Austin Real Estate Blog

Keller Williams Southwest Market Center Gets New Look

The Keller Williams Austin Southwest Market Center is on the move, and the Austin real estate scene just got prettier. We’re pleased to see that Keller Williams’ Southwest real estate office has launched a brand new website and Austin home search blog.

Gary Keller and his associates at Keller Williams have long been one of the class acts in the Austin real estate market. We at Home to Austin are always pleased when we get a chance to work with Keller Williams’ many talented realtors.

The Southwest Market Center Website: Hot as a Texas Summer

Their new Austin Southwest Market Center website is a technological marvel. Striking in red and black, it features a clean, easy-to-use design and a fantastic property search tool. Just type in any keyword - like a zipcode or an address - adjust the sliders, and hit search.

That’s not all. Change the search type to “Map” and the fun really begins. This IDX website immediately cranks out a responsive and interactive Google-style map of listings that match your specifications. Want to zoom in? The map listing on the left side changes to reflect your new view.

The Keller Williams Austin Southwest Market Center site is a sign of what a 21st century real estate website is going to look like in the coming years. Easy searches, clean design, compelling graphics and maps, top-of-the-line service. Nicely done, Gary Keller and Keller Williams.

About Gary Keller and Keller Williams

Gary Keller is the chairman of the board at Keller Williams, which has been one of the fastest-growing U.S. real estate companies in the past decade. He founded Keller Williams with his partner Joe Williams in 1983, and since 2002, his Southwest Market Center has held the position of top U.S. real estate office.

Mr. Keller is also a best-selling author with a new book, SHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times, on shelves now. In the current economic climate, Gary Keller’s advice couldn’t be more timely for real estate agents and businesspeople in general.

We’re pleased to see that Gary Keller is actively investing in the Austin real estate market. Apparently, he agrees with us that the future is bright for both Austin real estate and well-designed IDX websites like that of the Keller Williams Southwest Market Center.

An article out today in the Austin Business Journal says Austin is the only major city to add jobs in the last year. That’s huge news for the city, as it shows Austin is staying strong in rough and tough economic times — and that’s quite impressive.

According to the article, statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that between April 2008 and April 2009, 3,400 jobs were added by the Austin region. So out of the 38 largest cities in America, Austin was the only one of those to have a job gain. What’s more is that this isn’t the first time Austin has outperformed those other 38 cities — this is the third month in a row that it’s happened.

The article points out that even though Austin’s increase is 0.4%, which really doesn’t sound like much, compared to other cities it’s excellent news. They point out that Portland is down almost 5% and Raleigh is down 3.3%.

So which Austin jobs are up? Stats show gains in retail, restaurant and hotel jobs. The unemployment rate is 5.8%. That’s one of the healthiest out there, though San Antonio’s rate is just 5.4%.

Austin Custom Homes

HometoAustin.com is proud to announce a partnership with local builders to bring access to an ever-growing selection of Austin custom homes. Lake and golf course properties are the most popular custom homes in Austin. If you are looking for Barton Creek or Lake Travis, we have your custom home buying needs covered at HometoAustin.com.  Ranking in the top ten in Austin home search sites, HometoAustin.com provides unparrelled access for potential buyers of Austin custom homes. “This relationship just makes sense…” says Austin custom home builder.

It’s a question on many local homeowners’ minds: What’s the latest with Austin home values? The same goes for homeowners in cities in the rest of the country. We recently stumbled upon a great blog post over at the HomeGain Blog that talks about extensive nationwide home price survey results.

The results from the survey showed that in the opinion of HomeGain Realtor members, home sellers think their homes are worth more than Realtors and homebuyers thing they’re worth. Furthermore, while homeowners understand that there are falling home prices across America, they don’t think it applies to their homes.

So the survey results show that Realtors and homebuyers are informing these homeowners that their homes are not worth nearly as much as they think they are. Other findings: Most HomeGain Realtor members do not believe that the Obama stimulus package will do much to change the direction of home values, and they think that prices of homes will keep falling over the next six months.

