Archive for September, 2008

Big news on the dog-friendly front!

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

Color me excited! This morning, executive chef Michael Ludlow of Tony and Luigi’s Italian restaurant at the corner of 29 and Church posted a comment to the article I wrote about them last week. Click the link and then scroll down to read the comments. Hint: You may just see me on the patio with my dog (whose first birthday is today, by the way.) Woof!

Thai food comes to Georgetown

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Just behind the fabulous Romeo’s Italian restaurant on the corner of Main and 7th on the square, a new restaurant has opened, Dia Thai Cuisine. I haven’t been there or seen it being open, but I received an email this week with their lunch and dinner menus. Having lived in Asia for so many years (ten years in Saudi Arabia which, yes, is actually considered to be part of Asia), I got a taste for food from all over the continent. I’m eager to give Dia Thai Cuisine a try. If you’ve already eaten there, please post a comment to the blog to let everyone know how it was. Yum!

This week in residential real estate in Georgetown, TX

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

We’re still seeing a significant number of new listings compared to sales; I’d love to see those figures reversed for a while. Of those 27 new listings, six have been on the market more than 200 days, cumulatively. Unless a house has been off the market at least 90 days, the cumulative days on market does not reset itself. This means that buyers (via their agents) can see exactly how long a seller has been trying to sell their house. In today’s market, it’s essential to price your house aggressively. MLS activity in Georgetown, TX for week ending September 21
A house is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.
It’s very easy to say “I understand,” when confronted with that fact, but when it’s your house, emotions come into play. Although it’s one of the most difficult things to do, a seller must try to remove their emotions from the process. If you really need to sell, then you need to take a good, hard look at the numbers. At what price are similar homes selling? At what price are they languishing on the market? You love your home, and you don’t want to give it away, but the truth is that you don’t get to decide what value a buyer will place on your home. You only get to decide what price you’re willing to accept. If those two numbers are vastly different, then maybe now is not the best time for you to sell. If you can afford to wait, wait.
If you can’t afford to wait, then you need to accept the reality that you may not get as much as you’d like for your house. There are a lot of houses on the market right now, so buyers have a lot to choose from. They can look at a hundred houses and decide which one they like best, and which gives them the best value for money. Is your house that house?
A quick sale is still possible, even today. Five of the 17 homes that sold this week were on the market less than a month before they went under contract, and they sold for an average of 99% of the list price. Think about that - The owners of these five homes priced their homes so well that they sold quickly and for almost the full asking price.

Misleading mortgage information in the news

Friday, September 19th, 2008

This morning, I received a very well written email from a friend of mine who also just happens to be a loan officer here in Georgetown, Rachael Haynes of Home Source Mortgage. With Rachael’s permission, I’m sharing her email with you…

Good morning,

This morning I actually heard some “expert” on one of the morning shows say “it’s virtually impossible to get a mortgage unless you have the highest credit scores.”

This is not accurate.

  • FHA is alive and well as a 3% down program. The guidelines remain the same as before although underwriters are certainly making sure they follow the letter of their guidelines.
  • VA has not changed at all.
  • Conventional programs have indeed tightened up, largely as a result of mortgage insurance being harder to obtain with FICO’s less than 680. But “virtually impossible” is not a term that I would use here. If someone has 20% to put down, nothing has changed for them. 80/10/10 and 80/15/5 still exist.
  • For properties in USDA territory (Hutto, parts of Pflugerville and outlying areas) and for the borrower within the income limits, we can still do 100% financing.

As you know, there are some great deals out there for buyers, and the talking heads on TV should not scare them out of the market. I will be happy to chat with any of your prospective buyers to pre-qualify them and calm the effects of the headlines. It just doesn’t help the housing market to recover when the “experts” are causing buyers to stop in their tracks!

Rachael Haynes
Loan Officer - Residential and Commercial
Home Source Mortgage
TX Loan Officer Lic #72301
512-431-1347 cell
512-930-RATE (7283) ext.243 ofc.
512-869-0792 fax

Tony and Luigi’s italian restaurant opens in Old Town

Friday, September 19th, 2008

One of the frequent grumblings I’ve heard around Georgetown is that we don’t have enough nice restaurants. Restauranteurs have heeded that call. The latest is Tony and Luigi’s Italian Mediterranean restaurant, at the intersection of Church Street and University Avenue (aka, Highway 29), right in the heart of Old Town. A friend told me on Wednesday that he and his wife were having dinner at Tony and Luigi’s. I asked when it had opened. He said for now, it’s having a “soft opening.” The owners want their staff to get some practice cooking and serving meals so they can have an efficient system in place for the grand opening, which should occur within the next few weeks.
I told my friend to ask whether the restaurant would have a dog-friendly eating area on their outdoor patio. Later that evening, my friend called with a report. He said the folks at Tony and Luigi’s said they had no plans to make the patio dog-friendly. But while my friend was eating there, three separate Old Town residents walked up with their dogs and asked the same question! As far as I know, Georgetown doesn’t have a dog-friendly restaurant. (If you know of one, please post a comment here!) I think that’s a real business opportunity for someone. After leaving the dog home all day while we work, many of us pet owners would welcome the chance to take our dogs to dinner. There are several dog-friendly restaurants in Austin, so I know it’s doable. We ate at one, The Dog and Duck, which simply had some picnic tables under a tree outside, and the waiter gave my dog a large Milk Bone.
My friend said the food was delicious and the portion sizes were generous. If you know of anyone looking for a job, tell them that Tony and Luigi’s is hiring.

