Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is the most recent drought map, from the US Drought Monitor.

Yeah, dark red is bad, really bad.

Drought is Classified in 5 Levels

The 5 levels used to describe how severe a drought is are:

• D0: Abnormally Dry
• D1 Drought: Moderate
• D2 Drought: Severe
• D3 Drought: Extreme
• D4 Drought: Exceptional

Looking Back on The Texas Drought Levels from May 2011

Compare the map above to the drought levels from May 2011:

Got an old bathroom?

Or worse, one that was “updated” but never quite finished?

This bathroom was one of those – a project that never quite made it to the finish line.

I’ll admit – this one is mine, a project I decided I HAD to do when I was pregnant with my youngest son who is now 5.

The Old Home and The Nesting Homeowner

It was one of the worst cases of nesting on record, or so the story book says.

Picture Texas in June-ish, and an avid DIY’er who was 7 months pregnant and HATED the downstairs bathroom. It was seriously ugly – wallpaper form the 1980s, a cultured marble sink, an old water-damaged cabinet and brown and gold sheet vinyl on the floor.

Oh, and ew, salmon-colored plastic knobs on the cabinet door and drawers.

Topping it off was a brass pendant fixture with a long, swagged metal chain.

Faux Finishing an Older Bathroom

I had recently taken a class in Faux Finishing from Lu Goodwin Mark, the owner of the Austin School of Faux Finishes.

Emboldened, I attacked my vintage-1982 home with gusto.

I ripped out the counter and cabinet, dragging the hacked-up pieces out to the front porch on my butt, which made the task easier on my old back and bulging belly.

I peeled off the wallpaper, and had it re-textured with a nice smooth finish on which to apply the new finish.

A tiling contractor removed the old vinyl flooring and prepared it for a new pebble-tile floor, found for the rock-bottom price of $10 per square foot on eBay (including FREE shipping!).

And no, no men other than the ones I paid to help me dared get anywhere *near* this project lest they get roped in and put to work at all hours of the day and night.

Applying the Final Touches on the Bathroom Remodeling

Once the floor was in and the walls were ready, I hand-troweled an expensive italian plaster on the walls, embedding layers of $50-per-quart metallic faux-finishing products between the layers. The final coat was a hand-rubbed metallic finish the left lovely pools of sparkly gold in the texture of the walls.

It was, in my humble opinion, a masterpiece.

It was a near-exact replica of the walls in the Opal Divine’s restaurant off South Congress in Austin. Except, of course, the restaurant had huge amounts of wall space and a bigger budget and the other decor to pull it off.

And, unfortunately, my little old bathroom had none of that.

Edge-Grain Mesquite

Soonly, though, I acquired a gorgeous piece of edge-grain mesquite and used it as a counter, luring my neighbors over to help me run it through the table saw in the driveway to cut it to just the right size.

A plumber installed a vessel sink – long before vessel sinks were so common – and burned through 5 DeWalt batteries cutting the hole for the drain because the mesquite was so unforgiving.

Another day, squatting on my haunches in the garage, I used my brand-new grinder to cut 2″ square pieces of slate tile to fit as a backsplash. Then lovingly finished them with grout that matched the pale yellow of the walls.

My faithful seamstress dis-assembled a Target shower curtain in red paisley and re-assembled it into an ultrasuede-edged shower curtain with 5-inch long fringe and matching shades for the bathroom and adjacent bedroom.

Texas Tuscan

With those custom-sewn pieces in place, my Texas-Tuscan Bathroom was complete!

And, oh, man oh man, was it UGLY.

So ugly, even my most faithful of friends couldn’t say anything nice. One did me the favor of taking the window treatments away, far far away, under the guise of giving them to a friend in need.

The rest just didn’t go near it, perhaps for fear that it would suck them into DIY-hell and make them do the same thing to their own bathroom that needed to be updated.

I used it whiile the baby was a newborn, then closed off that part of the house, since the space was really just more than we really needed as a family and I didn’t want to have to keep it clean.

Bad DIY Style Can Be Contagious

A few years later, I tried to “match” the adjacent bedroom to the colors, but not the style, and ended up with what one long-time friend dubbed “The Ronald McDonald Room”.

The curtains from that round had yellow gingham on the top, red ultrasuede on the bottom and a nice fat band of chocolate rick rack seperating the two.

And yes, I actually paid someone to make them for me.

They now hang at the top of another friend’s stairs, and look just marvelous with her red couch and less-busy decor.

Fixing the Badly-Updated Bathroom

Finally, the time came when this bathroom could no longer be ignored.

The venetian-plastered walls and mesquite counter and horribly-installed slate backsplash HAD TO GO. So did the old tile in the shower – tile that was in great shape but oh-so-vintage-1982.

The $2500-ish budget permitted for new texture on the walls, new paint, new good-quality porcelain tile in the shower, plumbing work, new faucets and a new mirror. It did not, however, cover the cost of the new granite counter, so I traded a bunch of camping gear and garage shelving in lieu of the $500-ish that the counter and sink woud have cost.

The current version of this bathroom draws you right in and makes you want hang out. Or, at least it makes my kids want to hang out since I have to keep chasing them out of the space.

The paint on the wall is Benjamin Moore “Tranquility” in Aura Matte. The granite backsplash is 6-inches tall – about 2-inches taller than typical backsplashes and meant we could avoid introducing new materials into the space. The river rock flooring still rocks – it is simply fabulous on the feet.

Everything in this space is now either brand-new, or new in the last 5 years, except for the tub which is original. The crown molding is timeless, so are the 2-panel smooth-skin doors and 5-inch baseboards, all painted in Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo oil in Cloud White – a gorgeously lustrous paint that dries silky smooth and durable.

If you’ve done something like I did – sometimes you have to just suck it up and re-do it. You’ll get back some usable space in your home, and can re-earn your reputation as the DIY style-maven for your neighborhood (or at least you can *think* you are!)

Are you planning to sell your Austin home soon, but need to replace outdated tile?

Consider the current trends before making your selections both for the style and color of the tile as well as the layout.

In some areas, and Austin is one of them, 12×12 tile in a straight-set pattern just looks dated, even if it’s brand-spanking new.

