Owner: The Burg URL:http://www.fbgliving.com/blog Join Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:16:27 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: The Burg features Fredericksburg Texas real estate news, analysis & insight. Site statistics:Click here
Finding Your Real Estate 'Shiny Penny' 2008-03-07 14:52:00
I like shiny pennies! I used to embarrass
my daughters because I would always stop and pick them up when I went for a
walk and find them on the sidewalk or street.
I said “used to” because although I still stop and pick up the pennies,
my daughters have grown up and gotten married.
However, I still have my personal quota to find at least one shiny penny every day.
There are shiny pennies in real
estate, too. First, let’s divide the
real estate into categories such as Homes in Fredericksburg under $200,000, Homes in Fredericksburg
from $200,000 to $300,000, small acreage, large acreage, commercial deals,
etc. You get the picture.
Each category has its shiny pennies. Next, run the
statistics to find what homes are sell Read more:Estate
, Penny
, Real Estate
, Shiny
Experience 2008 in Las Vegas 2008-03-03 14:08:00
Greg, my wife Liz, and I just
got back from the GMAC Real Estate Convention in Vegas
.htm">Las Vegas
. I found out what
the saying means –What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. They are talking about
your money. Obviously I did not do too well
at the slot machines. We did have a
great time and learned a lot at the convention.
I was amazed at how large the
GMAC Real Estate company is. We have offices all across the nation and in
Canada. We are very fortunate to have a company that is willing to invest time
and money to help us improve as Realtors.
We listened to many great
speakers and had break out sessions that motivated us and gave us valuable
information on how to best serve our clients and customers.
If you are looking to buy or
sell property in Fredericksburg or if you
2008 shaping up to be great year for buyers in Fredericksburg 2008-02-27 23:03:00
One thing about the
Fredericksburg real estate market, it is constantly changing! I checked our MLS (multiple listing service)
for Gillespie County and found the following points of interest:
We have some 800 + Active Listings, that is,
inventory for sale not encumbered with a contract. This spans all types of real estate, not
just residential.
We have some 260+/- Active Residential Listings
with prices ranging from $33,500 to $3,200,000. The Average List Price is $474,846.
We are towards the end of our slowest part of
the annual selling cycle. Since
January 1, there have been some 146 +/- new listings. Five (5) have gone Under Contract with
or without contingencies.
While this period is generally regarded as the slower time of the year
How to keep Fredericksburg from turning into a San Diego: Fire Prevention Tips 2008-02-27 12:13:00
I cannot remember a time in my
life when I have seen the grass this tall this early in the year. Blessed with abundant spring and summer
rains, many places I see or show as part of my real estate business are covered
in grass, and much of it “belt high!” Now that
temperatures have dipped, most of the grass has gone dormant. If the dry weather continues, we are in for a
real fire hazard this winter. With the
fires near San Diego
(southern California) as vivid example, perhaps we could
do some things locally that would prevent fires or lessen the chances of any
fire spreading out of control. I visited
with Mr. Steve Olfers, Gillespie County Fire Marshall, and Hunter Monahan, Texas
Ranch Logistics, for some great fire prevention tips:
Veh Read more:San Diego
, turning
Check out these six Fredericksburg subdivisions 2008-02-27 01:08:00
Below is a list of 6 subdivisions that I have looked up some general information on, including available homes price range and square footage range, if there are any lots available in the subdivision and if there are any noteworthy deed restrictions.
Crabapple Grove
(off Lower Crabapple Road)
36 residential home sites; 37
garden home sites
Currently available:
Price range: $269,000-$322,000
Square footage: 1700-2071
No lots available
Cross Mountain West
(off North Cherry Street)
Currently available:
Price range: $279,000-$325,000
Square footage: 1720-2381
Deed restrictions state a
minimum of 1500 square feet for homes
Lots available:
$34,500
Heritage Hill Country
(off Highway 290 East)
Retirement community; at
least one resident mu Read more:Check
How we play the online real estate game 2008-02-27 01:00:00
Consumers are using the internet more and more to find real
estate to buy. A recent National Association of Realtors statistic said that
over 74% of home buyers start their search online
. We at GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg
have taken note of this. Starting last summer, with my hiring, we underwent a
huge overhaul in the company’s online presence, an overhaul that has continued
with the addition of The Burg, and will continue well into the near future.
