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Starbucks Closings in Austin

Lani, Asset Director — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:12:20 +0000

Starbucks’ National Closings

The recent news of Starbucks’ announcement of shutting the lights off in 600 of their stores across America has spooked many and buzz about it has echoed across the Internet. For years, many real estate speculators have looked to the deep pockets of companies like Starbucks’ research divisions for selecting store sites as indications of viable economic growth. Economists have watched their coffee prices as indicators of local economic success much commodities like gas, metals and others. With these store closings, people even locally are saying that it’s the armageddon. False.

Starbucks’ Texas Closings

According to Starbucks, Texas will be experiencing 57 store closures, two of which are in Austin (1007 South Congress and 5000 W. Slaughter) both nearby newly constructed Starbucks locations. To put that in perspective in the national scope, Texas only accounts for 9.5% of all closings and Austin only accounts for 0.3% of the closings nationally.

The Impact on Austin

How does this impact Austin? It doesn’t… that’s a tiny little blip; businesses open and close here every day, so for those measuring Austin’s economy based on coffee houses and prices, we’re still lookin’ pretty good (not to mention that within a mile of my personal home, two new Starbucks have had their grand openings in the past months).

original image courtesy of ak37

Austinite in Need of Help

Lani, Asset Director — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:56:12 +0000

Originally posted on RERevealed.com:

I just got off the phone with a friend who needs your help. Like right now. Karyn Ford is in her early twenties here in Austin and she and her friend Bridget Novak are single moms living in 2 bedroom homes. Recently, they have taken voluntary placement from Child Protective Services and because it’s voluntary, they do not receive any financial assistance. Between them, their families have grown to include one handicapped 14 year old, a 5 year old, 8 year old and an infant. Their needs are great, ranging from gas, food, clothes, entertainment to school supplies. Bridget’s car overheats on the way to the store up the street and isn’t big enough to fit the children!

Their focus is to provide a safe and healthy environment for the kiddos but they are humbly asking for help.

Ways we ask you to help:
(1) HEB Gift Cards for gas and groceries
(2) Target Gift Cards for clothes
(3) Simon Gift Cards for everything
(don’t get discouraged if any of these make you log in… remember, you’re helping a friend)

If you’d like to ship these or simply mail a check, please please do so:
Karyn Ford
417 Fantail Loop Unit A
Lakeway, TX 78734

We all read about “help” needed every day, but today’s hits much closer to home- my friend Karyn needs your help now! Karyn was one of the first to message me when my brother (who she was friends with) died last fall and the most vivid thing I remember about her is her smile and her selflessness which clearly have not changed over time. If you have $0 to share, please pause to pray for the well being of everyone involved.

We sincerely thank you!

Radical City Council Mandates Followup

Lani, Asset Director — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:25:54 +0000

Dear Friend:

Over the last several months, you may have heard talk about a proposed City plan for achieving improved energy efficiency in existing homes. Some have called it the “point of sale” ordinance, or even the “green home tax.” There’s been a lot of confusion and misunderstanding on this issue, so I want to try to set the record straight. I hope that you will take a moment to read this.

As you know, we face a rapidly changing energy future. If you like what’s happening with gas prices right now, then you’re going to love what happens with the cost of electricity over the next few years. Make no mistake: powering our homes and buildings is going to get more expensive, perhaps dramatically. Right now, we have an opportunity to get in front of it.

This matters to you whether you know it or not, because we all share in the cost of wasted electricity. It forces us to make expensive power purchases on the energy markets during the heat of summer, and brings us closer to the day when we would need to build expensive new power plants. This drives up electric rates for everyone, not just those who are wasting energy.

Anticipating these problems, the City Council established an inclusive 28-member Task Force to study and make recommendations on ways to achieve better energy efficiency in Austin homes, rental properties and commercial buildings. This Task Force has not made any recommendations yet, but their draft concept is a far cry from some of the characterizations of it that I’ve heard.

To be clear, we’re still many months and a lot of public process away from considering anything, but if the Task Force’s draft concept were adopted today, here’s what it would NOT do:

1) It would NOT impose a tax on selling your home.

2) It would NOT require people to make energy efficiency upgrades before they could sell their home.

3) It would NOT require people to pass an energy efficiency inspection or get a “certificate of compliance” before they could sell their home.

4) It would NOT force people to buy expensive items like new air conditioners or new windows.

5) It would NOT cause burdensome delays to home sales.

If the Task Force’s draft concept were adopted today, here’s what it WOULD do:

1) It WOULD require sellers to get an inexpensive energy audit and provide that information to prospective homebuyers.

