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Last week, Lieutenant Todd Terbush of the Georgetown Police Department came to the Downtown Georgetown Association meeting to tell us about an initiative in the works. He was kind enough to meet with me on Friday to give me more details that I could share with you here.

The Police Department is soon going to move to having a North Command and a South Command, rather than the single command structure they’ve been operating under up to now. The South Command will remain headquartered at the police station on Martin Luther King Boulevard, while the North Command will move their base of operations to Sun City, adjacent to the fire station.

Map of new command structure

Lt. Jerry Pate and Lt. Terbush will head the North and South commands, respectively. Under current operations, the shifts of the two lieutenants alternate, but with the new structure, their shifts will coincide, improving communication. Another main objective of the two teams is improved communication with the citizens of Georgetown. Each lieutenant plans to join community groups and homeowners associations in his command area, to open a dialogue with the people under his care. This way, citizens can more easily share with the police their concerns, and the police can more easily tell citizens what’s happening in the community.

Over the next year, the police department plans to hire an additional eleven officers and three civilian positions in response to Georgetown’s growing population. The new officers will make possible the Chief’s Impact Team. The Impact Team will be a proactive force in the community. If there are trouble spots (and every community has them), the Impact Team will be able to focus their efforts where they’re needed, to head off problems before they grow out of hand.

Did you know…

• …that Georgetown is the only city in the nation where the police and fire departments have together formed a SAFE Team to educate elementary school children about ways to stay safe? Recently, they presented at Carver Elementary.
• …that the Georgetown Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) uploads information every single night on the police calls from the past 24 hours? You can search using the CADmine tool.

In order to keep up with the Georgetown, TX real estate market, to truly understand exactly what’s happening out there, I find it helpful to use the MLS software to do an in-depth search of specific subdivisions. The latest I researched was River Ridge, a nice family neighborhood off of Leander Road. I searched for homes that had sold from January through September in 2005, 2006, 2007. Here’s what I learned:

• Homes sold during this period in 2005: 18
• 2006: 18
• 2007: 17

• Average days on market in 2005: 70.5
• 2006: 50.4
• 2007: 65.6

Low sales price in 2005: $185,000 2006: $205,500 2007: $165,000 High sales price in 2005: $295,000 2006: $459,500 2007: $410,000 Average sales price in 2005: $237,923.53 2006: $289,064.71 2007: $252,382.94

In each of these years, the final sales price was between 97 and 98 percent of the list price at the time of the sale. This is historically, true, as well. In our area, generally, homes sell for about 97% of the list price at the time of sale. That is not to say that the house will fetch 97% of whatever price you put on it; you might have to lower the price significantly if you price it wrong in the first place. When the list price does reach a point where buyers see the value, you will probably receive about 97% of that. Try not to shoot yourself in the foot by asking too much at the beginning. The longer a house remains on the market, the more “tainted” it becomes in the eyes of buyers. They wonder what is wrong with the house that kept it from selling quicker. This means you may have to drop the price lower in order to get to that magic point where the buyer sees value at the price you’re asking.

I really enjoy digging in for a closer look at individual subdivisions. If you’d like me to do your subdivision, or if you’re curious about another, please send me an email to jenel@moreland.com or give me a call at 876-6544. I’d be happy to do an analysis for you. No obligation!

On Thursday, I attended the monthly meeting of the Downtown Georgetown Association, of which I am happy to be a member. Like many others who discovered Georgetown, I fell in love with the square on my first visit. It’s a Normal Rockwell painting come to life, a bit of Americana that returns us to days gone by. People here are friendly. You’re guaranteed to be greeted with smiles as you stroll around the square.

Speaking of strolling… The Christmas Stroll will take place on December 1. More than eighty vendors have already signed up for the day, with over 100 expected when the count is final. Don’t forget, the parade time has changed this year. The parade will start at 11 a.m., and the Stroll will continue until 6 p.m. We have something special planned here at Moreland Properties, so please stop by and say hello. Bring the kids!

