Buying a home is one of the largest financial investments one can undergo, that puts even more pressure to do it correctly in order to yield a great outcome.  In a seller's market, time makes all the difference in the success of your home buying process. It is crucial to make the most of the time you spend touring homes. Here are some tips to make your home search as productive as possible courtesy of Realtor.com.

1. Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage

Do not start touring houses before you are pre-approved for a mortgage. Not only will this give you a clear, concise, and to the point price range you should be looking in, but it will solidify your status as a serious buyer. Let our rockstar agents get you in contact with our preferred lender, Silvia Ward, today to start the home buying process. Silvia will make it quick and stress-free, ensuring you are well equipped with the necessary information. 

2. Clarify Which Amenities Matter the Most

Don't start touring homes and unless you have a defined list of what amenities you absolutely need in order to call a new place home. Once you have a clear-cut list of what you are looking for, this will become your guide on which houses you'll look at, based on the boxes they check. After you have the physical attributes of the home, it is a good idea to look at other variables such as school district, proximity to work, walkability, and dining/entertainment options. Narrowing down what is most important to you and your family will make the home touring process much easier.  

3. Find...

How to respond to coyotes in your neighborhood

As Austin grows, our interactions with wildlife increase. To keep coyotes and other wildlife wild, we can follow a few, simple preventative measures:

• Always keep trash and compost in a secure bin
• Keep your barbecue grill clean
• Keep the area under your fruit and nut trees free of droppings (a coyote’s diet can be up to 40% fruit in Texas)
• Avoid feeding pets outdoors (if you must feed pets outside, feed during the daytime and remove the uneaten food as soon as the animal has finished).
• Feeding wildlife and feral cats can attract coyotes. In addition to coyotes eating the food, mice and other animals will be drawn to leftovers, which can subsequently attract predators such as foxes and coyotes.

Hazing

To discourage coyotes from associating people with safety and food, eliminate the food sources around your yard and engage in hazing if you see a coyote on your property. Hazing is a process used to reinforce a coyote’s natural wariness without harming them. To haze, be big and loud: Wave your arms, shout, use noisemakers, throw non-edible objects in its direction (but not at it), or spray the animal with a hose. It shouldn’t take much for the coyote to get the memo -- just be persistent and maintain eye contact. Do not haze if a coyote is sick, injured, with pups, or is in its territory or out at night.

Pet safety

Keep small pets inside when possible and monitor them while outside. While walking dogs, use a secure, 4-6 foot leash and do not let dogs explore vegetation that you can’t see through. It is advised that pets be fed indoors. If pets must be fed outdoors, feed during the daytime and remove food as soon as your pet is finished....

The Austin Neighborhoods Council outlined four strategic initiatives for 2017 in its monthly meeting held last Wednesday, April 26. 

This year's strategic initiatives are:

1. CodeNEXT - the redevelopment of the city's land use code is the priority of the ANC.

2. The ANC wants to have “a clear, equitable and metric/data-driven land use regulation that adequately addresses problems such as affordability, displacement and lack of public input.” Developing such a system will be discussed in next month's meeting.

3. The ANC also wanted to prioritize the creation of a department of neighborhoods within city government. ANC also insisted that the Austin City Council should publish a tabulated record of council member votes after each council meeting, for transparency.

4. Lastly, the topic of affordable housing has been brought forth for further discussion by the council in efforts to recognize the magnitude of the problem and how it can be solved through community-level intervention. The initiative calls for "result-driven policies for improving affordability for everyone," with special consideration to families living at the 50% limit of median family income.

Interested to know more about the other topics discussed in the last meeting? You can access the article that first appeared in Community Impact Newspaper here. What are your thoughts on the initiatives listed by the ANC? Let us know your opinion in the comments!

New zoning maps that were released last April 18 show how the city of Austin’s land development code rewrite will affect area neighborhoods.

The purpose of CodeNEXT is to rewrite "the process aimed at providing framework for future development". It will also serve as the basis to help achieve goals set out in Imagine Austin, the city's comprehensive plan. 

CodeNEXT draft maps indicate where new housing density can be developed to coincide with the city's major corridors. While there have been doubts about the amount of density these corridors could absorb to reach the goal of 135,000 new housing units by 2025, the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint is insistent with its growth plan for Austin.

Mandy De Mayo, a member of the CodeNEXT advisory committee and executive director of advocacy group HousingWorks Austin, says that “we will have failed if the maps come out and they show 20,000 new units. Well, that’s not going to work. Our housing plan is calling for 135,000 new units in 10 years.” The organizations she represents want to learn about future plans for housing, and how these plan will be feasible and work toward the cities advantage in the coming years. Thus, preliminary meetings or deliberations have been set according to district to gather insight on this important concern.