Larger tile (18×18, 20×12) has a more current look, especially if it’s set in a brick-pattern, or on the diagonal, or with a border (either inset, or as an actual border).

Rectangular Bathroom Tile

Rectangular tile, can look even fresher.

Check out what the better builders in your area are showcasing to see what they’re putting in model homes to entice more sophisticated buyers. Even if your budget is small, the way the tile is laid out can make a big difference in how current (or dated) the finished tile will look.

Check out the floor tile in the photo at right.

The timeline and budget for this update meant the tub and cabinet couldn’t be replaced, and the old window was, well, virtually unmovable without major expense.

This tile is 9×12, and laid out this way gave a super-simple tile job a much fresher look than could be had with straight-set 12×12 tile. The expense difference on the 110-ish square feet of tile was minimal. (Compared to the over-all cost of demolition, tile work, paint and plumbing.)

The tile in this bathroom is Torre Venato, porcelain, made in USA, and made from 30-54% recycled material. The paint on the walls is Benjamin Moore Aura Matte in the glorious blue-grey color “Eternity”. The Uba Tuba granite counter from Toluca Granite in Austin is 5 years old but look brand-new against the new tile.

Some tile contractors charge more for “special” layouts, so make sure you know if there is an upcharge for the layout you have in mind.

(The window ledge is the same black granite as the counter – typical 3-inch deep border tile was too shallow for the window sill.)

The tile and paint in this bathroom were selected by Chris Browarski of CCB Designs in Austin Texas. Chris works with Builders, Architects, Realtors and Home Owners to bring the most style value possible to projects ranging from simple (this bathroom) to complex (a fantastic farmhouse on the 25th annual AIA Tour).

Got an old house?

The kind with the flat-panel doors, probably in an old wood veneer that has seen better days?

Replacing them with moulded-panel, composite wood doors (not solid wood) isn’t difficult or expensive, as long as they are a standard size. Masonite interior doors are frequently the doors you see in typical Austin and Round Rock-area subdivision homes, at the large home improvement stores like Home Depot, and on many higher-end homes as well.

The doors for the Austin house in the photo were ordered from BMC West in Cedar Park, Texas.

For a 4-door set of hollow-core, bi-fold doors like these, you can expect to pay between $80 and $140 per set (of 4, which should include the hardware to hang them, plus the hinges for each pair), depending on the discount you or your contractor can negotiate. Both installation quotes for this home ran about $150 per set (based on 5 sets in the house, and other work being done on the same job by the same General Contractor), and that included painting.

Tips for Replacement Closet Doors

The Cost for Replacement Closet Doors

For the record, the closet doors in this house averaged about $260 per set (5 sets of 4, mostly 6-foot wide closet openings) and that included the doors, track, tax, delivery, installation and painting. The contractor wanted extra to drill the knob holes but ended up doing that for free.

The doors are made by Masonite, and are “Roman, 2-panel, hollow, smooth skin”.

They replaced old wooden louvered doors that were a total nightmare to try to clean and paint.
Fortunately, someone on Craig’s List hauled those all away for FREE for a special project they had in mind.

I’ve been called a paint snob in the past.

I used to think the name-callers had basis for their action, but then I looked up the definition of snob:

“A snob is someone who believes that some people are inherently inferior to him or her for any one of a variety of reasons, including real or supposed intellect,wealth, education, ancestry, taste, beauty, nationality, et cetera. Often, the form of snobbery reflects the snob’s personal attributes. For example, a common snobbery of the affluent is the belief that wealth is either the cause or result of superiority, or both.”

When it comes to paint, my preferences aren’t due to snobbery, they are due to experience.

House Painting: What We Need to Balance in Our Decisions

When we paint, we have to balance our objectives, with these as our chief concerns:

• The total cost of the job
• The time required
• The resulting quality, look and/or durability of the painted surfaces

Most people erroneously think that the cost of the paint is the primary cost of the job of painting.

In reality, the cost of the paint is often SMALL compared to the over-all cost of the job.

House Painting: Contractors’ Bids in Austin Texas

Let’s go over an actual example:

I’ve been painting my current home, and the one I just moved in to, over the last month. I bid out some of the work, and did some of it myself:

• For Contractor A, a typical bid for painting a single room (10×10 to 14×16) was $125 to $150 for labor, plus the cost of the paint unless I agreed that he could use his favorite contractor-grade (read: cheap) paint.
• Contractor B wanted $150 per coat of paint, but the cost of the paint was included (but again, the paint brand was his choice at that price).
• Contractor C bid $150 for labor, regardless of the number of coats required, with the cost of the paint as extra.

As would be expected, the more rooms I added to the bid, the lower the cost per space.

One even offered me “his guys” at an hourly rate because he didn’t have another job lined up for them and he needed to keep them busy on someone else’s nickel.

So, what does it cost to paint a room, with a painting contractor doing the work?

We might conclude that painting a room costs about $150, plus the cost of the paint. It might, however, cost $300 or more, and that additional cost being labor, not paint.

So how much does the actual paint cost? Depends on the paint, of course. And when determining the “cost of paint”, the cost per gallon is a poor measure of cost. One gallon of one brand of paint is not necessarily equal to a gallon of another brand of paint.

House Painting in Austin: Benjamin Moore

Personally, I only use Benjamin Moore.

This decision is based on years and years of painting houses (my own homes and the homes of friends and clients).

For both the home I am selling and the one I just moved in to, I used only Benjamin Moore’s Aura Matte on the walls.

Although this paint retails for about $62 per gallon, I think it is Worth. Every. Penny.

Here is why: when properly applied, it covers in a single coat. We covered a dark purple with a light blue-grey in a single coat. We covered a darker purple in a pale tan with a single coat. Same for a dark orange and a whole bunch of brightly colored stenciled flowers. This means a single gallon can paint a large bedroom – with leftover paint for later touch-ups. We even painted a wall in my daughter’s new room black in a single coat (and yes, the contractor lost the bet on that one).

We used the recommended rollers made specifically for use with the Benajmin Moore Aura paint, and we used high-quality angled brushes for cutting in. And, of course, we followed the manufacturer’s instructions since painting with Aura is NOT like painting with other paint.