Even sooner than that, don’t forget about the Lighting of the Square on November 23, the day after Thanksgiving. This is a family event you won’t want to miss! Cari Miller from the Convention and Visitors Bureau of the city came to the meeting to tell us about the city’s preparations for the holidays. The city, the county, and the shopkeepers will all do their part to make sure that the square looks incredibly festive. With the construction wall finally gone, the renovated courthouse will be incredible. Come and enjoy the old-fashioned Christmas feeling, with carolers, cookies, and cocoa. Cari told us about the large tree purchased by the city this year. Each year, they will build on this tree so that it grows and grows. I don’t know what the final goal is, but Cari said that it can grow as high as 100 feet tall!

Check out www.georgetownholiday.com for more information on events for the coming season.

In Saudi Arabia, there were lots of restaurants that delivered to our housing compound, but security concerns prevented them from being able to deliver right to our door. I am so glad to be back in the States! This weekend, we invited guests over for dinner and one last dip in the pool (fuh-reezing!) We had planned to serve chicken and potatoes cooked in the rotisserie basket on our grill, but that plan was ruined when we burned the food to a crisp within the first ten minutes. Doesn’t chicken that’s raw on the inside and black on the outside sound delicious? Ick.

ChineseFood.com to the rescue! (Hint: Their website address is not ChineseFood.com.) I didn’t have a menu on hand, but the lady who answered the phone helped me to place an order that would make everyone happy. They even had a special kids’ meal for the little ones. You really get a bargain from them. We were able to feed seven people for under $50, and we had leftovers for the next day or two. The food arrived quickly, and everything was delicious. I will definitely call them again.

Angel Air, a medical evacuation company, recently moved its base of operations from Killeen to the Georgetown airport, according to an article in the Austin Business Journal. This is just one more addition to the many changes taking place on the medical map of Williamson County. Although Angel Air isn’t affiliated with any of the new hospitals coming to the area, you can bet that those new hospitals helped in the company’s selection of Georgetown as its base. The company will use helicopters and fixed wing aircraft to transport critically injured people to the facility that can best ensure the person’s survival. Critical care nurses, paramedics, and specialists will be on call all day, every day of the year. You can read the full press release here.

In other medical news, St. David’s Georgetown Hospital will hold flu vaccination clinics on Friday, November 9 from 4 - 7 p.m. at Forbes Middle School and Saturday, November 10 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m at St. David’s. Although the flu shots are free, the hospital will gladly accept a $20 donation.

In 2004, the voters of Georgetown voted to allow establishments to serve liquor by the glass here in our city. Unfortunately, a clerical error messed things up a bit. As it stands, if a restaurant owner in certain areas wants to serve only wine and beer, he or she must still obtain the much more expensive liquor license. This license is cost-prohibitive for many small businesspeople, and that’s bad news for all of us. It could mean that we lose out on the opportunity to have quirky, unique establishments open here. The Georgetown Business Partnership is working to gather 5,000 signatures on a petition that would put this issue up for another vote. If you would like the freedom to order a glass of wine or a bottle of beer with your meal, please contact the local Chamber office to sign the petition. (You must be a resident of Georgetown and a registered voter. It’s easy to register, and quick!)

Let’s dig into today’s Hotsheet a bit, see what’s happening with the real estate market here in Georgetown. Here are the numbers:

• New listings: 7
• Price changes: 8
• Back on market: 1
• Active contingent: 0
• Pending: 10
• Sold: 4
• Withdrawn: 1
• Expired: 2
• Temporarily off market: 0

I highlighted the pending sales because I think that’s an exciting number. Ten offers were made and accepted yesterday here in Georgetown. A couple of the deals may fall through for whatever reason, but isn’t it nice to know that people are still buying and selling real estate here?

I’m a techie girl (which you may have guessed since I write this blog). I enjoy using technology to keep up with what’s happening in my market. I love looking at the numbers every day, and then delving inside the listings to learn more information about each house. When I see a new listing that I think might be of interest to my buyers, or one that competes directly with a house I have listed, I hop in the car to take a look personally. The internet is a wonderful tool for exposing homes to the marketplace (and essential these days, when about 95% of buyers start their home search online), but you can only get a true feeling for the home by walking through it. I spend a lot of time each week previewing house after house.

Every agent who goes into one of my listings must first enter a code into the electronic lockbox. The agent’s name, phone number, and email address are then sent to me. I then use the Moreland feedback system to contact that agent to ask for feedback. Did their buyer like the property? What did they think of the price? I forward every bit of feedback to my clients so they are completely aware of what the market is saying about the home. I am their agent, so I owe complete loyalty to them. To me, that means that I will seek out the information we need to make informed decisions, and I will share every bit of that information with them.