One remark from the blog post noted that home sellers are aware that prices have fallen, but they don’t think it applies to them because they have done some kind of upgrade to their home like “upgraded vinyl.” Overpriced homes, they say, do nothing in these times.

As for Austin home values, the general opinion among various news sources and polls is that the local market is doing well compared to other cities around the country. Still, it’s ideal to discuss the best home prices with your Austin real estate agent.

No doubt about it, moving can be a huge expense. Setting up utility accounts, squaring away your old residence — and then there’s the whole matter of furnishing your new home. Couches, beds, chairs and appliances can cost thousands of dollars, leaving you without much cash as you settle into your new home. If you’re in need of furniture and want some flexibility, rent to own furniture may be your best bet.

Rent to Own Furniture is Flexible

Rent to own furniture is very flexible and ideal if you’re not certain whether you want to buy or rent furniture. Many rent to own furniture plans will allow you to return the furniture without a penalty if you decide you don’t want to buy it. And if you do decide to buy it,  you’d have a payment plan set up with the company.

Rent to Own Furniture Delivery

Another great thing about rent to own furniture is that it’s typical for a rental furniture company to deliver the furniture to your home. This can be a huge time- and money-saver — think of how expensive and time-consuming it is to rent a moving truck and haul furniture. With rent to own furniture, someone else does the moving for you. You might even find a company that provides next-day furniture delivery.

The Convenience of Rent to Own Furniture

The bottom line is that rent to own furniture can be really, really convenient. And that’s a huge relief for many new home buyers or renters, especially with all the stress that comes along with moving into a new home. By renting furniture now, you can own it later — or not.

Friend of HometoAustin.com, Julie Johnson has launched a new Dallas real estate website using the Realzi real estate website platform. Please visit Julie’s new site and let her know what you think.

Imagine going to your own backyard to experience the ultimate in Austin outdoor living: an outdoor kitchen and grill, a fireplace and flower beds full of lush plants and color. In the summer, you can lounge on the patio, staying cool thanks to a misting system. And in the winter, an outdoor firepit or fireplace along with a heating system keeps you cozy.

Sound like just a dream? It’s far from impossible thanks to Brydon Outdoor Living, an Austin company that’s all about making the most of your home to include what’s outside. Because, after all, your house doesn’t have to just be confined to its exterior walls. Making your outdoor areas an extension of your home is something that adds serious appeal to your home. Here are some of the services this Austin outdoor living company offers:

• Patios
• Retention walls
• Outdoor kitchens
• Heating and misting systems
• Outdoor fireplaces
• Outdoor firepits
• Flower bed design
• Insect repellant systems

Austin outdoor living is the perfect way to enjoy Austin’s great weather. And there’s nothing like having friends and family over and being able to entertain them under the stars on your custom stone patio. Brydon Outdoor Living can create an outdoor kitchen so that you can make a whole meal outside while your guests enjoy the gorgeous surroundings. The possibilities are endless — Brydon is committed to making  your outdoor ideas come to life.

Brydon Outdoor Living is a family-owned company with a ton of experience working with all types of landscaping services, with a specialization in custom stonework. Stone walkways, walls, steps, patios and rock formations and waterfalls are some of the many more things Brydon Outdoor Living can do.

Forbes magazine just came out with a list of the top 10 “best-bang-for-your-buck” cities in the country, and Austin is the best city for the value. The list is meant to show where one’s money goes the farthest. Affordable housing in Austin along with expected job growth helped secure Austin’s top spot on Forbes‘ list. Other factors contributing to how the list was made are gas prices and year-over-year inflation growth.

But Austin isn’t the only Texas city to make the list — San Antonio, Dallas and Houston also nabbed places in the top 10. At number two is San Antonio, with Houston at number four and Dallas at number seven. Like Austin, San Antonio ranks so highly because of affordable housing and job growth. So many Texas cities made it into the top 10 because of how strong the Texas’ economy is.

So what about the worst cities for the value? Those are: Los Angeles; Providence, Rhode Island; New Orleans; Philadelphia; and Cleveland.

