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Author Archives: Carol Mangum

Condos in college towns

You may or may not be aware of the movie Joe’s Apartment, starring Jerry O’Connell. You should be, if you like musicals. I highly recommend you check it out on YouTube.  We sang the Joe’s Apartment song on more than one occasion THIS weekend…Welcome to Joe’s apartment!

Russell, Sierra (our college-age daughter), and I spent last weekend chipping away at three years of college-boy detritus. Talk about MWAs (yes, Minimum Wage Activities)—this was a big one! It was okay, though, since it was a family project we enjoyed, regardless of the creep factor. And the cockroaches.

Russell found a great deal on a condo, close to the Texas State University campus in San Marcos, and closed on it before it hit the MLS. Recent real-wood cabinetry, wood flooring, and upgraded central heat and air system, too. Nice score, Russ!  CAW (Celebrate All Wins)!

Fortunately, the tenants, three young college men who’d apparently never cleaned once, vacated the apartment two days before the end of their lease. Russ says they’d planned to leave the previous weekend, but he hadn’t gotten it in writing. (There’s a good note for future transactions, get it in writing.) We wouldn’t have had to do all the cleaning and painting ourselves if they’d moved out last weekend. It would’ve been ready by this weekend and we could’ve spent the weekend moving her in and decorating instead. Oh well.

We’ve always intended to buy Sierra a condo or duplex to live in while she went to college, and we’ve finally done it. There’s a second bedroom and bath in case anyone’s looking for a place to lease on the bus line to Texas State University… She’s looking for a good roommate (preferably someone who likes to clean)! 😉

All in all it was a good weekend. The cherry on top was a fun and revealing Sunday Amazing Race-type test for us, which Sierra’s godparents helped us win. A very special thanks and big hugs to our lifelong friends, David, Lucy, and their daughter Kay for stopping by with delicious munchies and lending a hand, too! You guys are the BEST! You earned a ton of brownie points this weekend! I’ve always known you to be amazing and TRUE friends, and you just keep proving it again and again.

As far as Sierra’s concerned, the condo’s not home until the exterminator makes his trip out. But it’s revealed itself to be a fairly good blank slate to make her mark on very soon.

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Lakeland, Practically Perfect!

The white is primer. The brown is the original color. The finished color can be glimpsed at upper left.

The white is primer. The brown is the original color. The finished color can be glimpsed at upper left.

Some News about Lakeland

You may remember that the Lakeland house that Russ and I have been living in for the last two months was pretty darned great when we got it. We just wanted to do a few little upgrades before releasing it to the world (right now we think some lucky families may get it as a vacation rental this summer!).

So far I’ve added a window and new light fixtures in the gorgeous kitchen, and painted it to blend in with the rest of the family room area. And there is an exciting new master bath that I can’t wait to show you, as soon as it’s all clean and shiny! It has some custom features you won’t see anywhere else! It’s fun to fix up a house that’s not entry level every once in a while!

Here are some pictures of the current work, which is to repaint the dark entryway and family room a lighter color that still has the Mediterranean feel of the rest of the place. We just love how it reminds us of a villa in Italy! The color is “puce,” we’ve decided. That’s a greenish color to those of you who aren’t quite as into color names as the women on our team are. I’m “obsessed” (like the California lady on “Flip pr Flop” keeps saying) with this color. It makes me smile every time I go up and down the stairs.

Now the entryway and this family room are all the same pretty color.

Now the entryway and this family room are all the same pretty color.

I was also really happy with the painters, who are guys Russ and I have worked with before in our earlier days before Hermit Haus. They were in and out in a flash. These are the kind of folks we will use again and again–they followed instructions and met their deadlines! A welcome change from our recent experiences!

But, What about the Deck?

Faithful readers may remember earlier posts about the two-story deck we have planned to really make this place an oasis of fun. It got delayed for the usual reasons for our projects: waiting for permits. This time it was the local village, who had some pretty funny requests (like I had to personally draw a picture of the project, even though we’d sent in engineering drawings). The good news is we have permits! And Russell and I have fled town to go be with our families for the holiday weekend so that the deck team can power through that second level. We have been promised that it will be done by the end of the weekend.

We plan to have our company weekly meeting at the Lakeland house next week. We hope to share pictures of us hoisting an adult beverage and looking out at the beautiful Texas hill country from our new and lovely space!

Blue Ridge finally has someone to love and take care of it!

Blue Ridge finally has someone to love and take care of it!

But, Where Will You Be?

Well, since that last buyer withdrew from the Blue Ridge house, we decided to buy it for ourselves! We are empty nesters now, and the location is really convenient for all our work. Having a finished house to live in will give us more time to find and locate the “fixer-upper” we really want to get next–and any big repairs can be done without us having to live in the house. In the end, we all think it’s worked out for the best. It’s SUCH a cute house, and we’ll love all the work space in the garage, as well as the beautiful pergola out back.

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Market Update – Austin Area

Wilco median price graph

The Austin area and Williamson County continue to experience growth in the real estate market.

It’s no secret that we are operating in a very competitive up market right now. That makes it challenging to buy houses right, but gives us a little margin for error on the selling side. As our friend Shenoah Grove puts it, “We’re currently eight years into our five-year cycle.” A “typical” real estate cycle is five years of increasing prices followed by two or three years of “market correction.” The Austin area is in its eighth year of increasing prices, and there’s no indication of a change anytime soon.

In May, the median cost of a home in Williamson County, where we do most of our work, was  about $288-thousand. In Travis County, it was $346-thousand, and in Austin proper it was $355-thousand. Although those numbers are averages and some neighborhoods experience more or less (or even negative) price growth, prices were up about 5% throughout the area.

Our current low inventories should keep prices rising for a while. Inventory is figured by taking the number of houses available for sale and dividing it by the number of houses sold in a month. Williamson County and the City of Austin have only 1.9 months of inventory. That means if there were no new listings, every house available would be sold in less than two months! A “stable” market normally has about six months of inventory. The worst area in the greater Austin region has only three months of inventory.

All this is great news if you’re a seller, not so much if you want to buy.

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Because That’s What We Do

    HE was getting deployed again to Iraq.
    SHE wanted to move back to Alabama while he was gone.
    Their CHILD required medical care that was consuming most of the money and attention.
    THEY were desparate and miserable.

We were able to come in, take over their mortgage, get her money to move to Alabama, renovate the house, rent it to another military family for a year, and then sell it to another investor.

This is the “Reader’s Digest” history of a property in Killeen and how we work deals so that everyone wins.
Because that’s what we do.

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Lakeland Is Getting a Two-story Deck

Working hard on making a beautiful new deck.

Working hard on making a beautiful new deck.
These massive poles will hold up the second story of the deck just fine. These massive poles will hold up the second story of the deck just fine.

Work is also well underway at the house on Lake Travis. Rains have slowed it down, too, but we are happy that the demolition on the deck is complete, and footings for the new deck are in.

Power washing was again our friend. It’s got the wood that’s staying back in great shape.

And wow! Look at the support posts. Those are massive. We’re going to use one of those new engineered decking materials rather than wood, so our fabulous two-level deck will bring someone years of relaxation and fun.

The most exciting development is the new WINDOW we put in the kitchen. It already makes the kitchen a more pleasant place to be, and it isn’t even trimmed out yet. I decided to make the sill wider, so plants can go on it. What a happy place it will be!

A beautiful window that will hold a plant. Much better than a blank wall!

A beautiful window that will hold a plant. Much better than a blank wall!

 

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