We designed and built a completely new website
(fbgliving.com), we added a custom IDX solution (IDX stands for Internet Data
Exchange and it’s what the Multiple Listing Service uses to allow anyone
looking at a Fredericksburg real estate company’s website to see the listings
available on the MLS), and we began an
New Living History Program at the National Museum of the Pacific War premiers this weekend 2008-03-12 16:35:00
The living history department at the NationalMuseum
of the
Pacific
War in Fredericksburg will premiere the new reenactment program on
March 15 and 16.
This popular program presents live reenactments of WW-II
battles in the Pacific. Actors dressed in authentic period costume also
demonstrate weapons that were in use during WW-II and discuss tactics and
strategy that won the war. The highlight of each program is the demonstration
of the Mark-2 flamethrower during the combined arms assault of a Japanese
island.
This program truly lives up to the LivingHistory
Department’s
goal to “Inspire our youth by honoring our heroes.” Tickets are $5 for adults,
$3 for students, WW-II Veterans and those 6 and under get in free. There are
three reenactments each day at 10:30 a Read more:Program
Let me tell you who I voted for! 2008-03-12 09:30:00
I like election time. It seems to
pick up folks a little, help them pay a little more attention to what is
happening in the political world.
Some people complain about those who make our rules and laws, but never give
it much thought when we choose those who make the rules.
I thought I knew a few things about government. After all, I took history and civics in high
school. I even attended Boys State
in Austin, Texas.
I took a political science course in college. I have served on advisory committees and
civic boards. But the presidential election
process can still be confusing.
I recently attended a state TAR (Texas Association of Realtors) Convention
where leaders recommended that I attend a precinct caucus which is held imm
Housing Bubble, What's the Trouble? 2008-03-11 09:30:00
I found this YouTube video on the Wall Street Journal online's real estate blog Developments. According to them, it was written by a former home appraiser in California.
Read more:Bubble
, Housing
, Housing Bubble
, Trouble
Is it the best or worst of times for Fredericksburg real estate? 2008-03-14 10:11:00
When I look at the real estate
market today, I am somewhat reminded of Charles Dickens’ opening line in his book, A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best
of times, it was the worst of times.”
This, however, needs to be
tempered somewhat, it isn’t the ‘best’ or ‘worst’ of times, but
it’s not too bad here in Fredericksburg, especially if you are a buyer,
a patient buyer, and to some extent if you are a patient seller you should also
be ok.
What is happening in today’s real
estate market is similar to the real estate meltdown of the 1980s when home and
land prices fell, and foreclosures dominated the landscape.
I was in real estate in Houston at the time and I
saw home and land prices, driven by hyp
The City's proposed Formula Business Ordinance would greatly affect property owners. Are you for it? 2008-03-15 09:30:00
I like our free enterprise system and I
hope you do, too! However,
there is a proposed
ordinance lurking out there and if adopted, it would handcuff
business and property
owners in a new proposed DOWNTOWN SHOPPING DISTRICT.
This district would run along Main Street from
approximately Elk to Acorn and San Antonio to Austin Streets (See map
below).
Imagine just for a moment that you could
not sell your property to a new formula store or “chain store” coming to town
and reap the maximum market value. It
would be okay, however, to sell to an individual or “mom and pop” store, but
chances are that it would be for less money.
The same circumstances might occur in a
lease situation. The fact that it would
be more profi Read more:Business
, Formula
Tell me what you think of our first video tour 2008-03-15 09:15:00
We made our first video
tour of a property yesterday with 712 West Austin Street. (Click here to view the property listing.) We basically used Greg's digital camera in video mode and then panned in different areas of the property (both inside and outside of the house) to provide a "tour" of the house and its lot. View the video below:
What do you think
of the video tour? We are always looking for new ways to market our properties and I'd really appreciate your input. Email me what you think about the video.
A look at 3 to 5 acre properties in Gillespie County 2008-03-18 10:32:00
From March 1, 2007 to March 12, 2008, there have been 14
sales of acreage ranging from three to five acres in Gillespie County
.
The average price per acre was
approximately $25,000. The prices have ranged from $8,250 per acre to
$37,900.
The higher prices occurred in
restricted subdivisions as expected.
Other factors having an effect on acreage prices include distance from
Fredericksburg, location in Gillespie County, views, surface water, appearance
of surrounding properties, and of course, the appearance of the subject
property itself. The presence of an
existing well also increases the value of the property.
There are currently seven listings of three to five acre
properties not in subdivisions and 38 listings in rural subdivisions in Gillespie
Chase Mortgage Market Pulse: The Fed unveils program aimed to alleviate strains on credit markets 2008-03-18 10:00:00
By Tony Stevenson
During the last two weeks, lenders have been selling parts
of their ARM portfolios and have been challenged by investors who are demanding
much higher rates of return for these assets than was anticipated previously.
