HometownGeorgetown.com

Bring your Christmas tree, a photo ID, and your current city utility bill to the Georgetown Collection Station at 250 W.L. Walden Drive, and the city will turn it into mulch for you. This service will be available from January 2 until February 1.

Georgetown Village is one of my favorite communities in Georgetown. The home styles are very traditional and, with everyone having a big front porch, conducive to forming friendships with the neighbors. Parents watch out for each others’ children. It takes a Village to raise a child! (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.) Walking through the Village is like stepping back in time, to a very idyllic view of what the 1950’s must have been like. With its wide sidewalks, pastel-colored houses, and flags flying everywhere, Georgetown Village simply feels like a friendly slice of Americana.

Georgetown Village is a master-planned community with a difference. It’s what is known as a Public Improvement District, which means its streets, parks, and common areas are maintained by the city. Here’s a quote from the City of Georgetown’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999:

Georgetown Village Public Improvement District – In 1999, the City of Georgetown created the Georgetown Village Public Improvement District No. 1, pursuant to Chapter 372 of the Texas Local Government Code. The City is required to construct and provide operation, repair and maintenance of parks, recreational facilities, alleyways, lighting, landscaping and related improvements to the district that are above the standards that are met elsewhere in the City. Property owners are assessed an initial capital fee for each lot and then are levied an annual maintenance assessment based upon property valuation.

This morning, I ran two searches in the MLS system on Georgetown Village. In the first search, I looked for properties currently on the market, pending, and those that had sold over the past six months, to give us a view of what the market is doing right now. Of the eleven homes that are on the market (including two with deals pending), eight were built this year. Only three are resale properties. Why is that? Stay tuned, I’ll get there. In the meantime, let’s take a look at the market as it is today and over the past six months:

The 23 homes that sold spent an average of 55 days on the market. Only five of the homes spent more than 100 days on the market. If you take those five homes out of the mix, the other 18 homes sold after an average of only 32 days. If you live in Georgetown Village and you plan on selling, you’d better be ready to move quickly. When a home goes on the market at the right price, someone is sure to snap it up.

What’s even more interesting to me is how much people seem to love Georgetown Village once they move there. The second search I did this morning was of all properties that had sold in Georgetown Village since being tracked by our current MLS software. The first sale that came up in my search took place in November of 1998; since then, 95 sales have taken place. I sorted these properties by address to see how many times the same homes were resold during that time period. Only 7 homes were resold, accounting for two sales each. The other 81 homes have not been resold through the Multiple Listing Service. I attribute this to the strong sense of community in this lovely neighborhood. Once people move in, they want to stay because they would have a tough time finding the same quality of life elsewhere. I believe this answers the question of why there are only three resale properties currently on the market in Georgetown Village.

Let’s do a direct comparison of each of these seven homes that resold to get an idea of how prices have changed over the years.

• Home A
  • Sold in July, 2000 for $148,500
  • Sold in October, 2003 for $174,838
  • Increase of 17.7%
• Home B
  • Sold in February, 2005 for $163,500
  • Sold in February, 2007 for $181,370
  • Increase of 10.9%
• Home C
  • Sold in February, 2004 for $142,800
  • Sold in August, 2006 for $158,000
  • Increase of 10.6%
• Home D
  • Sold in February, 2001 for $193,776
  • Sold in May, 2005 for $180,000
  • Decrease of 7%
• Home E
  • Sold in December, 1998 for $173,990
  • Sold in August, 2006 for $212,000
  • Increase of 21.8%
• Home F
  • Sold in November, 2005 for $247,500
  • Sold in November, 2006 for $255,000
  • Increase of 3%
• Home G
  • Sold in February, 2001 for $260,000
  • Sold in March, 2005 for $270,500
  • Increase of 4%

All in all, when totaling the sales prices the first time around and the second time around, we see an increase of 21% for these properties. Not a bad investment. Imagine if those folks had spent all of those years renting, rather than putting their money toward a mortgage.

As we approach the holidays, residential real estate activity noticeably slows. Not many people want to contemplate packing up the tree and all its ornaments before the big day. However, we did see a number of deals close this week, and even more homes went into pending status when an offer was made and accepted. I’m picturing some big romantic gestures such as an enormous red bow wrapped around a new house. (I have an active imagination.)

