Johnson City is a Texas Hill Country town 48 miles west of Austin and 60 miles north of San Antonio. Johnson City is 25 miles south of the Highland Lakes community of Marble Falls and 30 miles east of Fredericksburg, so Johnson City is very centrally located and easily accessible from two large metropolitan areas, as well as numerous Hill Country resort destinations.

Johnson City was established on the site of the Johnson Ranch on Town Creek, and in 1879, three sites were considered for settling a community on the shores of the Pedernales River, one being the site of the Johnson Ranch. The site submitted by James Polk Johnson, a 320 acre plot of land owned by the Johnson Family, was chosen at the gathering and accepted by a vote of the first settlers during a celebration and meal held alongside the creek. James Polk Johnson was a nephew of Sam Ealy Johnson and Tom Johnson, both of whom had originally been cattlemen who drove herds on the Chisholm Trail until it became unprofitable, and Sam Ealy Johnson was Lyndon Baines Johnson's grandfather as well.

James Polk Johnson was a natural organizer, and after changing from a ranching career to a career in business, his organizational talents served him and the community well. James Polk Johnson died prematurely at the age of forty in 1885, but prior to his death, he built a gristmill on the creek as well as a hotel, named the Pearl Hotel, and another project was under construction at the time of his demise which later became the Johnson City Bank.

There were a substantial number of farmers in the early days of Johnson City, most of which raised corn and cotton, and the mill continued operation until the 1970s, producing cotton after being bought by George Croft after James Polk Johnson's death.

The population of Johnson City during the census of 2000 was just over 1990, and the city is the county seat of Blanco County. There are many schools, libraries, museums, and other attractions in Johnson City today, including the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and the Benini Foundation Galleries and Sculpture Ranch. In addition, there is a newly remodeled historical museum called the Captain Perry Texas Ranger Museum which was just reopened after extensive renovations. There is also an exotic animal zoo and refuge a few miles north of Johnson City on Highway 281, and the establishment on 137 wooded acres of land which include educational facilities, replete with lakes, hiking trails, and creeks, offers various school programs, petting zoos, guided tours, and luxury safari-style accommodations for visitors.

Pedernales Falls State Park with its 5,212 acres of woodlands, waterfalls, campsites, shorelines and water sports opportunities is also very accessible, and is just a few miles east of the city, as well as Reimer's Ranch, a pristine nature preserve on the shores of the Pedernales, which offers 2,427 acres of recreational facilities and parklands, and is one of the largest nature preserves in Texas.
Some of the accommodations for visitors to the town include Chantilly Lace Bed and Breakfast and Country Cabins Bed and Breakfast, and a few notable restaurants and bars include the Friendly Bar Bistro and the Armadillo Icehouse, as well as the El Rancho Mexican Restaurant, among others.

Johnson City is centrally located and offers so many scenic recreational as well as historic attractions that it is a must-see for visitors to central Texas and the Hill Country, and considering its proximity to Austin, it is well worth the drive, so be sure to visit this jewel of central Texas when planning a day trip to the Hill Country!

Escapeso Realty is a group of central Texas realtors. Their site has a search for Austin homes along with general statistics on the Austin real estate market. Their site also provides information on current mortgage rates.

Most visitors to Austin notice the unusual streetlights strategically located throughout the city known as the moonlight towers, but most are not aware of the history of the towers. Probably the most well known of the moonlight towers is the one in Zilker Park which is used every year to represent a huge Christmas tree, when it is encircled with multi-colored lights and can be seen from miles away.

There are actually 17 moonlight towers in and around Austin, including the Zilker tower, and these lights have been in use since the late 1800s, when Austin purchased the lights from the city of Detroit. In 1894, 31 used mercury vapor lamps were installed throughout Austin, and at the time, these types of lights were used in many cities across the country, but Austin is the only city still using them today.

The lamps, which are perched atop wrought iron posts, give off a distinctive pinkish-yellow light, and the lamps illuminate a 3000 foot circle of ground. Even thought the lights appear to be one large lamp, they are actually made up of 6 carbon arc lamps, and the lamp poles are actually 165 feet triangular posts made of cast and wrought iron.

