HometownGeorgetown.com

I recently featured Hollandaze Gourmet as a Hometown Star because of the excellent customer service I always receive in the store. I love to cook, so I’m featuring them now with some wonderful gift ideas for the Christmas season. The quality of the products at Hollandaze is always superb, so whether you spend $10 or $200, your gift will thrill the cooking enthusiast in your life. The new store location is on Williams Drive, less than half a mile past the H-E-B, on the right-hand side of the road as you drive away from town. I was delighted to discover that Hollandaze Gourmet now also offers an option for online shopping.

At the store itself, you’ll find an extensive selection of cookware and utensils from The Culinary Institute of America. You can purchase a seven-piece cookware set for around $700. This would be a very special gift for a new bride and groom, perhaps, or for someone who has recently purchased a home for the first time. Another great idea would be the 18/10 stainless steel multi-roaster from Cameron’s. Your loved one will think of you every time he or she pulls out the roaster to make a special holiday meal. This multi-roaster is priced at around $160.

Of course, the store has many lower-priced options, as well. I bought a candy/deep fry thermometer for less than $20 - for myself. I know, I know, it’s just so wrong to shop for yourself during the holidays, but does it help that I needed the thermometer so I could make fudge to give away? I was also tempted by the heat resistant spatulas for around $10 each.

Go on out to Hollandaze for yourself to find something special and unique for the cooks in your life. They are guaranteed to love it, and you’ll get to eat the wonderful food they make with their new toys.

I ate lunch today at the Williamson County jail today, along with a bunch of other dangerous characters (otherwise known as the Leadership Georgetown class of 2008). We learned about our area’s justice system. I learned that jail food is not all that delicious. We ate soupy tacos with watery grape Kool-Aid. I thought we had cornbread slathered with whipped butter on the side, but it was actually a dry white cake with frosting smeared across the bottom. I’m not a picky eater, so I did get enough to keep me from starving, but immediately after our class was over, I rushed to H-E-B to pick up some steaks for dinner. After three hours in the jail, I was glad to escape!

I was very interested to learn about a new system for housing inmates here in Georgetown. While they do still have a couple of wings of traditional barred-cages type cells, the majority of the inmates are housed in what are called “pods.” Each pod is a large open area with enough bunk beds for 48 inmates, and one guard supervises these 48 people. There were six toilets and sinks open to everyone’s view (eww!), a couple of showers, a bunch of stainless steel tables bolted to the floor with four stainless steel stools at each, and even a washer and dryer. The inmates in that pod have access to a recreation area with a pingpong table. This recreation area is walled up, but there is no glass in the windows, which allows them to get fresh air on a regular basis. Smoking has not been allowed in jail since approximately 1992. The officers with whom we spoke all said they were skeptical about the pod system when the idea was introduced, but they’ve all been surprised to learn how well it works. The inmates are much more relaxed than they were with just one hour per day to move around, and there are far fewer problems at the jail these days.

After dropping off our steaks at home, I went to Georgetown’s Economic Development Department to meet with George Gomez to learn about a new commercial development named Longhorn Junction that’s coming to town. The only business specifically mentioned at the city council workshop last night was Bass Pro Shop, but there are rumors of some very exciting retail stores that have shown interest in opening venues in Longhorn Junction.

Since the story of this development was in today’s Statesman, we talked more about a workforce training initiative that George is helping to facilitate for many of our large local companies. George is responsible for retention of companies already based in Georgetown, and he’s excited about how much this training initiative will help our local employers. Austin Community College (ACC) has received a grant from the Texas Workforce Commission, and the money is earmarked as skills development funds. Local companies contract with ACC to provide training for their employees. The most exciting aspect of this is that the company decides for itself what type of training it needs, and can even name the person they want to serve as the trainer. For example, if a company has an employee on staff who already knows the company’s policies and procedures, that staff member can be named as the trainer. Austin Community College will then hire that person and will pay him or her for the hours spent training other employees. The company would continue to pay the staff member for the hours at work not spent in training his or her colleagues. What a boon this will be to our local businesses! The role of the Georgetown Economic Development Department (and George Gomez in particular) is simply to facilitate this. Right now, the department is surveying 13 to 15 local employers to assess their training needs over the next 18 months. The target start date is mid to late January.

Recently, someone from Austin told me she was surprised that Georgetown had any homes for sale that cost more than $300,000. Just shows that many of our neighbors to the south don’t realize how much Georgetown has changed and grown in the past ten years. We have homes for sale in every price range. This morning, I ran a search for homes that had sold over the past twelve months in the MLS areas GTE and GTW (Georgetown East and West) between $475,000 and $525,000. This search yielded 25 sales.