Up to 14 acres available with gorgeous brick home

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

If you know of anyone who might be interested in a big house out in the country on 14 acres of land, be sure to tell them about my listing at 6720 FM 972, just outside of Walburg. This beautiful all-brick home has the wow factor in spades. It’s meant for people who don’t like to feel cramped, whether walking the land or puttering around inside. The kitchen is terrific. It’s so big, it has not one but two pantries! In addition to the center island and tons of counter space, there’s enough room in the kitchen for a full-sized table, in case you’re not in the mood to eat in the luxurious formal dining room.
This really is a fantastic home. Please take a moment to think of who you know who might be interested in a house with space, space, space. I love this house, and I would be very proud to show it off. Give me a call at 512-876-6544 or email me at Jenel@HometownGeorgetown.com.

This week in residential real estate in Georgetown, TX

Sunday, September 14th, 2008

I look forward to Sundays, when I take a few minutes to sit down and look at what happened on the Georgetown real estate market over the past week. Looking at the hotsheet every day is vital for making sure I immediately spot properties that might be of interest to my clients, but looking at the weekly hotsheet gives me a better grasp of the overall trends in our local market. I showed one of the new listings to a buyer this week, and I struggled with how to tell her to move quickly if she was interested. The last thing I ever want to do is to pressure someone. When a salesperson uses pressure tactics on me, I get a sour sort of feeling in my stomach and want to pull away as fast as I can. I don’t ever want to cause that feeling in someone else. However, this was a good property in a difficult to find price range, and I felt it was important to let her know that. That property is now under contract, after just five days on the market. (And not to my buyer, darn it!) MLS activity for Georgetown, TX for week ending September 14
All hope is not lost. You see those three properties that are Back on Market? It could be that the buyers’ financing fell through in those cases, or the buyers simply changed their minds during the option period, so those properties are still available for sale. If you’re interested in a house that is Pending, it’s often still possible to make a back-up offer. If the first deal fell through, and your back-up offer was accepted, you’re first in line to purchase the property.
The prices of the properties that sold over the past week ranged from under $30,000 to just over $360,000. I viewed the house that sold for under $30,000. It was in such bad shape that I felt it was too dangerous to go inside. Even so, for someone willing to take on a major project, it wasn’t a bad deal. You’d be banking on the fact that Georgetown is going to continue to grow, and that the neighborhoods in town that are kind of run-down now will experience a renaissance in years to come. The lot alone could justify the price.
If you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in Williamson County, please call me at 512-876-6544 or email me at Jenel@HometownGeorgetown.com. I will be your advocate. With me on your side, you’ll have all my knowledge and resources at  your fingertips. You’ve seen here on my website that I love to dig in deep and research the market as a whole and specific neighborhoods. You can bet that all that research will be be very useful to you during negotiations. I’ll work hard to get you the best price! Give me the chance to earn your business; you won’t regret it.

Ike, Ike, Baby!

Friday, September 12th, 2008

I’m showing my age with that article title (39, for those of you who are wondering). I grew up in a small town in northern Wisconsin, Hayward, population about 2,000. We were the Hayward Hurricanes, which always struck me as somewhat humorous since Wisconsin is about as landlocked as a state can get, unless the Great Lakes count. No one in our area worried about hurricanes. Here in Texas, though, Ike is threatening. City of Georgetown and Williamson County officials got together last night to prepare for possible high winds, floods, and evacuees coming to our area. Ike seems to have turned a bit, so we may not get the downpours that were being talked about just a day or two ago. However, we are still under a wind advisory by the National Weather Service. Just to be safe, batten down the hatches. Rent a couple of movies for the weekend and plan on staying home with your family. Sounds kind of nice, anyway, doesn’t it?

Only a few weeks left to register to vote

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Election Day is November 4, but another important day is approaching much faster. The last day to register to vote is October 6, less than a month away. Williamson County has a countdown clock in the upper left corner of their election website. Also on the site, you’ll find polling locations, instructions for early voting (but not whom to vote for), and lots of other useful information. If you want to be heard in November, be sure to register before the deadline. VOTE!

This week in residential real estate in Georgetown, TX

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

After last week’s headline, I should probably have named this week’s article “Georgetown home sales down more than 50%,” but to keep looking at the weekly rise and fall will make me seasick. So I’m returning to just the plain old “This week” headline. 

This week’s sales matched sales for the same one-week period last year. So if any agents have not yet entered sales from this week into the database, then this year will exceed last year in terms of number of sales. The homes that sold this week spent an average of 72 days on the market, while the homes that sold over the same period last year were on the market an average of 56 days. The quickest sale this past week happened after a property was on the market just five days. That home was in the Crestview Addition off of Williams Drive and sold for a little less than $100,000. The highest sale was for a bit above $700,000, and the median sales price was $201,375.

 MLS activity in Georgetown, TX for week ending September 7

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