If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Please feel free to leave comments or search properties. Parents who want to give their kids a great gift should consider making a down payment on a house. According to the Internal Revenue Service, a married couple can give gifts of [...]

Can you live entirely off the grid? It’s possible with a house designed specifically for zero net energy use. Local architects Scott Specht and Louise Harpman are developing just that: ZeroHouse, a house designed to operate with no connections to external sources of power or water. [Link] “The off-grid model has the most challenges, so that’s [...]

LovelyListing.com shows this interesting property at 507 Leland in Austin. Give me a call if you’re interested, I’d love a chance to show it!

Joe Biden is helping promote green jobs that stay at home, literally, through a proposal for a new program to boost energy savings for homeowners and help our environment, too.  The White House estimates greenhouse gas emissions could be lowered by up to 160 million metric tons by 2020.  Find more info in the Recovery [...]

From Coldwell Banker’s YouTube channel:

The S&P 500 had a 3.4 percent surge Monday, erasing the last of its 2009 losses, and the Dow was up more than 200 points. Leading the recovery: A double dose of good housing news ignited the advance: Pending U.S. home sales rose more than forecast and had their second straight monthly gain, while construction spending [...]

The Austin American-Statesman reports that average Travis County home appraisals rose an average 3.8% this year – still an increase, but the smallest in five years. How real is this? Reporters asked local real estate consultant Charles Heimsath, who noted that appraisals are based on the previous year’s sales, and in 2008 most sales occurred [...]

This morning NPR featured a story about architectural photographer Julius Shulman, whose photographs of great L.A. homes are “so distinctive that they are consulted by movie designers, collected by museums and cherished by homeowners who commission them.” Shulman’s photos made the work of great architects, mostly in Southern California, visible. “Shulman’s focus is on [...]

An article in the Austin American-Statesman talks about the increasing demand for “hybrid” homes (the term hybrid relating to an analogy with fuel-efficient automobiles). In a slow housing market, energy features can add value,especially in Austin, where custom homebuilders like Ray Tonjes are adding energy-saving features like thicker insulation, sealed attics and ductwork, and dual-speed air [...]

The American Institute of Architects found that home sizes are leveling off and buyers are choosing to migrate back to the cities. This effect is likely due to the population getting older – 3/4 of homes are forecast to be without children in 2025 – and the sense that high fuel cost for transportation will [...]