Benjamin Moore recommends applying two coats to achieve maximum durability and color saturation. In spaces where I know the walls are going to get a lot of action (up the stairs, in the entry and kitchen), I apply a second coat. In space where the wall is really just going to be admired (one wall in a formal dining room in a home without pets, one coat will still get you fabulous color). When you want a second coat, it goes on fast and easy-peasy.

I buy my paint at Rooster’s Paint on Anderson Mill (78750).

The Contractors’ Bids

So, let’s go back to the contractors’ bids for painting a room. If you can paint a large bedroom with a single gallon of Aura at $62 per gallon, paint costs $62. If the labor cost of having the work done for you is $150, then the cost of painting that bedroom is $212 ($150 + $62).

If you use paint that requires two or more coats, unless you’re paying less than $30 a gallon, you’re not saving much money. You might actually end up spending MORE because you need to buy more paint to cover the same area. We’ve probably all had the experience of painting a wall over and over to try to get the color to cover and look good and never being completely satisfied. That happens with the cheap paint – it just doesn’t apply well, and you need to use A LOT of it.

If you hire Contractor B, and Contractor B uses a cheaper paint since he bid that into the overall cost of the job (and most of them will), you will end up paying for two coats at $150 a pop, or $300. Personally, I think this is NUTS.

That is a heck of a difference in the cost for getting a room painted.

The Cost of Painting When You DIY

Let’s talk a few more numbers for the cost of painting a house.

Let’s say you are going to paint it yourself. And you’re going to use cheap paint to make it cheaper. You figure you’ll use $20 a gallon paint, so you go buy a gallon . . . for $20 . . . plus a cheap paint brush and a cheap roller cover and roller trays and some thin plastic sheeting and some painter’s tape and and and. You get out the door having spent maybe $50 and only $20 of that was the actual paint.

You go home, and paint. And run out because the paint doesn’t cover well. You go buy another gallon . . . and another roller tray and another roller cover because the first one got dried and icky. If you’re lucky, parts of it came off in little strands and are stuck to your walls. Oh, and that cheap brush didn’t cut in well, so you’ve got paint on your trim. And the thin plastic sheeting ripped so you got a little paint on the carpet. Or, maybe a lot on the carpet.

Now you’re out TWICE the labor, an extra roller cover and an extra trip to the store. Now you’re out the original $50 plus another $25 to $30, for $75 to $80. If you are really lucky, you may end up rolling on three coats and still have an uneven finish.

You probably didn’t get it done in a day, either.

If you did, I’ll bet it doesn’t actually look that nice. Oh, and you’ve got a lot of touch-ups on the trim to take care of.

Painting Your House Yourself with Aura

Here is another option: you can save on the cost of painting your house yourself – IF you recognize up front that the cost of the paint is only one part of the overall cost of the job. The other costs are the supporting materials, and YOUR TIME. Your time is worth something!

Let’s go back to talking about Benjamin Moore Aura Matte finish paint. I LOVE THIS PAINT. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

My actual cost of painting a large bedroom in it is under $75.

When I paint a room, I buy ONE gallon of paint, ONE Aura-paint specialty roller and ONE paint tray for $0.75. If you think $75 is “expensive” for paint, you’re probably not factoring in the cost of all of the other things needed for the job.

And when that one room has been painted the effect of the paint is GLORIOUS. People walk in and walk right up the the walls and marvel at the paint – both the color and the finish. The depth of color, the complexity of the color and the quality of the finish is mesmerizing.

Supplies for Painting Your Home

• Years ago I bought a few high-quality drop cloths for $13 to $20 each, and have used them over and over and over. The cost of the drop cloths is less than the cost of plastic sheeting over time and more importantly – do YOU want to trust your carpet to easily-ripped plastic?
• I bought a high-quality angled brush for under $20 and keep it very clean.
• I don’t use painter’s tape – I learned how to control the brush for cutting in.
• I don’t need packages of “cheap” rollers because I only need one for the job. Cheap rollers aren’t so cheap if you need to use more than one or they break off little bits onto your walls.

In other words – just because individual products are cheap doesn’t mean the cost you less in the long run.

Sometimes the investment in good products can save you a bundle in both time and money.

Most of us know that the prep work is 90% of the job of painting. With Aura paint, this is even more true. Because this paint is different than other paints, the technique for applying it successfully is different:

• First, you cut in everywhere and let it dry
• Then you roll

Since it dries lightening-fast, by the time you’re done cutting in, you’re ready to roll. I can roll a big bedroom in 45 minutes, tops. If I inadvertently missed a few spots, I can hit them with the roller any which way and you won’t see the roller marks, brush strokes, nada.

The paint is thick and glorious, goes on super smooth with minimal re-rolling, minimal strokes, and minimal dripping.

Even better, this paint does NOT like to be brushed and re-brushed or rolled and re-rolled – it should be touched as few times as possible then left alone. Fewer required touches means less labor, so even a single coat takes less time and energy than other paints. I never see roller marks or brush marks when it has dried. (Although that can happen with cheap rollers or spreading it too thin when cutting in).

And again, if you want a second coat for maximum performance, it’ll go on in a flash.

Aura’s Impact on Paint Contractors

I hired painters to paint some rooms, painted some on my own, and had them work with me on other spaces. Once they learned how to cut in and roll with Aura, they started pushing their boss to use it on other jobs.

The boss, however, goes NUTS about the price whenever I bring it up.

We’ve gone round after round on the Aura debate. He loves his cheap paint! He loves it because 5-gallon drums are cheap! But . . . he needs a LOT of it to cover the same amount of wall space! We realized this big disconnet when determining how much paint to order for different parts of the job – he wanted 10 gallons of ceiling paint for the new place and I knew we needed 5 gallons MAX if we used the good stuff. He prevailed because it was ceilings and not walls. I tried to use the leftovers on a closet and was ready to drown myself in the 5-gallon bucket before I was done – it needed FOUR coats and still looked like crap!

We also figured this out when painting the crown in the new space. He wanted to use his cheap paint, but I bought two gallons of Aura Satin (since my favorite trim paint, Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo in oil was out of stock). We painted the crown in 1340 square feet of space with about a half-gallon!! That was a LOT of trim since it was in the closets, bathrooms and hallways as well as in the main rooms. ONE coat covered and the finish is sublime. Why put on a second coat on trim that will never be caressed by tiny, dirty hands?