27 new residential listings came on the market over the past week, ranging in price from just under eighty thousand dollars to just under eight hundred thousand. The average list price of new listings is $230,518.

For those homes that sold this week, the average sales price was $171,350. The sales prices ranged from around $30,000 to just under $270,000. The home that sold for around $30,000 was a mobile home that was sold via auction. Someone got a heck of a deal. Timing is everything.

The 23 homes that went into Pending status were on the market an average of 147 days. That’s more than four months. Remember that when it comes time for you to sell your home - don’t bank on it selling immediately. Real estate is an excellent investment, but it’s not liquid. As I said, timing is everything. Your house needs to be on the market at the precise moment that someone is looking for a house just like that. (You can increase your odds of selling quickly by lowering the price. People are willing to overlook not-dreamhouse factors more readily when the price is low enough.) As I said, timing is everything.

Abbey’s Bar Stools and More is in the midst of changing its name to Abbey’s Home Furnishings. People didn’t seem to realize how much “more” there was in the “and More” part of the name. Take a look at this picture from their website, and you’ll start to get an idea of the range of great things you’ll find inside the store.

	I went into the store this week and met for a few minutes with Martha, the on-staff interior designer who is responsible for setting up the displays. “I try to give our customers a whole lot of eye candy when they come in,” she said. And eye candy, there was. I had a great time walking around, oohing and ahhing over all the beautiful things on display.
As the name from which they are transitioning suggests, you’ll find bar stools galore, indoor and outdoor, with a variety of fabrics and finishes. You’ll also find dining sets, kitchen islands and baker’s racks, upholstered furniture, and more. Artists from around the country sell on consignment their original paintings at Abbey’s. Other than this original artwork, all other home accessories are currently 20% off.
Here are just a few of the fabulous gift ideas from Abbey’s Home Furnishings:
Hummingbird bird bath, approximately $90If I hadn’t already finished my Christmas shopping, I would have bought this one for my husband. And for the birds in our neighborhood - right now, they have to bathe in a drainage ditch, and only when it rains.
These hand-painted plates are priced at right around $30.	This copper-winged angel is a wonderful Christmas gift at about $50, and she’ll look beautiful year-round.
How about a gorgeous vase from the Sonoma region of Italy? At $90, this would make a great gift for a person with a discerning eye. Quality is always welcome.

During the holiday season, family connections are more important than ever. Yesterday, I heard Josh Groban sing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” on the radio. During the instrumental parts of the song, the prerecorded voices of our military personnel spoke about how much they miss their families back home. One female soldier talked about spending Christmas apart from her four-year-old daughter, and how sad she feels as a mother to miss out on witnessing her daughter as she experiences new things every day. Such a personal, meaningful story - even one that was told in no more than five seconds - put a face on the war for me.

Georgetown is home to one of the fastest growing franchises in the nation, Sport Clips. Founder and CEO Gordon Logan is a veteran, and he is committed to supporting our troops. The employees and clients at almost 500 Sport Clips stores across the country raised funds, enabling Sport Clips to donate $80,000 to the VFW’s Operation Uplink program. If you’d like to make a donation, click here.

I just received an email from GISD regarding our district’s accountability ratings from the Texas Education Agency. Five of our schools have been rated Acceptable, four have been Recognized, and two elementary schools are considered Exemplary. For more information, check this GISD webpage.

Gabriel’s Overlook is a gated community west of Georgetown on Highway 29, just past Cimmaron Hills, convenient to where Parmer Lane/Ronald Reagan Boulevard will come through. (See the city’s draft Future Land Use map.) The homesites are between one and four acres, and the homes must be at least 75% masonry. There are different size restrictions depending on the specific area of the subdivision in which the house is located, but 2000 square feet of heated and cooled space is the absolute minimum of any of the areas, and the minimum goes up from there.

When you enter the neighborhood, you get an immediate feeling of peacefulness. The paved roads amble along between the homes, and you feel like you’re taking a drive in the country. Kind of makes me wish I knew how to whistle. Imagine coming home to that feeling every day.

