Austin new home builders remain optimistic on the real estate market for the second quarter of 2007. For new home builders, Austin remains a much stronger real estate market than most of the country. New home inventory in Austin is only 2 months, compared to 6 months of inventory nationally.

New home builders have been focusing their effort on Austin’s higher end housing market, which remains strong. While new home starts below $150,000 dropped by almost half compared to last year, new home starts from $250,000 to $600,000 rose by almost 20%. The strongest part of the Austin real estate market is in homes priced from $300,000 to over $1 million, where sales of new homes rose in the second quarter.

New home builder discipline is credited with helping the Austin real estate market remain healthy. According to industry source Residential Strategies, Austin has not been overbuilt as has much of the rest of the country.

The City of Austin Green Building Program offers a Green by Design Workshop to assist Austinites to improve the energy and water efficiency of new home construction, home remodeling, and landscape projects. The $35, one-day workshop is offered 4 times per year and is taught by Austin Green Building Program experts in the fields of design, building, engineering, and landscaping. The Austin Green by Design Workshop will cover topics such as selecting a green builder or green contractor, selecting a green building site, reducing utility bills, selecting green building materials, selecting green home appliances, and selecting native Texas landscaping that requires less water and maintenance.

Check the Austin Green Building Program website for details about upcoming workshops.

Austin’s Kwik-E-Mart: Go to Dallas for Your Fix

Yes, that’s right, Simpsons fans, your Austin Kwik-E-Mart has be taken by Dallas in what amounts to be the coup of the century – thank you, come again! To enjoy the Simpson pleasures such as Squishees, Buzz Cola, or KrustyO’s (sorry, no Duff Beer yet), you must make the long trip to Big D. At least there’s one in Texas…

To promote the new Simpsons movie, 7-Eleven has retrofitted 12 stores across North America to approximate the fictional Kwik-E-Mart stores from Fox’s Animated Series The Simpsons. From our sources, lines at the Dallas location were out the door this week.

Here’s something you might not know, Austin: appliances use energy even when they are turned off. Austin energy reports that appliances such as color televisions, video tape players and computers draw as much as 10 watts of electricity even when off. That amounts to 7 kilowatt hours per month for each appliance.

Also sucking down energy any time they are plugged into the wall are AC adapters that use transformers, commonly referred to as wall warts. These are the chargers for your cell phones and ipod chargers. Unplugging these unsightly devices, and unplugging appliances you are not using can lead to a lower utility bill and a greener Austin.

The Corporation for National and Community Service has produced a study, Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings, that ranked Austin 3rd behind only Minneapolis-St. Paul and Salt Lake City for large communities with the highest rates of volunteering. The study found that cities with high volunteer rates also have lower crime, higher employment, better education, and a better quality of life. The study also found that home owners with a vested interest in the community are more likely to volunteer to improve the quality of their communities.

It’s a good feeling to see Austin community service getting recognized. Wherever you live, you should consider volunteering to help build the quality of your city or town. For more information, check out the CNS press release.

The City of Austin is offering a double rebate for qualifying high efficiency washing machines for purchases made between May 1, 2007 and September 30, 2007. The $200 rebate includes a $100 water and $100 energy rebate. To be eligible, you must purchase water and energy from City of Austin and/or natural gas from Texas Gas Service. Residents of Rollingwood are eligible for an additional $50 from the City of Rollingwood. Check out the official City of Austin site for the details and application.

Many residents are upset that Austin area lakes are going to be closed for the 4th of July. Due to continued high water from the recent Hill Country floods, most of the lakes in the area are closed, making the holiday much less festive for the thousands who usually crowd the lakes during the annual Independence Day celebration. The LCRA announced the ban on recreational boating on Lake Travis is likely to continue through July 4th holiday for safety concerns due to recent record rainfall.

Lakes that will probably remain closed through the 4th include:

• Inks Lake
• Lakes Travis
• Lake Marble Falls
• Lake LBJ
• Lake Austin
• Town Lake
• the Colorado River below the Longhorn Dam

The lake closures will probably remain in effect as long as the area dam floodgates remain open. Most dams currently have three to four floodgates open to help control lake levels. The City of Austin and LCRA websites offer more details on the lake closures. The boating ban is evaluated daily, and may change, so visit those websites for more up-to-date information.

Lake Buchanan is the only Highland lake to remain open to recreational boating, but boaters should take extreme caution to avoid flood debris, much of which is floating invisible just below the surface.

Many local busineses will be impacted by the lake closures. KVUE reports that Carlos and Charlie’s had to cancel their concert with 10,000 Maniacs, and that one employee said they only plan to do 40% of the business they usually do on July 4th.