Now the contractor is complaining that his guys are hammering him to buy Aura for other jobs. I pointed out that he can paint the same spaces in less than half the time – a huge labor savings, AND the resulting finish is gorgeous. I don’t think he’ll convert, but we’ll see.

The Bottom Line for Painting Your Home in Austin, Texas

• Cheap paint is not necessarily cheaper – it is only ONE part of the cost of a paint job
• Good paint is easier to work with, looks better and lasts longer
• Do your research before you paint – get multiple bids and ASK QUESTIONS before you hire your painting contractor or you might end up paying DOUBLE
• Invest in good materials and save yourself a lot of time, money and hassle.
• Whether you paint it yourself or hire it out, the more you know (from research of experience) the better your chances of having the job done right – the first time.

And if someone calls you a snob – just smile and move on because you know the difference.

The paint in these photos is Benjamin Moore: “Coastal Path” (beige), “Tranquility” (kitchen walls), “Fernwood Green” and “Frappe” (bedroom walls) and “Bleeker Beige” (kitchen cabinets). All of these colors were carefully coordinated by Designer Chris Browarski of CCB Designs in Austin Texas.

Shopping for a home in Austin Texas?

The tax rates here can be confusing to folks moving in from other parts of the country.

Property Tax Rates in Northwest Austin

A property can be taxable by different governmental entities such as Austin Community College, Austin Independent School District, or a utility district. For reference, the complete chart for the Travis County 2011 Tax rates can be found on the Travis County Website. Since parts of NW Austin are also taxed by Williamson County, you might also refer to the 2010 Williamson County Tax Rate Schedule.

Confusing, isn’t it?

Northwest Austin Property Tax Examples

Let’s talk specifics.

In the MLS (Multiple Listing Service, known as ACTRIS here) area called NW (for Northwest), the tax rates for homes currently listed for sale range from 2.08 to 2.6444. Of the 145 homes currently listed for sale and the tax rate field is populated, the median tax rate is 2.4699. (Median = the one in the middle where half are higher and half are lower.)

Here is an example of the estimated tax schedules for two homes NW Austin. One is listed for sale for $194,000 and the other is listed for sale for $195,000.

Note that the estimated taxes for these vary by $351. (One is $5010 and the other is $4659). These estimates are based on the assessed values of the properties which are supposed to be the same as market value, but might not be!

You should also note that each of those two examples show that different entities are assessing taxes on these properties.

And note that the actual tax may vary in the end, depending on whether or not the homeowner qualifies for any Travis County property tax breaks or property tax exemptions. Or perhaps they qualify for Williamson County tax breaks or tax exemptions.

The Impact of Different Tax Rates on an Austin Home Owner’s Monthly Payment

On a $200,000 home, if all $200,000 is taxable (depends on whether or not the home and/or owner qualify for any exemptions):

• A tax rate of 2.08 would mean $4,160 in property taxes per year (or $347 per month)
• A tax rate of 2.644 would mean $5,288 in property taxes per year (or $441 per month)

The median price of a home for sale in NW Austin as of September 23rd, 2011 is $232,917. At the median tax rate of 2.4699, that would suggest a yearly tax of $5753.

If you’ve done the math on what your new mortgage is going to run, you now know that the property taxes are going to add up to a non-trivial part of your cost of ownership.

What You Need to Know About Austin Tax Rates

The really important thing to keep in mind is that the tax rates vary by area.

As of September 27th, 2011 there are over a hundred homes for sale in Austin with list prices between $195,000 and $200,000.

Go Right to the Homes for Sale In Austin for around $200,000 (Data updated automatically – current listings)

Let’s take a quick peek at how the inventory (number of available houses) and median sizes and median prices differ by large market area around Austin. Remember that the median is the number where half of the numbers are bigger and half are smaller.

Area	Active	Median Size (Range: Smallest - Largest)	Median Days on the Market (DOM)	Median Price for the Region (Number of Listings)
East Austin	19	1329 (537 - 3876)	102	$155,000 (418)
North Central Austin	16	1826 (800 - 2488)	90	$195,000 (259)
Northwest Austin	13	1703 (1150 - 2396)	58	$302,500 (346)
South Austin	21	1582 (1053 - 2479)	107	$216,417 (326)
Southeast Austin	4	1745 (1285 - 1923)	55	$140,000 (151)
Southwest Austin	12	2066 (1435 - 3482)	48	$263,400 (262)
Austin - West/Westlake	2	1413 (1400 - 1425)	48	$883,578 (313)

You can see from this that:

Some homeowners choose to try to sell their homes For Sale by Owner (FSBO, pronounced “Fizz-Bo”) before enlisting the assistance of a real estate agent. Although fewer than 25% of FSBOs properties sell, if you’re not in a hurry to move on to your next place, you can try your hand at marketing your property on your own.

How to FSBO

The Big To Do List for a FSBO

Get Organized

• Buy signs for in front of your property, and on a corner, if your home is in a cul-de-sac (or cove, in Texas).
• Get permission from your HOA or the home owner on the corner for directional signs that aren’t on your property.
• Pick up a few signs for Open Houses, too.
• Find boxes to move all of your extra clutter out of your home and garage and into a storage unit.

  Your home should be as free of unnecessary stuff as possible, including family photographs and other personalized memorabilia such as trophies and framed certificates.

  Even though people should be looking at your house, they’ll get distracted by your stuff.

• Get copies of the forms for a purchase contract, as well as the forms required for property condition disclosure required by your state.

Do Your Research

• Research the homes that have recently sold in your area that are similar to yours, so that you can price your home right.

  FSBOs usually aren’t in a hurry to sell, so you can do this research in the months leading up to when you want to put your home on the market by visiting Open Houses and browsing websites that list homes for sale in your area.

  If you want your house to sell, you need to price it right. The longer it sits on the market, the more people are going to start wondering what is wrong with it, even if it is fabulous.

  Read FSBO Pricing Do’s and Don’ts

  You should also read The Absorption Rate: Beating the Competition to See Your Austin Home

• Hire an appraiser to measure your home and provide you with a clear diagram for the dimensions and layout of your home.

