guid>
    <link>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/austin-real-estate-mls-sold-comparison-2005-2017.html</link>
        <author>macastro@jbgoodwin.com (Mary Ann Castro)</author>
        <title>Austin Real Estate | MLS Sold Comparison 2005-2017</title>
    <description> <![CDATA[ 
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.





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    <pubDate>Tue, 26 Sep 2017 09:45:00 -0500</pubDate>
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    <guid>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/could-amazon-choose-austin-heres-why-they-should.html</guid>
    <link>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/could-amazon-choose-austin-heres-why-they-should.html</link>
        <author>macastro@jbgoodwin.com (Mary Ann Castro)</author>
        <title>Could Amazon Choose Austin? Here’s Why They Should</title>
    <description> <![CDATA[ 
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 reading to find out why.


50,000 Jobs over 15 Years


With Amazon’s announcement, it was made perfectly clear that HQ2 would be equal to the Seattle headquarters. That means that wherever Amazon’s second headquarters ends up, they can expect a large workforce in excess of 40,000, which is how many Amazon’s Seattle Campus currently employs.


In fact, according to a Geek Wire article in early February 2017, the leading eCommerce company added over 110,000 employees between January 2016 and December 2016. That is second only to Microsoft—which added 120,000 people to its workforce between January 2016 and December 2016.


Billions of Dollars in Up-front and Ongoing Investments


Between 2010 and 2016 Amazon lined the city of Seattle’s government coffers to the tune of $38 Billion dollars and, according to Amazon’s press release, “[We estimate that] every dollar invested by Amazon in Seattle generated an additional $1.40 for the city’s economy overall.”


Although that will obviously have a positive effect on almost any economy, the investment doesn’t come free. According to Amazon’s request for proposals, “A stable and business-friendly environment and tax structure will be a high-priority consideration for the Project. Incentives offered…[are] to offset the initial capital outlay and ongoing operational costs”. The request for proposals goes on to list the types of incentives they would expect to see—tax credits, relocation grants, workforce grants, and utility grants are just a few on that list.


Could Amazon and Austin be a Match?


Yes, and here is why. 


Although Austin falls just shy of having a population of one million people that Amazon sets out as a part of its criteria—Austin’s population is 947,890—Austin meets or exceeds every other standard set out by Amazon’s request for proposal. Criteria like:




Capacity to produce skilled, technical talent. The retaining and attracting of talent seemed to have been a fundamental must-have to Amazon in their RFP and Austin, which has recently attracted the likes of Google, clearly is a strong contender in the category.


Access to global and domestic markets through infrastructure. With the recent announcement of the possibility of hosting Elon Musk's Hyperloop, Austin’s infrastructure is certainly on the up and up. Austin is also home to Bezos' other huge company, Whole Foods. On top of this, Bezos also has a home in Texas and many other business ventures dotted throughout the State.


Culture and diversity. As of 2005, Austin officially had no ethnic minority. Two of the fastest growing demographics in Austin are those of Latino and Asian descent, which means that out of the other top cities that meet or exceed the criteria, Austin would be one of the most inclusive and demographically diverse cities.


There’s also one other boon that Austin has going for it—proximity to major military bases. We know that might sound a little weird, but Amazon is one of the top military employers for both veterans and military spouses. Being situated in Austin would aid Amazon in meeting its target to hire 25,000 veterans and military spouses by 2021 and to give an additional 10,000 more training in cloud computing through their AWS Educate program.




What Does This Mean for Austinites?


None of us truly know how big of an impact Amazon could have on the Austin market. However, most could have an educated guess that this would be a life-changing event that will likely add fuel to the already scorching hot real estate market in Austin.


Not only could the influx of employees cause the supply of homes for sale on the Austin real estate market to dwindle, the rental market could also see an increase in demand. So, if you’re a property developer, landlord, or a first-time home buyer, now might just be the time that you should look into purchasing a home in Austin.
 ]]> </description>
    <pubDate>Fri, 22 Sep 2017 10:12:00 -0500</pubDate>
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    <guid>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/how-austins-housing-market-compares-to-living-in-the-west.html</guid>
    <link>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/how-austins-housing-market-compares-to-living-in-the-west.html</link>
        <title>How Austin's Housing Market Compares To Living In The West</title>
    <description> <![CDATA[ 

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 differences between cities. 