The 100 year anniversary of the moonlight towers was celebrated in Zilker Park in 1995, and some of those who attended the anniversary event still have the custom made shirts which were available for purchase at the event, with an original artist's rendition of the lamps on the front and back of the shirts, including the date of the commemoration of the lights. These shirts are considered collector's items now, and the lamps themselves are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Most of the moonlight towers are situated in or around the older residential neighborhoods which encircle the downtown area, such as Clarksville, Speedway, Travis Heights, and the Zilker Park neighborhoods, but some are actually located in the downtown area itself, such as the one that is located at Guadalupe Street and West 9th. During the time of the 100 year anniversary of the lights, all of them were taken down and restored one at a time and then replaced in their original location, and even though there were originally 31 lamps, there are now only 17 in operation.

Each moonlight tower is held up by a fifteen foot pedestal which is encircled with guy wires and a network of cables, and the lights are changed and maintained by the use of a ladder which is affixed to the towers. Each tower has a commemorative plaque as well, with a brief history of the lights engraved on the plaque. The lights have been in continuous operation for over 100 years, and during that time, the lights have only been turned off twice.

The first time they were turned off was in 1905 when the lights were unlit for week during a dispute between the members of the city council and the Water and Light Commission. The second time they were turned off was in 1973, when the national energy crisis required the city to turn them off to conserve energy.

The moonlight towers are another example of the uniqueness of Austin, as well as Austin's intention of preserving our heritage and honoring its historical significance. Many people travel to Austin to see the annual lighting of the Zilker Tree, which includes a yearly celebration of the Zilker Moonlight Tower, so be sure to visit Zilker during the holidays and check out the beautiful, tall, lighted tower, which is lit to resemble a tree, or drive through the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods and take a look for yourself at these legendary lights!

Escapeso Realty helps buyers and sellers in Austin Texas. Their site is filled with stats on the Austin Texas real estate market. Additionally their site has a free mortgage calculator and a search for Austin homes.

Pemberton Heights is the name of a beautiful and historic area of Old West Austin, centrally located and convenient to downtown, the University of Texas campus, and the State Capitol complex, as well as easily accessible by the MoPac Expressway, also known as Loop One. The gateway to Pemberton Heights is considered to be the Keith House, at 2400 Harris, and this historic home was built in 1933 and has an unobstructed view of the Texas Capitol building from the front balcony, since it is located in the northern area of Austin’s State Capitol view zone. The Keith House was exhibits characteristics of both the Monterey Revival style as well as the Colonial Revival Style, with a wooden balcony and low-pitched roof, as well as varied exterior wall materials. This home is considered to be the earliest example of the Monterey Revival Style in the Austin area, and has chimneys at the gable ends, a central hallway, and shutters throughout, illustrating the Colonial Revival style. Two other historic and majestic homes in the neighborhood are Pemberton Castle, also known as the Fisher-Gideon home, at 1415 Wooldridge Drive, and the Catterall Mills House, at 2524 Harris, very near the Keith House.

Pemberton Castle is a limestone structure, with ivy-covered walls, which was built in 1926 from the remnants of an old cistern that was built on the spot in the late 1800s, and which was originally used to help Austin’s first fire fighters access water in the area. The home was originally owned by Judge John Harris, of Galveston, who was one of the earliest settlers to the area, and for whom Harris Boulevard is named. Harris was the Attorney General of Texas in the 1940s under then-governor Elisha Pease, for whom Pease Park is named, and Pease and Harris were real estate partners at the time. In 1925, the tower of the home was converted into a gothic structure by Samuel Fisher and his wife, Lucille.

The neighborhood was named Pemberton Heights about the same time, in 1927, when the developers filed a plat with the Travis County Clerk’s office for the first home in the new subdivision to be called Pemberton Heights. Shortly thereafter, the Castle became the sales office for the new development.

The Catterall Mills House was built in 1937 in the style of Early American Georgian Revival, and it is a plain, symmetrical, wooden structure covered with red wood siding. The home was bought by the Chester Family in 1999, and features some very unusual architectural amenities, including a bomb shelter built in the backyard during the Cold War. There is also an Italian marble fireplace and many stained-glass windows throughout the home.

Pemberton Heights roughly encompasses the area from the intersection of MoPac and Windsor, south along Windsor Rd., and north along Shoal Creek to 29th Street. The street which encompasses the eastern edge is Harris Boulevard, which eventually intersects with Northwood and then Jefferson. Westover Road is considered the last bordering street of the neighborhood, and the land contained within these boundaries is generally considered to be Pemberton Heights. The subdivision is considered to be one of the most prestigious as well as livable neighborhoods in Austin for a variety of reasons.