  You want to avoid the liability of representing your home as being a size that is different than it actually is. Providing inaccurate square footage can expose you to the potential for legal problems later on if the new owner realizes the home is smaller than you said that it was.

  Square footage information from the tax records and even the builder of your home are frequently wrong.

  Read Measuring a Home: When You Should Hire a Pro

• Put together a list of real estate websites, and the accounts necessary to market your property on-line. Most buyers start their home search on-line so you don’t want to miss these opportunities.
• Obtain a pre-listing appraisal, so that you have a professional opinion of the market value of your home. You can provide this to buyers, either up front, or who offer less than your asking price.

  This frequently happen with a FSBO because buyers that aren’t represented by a real estate agent know that you aren’t paying a commission.

  Many buyers expect you to discount your property to reflect the commission rate that is typical in your local market. If your buyers are represented by a Buyers Agent, an appraisal can further strengthen your negotiating position.

  Be prepared to pay a commission to an agent that brings a buyer to your home. If you are unwilling or unable to pay the buyers’ agent, make sure disclose this up front to avoid misunderstandings.

Get Your Home Ready

• Hire a professional cleaning company. Schedule a reputable cleaning company to spring clean your home, even if it’s fall. Your home should absolutely sparkle, and every trace of dirt, pets, carpet stains and cobwebs should be gone.
• Take fantastic photos of your clean and organized home. Make sure to use a high-resolution digital camera so you’ll have good photos for your marketing materials. Adjust the lighting and accessories in each space as you’re taking the photos to make sure you show your home in the best possible light.
• If you don’t have a high-quality DSLR and photo editing software, you should hire a professional real estate photographer.

Know Your Legal Responsibilities

• Pay a good lawyer to explain the contract process to you, to make sure you understand the laws and requirements for selling your home. Your lawyer should also review any contracts before you sign and explain the implications of what you’re agreeing to.

Enlist the Services of Professionals that You Trust

• Hire a good professional printer to design and print your marketing materials, to avoid that homemade look. (Good for cookies, not good for marketing!)
• Jot down the names and contact numbers for a reputable real estate agent in your area. If your buyers need to sell their current home in order to buy yours (and most do), make sure you don’t get tied up in a contract waiting for them to sell it on their own. Introduce them to an agent you are comfortable with so they can get their home sold as quickly as possible and with enough cash in their pocket to buy yours!

Practice Makes Perfect

• Hone your phone skills so you can separate the Lookers from the Buyers. Most folks touring homes are just Lookers – people that aren’t ready, or able to purchase your home. Practice asking questions that will help you determine which is which before you open your home up to someone that isn’t serious about buying it.
• Practice asking Callers about their financing pre-approval. Serious buyers should be pre-approved so you know they are able to purchase your home and so you don’t get tied up in a contract with someone who can’t obtain financing. Be wary of offering seller financing to someone that can’t qualify for traditional financing. If you’re uncertain about this, enlist the help of a professional you can trust, such as an attorney that can explain the risks of seller financing to you and who can draw up the paperwork you will need to protect you from the default of your buyers if they can’t or won’t make their monthly payments.

Tired of paying PMI?

PMI is an insurance product you will normally be required to have when you put less than 20% down when you buy a home. The less you are able to put down, the more your Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) will cost you each month.

Three Ways for Canceling PMI:

The longer you wait to take action, the more of your money the bank collects.

How Does Getting Rid of PMI Work?

For automatic termination of Private Mortgage Insurance: when your loan is scheduled to reach 78% LTV (loan to value) based on the original amortization schedule, the bank should automatically terminate your mortgage insurance. [Click for More Details on Automatic Termination of PMI]

For borrower-initiated termination of PMI: When your equity reaches 20% in your home (meaning, you only owe 80% of what the home is worth), you can ask the bank to cancel your mortgage insurance. For example, if your home is worth $100,000 and you owe $80,000 or less, you should not have to pay for any more mortgage insurance. [Click for More Details on Borrower-Initiated Termination of PMI]

Getting rid of PMI by refinancing:Interest rates (summer of 2011) are crazy low. If you’re still paying on a mortgage you took out years ago, and your credit is good, you should call a mortgage broker and see if you can re-finance to a lower rate. If you can take out a single new loan for less than 80% of the value of your home, you won’t have to pay PMI.

The Homeowners Protection Act

In the United States, getting rid of PMI is governed by the Homeowners Protection Act, which was signed into law in 1998 and went in effect in 1999.

When this law came into effect, canceling PMI became a little easier for consumers because it established criteria that the banks must follow for PMI removal on your home mortgage.

This act establishes rules for the borrower-initiated termination or automatic termination of PMI on a mortgage. These protections apply to certain home mortgages signed on or after July 29, 1999 for the purchase, initial construction, or refinance of a single-family home.

These protections do not apply to government-insured FHA or VA loans or to loans with lender-paid PMI.

Please read the full act for the specific details of the protections established by the act. Our summary here of the two basic private mortgage insurance cancellation scenarios is for your convenience only.

Borrower-Initiated Termination

If you are approaching to 80% LTV (Loan to Value) mark on your loan, meaning you are approaching 20% equity in your home, you can request termination of your PMI as long as you meet certain criteria:

Under this scenario (approaching, or at 80% LTV), your PMI will not be automatically canceled.

You will need to request PMI cancellation in writing to your mortgage company and you will most likely be required to provide evidence of the current market value of your home.

This market value should be determined by a real estate appraiser and includes an analysis (and substantiation) of the value of the property based on the values of similar properties in the area.

The basic steps to take to cancel your PMI include:

No appraiser can suggest that he or she will arrive at a pre-determined value, so the appraised value of your home may or may not be sufficient (yet) to request PMI removal.

If your appraisal comes in lower than the threshold value for PMI cancellation, you can still be confident that your money has been well spent – you now know the current market value of your home and have a better idea of the time frame within which you may reach the required 80% LTV and can plan accordingly.

Watch your local market area reports so you understand the housing trends in your neighborhood.

When the market is up, jump on it!

Automatic Termination of PMI:

If you are approaching 78% LTV (loan to Value) on your loan, your PMI should be automatically terminated.