Sellers wouldn’t have to make upgrades, and they wouldn’t have to pass an inspection - they would just have to let buyers know what kind of efficiency condition the house is in. The idea of requiring “audit and disclosure” was recommended by the Austin Board of Realtors (as represented on the Task Force), and I think it’s a good one. Information is the first step to making smart energy choices, and buyers deserve to know what they’re getting into when they make the biggest investment that most people will ever make in their lives.

2) It WOULD encourage people to VOLUNTARILY participate in a program to achieve basic efficiency upgrades, if a house needs it.

The Task Force is discussing a VOLUNTARY program. Under a voluntary program, “low-hanging fruit” like weather stripping and duct sealing would be prioritized, and spending caps would be proposed. All of Austin Energy’s rebates and incentives would be available, including their low-interest loan program. As such, basic energy efficiency strategies would be self-financing - that is, the savings on utility bills would outweigh the cost of the upgrades, which would actually put money into the pockets of homeowners, make home ownership more affordable and secure, and put homeownership in reach of more people.

3) It WOULD set voluntary participation targets and track whether we’re meeting our goals over the next few years.

If Austin realtors do what they’ve committed to do as part of the Task Force and become full partners in this process - and if the City and Austin Energy does what we’ve committed to do and make this an easy, seamless process - I have no doubt we’ll meet our goals. But if we’re falling short, we’ll need to recognize that and try a different approach. Under the Task Force draft concept, the basic efficiency program could become mandatory if the voluntary program wasn’t working.

These ideas are still open to a lot of discussion and debate, but I think we’re starting from a good place. If everyone works together in a spirit of good faith and cooperation, I know we can develop solutions that will actually make our homes more affordable, keep electric rates lower for the entire community and put us on strong footing as we enter a shifting energy economy.

I appreciate your interest in this issue and look forward to hearing your input.

Sincerely,
Will Wynn
Austin Mayor

Essentially, the goal is to have an inspection that simply reveals/discloses energy efficiency of a home at the time of sale. That is a LOT easier to swallow than radical terms proposed in recent times!

original image courtesy of bullcreek on flickr.com

This Week In Austin [Pictures]

Benn, Single Pointe CEO — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:21:42 +0000

What happened this week around Austin? Let’s let photos speak a thousand words (and I’ll add 1,001-1,050)!

Creepy Vendetta Guy

Someone dressed up as the creepy guy from “V is Vendetta” held protest signs on the capitol grounds and I don’t get it. But we give him a gold star for wearing full V garb in this hot weather!

image courtesy of satanoid

The End of Concordia

Concordia University has moved their campuses north of Austin to the old Schlumberger site on 620 and the old campus is now being demolished as seen in this week’s image.

image courtesy of cote

Wind Surfing on Lake Travis

This week has been breezy and hot, perfect for wind surfing on Lake Travis. This photo was taken at Bob Wentz Park (aka the “public side” of Windy Point).

image courtesy of John

Waiting for Bats

Austin is famous for the largest bat colony in America (perhaps the world?) that comes out to feed every night from under Congress bridge, filling the sky with a cloud of zippy black bird-looking bats. Sitting below in the Austin American-Statesman lawn or up above the bridge on the sidewalk, it’s a lot of fun to take the kiddos to see the mass exodus for nightly feedings.

image courtesy of Dan

Doggie

This dog played in the park. That’s news-worthy, right? No? Well, here’s a ridiculously cute dog playing in Austin anyhow.

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image courtesy of blog dot jam

Austin Condos Benefit Low-Income Residents

Lani, Asset Director — Sat, 31 May 2008 02:31:54 +0000

According to the Statesman:
Profits from a local condo project will fund new affordable housing and help low-income homeowners fix up their homes. The 62-unit Chestnut Commons at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Miriam Ave. is expected to bring in about $1.2 million for affordable housing projects, including $250,000 earmarked for home renovations in the Chestnut neighborhood.

Landowner Tom Meredith donated 30 acres to the Austin Community Foundation (ACF), which then sold it to developers Terry Mitchell and David Mahn. The two developers agreed to donate a portion of the profits from the condo sales to the ACF for affordable housing efforts in central east Austin.

Some Austinites are opposed to the downtown condo developments popping up all over the skyline which is forcing developers to find a synergy with the residents of Austin to continue their forward movement. This approach of the land seller bargaining to benefit the city is smart and we hope it becomes a trend.

Allstate Insurance Settlement

Lani, Asset Director — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:34:59 +0000

Because Allstate is one of our state’s largest homeowner’s insurance carriers, this news likely affects you. According to the Statesman:

A $71.3 million settlement between Allstate Insurance Co. and state regulators could affect up to 700,000 Texas homeowners.

