Just Thinking About The Happiest People And ......

I was thinking about starting the New Year by sharing some weighty information on Austin, Texas and where the economic indicators are pointing concerning the real estate market in Central Texas. 
After doing my home work and reading numerous reports, noting the sources and appropriate web addresses bookmarked, I came across a wonderful and short  video clip in my Early To Rise newsletter that caught my attention.  Like many others, I have read the words before and thought that's cool and something I should remember. 
For some reason this morning the video made me pause and think -- much like Mass this morning where I learned more about the 3 Magi's who were seeking to honor the Christ child. Really interesting by the way. 
I put my blog concerning economic condition, real estate and the mortgage industry aside(for today) and decided to share the video clip in hopes that many others will pause and reflect on the message " the happiest people in the world don't have the best of everything... they just make the best of everything".
Watch  here and Happy New Year! I love my coffee. 

Austin - Bulletproof? See Why

Vegas still flattened by downturn, but Austin may be bulletproof

Austin, Texas -- steady as she goes

By Martin Wolk, msnbc.com's business editor

Austin, Texas, has the nation's best-performing economy over the past two
years, while Las Vegas has the worst, according to a new study of 150 of the
world's biggest metropolitan areas.

The study of key cities in 53 countries found that many of the areas that
flew the highest in the long expansion of 1993 to 2007 fell the hardest in
the so-called Great Recession of 2008-09.

Dublin, Ireland; Madrid, Spain; the three Baltic capitals of Riga (Latvia)
Tallinn (Estonia) and Vilnius, (Lithuania); along with Las Vegas and
Riverside, Calif., moved from the top 30 spots before the recession to the
bottom 30 spots during the recession, according to Global Metro Monitor from
the Brookings Institution and London School of Economics.

Vegas was the nation's No. 1 economic performer in the 17 years before the
recession, trailed by Phoenix and Austin. Austin appears to hold the
distinction of being the American city least affected by the downturn,
ranking as No. 3 in economic performance before the recession, No. 3 during
the recession and No. 1 since.

The recovery of the past two years, extremely modest in the United States
and Europe, has been felt more strongly in other parts of the world.

Of the top 30 ranked metros in the most recent period, 29 were located
outside the United States and Europe, according to the report. At the top of
the heap is Istanbul, Turkey, a city that straddles Europe and Asia. China
and India alone accounted for 10 of the top 30 cities.

Among U.S. cities, Virginia Beach, Va., Washington, D.C., and Dallas appear
to be well on the road to recovery along with Austin. Pittsburgh,
Indianapolis, and Atlanta join Las Vegas at the bottom of the heap.

The report underscores the sluggish nature of the global recovery: About
half the 150 cities studied, especially in the United States and Europe,
continue to lose ground in either income or employment.

Click
here for a summary of the findings by region or you
can get the full, 52-page
report.

(Full Article Link Below)
http://lifeinc.todayshow.com/_news/2010/11/30/5554679-vegas-still-flattened-
by-downturn-but-austin-may-be-bulletproof

Keeping you informed, wanting to help you with your real estate needs and
wishing you all the best, Anne ANNE JOHNSON-CHEVERERE

Realtor(r)

512-917-5260 Cell 512-328-5151 Office 512-328-0404 Fax

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HookemHomes.com

RE/MAX Austin Skyline 4611 Bee Caves Rd., Suite 200 Austin, Texas 78746 annejohnson@austin.rr.com anne@HookemHomes.com SEARCH ALL LISTINGS REMAX.COM

The finest compliment I can ever receive is your referral. Please remember
me when your friends, family, and co-workers are thinking about buying or
selling residential and investment real estate.

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October 2010 MLS Data Texas Cities

October 2010 MLS data for many Texas cities (current as of Nov. 29, 2010)
Sales

Change from
Last Year

Median
Price

Change from
Last Year

Months'
Inventory

Amarillo

216

down 19%

$125,500

up 1%

6.8

Austin

1,331

down 32%

$195,000

up 9%

6.5

Corpus Christi

238

down 25%

$134,200

down 1%

10.5

Dallas

2,928

down 29%

$156,000

up 2%

7.1

El Paso

416

down 23%

$134,400

up 3%

7

Fort Worth

541

down 36%

$115,400

up 2%

7.3

Harlingen

59

down 24%

$81,700

down 8%

27.4

Houston

4,072

down 25%

$148,900

up 1%

7.9

Lubbock

185

down 26%

$114,100

down 1%

7.4

Odessa

71

down 19%

$113,000

down 13%

4.3

San Angelo

90

down 18%

$109,200

down 8%

6.4

San Antonio

1,311

down 25%

$148,700

up 7%

8.1

Temple-Belton

105

down 29%

$119,200

no change

7.8

Tyler

202

down 26%

$136,000

no change

13.5

Wichita Falls

113

down 4%

$100,700

up 1%

8.1

Texas

14,404

down 26%

$145,100

up 2%

7.8

Keeping you informed and wishing you all the best, Anne

ANNE JOHNSON-CHEVERERE

Realtor(r)

512-917-5260 Cell 512-328-5151 Office 512-328-0404 Fax

Follow me on

LinkedIn Twitter

Facebook
HookemHomes.com

RE/MAX Austin Skyline 4611 Bee Caves Rd., Suite 200 Austin, Texas 78746 annejohnson@austin.rr.com anne@HookemHomes.com SEARCH ALL LISTINGS REMAX.COM

The finest compliment I can ever receive is your referral. Please remember
me when your friends, family, and co-workers are thinking about buying or
selling residential and investment real estate.