Strap yourself in and get ready because here is how Austin compares to living in the Western U.S.:


The cost of living in Los Angeles, CA vs. Austin, TX


Let’s start in California. Best Places ranked Austin as “29 cheaper than Los Angeles.” And when we looked at some of the specifics, housing and utilities appear the most significant factors in that conclusion. Housing in California is known for being high compared to much of the rest of the United States, so the fact that its prices leave Austin in its wake isn’t a surprise. 


The cost of living in San Francisco, CA vs. Austin, TX


San Francisco, our second California city comparison, has a similar conclusion to Los Angeles. The difference: San Francisco is costlier than Austin AND Los Angeles. Housing especially is far outside the affordability of Austin. Best Places said, “Housing is the biggest factor in the cost of living difference.” In fact, San Francisco’s real estate is 73 more expensive than here in Austin, according to Best Places.





The cost of living in Seattle, WA vs Austin, TX


Now let’s go to Washington.


The numbers drop again from what we saw in San Francisco, but Austin is still the less expensive place to live. “Austin is 33 cheaper than Seattle,” Best Places says. An interesting difference between these numbers and those from California is that in every category Seattle is costlier, even if it is only by a small amount. Like the previous two cities, real estate is the biggest factor in Austin’s success as the more economical place to call home.


 


The cost of living in Portland, OR vs. Austin, TX


Portland shares one of Austin’s most famous slogans. While in Texas we say, “Keep Austin Weird,” Portland folk tweak it to match their own city pride “Keep Portland Weird.” I couldn’t tell you who claimed their weirdness first, but I can tell you that Austin is the cheaper place to stay weird. Like Seattle, Portland is more expensive than Austin in every category of our comparison. Take a look for yourself:





The cost of living in Denver, CO vs. Austin, TX


Denver and Austin are the two closest cost of living prices on our list, with Austin proving 8 cheaper. The biggest difference here is again in the category of housing. Best Places says “Housing is 12 cheaper in Austin.” And just like that, Austin was cheaper than all the major cities on our Western U.S. list.


 


If you’re looking for a home in Austin, get in touch today with a JB Goodwin real estate agent. We can help you find the rental or purchase that fits your budget and caters to your lifestyle. Based on the data above, it’s no wonder why so many people from the west coast are moving to Central Texas. Let us know how we can help you. We’re excited that you’ve decided to call Austin your home.


 
 ]]> </description>
    <pubDate>Mon, 18 Sep 2017 12:02:00 -0500</pubDate>
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<item>
    <guid>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/3-tips-to-secure-a-buyer-for-your-central-texas-home.html</guid>
    <link>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/3-tips-to-secure-a-buyer-for-your-central-texas-home.html</link>
        <title>3 Tips To Secure A Buyer For Your Central Texas Home</title>
    <description> <![CDATA[ 

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 buyer feel like they’re stepping into their own home


A key ingredient to home salesmanship is making a property feel like it already belongs to the prospective buyer. That means getting rid of any obvious clues that your family lives in the home.


Before a real estate agent visits the house, remove all your family photos from desks and dressers. This eliminates any clue that someone else occupies the home. It can seem like a silly detail, but the effects go a long way.


Also, make mirrors commonplace. This isn’t some corny gimmick to help shoppers literally see themselves in your home. Instead, the additional mirrors help small rooms in your house feel larger, and dark rooms appear brighter.


Declutter the house No one wants to envision their life as one of disorganization. By tidying up your home and finding an alternative place to store excess toys, tools, and decorations, you provide a more comfortable environment for real estate shoppers.


As you remove extra items, avoid storing excess clutter in your closets. Most families will be looking for ample storage space, and if a closet appears crowded then the family may perceive that as a sign of insufficient storage capacity.


2) Give your home the attention it needs to stand out


Many homeowners find it a challenge to find the motivation it takes to spend time and money on repairs for a home they are soon to leave. To stand out and highlight your home as the kind of property that prompts high offers, you should try to go the extra mile with renovations.


Give your home a freshening up. Often the simplest updates can make a substantial aesthetic change that will catch the interest of Central Texas home buyers.


Start with the simple things.