The baseline criteria for automatic termination include (taken directly from the Homeowners protection Act):

“The Act requires a servicer to automatically terminate PMI for residential mortgage transactions on the date that:

1. the principal balance of the mortgage is first scheduled to reach 78 percent of the original value of the secured property (based solely on the initial amortization schedule in the case of a fixed rate loan or on the amortization schedule then in effect in the case of an adjustable rate loan, irrespective of the outstanding balance), if the borrower is current; or
2. if the borrower is not current on that date, on the first day of the first month following the date that the borrower becomes current (12 USC 4902(b)).

Additional PMI Payments

If PMI is terminated, the servicer may not require further payments or premiums of PMI more than 30 days after the termination date or the date following the termination date on which the borrower becomes current on the payments, whichever is sooner (12 USC 4902(e)(2)).

There is no provision in the automatic termination section of the Act, as there is with the borrower-requested PMI cancellation section that protects the lender against declines in property value or subordinate liens. The automatic termination provisions make no reference to good payment history (as prescribed in the borrower-requested provisions), but state only that the borrower must be current on mortgage payments (12 USC 4902(b)). “

How To Figure Out When PMI Should Automatically Cancel

You can directly calculate the date when your PMI should automatically cancel by dividing your current loan balance by the original mortgage amount.

When what you owe drops below the 78% threshold, your PMI should automatically terminate.

If it doesn’t, call the lender and ask why it hasn’t, and when it will.

Let’s look at a sampling of the properties in Austin for sale around $350,000.

Central Austin Real Estate Info:

Central Austin Homes For Sale Between $340,000 and $360,000

• The median price for the 345 homes for sale in Central Austin as of June 19th, 2011 is $549,000. The median size of these homes is 2,188 square feet.
• 292 homes have sold in Central Austin since January 1st, 2011 for a median price of $427,000 with a median size of 1,792 square feet.
• Only 11 homes are for sale between $340,000 and $360,000 in Central Austin as of June 19th, 2011.

East Austin Real Estate Info

East Austin Homes for Sale Between $340,000 and $360,000

• 457 homes are currently for sale in East Austin as of June 19th, 2011, with a median list price of $159,000 and a median size of 1,480 square feet.
• Of these 457, only 3 are listed for sale between $340,000 and $360,000.
• Since the beginning of the year, 431 homes have sold in East Austin, with a median selling price of $135,000.

North Central Austin Real Estate

North Central Austin Properties for Sale Between $340,000 and $360,000

• 372 properties have sold in North Central Austin since January 1st, 2011 (to June 19th 2011). The median sales price was $188,500 and the median size was 1,552 square feet.
• 6 properties are for sale between $340,000 and $360,000 in North Central Austin as of June 19th, 2011.

Northwest Austin Properties for Sale Between $340,000 and $360,000
South Austin Properties for Sale Between $340,000 and $360,000
Southeast Austin Properties for Sale Between $340,000 and $360,000
Southwest Austin Properties for Sale Between $340,000 and $360,000
West Austin and Westlake Properties for Sale Between $340,000 and $360,000

Steiner Ranch is an established neighborhood located in northwest Austin, off of 620.

This one isn't for sale in Steiner Ranch but this home is typical for the subdivision - nice attention to detail.

Most homes have masonry (brick or limestone) on all four sides, which adds to the character and appeal of the area. The neighborhood boasts a resort-like lifestyle and exceptional hill country views.

Points of interest include The University of Texas Golf Club, and Lake Travis.

Steiner Ranch Real Estate Activity For January 1st, 2011 to June 15th, 2011

Houses are selling well in Steiner Ranch in 2011:

Steiner Ranch Homes for Sale

Homes for Sale in Steiner Ranch for under $300,000
Homes for Sale in Steiner Ranch from $300,001 to $400,000
Homes for Sale in Steiner Ranch from $400,001 to $700,000
Luxury Homes for Sale in Steiner Ranch for over $700,001

Typical Homes in Steiner Ranch in Austin Texas

(note: these homes are NOT for sale – they are examples of homes in this area of Austin.)

[View with PicLens]

Steiner Ranch Schools:

Steiner Ranch Elementary
4001 Quinlan Park Rd
Austin, TX 78732
512-570-5700

Laura Welch Bush Elementary
12600 Country Trails
Austin, TX 78732
512-570-6100

Canyon Ridge Middle School
12601 Country Trails
Austin, TX 78732
512-570-3500

Cedar Park High School
2150 Cypress Creek
Cedar Park, TX 78613
512-570-1200

River Ridge Elementary
12900 Tierra Grande Trail
Austin, TX 78732
512-570-7300

Vandegrift High School
9700 McNeil Drive
Austin, TX 78750
512-570-2300

The typical commute to downtown Austin is approximately 45 minutes.

Google Map of Steiner Rainch Austin Texas

View Larger Map

(All data from the Austin Board of Realtors.)

We’ve been browsing the local small shops this week, especially those on South Congress.

SoCo, for those not from Austin, is the ultra-hip, ultra-funky, ultra-happening spot south of downtown.

There is stuff in them thar stores you won’t see any where else – ranging from very urban, locally-made wares, to throw-back stuff cleared out of grandma’s attic that is now all hip again.

Which reminded me – sometimes one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Sometimes, one person’s individual thing can become part of a really cool collection when it finds other things of it’s kind.

Where to Find The Most Interesting Junk in Austin Texas

uncommon OBJECTS is one of those stores you are inexorably drawn to, perhaps by the fascinating stuff in the windows, or the fact that people are swarming in and out, all day every day. One might call it an antique mall in another town, but on SoCo, it is anything but.

In a store packed to the gills with old stuff, the art and history, and nostalgia run rampant. Displays are meticulously arranged, showcasing antiques and old glassware, and collections of vintage cameras and all sorts of other stuff.

And that is coming from someone who HATES CLUTTER.

Transcendent Junk

On the website for uncommon OBJECTS they refer to the shop as a “one-of-a-kind emporium of transcendent junk”.

That description is spot-on.

No Photographing the Good Stuff

I had to get special permission to take photographs, since they generally do not allow photography in the shop.

Probably because they’ve been mentioned in the NY Times, Elle Decor, Country Home, Harper’s Bazaar, and of course, Texas Monthly.

I can see why photography is forbidden – the aisles are narrow, stuff is stacked up everywhere, and the place is crowded, really crowded. Crowded with people just as fascinated with it as we were.

