Estates at Brushy Creek

The 80-7045 one story plan features 3,120 square feet, 4 beds, 3 baths and oversized 3 car garage.

For More Information Contact Chris Tinnell at 512-828-7585 or email ctinnell@grandhavenhomes.net or Visit My Website.

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Thinking Of Buying? Fed Pauses – You Shouldn’t!

The Federal Reserve, taking a break from its aggressive rate-cutting policy, chose not to alter key interest rates Wednesday, leaving the Fed Funds rate at 2.00% and everyone wondering where interest rates are headed next.

Since last September, the Fed has cut rates seven times for a total of 3.25%. However, many experts believe that the Fed’s decision this Wednesday, along with comments from the meeting itself, indicate an increased concern over inflation. This means the Fed could start increasing rates as early as its next meeting, which takes place in August.

The Fed is in a quandary. The economy has slowed, led by a decline in home sales and rising inflation, stemming primarily from increasing energy prices. The Fed’s primary role in relation to the economy is to combat inflation and preserve economic growth. To combat inflation, the Fed will ultimately have to increase interest rates in coming months.

What Does This Mean to You?

If you’re looking to buy a house, consider these key points:

Home prices in some areas are at five-year lows, while personal incomes in that same period have increased. Homes are more affordable for many right now, particularly first-time home buyers.

Sellers are extremely motivated and many buyers in our area have benefited from the unbelievable deals that exist today.

Experts foresee a strong rebound in home prices when the economy begins to recover, according to a new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies. That means buyers today will be sitting on valuable properties tomorrow. Remember, annualized appreciation for homes exceeded 6.35% from 1940 to 2000.

Housing booms follow housing busts – and the savvy buyers aren’t afraid to jump into a tough market. But these savvy buyers know that homeownership is a long-term investment. Call me to discuss these points and get your purchase strategy on track. Ultimately, population growth and demographics point to a stronger housing market in coming years.

Even if you’re not looking to purchase a home, opportunities still exist. With the Fed taking a breather, this doesn’t mean you should be taking a break. It’s never been more important to create a financial plan that makes the most sense to you and your family’s long-term goals.

Writen By:

Ann McKinley
Network Funding

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Leander’s zoning draws attention

Community Impact Newletter, Written by Kara Vaught Friday, 20 June 2008

When David Hutton looks out the window of his office in the City of Leander Planning Department, he envisions people strolling to eat lunch at picnic tables in a public plaza surrounded by a garden of native plants.

Hutton is the city’s director of planning and author of Leander’s Composite Zoning Ordinance, an award-winning document describing the city’s planning philosophy that directly affects how Leander looks now and in the future.

Hutton’s plan for a walkable, inviting plaza in Old Town Leander is one example of composite zoning at work. Others are already in place — and more are on the way — yet citizens are not abuzz about composite zoning. It doesn’t work that way, Hutton said.

“There are zoning cases every month where composite zoning has worked, and they are not all grand or hugely different, but piece by piece, we are building a community that works better.”

Where zoning went wrong

City governments divide the land inside city limits into zones. The problem with conventional zoning, Hutton said, is that it is based on use alone. Common zoning categories are residential, commercial and industrial. Myriad other categories were created to more narrowly define the uses acceptable for a given area, such as single-family residential or light industrial. Overlay districts, planned unit developments, special use districts and other tools attempt to allow cities to control the look and quality of development, Hutton said, but are confusing and just act as a bandage.

For example, Leander’s city council once rejected an application for a donut shop with a drive-through window because the zoning category that allowed drive-throughs also allowed uses considered inappropriate for the location.

The “what ifs” killed the project, Hutton explains in his article “The Power of Composite: Shaking Conventions With Conventional Zoning.” What if, after a time, the donut shop closes and a gas station, car wash or auto dealership buys the property? Then it would be too late to change the zoning again to prevent those uses. If Leander had had composite zoning at the time, the developers proposing the donut shop could have applied for zoning that permitted the drive-through window, but ruled out undesirable uses.

Conventional zoning is somewhat like ordering a hamburger and being unable to specify the doneness of the meat, type of bun or condiments. A hamburger — not a chicken sandwich or beef taco — will be served, but it may not suit the diner’s palate.

In 2005, Hutton created Leander’s Composite Zoning Ordinance, which, in terms of a hamburger order, allows the choice of a well-done patty on sourdough with pickles, cheese and ketchup.

Composite zoning defined

Rather than categorizing zoning districts only by the allowable uses for a given area, composite zoning is broken into three parts: use, site and architecture.

Use defines the activities that can take place on a given piece of land.

Site refers to building coverage, scale, entrance locations, parking, sidewalks, landscaping, frontage type, exterior lighting, signage, outdoor displays and other factors that can play a large part in compatibility with surroundings, Hutton said.

The architecture component includes the quality and type of building materials, height and the type and number of architectural features.

Composite’s results

With composite zoning, problems associated with zoning are avoidable, Hutton said, creating “a win-win-win situation.”

City decision-makers win because they are more certain of the result of zoning decisions.

“They won’t get surprised when someone applies for something and paints a pretty picture of nice architecture and high site standards that, when it finally gets done, looks nothing like that,” he said. “With just use standards, you may have some architectural and site standards, but they are defined with some lowest common denominator standard. With composite zoning, we can raise those standards to what is appropriate for the site.”

Homeowners benefit from composite zoning because the developments near their property have higher standards of appearance, Hutton said, and the uses at those establishments are more precisely matched for compatibility with neighborhoods.