Posted via email from annejohnson's posterous

Vote For Kelly Anne

The web site crashed – the instructions are now to submit an email which Kelly Anne’s name – and that’s your vote.  Here is the email address.

info@elluminize.com

Thanks to all,

Anne

 

ANNE JOHNSON-CHEVERERE

Realtor®

512-917-5260 Cell

512-328-5151 Office

512-328-0404 Fax

 

Follow me on

LinkedIn 

Twitter

Facebook

HookemHomes.com

 

RE/MAX Austin Skyline

4611 Bee Caves Rd., Suite 200

Austin, Texas 78746

 

annejohnson@austin.rr.com 

anne@HookemHomes.com

 

SEARCH ALL LISTINGS

REMAX.COM

The finest compliment I can ever receive is your referral. Please remember me when your friends, family, and co-workers are thinking about buying or selling residential and investment real estate.

Posted via email from annejohnson's posterous

Vote for my kiddo, Kelly Anne

Kiddo, Kelly Anne Johnson decided to compete in a spokes model contest for
Elluminize

Please vote for her - daily. http://elluminize.com/vote/wp-content/plugins/wp-photocontest/view.php?post_
id=37
&order=chrono&p=2

Thank you, Anne

ANNE JOHNSON-CHEVERERE

Realtor(r)

512-917-5260 Cell 512-328-5151 Office 512-328-0404 Fax

Follow me on

LinkedIn Twitter

Facebook
HookemHomes.com

RE/MAX Austin Skyline 4611 Bee Caves Rd., Suite 200 Austin, Texas 78746 annejohnson@austin.rr.com anne@HookemHomes.com SEARCH ALL LISTINGS REMAX.COM

The finest compliment I can ever receive is your referral. Please remember
me when your friends, family, and co-workers are thinking about buying or
selling residential and investment real estate.

Posted via email from annejohnson's posterous

The Downtown Austin Condo Market - Steady

Shonda Novak of the Austin American-Statesman recently provided an in-depth look at the downtown condo market.   Here are some highlights and excerpts from her article.

Despite coming to market during the worst national recession in decades, the newest projects have managed to hold their own.

“The market in the past 12 months is far stronger than what we experienced in the previous year,” said David Ward, executive vice president for Atlanta-based Post Properties Inc., which developed the Four Seasons Residences with Ardent Residential. “The fear that was prevalent during the depth of the downturn has been replaced by confidence.”

At the Four Seasons, 77 of the 148 units are sold or under contract, the developers said. The count at the other projects: 70 of the 178 units at the Austonian; 158 of 247 at Spring; and 84 of the 159 at the W, where the first buyers will be able to move in within a few months.

At the Four Seasons, where prices range from $400,000 to $4 million, Ward said pricing “has been very stable.” The Austonian has even raised prices on some units.

In general, sales activity “has been surprisingly good, given the very high price point of this latest wave of condominium construction,” said Charles Heimsath, a local real estate consultant for many downtown developers. Heimsath noted that the average asking price among the four projects is just over $1 million.

Aside from a recovering economy, the developers of the new projects have two other things in their favor.

One is that most of the projects targeted very affluent buyers. Heimsath said a fairly high percentage of buyers in the four new projects paid cash for their units, which are second or third homes for some.

Another is the absence of new competition. As lenders turned off the spigot for new construction during the downturn, several proposed projects have been postponed or shelved. 

When construction started on Spring that year, Zuniga said, “we thought we would be 70 percent sold at completion.” But she said those expectations were adjusted when the recession hit in 2008, and the project ended up with about 35 to 40 percent of its units spoken for.

“We are currently selling at a much faster pace than we thought we would be in 2008,” Zuniga said. “We just hit the 60 percent sold mark, and the pace of sales continues to increase. \u2026 We are making five to 10 new sales every month, and we expect to see this number increase as the economy continues to improve and consumer fear continues to lessen.”

To see the complete article on the Austin American-Statesman website, click here.

Sales Tax on Homes?

This from an expert CPA! Robert Ellis

That is not exactly correct, but it is closer to the truth than comfort allows.

Since Obama’s health care bill passed, it has been circulating around the web that a 3.8% sales tax on home sales was included in the legislation.  But I could never find anything in the literature, so I basically discounted it.

However, it turns out where there is smoke there is fire.  There is such a tax.  Right now the tax is supposedly limited to high income taxpayers.  But when was the last time Congress wasted a great tax on a limited part of the population?  Never?  (As an example, even retired people must pay tax on their social security.)

Besides, even if you aren’t “high income” according to the government definition, you can still be caught up in this tax.  All you have to do to be subject to this tax is sell your house for $250,000.  You pay 6% commission then you pay 3.8% tax.  10% total is $25,000.  In today’s market, that could spell the difference between being right side up and upside down.

Plus, the tax is broader than just on home sales, it includes all investments you may have.

To be fair, there is some dispute over the reach of this legislation, but I personally no longer trust the MSM to report the truth.  A government in search of money can do what they want, unfortunately.

Read it on Snopes.  http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/realestate.asp