People just standing there mouths agape, or calling out to their friend in the next booth over to come check something out. People who thought they’d just poke their head in for a quick look and found themselves spending an hour just browsing.

Seriously, this is some crazy cool stuff.

Go Visit, Decorate Your Space

If you live anywhere near Austin, you need to go visit. The shop is open daily from 11 to 7, and Friday and Saturday from 11 to 8.

Dig Out Your Own Treasures, Or Grandma’s

Do you have stuff that should find a new home?

If you’re helping someone get their home ready to sell, you might be tasked with helping clean out the attic, the garage, the travel trailer parked behind the house covered with cobwebs.

When you find yourself in that position, keep places like uncommon OBJECTS in Austin Texas in mind. You might find a new home, or a buyer for some of the better stuff.

What To Look For When Clearing Out The Attic

Keep an eye open for stuff that might actually be pretty cool, if it were in a different setting.
Things like:

The less mass-produced, the better.

And, of course, the better the condition, the better your chances of sending it to a new home other than Goodwill. That being said, sometimes even ratty tatty stuff can be valuable, if it finishes off a set, or was not as commonly available as other stuff from an era.

About the photography:
These photos were taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and a 24-70mmL lens. The shop is fairly dark, so all of the photos were taken a really high ISO, like 5000 and the lowest shutter speed I could do while hand-holding (1/50 or 1/60). It wasn’t possible to set up a tripod.

Where to Find South Congress (SoCo)

View Larger Map

Yes.

A condo loan requires both the buyer and the condo association to qualify.

Even a highly qualified buyer may not be able to purchase a condo, if the condo development is not as financially stable as a lender requires.

Some Austin Condos Won’t Qualify

Austin has a lot of condos, including older developments and newer ones dotting the downtown skyline.

In August of 2010, the Austin Business Journal reported on the failure of the Pecan Place Condominiums near 183 and Texas 45 in Northwest Austin. Half of the 29 townhouse condos had sold but the remaining ones were in various states of completion. Other developments have also made the news, in different stages of failure or distress.

In situations like those, even if a borrower had really really wanted to buy one of the condos, condo financing would have been impossible to obtain – the financial health of the developments was not ok.

Other condo developments, of course, are doing just fine.

Austin Condo Sales for 2011 – through June 13th, 2011

Between January 1st, 2011 and June 13th, 2011:

Make sure you know which condo developments are doing well when you go shopping for a condo so your condo mortgage will be less likely to stall the deal. FHA loans for condos are also different from regular home loans, or non-FHA condo mortgages.

Work with an Experienced Lender for Your Condo Mortgage

Because a condominium loan is more complicated, make sure that your mortgage broker or bank loan officer is experienced in the ins and outs of condo financing.

Qualify mortgage professional by asking questions like these (and take notes!):

Austin Condos for Sale

Condos for sale in Austin from $0 to $100,000
Condos for sale in Austin from $100,001 to $150,000
Condos for sale in Austin from $150,001 to $200,000
Condos for sale in Austin from $200,001 to $275,000
Condos for sale in Austin from $275,001 to $350,000
Condos for sale in Austin from $350,001 to $500,000
Condos for sale in Austin from $500,001 to $800,000
Condos for sale in Austin over $800,001
Foreclosed Austin Condos

Want To Search for Other Properties in the Greater Austin Area?

Search ALL Properties listed with the Austin Board of Realtors

Looking for a new neighborhood in Austin Texas?

Check out the Austin Crime Viewer (Austin Crime Map), maintained by the APD.

You can plug in an address and find out what has been happening in and around the neighborhood.

Buying a Home in Austin Texas

When you decide to buy a home in Austin, Texas (or anywhere, really), you need to do your Austin neighborhood research.

For liability reasons, your real estate agent shouldn’t be your main source of information about the safety or suitability of a neighborhood, you’ll have to do a lot of research yourself.

Read The Bad Neighborhood: Have You Seen This Guy?

Search for homes in River Place, Austin Texas

Limestone, mixed stone, custom iron work doors and gates, sweeping Hill Country Views.

All of these and are more are par for the course for homes in River Place, off 2222 near 620 at the western edge of Austin, Texas.

River Place Home Sales for 2011

As of June 12th, 2011 for River Place in Austin Texas:

Of the 40 homes that have sold:

Homes in River Place are Selling Quickly in 2011

With 31 active listings, we have less than 4 months of inventory in River Place.

More About River Place Living

The homes in River Place are part of the Leander Independent School District.

The Property Tax rates run about 2.5% for this area – some sections are a little lower and some are a little higher.

3/4 of the homes in the area were built between 1991 and 2000. Many new homes are still under construction, including several in the exclusive area along the Lake Austin on Big View Drive.

Homes in this area have exceptional attention to detail, with mixed-stone exteriors and high-end front doors. Many also have beautiful iron balconies and cedar garage doors.

The River Place Country Club has golf and tennis and fitness memberships for families and corporations.

Images of the River Place Subdivision

(note: these homes are NOT for sale. They are pictured here to represent the types of homes that are located in this area.)

[View with PicLens]

Google Map Location for River Place

View Larger Map

2011 is almost half over, but you can still be a home owner by the end of the year.

You don't need enough money to buy a castle, just enough to buy the home you actually want to live in.

It’s All About the Money

To buy a home, you have to look at the money, first, as un-fun as that may be.

When you know your numbers, you know what your options are.
Here are the big numbers you need to know:

The More You Know, The Better You Can Plan

Now, you should call a lender.

Make an appointment to chat with a local lender on the phone. You will have good information at your fingertips from your homework above, and that will make the conversation easier.

The lender will run a credit report, take your financial profile, and will let you know how much you can afford.

If you can’t currently qualify, the lender can tell you the basics of where you fall short. You will then know if you need to save more, fix some credit problems, pay down some debt, etc.

If you don’t know any local mortgage brokers or lenders, send me an email at Alison@FindRealAustin.com and I’ll pop you over a few contacts to call to get you started. You don’t have any obligation to use any particular lender – this is just to get you in the game so you’re prepared when you are ready to buy a home.

When You Know Your Numbers, You Can Go Shopping

Once you have a good idea of your numbers, you will be much more successful when you go shopping for a home.

