Our end-of-year look at the at the Austin real estate market tells a simple story – demand is exceeding supply. The overall months of inventory for the Austin area is at 3.61. By comparison, 2010 ended the year with 5.1 months of inventory; 2009 ended with 4.6 months. We have moved from a balanced market into seller’s market range for most areas.

Newcomers moving in and investors attracted by low interest rates have put steady pressure on inventories in all parts of Austin. Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist recently offered this prediction: “The bloom’s not off the yellow rose of Texas. Steady job growth and a construction revival make Austin and Houston two of my five cities to watch. Texas isn’t hung over from the housing boom like the other big states of the South and West, so there’s little to hold back growth. “
Austin was Kolko’s top pick for growth cities to watch. And, a look at the inventory levels throughout Austin shows that he is right on the money.

Inventory Levels

Inner Core Neighborhoods: 75% seller’s market; 25% balanced markets.

Close in Suburban Neighborhoods: 94% seller’s markets; 6% balanced markets.

Outer Suburban Neighborhoods: 42% seller’s markets; 37% balanced markets; 21% buyer’s markets

See more detail by areas here: Months of Inventory by Area

Demographics

Demographics are on our side. There are 1.763 million people in the Austin area. By 2020 this is expected to increase by 31% to 2.3 million. To supply an additional 198,000 households, assuming that 50% buy homes, we need 99,444 new homes. This means we need 11,000 new homes per year over the next 9 years. In actuality, builders supplied 5,900 new homes in 2010 and 6,100 in 2011, and production is estimated at 6,500 for 2012.

So, we expect that job and population growth, plus investors who prefer real estate over the more volatile stock market, will continue to fuel the demand side.

Tempering Factors

On the other hand, there are certain forces that have moderated and slowed down the demand side.
First, there is the backlog of foreclosures held back by legal issues and botched paperwork. There is also shadow inventory – loans in default that will be foreclosures or short sales. These will continue to add to inventory and hold down prices. But, not to great extent. The evidence is clear that distressed properties have not defined our market. The foreclosures that do come on the market are quickly absorbed – often with multiple offers.

Foreclosures in Austin:

2009 – 3.75% of market
2010 – 5.0% of market
2011 –4.25 % of market

Second, many newcomers have chosen to rent a home while they get settled or sell their home in another city. This has resulted in the highest occupancy rate for apartments in 25 years – about 96% occupancy. In many areas, single family rental homes are in very short supply. Of course, the short supply has raised rental rates. Eventually, these renters be ready to buy homes, and will add to the demand side of the market.

Third, there are still hurdles for buyers in getting financing, especially in the upper end. The cumulative effect of new regulations and conservative approach by appraisers have dampened mortgage momentum. If the appraiser cannot support the sales price, under tough comp requirements, the deal is likely to fall through. Even if the buyers are able to add more down payment, they are usually reluctant to proceed without confirmation by the appraiser.

And, fourth, anxiety concerning national and international financial conditions affects the real estate market, and we are not immune to that in Austin.

Yet, these dampening effects have not stymied demand for homes. They have slowed the pace of the market and kept demand from getting so strong that prices escalate quickly.

Conclusion

Overall, we are starting 2012 in the best of both worlds. Reduced supply is always good news for sellers. And buyers still have best-in-a-lifetime interest rates that can be locked in for 30 years.
Austin is simply a great place to live. We know it, and the word is out. That is the real story. And, for those who invest for the long term, the story has a happy ending.

If you have a real estate question, please feel free to call or email – and join me on a social media site.

If you bought a home in 2011, it is time to file for your Homestead Exemption.  This will lower your property tax bill for as long as you own the home and occupy it as your principal residence.

After buying a home, you become eligible for a Homestead Exemption on Jan 1 of the following year.   So, for homes purchased in 2011, the time to file is between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2012.

The county appraisal district will send you a form to mail in to them.  If you don’t receive the form,  I have included some links to get the form online.  There is no charge, and you only need to do it once.

When you send in your form, you will need to include the following two items as proof that you live in the house where the exemption is claimed.  The address on both of these forms must match the address of your home.

1.     Copy of Texas driver’s license (or ID card)
2.     Copy of vehicle’s registration receipt

(If you do not own a vehicle, you may send a utility bill and sign an affidavit for non ownership of a vehicle.)