After several years of tangling with regulators who claimed Allstate’s rates were unjustifiably high, the insurance company has settled on an agreement that includes:

$37 million in refunds for new and renewal policies written by Allstate Texas Lloyds between Dec. 1, 2004, and April 23, 2006;

a 3 percent rate cut for new and renewal policies written for a year starting June 2. Policyholders will get a 3 percent credit covering Aug. 20, 2007, through June 1; and

a freeze on premiums from June 2, 2008, to June 1, 2009. However, that provision gives Allstate an out if there are “extraordinary and unforeseen circumstances.”

If you are a current Allstate client, your agent can best tell you what the next step is in either a rebate, rate cut or premium freeze.

A Night on the Town

Lani, Asset Director — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:28:56 +0000

Austin is a fun place to live and there is so much to do… there is so much more to buying a home and selecting an area of town you want to settle down in than the interior of a single home. Austin is chock full of hot restaurants and entertainment, and here are some shots of what we did tonight:

Hut’s Hamburgers

Hut’s Hamburgers has been famous for Austin’s best burgers for many years. My grandparents used to enjoy Hut’s and it’s still one of my father’s favorite restaurant as it is ours. Not only does it have a lot of great memories attached to it, they offer a bajillion types are of burgers. Would it be un-kosher to order chicken fried steak? I almost did!

It took a long time for us (well, me) to decide on what to order, but here’s what we settled on… it looks super gross but it is SO good and the burgers are still ridiculously inexpensive!

Oooh, we snagged a shot of some of Hut’s vintage signage. I love how fun their ads were, even back then!

Around Hut’s

There is a lot to do pretty much within arm’s reach of Hut’s, and by do, I mean eat (which is pretty much my favorite thing to do)… here are a few:

Next Up: Whole Food’s

Downtown, Whole Foods continues to sucker us in. Their outdoor nursery is gorgeous and the vignettes inside the market with extremely artistic displays and products that seem unreal in how creatively they are presented. If you haven’t been, just go- you won’t regret it! We love enjoying walking with our mini-basket up and down every aisle discovering new products!

Around Whole Foods

Whole Foods is smack dab in the middle of one of the most quickly growing blocks of the city. Cranes are abundant as are cool bars, restaurants and businesses, check it out:

GSD&M Idea City is home of some of the brightest marketing minds in the world. And even if it wasn’t, their building is really sexy. I hear that the interior is even more impressive; I’ll have to sneak in sometime…

Book People, across from Whole Foods is one of the nation’s largest independent booksellers. There are frequently readings, author book signings, music and events here to entertain one and all (and if you end up there in between functions, there are a trillion nooks and crannies to discover here)!

Even the back of Anthropologie’s retail store is gorgeous. Attached to Book People, this clothier is one of Austin’s newer additions (with one at Hill Country Galleria also).

Below is my terrible shot of The Tiniest Bar in Texas. It’s literally just that tiny green shack where you get your beer and then head out to that patio. Tonight, a great Cory Morrow-sounding guitarist was groovin’ on the outdoor patio. On Friday nights, this place gets packed and people end up in the street because there are only so many places to stand!

Caddy corner to Whole Foods, this among other condo high rises are popping up. It will be nice for the new residents here to be so close to the bar and shopping action!

You’re welcome to join us next time we zip around town! Burgers, organic groceries, lollygaggin’ (yeah, that’s a word) around the city and of course drinking at least ONE Starbuck’s drink. Gotta love Austin!

Austin Through A Photographer’s Lense

Lani, Asset Director — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:43:54 +0000

This week, Dean (aka onefivedoor) took a series of aerial shots of the city of Austin and we wanted to share them with you. Not only do they have artistic merit but give you an awesome point of view of Austin that you probably have not seen before!

Zilker Park

The Capitol & Downtown

Lake Austin

Little Pieces of Austin

Lani, Asset Director — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:35:44 +0000

Recently, we moved to a new home in Pflugerville and we absolutely love it. I have lived in Austin my whole life and had never been to downtown Pflugerville (just up the street from the new place)- it seems like everyone smiles, says ma’am and sir and even driving is a friendly experience.

Case in point, there is a regular lemonade stand in our subdivision- talk about a blast from the past! We got all nostalgic passing by. These kiddos are serious business too, there’s almost always someone pulled over to buy 25 cent lemonade! This is just a little piece of how it feels to live in Austin:

3927 Lord Byron Drive

Lani, Asset Director — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:48:22 +0000

With a Diamond Brite pool/spa, grand oaks, an elevated rear patio and back yard overlooking a green on the Forest Creek Golf Course, the stage is set for this luxurious home.

Inside, you will enjoy granite countertops, travertine tile, bay windows, a full guest suite, game room and two story living room. Forest Creek is one of the most desirable areas in Round Rock and priced at only $329,900 we anticipate this home will not be on the market for long!