If you want to stay updated with the deliberation on CodeNEXT by the city council, you might want to take note of the following deliberation schedules as announced in ...

The proposed gondola system in downtown Austin is hanging in the balance, as challenges to the urban cable concept were brought to light by a recently-concluded feasibility study of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Funded by Capital Metro, the city of Austin, and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority for $5,000 the feasibility study concluded last February and official results were released last week. 

The main challenges to the implementation of the concept are the financial resources and aesthetic issues required to complete the 8.7 mile-long gondola line and its 19 stations. The estimated cost to execute the entire plan is estimated to be anywhere between $287 million and $555 million-- a significant portion of this budget will compete for local, state, and federal dollars.

The report indicates that the challenges outlined in the report can be addressed by the body who submitted the proposal, Wire One Austin, but the study itself did not provide any recommendations because of the lack of information about the concept presented in the original proposal. The analysis indicates that sponsoring agencies have found insufficient information presented that would warrant further assessment. Concepts need to be clarified and additional details need to be supplied should Wire On Austin desire the project to be considered in the future.

The proposed gondola system which we also featured in a previous blog, will run along Lavaca and South First streets between UT-Austin and Slaughter Lane in South Austin.

In the joint statement, the three agencies stated that funding a gondola system would not be more expensive than any other transportation option. The agencies also do not plan to advance the concept because of a lack of details on alignment, estimates demand, capital costs, and operations and maintenance costs.

A commercial block located at 308 Guadalupe St. that was previously acquired in the hopes of providing additional civil court space is now up for bidding, as Travis County Commissioners decided last week.

The entire block, costing $22 million when acquired in 2010, is currently being used as a parking lot. After Travis County's courthouse construction bond worth $287 million failed in November 2015, development plans screeched to a halt. Local sentiment feels that the block is more valuable as a private development than a courthouse, and now plans to privately develop the property are being considered.

While details on how much the county stands to profit from its potential sale or lease are not available, it is believed that the county will receive a significant amount for the property well above its original purchase price.

If you would like to stay updated with this developing news or learn more about the latest in Southwest Austin, do check out our blog. For more information about this developing news, you may access the original Community Impact article from which this post was based here.

Update No 1:

Road construction is underway on both the eastbound and westbound of Convict Hill Road in an effort to improve safety and mobility. An intersection will be added on to the current traffic plan, as well as signal improvements along Convict Hill and Escarpment Boulevard. This phase of road improvement in Southwest Austin will be completed next month.

Update No. 2:

An environmental study and design efforts for a proposed rehabilitation and improvement project on Travis County's FM 1626 has been completed. The next phase of the project is right-of-way acquisition, with several parcels of land that will be used for the project. The process will take approximately 18 months to complete. The new roadway plans to turn FM1626 from Brodie Lane to Manchaca road into "a four-lane highway with a continuous center left-turn lane as well as shoulders, curbs, gutters and sidewalks." Bids for construction contractors will begin on August, with a target date of completion on the 3rd quarter of 2019.

Update No. 3:

We are running late... with the widening project...

5820 Harper Park Drive is the latest addition to home construction and development in Southwest Austin. The gated community will be home to 76 new single-family homes. With model home construction slated to begin in mid-February and with a target sales schedule in late spring of this year, buyers have ample time to consider which of the seven floor plans will be suited to their lifestyle. Each model offers 2,100 square feet of living space, with shared amenities like open spaces, pocket parks, trails, fire pits, and a community pool. 

Developed by David Weekley Homes, 5820 Harper Park Drive is a convenient choice for buyers who want to invest in a home with an award-winning design and convenient location. Located just off of Highway 290 between West William Cannon Drive and Industrial Oaks Boulevard, Harper Park is located near to wherever you need to be.

If you want to learn more about this upcoming development, you can visit their website or call them at 866-933-5539. 

Developers of mixed-use development B-Austin Community has set its opening date on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 for its latest project in Southwest Austin. 

Community Coordinator Gray Godwin says that two three-story buildings of the mixed-use complex have been completed as of posting time. The project features 6,000 sq. ft. of commercial spaces, 14 apartments, and health care clinics housing doctors of physical therapy, psychology, and chiropractic care.

The focal points of the development's concept are its self-care and sustainability. Planned according to the provisions of the Austin Energy Green Build program, the project features environment-friendly use of solar power, water recycling facilities, rainwater collection, a zero-waste valet service, recycling servics, and valeted compositing. To read more about B-Austin, you can access their official website by clicking on this link.