The 97-acre proposed development site dubbed “Indigo Ridge South” in eastern Cedar Park calls for offices, light manufacturing, and high-density residential, including up to 1,500 new housing units.

Located near the intersection of East Whitestone Boulevard and West Parmer Lane, the parcel is situated on the eastern fringe of Cedar Park, south of an Austin Wood Recycling location and west of a single-family home neighborhood on the outskirts of Round Rock. Originally slated to become a Schlitterbahn waterpark, development plans for the waterpark stalled several years ago. Currently, plans for Indigo Ridge South are moving forward, including rezoning the land into a “planned development” that would accommodate a general business or mixed-use…

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If you manage your own rental properties, it’s essential to have a “Rolodesk” full of numbers to help with common and not-so-common issues. Today, we’re sharing our list of helpful Austin-area phone numbers and web links for pesky problems. At Monte Davis Property Management, we strive to be a resource not only for our clients but also for investors who self-manage. Click here for a printable pdf of our “Helpful Numbers for Pesky Problems.” If you have questions, our team is here to help. Call us anytime: (512) 861-8089.

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As the Broadmoor campus continues to take shape, this massive 16-city-block development is projected to impact the greater North Austin area, along with residential property investors, significantly. All told, the development will include an urban oasis of parks and 23 trails, along with high-end retail, restaurants, and entertainment venues, sprinkled with modern offices and apartments.

While The Domain could be dubbed a competitor, the overall feel from those spearheading the project, Brandywine Realty Trust, is that the two will feed off of one another, creating an urban core that is predicted to rival Austin’s Downtown.

But that’s not all. If a secondary urban core area comes to pass, such a layout could significantly impact two of Austin’s…

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As a landlord, you need to be prepared for anything. While the vast majority of tenants will be quiet, clean and polite (for the most part); almost every landlord that has been around for a while will have a story about at least one tricky customer.

Whether you have a drummer in a rock band who insists on playing loudly into the small hours, a tenant who is flagrantly subletting your apartment or someone who thinks they’re entitled to redecorate the property… you need to be ready to respond.

Then there are the situations where the tenant is perfectly pleasant but you need to change the terms of your contract for whatever reason. Again, you need to know how to proceed in order to secure the best deal for everyone involved.

Fortunately, landlords…

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Choosing to make an investment in real estate, especially rental properties, can be an incredibly rewarding decisions and business can scale rapidly.

Many investors start by purchasing a single rental property and leverage those assets into multiple properties creating a compound return on their initial investments. However, more property means more of a need for management of those properties. And as appealing as investing in properties can be, it takes a special type of person to be equally as passionate about managing them.

Property management can be incredibly time-consuming and very stressful, especially for newer investors. That’s why so many investors outsource their property management as soon as they can. Hiring a property management…

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Ensuring that you’ve found a quality tenant often requires rolling up your sleeves and doing a little investigating of your own. The right information won’t just come to you, and unfortunately, the typical verification methods are rarely enough. It’s easy enough to falsify rental applications, and not always easily recognizable, so landlords need to do their own research and double-check the facts.

To start, always run your own credit report. It may seem like the potential tenant is helping you out by providing a credit report for you. However, this option leaves room for the applicant to doctor numbers. Don’t take the risk: Just run your own report.

Along those same lines, double check the proof of residency and proof of employment. Today, most…

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Keeping rent prices at market value is as important to property maintenance as any other component of upkeep. Most rental property owners realize this is just a reality of the business. Unfortunately, tenants aren’t always as understanding, and they’re certainly never pleased. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a few key considerations and best practices for property owners to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Keeping Costs in Perspective

Costs don’t determine rent; costs determine whether or not property owners stay in business. Don’t forget that rent has as much influence on overall property value as maintenance and conditions. A property owner who allows rent to fall below market is essentially allowing their property to deteriorate, just…

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There is no questioning that Austin’s property prices have become quite expensive. However, there is reason to question whether or not those in the market for homes should find this so upsetting. When investors and homebuyers can get beyond the sticker-shock and take a look at the reasons behind the higher cost of real estate, those prices can become much more reassuring than disconcerting.

Over the past several years, Austin’s many thriving industries have resulted in major population growth, and therefore, real estate demand. Just last year, Austin's population exceeded the two million mark and is projected to go as high as 3.2 million by the year 2030. According to The Chamber's monthly Economic Indicators report, Austin is experiencing a 4.0% job…

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As previously discussed, valuation services like Zillow (or Redfin, Trulia, etc.) are an unreliable source of home value information. To summarize: these services rely on AVMs, mathematical models that generate estimates mostly from comparable sales data. Limitations in the model and data—especially in non-disclosure states like Texas, where sales prices are not reported—compromise the accuracy of those assessments. With a variable and sometimes extreme margin of error, such services should not be the basis for significant financial decisions. In states that do provide such disclosures, this is not an issue, but if you’re looking in Austin, it is. Make sure to check your states provisions.

Inaccurate AVMs are prevalent and easily accessible, often the…

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I don’t write these posts to be advertisements; I want to provide helpful advice to all owners.  We’re often praised by our clients for our policy on late fees from tenants (we believe that any late fees from tenants belong to the property owners – not the property management team), but there are many more considerations to be made when choosing the best company to manage your property. I want to share 3 of the most notable with you here.

When you’re looking into property management services, it’s vital to find the right property manager. You’ll want to look for a management team that views your property as the asset that it is, not just another leasing company that handles rent collections, repairs and gets your property ready to be leased once again.…

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