New construction homes have quickly become a real estate favorite, and it's little wonder why so many Austinites are interested in the opportunity! Here are 5 awesome perks of buying a new home in Austin, TX.

5. The Latest Innovations

The best builders are constantly innovating. When you work with an expert builder on a brand new home, you reap decades of collective real estate knowledge. New houses boast the latest materials and construction styles, as well as technology. Think energy efficient heating systems, touch taps, home automation systems and hidden dishwashers. While features always vary, a new house is your best bet to be on the cutting edge of home innovation.

4. Manufacturer Warranties

With new fixtures and appliances come

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Looking For Something To Do In Austin?

The start of the fall semester is here, and that means it's football season again for the University of Texas! If you and your're planning to take in one of the home games this year, or are just looking for something fun to do with your friends, then you'll want to keep reading. Whether you're a student at U of T or visiting from abroad, be sure to check out some of these fun things to do in Austin while you're here!

 

1. Picnic at Hamilton Pool State park with friends

Spend the day in the natural swimming hole, basking in the sunshine on the beach, and hiking the rocky terrain nearby. It’s only $15 per vehicle for the day.

2. Visit Karaoke Underground

If you love punk rock and indie jams and you

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Commute in Austin Without Owning Your Own Car

While owning a car may seem like a pretty big necessity in a city as big Austin, TX, it doesn’t need to be. Aside from purchasing the car, the annual operating costs like maintenance, gas, parking, cleaning, insurance, tires, and so on, add up to about $6, 967. These numbers are based on a report by the American Automobile Association (AAA) in 2015 and assume the vehicle was driven 15,000 miles. That could be another six-thousand dollars in your pocket for mortgage payments, vacations, tuition, you name it.

Going car-free can be a lifestyle change at first, but it’s completely within reach. Here are just a few examples of alternative transportation opportunities in Austin to be aware of.

Car

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Ever wonder how Google deep dreams of Austin? Well, we put several of Austin's sights and landscapes through Google's deep dream AI emulator and found out! Here are the results:

Deep Dream 1: Austin TX Skyline

Deep Dream 2: Downtown Austin TX

Deep Dream 3: Texas State Capitol Building, Austin TX

Deep Dream 4: Terry's Texas Ranger at Austin's Texas State Capitol Building

Deep Dream 5: Austin's Texas State Capitol Building

Deep Dream 6: Austin's Evening Skyline

What is Google Deep Dream?

Google Deep Dream is an open-source software that takes an image and then modifies it based on artificial intelligence. It recognizes similar features between images, and then modifies the images to fill in features that it thinks are

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One of the simplest facts that accounts for Austin's rapid growth over the last few years is that people want to be here. There are a lot of factors that can account for that... heck ask 10 different people on any Austin street and you'll get 10 different answers. Some people will talk live music, others will talk about the food or the weather or less tangible things like the culture or the atmosphere.

All of these are valid reasons to be drawn to a place like Austin. Just last week though, another reason to love our city was made public. For the third year in a row, Austin has ranked in the top 10 cities in the country for employee engagement.

Anyone who follows our blog knows that as an organization, we here at JB Goodwin value our employees and

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The Austin, Texas area has about 15,000 licensed real estate agents according to the Austin the Board of Realtors! That number can be daunting especially if you're in search for a professional real estate agent. There are many different realtors in the industry who offer a variety of different services. Some specialize in luxury homes only, some only practice commercial real estate, and some specialize in being a full service agent that is capable of providing you services to cater to all your real estate needs.

Choosing Your Real Estate Agent

In order to choose what type of real estate agent is best for you, it's good to start off by identifying your needs. If you're buying your needs will be slightly different than those of a seller. 

For Buyers:

What…

Want to tell the city of Austin how to spend your tax dollars? Now you can! Right now, until June 5, the city is collecting community feedback on how our tax dollars should be allocated.

The city's total budget is $3.5 Billion, and it gets spread out between:

• Emergency Response
• Parks and Libraries
• Health & Housing
• Planning and Economic Development
• Energy
• Water
• Clean Community
• Streets & Infrastructure

Austin is using Budget in a Box for the second year in a row, letting you have a say in how the city spends your tax dollars. The box includes instructions, a game board, an informative video, discussion materials, and other interactive resources, giving you everything you need to understand city budgeting and make

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Belterra Overview

The neighborhood of Belterra is a 1,600-acre community located between the town of Dripping Springs and downtown Austin. The community can be accessed by one of three different entrances: off Highway 290 West, off Nutty Brown Road and finally via Sawyer Ranch Road. There is a wide variety of builders offering fine homes (or that have built previously) in Belterra including (but not limited to) Buffington Signature Homes, Newmark, Highland Homes, Wilshire Homes, Streetman Homes, Sitterle, David Weekly Homes & Drees Homes. With 400 acres of open land, twelve parks, a recreation center and an abundance of trails, Belterra is settled around family life.

At the present time, Belterra is broken up into ten sections. There is still much

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On April 16th, 2015 homebuyers could be paying more to heat their homes. That's because new water heater regulations set forth by the Department of Energy will require many existing models to be replaced or swapped out for larger more energy efficient ones. Not sure if you'll be impacted by the rule change? Read on.

New water heater regulations in 2015

After the April deadline, all new natural gas and electric powered tank-style hot water heaters will undergo design changes to meet the new requirements. Based on the new rules, all electric powered water heaters over 55 gallons will require the Hybrid Electric Heat Pump water design. On the other hand, all natural gas models over 55 gallons must use a Condensing Water Heater design.  In other words,

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