The Pemberton Heights subdivision was named in the 1998 issue of Town and Country magazine as one of the twenty-five Platinum Addresses in the United States, and in 2007, this neighborhood, along with its Old West Austin counterparts, was named by the American Planning Association as one of its “Great Places” neighborhoods. There is a very active neighborhood association in the subdivision, open to all residents, and some of the issues they are involved with include the preservation of trees and other foliage, less expansion by the MoPac into the neighborhood, and retaining the historic character, as well as creating and maintaining a pedestrian friendly environment in Pemberton Heights, which is also considered to be a very family-friendly area.

Today, residents and visitors can become knowledgeable about issues by reading the Pemberton Journal, which is published by the neighborhood association, and the subdivision has numerous single-family dwellings for sale and rent as well as condominiums and apartments available for rent. Pemberton Heights is one of the most desirable locations to live in Austin, and is minutes from downtown and various other attractions. If you are looking for the good life, Pemberton Heights has it all.

Ki works in the Austin real estate market. His site has a free search of the Austin MLS and information on mortgage interest rates.

The stats for the Austin market are out. So what is going on. Basically the same thing as we have been seeing for several months. The Austin market is doing worse than last year. Basically it slowed down in September when the subprime issues surfaced. But the Austin market is doing much better than markets like California and Florida which saw rapid appreciation over the last few years.

Here are the different submarkets in the Austin real estate market



The first thing that jumps out is Lakeway is doing really really bad. Central Austin West is doing better than the Austin market in general and East Austin is still doing pretty poorly.

Here is a breakdown of the central Austin MLS areas

Ki is a realtor in the Austin real estate market. His site provides a free mortgage calculator and information on mortgage interest rates.

The University of Texas at Austin is one of the five largest universities in the country, and currently nearly fifty thousand students attend the university, which is home to the U.T. Longhorns. Most of the students live in the U. T. campus area, which encompasses an area from Interstate 35, which runs along the eastern perimeter, to Lamar Boulevard, which circles the western edge of the campus, including numerous fraternity and sorority houses. The campus also extends to Martin Luther King to the south and the campus itself is just a mile or so north of the State Capitol Building and the Capitol complex. The northern edge is roughly around 27th Street, and among these fours borders are some of the most interesting sights in the Austin area.

There are many nice apartment buildings, condominium projects and single as well as multiple family dwellings in the campus area, with prices affordable enough for new students and nice enough for faculty, grad students and the more affluent. There are many “commune-style” homes in the area, which require the residents to share the chores, bills, meals and other expenditures and are very affordable due to the shared financial input of the inhabitants, but don’t offer quite as much privacy as a traditional apartment complex. However, these residences do offer more of a home-like atmosphere, which appeals to the newer students. Many of the commune-style homes, apartments, condos, sororities and fraternities are situated within a block or two of “the Drag”, which is how the students refer to Guadalupe Street, the major thoroughfare through the campus area. North of the University of Texas is the neighborhood of Hyde Park which some students can on occasion find a house to rent. But since Hyde Park has become a more desirable neighborhood over the last 10 years rents can be expensive. If students go a little farther north they find the North Loop neighborhood where rents are a little more affordable.

The east side of “the drag” skirts the western edge of campus proper, which includes the U.T. Tower, student union, various education halls, and the West Mall, where campus-related political gatherings are held outdoors. Many students can be found reading, walking to and from class, or eating on the steps and benches which are strategically located in the west campus area, or at many of the food kiosks and stands, which feature ethnic fast foods of all kinds, especially many oriental and Indian foods.

Students of all nationalities attend U.T., and all of them can find regional cuisine in the area, even on the campus itself, with the Texas Union offering a wide selection of meals, drinks and snacks. The other side of “the drag” encircles an area which is full of shopping boutiques, churches, student centers, restaurants, bookstores and one of the largest assortments of street vendors in the Austin area. The street vendors sell a little bit of everything, but seem to specialize in silver jewelry and Indian clothing, as well as hats, shirts, other clothing items, music, posters and memorabilia. These items are usually quite inexpensive, and a vast selection of styles, colors, and regional favorites can be found in the numerous stalls full of merchandise which line the west side of Guadalupe Street. There are also ice cream shops, pinball parlors, and many clubs, some of which offer live music.

Ki helps individuals looking for Austin real estate. His website provides updated statistics on his Austin real estate blog along with a search for Austin Homes.

Austin has many colorful neighborhoods and shopping venues, but most inhabitants of the city will tell you that Austin is divided into two distinct areas: South Austin, and North Austin. The Colorado River runs directly through the central part of the city, encircling the downtown business district on its southern perimeter, and as is flows west, the river skirts the northern edge if Zilker Park and the Barton Springs area. The part of the river which flows through the metro area was recently named Lady Bird Lake, and was previously called Town Lake.

