Austin Real Estate Blog

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.

Smile, you’re on candid camera! Austin has webcams everywhere. There are traffic cams, weather cams, lake cams and even a squirrel cam. I guess, being the techy, forward-thinking community Austin is, this should be expected. It doesn’t hurt that Austin is very picturesque . . . it’s important to have something interesting to point all those webcams at.

To make it easier for our fellow Austinites and potential tourists to take a webcam tour of this city, we’ve compiled a list of Austin webcams. If you see any we missed, please let us know.

The Austin job market is set to expand with the doors of Samsung’s new $3.5 billion investment in technology about to open. The new plant is located in northeast Austin, near Parmer Lane and Dessau Road. Samsung has had operations in Austin for the past ten years, but the new investment marks an increased committment to the city during a time when the sales of semiconductor chips–what Samsung produces in Austin–have seen a decline. Relying on Austin’s large pool of high-tech and manufacturing labor, Samsung’s new plant will continue to produce semiconductors, but will employ the newest technology to make the chips more efficient and faster than currently on the market. More imporantly for Austin workers is that the new plant is expected to create 700 new jobs in addition to the 900 people that the existing plant currently employs. Even more promising is the 3,000 spin-off jobs that are expected to be created in the surrounding community.

Search for homes in Northeast Austin or contact Mike Malinowski for more information.

The Austin real estate market continues to defy national trends. While most real estate markets across the country are seeing a decline in property values and the number of sales being made, the Austin real estate market is continuing to surge forward.

Single-family homes, for the second month in a row, posted positive gains. During the month of May, single-family home sales in the Austin real estate market rose 2,679, marking a two percent increase from April’s figures. The findings were released in the most current edition of the Multiple Listing Service Report, which is issued by the Austin Board of Realtors.

The report also highlighted a number of other positive trends in the Austin real estate market: single-family homes sit on the market an average of 55 days, seven percent less time than the previous year; the number of single-family active listings increased eight percent over the past year; and the median price for a single-famliy home increased five percent from the previous year, up to $183, 160. These signs bode well both for the Austin real estate market and for the city’s economy.

Austin Energy and Central Texas Clean Cities has announced an electric vehicle rebate for Austin. In and effort to improve our air quality, this initiative sponsoring a rebate for the purchase of an approved electric vehicle by Austin Energy customers offers up to $250 dollars towards a new electric car, electric bicycle or electric scooter.

Plug-in Electric Vehicles that Qualify for the Rebate from Austin Energy

Electric vehicles that qualify for a rebate from Austin Energy only include plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that can travel at least 35 miles on one charge. In this category, one can find plug-in electric cars, plug-in electric scooters and plug-in electric bicycles. To qualify for a rebate, you must also purchase your electric vehicle from an approved Austin electric vehicle dealer. Austin Energy also provides an electric vehicle rebate application guidelines page listing the full guidelines to qualify for an electric vehicle rebate from Austin Energy.

Plug-in Electric is a Growing Movement

At the moment, the qualifying plug-in electric vehicles are a group of rather slow, limited distance vehicles. While great for getting around, say, downtown Austin or the a country club, they don’t really offer any good options for commuters. However, in forward thinking cities such as Austin, the plug-in electric vehicle is a growing movement. It’s through initiatives such as these that change happens, so, thank you, Austin Energy, the Austin City Council and the City of Austin for providing a rebate on electric vehicles. It’s a small but valiant gesture that will help Austin lead the way to a clean environment.

A new study released May 16 indicates that tech jobs in semiconductor and software will continue to grow. The study, prepared by the Simon Management Group, indicates that Austin tech sector has recovered from the recent downturn. Engineer and programmer hiring is projected to increase by as much as 20% as Austin tech companies increase spending research and development. Combine this with Austin’s reputation as a hotbed for venture capital startups and the university reaincubator effect, the future employment picture is bright.

New jobs indicate that the Austin real estate market will remain strong.