Filing your 2012 - 2013 Texas Homestead Exemption

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If you purchased a home in Texas in 2012 and you were living in the house on January 1, 2013 as your primary residence, you should be eligible to apply for your Texas Homestead Exemption. As a Texas homestead owner, you have certain rights and privileges associated with your primary residence.There are a few things you should know about the new Texas Homestead law. The latest Texas state laws require that applicants provide the following proof of ownership:

• Application for residential homestead exemption
• Proof of Texas Driver’s License or Texas Identification Card with matching property address to the homestead you are claiming (Side note: if you live anywhere near Pflugerville, go check out the new Super DPS office there. It is HUGE and they have tons of nice people working there. It is not so close to my home, but I drove out there while I was on I-35 in north Austin and I was in and out with my new license in less than 15 minutes!
• Proof of Vehicle Registration Receipt. The address on your vehicle registration must match the property address for your new Texas homestead also, so make sure you update your vehicle registration with your new home address.
  

A few other things to remember about Homestead Exemptions: 

• You must be living in the home on January 1st to qualify for the coming year.
• Do not send in your Homestead application early. You can not file until after Jan. 1st.
• Application for Homestead in Texas is free. You do not have to pay someone to file your homestead exemption. It is free to apply and should only take you a few minutes.
• Only your principal Texas residence qualifies.

For a complete list of qualifications, rules and exceptions--see your County Tax Assessor's office. Find your forms here:

Travis CountyWilliamson County

2012 Austin Real Estate Market: End of Year Wrap Up and Market Update

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2012 turned in a banner year in Austin! A 24% increase in homes sold in Greater Austin over last year! Looking at what happened throughout all of 2012 and knowing what is continuing to happen in Austin in the coming year--you don't have to have to have your MBA from UT to figure out that that 2013 is going to be another great year in Austin area Real Estate for home owners, buyers and investors.

Buyers and Sellers alike came out ahead in the fast moving market of 2012. Yes, it was tough on buyers, with so many multiple-offers playing out. Many buyers did not get the homes that they had hoped to purchase, either because they did not want to bid full market value for the home or maybe someone else just wanted it more and was willing to pay full list price (or more) for that same home. We saw this every day in 2012. But our Seller's Market has been gentle, compared to many Seller's Markets--taking it easy on most of our buyers. We have not seen a great deal of price ballooning and when we have seen sellers listing above market value, buyers have not supported the price increase until the sellers bring their homes in line with the market. I would consider it a pretty gracious market over all--but not without its challenges and learning curves for both buyers and sellers. 

Here are the numbers:

• 5,842 homes for sale: Single Family, Condos, Townhouses--Inventory is very low
• 2,489 homes under contract: Look at the % spread of these two numbers
• 25,061 homes have closed -- ALMOST 5,000 more than sold in last year!
• 20,256 sold YTD in 2011
• 19,040 sold YTD in 2010
• 19,935 sold YTD in 2009 
• 21,491 sold YTD in 2008
• 2007 was the last year that had sales volume higher than 2012, just after the peak of the building boom
• We are having a banner year in Austin Real Estate  

Median Sold Home Stats for Single Family Homes:

• Median price across Greater Austin: $207,500
• 90% of homes sold in Greater Austin were Single Family homes
• More than 1/2 of the homes were sold in Travis County
• Almost 1/3 of the homes were sold in Williamson County
• Median price as a percentage of asking price: 98%
• Median days on market was very low: 34 days
• Most expensive home sold on the MLS: $7.75M
• Median SOLD in Travis County: $245,000
• Median SOLD in Williamson County: $183,000

Q: So how fast are houses selling in Greater Austin area?A: As of today, with more than 2,231 SFR homes with pending contracts, here are the rates at which homes are selling during the first 34 days on the market:

• The first day on market: ~3% of these home
• First 3 days on market: ~8% of these homes
• First 7 days on market: ~16% of these homes
• First 14 days on market: ~26% of these homes 
• First 40 days on market: half of the available homes are sold

Whether you are Buying or Selling your home--give me a call and we can discuss what is happening in your community or the area where you are looking. I am Tim Thornton, your Austin Area Realtor.

Austin Population is Growing

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The Austin Business Journal is reporting that Greater Austin's population has grown to just over 1.87M people. This moves Austin into the position of the 34th largest city in the nation. Not bad for a little town about which just 5 years ago few people seemed to know much. In recent past, we may have considered Austin a "big-little city". Today, we are definitely approaching the designation of "little-big city"--sort of little, but not really.

Today, if you don't know Austin, you have not been to Austin or you have not considered moving to Austin--we might have to call you Rip Van Winkle. Time to wake up. The world has changed.