Earlier this year, Forbes came out with a list of the best cities in which to buy real estate. Austin came in at number two on that list, just behind Houston. Looks like Austin is no stranger to Forbes‘ top 10 lists, and that’s no big surprise considering everything the city has to offer. Those who call Austin home know just how wonderful the city is.

A Real Estate Website Can’t Compete without SEO

Real estate SEO (search engine optimization), though not exactly a household term, is essential to a successful real estate website in today’s climate.

In the Wild West days of the internet, real estate agents only needed to build a website to stake their claim to internet real estate sales, and SEO wasn’t a factor. Now, however, every real estate agent has a website. At the same time, more and more real estate buyers are using the web to find, research and buy properties than ever before. To stand out from the pack, a good real estate website needs SEO. SEO for a real estate website is like advertising for a real estate open house - a real estate agent can’t reach his or her buyers without it.

Buying Internet Ads Isn’t Real Estate SEO

Astute real estate agents know that real estate SEO is different from - and more important than - paid internet advertising. If you were to draw an analogy, paid internet advertising is like placing ads in the lifestyle section of the newspaper. People sometimes look at the ads, but they know you’re trying to sell something, so they often ignore the ads entirely. In a Google search, paid internet ads appear on the right side of the screen, jumbled in with other ads and separated from the information that the reader is searching through.

On the other hand, real estate SEO puts your website in the search results for Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines. Real estate SEO is more like an ad in the Yellow Pages than a generic lifestyle ad. Good real estate SEO doesn’t give you a peripheral ad; it puts you right in the heart of the information your readers are seeking - and it matches you up with the people who are looking specifically for your services.

Best of all, good real estate SEO doesn’t just get you listed under “Austin real estate“, “Vail real estate” or “Dallas real estate” - it also gets your site to show up every time someone searches for the address or MLS number of an active listing in your region.

Think that might bring in some good real estate sales leads?

Our Real Estate SEO Solution

Our website uses Realzi - which we believe is the best and most reasonably-priced real estate SEO solution on the market. Realzi updates our site constantly with MLS information so our listings are just as current as the master real estate database for Austin. At the same time, Realzi is designed specifically for real estate SEO, and that means that HomeToAustin consistently ranks highly when you do a real estate SEO comparison. Try it! Just pick a real estate property’s address or MLS number and Google it, and see how our real estate SEO stands up.

The Essential Real Estate SEO Question

One of the guys at Realzi explained it to me perfectly yesterday. I complained that I was having trouble getting my broker friend to understand the value in real estate SEO. He said, “Do they want their website to be an expense or a moneymaker?”

That’s the essential real estate SEO question. If you don’t care about your web presence, then real estate SEO isn’t for you.

But if you’re an agent, broker or realtor who knows how to close deals and is interested in getting a steady stream of fresh leads from your own website, you should give real estate SEO a hard look.

Great news for Austin and Round Rock residents: The Austin economy is strong. More specifically, according to The Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners, Austin ranks number four among U.S. metropolitan areas in terms of job creation and job sustainability as well as economic growth. Included are wage and salary, job and technology growth.

The 2008 Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best Performing Cities Index has Austin at number four, showing that the Austin economy is strong. Just ahead of Austin on the list are Salt Lake City, Utah; Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina; and Provo-Orem, Utah. What’s worth noting is that last year The Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best Performing Cities Index ranked Austin number 20.

The Milken Institute is an independent economic think-tank dedicated to helping create a more efficient and democratic global economy. Established in 2000, The Greenstreet Real Estate Partners is an asset and investment management company.

With the Austin economy strong, the city is no doubt an ideal place to live. And those who live in Austin know that there’s much more to appreciate than the strong economy, like the thriving arts and music scene (including the two large annual festivals, Austin City Limits and South by Southwest), the many public parks and gardens, an average of 231 sunny days per year, and so much more.

Austin wasn’t the only Texas city on the list, though it did come in ahead of any other Texas city. At number seven was the McAllen-Edinburgh-Mission, with Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood ranked 13, San Antonio in the number 15 spot, Houston ranked 16 and Dallas came in at 23.