I was very surprised to see that all of these homes are in the GTW area, and none in GTE. I know that GTW is pricier than GTE, of course, but I would have thought we’d have at least a couple of hits from GTE with this search. There are homes in this price range in Old Town, which sits in the GTE area, but apparently none that were sold within the past twelve months.

The oldest home that came up in this search was built in 1992, but fully 21 of the 25 homes were built since the year 2000. Eight were built in the past three years alone. These homes were an average of approximately 3700 square feet and most of them have four bedrooms. The total sales price of these homes equals nearly 97% of the total list price at the time of the sale, meaning that the homeowners generally received about 97% of what they were asking at the time the offer was made. (In other words, they might have originally wanted a higher price, but they received 97% of the final list price.) The homes were on the market an average of 109 days.

The city of Georgetown has an excellent website, full of useful functionality. One of my favorite features is that the site allows the public to track the status of residential permits. I discovered this while we were living overseas and our home was being built here in Georgetown. We were able to see which permits had been applied for by our contractors, and whether the city had approved them yet. This is also great for curiosity’s sake - don’t you want to know who in your neighborhood is planning to put in a pool, just because it’s fun to know?

You can track commercial permits, as well. It’s a great way to find out what new businesses are coming to town. For example, one recent permit that came up when I went to the site today was for a sign at 1019 W. University, Suite D-11. I clicked on Complete History, and learned that Eyemasters is coming to town. Sephora also has a permit in progress, so if you’re into spa products, keep an eye out for them.

MLS Residential Activity in Georgetown, Texas Week Ending December 8, 2007

The numbers that interest me most are the Pendings and the Solds because they prove what I’ve been saying: If house is priced right, the buyers will come. The median number of days the Pending homes have been on the market is 49. Eight of these 23 homes were on the market less than a month; one home was on the market for only four days when an offer was made and accepted. It’s hard to know what it was about this particular house that made someone snap it up right away, just from looking at the figures such as square footage and number of bedrooms. Even the photos only tell part of the story. There was something special about this home that made it more appealing to these buyers than the others on the market in their price range. By pricing their home competitively, the homeowners were able to come onto the market at the top of the heap. They looked at the competition with their REALTOR, and they determined the price that would net them a quick sale. Their home was the best home in that price range.

What homeowners need to realize when they are selling their home is that they must shift from living mode to selling mode. You need to think of your home as a product in a retail store. If you want to catch a buyer’s interest, you need to display the product the best way possible, and you need to price it competitively. Car sales make a decent analogy. Price isn’t the only issue. Buyers are willing to pay more for a car that looks prettier, that has more accessories, that fits their family’s needs better. But if you’re looking at two cars that are, for all intents and purposes, very comparable, wouldn’t you choose the one that was priced lower? Of course you would. When you are selling your home, it becomes a product, and buyers will judge it as such. Get some expert advice from a REALTOR, look at the other properties that are currently on the market, and pay close attention to the homes that have sold quickly over the past few months. Make sure that your house is the prettiest, most appealing house in its price range. To do that, you might need to fix up the house, you might need to consider a lower price than you had initially desired, or you might need to do all of the above.

I watch the market very closely, and I have the tools at my fingertips to analyze your particular market segment. If you need help pricing your home, please give me a call at 512-876-6544 or email me at jenel@moreland.com.

Last week, I went into Joni’s of Georgetown to get some more gift ideas to share with you. The store is fantastic! Joni Woollen, the proprietor, showed great enthusiasm, and no wonder. She has stocked her store with such lovely merchandise that it was easy to come up with gift ideas to feature. The hard part is going to be not to overwhelm you with ideas.

For the Longhorn Lover…

This necklace and much of the other jewelry in the store was created by a local artisan. The necklace falls in the $100-200 range, with matching earrings available for less than $50. I think it’s perfect for the woman on your list who can’t get enough of the Longhorns. Know any high school senior girls who are planning to attend UT next year? Or even the mother or sister of a boy who will head to UT? Imagine how her eyes would light up when she saw this beauty.

For under $25 (around $7, if I remember right), you can buy a delightful little key finder with any number of designs. These are adorable clips that attach to your keychain. Your keys go deep in the bowels of your purse as usual, but the little clip rests on the edge of your purse, meaning you never have to search for them again. I meant to buy one before I left the store, but I got so wrapped up in writing down gift ideas that I forgot. I’ll have to make another trip back one day soon because the key clips are cute and handy.