This is causing spreads on ARM mortgage-backed securities to
widen in order to meet investor demands. The overall response of the mortgage
industry has been to increase the interest rates charged to borrowers on ARMs
to adequately reflect current investor expectations. Based on the latest pricing
surveys, all major lenders have responded in the same fashion and increased the
interest rates charged on their ARM products to reflect investor risk
requirements.
On Tuesday, March 11, the Federal Reserve unveiled a $200
billion liquidity program aimed at all Read more:credit
, Market
, Mortgage
, Pulse
Reasons to choose GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg 2008-03-26 09:30:00
I like
Fredericksburg! I like the people, the
visitors, the quality of life, the sense of pride in the community, and our
historical legacy. I was born and raised
here and have lived here most of my life.
I feel like my
office is an integral part of the community.
All of my agents are from here or the surrounding Hill Country, and we
know the area pretty well. Given that
background, here are some reasons why I believe you should come to GMAC Real
Estate
Fredericksburg for your real estate needs.
We know the local real estate market
You may hear that
from a lot of Realtors who have a computer and pay their MLS dues. But our home-grown agents do not just tell
you what you want to hear, they tell you the facts.
Some sellers just
want their ego s Read more:choose
, Real Estate
, Reasons
The number of homes for sale in Fredericksburg is on the rise, making it a great time for buyers! 2008-03-25 09:30:00
As I mentioned previously, I like shiny
pennies! There are shiny pennies in Fredericksburg
residential properties, too. I think it
is a good time to buy, and some of these homes are very reasonably priced. I spent more time gleaning the market for those
shiny pennies again and I want to summarize what I found in our local market.
155
Homes for sale in the
city limits of Fredericksburg (on 3/21)
$343,917
Average LIST price of all the
homes available in Fredericksburg
63
New listings since the beginning of 2008
27
Residential properties SOLD
since beginning of 2008
$121.26/SF
Avg price/SF of those SOLD year-to-date
41
Active listings Read more:making
Chase Mortgage Market Pulse: Despite market volatility, Chase's mortgage applications up 11% 2008-03-24 12:17:00
Contributed by Tony Stevenson
During the last few weeks, the Market Pulse
has provided you
with insight into what moves mortgage markets, and more specifically, how
investor demand influences the market place. This week the market has continued
to be volatile.
Mortgage originators sold parts of their ARM portfolios and
were met with investors demanding higher rates of return. Bear Stearns borrowed
money through JPMorgan Chase and from the Federal Reserve Board because their
exposure to mortgage risk caused a crisis in confidence that drained their
finances.
To restore confidence
Happy Easter from Fredericksburg 2008-03-24 12:01:00 HappyEaster
everyone. As I write this post I am thinking
about how lucky I am to live in a country where we can worship in a free
society. Many countries control this freedom and I am thankful to all the men
and women in our armed services that continue to fight to keep us free. May God
Bless you and keep you safe.
My family was in this weekend and my wife and I spent some
quality time together spoiling my grandchild Andrew. He will be 2 years old
soon and is quite a handful. I can’t wait until he is old enough to take on
fishing trips in the Hill Country.
As many of you know I am an avid fisherman and I am always
looking forward to my next fishing trip. That is another thing about living in
Fredericksburg, there is always a place to fish close by. I do a lot of fishing
in loc Read more:Happy Easter
Is your Fredericksburg vacation home eligible for a 1031 Exchange? 2008-03-28 15:46:00
By George Barlow
It’s always been clear that you could convert personal use
property to investment use. Now the IRS has spoken on how much personal
use will disqualify your vacation home investment from being a 1031 eligible
investment property.
Rev.
Proc. 2008-16, published on Feb 15, 2008 states that a vacation home will
qualify for swap treatment under Section 1031 if:
The taxpayer has owned it for at least 24 months before the
exchange,
The taxpayer has rented it for two periods of 14 days or more,
at fair market value. Each rental period much have occurred in one of the
two 12-month periods prior to the exchange, and
The taxpayer’s personal use must have been limited to 14 days
during each of the prior two 12-month periods. If rental Read more:Exchange
Fredericksburg real estate market highlights for March 2008-04-02 09:35:00
I like to study the residential real estate market in Fredericksburg—it is
always changing. Here is what I found on the Fredericksburg real estate market
for March
.