There are additional exemptions that you may qualify for, such as the Over 65, the Disabled Homestead, or the Disabled Veteran’s exemption.  Here is a link to general info about property tax exemptions.

Feel free to call if you have a question about this or anything else we can help with.

Travis County Application 

Williamson County Application

Hays County Application 
Roselind Hejl, CRS
Coldwell Banker United
512-327-0385 office
512-789-4563 cell

www.weloveaustin.com

P. S.  Don’t respond to this scam:  An official looking letter is usually sent to new homeowners with a bill for filing your house as a homestead in the deed records.  This is not necessary, and will not lower your taxes.

Her latest project has been the master bath…

Here is the entrance to the Master Bath – typical 1990’s style, with panel doors, beige carpet, white tile, and big 6″ cans in the ceiling.  Mostly, the space was kept as is, but that wall on the right with the thermostat had to go!

Wow!  See the difference?  The door was made from a large mirror that Dawn had intended to hang.  Kai Mueller, her carpenter, added hardware to create a barn door that glides along the wall.

Here is the original vanity, with mirrored wall, accent tiles, and chunky cabinet doors.

Ahh!  Now there is a sophisticated new vanity!  Home Depot installed the white Silestone counter.  Faucets are California Faucets from Ferguson Plumbing.  Candle sconce lights, by Sonneman, were ordered from All Modern.

Kai Mueller made the floating vanity cabinet and mirror frame from walnut hardwood.  Hardware was selected to go with the faucet style.  Find the pulls at Lowes or Ikea.  Binswanger Glass installed the mirror glass and shower door.

Here’s a glimpse of the old linen cabinet and main closet.

A set of deep drawers and upper cabinet replaced the old linen/clothes hamper.  So pretty and functional!

The white walls and floor contribute greatly to the simplicity and expansiveness of the space.  Walls are Simply White by Benjamin Moore.

Crown molding was removed, and ornate door and base trim was replaced by a contemporary 1″ x 6″ style.

Floors are 12” x 24” porcelain tile from Floor & Décor.  They have a light ribbed look, which adds to the organic feel.   The mirror in the closet opens to reveal the shelves behind.

A look back at the original space – very pretty, but not in the modern style that Dawn loves.

The tile adds some texture and natural color to the walls – a subtle, stone-like color.  Tiles are honed marble, 2” x 4″ subway style, from Floor & Decor.  The shower floor is done in flat river rock.

By working with the existing plumbing and space layout, Dawn avoided unnecessary cost and difficulty.  She kept the focus on modern styling, and used readily available materials.  The result is clean, modern, serene – and very doable.

BTW, Dawn tells me that the glass block window is on the hit list.  This story’s not over!

So when it came time to choose a color for Chelsea Moor, we put up some color samples.  Balance Beige (Sherwin Williams) was a contender – think  beige-taupe on whole wheat.  When we put it up, the strong light in the room washed it out, and an underlying pinkish tone showed up.  (Not good.)

I know this is counter-intuitive, but I think that low light rooms need color – even dark colors – to add richness to the space.   In strong light, paint colors  tend to lose their richness and depth.

Color on walls with white on the ceiling tended to highlight the shortness of the 8′ walls, and evoke the popcorn ceiling look.  And because the living room ceiling was vaulted, color against a white ceiling would create a distracting angled line.

Actually, these walls were screaming for white.   But which white would be right?  Picking the right white is no small matter.   I turned to Remodelista – a design source that I read daily.  Their post on whites most used by architects was a great help.   The top choice for an all purpose white was White Dove by Benjamin Moore.  They called it “clean, calm and a great backdrop for art.”  Since we use Sherwin Williams, I chose a close match – Greek Villa.  This is a slightly warm white with no hint of any specific color.

We painted the walls, ceilings and trim all the same – flat paint on the walls and satin on the trim.   The white color expanded and simplified the space, making the walls a backdrop for a more important element – light.

Dining room in process:  Sunlight streams in and bounces off walls creating an active, changing environment.

Dining room before:  The dining room was made from this old sun room.

Dining Room in process:  An underlying design goal was to connect the interior to the outdoors.  Landscaping will help the “outdoor room” rise to the occasion.  There will be no window coverings.  No window coverings at all.

Kitchen taking shape:  Architectural features are highlighted by soft shadows.  The island and base cabinet were painted a dark grey (Porpoise by SW) to ground them and connect to the concrete floor.

