A Blog about a Blogging Class

This month, I am teaching a class in my Market Center on blogging. I called it "Blah, Blah, Blogging". The class will last an hour long next Tuesday, August 17th from 11 till noon.

This will be my first time teaching this class. Other classes I teach regularly at my office are: Wolfnet, How to incorporate the MLS finder into your KW website and Short Sale class for Buyers Agents.

The class will be geared for real estate agents and hopefully convince them to pursue blogging once the class is finished. An outline of the class will be as follows:
What is Blogging?
Samples of good Real Estate blogging sites
Who should Blog?
Why should you Blog?
Blogging Platforms
What to Blog about?
Blogging Rules
Blogging widgets

I think it will be a very informative class. If you have any suggestions or topics to cover or even good real estate blog sites that are meant showing.

Lake Travis ISD has done it again!

Lake Travis Superintendent, Dr. Kirk, announced on July 22nd 2010 via email that Lake Travis ISD has earned an EXEMPLARY rating from Texas Education Agency (TEA). This rating is for the 2009-2010 school year! Exemplay is the highest rating given my TEA. AWESOME!

He also announced the individual ratings of the schools in the Lake Travis ISD as follows:

Lake Travis ISD - Exemplary
Lake Travis High School - Exemplary
Lake Travis Middle School - Exemplary
Hudson Bend Middle School - Recognized
Bee Cave Elementary School - Exemplary
Lake Travis Elementary School - Recognized
Lake Pointe Elementary School - Exemplary
Lakeway Elementary School - Exemplary
Serene Hills Elementary School - Exemplary

I am so proud! Partly because I was a Lakeway Elementary/Lake Travis Middle School and Lake Travis High School parent this past school year and these 3 schools all earned Exemplary rating. Congratulations Lake Travis, you did it again!

Austin's June Real Estate Statistics

It's the middle of summer, almost the peak of the real estate season. How did we do? Lucky for me, Alamo Title of Austin provides up to date statistics of our real estate market. Here are the numbers:

Preliminary June 2010 Data:

Units for Sale: (compared to June 2009)
New listings are down 2.86%.
Pendings are down 30.61%.
Solds increased by 6.56%

In Lake Travis ISD, the residential sales are up 9% compared to last June. Not bad.

If you are from a different part of the country, please share with me how your market is doing. I would really like to know.

Thanks again to Alamo Title of Austin for providing these statistics.

OMG - Oh My Guy, It's Father's Day in Austin

It's time to remember those wonderful dad's out there. Here are some Fun Facts about Father's Day (source: Chiff.com)

Father's Day by the Numbers
It is a big day for the 66.3 million fathers in America.
Father's Day is the 4th largest card sending occasion.... Nearly 95 million Father’s Day cards were given last year in the United States.

Popular Gifts for Father's Day - Not so popular with dad anymore
Neckties lead the list of gifts and are so of the past!
Other items high on the list of Father’s Day gifts include items such as hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, those items you may find in dad’s toolbox.Other traditional gifts for dad such as fishing rods and golf clubs make for a happy dad in America.

What? You bought dad a tie? It's not too late to change that gift. Check out these great ideas Ten Ways to Rock Your Austin Dad's Father's Day

After all, doesn't your dad deserve the best?
Dad also deserves the best real estate agent on his next transaction. So when dad is ready to move to Austin, sell his Austin home or buy investment, who will you refer dad to? Please give dad my contact information and I will make sure that I provide him with great real estate advice and professional service. Your referral matters to me.

HAVE A GREAT FATHER'S DAY!!!

Austin's May real estate statistics

Alamo Title of Austin reports that in May, 2010:

Units for Sale: (compared to May 2009) New listings are up 5.18%.
Pendings are down 32.10%.
Solds increased by 49.68%

Note that the chart attached has not been updated to include May.

On June 13, Alamo also reported that our Austin MLS has 13,124 ACTIVE listings! New listings continue to rise as we get into the buying/selling season.

Disclosure: The statistics in this blog have been obtained from Alamo Title of Austin. The information has not been confirmed or verified.

Real Estate Joke: Financing Then and Now

Remember when you could get a NO DOC loan? That is now a thing of the past. In the past couple of months, many of my deals have been delayed due to, ehem, financing. My buyers have been stressed because they've had to give notice to their landlord, moved out, or relocated to Austin and come to closing and NO loan approval yet, hence, can't close.

There's really nothing I can do about it, well, except blog about it or joke about it. What do you think? So true? Double click on the photo to magnify.

Austin real estate sales in April is up 21%

Austin's residential sales are up 21% in April compared to last April. In March, sales were up 23%! In Lake Travis ISD which includes Lakeway, Bee Caves and Spicewood, sales are up a whopping 27% compared to last April. In March, sales were up 19%.

I know for a fact that people wanting the tax credit (first time home buyer and move-up buyers ) are waiting the last minute to buy! I found myself and my buyers in multiple offer situations!

Does this mean that we are experiencing a SHIFT in our market? Check out the graph to the right. The bolded line represents 2010. That would be awesome if the sales just keep going up! Interest rates are still in the 5% range, which is still pretty low.

Don't wait any longer to buy! When the sales get hot, what does this mean to pricing? A-HA!! Now you're thinking.