The climate at the fifth annual housing forecast event held by the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin and the Austin Board of Realtors was positive and forward-thinking. I liked what I heard on January 8, and I like what the numbers indicate for real estate investing in 2013. Here's what the experts have to say.

- Low interest rates are here to stay, likely through 2015. We may see a little bobble up or down, but there shouldn't be any major changes.

- Home prices are going up steadily, a fact which can in itself further fuel the recovery, because rising prices move some waffling buyers off the fence. Climbing prices motivate buyers by making them think, "I better move now, before I have to pay more."

Now, put these factors together and…

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If you have any doubts about the health of the real estate market in Austin take a look at the article, "Multiple Offers Make a Comeback" by Autumn Rhea Carpenter in the September/October issue of Austin Realtor. The piece includes the story of one realtor whose clients submitted an offer on a house only to be faced with stiff competition -- 12 offers on the same property in 24 hours! If you get in a situation like that on a property you really want, is how do you make yourself stand out?

The most important thing is to illustrate that you're serious about showing up for the closing. You're there to do business and you're interested in making that happen. First and foremost, make sure all realtors concerned are really communicating. Buyer's and seller's…

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It probably won't surprise real estate investors to hear that Austin is the number four city in the nation for gentrification projects. Of these, the one I'm personally most excited about is the Mueller Development that has no less than 11 major projects in the works to completely transform the area, which is three miles from downtown and the Capitol and two miles from the University of Texas.

If there's any place that screams, "Location, location, location" more than that, I don't know what it would be! Let's look at what's going on down there:

●      A 112-room, four-story Residence Inn by Marriott will go up at the southwest corner of 51st Street and Lancaster. With one and two-bedroom suites and studios, the Inn will be built for those who need…

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At his annual economic forecast event held on Thursday February 23 at the Austin Convention Center, Angelos Angelou pointed to a number of really positive indicators for Austin in the coming months. In fact, he used the phrase "fantastic news," which is just exactly what real estate investors want to hear. For instance:

●      Job growth at the rate of 19,000 new positions this year and at least 20,000 in 2013. Why does that look so good? We only picked up 13,000 last year. In fact, we've gained back all the jobs that were lost during the recession and Angelou thinks the local unemployment rate, which is roughly 6 percent right now is headed below 5 percent. Granted, these are not likely to be high-paying jobs, but employment puts purchasing power in…

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Just recently I was asked to explain to some potential clients why Texas has one of the best business and investment climates in the nation. It wasn't an issue of finding something to talk about, but figuring out when to stop talking. This is the kind of information real estate investors need to have at their fingertips to negotiate conversations with financiers and potential partners.

First, and I especially like this statistic, Texans are entrepreneurs. The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activities is a measure of entrepreneurs per 100,000 adults in a certain area. Nationally, the number is 340. In Texas, it's 400. We have a large and growing economy, and we are actively seizing the opportunity to leverage that into an even more diversified…

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Homework time, friends. On January 1, 2013 a new 3.8 percent tax will take effect on some investment income including real estate transactions. It's going to be important for you to clearly understand this tax, which is -- shock of shocks - complicated, which is why advise you to have a pow-wow with you own tax advisor.

I don't know about you, but I'm the kind of person who does better with real life examples. The National Association of REALTORS has put together a terrific brochure that outlines some scenarios in which the new tax will come into play. The link to the material is at the bottom of this post, but there are a few general things you'll want to keep in mind as you read.

First, where did this thing come from? It was passed by Congress in…

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On Wednesday, July 20, Shonda Novak wrote a piece for the Austin American-Statesman some of you might have seen, "Central Texas Existing Home Sales up 9 Percent in June; Median Price Still at $205,000." I think I've made it clear I'm a big proponent of education for real estate investors, which includes scanning the relevant news. (Seriously, if you haven't looked into a news reader for your smartphone, take the time to do it.)

While the headline on this piece pretty much says it all, there are some things from the text that are worth pointing out. We are bucking the national trend here in Central Texas and Austin specifically. Now, that's not to say the market is completely out of danger, but Austin is a big draw city -- for retirees, as we pointed…

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Earlier this month, Andrea V. Brambila reported on the Top 10 Real Estate Boomtowns for Inman News, a leading source for independent real estate news for industry professionals and consumers. The basis for the projections about hot real estate markets as based on population estimates from ProximityOne, a firm specializing in demographics used for decision-making and goal-setting.

When all the numbers were crunched, they forecast population growth of 8.9 percent for the U.S. from 2010 to 2020. That means the country will likely have a population of 337.1 million by the end of the decade. This takes into account information from the 2010 census as well as patterns in the historical data on national birth, death, and migration trends.

The census tracked a…

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This week I thought you might like to know how things are shaping up with progress on the Formula 1 race track. The developers have been told to have the facility ready to host a race by June 2012. Needless to say, they're not taking any long lunch breaks on the site. Right now they're working 12-hour days and still taking Sundays off, but that may change if they get in crunch mode. Most of the current work is going into clearing ground for a future parking lot.

Frankly, it doesn't look like much if you go out there, so let's turn our intention to what is impressive right now -- The numbers. TexasEconomicImpact.com just finished a study for the promoters and concluded the project will spend $144.9 million in 2011, which will pump $68.4 million in…

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I was surfing YouTube© and found this video clip of CBS' Anthony Mason taking "a closer look into why Austin, Texas is leading the nation in job growth."You may recall my excitement with the Texas Workforce Commission figures in my December 2nd post.Take the 5 minutes to check it out.

Unfortunately, at the request of CBS, the embedding has been disabled.Please click here to view the video.

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