Kitchen before:  We incorporated the old breakfast area  into the new kitchen.  The kitchen opens to the new dining area, which was the old sun room – behind the window on the left.

Thanks for sharing our Chelsea Moor remodel!

Roselind Hejl

www.weloveaustin.com

We love the cool, hard surface and relaxed lifestyle of a concrete floor.  The photo above is from our own house.  John and Marie wanted to have a similar floor in their Chelsea Moor remodel.  They like the mottled, imperfect look of unstained concrete.

We have waxed concrete floors several times in the past on new construction, so have some experience in this.  However, the Chelsea Moor project involved re-finishing old abused concrete.  So, before waxing, we had to work through two levels of preparation:

Chelsea Moor Makeover: DIY Concrete Refinishing

Chelsea Moor Makeover:  DIY Concrete Patching

Now it is time for the waxing.  We have an Edco Floor Maintainer, bought from Lowe’s rental department for $270.  This is a heavy machine.  It takes two people to lift it out of the truck.  A stiff brush attachment fits on the bottom.   The brush builds up heat as it turns and burnishes the wax into the concrete.

The wax we use was Stone Tone Wax by Kimiko, purchased at The Stain Store in North Austin.  It may be bought in oil or water base.  The oil base wax tends to darken the concrete a little more than the water base.

How-To:

First, pour some wax into a small plastic container to work from.

Then pour about 1/2 cup wax on the floor.  If you pour  too much wax at once it will not burnish into the concrete fully, and will leave a sticky residue.

Plan to cover about a 4 x 4 foot area with 1/2 cup wax.

Run the heavy buffer over the wax slowly to spread it and rub it into the concrete.

Continue buffing for about 5 minutes to built up heat and burnish the wax into the concrete.  The wax fills the pores and seals the concrete.

The color of the concrete will darken slightly when the wax is put down.  Here you can see the color enhancement in the waxed area.

The waxed floor will be slightly glossy and smooth to the touch, similar to a smooth stone.

The re-use of old concrete is a green choice.  Concrete lives well – it does not hold dust and is very easy to clean with just a damp mop.  And, the clean hard surface goes well with modern simplicity.

Concrete Experiences – Round One

Concrete Experiences – Round Two

Concrete Experiences – Keeping Cracks in Line

Thanks for sharing our Chelsea Moor makeover!

Roselind Hejl

www.weloveaustin.com

Concrete Grinding

We learned a lot about re-finishing old, abused concrete.  About 1/16 inch of the concrete had to be ground off in order to get down to a clean surface.  It was nice to have this job behind us.  Read that gritty story in DIY Concrete Re-finishing.

Concrete Patching

When carpet is pulled up from a concrete floor, the nails leave ugly gouges.  It would be unacceptable to leave these, so they had to be patched.  We experimented with some patch solutions:

Glue & Concrete Dust -  When we ground the concrete, it created a powder.   We saved a bucket of concrete powder and tried mixing this with Tight Bond construction glue, for a homemade hole filler.  However, the glue shrunk back, and left a dip.  And it did not give a hard concrete surface.  So, overall this idea did not work. 

Rockite Cement:  This was purchased from True Value Hardware.  We mixed this stuff with concrete dust to get a better color match. 

Jim’s Concrete Patch Recipe:

6 spoons of  Rockite

3 spoons of concrete power (saved from the grinding process)

Water to make a thick paste (about 1-2 spoons)

Mix thoroughly in a plastic bucket.  Make up about 2 cups at a time.  It sets very quickly, so don’t make a lot.  In 15 minutes it will be hard.  Fill the holes using a small spatula.  It tends to get on the floor around it.

Let it dry overnight.  Then sand the excess that is on the floor around the patch. 

Thanks for sharing our Chelsea Moor Makeover!

Roselind Hejl

www.weloveaustin.com

At Chelsea Moor we had several concrete floors.  Most of the house was poured in 1978.  There was an addition, ten to twenty years later.  And, there was the concrete we had just poured in the living area to raise the floor level.

Old Paint and Glue

The old 1978 floor had a lot of paint on it from the original construction.  In those days no one considered concrete as a finish floor, so they had no reservation about spraying the floor along with the baseboards. 

The kitchen and bath floors were coated with glue and backing from old sheet vinyl.  And, in the sun room, there was a tough layer of glue left from the outdoor carpet.  