South Austin is thought of among Austinites as the laid back area of town; it is a very eclectic area, and most of the residents are thought of as informal, casual and very individualistic. South Austin has two main thoroughfares which attract restaurants, clubs and shopping areas. South Congress Avenue is one of these streets, which begins at the State Capitol Building a few miles north of the river, and ends a few miles south of downtown and eventually merges with Interstate 35, which is the primary north-south freeway in the Austin area. South Lamar is the other main thoroughfare, which runs the length of Austin, from its northern starting point where it begins, a few miles north of Austin at Interstate 35, to its furthest southernmost point, a few miles south of Austin, where it eventually flows into the freeway interchange at Highway 290 West and Loop 360.

Austinites refer to the shopping and entertainment area of South Congress Avenue as the SOCO area, and many world class restaurants can be found in SOCO, as well as numerous clothing stores, antique and retro shops, and also street vendors, selling a variety of reasonably inexpensive goods to pedestrians and other passersby. Once a month, the merchants of the SOCO district hold a street fair of sorts along the sidewalks outside the restaurants and shops called First Thursday, on the first Thursday of the month. Frequently there is live music and most of the stores display their wares on the sidewalk, along with the street vendors, who show up in full force. Many reasonably inexpensive new housing developments are being built in this area as well, mostly condos which have a great view of the lake and the SOCO district. Many famous landmarks are in the SOCO area, including the Hotel San José, with adjacent Jo’s coffee shop, both favorites among locals and tourists. Across the street from the San José, in the heart of SOCO, is one of the most well-known blues and rock-oriented nightclubs in the Austin area, called the Continental Club. The city’s daily newspaper, the Austin American Statesman, also calls northern SOCO its home, and is just south of the Congress Avenue Bridge. The bridge itself has a pedestrian walkway on each side, both of which give pedestrians a beautiful view of Lady Bird Lake. The neighborhood of Travis Heights surrounds SoCo an is a collection of ecletic 1940's and 1950's homes.

One of the most unusual events in Austin is the nightly flight of the bats from under the bridge, where they nest, to the Austin skies right after sunset, a beautiful and very dramatic sight. The bats are the most numerous in March and April, and are actually Mexican free tailed bats on their yearly journey to and from Mexico. Tourists and many others flock to the area to watch the bats make their nightly pilgrimage to the stars and clouds above Lady Bird Lake. The bat colony is the largest urban bat colony in North America, and during their peak season they number over a million bats. The free Austin Orange Dillo bus runs every ten minutes on First Thursday from convenient free parking at One Texas Center on Barton Springs, so visitors don’t have to worry about parking on Congress itself.

South Lamar, which is occasionally referred to as the SOLA district, is an up and coming area for well known eateries and shops as well. South Lamar is more residentially oriented than the SOCO area and has cute older homes in neighborhood of Barton Hills, with nearly every cross street having homes, apartments, duplexes and various other dwellings, as well as schools and churches, which can also be found in the SOCO area. The western edge of the South Lamar neighborhood run alongside the eastern perimeter of Zilker Park and Barton Springs, home to Barton Springs Pool, which is the fourth largest underground spring-fed pool in Texas. The pool encompasses three acres and has a year round temperature of 68 degrees. Starting at the pool area, the Barton Springs greenbelt offers hiking, bicycling and walking for many miles, adjacent to well-known Barton Creek, which feeds the pool. There are many well developed hiking trails with informative kiosks describing the area and the attractions in each location, such as the location of local swimming holes such as Campbell’s Hole, a very old and well-known swimming hole which is fed by the waters of Barton Creek as well.

The South Lamar area is close enough to the SOCO area for pedestrians to walk the short distance, or hop on the city bus, and between the two long streets is another slightly less developed area adjacent to South First Street, which runs parallel to Congress and Lamar, between the two. South First is also home to many restaurants and shops, and is a pleasant place to stop while traversing between South Congress and South Lamar. Things just don’t get much better in Austin than living or visiting the South Austin area!

Ki works as a realtor in central Austin. His website features information on Austin real estate along with a free mortgage calculator and map based search of the Austin MLS.