Paint your walls. Adding to your home a fresh coat of paint can work wonders for brightening up the interior and exterior of your home. 


Replace old, easily-interchangeable features of the home. This can mean changing your fans, installing news doors, replacing old faucets, taking down curtains, and changing old lights. A few low-cost fixes can quickly sharpen the appearance of the interior of your home. 


Give your yard its due attention. You only have one chance at a first impression. Make sure that when a family pulls up to your home they experience the comfort of a neatly trimmed yard, and beautiful, weed-free flower bed (if you have one). Commit a weekend to bringing your yard back to magnificence, or pay your yard-keeping company to take on that extra labor. 


Focus on your home’s hardware. Squeaky doors, windows that need an unusual amount of force to open, and old utilities like a leaky washer or antiquated microwave can detract from an otherwise great home. Don’t let that attention be stolen from the potential selling cost of your property. Pull out the WD-40, and replace all that needs replacing.




Be aware, not all renovations are low cost. Sometimes the repairs necessary to sell your home can cost your family a little more up front. When you consult with your real estate agent, ask him or her about damages or aspects of your home that may be chasing prospective buyers away before you get them to the bargaining table.


For another comprehensive list of ways to improve your home, check out our other JB Goodwin blog that gives 10 tips for selling your Austin home.


3) Use top-tier marketing practices


Occasionally a homeowner gets lucky. He or she puts their home on the market with very little work, and by the next weekend that home is sold. If you’ve gotten to this point in the blog, however, this might not have been your experience to date.


The next step is to beef up your marketing tactics. Here are a few marketing basics that go a long way toward getting interested buyers to pursue your Central Texas property:




Provide the best possible photos. If you don’t own a high-definition camera, consider borrowing, renting, or commissioning someone to shoot the interior and exterior of your home. Low quality and/or poorly lit images can be a huge deterrent for eager buyers. Do your best to take pictures that capture whole rooms in a single picture, instead of a corner by corner. If you zoom in too far, your home appears much smaller to those browsing photos online. Also, avoid uploading duplicate images. Be sure to upload between 10-15 images to provide a holistic view of the highlights of the entire property. High def, professional photos will quickly gather the browsing attention of home buyers.


Tell your home’s story. Photos and objective details of a home won’t usually help your home to stand out: “2bd, 1bath, single story” descriptions are a dime a dozen. Sharpen the persuasiveness of your marketing by practicing feature-driven copywriting salesmanship. Talk up what makes your home unique, and then ask your most talented editing friend to read over what you wrote. They can help you to avoid typos and make sure your message is clear. Tell a story that makes a house sound more like a home.


Hire a quality real estate agent. Homes don’t sell themselves. To land a strong sale, it helps to have an effective agent working with your family every step of the way. Do your research. Only work with a firm and agent whose reputation guarantees their proficiency.




If you’re in the market to sell your Central Texas home, a JB Goodwin real estate agent is the proactive consultant you need. We put your family first. Our professional marketing, local selling expertise, and knowledge of the Central Texas trends will help you secure the best deal for your property. We look forward to helping you get top dollar for your home


 
 ]]> </description>
    <pubDate>Thu, 14 Sep 2017 08:56:00 -0500</pubDate>
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    <guid>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/5-benefits-smart-home-technology-can-provide-to-your-central-texas-home.html</guid>
    <link>https://www.jbgoodwin.com/blog/5-benefits-smart-home-technology-can-provide-to-your-central-texas-home.html</link>
        <title>5 Benefits Smart Home Technology Can Provide To Your Central Texas Home</title>
    <description> <![CDATA[ 

 


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.


You don’t have to be Tony Stark to own and to configure smart home technologies. Now more than ever, these devices are affordable and easy to set up. Smart home technologies exist already in the homes of normal Central Texas families, promising to increase safety, ease, and energy efficiency.


Here are some key benefits of smart home technologies we see regularly across Central Texas:


1) Connection that makes everything simpler


It was a huge technological leap forward when devices at home could be turned on and off through our smart phones. Recently, innovation took another leap.


With voice-powered technologies like Amazon Echo or Google Home, you can speak directly to a console in your house to control specific aspects of your Central Texas home. You can make purchases, have pressing questions answered, turn on and off your lights, adjust up or down your A/C, play your favorite podcast, and send emails to colleagues no more effort than what it takes to speak those commands.