Austin is growing. Job growth is strong. Housing market is strong. Investors and individual home owners are buying in Austin. The Austin rental market is strong; so strong, landlord can often rent desirable homes in less than a week's time with multiple lease offers.  

If you are considering moving to Austin, buying or selling in the Greater Austin area and you have not found an experienced Realtor that you trust with your new home needs--give me a call. I would be happy to work with you. tT

Austin Real Estate Market Update & Consumption Rate - Mid January 2013

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December to January is normally the time of year that busy Realtors get to take a breath, regroup and plan for the coming year--well, not this year! Traffic from both investors and buyers both feels like we are starting high season. If this is any indication of what we are going to see this year--put on your seat belts. It is going to be a wild ride this year. Already, I am seeing 1 in 5 houses go under contract between the time I print out a listing to go see and the time that I make the call to go see the house with my clients--12-24 hours later. Houses are moving fast--especially the ones that show well and are priced to market.

Here are the numbers:

• 5,724 homes for sale: Single Family, Condos/Townhouses--Inventory is very low
• 2,786 homes under contract: buyers are still buying!
• 770 homes have already closed this year!

Median Sold Home Stats for Single Family Homes:

• Median price across Greater Austin: $197.9k
• ~90% of homes sold in Greater Austin are Single Family homes
• ~50% of the homes were sold in Travis County
• ~32% of the homes were sold in Williamson County
• Median price as a percentage of asking price: 98%
• Median days on market is very low: 37 days
• Most expensive home sold YTD: $3.7M
• Median SOLD in Travis County: $236,250
• Median SOLD in Williamson County: $190,000

Q: So how fast are SFR homes selling in Greater Austin area?A: As of today, with more than 2,504 Single Family homes with pending contracts, here are the rates at which homes are selling during the first 34 days on the market:

• The first day on market: ~4% of these home
• First 3 days on market: ~11% of these homes
• First 8 days on market: ~20% of these homes
• First 14 days on market: ~29% of these homes 
• First 41 days on market: 50% of the available homes are sold

Whether you are Buying or Selling your home--give me a call and we can discuss what is happening in your community or the area where you are looking. I am Tim Thornton, your Austin Area Realtor.

Real Estate SCAM Artists - They Want Your Money and Your House

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The experts say that scam artists who prey on Real Estate markets have their highest activity level during two event times: When times are really bad and When times are really great. When times are bad, people often make decisions out of desperation and when markets are strong, people may jump into something that looks too good to be true--like an incredible deal on a foreclosure or short sale. Either way, be careful what you know and what you think you know. Scam artists are lairs. Good lairs. And sometimes great deals are not deals at all. The best way to beat them at their game is to not play. If it looks like a duck, smells like a duck, quacks like a duck--it's probably a duck. And if it looks too good to be true and the pieces don't line up--turn and run!

I recently had a transaction where my buyer went under contract on a home in a very prominent Austin area community. Once we got into escrow and the title company ran the title search, they discovered some anomalies in the title and determined that the owner was not able to transfer the title because they did not legally have full possession of the title to transfer it. It seems that they had entered into a transaction to sell more than a year earlier and the would be buyer eventually stopped paying the bills. They stopped paying taxes. Stopped paying HOA bills. And then they stopped paying the mortgage to the seller. At some point the real owner, who was financing the buyer's purchase, got the home back from the buyer--or so they thought. But when they closed on the house the transfer of title was not valid, apparently due to some slight of hand that the title company did not raise issue to, so the title for the house was never legally transferred back to the owner. Sound complicated? Yep. What is more than that, this little bit of slight of hand cost the seller ten's of thousands in outstanding bills and will cost them thousands upon thousands more before it is over. Now, they can't sell the house because they don't have the full title to the house to transfer to a new buyer and they will have to go to foreclosure court to get a ruling and take possession of their house. Wow. What a mess. 

Scams come in all kinds of variations and descriptions. Some of them look like simple cash deals in the beginning and turn our to be something quite different in the end. Some start with a phone call and an offer, sight unseen. Some start with a listing in one of the online sites that accept listings from anyone for a home that may not even be for sale and may not be their home! Be careful, especially if you are trying to go out and figure out how to buy a home on your own without professional guidance. It's not what you know, but what you don't know and what you don't know that you don't know that can cost you lots of money in the end. 

If an "investor" seems over anxious to do something with you and your property and the deal seems a little too good to be true--buyer beware. Seller beware. Hire your own real estate attorney and check out the whole deal before you jump. If you are not a Real Estate professional and this is not what you do 20 or 30 times a year--beware. Real Estate may not be rocket science, but I have seen lots of really smart people, smart business people in their field make avoidable mistakes under the heading--this is not that hard. A good Real Estate professional can make a difficult transaction look pretty straight forward. I am sure it works the same way in your business. 

Buyer beware. Seller beware.