Lying just west of IH-35 and south of Riverside Drive is one of Austin’s most appealing neighborhoods, Travis Heights. Its rolling hills and winding roads have long been a haven for a diverse culture, with a mixture of housing to match: perfectly kept bungalows, a few large estates and smattering of shabby cottages. Housing in South Austin began later than other centrally located neighborhoods due to difficulty getting supplies across the Colorado river. Once a stone pier bridge was built on Congress avenue in 1883, the area began to flourish. General William Harwood Stacy, along with partner Charles Newning, began the Travis Heights development in 1913. Newning had some luck in developing Victorian homes on large lots south of the river before the turn of the century with his development known as Fair View Park, but Travis Heights was the most promoted subdivision of its time. Stacy set up the area with grid streets, and curvy roads, and a variety of lot sizes to maximize his potential buyer pool. He also set up a trolley car to run clients from the capitol building to Travis Heights before it was even developed, and gave away Ford Touring cars as well. Stacy dedicated an area along Blunn Creek, and cliffs that drop down to Town Lake, to be set aside as public park land. Later Stacy’s sons added more land to the area, and it’s now known as Stacy Park, and still very popular today with Travis Heights residents who take good care of the land set aside for them. Today many of the original houses from Stacy’s development still stand, as well as some from Newning’s earlier turn of the century push. Some houses, such as the Gullet House and the Red-Purcell house built in 1885, have been deemed historic landmarks by the city of Austin. The Miller-Crocket house was originally built by Newning for Henry W. Dodge in 1888, and was purchased in 1901 by Eugene Miller at a courthouse auction for $1,800. Currently the two-story slat roofed house is owned by Kathleen Mooney and run as the Miller-Crockett Bed and Breakfast. Mary and Joe Lawrence purchased the 1914 house owned by Joe Steiner, whose brother Buck owned the land Steiner Ranch sits on now. Steiner was long cared for by Sister Madeline Sophie Weber, who began the nonprofit Faith in Action Caregivers. Steiner left Weber the house after his death, wanting the profit from its sale to go towards the nonprofit’s cause. The Lawrences bought the home from “Sister Sophie” and saved the classic revival style house, and its carriage house in the back, that had fallen in disrepair, and reused as much of the building material as possible, with its original Doric columns and pilasters still intact. Travis Heights continues to draw homeowners to the neighborhood with its winding streets, rolling hills and large trees. Its close proximity to downtown, IH-35, and the newly revamped South Congress shops, clubs and eateries also make it a desirable area to live. Others enjoy the diversity of the people in the neighborhood, since the crowd is a mix of families, downtown business professionals, artists, and musicians, all of whom feel a strong sense of community. The neighbors recently took initiative and put on a concert in Stacy Park to raise money for the pool there. As WH Stacy stated in his original Travis Heights newspaper advertisement, “It’s a real residence community. One with a soul; the realization of a purpose, where homes are homes, not mere houses." Ki works as an Austin real estate agent. He writes an Austin real estate blog to help investors keep up with the Austin market along with a free search of the Austin MLS.

One of Austin’s oldest areas is the Old West Austin neighborhood of Clarksville. Its central location, between Lady Bird Lake and Enfield, and Lamar and Mopac, makes it highly popular with those looking to live in town, without having to go the downtown condo route. Where Clarksville sits now was once part of the plantation owned by Texas governor Elisha M. Pease. At the end of the Civil war, it is said that Pease sectioned of a part of his land for his emancipated slaves, in hopes they would live nearby and continue working for him. Clarksville was founded in 1871 by freedman Charles Clark, who built a house on what is now West 10th street. Clark subdivided his land among other freedmen from the Pease plantation and elsewhere, and Clarksville became recognized in the National Register of Historic Places as being the first freedman’s town west of the Mississippi River. In the early 20th century, the city of Austin grew, and a city policy was constructed to concentrate African-Americans to the east side of the city, once the land Clarksville sat on became more valuable. The city services would only be available to African-Americans on the East side of town and as a result, many who stood their ground were denied city services: most houses still used kerosene lamps as a source of light through the 1930s, and many dirt roads still existed in the area as late as the 1970s. Many immigrants settled in Clarksville homes throughout the early 1900s resulting in a community that is still felt today. Anthony Colanetta settled in Clarksville and opened Anthony's Laundry & Cleaners at the corner of West 12th Street and West Lynn in 1950. Colanetta also built a drugstore that he leased to his friend Hylton Nau. Today both stores are still operating, and the soda fountain in Nau’s drugstore is a rare find. If Clarksville had a main street, it would be West Lynn. With many family-owned businesses, it would be easy to stay in the neighborhood without needing to venture more than a few blocks for all necessities. Sledd’s Nursery, with their high quality plants and organic philosophy, and Jeffrey’s high class, eclectic cuisine have been Clarksville staples since the mid 1970s. In 1979 Craig Weller and Mark Skiles opened Clarksville Natural Grocery, and a year later they joined forces with John Mackey to open the first Whole Foods. The Whole Foods grocery store and national office is now located at the corner of 6th and Lamar, within walking distance of Clarksville. Many of the historic homes from Clarksville’s past have been torn down since the average house size hovered around 850 square feet, and deemed too small for many modern-day homeowners. One of the few homes that have survived in Clarksville is the Haskell house, built by former Pease plantation slave Peter Tucker in 1875. Hezekiah Haskell, a former Union soldier, married into the Tucker family and moved into the house in 1885. Haskell’s son lived in the house until 1976, and it stands as the last home in Clarksville built in the Cumberland style, with two front doors and a symmetrical façade. This past year, the American Planning Association named the Clarksville area as one of the Great Neighborhoods in America, due to resident participation that keeps the neighborhood character intact, and keeps Clarksville thriving as one of the most popular areas to live in Austin. Ki is a realtor in Austin. His site covers different aspects of Austin real estate and provides users with a free Austin MLS search. He also talks about currents events related to real estate on his Austin real estate blog.