And remote phone commands are now more incredible than ever. You can control your home’s heating, cooling and ventilation (HVAC), lighting, security system, CO detectors, and even care for your pets from afar via smart home technology through apps on your phone. These remote commands have been around for years, but their precision and capabilities are sharpening almost every day.


2) Technology that improves your safety


Many families consider safety the most valuable feature in any smart home. Some traditional home appliances—like smoke detectors for example—have for a while remained amazingly low-tech. Recently, many of these behind-the-times technologies have been modernized.


Everyday home technologies are becoming safer, accomplishing more, and catering to our every need, whim, or desire. Nest Protect and First Alert, new smoke detector innovators, allow you to receive remote notifications, dismiss false alarms (burned the toast again) or set up night lights in your home.


Home automation can help give you the peace of mind that your home and family are safe, even when you’re not there.


With a smart home, if you forgot to lock the front door, just pull up the app on your iPhone to shut the lock (using a system like the August Smart lock). If you have left the lights on (again) or the coffee maker on, simply turn it off with the remote pressing of a button. If someone rings the doorbell late at night, you can have a camera that flips on to reveal who’s outside.


Smart home technology makes homes and families safer across Central Texas.


3) Automation that gives time back to your priorities


Anyone who has washed their clothes by hand can speak to the immense time that’s saved by owning a washing machine and dryer. Smart home technology provides the same ease.


Cleaning devices help families allocate more time to the hobbies they enjoy. The latest versions of Roomba, for example, can be set to begin cleaning your floors at a specified time of day. That means you can leave for work in the morning and literally return at the end of the day to a cleaner floor than you left.


Of course, Texas heat is ample reason to own a pool. With smart home technology like the Dolphin Nautilus, your pool will be cleaned by a robot so that you don’t have to scrub your pool’s peripheries every few days. Now, your pool can be enjoyed without the daily upkeep.


We aren’t quite to the Futurama-tier of home automation. But as self-driving cars, automated lights and A/C, e-books, and other technologies continue to shape what we consider normal, it’s no surprise that our chores will begin to take care of themselves. Sci-fi creatives are going to have to dream a little bigger pretty soon.


4) Better energy efficiency now and for the future


The smart home is constantly evolving. Evolution means efficiency. We are still at the beginning of the smart home tech-boom, which means the most proficient and mind-boggling inventions are waiting to hit the Central Texas market.


Nest, a leader in smart home thermostats, just came out with its third generation of smart home thermostat technology that has the capability of connecting to your home’s water heater.Many of these technologies use data to improve cost and energy efficiency, saving you money in the long run, and helping the environment to boot. When your thermostat can adjust your home’s temperature according to the temperature outside, then you end up with less energy lost and more $$$ saved.


In the same way that people wait for the next iPhone generation, many families keep their eyes on the tech market for the latest and greatest breakthroughs to make their Central Texas lives simpler and more efficient.


5) It caters to your family’s needs


One of the greatest features of smart homes is that they are not generic, one-size-fits-all systems. Smart home accouterments arrive in many sizes and styles with diverse purposes. Ultimately, a smart home is whatever you make it to be.


If you want a simple home that emphasizes safety and simplicity, then installing locks and lights that obey a tap on your phone may be all you need to outfit your home.


If you want to be more creative, Google technology that exists within your hobbies or occupation. If you’re a handyman, Craftsman has a toolbox you can lock/unlock from your phone, with outlets for powering and charging your tools in the same place you store them.


If you’re a sucker for romance, you can dim or change the color of the lights in a room with the click of a button on your phone. Of course, you should then go the next step and also turn on some soft jazz to play from your surround sound - also initiated from your phone - to really set the mood.


No matter your style, it’s the personal details catered to your family that makes your house a home. Get creative and tell us about it in the comments below


Central Texas has been a leader in tech since the early ‘60s. At JB Goodwin real estate, we recognize our community as tech-savvy and want to help you secure a smart home that can be outfitted with the smart technologies of your choosing. If you’re shopping for a house to rent or buy in Austin, San Antonio, or any other city across Central Texas, look no further than our team. We look forward to helping your family.
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    <pubDate>Wed, 06 Sep 2017 09:21:00 -0500</pubDate>
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