HometownGeorgetown.com

Yesterday, the Leadership Georgetown Class of 2008 (of which I’m proud to be a member) learned a little bit about how our local government works at the city and county level. We heard from City Manager Paul Brandenburg.

I found Paul Brandenburg to be inspiring, and not just because he’s a Wisconsin boy who did well here in Texas. (My nickname in the Leadership program is Cheesehead, so I guess you can tell where I’m from. 30 degrees up there right now.) Mr. Brandenburg first came to Georgetown in 2002. Back then, the population was about 35,000. Now it’s around 48,000. That’s more than a 30% increase in five years. Incredible! The growth we’re seeing in this area just doesn’t seem to stop.He spoke about the charm of our area, and how important it is in the face of this incredible growth to work to retain that charm. With the Unified Development Code, we as a community are striving to hold onto our wonderful architecture, the trees that enhance everyone’s lives simply by being there, and simply the flavor of our community. “You have an opportunity once to do that. Once. And once it’s gone, it’s gone.” He emphasized the importance of managing the growth, of directing the development so that we hold onto the quality of life that drew us all to Georgetown in the first place.

Georgetown is a Home Rule city, which means that we can do pretty much anything we want as a community, as long as it doesn’t violate state law. We govern ourselves. Our citizens have elected to hire a City Manager to work with the City Council to run the city. Mr. Brandenburg said that he tries to run Georgetown like a business. That means that he encourages the 500 full-time city employees to treat citizens like customers, and he believes that courteous, helpful customer service is vital.

Whatever he’s doing, I think it’s working. Every city employee I’ve dealt with over the past couple of years has been very friendly. Not too long ago, I called the Transportation Department to ask whether my husband and I needed a permit in order to line the edge of our yard with rocks. The man I spoke with said, “Let me swing by your house and take a look.” Within a couple of hours, he came by and told us that we didn’t need a permit. That kind of friendly, personal touch is what makes Georgetown feel like a small town. We truly do have the best of both worlds here - small town feeling with city conveniences. And we don’t have to scrape our windshields in the winter!

Mr. Brandenburg said that Georgetown gets a report card of sorts in the form of ratings from independent bond agencies, and our report card is excellent. One reason for this is that our city’s income base is a four-legged stool. We receive about 25% from each of four revenue streams: property tax, sales tax, fees (such as permits), and return on investment from our utilities. Most cities do not own their own utility system, so they rely on three-legged stools. If one of our “legs” doesn’t bring in enough revenue one year, we might be a little wobbly, but we’ll stand up all right. Other cities don’t have that same comfort level.

This morning, I ran five separate searches for houses listed between $175,000 and $200,000. In the pictures below, you can see each separate area that I searched. (Isn’t it cool that I can do such a specific search? The MLS software is very powerful and can be manipulated to find exactly what my clients are looking for. I love modern technology, and I love using all the tools available to me to help my clients. In today’s world, I believe that a real estate agent needs to master all the software in order to serve the people we have promised to help.)

Area A
Area B
Area C
Area D
Area E

So what did I find?

So you get the most for your money in area D, right? Well, that’s true when it comes to square footage, as a general rule. If you’re looking for space for your family, and your budget is around $200,000, this would be a good place to look. But cost per square foot isn’t the only measure for many people. You need to decide what’s important to you, set your budget, and then look at all the homes for sale within that range to determine which is the best for you. It can be a lot of fun. I could help you to find homes in locations that you might not have thought of. Once you see the home and the neighborhood for yourself, you just might decide that’s the perfect place for your family. Give me a call at 512-876-6544 if you’re ready to begin your search.

The 27th annual Christmas Stroll will take place on Saturday, December 1. We here at Moreland Properties are planning something different and fun this year. We’re going to decorate our building on the corner of Austin and 9th Street as a gingerbread house. All the agents are making gingerbread cookies that we can give away to people who come to the Stroll. I’m really excited! I love to cook, and this gave me a great opportunity to visit the best kitchen shop in town - Hollandaze Gourmet - at their new location. They are now located just past the H-E-B as you go out Williams Drive toward Sun City. They’re on the right-hand side of the road. The new building is gorgeous. Hollandaze is now the anchor point of what will be a delightful shopping center when it’s finished, complete with a restaurant, I’m told.

