Are you thinking about buying a home? If so, like other home buyers in the ATX area you may be wondering what are the most popular floor plans or design trends in homes this year.

In this article, I will cover some of the most popular trends that I’m seeing in the Austin Texas Real Estate market just so you will know what’s out there when you do ultimately buy a home.

The Great Room Has Made A Comeback

If you travel to Europe, you will see that most older homes there have great rooms. These are typically large rooms that function as the lounge, family room, study, and sometimes the dining area as well.

In the United States great rooms have been slow to catch on because, for the last generation, homes here have been built with living rooms and family rooms.

Over the last 5-10 years, tastes have changed and more people are not spending time in their living rooms, they are spending time in the family room because it’s typically the room that’s closest to the kitchen.

Home builders have capitalized on this trend and started building homes with great rooms that flow into the kitchen while eliminating living rooms.

Vaulted Ceilings Are Becoming More Popular

Besides great rooms, vaulted ceilings have also gained in appeal over the last several years and it’s easy to see why because with these ceilings you can make a room look bigger and more spacious than it really is.

Some of the other design trends that we’re seeing in demand in the ATX real estate market include homes with floor to ceiling windows, mud rooms, symmetrical lines and of course old mixed with new like barn doors, shiplap and reclaimed wood used inside homes.

Contact Me

To learn more about design trends in the Austin Texas real estate market, or to speak with me about selling your home, contact me today at (512) 944-7378 or click here.

Even though we’re enjoying temperatures in the 80’s right now, once summer officially hits in Austin, we can expect temperatures in the triple digits.

With hot weather ahead, you may be asking yourself what types of plants you can possibly plant around your home or garden that will be heat tolerant and won’t die during the hot summer months?

The good news is that there are a variety of plants for you to consider that won’t die with the hot summer heat and will keep your landscaping looking great.

Best Plants for The Austin Texas Summer Months

Texas Sage (evergreen) provides massive amounts of purple flowers several times during the growing season. They should be planted in early spring or early fall in full sun, and they have a 4 to 5-foot height with a 4 to 5-foot spread.

Texas Sage is best for Central Texas to the Valley. It’s an all-around great shrub.

Pride of Barbados has showy orange and red blooms, helping it catch visitors’ eyes. It grows well in alkaline to acidic, well-drained soils. The shrub can reach 8 to 12 feet in height and requires full sun.

For spring to fall color, try Thyrallis (evergreen), which produces stunning yellow blooms. This shrub is easy to grow and tolerates most soils. It grows 4 to 6 feet tall and has a 4-foot spread. The shrub may require periodical pruning to keep it looking pristine.

Texas Sage (evergreen) provides massive amounts of purple flowers several times during the growing season. They should be planted in early spring or early fall in full sun, and they have a 4 to 5-foot height with a 4 to 5-foot spread.

Texas Sage is best for Central Texas to the Valley. It’s an all-around great shrub.

Pride of Barbados has showy orange and red blooms, helping it catch visitors’ eyes. It grows well in alkaline to acidic, well-drained soils. The shrub can reach 8 to 12 feet in height and requires full sun.

For spring to fall color, try Thyrallis (evergreen), which produces stunning yellow blooms. This shrub is easy to grow and tolerates most soils. It grows 4 to 6 feet tall and has a 4-foot spread. The shrub may require periodical pruning to keep it looking pristine.

Search for A Home in Austin Texas

Planning on buying or selling a home in Austin Texas? I can help you! Contact me today by calling (512) 944-7378 or click here to connect with me online.

Mother’s Day 2019 is almost here! If you haven’t planned something to do on this special day for your spouse or the Mom in your life why not take them out to a Mother’s Day Brunch?

Here are a few great restaurants in the ATX area that will be serving a special Mother’s Day Brunch on Sunday.

Best Places to Have Mother’s Day Brunch in Austin

Brix and Ale. 1101 Woodlawn Ave. Georgetown. 737-444-2700, sheratongeorgetowntexas.com. The brunch buffet includes crab mac and cheese, a meat carving station with smoked beef tenderloin and cedar plank salmon and mini desserts and fresh pastries. Cost for the buffet that runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. is $55 for adults and $25 for children.