You’ve probably noticed the beautiful rock fence for Estrella out along Williams Drive. People are buzzing about this high-end development; everybody seems very intrigued. Me, too. Which is why yesterday afternoon, I attended a party hosted by the REALTORS and developers involved with Estrella. (I didn’t just go for the free food and music, I swear!) They wanted to get the word out about their vision for the community. Here’s the scoop, direct from the information sheet: “Estrella is a mixed use development located on Williams Drive in Georgetown. The development consists of a 15 acre commercial tract with proposed uses to include 68 townhomes, office, and commercial, with 60 one-acre single family lots behind the commmercial development. The property is also adjacent to the future Wesleyan Assisted Living Facility and the developed Serenada subdivision.”

The people who buy the one-acre lots in this subdivision will be the type of people who want a good-sized yard but who also want to stay close to shopping and conveniences. One of the great things about the lots is that they are on city utilities. Natural gas is available from ATMOS energy, so you wouldn’t have to bury a propane tank. (My dad used to deliver propane in northern Wisconsin, and he always got a call on Christmas Eve from some poor family that was freezing because their tank was empty.) The buyers can bring their own builder, and they’ll have to run their plans past an architectural review committee.

 The developers gave us their landscaping guidelines, which are very thorough. I think that’s wonderful, as the landscaping in a community makes a huge difference in its appeal as people are driving through. Each homeowner must have a minimum of two shade trees, and I was pleased to see a list of approved shade trees. Ornamental trees are fine, too; they just don’t count toward your shade tree requirement. The shade trees must be at least nine feet tall when first planted.

If you want more information about Estrella, please give me a call at 512-876-6544 or write to me at jenel@moreland.com. I think this will be an excellent place to live.

Also announced at this party was a new mixed-use development that is going to be started on the other side of 195 from Berry Creek. The new development will be named Three Forks and will include single family homes, multifamily homes, and commercial properties. You can read more about it in today’s Statesman.

Yesterday, the Leadership Georgetown Class of 2008 met for the second time. We learned about economic development here in our city, and I’m jazzed about the many exciting changes on the horizon.

Mark Thomas, Director of Georgetown’s Economic Development Department, talked about the city’s efforts to attract TASUS Texas, a recent success story. One of the reasons that TASUS chose Georgetown over other sites was because of our downtown square. Many small towns, through neglect, allow their downtown areas to die. Georgetown hasn’t, and the city’s efforts to keep the downtown vibrant have paid off. Decisions of even those businesses such as TASUS, which seemingly have nothing to do with downtown retail, are affected by the square. After all, they want their employees to be happy so they can keep them for a good, long time. There are plans to diversify the square, if possible. It’ll be fun to watch what happens.

I was very impressed by the other representatives from the Economic Development Department, as well. Tina Dunbar maintains their excellent website, and she is integral to the process of putting together proposals to attract new business to our area. Retaining current businesses is of major concern, as well. George Gomez works hard to communicate with businesses already in our area and to help them stay in our area. We don’t want to give up those jobs, so we need to make sure that our local businesses are getting what they need from the city in order to be able to stay.

The manager of Wolf Ranch, Dean Domingo, emphasized the fact that Wolf Ranch and the city work together to promote both the shopping center and the downtown area. Mel Pendland, the Chamber president, said that two out of every three shoppers at Wolf Ranch are not from Georgetown. If one of every ten of those people decides to head over to the square, it doubles traffic downtown. Wolf Ranch currently has 65 retailers, and it’s growing. Over the next several years, we’ll be able to watch Phase II of Wolf Ranch going up. Phase II will be located across Highway 29 from the current shopping center. As early as January, in the current shopping center, we’ll be able to shop at Bath & Body and Ritz Camera, and then head to WingStop for some chicken wings.

Other news that really sparked my interest is that Georgetown will likely be getting a medical school within the next five years. If it comes to pass, then we’ll see lots of high-dollar jobs coming to our area, and our workforce will be even more highly educated. Imagine all those medical students who will fall in love with our way of life. Many of them will choose to stay in Georgetown after graduation. How could they leave?