The statistics are out for the Austin real estate market for December 2007. 

The basics are that the Austin market has been moving slower over the last few months.  Compared to last year we saw the number of active properties on the market increase by 21 percent.  Also when we break out the different submarkets of the Austin real estate market the suburbs are doing worse compared to central Austin.  This makes sense considering the laws of supply and demand.  The supply of homes in central Austin is fixed and the supply of homes in the suburbs is increasing. 

Ki lives in Austin and runs a site where people can search for homes in the Austin real estate market.  When he is not blogging here he is writing on his Austin real estate blog.

For awhile I have been saying that homes in the Central Austin real estate tend to appreciate faster than the outlying areas of Austin. The below image does a good job of graphically illustrating this point.

http://www.escapesomewhere.com/blogim/mls-map.JPG

The areas in green are the mls areas of Austin that appreciated over 10 percent over the last year. Its pretty easy to see a pattern. The areas close to downtown Austin are mostly green. The areas farther out are mostly not green. When you consider buying a home in Austin this is a good thing to keep in mind.

Ki lives and works in Austin. He runs a site about Austin real estate which provides information for prospective home buyers such as a search for Austin Homes along with a Austin real estate blog.

Just a few miles from downtown Austin, bordered by Westover on the south, 35th street on the north, Shoal Creek on the east and Mopac on the west, lies the old Austin neighborhood of Bryker Woods.

Though the neighborhood was named in the 1930s, the origins of the area go back as far as 1886, when the 14 lot William Thiele subdivision was platted within one block between 34th and 35th streets, which still exists today. In the early 1900s, other subdivisions popped up nearby, like Camp Mabry Heights, which named its streets with a patriotic theme, such as Pershing and Funston named after American generals, and Jefferson, Madison, and Harrison named for former U.S. presidents. Some of these street names have also stood the test of time. The first subdivision named Brkyer Woods came in 1936, using the first 3 letters of the developers’ last names, J.C. Bryant and McFall Kerbey.

The majority of Bryker Woods was developed between the 1930s and 1950s. Most of the homes built were bungalows, with some larger homes sprinkled among them. The area has an abundance of pecan, live oak, and elm trees, hence the “Woods” of Bryker Woods.

Unlike other centrally located neighborhoods in the Austin real estate market, Bryker Woods has remained relatively untouched by demolition teams ready to build newer, and larger, homes. One possible reason for this sustainability is the lot sizes of the neighborhood, which are radically smaller than the lots in the Crestview, Hyde Park and Pemberton Heights Austin neighborhoods, since Brkyer Woods was originally set up for single family cottages. Those moving to Bryker Woods today are happy with a simple addition to the original house if a little more room is needed, realizing the coziness of the neighborhood, the shady tree-lined streets, and its central location outweigh having more square footage.

Brkyer Woods has a certain ambiance that really builds a sense of community. The narrow streets, heavy with trees, encourages neighbors to get outside, go for a walk, and interact with other residents. Many of the area’s inhabitants have lived there since the subdivision’s inception, and are willing to reminisce with the new families - usually to boast about the price they paid for their homes 40 or 50 years ago.

There are many destinations for a stroll around Bryker Woods. The hike and bike trails of Pease Park are within walking distance, as are Seider's Springs Park and Bailey Park. Most families can walk their young children to the popular Bryker Woods elementary. You can find way more than a hammer and nails at mom and pop hardware store Breed and Co, who stock a variety of tropical plants, home décor, and gourmet food. They even have a bridal registry where the engaged can register for Waterford crystal they keep in stock. Locally owned Kerbey Lane Café, located on a street named after the Bryker Woods developer, has been in business for the past 28 years, serving up nutritious food from local vendors, 24 hours a day.

The standout home of the Bryker Woods neighborhood was built in 1938 for Hubert and Alice Bohn at 1301 West 29th Street. Built by architect Roy Thomas, who helped the Stacy Realty Company build more than 30 homes in Barton Hills, the Bohn house was inspired by the 1936 science fiction movie, Things To Come. Today its futuristic modern look still rings true, with its curving exterior walls, and multi-level layout painted bright white.

For those looking for that feel-good vibe of the old neighborhood they grew up in, Bryker Woods has quite a lot to offer, and does so from the heart of the city.

Ki specializes in helping home buyers interested in Austin Texas real estate. His site has a free Austin Homes along with a blog covering the Austin real estate market.

Nestled in central Austin between Airport Boulevard and Manor Road lies the quiet yet vibrant neighborhood of French Place. Austin has always been renowned for its individual personality, and while its expansion continues to dilute that sentiment over the years, these quaint houses with ample yards exemplify the type of house considered a classic "Austin home." While other adjacent areas such as Hyde Park, Maplewood, Tarrytown, and all the property around the University of Texas have skyrocketed in price over the past several years, French Place has resisted this trend of the general austin real estate market and thus retains more spirit and spunk than some of the more gentrified areas.

While French Place's houses are generally no more than two to three bedrooms, many houses have interesting add-ons to enhance functionality without resorting to cookie-cutter remodels. Examples include converted garages and utility rooms with extra storage space, which make them perfect for extended families and roommates. Most of these Austin homes are designed for small nuclear families, which is makes sense considering that the vast majority were built during the years between 1940 and 1955. When you add an influx of the personalities of several generations of an eclectic and diverse population, the results can be difficult to predict.

Each home in a neighborhood is defined by the nearby businesses and institutions, and French Place is no exception. The University of Texas lies just to the southwest of this area, which has helped its personality, as well as its affordability. Though areas west of campus have inflated steadily for decades, resulting in massive apartment development and compartmentalization of living space. Since these houses are somewhat older larger lots (with the occasional white picket fence) are common and a valuable asset for social events and outdoor hobbies. Other features generally include lots of windows, larger kitchens and bathrooms, and wooden floors for easy cleaning. As far as the exterior and structure of French Place homes goes, most are pier-and-beam construction (and therefore moveable[!]) with wood much more common than stone. Houses tend to be one-story, with wide floor plans to compensate.

This Central Austin is a great neighborhood if you are interested in taking in what the city as to offer. The live music scene is quite active even on a very intimate level, with the neighborhood Quack's bakery hosting live music weekly and offering delivery service. East Side Pies has over 20 toppings and delivers awesome pizza to the French Place area with exceptional efficiency. French Place is also a ten-minute drive to downtown, the campus area, and is very close to the major interstate I-35. 6th street is an exceptional confluence of live music and alcohol consumption, which makes for good times year-round. In addition, the Cherrywood Art Fair is a neighborhood exhibit that showcases local artists, musicians, and more and has been for six years. Maplewood Elementary School is a well-recognized neighborhood school within walking distance of most of the neighborhood. All of these factors make French Place an attractive place to call home. But it also probably won't be this easy to find such a great place to live in Austin for long.

Ki is a realtor in Austin.  In addition to writing here he runs a Austin real estate blog.  Which covers various real estate related events in Austin.

Austin has long been a home for friendly folk- friendly to each other, friendly to animals, and friendly to the environment. What used to be considered as only the concerns of hippies and the bohemian sect, environmentalism is now at the forefront of commercial and residential design, and "green" businesses are popping up nationwide. Austin, however, was the first city in the United States to establish a local green-building program, laying out environmentally friendly and sustainable guidelines for home builders and its interested citizens back in 1991.

Since the Austin real estate market is known nationwide as the leader of these green building methods, the National Association of Home Builders chose the city as its hub to launch an industry-wide effort to establish green-building guidelines in 2004. These guidelines now provide a practical nationally recognized framework for builders to follow to reduce a home’s environmental impact by making them more energy efficient, improving indoor environmental quality, and so on. Though Austin has already been using similar guidelines for over a decade, now the rest of the country is following suit.