Café Josie. 1200 W. Sixth St. 512-322- 9226, cafejosie.com. The fixed menu at brunch is offered from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Includes unlimited plates of espresso mascarpone banana bread, buttermilk pancakes with pecan praline syrup, grilled pork belly with lo mein noodles and more. Cost is $30.

Cannon & Belle. 500 E. Fourth St. 512-493-4900, cannonandbelle.com. The restaurant at the Hilton Austin serves a brunch that includes leg of lamb and omelet stations, grilled chicken and baked halibut. Cost is $65 for adults and $19.95 for children ages 6 to 12.

Carillon. 1900 University Ave. 512-404- 3655, thecarillonrestaurant.com. The buffet runs from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and includes more than 40 items, such as slow-roasted lamb shoulder, a cold seafood station and beef tenderloin. Cost is $68 for adults, $30 for children ages 6 to 12 and free for children 5 and younger.

Carpenters Hall. 400 Josephine St. 512-675-5020, carpenterhotel.com. The restaurant at the recently opened Carpenter Hotel serves a brunch that includes milk bread French toast, blue crab omelet with green bean toasted almond salad, and housemade pastries. No fixed price.

Ciclo at the Four Seasons. 98 San Jacinto Blvd. 512-685-8300, cicloatx.com. The brunch spread includes furikake deviled eggs, short rib Benedict, Parmesan-crusted rack of lamb and more. Cost is $90 for adults and $45 for children 12 and younger. The brunch is hosted in the restaurant from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the ballroom.

Buy A Home In Austin Texas

Want to move closer to your Mom or family in the ATX area this year? Let me help you find the perfect home in Austin! Contact me at (512) 944-7378 or click here to connect with us online.

Are you planning on selling your Austin Texas home? If so, staging is one of the best things that you can do before listing your home because a staged home provides the buyer with an idea for how the space that your home offers can be used.

In this article, I will provide you with several staging tips that will help you to sell your home FAST.

Tip #1 – De-Clutter Your Home

Before you start staging your home, you should “purge” your home of all the excess things that you’re not using right now.

This step is important because, with fewer items in your home, the house will naturally look like it has more space and this will be attractive to home buyers.

When decluttering your home, it’s best to create piles for things that you want to keep, donate, and throw away because this will help you to eliminate the problem of taking things that you don’t want from one house to the other.

Tip #2 – Depersonalize Your Home

You may have enjoyed decorating your home over the years but, the reality when it comes to listing your property is that you should “de-personalize” the property before listing it. Why? Personalization in a home can distract a buyer and keep them focused on your personal “stamp” that you left in the home instead of dreaming about what they could do to the home after moving in.

During the process of de-personalizing your home, you should be focusing on doing things like painting walls neutral colors and removing anything that will make a buyer think of you. This includes removing:

• Family photos
• Artwork
• Souvenirs
• Knickknacks

Once your home is de-personalized, you can move forward with confidence that buyers will be able to see themselves living there and won’t be distracted by your personal taste or decorating choices.

Tip #3 – Return Rooms in Your Home to Their Intended Use

Last of all, but most important, if you have a room in your home that you converted into a home gym or office, you should return that room to its original intended use.

Following through with this step is important because having rooms in your home as they originally were intended to be used will help buyers to dream about how they would use those spaces instead of having to see past how a converted room could be used.

Sell Your Austin Home

To get started with selling your Austin Texas Home contact me today by calling (512) 944-7378 or click here to connect with me online.

May the 4th is coming up and if you’re a self-proclaimed “geek” like me you know that it’s also a time of year that Star Wars fans come together to celebrate all things Star Wars and the coolness of science fictions best-known movie franchise.

If you don’t have any plans for May the 4th yet, here are a few locations in the ATX area that will be having their own May the 4th events.

