Question. Can I, the consumer or principal Buy, Sell, or Lease Austin, Texas Real Estate during these COVID-19 times? Short Answer: YES, you can. I like you, fellow reader have been just as shell-shocked in regards to the COVID-19 Epidemic. In addition, the ambiguous and morphing press release news and guidelines from the City of Austin, Austin Board of Realtors (ABOR), the State of Texas, and the Federal Government have been constantly evolving and are often confusing. Have you been confused? Who are we supposed to believe? What non-action or actionable steps should we as working, upright citizens take? Here is how our local Austin, Texas Real Estate Marketplace, Agents, Community and Title Companies appear to be working through these unique and quite honestly awful times. Here is  a MARKET SnapShot directly from our ABOR, Matrix MLS system.   As you'll see here on 4.2.2020, there are still 26 NEW Active MLS Listings today. There are 12 Pending Listings. There ...

Dear George-Vance, Yesterday, Gov. Greg Abbott  issued an executive order  setting a statewide standard of essential services through April 30. The order, which follows  the  U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s guidelines  released earlier this week, allows  residential and commercial real estate services, property management, and construction  to continue, effective immediately. This statewide consistency was greatly needed and levels the playing field across our market. According to Texas REALTORS® : The  statewide order supersedes existing local orders  only where those local orders may have previously restricted essential services or where they were more permissive on gatherings. Even for essential services,  telework or online work should be used as much as possible , limiting in-person contact unless absolutely necessary. Based on this analysis,  REALTORS®  can show ...

By  John Egan Mar 30, 2020, 9:16 am All you’ve got to do is look at the traffic jams (well, not at the moment) and the construction cranes to realize the Austin metro area is booming. Now, the U.S. Census Bureau has released data demonstrating just how much the region grew in the past decade. From 2010 to 2019, the Austin area ranked as the fastest-growing large metro area in the U.S.,  according to Census Bureau data figures published March 26 . The area’s population shot up 29.8 percent during that period, landing at 2,227,083 as of July 1, 2019. Put another way, the Austin area added 510,760 residents during the one-decade span.  From 2018 to 2019 alone, the Austin area’s population rose 2.8 percent, the Census Bureau says. Numerically, the one-year increase was 61,586 (taking into account births, deaths, new arrivals to the area, and people moving away). That works out to 169 people per day. Helping drive the Austin area’s population spike from 20...