In the following Christmas-themed chart, the numbers reflect the current list price for the homes currently on the market, and the final sales price for the homes that have sold over the past twelve months. One of the homes listed as currently on the market has an offer pending; since the deal hasn’t closed, the sales price is not yet listed in the MLS.

The homes that sold in the past twelve months spent an average of 267 days on the market and then sold for an average of almost 96% of the original asking price. This is a case where waiting paid off for the homeowners. When it comes time to sell your home, you need to decide what is more important to you: a quick sale, or a high price. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get the price you want even if you wait two years, so you have to decide how much of a risk you are willing to take. No one can answer that question for you (except perhaps a financial advisor). It depends entirely on your circumstances. If you’re under no pressure to move, and you don’t mind keeping your house in showing condition for a long time, then you might decide to try to hold out for that higher price. If, on the other hand, you’ve already purchased your next home and you’re feeling the pressure of two mortgage payments, you might decide that it’s worth taking a lower offer in order to get out from under that pressure.

As I said, Gabriel’s Overlook is a gated community. There are fourteen houses there currently on the market, and I can get you in to see all of them. If you’d like to take a look, please call me at 512-876-6544 or write to me at jenel@moreland.com.

Services are hard to wrap and put under the tree, but they still can make great gifts. My husband and I recently got a puppy, and although he is sweet and adorable, he has all the normal puppy issues - jumping, biting, peeing… We needed help. Neither of us had ever raised a puppy before. I read lots of books before we got him, and they were helpful, but nothing is as helpful as a professional trainer. Unfortunately, our vet advised us not to let him around other dogs until he’d had his full series of vaccinations. The vaccinations won’t be complete until he’s about four months old, by which time we feared that all his bad habits would be ingrained. Our vet recommended in-home training from Philip Paris, owner of Capital Area K-9 Consultants. Philip is a police officer right here in Georgetown, and he has lots of experience training everything from police dogs to household pets. We were amazed by how quickly our puppy responded to him. He visited us for the first time last week, and already, the difference in our puppy is astounding. He’s still sweet and lovable (the puppy, I mean - although I’m sure Philip probably is, too), but he no longer grabs hold of our pants legs when we pass. Peace in the Looney household! We’ve prebooked four more sessions with Philip.

If you know of someone who has a dog in need of obedience training, contact Philip to ask about rates. He is fantastic!

Let’s hear some more service gift ideas from all of you. If you own a local business, now’s your chance to plant the seed in my readers’ minds. I want you to promote yourself and your friends. What kinds of services would you appreciate receiving? How about landscaping? Electrical work in the house? Car washes? Toss out some ideas.

O’Reilly Auto Parts is a chain, so how does it qualify as a local business? Because it’s a chain that has a store here in Georgetown. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t shop chains. I love capitalism, and while I like to support small local businesses, I also want chain stores to thrive here in town. These stores pay taxes, use our locally owned utilities, and employ our friends and neighbors. Shopping at the local branch of a chain store rather than driving to an Austin or Round Rock branch makes a lot of sense.

I know nothing about cars (four wheels, right?), so I asked Jaime Fernandez, store manager of the O’Reilly Auto Parts store at the corner of Railroad Street and 29, for some gift ideas for the car lovers in our lives. He said that the true car lover would appreciate many of their high performance parts and accessories. One particular example is a computer chip you can buy for about $400. This chip can be plugged into any car, and it adjusts the ratio between transmission settings and wheel ratio for more horsepower. (As I mentioned, I know nothing about cars, so I hope I wrote that down right. If I got it completely wrong, please post a comment to correct me.) He also said they carry popular brands such as Holley, Edelbrock, Flowmaster, Dynomax, and Flowtech.

Another gift that would be welcomed by the very young car lover in your life is a Hot Wheel toy car or truck. O’Reilly Auto Parts had a selection that made even my eyes light up. They made me think fondly back on my childhood, playing trucks with my younger brother. He would be making all the vroom-vroom sounds, and I would wait patiently for him to stop at my little roadside restaurant so I could play Flo, the waitress. (“Kiss my grits!”) Here’s one that would have set his imagination on fire: