East End Flats offers the most unique, modern and affordable lofts in Austin, Texas.  This lovely private residential loft community conveniently located just two miles from downtown Austin Texas and the Capitol complex in East Austin.

There are 24 spacious units in East End Flats and each loft enjoys million dollar views and an open and spacious floor plan.  The development combines modern design, convenient location, privacy and value in East End Flats.

Units boast many luxury finishes like granite counters, maple cabinetry, over-sized picture windows, high ceilings, stainless steel appliances, private balconies and double insulation between units. Residents also enjoy gated, covered parking.

Lofts in East End Flats start at an unbelievable $113,000 and there are six different one bedroom, one bath floor plans to choose from.

Come and explore the urban, modern loft lifestyle of East End Flats in Austin, Texas for the perfect place to call home.

Use the Todd Smith Fine Austin Living Featured Property Search to find more lofts in downtown Austin, Texas.

Located just two blocks from beautiful Lady Bird Lake, 41 Waller is an incredible condo development that is perfect for downtown Austin urban living.  41 Waller is 30 units that range between $200-$300,000.  These luxurious condos offer large spacious floor plans that range between 930 square feet to over 1250 square feet of living space.

The interiors of these contemporary units enjoy high-end, high quality finishes like private patios, granite counters, European rain bath showers, travertine tiles, stainless steel appliances and more.

The building of 41 Waller also offers many amenities to its residents such as a swimming pool, controlled access, covered parking and WIFI.

Come and experience the best in contemporary architectural design with out the big downtown price tag.

Use the Fine Austin Living Property Search to find more downtown Austin lofts, condos and apartments.

Austin TX and USA home sales data drops

Existing-home sales fell from December to January but were still above year-ago levels, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Friday. NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun said the monthly decline was discouraging and raises concern about the strength of a recovery. According to NAR, existing-home sales declined 7.2 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million units last month.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said most of January’s sales were based on contracts from November and December. He explained that potential buyers who got into the market after the homebuyer tax credit was extended in November have only recently started to offer contracts, and due to the delay between shopping and closing, it will take a couple of months to complete those deals.

“Still, the latest monthly sales decline is not encouraging and raises concern about the strength of a recovery,” Yun said.

NAR reported that existing-home sales varied by region. The smallest month-to-month decrease was seen in the West, where sales declined 5.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.28 million. The most notable monthly drop was in the Northeast, where sales plummeted 10.9 percent to an annual pace of 820,000. However, sales in this region were 22.4 percent above January 2009 levels, marking the largest year-over-year increase.

Facebook jobs might be headed to Austin

Austin could gain more than 500 new jobs with proposals by a Chinese solar energy company that is considering building a $20.7 million manufacturing plant here and by Facebook to open a sales office here.

Gov. Rick Perry announced the Facebook proposal this morning, and said the state would provide $1.4 million in incentives, conditioned on the approval of local incentives.

Facebook, the top social networking site, would create a 200-employee sales and operations center in Austin, with about 180 of those jobs filled locally. The average wage would be $54,000 a year.

The city is proposing an incentives package totaling $200,000, tied to job creation targets, said Brian Gildea, Austin’s economic development manager.

The city also is proposing property tax breaks for Yingli Green Energy Associates, which is considering Austin for a solar-panel manufacturing plant that would create more than 300 jobs. Austin also would become Yingli’s U.S. headquarters.

Yingli, the U.S. subsidiary of a large Chinese solar-energy company, would get 80-percent property tax breaks for 10 years under an incentives offer from the City of Austin.

The company also has received preliminary approval for a federal clean-energy grant, said Dave Porter, senior vice president for economic development at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Yingli also is considering Phoenix, Ariz., Porter said. The company needs to choose a site by March 15 in order to qualify for the federal grant.

The Yingli jobs range from 245 manufacturing workers who would make $13.50 an hour to 45 staffers at $50,000 a year and 2 executives at $125,000 a year.

The City Council will have public briefings on both proposals next month, with public hearings and votes to follow on March 11.

Details on both proposals are on the city’s Web site, at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/

You might have noticed last week that the Federal Reserve raised the discount rate on loans to banks. To the uninitiated, this might seem like a move that will push mortgage interest rates higher. However, it is not.

Yes, mortgage rates crept up a bit after the announcement, but that was largely a knee-jerk reaction to the news by the mortgage-backed securities market. The discount rate is the rate the Fed charges banks to borrow directly from it. The federal funds rate – which is what banks charge each other and is the real driver of mortgage rates – remains unchanged.

This is does not mean interest rates on home loans will not rise. As part of the federal stimulus package, the Fed has been buying mortgage-backed securities, which has helped keep rates down. But the Fed has warned that it is almost done with the program, and the purchases of mortgage-backed securities could end in March. This means rates could start to rise then.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in fact, predicts that by June, rates could be a half-a-point higher, and a year from now, rates could be a full percentage point above their current levels.

The bottom line is that rates are at or near historic lows, and are probably set to rise in the next 12 months. But not because of the Fed’s largely symbolic move last week.

  Sendera is a lovely, established neighborhood just outside downtown Austin that boasts approximately 800 homes and was completed in three different phases. The community was originally developed by the Milburn Company and construction on the community took place between 1997 and 2001. Sendera is located on the East side of Loop 1 (also known as MOPAC)and on both sides of Slaughter Lane.

The community offers convenient easy access to shopping, restaurants, recreation and entertainment options. I is just a short drive from downtown Austin and all the energy and appeal of the city.

The community of Sendera itself offers many amenities to its residents such as a recreation area complete with a swimming pool, picnic areas and playgrounds, community parks, and miles and miles of bike trails, a disc golf course, golf course, tennis courts, basketball courts and much more.

Homes in Sendera range in size from 1600 square feet to more than 3,000 square feet and prices start in the upper $170s. Children attend Cowen Elementary school, Covington & Bailey Middle and Bowie High School. Come and discover the perfect neighborhood of Sendera.

Use the Fine Austin Living Featured Property Search to find more single family homes in Sendera and in Austin, Texas.

Austin's robust economy great for small business

According to a new report in Portfolio.com/bizjournals, Austin ranked #1 as the place for small business vitality, based upon a complex metric of population growth, employment growth, and small business development.

See the full article here.

With population growth of 19.5 percent between 2003 and 2008, employment growth despite the economic downturn of 15.6 percent between 2004 and 2009, and the increase in the number of small businesses in Austin between 2006 and 2007 of 5.6 percent when most comparable metro areas grew at an average of 1.4 percent, Austin’s the place to be for small business creation and development!

Copperfield is an established community that has been satisfying potential home-buyers since 1982. This lovely, north Austin neighborhood is an affordable alternative to to higher price homes in downtown Austin, Texas.

More than 42,000 residents call Copperfield home and is located just minutes from downtown Georgetown and Cedar Park.  This centrally located community enjoys tons of shopping, dining and entertainment options.

The community boasts mature tree stands and lots of vegetation due to its mature age.  Homes enjoy a wonderful sense of privacy.  Typical single-family homes average around 1,300 square feet and cost about $86.per square foot. The attractive pricing of Copperfield is inviting  to young, single professionals as well as young families just starting out.

Copperfield is also blessed with a wide array of recreational opportunities including  nature trails, open space and beautiful  community parks.

Use the Fine Austin Featured Property Search to find more single family homes in Austin, Texas.

View the full article here.

Homebuyers shift payment priorities

U.S. News & World Report recently published an article that indicated a pretty dramatic change in the way homeowners are now tackling their debt.

According to the article, a study released by Transunion showed that Americans are increasingly more likely to make payments on their credit cards before payments on their mortgages. The data shows that roughly 6.6 percent of borrowers paid credit cards first in the third quarter of 2009, up from just 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

This is a shift in the historical norm; which has long been slanted toward house payments as a priority ahead of other bills. Credit the housing bust nationwide for the change.

 As homeowners struggle with unemployment and drops in their homes’ value, they have perhaps become reluctant to commit more money into an asset that might not be worth what they owe on it. Whereas keeping up with credit card payments continues to give them access to necessities such as gas, clothing and groceries.

It also probably signifies part of the issue that caused the housing bust. Access to no-money down or low-down payment loans that proliferated the market during the housing boom allowed buyers to get into homeownership without much “skin in the game.”

In the days of 20-percent down payments, homeownership was something you worked for, saved up for and therefore something you were less likely to give up so easily. It’s a lesson that you can bet banks are heeding.