13 Residential Listings SOLD in March
Low
High
Average
Median
Total
List Price
$69,900
$839,000
$304,901
$219,000
$3,963,710
Selling Price
$60,000
$775,000
$282,735
$222,560
$3,675,560
List/Sold Ratio (%)
76.60%
101.63%
92.60%
93.94%
--
Price/SqFt ($)
$43.10
$221.62
$139.73
$130.68
--
Days on Market
&nbs
The Fredericksburg Art Guild provides a way to connect to the community and local artists 2008-03-31 13:20:00
For people who are artistic there are many opportunities to
get involved in Fredericksburg. One of those opportunities is the
Fredericksburg Art Guild
at 308
East Austin Street. There are from 25 to 30 members ranging in
age from early thirties to early eighties.
Members produce a variety of work including acrylic, watercolor, and oil
paintings, pencil drawings, wood and metal sculptures, and jewelry.
I have been a member of this group for nearly two years and
have enjoyed the interaction with other artists. Artists stop by the guild to visit as well as
meeting once a month at a local restaurant for lunch. At right is an example of Sheila's artwork, this one of a Blue Bonnet infront of a cactus.
We present several shows throughout the year.&nbs Read more:community
11 to 20 acre properties for sale in Gillespie County 2008-04-05 10:00:00
Gillespie County
has many 11 to 20 acre properties available for sale. I found 21 properties on the Multiple Listing Service in this acreage range that sold during
the past year as of April 1, 2008. There
were 14 properties sold in the western part of the county and seven sold in the
eastern part of the county.
The price
range for these properties was approximately $3,000 per acre to $21,500 per acre. The lowest priced property was 16 to 20 miles
from Fredericksburg, and the highest priced
property was less than six miles from Fredericksburg. The average price per acre overall was
approximately $13,895. Many things help
determine the price per acre of a property.
Among those are distance and direction from Fredericksburg, views, and surface water.
First Quarter 2008: Fredericksburg residential real estate market update 2008-04-07 09:35:00
I like seeing where I am! In the Fredericksburg
residential
market, I took a reading of all our residential activity during the
1st quarter of 2008. To see
where we are, please refer to the sales and listing information from the Multiple Listing Service below:
29 Residential Properties SOLD in Fredericksburg
1/1/2008 to 3/31/2008
Low
High
Average
Median
Total
List Price
$110,000
$435,000
$258,973
$274,500
$7,510,210
Selling Price
$110,000
$400,000
$242,085
$230,000
$7,020,460
List/Sold (%)
&nbs Read more:First
When buying a rural property in the Hill Country, water becomes an issue 2008-04-09 13:16:00
When buying acreage outside the city limits, there are many
more items to consider than when buying in the city. One of the items is the availability of water
. If buying in Gillespie or Kendall counties,
you can obtain well logs from the Hill Country
Underground Water District in
Gillespie County or the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District in Kendall
County.
Among the information detailed in these logs is the depth of
the well and the gallons per minute pumped by the well. If there is no well on the property
you can
obtain the well logs from wells on nearby properties. The water districts also provide the rules
for placement of water wells in regards to property lines and septic systems as
well as any permits required and the cost of these permits.& Read more:issue
Remodeling your Fredericksburg home could help you get more money for your sale, but be careful 2008-04-14 15:59:00
Are
you thinking of selling your house? There are some things you should think
about to get your house ready for sale. If you are thinking of remodeling to
help you get a quick sell: be careful. Some remodeling projects might not give as
high of a return for your money.
I
think that the best remolding investment would be to update your kitchen and
bathrooms. These two areas seem to be very important in making a good
impression on buyers.
Studies
have shown that converting a basement into a family room or adding outdoor
recreation such as a swimming pool or sports court yield the lowest return on
your investment.
Installing
new doors, windows and doing other cosmetic things like putting on a new coat
of paint can have a much higher return on your investment. Also keep the yard
nice a Read more:Remodeling
The Fredericksburg community is lucky to have Good Samaritan Center 2008-04-16 09:45:00
I enjoy reading! One of the first books I read this year was Same Kind of Different as Me, told by
Ron Hall and Denver
Moore, and co-written by Lynn Vincent in non-fiction style. My wife’s sister loaned me the book at New
Years and said it might change me if I read it, so I could not resist.
The book takes place in the Dallas-Fort
Worth Metroplex area very near where I used to live and attend church before
moving to Fredericksburg. Without giving
away too much, it is about a homeless man named Denver Moore, and a couple named Deborah and
Ron Hall. Ron Hall is what you might call
a well-healed art dealer.
The art dealer (Hall) and the homeless man
(Moore) were forced together by Hall’s wife.
Together, they broke down the financial Read more:Center
, community
, lucky
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