Developers with quality projects find it easier to gain approval under composite zoning because the mix-and-match categories allow the application to be so specific, the city doesn’t need to worry about the “what ifs.”

Inspiration and awards

In America’s earliest cities, zoning codes consisted of use, height and area components.

“So we basically took an old idea and expanded that to better serve our new development patterns,” Hutton said.

Leander’s Composite Zoning Ordinance received two awards in 2006: the Innovative Planning Award from the American Planning Association — Central Texas Section and the Current Planning Award from the Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association. The latter is given to the best zoning plan in the state each year, Hutton said.

Since 2005, Hutton has been approached by other communities, several of which are in the process of copying his plan.

“I’ve had inquiries ranging from cities in California to Massachusetts and Minnesota to Texas and a number of places in between,” Hutton said.

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Resources for You!

A/C Heat
Mr. Cool 445-0412
Castillo Service 441-6118
Rutherford 359-3851
Alpline 801-4413

Appliance Repair
Austin Appliances 263-1227
Ernest Quiroz 300-4279

Electricians
Mark Bonner 751-9908
Lee Electric 836-8578
Gene Kubelka 445-0140
Texas Electric 292-6744
Bryant Electric 328-3268

Landscape Desgin
Balcones Landscape 336-5263
Root Design 459-7665
Scott Forshay 799-1418

Decks
Steve Dowel 288-9360 or 632-3325cell
Austin Custom Decks 795-9500
Dennis Trepanier 413-8604

Glass Repair
Celcil Edwards 282-9928
JV Glass & Mirror 422-5205

Tree Man
How Foundation 476-9919
Tim Pruet 771-2436

Garage Door Openers
Doug’s 282-6238

Roofers
Caswell Serv 445-5388
Accent 280-7232
Dwight Barker 251-3962
Stacy Pearson 259-9486

Sprinkler Repair
Steve Romano 636-5515
Sullivan Irrigation 989-3555

Plumber
Shelton Plumber 836-3280
Austin’s Best 451-0519
David Ray 301-0767
Streamline 653-3556

Gutters
Seamless Rain Gutters 259-8264
Absolute Quality 339-9665
Payless Gutters 670-5048

Pool Service
Hines 873-8565
Tri Country Pools 990-8899
Glen Myrick 801-8374
Rich Kerr 964-5776

Handyman
Mark Bonner 751-9908
Dave Kugle 288-3537
Mike Millard 461-7348
Kirk Anderson 219-1444
Rick Carter 799-7501
James Hudson 923-1747

Pest Control
All State 863-7964
MDT Termite&PC 388-0025
Blue Light 251-5893
At Your Service 259-5130

Carpet Cleaning
Schmitz 335-8138
Cleaning Network 743-1040

Painters (& dry wall*)
Gromex (*) 844-8825
Ron Jay 272-4807
Francisco Aviles (*) 786-2310
Centry 219-0342
Rainbow Painting 288-8387

Lawn Service
Craig Eichelberg 563-6271
Complete Lawn Care 282-3441
David Manor 585-5670

Fencing
American Quality 219-9513
Allied Fence 255-5416
AAA Fence 836-8015

Chimney & Dryer Vent Cleaning & Repair
Chris Hess 259-3948
Austin German 458-3583

Cleaning Service
Top Notch 312-0624
Rag Time 665-4208

Cabinet, Door & Furniture Repair
Bill Peterman 288-7195

Solar Screens
Advantage 443-4678
Dan White 892-2150

New Flooring
Image Tile and Carpet, Craig Cell 762-7086 I think they have a coupon for $250 off
Carpet Supply Co, 512-263-5055 They have a coupon for $100 off
Jason 552-2780

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Twin Creeks Golf Course Community, Offered at $279,000

Cedar Park was chosen by Family Circle Magazine as one of the Top 10 Cities To Raise A Family in 2007.

Located in Twin Creeks Golf Course Community, Great floor plan with all bedrooms downstairs & gameroom on second floor. 4 Bedrooms + Study, Formal Dining & Breakfast Area. Inviting Entryway. High Ceilings. Whole House Bronze Fixtures. Kitchen has beautiful Granite Countertops, & is open to living room. Brick fireplace in Family Room. Master and Secondary Bathrooms have granite countertops & double vanities with upgraded fixtures. Master Bedroom features walk-in closet, garden tub, & separate shower. Huge gameroom upstairs. Built in 2002 by Ryland. Cul-de-sac lot on 0.22 acres, 2,769 s.f. per tax records. Must See this Gorgeous Home!

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Blog Probes Real Estate Models

www.REALonomics.net is a blog that is asking serious questions about where the real estate industry is going. More specifically, REALonomics poses challenges to the broker/owners to adopt models that will allow their organizations to become more transparent.

REALonomics.net advocates that the industry open up the property information portals to consumers and upgrade its approach to how it is interacting with the consumer by implementing more social networking such as www.CityBlogUSA.com, a community blogging network for every city in the USA.

Visit www.REALonomics.net.

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Condos in Town?

Are there any condo projects in Cedar Park, Texas and are there any that are on golf courses? What is the condo price range? Are there any age restricted condo communities?

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Real Estate Companies

Cedar Park has a lot of real estate companies. Which one is considered the best company according the Cedar Park, Texas residents? Who are the best real estate agents in Cedar Park, Texas? Historically, which company has been there the longest? Do any of the real estate companies also have title and mortgage companies?

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Foreclosures in Town?

Can anyone speak to the issue of foreclosures in Cedar Park, Texas? Foreclosures are up around the country due to the sub-prime lending practices. Is there any foreclosure impact on real estate in Cedar Park?

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