You might be surprised that with interest rates so low, homes are much more affordable than they used to be, even though many real estate areas of Austin are pretty hot this summer.

You can find all of the homes for sale in the Greater Austin Area using our home search tool.

How can the appraiser see your home through a mess like this?

Most of us know that when you put your house on the market, it needs to look and be as spiffy as possible. For this reason, many of the resale homes we appraise have been de-cluttered and carefully organized to present the best possible image to potential buyers.

Stuff Gets in the Way

De-cluttering and deep-cleaning your home can also be beneficial to the appraisal process.

A home packed to the gills with stuff, albeit fabulous stuff, is hard to get a good look at. It can be more time-consuming to measure if the rooms on the second story (which is measured from the inside, whereas the first floor is measured from the outside) only have a single-file maze cut into the boxes and toys flowing from room to room.

Oh, yes, we’ve seen that, and not just in our own home after the holidays or at the end of summer vacation!

The appraiser shouldn’t penalize you for the inconvenience, but the easier it is for the condition of your home to be evaluated, the more accurate the resulting appraisal will be.

Condition Counts

The condition of a property is evaluated during the appraisal inspection.

When your home is clean, organized and de-cluttered, you are presenting your home in the best possible condition short of making major improvements to the surfaces (flooring, counters, paint) or the structure of the home.

You may find that when you decide to get your home ready to sell, you may want to do a little extra: maybe paint over the dirtiest walls, replace the worn-out vinyl that you didn’t notice until you cleared out the laundry room, and/or steam clean the carpet.

Each of these acts improve the condition of your home, and might have an impact on the appraised value. I say might because it depends on the before-and-after impact of what you decide to super-clean, upgrade and/or replace.

Keeping up with the Neighbors

You may want to be careful that any modifications you make are in keeping with current trends for your area.

For example, you might not want to put in economy vinyl if travertine tile in the norm for your neighborhood, and don’t waste your hard-earned dollars on exotic granite if laminate counters are the most common local kitchen counter surfaces.

You may be wondering why this matters.

This matters because if you spend $5000 on upgrades that over-improve your property compared to other homes in your area, you are much less likely to see a favorable return on your investment.

On the other hand, if the most otherwise-comparable homes that have recently sold all have granite and yours doesn’t, your home’s appraisal value may be adjusted accordingly – all depending on the overall comparison of your home to the other recent sales.

Get Good Advice

Your best bet is to make sure you have a knowledgeable Listing Agent to help you weigh the pros and cons of your to-do list for getting your home ready to sell.

Your Realtor should have a good idea of what the homes typical for the area have with regards to upgrades and improvements, and can share information from recent comparable sales (and homes currently for sale), including interior photos that can help you scope out the competition.

Article originally published by Alison Shuman on AppraisalIQ.

$1025 per month can cover the mortgage, taxes and insurance on a $150,000 home in or around Austin, Texas.

That assumes you have good credit and can put down 20%.

The Estimated Numbers for Buying a $150,000 home for $1025 Per Month

If you have less than 20% to put down, or your credit isn’t the best, there are still ways to get you into a home.

(4.75% is a typical mortgage rate as of June 9th, 2011. This will change – up or down – over time.)

Where Can You Find a Home for $150,000 or Less in Austin, Texas?

Here is a sampling of the homes you can find in Austin for $150,000 and under. To search for more like these, you can use the home search feature of FindRealAustin.

Great Articles for Getting Started for Buying Real Estate in 2011

You should read these articles:

Escrow must close before you can call a place like this home.

Hopefully you answered, “no”.

An Escrow Account Keeps Everything Straight Until The End

When you buy a home in Texas, an escrow account is opened up for the duration of the contract, usually with a Title Company.

The Title Company, a neutral third party that doesn’t represent either the buyer or the seller in the transaction.

The escrow account is where the money for the transaction is held until everyone has done everything they are supposed to do for the purchase of the home to close (which is how we refer to the closing of the escrow account).

This avoids all sorts of problems with people writing checks for fees and title policies, and property taxes, and so on that are then sent all over the place for the transaction. Instead, it all goes into the escrow account to be held by the Title Company until it is time to pay out the funds to all of the right places.

An Example of How Escrow Works

For example, when you write an offer to purchase a home, you also write a check for the earnest money deposit.

This is a deposit you make that shows your interest in the home (how “earnest” you are about buying it), that encourages the seller to enter into a contract with you. This money goes into the escrow account, not directly to the sellers.

The sellers don’t get your money until you get their house.

Funding the Escrow Account

In the last few days before a home purchases closes, a lot of money goes into the escrow account:

The Title Company then figures out who gets what out of the money in the account.

Closing Escrow

When all parties to the transaction have done what they are supposed to do, and all of the paperwork has been done, escrow can close. The Title Company, if they are in charge of the escrow account, handles the closing and makes sure all of the paperwork is in order and everything has been signed.

Escrow, Simplified

Basically, everyone puts what they owe in, and get what they are owed out, with the Title Company keeping track and taking the money in and paying the money out.

No this home isn't for sale but every article has to have a nice photo of a house, or part of a house.

Are you prepared to be sucked into a complicated transaction?

What to Know Before You Buy from Divorcing Owners

Houses go on the market all of the time because the owners are divorcing.

Some sell easily and quickly, some get mired in the fight between the husband and the wife.

Most, of course, are somewhere in between.

Sometimes these houses are priced low because they really need to get it sold. Sometimes they are priced high because they’re trying to pay off their debts, or one spouse doesn’t really want to sell and is holding on to the home by over-pricing it.

In the best-case scenario, the home will have already been appraised by a real estate appraiser as part of their divorce settlement planning, so the divorcing sellers already have a really good idea of the actual market value of the home.

Before you enter in to a contract to buy a house from divorcing owners, get the answers to these questions:

Make Sure You Have a Tenacious Buyers Agent

The agent you choose to help you buy a home from divorcing owners is a critical player in the success or failure of your transaction.

Although no one can really know what is really going on between the sellers, a good Buyers Agent can extract quite a bit of information just by listening carefully to the listing agent, and asking a lot of questions.

Those questions, and the answers received, will tell you a lot about whether or not you should try to buy the home, or move on to one with fewer complications.