We wanted to clean the floor and unify the several concrete vintages by grinding off the top layer of concrete.  What to do and how to do it has been a process of discovery.  We had to search the internet, call rental places, and bother people to figure out how to get this done.

Hex Pins and Sander

We hoped to make do with our own machine – a Clarke Floor Maintainer, purchased from Home Depot for about $270.  They sell their rental machines when they are ready to replace them.  This machine can be used for waxing concrete, which we have done several times in the past. 

This machine can also take a hex-pin attachment from Pearl Abrasives, which was supposed to take off the paint and glue.  We rented the hex pin attachment from Home Depot.  The hex pin attachment  took off some of the surface paint, but would not remove the deeper paint that had penetrated the surface of the concrete.  It made a whole lot of dust.  Strike one.

The guy at Home Depot loaned us a sander attachment, and we bought a couple of sand paper disks.  The sander did about the same job as the hex pin. We tried putting water on the floor to reduce dust, but the sanding disk quickly became coated with gunk and would not work.  Strike two.

Stone Grinder

Several rental places recommended a stone grinder.  This is an Edco machine, which we rented for about $300 for a week.  It weighs a ton.  You rent the machine, but buy the stones.  We bought a set of each stone texture – course, medium, and fine.

When water was put on the floor to reduce the dust, the stones clogged up with gunk and would not work.  They had to be taken off and cleaned.  Fortunately, we found that if you put down a lot of water it kept the concrete slurry thin, and the stones did not gunk up.   (So back in business.)

We used a floor squeegee (from Home Depot)  to pull the slurry into a pile, and a wet vacuum to clean it up.  

The machine cleaned the floor, but was not sharp enough to hone off as much of the concrete surface as we wanted. We were not satisfied with the result.  So, strike three, sort of.  

Diamond Grinder

We went back to Home Depot and bought a diamond disk for a hand grinder that we happened to have.  Baldo and David took turns going over the floor with this.   

The diamond blade was a more aggressive tool than the stones.  It took off a thin layer of concrete.  We did the whole 2,200 square feet with a small hand grinder.  The blade had to be replaced at one point.  Then the hand grinder burned up and had to be replaced.  (We could not find a place to rent a large diamond grinder, but would manage to do this next time.)

Diamond Grinder + Stone Grinder

After a pass with the diamond grander, we followed behind with the stone grinder to smooth the surface and take out swirl marks.   

The mud slurry from the grinding had to be vacuumed with a wet vac.  This was a hard job in itself.  Even with water on the floor, a layer of dust coated everything – even the walls and ceiling. 

We used a heavy duty fan to keep the dust off our two workmen, but even with the wind chill, it was about 95 degrees in the house.  The neighbors wondered about the clouds coming out the windows. 

Final Result

The grinding and cleaning took about 9 days all total.  I’m waiting for amnesia to set in, but we liked the final result.  It is clean and speckled with some of the sand and pebbles.  The color ranges from grey to tan color.   This is a rustic surface with mottled color, a few cracks, and some patches where nails had been pulled.  But we love it for its imperfections.  It’s the easy living floor - and it was there for the taking.      

Concrete Experiences – Round One

Concrete Experiences – Round Two

Concrete Experiences – Keeping Cracks in Line

Thanks for sharing our Chelsea Moor Makeover!

Roselind Hejl

www.weloveaustin.com

And that’s pretty much all I did on this phase of the project.  As you’ll see from the pictures, my dad, my husband, and our trusty contractors deserve all the credit for the next phase in our home remodeling process.

When John and I bought the house, the living room had wood paneling on the walls, carpet on the floor, and thick wood beams on the ceiling.  Here is a picture of the room in its original form.

For reference, the breakfast room and kitchen are located on the right side of the picture above.  The picture below provides another view of the breakfast and kitchen area from the living room.

There were a number of issues that we wanted to correct in this space.  In addition to removing the paneling and carpet, raising the sunken floor, and re-doing the fireplace (see previous post), we wanted to connect the living, dining, and kitchen areas in a way that would be suitable for large family gatherings, dinner parties with friends, as well as occasional cooking classes (and possibly another cooking show!).

With those goals in mind, the first step was to remove the paneling and carpet, along with the beams on the ceiling, and the half-wall (and lovely spindles) between the living room and breakfast area.

