Bill Morris, Realtor

The Austin difference

Throughout the recession and housing downturn I have been writing about how different the Austin/Central Texas experience has been from national press stories on the economy. In less than four minutes, this video hits all the high points of what I’ve been saying all that time. Rock on! Austin Rocks!, posted with vodpod  

Groundwater in Texas — changes and progress

There is an argument that diminishing a landowner’s water rights directly diminishes the value of the land itself, and so constitutes a “taking” by governmental authority. There are differences in the needs of a landowner who plants cotton compared to a rancher, or compared to a landowner who bottles and sells water. At the same time, Texas is growing quickly, and cities’ water needs are under stress.
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A strong sign of confidence in multi-family properties

In early February I wrote about rising rents and planned construction in the Austin/Central Texas multi-family residential sector. This morning’s Austin American-Statesman featured an article showing specific evidence of that confidence.

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Benefits Of Home Ownership

Times and markets may have changed in recent years, but the benefits of being a home owner rather than a renter are still the same. (And it’s a great time to buy now!) Continue reading →

RE/MAX Capital City — 2010 Strength

Twice each year, Jeff Osborne, Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Capital City conducts business meetings with all company agents and staff. Discussion is wide ranging and mostly forward-looking, but reporting on past performance versus our competition is always worth a couple of slides. Continue reading →

Foreclosure Impact in Austin

Foreclosure activity in Austin is definitely higher than it was pre-recession, and there is no doubt that the effects of the recession and housing downturn have flattened home values here over the past few years — prices are lower today than they would have been if the recession had not happened. All in all, though, Austin and Central Texas continue to contrast dramatically with the cities and states that so thoroughly dominate news about the housing sector.

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How Does Texas stack up in the Case-Shiller report?

I have elaborated before about the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index and how representative it is (or not) of conditions in the Austin/Central Texas real estate market. News reports today are offering shock as the Indices for December 2010 returned to two-years ago levels, prompting fears of a “double dip” in housing. Here’s an up-to-date look at how Austin compares. Continue reading →

A quick comparison

The Austin Board Of Realtors® reported yesterday that “Sales of single-family homes in the Austin area were 14 percent higher in January 2011 than January 2010.” (See Austin Business Journal article.) Since that data differs from my Austin Market Dashboard update yesterday, I just want to point out …
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Updated Market Dashboard — “unpredictable”

The theme in my Austin Market Dashboard this month is that the Austin/Central Texas real estate market remains unpredictable — although virtually all economic indicators and forecasts call for improvement in our local economy generally, and our real estate market specifically. Continue reading →

How are Texas cities performing economically?

The Greater Austin Chamber Of Commerce posted some very interesting information this week about Texas and our major metro areas, and their relative performance economically. This post focuses on just a few charts. Continue reading →