The City of Austin and Austin Energy provide a great resource to owners of Austin condos and homes, and new home builders, who are looking for ways to conserve energy, and build an environmentally friendly home. The city’s website offers a list of companies willing to do an energy analysis of a home that will determine possible options to help the house conserve more energy, with suggestions ranging from air conditioning repair to weather stripping doors. The city then will offer a 20% rebate on a variety of possible improvements.

Though the city offers rebates in many ways, it’s the solar power the city is really pushing. Austin Energy offers customers one of the country's best solar photovoltaic rebates, at $4.50 per watt. A one kilowatt solar photovoltaic system is the smallest considered practical, but comes with an upfront cost of between $6,000 and $10,000. The city will rebate $4,500, for a savings of 45% to 75% of that cost.

For those Austinites building a new house or commercial building, the city created the Austin Energy Green Building organization to promote the construction of high quality, more sustainable buildings, and has even zoned sections of the city’s real estate to require an Austin Energy Green Building rating. Four times a year, the organization also holds a one day "Green By Design" workshop open to the public. The workshop provides an overview of the green building process, and brings in design, building, engineering, landscaping, and Austin real estate professionals with many years of experience in homebuilding and remodeling, to help make sense of it all.

In March of this year, Austin was named as the city leading the country in "cleantech" by SustainLane, an online resource center that offers sustainability tips to state and local government. The term "cleantech" refers to venture capital-based startups based in green technology, with Austin as the front runner with seven such startups, ranging from internet-controlled irrigation to geothermal energy technologies. To keep Austin on the cutting edge of green technology, the Clean Energy Incubator program was set up to help young clean energy businesses succeed by commercializing their ideas. With citizens, government, and forward thinking businesses, Austin will likely be the city to follow in the environmental battle for years to come.

Ki is a real estate agent in Austin and can help buyers find a green friendly home in the Austin real estate market. If you are looking for more information on the Austin market his Austin real estate blog is a good place to start your research or you can search for homes on his Austin MLS search.

1. Don't sweat the small stuff. It is common that people will haggle or get attached to small things like refrigerators. I try to put these things in perspective for my clients. Would you rather convey a $1000 used fridge to these buyers who are ready to move forward with just this one concession, or do you want to put it back on the market and pay more mortgage payments until the next buyer is interested? A lot of times, if you look at the overall picture of how much it will cost to put something back on the market, including mortgage, taxes, and insurance, there will be a breaking point at which the seller understands it is not worth the money. From the buying perspective, if we take the fridge example again, is it really worth the fridge to spend more time looking and spend money on another inspection? Sometimes your client will say that it is worth ending the deal, and in that case, you will represent them as they want, but most people become rational after they get past the initial emotions of "wanting" something. And some clients will even thank you for helping them through the small things.

2. Negotiating other issues. Think creatively. Sales price is not the only issue in a transaction. Closing a couple weeks earlier may be the best for both parties and can be negotiated rather than concentrating only on sales price. One new home buyer offered her home to be on a property tour once a month in exchange for $5000 in closing costs paid by the seller. Basically, understand the other party's situation so that you can try to come up with something that might benefit them as well as who you are representing. That way, you can hopefully turn the negotiations into a win-win situation.

3. Offering packages. As a buyer, don't negotiate one thing at a time. When you present items to be resolved, for example repairs, always do this as a list. That way, you can trade-off one thing for another. For one, negotiating one thing at a time is a waste of time when everything can be discussed at once. Everyone is busy with their lives, and no one wants to be pestered multiple times about one more repair item. This just makes the seller progressively more irritated and less agreeable to the next thing you ask for. Also, the list format forces the issues to be prioritized, and you can set your boundary of what can be left out and what absolutely must get resolved.

4. Dealing with threats. This does not happen often, but some people will threaten termination as a bargaining technique. I would not advise using this technique, but it is good to know how to deal with it because the typical natural reaction is to tell them to buzz off. One solution is to ignore it and just talk about the strong points of your property or client. You can also re-frame threats to show that it is not in their best interest.

5. Knowing when bargaining zones do not overlap. Sometimes the negotiations are just not going to happen. A buyer and seller are at opposite ends. In this case, rather than continue to make ridiculous demands (or at least seen as ridiculous by the other side) and creating a volatile situation, it is time to end the transaction and move on.

At Escapeso, our real estate agents know the Austin homes and Austin condos market. Contact us with any of your Austin Texas Real Estate needs.