If you’re shopping for a new home to lease or purchase in Central Texas, you may wonder whether homeowner’s associations are worth your while.

It’s usually easy to educate yourself about what specific HOA communities provide and allow. Before taking the financial plunge, take some time to learn about what Central Texas HOA communities offer.

To some, the benefits of having a quality HOA far outweigh the fees and restrictions. Paying a simple, recurring fee can mean time saved from menial tasks, more fun activities to do around your own community and no obscure-looking houses or fences that are a blight on the surrounding community, spoiling the immaculate beauty of the rest of the neighborhood.

On the other hand, some believe HOA communities…

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It’s that time of year again.

Summer has ended and kids are getting back into their routine of attending classes, adjusting to new teachers, and looking ambitiously into the new school year. For parents, there is the endless cycle of lunch-making, early mornings, shuttling, after-school snacks, and communication with teachers.

Going back to school in Central Texas means preparing for an awesome year of learning, meeting new friends, and working hard to achieve great accomplishments.

To start the new school year off right during these first several weeks of the school year, here are some ways to prepare your kids for success:

1) Refine the routine

Kids respond remarkably well to structure. You might find that setting up new guidelines…

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The Austin City Limits Music Festival, known to locals simply as ACL, has been a staple of the thriving Austin music scene since 2002. The two-weekend festival brings in music lovers from across the world to Zilker Park to enjoy a deep lineup of some of the world's greatest music acts.

The first weekend of ACL Music Fest takes place on Friday, October 6th at 11:00 a.m. to Sunday, October 8nd at 10 p.m., with the second weekend taking place from Friday, October 13th at 11 a.m. to Sunday, October 15th at 10 p.m. Each weekend's schedule is nearly identical, plus or minus a few acts, so choose wisely!

This year's lineup includes over 20 local bands hailing from Austin, including Asleep at the Wheel, The Wild Now, and Charlotte Cardin as well as…

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Conversations about credit shouldn’t make you cringe, even if you have a poor or below average credit score.

When used responsibly, credit is a financial asset that can simplify your life and improve your finances.

There are actionable steps for rebuilding and maintaining a good credit score, and those steps begin with little more than a willingness to learn.

No one establishes a strong credit score passively or overnight. These achievers begin by forming intentional habits and learning the business of credit lending. They use their knowledge to seize the many benefits of credit without falling victim to its potential pitfalls.

This article aims to give you a head start on the road to excellent credit so that you can lay hold of those…

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If you’re like many families right now in the real estate market, you’re on the hunt for more than just another house. You’re in the market for a place you and your family can fall in love with. You’re looking for your dream home.

At JB Goodwin, we know as well as anyone that searching for the right home can feel daunting. Many families don’t even know where to start.

Even people with a vivid dream home in their minds don’t always know how to translate their ideas to a real estate agent.

After all, what does it mean to find your dream home anyway?

While some surface level characteristics will distinguish your search from the search of another family, there are many elements everyone looks for in their dream home. To help narrow your…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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.

…

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This is our second trip to the East Coast during our Cost of Living blog series. In a previous post, we compared the cost of living in Austin to that of living in the Northeast United States. Today, we take on the southern half of the East Coast and look at three of the region's largest cities. 

We used Best Places to compare the cost of living in each of the cities. This website lets you compare city-to-city costs of living across the country, and factors in the cost of daily essentials such as housing, food, and utilities. If you don’t see the city you’re curious about in this post, you should wait for the fourth and final blog we have of this series, which will compare the cost of living in Austin to cities on the West Coast.

Sit back, relax,…

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