Then we had to deal with the back wall, which contained an off-center window, some awkward wall space, and a door leading to a sunroom.  For us, the sunroom would have been wasted space.  We decided to make the sunroom into our dining room, and we wanted this new dining room to connect to both the living room and kitchen.  To achieve this connection, we removed the door to the sunroom and part of the adjacent wall, thus, broadening the opening between all three of the spaces.

Next up?  The window.  The original placement of this window truly did not do the house any favors.

The window looked out to an inaccessible and poorly maintained outdoor space—crammed between the walls of the dining room (on the left) and the master bedroom (on the right).  In removing the window, our goal was to allow this outdoor space to serve as a connection—rather than an obstruction—to the backyard.

And it looks better already!  The living room now opens to a partially-shaded area (soon to be a rustic limestone patio), providing a seamless connection to lush green grass and mature oak trees.

Here is the view from the inside.  We had to use some temporary supports before the actual framing (hence, the two-by-fours from ceiling to floor).

Here, the framing is complete.  Then it was time to bring in the sliding glass door.  Although we considered using double French doors, we decided that a large sliding glass door would be a better fit (more modern, less colonial) for our personal style and the intrinsic structure of the house.

As it turned out, the sliding glass door was indeed very large, and very, very heavy—weighing nearly 300 pounds!  It took four strapping young (er, middle-aged) men to move it from the truck to the back of the house.  Not an easy job.

Once they got it this far, my dad realized that we did not have enough of the glue that we needed to secure the door to the concrete.  So John ran to Lowe’s to pick up the supplies.  And my dad (wisely) took that extra time to re-read the instructions for the installation of the door.

Now, they’re back at it.

Finally, the door is in place.

After a making a few final adjustments, the installation is officially complete.

Here is a view from the inside.  It is just what we wanted!  Open, connected, and appropriately modern.

Thanks for sharing our Chelsea Moor Makeover!

Roselind Hejl

www.weloveaustin.com

As you can see, the entry steps down from tile to plush carpet in the living.  Level changes were used to clarify spaces.  But, was this a good idea?

Not in this case.  The problem here is that the traffic pattern to other main rooms is down the side of the living room.  People have to watch their step, and fear of falling is not good design.

The plush carpet came up the wall a bit (ugh!) to cover the step ledge, as you can see  from the glue.  This is the step up into the kitchen.

So we decided to pour a concrete layer to level up the floor.  To prepare for this, we took out the old entry tile, plush carpet, fireplace hearth, plus the cabinet and stone wall.  Here’s how it looked during demolition.  

Here is the space with the new concrete floor, poured over the entry and living room.  Now all spaces are on one level.  The dropped living room was a weak link in the chain of spaces.   Now the spaces flow together, and we have a stronger plan.    

We used Roberto Trejo – 923-8164. He specializes in small jobs. We were very happy with his work. He brought in the concrete by wheel barrow. They installed a grid of #3 rebar, 16″ on center, across the floor. Plus they doweled into the existing slab around the perimiter with short pieces of rebar.  The surface was hand troweled to a very smooth finish.

More on the concrete floor finishing process later…

Thanks for sharing our Chelsea Moor Makeover!

Roselind Hejl

www.weloveaustin.com

   
The addition was built onto the back of the house in an ill considered way.  It sits in the middle of the outdoor space where the patio was located.

We will have to make good use of the outdoor space that was left between the addition and the house.  It is now an unused area with a sickly shrub.   Those pink concrete pavers served as a sad patio.     

The Sun Room was isolated from the main house.  It was entered through the glass door at the end of the living room.  Since the living room was “sunken” there was an unexpected step-up when the door was opened.  If you had not already stumbled off the step-down into the living room, you definitely will trip here.

Here is the view from inside the Sunroom.  The exterior stone wall and the window into the kitchen make it clear that this room is not a true part of the house.  To complete the added-on look, there is a window AC, gas heater, outdoor carpet, and wall paneling. 

In our plan, the Sun Room is going to be the new Dining room.   We wanted to make this space a real part of the house – visually connected and fully used everyday. 
    

To accomplish that, we needed to break down the wall.   Thanks to Craigs List, both the window and stone found new owners. 

With the entrance to the new dining room opened up, the living, kitchen, and dining spaces now flow together.

The new dining room is filled with natural light and will be a wonderful place to eat everyday.   

Thanks for sharing our Chelsea Moor Makeover  project!
Roselind Hejl
http://www.weloveaustin.com/