So I went to Hollandaze to pick up some high-quality gingerbread cookie cutters. The service in this store is wonderful. The staff is friendly and helpful, and they were able to immediately show me the cookie cutters I was looking for. Fabulous! (They’re huge, too. Guess I’m going to have to quadruple the recipe.)

The quality of the cookware at Hollandaze is unsurpassable. (Is that a word?) My biggest problem is not emptying out my bank account each time I go into the store. I could happily take one of everything.

When I first moved to the Hill Country from Dallas just over ten years ago, I rented a room from my then-boyfriend’s brother. (My boyfriend became my husband, and I moved with him to Saudi Arabia.) Anyway, while I was renting a room in north Austin, I went for a walk one day through the neighborhood and happened upon a home for sale by owner. I pulled a brochure from the brochure box, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. This decent house in a good neighborhood was being offered for sale for $17,000. Seventeen thousand dollars! Could it be true?

I rushed home and immediately called the owner. “Is this flyer right?” I asked. “Are you really asking $17,000 for your house?” The woman said yes!

Excited beyond belief, I made an appointment to view the house, and I told my brother-in-law and his girlfriend the fantastic news. They were skeptical, but I insisted that the seller had confirmed the price. I built a whole story in my head about how this nice couple was looking for a deserving young person to buy their home, and when they found the right person, they were going to practically give it away. (I’m an optimist by nature.)

At the time of my appointment, I gathered together my brother-in-law, his girlfriend, her two teenage daughters, and the dog, and we all trooped over to this delightful little house. (I’m not exaggerating. We really did bring the dog. A very large dog.)

The house was wonderful! As we walked through, I daydreamed about sewing my own curtains and decorating with garage sale finds. The house had a huge sunporch on the back, overlooking a small but well-landscaped backyard. I loved everything about it. With a big smile, I turned to the homeowner and said, “This is really $17,000?”

“Yes,” she said calmly. “One hundred and seventeen thousand dollars.”

D’oh.

Somehow, on the flyer and in our earlier conversation, I missed that “hundred” bit. The house was somewhat beyond the reach of a temporary secretary with very little savings. I was too embarrassed to admit my mistake, so I kept smiling as though I could afford the house, and wasted another ten minutes of this poor lady’s time. She called me the next week, and I’m sure she wondered why I had suddenly lost interest.

So why am I telling you this story? Well, first of all, I wanted you to know that I’m a real person. I can and often do laugh at myself. Sometimes I kind of wish that I wouldn’t give myself quite so many opportunities to laugh at myself, but what can you do? I also use this story to illustrate why I believe it’s important to hire a REALTOR like me. If you’re at the stage now where you are first beginning to think about buying a home, you can avoid the embarrassment of going to a home that you can’t possibly afford by finding out ahead of time how much of a home you can handle. I have contacts with local lenders who can tell you everything you need to know. Once we know how much you can afford to spend, then we can start searching for homes in that price range. (Doesn’t that sound like fun?!)

And as a REALTOR, I would discourage you from bringing the dog.

If you’re ready to buy a home, give me a call at 512-876-6544 and we can chat. Or call me if you’re planning to sell your house, and you want to prevent insanely optimistic, unqualified buyers from wasting your time.

What’s happening this week in the Georgetown real estate market? Here’s a quick glance at some numbers:

During the past week, 48 homes were put up for sale in the MLS areas of GTE and GTW. Those homes are priced everywhere from in the low $50,000’s on up to three quarters of a million dollars. Something for everyone!

31 homeowners changed their asking price. The homes with changed prices have been on the market from 6 days up to about a year-and-a-half. You’ve probably seen the TV ads from the National Association of REALTORS, which say that now is a great time to buy. It’s true, especially in our market. We have outstanding prospects for job growth, and with all these people moving to our area in the years to come, I believe that home prices will rise. Right now, we’re seeing a bit of a dip, but I honestly believe that it’s because people here are reacting to national headlines. Our economy is strong. Plus, we never had the skyrocketing home prices that they saw in other parts of the country, such as California. This means that our home prices don’t have to plunge in order to reach a more reasonable level. We saw slow, steady, reasonable growth.