Image credit – Flickr

May The 4th Day Events

GRISWOLD AND CELIS BREWERY BARKS FOR BEERS PARTY

Location – CELIS BREWERY

Time – 2:00PM

STAR WARS DAY CELEBRATION

Location – OSKAR BLUES BREWERY

Time – 6:00PM – 10:30PM

STAR WARS DAY: THE LAST JEDI

Location – Republic Square

Time – 6:30 PM

Image credit – Pixabay

May The 4th Is Also Free Comic Book Day

If you’re also a comic book fan like me you also don’t want to miss your chance to get some sweet comic books on May the 4th as well at these following locations.

Austin Books & Comics

5000 N. Lamar Blvd. Suite 107

Rogues Gallery Comics and Games

1601 S IH-35 #360

Dragons Lair Comics and Fantasy

2438 W. Anderson Ln. Ste. B-1

Learn More About Austin Texas

To learn more about life in Austin Texas, or to view homes for sale contact me today at (512) 944-7378 or click here to connect with us online.

If you’re a fan of his blog, you’ll know that gardening is one of the things that I love to do in the Austin Texas area because, there’s nothing better than being outside, improving the curb appeal for my home and doing my part to help the environment by planting native species plants that also contribute to the beauty of my neighborhood.

Besides planting flowers and other useful plants to improve curb appeal, I’m also a big fan of vegetable gardening and I enjoy planting new vegetables throughout the year, this is why in this article I’ll provide you with tips that you can use for vegetable gardening in Austin.

Getting Started With Vegetable Gardening

To get started with vegetable gardening you will need to choose an area on your property that gets full sun for at least 6 to 8 hours per day. The good news about planting a vegetable garden is that even if you don’t have a dedicated space on your property for a garden, you can plant vegetables in pots or containers.

Before planting the seeds you should prepare the soil in the ground, or containers, by mixing granular plant food into the soil to give it a boost.

Regardless of the area that you choose, just make sure to set a reminder for yourself to water your vegetable garden early in the morning or late at night during the summer months to avoid getting plants getting “cooked” during the heat of the day due to watering at the wrong time.

What Vegetables Should You Grow?

Since it’s April, there are a variety of vegetables that you should be planting right now compared to other times of the year because certain vegetables won’t grow during the summer months in Austin due to the heat.

Some of the vegetables you should plant right now include:

• Black-Eye Peas
• Broccoli
• Eggplant
• Peppers
• Pumpkin
• Snap Beans
• Sweet Corn
• Sweet Potatoes
• Tomatoes

Learn More About Austin Texas

Austin is a great place to plant a garden or buy a home. To view homes for sale contact me today at (512) 944-7378 or click here to connect with us online.

Are you planning on selling your Austin Texas home? If so, one fee that you can expect to pay is a private transfer fee.

What exactly is a private transfer fee? It’s a fee that has to be paid each time a home is sold and it must be collected along with any HOA fees.

Are Private Transfer Fees Still Enforceable?

In 2019, some home buyers, sellers and Realtors® may feel that private transfer fees are not enforceable, the reality is that some Private Transfer Fees (PTFS) that were created before 2012 may still be enforceable due to the following statutorily process mentioned here:

“Each owner of a Lot, upon the transfer of title to such Owner’s Lot, will pay a one-time assessment to Developer in the amount of Five Hundred and No/100 Dollars ($500.00) per Lot.”

“This property is subject to a Private Transfer Fee.  The private transfer fee is equal to ONE PERCENT (1%) of the SALES PRICE paid in connection with each transfer of title to all or any part of the real property.”

How and When Are Private Transfer Fees Calculated?

Private transfer fees are calculated at the time of closing then paid by the homeowner.

Most homeowners who have to pay private transfer fees will be shocked, especially if their home is worth $500,000 or more because the higher the value of the home, the PTF could amount to $5,000 or more so it’s understandable that a homeowner could face the sticker shock of having to pay this fee.

One of the best thing’s homeowners can do before closing is to work closely with their title company to review their title commitments and verify if they will be expected to pay a private transfer fee or not.

Learn More

To learn more about Private Transfer Fees, or to speak with me about selling your home, contact me today by calling (512) 944-7378 or click here to connect with me online.