Why Ratios Matter- From a Parent's Point of View

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I remember people telling me that kids don't come with instructions.  Still, I read book after book to find something, some answer as to how I was going to handle being a father.  I learned how to tend my daughter's needs when she was hungry, gassy, sleepy, or just needed a diaper change--pretty straight-forward stuff I thought, no problem, I've got this! I even became quite adept at packing her diaper bag!  As time passed by, we settled into a routine, and knew how to handle the day to day part of raising a child.  We came to love her more and more each day as our lives began to take shape around hers.  Well, those days became years very quickly and now it was time to trust her care to someone else.We looked around feverishly to find the right preschool program for her; the due diligence must be done!  I could pull into the parking lot of some of these places and just know that it wasn't right. I scrutinized every last detail of the school from the first second I walked in, to the second I walked out.  How clean was it?  How long has this teacher been doing this?  Is that what you call a playground?!? What will my child be learning? What do they serve for lunch? Can we get a hair sample from everyone employed at this school?  We exhausted our fair share of teachers before we finally figured out what we really wanted to know.  Will our child be safe?  Were these teachers equipped physically, emotionally, and with all the support that they needed to ensure my child's safety?

Overwhelmingly, it came down to this--how many kids will one teacher be responsible for?  Look, I've hosted a few children's birthday parties, and I've seen my home in the aftermath after just a couple of hours of just trying to keep the damage to a minimum!  That was with the help of my wife, and the few brave parents that didn't bolt out of the door as soon as kid party drop off etiquette allowed it!  I couldn't fathom how any one person could handle that, and I wanted to know exactly how they intended to do it.That's when I learned about the teacher to child ratio.  That became just about the first thing I wanted to know.  As important as it is that my child begin to build a strong foundation in mathematics, literacy, and science, knowing that her teacher had some back up was every bit as critical.  Having as many eyes on my child as possible put me at ease.  I knew full well how she got into everything, I mean, let's face it, my kid was unruly at my house---I'm a man, we have a high threshold when it comes to letting our kids run amok before we actually do something about it!  So, how many teachers would be there to look after my one child wrecking crew now that she has joined forces with a whole battalion of kids with the same appetite for destruction?!?That's exactly why the ratio was a major point of concern, and ultimately, the school that we chose had one that was quite favorable.  After three children, I am now a decorated veteran-parent and I've seen things that would have made a first time parent want to ball up in a corner and cry---and maybe someday we'll get back to those--but for now, let's just hold the fort and make sure our teachers have plenty of reinforcements!

Chris Derrick is a father, an author,
and a blogger. You can find his
musings on life, parenting and living
in the South at:
http://myunregrettablelife.blogspot.com/

Adam and Maxine's Famous Latkes

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Celebrate Hanukkah with some delicious traditional dishes! Latkes can be served with sour cream or applesauce and are a great way to usher in the holidays!

Adam and Maxine's Famous Latkes

3 pounds large russet potatoes (4-6)
1 pound medium Vidalia, yellow, or brown onions (about 2)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup fine plain dried breadcrumbs
3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons (or more) schmaltz (chicken fat; optional)
2-4 tablespoons (or more) vegetable oil
Applesauce
Sour cream

Preheat oven to 325°F. Peel potatoes. Using the large holes of a box grater or the grater disk on a food processor, grate potatoes and onions. Transfer to a large kitchen towel. Gather ends of towel; twist over sink and squeeze firmly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Open towel; toss mixture to loosen. Gather towel; wring out once more.

Whisk eggs, breadcrumbs, salt, baking powder, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend. Add potato mixture. Using your fingers, mix until well coated. (Latke mixture should be wet and thick, not soupy.)

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with several layers of paper towels. Set a wire rack inside another large rimmed baking sheet; set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons schmaltz, if using, and 2 tablespoons oil (or 4 tablespoons oil if not using schmaltz; fat should measure about 1/8") in a 12" nonstick skillet over mediumhigh heat. Drop a small amount of latke mixture into pan. If the fat sizzles around the edges, it's ready. (Do not let fat smoke.)

Working in batches and adding more schmaltz and oil to skillet as needed to maintain 1/8" fat, drop large spoonfuls of mixture into pan, pressing gently with the back of a spoon or spatula to flatten slightly. (If mixture becomes watery between batches, mix to incorporate; do not drain.)

Cook latkes, occasionally rotating pan for even browning, until golden brown and cooked through, 2 1/2-3 minutes per side. (If small pieces of potato floating in the oil start to burn, carefully strain out.)

Transfer latkes to paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain, then transfer to prepared wire rack. Place sheet with latkes in oven to keep warm and crisp while cooking remaining latkes.

Serve warm latkes with applesauce and sour cream.

Thanks to Adam Rapoport for this amazing recipe!