One hidden benefit to knowing a REALTOR is that if you move from one city to another, or from one state to another, you can almost always get a great referral from the REALTOR you know. For example, although I live in Austin, I can still help people in other cities or states by referring [...]

Hey, hey, hey! Look who’s coming to Austin! Actually, they’re here RIGHT NOW. Ooooh, I so wonder where they’re working! It’s the dreamy identical twins, Jonathan and Drew Scott — aka The Property Brothers. I can hardly wait to see which fixer-uppers they fix up! And they’re still casting! So if you’re looking for a [...]

I ~LOVE~ my job. When I have a few extra moments, I’ll try to put into words why the work of helping people buy and sell real estate is such a great match for my personality, but for now, let me just tell you this. I had a long conversation with my dad last night. [...]

Yesterday I stumbled across this auction site. I’m getting hooked on it! So far I’ve watched a tear-down property go for right at lot value, and am now keen to see what happens to an obviously distressed duplex.  Since I can see the histories of these listings in MLS, I risk reeeeeally falling down a [...]

This is the end-of-year email I sent to my favorite clients and friends today. All sorts of linky goodness! Hello Friends! I hope your 2011 is coming to a happy and successful close. As you make your financial plans for 2012, I want to encourage you to either add or keep Austin real estate in [...]

I’m a frequent contributor to Ask a Realtor on Realtor.com.  Last week, my log-in went on the fritz … right when a GREAT question came out of Austin. Q: My refrigerator in my leased residence began making ominous noises leading me to promptly fire off a maintenance request. After numerous interactions with the property managers following [...]

This whippy interactive map from the New York Times is a lot of fun to play with. “Browse population growth and decline, changes in racial and ethnic concentrations and patterns of housing development.” Be warned … it’s a time sink!  

Oh my. Check this out. It’s a ~serious~ project.  Built in 1910…erm…ish. About 2300 sqft. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms. Eleven-foot ceilings. The house was moved from North Campus to the 50′s-streets some-odd 60 years ago. Is your head swimming in numbers yet? The (new) location is good. It’s on a small lot, and I’m thinking [...]

If you look in the lower-right corner of the main page, or upper-left corner of post pages, you’ll see a little badge from Midas Green Tech. I’ve gone green! I am now coming to you from a server that’s basting in a vat of mineral oil. Click the badge and watch the video to find [...]

Today I took a property tour of Downtown Austin, created for state-wide commercial REALTORS who are here for the Texas Board of REALTORS conference.  It was outstanding!  Our leaders on the bus were both Austin commercial REALTORS and were both excellent tour guides! I learned so much about the commercial side of downtown real estate, [...]