Joni told me that she also carries the full line of Spanx. The original Spanx product was footless pantyhose, created so women could get a smooth line under their pants without having to wear torture-bands…I mean thong underwear. Since then, the company has expanded greatly. The product that really snagged my interest were pants with built-in Spanx, so no visible pantyline. Joni also carries Tummy Tuck Jeans by the Not Your Daughter’s Jeans company. The company states that their criss-cross front panel flattens your stomach, lifts your butt, and allows you to wear a size smaller. Who wouldn’t like that?

For the Music Lover…

I first met Joni at a Chamber of Commerce business network lunch. She came in carrying a handbag made from the album cover of Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy. I told her with excitement that this was my first 8-track ever. (I’m dating myself, I know. I can live with that.) In the store, I saw that she has many such handbags, such as this one made from a Rolling Stones album cover.

Joni said the no-slip sunglasses are very popular with local golfers. When a golfer looks down, especially in the summer, sunglasses can slip down the nose and really mess up the shot. Of course, these sunglasses could take away a very good excuse for golfing badly, but that’s a risk you’ll have to take.

Joni’s of Georgetown is in a very convenient location on Williams Drive, in the shopping center with the dark blue roof. (Garcia’s Two is in the same center.) You’re guaranteed to get personal service at this unique boutique, and very friendly, too. As Joni said when I told her that I wanted to encourage people to spend their Christmas dollars here in Georgetown, you can save gas by shopping locally. With gas prices as high as they are these days, that really is a factor.

Georgetown, Texas was recently named the best place to retire in the United States, and a large part of the reason for that is our very own Sun City Texas. So I began to wonder how the sales in Sun City this year compare to last year. What I discovered was that we’ve already sold more homes in Sun City this year than we did in 2006. Last year, 256 homes were sold. So far this year, we’re at 258, and we still have more than three weeks left until the end of the year. It’s interesting to note that the average sales price this year is slightly higher than that of last year, but the average original list price this year was significantly higher. The homeowners this year had very high expectations and had to make some adjustments, but they still were able to finally sell at a higher price than last year. Appreciation is a good thing!

In 2006, the average price per square foot for homes sold in Sun City was $114.48. In 2007, it was $117.53. What about for homes currently on the market? I searched for homes that are currently listed as active or pending in the MLS. (”Pending” means that an offer has been made and accepted, but the sale hasn’t yet closed.) 143 residences in Sun City met this criteria, and the average asking price per square foot is $121.89.

Sun City has a great range of prices available. It’s a myth that you have to be rich to live there; there are homes available that are very affordable. Take a look at this breakdown of price ranges of homes currently on the market.

Fully 19% of these homes are listed at less than $150,000. There are also some very luxurious homes in this community. The highest asking price at the moment is approximately three quarters of a million dollars. Truly something for everyone. With two championship golf courses, a world class fitness center, an arts center, and more activities than a five-star resort, purchasing in Sun City means more than just buying a home - you would be buying a lifestyle. Give me a call at 512-876-6544 if you’d like to take a closer look at this wonderful community.

It’s official - we’re getting an exciting addition to the downtown area here in Georgetown, Texas. RunTex, an Austin-based shop for runners will open soon in the former location of Yoga Sol, on Main Street less than a block from the square.

I’m so excited that we’re getting some different retail options on the square. I love all the home decorating stores and antique stores currently there, but I feel that our square needs a variety of retail options. We do have places to buy clothing, books, and office supplies, of course, but I’d like to see more clothing retailers for different age groups. I think RunTex will be a great addition.

During the month of December, I want to encourage everyone to spend as many of their Christmas dollars as possible right here in Georgetown. When you shop locally, you keep the money circulating in our economy, and everyone wins. We have so many unique and wonderful stores in Georgetown, on the square and out on Williams Drive, among other locations, that you can find the perfect gift for everyone on your shopping list right here in town. Even if you decide to buy from some of the big chain stores (and I see nothing wrong with that), I hope you’ll buy from the branches here in town. Best Buy, Home Depot, Target - all of those stores employ a lot of our fellow Georgetown citizens. Let’s help to make these branches successful and keep that money flowing here in town.

If you love to shop online, here’s a chance for you to do that and support local businesses. ShopMainStreet.org is a shopping portal put out by the National Trust Historic Preservation which empowers local businesses in Main Street communities such as Georgetown to sell their wares over the Internet. Abbey’s Bar Stools, Just Kidds and More, and Bell’s Embroidery are three Georgetown shops that participate on this wonderful website.

I was just browsing the Internet and came across the website for the Simon Property Group, the developers of Wolf Ranch Town Center here in Georgetown, Texas. I found something exciting and had to share. The Simon Youth Foundation is dedicated to helping at-risk kids in Simon communities such as Georgetown. Encourage 2008 high school graduates to check out the SYF website for more information and an online application for college scholarships. Simon wants to give away this money - it’s worth a shot!