Hello again to all of you homeowners, tenants, prospective buyers, and real-estate investors. Before you check the ldquo;Talking Real Estaterdquo; monthly enewsletter, Summer is here and has its own home maintenance checklist in Central Texas. Here are a few items to consider during July. I got some great new ideas on increasing heating efficiency from a June newsletter reader and added a few below: nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Set your mower on the highest setting so you do not cut the grass too short and expose it to drought and weeds. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Make sure your foliage gets plenty of water during hot summer days. Water early in the day, but not necessarily every day. Plants prefer a good soaking a few times a week ...

Published by: Christine Pease July 12, 2019 If you havent stepped outside in a while than Im here to warn you that the dog days of summer has arrived. Its hot Its only the 12th of July and Travis County has already experienced a Heat Advisory Warning. It comes as no surprise that July would be selected as National Ice Cream Month. Did I say it was hot outside? Its the summer and high temperatures are to be expected so we cant let the heat control our summer activities.nbsp; If you find yourself out and about in the Austin area developing sweat beads then open your GPS and head to one of these fine eateriesnbsp; Gelateria Gemelli - East Austin Prohibion Creamery - East Austin Spun Ice Cream - East Austin, The Domain a...

Published by: Christine Pease June 28, 2018 Well hello summer Weve been expecting you Yes, summers in Texas are hot and should be spent next to water eating ice cream, flavored ice or sipping or favorite iced lemonade or sweet tea. Tea and lemonade are a staple for a hot Texas summer but why dont we mix things up a bit? When my husband first told me about bananas and peanut butter I wasnt immediately sold. I dont have much of an imagination and just assumed peanut butter was best used for PBamp;J sandwiches and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Now, I like a little variety in my life so Ive opened myself up to the idea of mixing bananas with peanut butter and was delighted to try this recipe Its easy and keeps your body cool What...

Populated with towering oak trees, quaint bungalows, and down-to-earth residents, the historic Hyde Park neighborhood is a true Austin gem. Just north of the University of Texas campus, Hyde Park is located near the city center but is slightly removed from the hustle and bustle. Located in Central Austin, Hyde Park is defined by W. 38 Street to the south, W. 51 Street to the north, Duval Street to the east, and Guadalupe Street to the west. It is situated just north of The University of Texas and borders the neighborhoods of Hancock and North Loop. Hyde Park traces its origins back to 1891 and is considered to be Austins first suburb. Residents are served by the Austin Independent School District. Residents are assigned to Lee Ele...

Published by: Daisy Gregg Austin is growing exponentially every day. This city just seems to get bigger and bigger. Our real estate market is very hot right now, especially with all these new, fabulous people moving here According to a new article Austinrsquo;s ldquo;statewide population to be at about 29 million, and in 2016 and 2017, he said, ldquo;We added about 1,000 new Texans every dayrdquo; (KXAN). As a fellow Austinite (at least for the last two years) I may be annoyed that my traffic will only get worse, but I am overjoyed to welcome all these new people and their ideas. Austin is such an amazing place to live, I wouldnrsquo;t mind staying for a very long time But this brings up the problem of where should I live? A...

Hello again to all of you home owners, prospective buyers, and real-estate moguls. Before you check the ldquo;Talking Real Estaterdquo; monthly enewsletter, Summer is here and has its own home maintenance checklist in Central Texas. Here are a few items to consider during June: nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Set your mower on the highest setting so you do not cut the grass too short and expose it to drought and weeds. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Make sure your foliage gets plenty of water during hot summer days. Water early in the day, but not necessarily every day. Plants prefer a good soaking a few times a week rather than a light, daily drizzle. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Reverse the setting on your ceiling fans to counterclockwise...

Published by: Christine Pease June 12, 2019 Every little girls first love and every little boys hero DAD FATHER Austin doesnt hold back when it comes to things to do in honor of all those dads out therenbsp;nbsp;Want to take him to a nice retreat? Austin has that Want to take him to a beer bash? Austin has that, too What about a Father-Daughter Run or a Joke-Off? Austin has you covered Or maybe you just want to sit with your pops next to a quiet river and fish. No problem Check out Austin Monthlys Guide to Fathers Day in Austinnbsp; FREE Fathers Day Fun in Austin Lets not forget about those gentleman that took the role of Dad when they didnt have to. Budweiser honors those Stepdads that accepted their role as a guardian, ...

I am here to tell you about the wonderous onboarding program that we have established to ensure the success of all of our agents. It has morphed into an eight meeting series, where we meet once or twice a week to work one-on-one with the agents to prepare them for this business. I think that this really makes us stand out in the crowd as far as all real estate companies are concerned. So lets get right into it... Meeting 1 - The Essentials I named this meeting the essentials because I believe these are the bare minimums the agent needs to know how to use at our company. In this meeting, we (one of our trained onboarding specialist) goes over how the agent gets into his/her professional email provided to them. We assist them wit...

Published by: Daisy Gregg Why Do I Need a New Lenderrsquo;s Policy? The original lenderrsquo;s title insurance policy protects the lenderrsquo;s interest on the original loan. With the new refinanced loan, the original loan will be paid off, and the lender will require protection of its interest for the new loan. From the lenderrsquo;s standpoint, a refinanced loan is no different than any other mortgage loan. In addition, if the loan is sold in the secondary market, investors like Fannie Mae will require the security of title insurance on the property. The good news is the consumer receives a discount on lenders policies for refinance during the first seven years of the loan. If your refinanced loan is with the same lend...

nbsp; Published by: Daisy Gregg Bike rides. Take your kids out for a fun bike ride, either near your house, or on a bike trail. Since itrsquo;s a hot summer day, make sure to bring water. Make ice cream. There isnrsquo;t a kid (or parent) in the world who would refuse ice cream on a hot summer day. This is a great kids activity in which parents can easily monitor. Meet friends at the local playground. Call up your friends and let the kids hang out together at a local playground, where they can play on swingsets, merry go rounds, and more. Have a picnic at a local or state park. Getting kids together for a picnic at a local or state park can be a fun group activity. Sidewalk chalk murals. Get some fun colored chalk fo...

As we talked about last time, interest rates have gone up a bit. So what does that mean for the buyer? Should you wait? Well, since rates are predicted to continue to go up, the answer is no, you should not wait. As this article points out, yes, the record low rates are gone, for now at least. Who knows what the future will hold. Most economist are saying that the next five years will see an increase in rates. So certainly waiting is only going to make your house more expensive. Sure, you could wait for the rates lower than 4% to come back. But you may be waiting a long time. The odds point to us getting back to 6-8% in the next few years, long, long before we get back to the sub 4% rates again. So, don't let a small jump in rates now sc...