Because of the temporary slowdown we’re experiencing, if you can find a home right now that you love, it’s a good bet that the sellers will be motivated to work with you to get a good price. I’d be happy to help you find the home of your dreams. Give me a call at 512-876-6544 or email me at jenel@moreland.com.

Every Thursday, Moreland agents in the Georgetown office get together to share market news with each other. We also tour all of the new Moreland listings each week so that every agent in our office is personally familiar with every one of our listings. At today’s meeting, we heard from our office manager, who was invited to attend an exclusive groundbreaking ceremony yesterday at the new Water Oak at San Gabriel. This 1,900-acre subdivision will eventually hold approximately 4,000 homes, ranging from $250,000 upwards of $1 million.

The developers have set aside approximately 680 acres of parkland. To put that in perspective, Zilker Park in Austin is 351 acres. The park at Water Oak will include about 200 miles of river frontage for hike and bike trails. Actually, I should say “parks” because their website makes it clear that they will have several parks, each with a different theme and different amenities.

The subdivision-to-be is located on the north side of Leander Road, a few miles west of town. There won’t be much to see quite yet, but keep an eye on it. The lots should be ready for sale in the second quarter of 2008. The timeline for the entire development shows completion in 7 to 10 years.

I’m a member of the Leadership Georgetown class of 2008. This week, as part of a class assignment, I got together with four of my cohorts to interview Tim Harris, a successful commercial developer here in town. Tim gave us each a copy of the proposed revision to the Future Land Use Plan. This map represents a significant change from the previous draft. If you’re interested in knowing how the city will develop over the next twenty-five years or so, take a good, close look.

It’s much easier to read when you click on the link to open it as a PDF document. That way, you can zoom in. When you print it out, the font is teeny tiny, nearly impossible to read. It’s well worth zooming in, though. Here’s one tidbit I found interesting: Wolf Ranch Parkway, between 29 and Rivery, has a large segment that’s zoned Specialty Area/Mixed Use. Haven’t we all been wondering what’s going to go back there? There’s got to be some reason they force us to drive 35 mph down that empty stretch of road.

The plan will be reviewed every five years, according to a report put together in October by Wallace, Roberts, & Todd LLC. Even so, now is the time to make your voice heard if there’s anything you want to say. On December 4, there will be a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting that will be open to the public.

What if you bought your house ten years ago for $140,000, and you sold it last week for $350,000? You made a profit of $210,000!

After you finish celebrating, do you begin to worry that Uncle Sam is going to reach his hand deep into your pocket come tax time? No need to fret. Those days are gone, my friend. The law changed back in 1997, but many people still aren’t aware that capital gains on our primary residence are, for the most part, protected from taxation. As long as the house is the taxpayer’s primary residence and he or she passes certain ownership and use tests, a single person can exclude up to $250,000 of capital gains income. $500,000 for a married couple. And you can do this every two years for the rest of your life, or until the Powers that Be change the law again. That’s profit, folks.

If you and your spouse bought your house for $100,000 and you sell it a few years later for $600,000, you don’t have to pay capital gains taxes. (There are some restrictions, so check with your attorney or your accountant for more information.) Better yet, go straight to the source; check out IRS Publication 523 for more information.

I hope you’re planning to vote on Tuesday, November 6. You’ll find polling locations at Williamson County’s website. This is a Constitutional Amendment election. At the state’s Elections Division website, you’ll find the ballot language and explanations of the issues on the ballot in both English and Spanish.

This morning, I ran ten separate searches in the MLS system, one search for each year from 1998 through 2007 to see all the houses that had sold in the MLS areas GTE and GTW during the month of October. Take a look at these two charts:

Let’s start with the number of homes sold. You can see that we experienced a significant dip this October, with only 81 homes sold compared to 124 sold in October of 2006. Ouch. 2007 was slower than 2005 and 2004, as well, but was stronger than all the other years. We sold more homes in October 2007 than in October of each of the six years between 1998 and 2003.

Now take another look at the average sales price. In 1998, the average sales price for homes sold in GTE and GTW during the month of October was $135,343. In 2007, that number jumped more than 65% to $223,766. As a homeowner, that upward trend makes me feel happy.