The growth in and around Cedar Park and Leander TX continues to be obvious.  Cedar Park has finalized a deal for a new event center that will have a 6800 seat arena. 

The City of Cedar Park will break ground later this month on a $55 million multi-purpose event center that has been in the planning stages for more than two years.

“This is a project that was stopped, started and reviewed several times before we found a winning situation for our city,” Cedar Park Mayor Bob Lemon said. “This is a true economic development success story. The new event center is a project we’re very proud of here in Cedar Park.”

Located on the northwest corner of New Hope Drive and 183A Toll, the 6,800-seat arena will be the home of the Dallas Stars’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, and provide the city with a venue for hosting many different types of events.

Full Story:

http://www.impactnews.com/leander-cedar-park/local-news/142-news/1079-cedar-park-event-center-finalized

 

 

We want to congratulate the 2008 graduating class of Liberty Hill!  I know we along with your parents, family, and friends are very proud of you!  I also wanted to announce the winners of this year's RE/MAX scholarships:  $500 was awarded to Cailin Vague and $500 was awarded to Jessie Haberer, who by the way will be attending my favorite school in the world...Texas A&M University - WHOOP!!!  We were amazed by all the applicants and their many accomplishments while also serving their communities and/or participating in sports.  Way to go Seniors!!!

The positive news about the Central Texas real estate market continues:  Crystal Falls in Leander TX has new lots under development.  Bill Hinkley with the Lookout Group says this: "We have been quietly assembling this property waiting for Austin to come to us, and it’s here,” Hinckley said. “We did not want this to be another cookie cutter subdivision."  For the full story about the development, click here:  http://www.impactnews.com/leander-cedar-park/local-news/142-news/1081-developments-get-a-breath-of-fresh-texas-air

Leander TX real estate continues to do well!

Liberty Hill and Bertram's newest exclusive community is nearing completion for phase 1 and is ready for sales to begin.  Phase 1 of Rio Ancho Ranch will have approximately 75 lots ranging from 3/4 acre to 1 1/4 acre in size.  The community center is also ready for use with a club house, basketball court, swimming pool, playscape...all set along the banks of the San Gabriel River.  More information, plats, pictures, etc. can be seen at www.rioanchoranch.com .

I wanted to pass along this Liberty Hill home for sale that we have that is loaded with custom features throughout.  This brand new home is in the popular Cierra Vista subdivision, and is complete and ready to go.This home has many custom features including 4 sides stone, custom job built cabinets, lots of built-ins, granite countertops, extensive tile flooring, jetted tub, fireplace, sprinkler system, and more.

http://shanetwhiteteam.com/inc/pmisc?pid=338

 

Cierra Vista, one of Liberty Hill, TX newest communities, has spec homes available.  This featured house is one of Drennan Day's very popular floorplans.  This custom home on 1 acre has a wide open floorplan, features 4 bedrooms and a separate office, formal dining, huge covered porch, corner rock fireplace, and has upgrades throughout like tile, granite, etc.  This home should be complete in less than 30 days.

http://shanetwhiteteam.com/inc/pmisc?pid=335

 

I want to take some time to let you know some of the neighborhoods we are currently selling homes in and some of the properties we have in each.  This featured house in located in the highly sought after Sundance Estates in Liberty Hill, TX.  This home has a wonderful open floorplan on 1.24 acres, 4 large bedrooms, 2 baths, extensive tile flooring, nice high ceilings, mother-in-law plan, large pantry in kitchen, hickory cabinets, separate office, upstairs gameroom with surround sound, covered porches and is in the highly acclaimed Liberty Hill school district. 

http://shanetwhiteteam.com/inc/pmisc?pid=371

 

I wanted to announce that Drennan Day's newest community is open for business in Liberty Hill, TX.  Cierra Vista will have around 78 one acre lots with houses ranging from the low 200Ks to the mid 300Ks.  The Liberty Hill real estate market is doing well, and this custom home community should fit right in the mix.  Drennan Day Custom Homes developed the project but has sold lots to a couple of other builders and is selling them to individuals as well.  Lots start at $42,000.  The subdivision has underground utilities and will eventually have a community park/playground area too.  Drennan Day will be opening their model home in the next few weeks and will offer 10-11 plans that can be built, or of course can build your custom dream home as well.  There are currently 3 spec homes available at this time that can be completed in the next 45 days or so.  Hope you can drive through or stop by the office for a packet of information, and tell all your friends about it too!!

 

Austin recession-proof?

Austin Business Journal

Austin was named third on the Forbes.com list of the top 10 "Recession-Proof Cities" in the United States.

To create the list, the magazine looked at the 50 largest U.S. metros, examining key measures, such as unemployment data, non-farm related job growth, median home prices and data from a 2007 report, "U.S. Metro Economies: The Mortgage Crisis" by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

At number three, Austin was right behind San Antonio, which grabbed the second spot thanks to solid employment figures and affordable home prices that continue to rise.

Oklahoma City took the No. 1 spot because of its strong housing market and solid growth in agriculture, energy and manufacturing.

For its part, Austin was lauded for being a hip town with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.

Forbes magazine's list of recession-proof cities also included: Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., Salt Lake City, San Jose, Calif. and Seattle.

Forbes says that Texas cities such as San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth have benefitted from historically lower home prices, land availability and 'little zoning'.

All four Texas cities boast falling unemployment rates, according to Forbes, with Austin dropping from 3.8 percent to 3.6 percent.

Forbes.com

Our area continues to grow.  We see signs of it everyday...more roads opening up, new schools being built, new developments on the horizon.  And with growth, comes opportunity for other positive things to happen in our communities.  I just ran across and article about Leander, TX and the things they are doing to encourage tourism.  I hope you enjoy!

Tourism in Leander

Leander has gotten its first taste of tourism in recent years by hosting the kite festival in March, car show in July and bluegrass festival in September. In only its third year, the bluegrass festival has garnered interest from out-of-state bands looking to participate. The kite festival, in its second year, had more than 600 citizens partake in the festivities.

“We’re starting small and it’s growing,” Leander Parks and Recreation Director Steve Bosak said. “We try an event and if it is well received and we get good feedback, then we will continue it.”

“When we first started [talking about] tourism, people laughed,” Leander Chamber of Commerce President Mary Bradshaw said. “But we need to start thinking about this now because it’s coming, and when it comes it will hit fast. We really need to start thinking about tourism and be prepared for it.”

“There have been some hotel people nudging around for a while,” Clennan said. “Lately [the developers] have been a little more serious. You can tell they are starting to have a lot more interest in the area.”

Hotels are typically built in a city when it reaches a population of 30,000 to 32,000. Leander’s current population is estimated to be a little more than 24,000.

“It would be nice to have something come in with a conference space,” Clennan said. “It doesn’t have to be huge, just enough room to host some events and get some people to stay the night.”

Bradshaw is hoping Leander gets a place for tourists to stay. Money collected from the hotel occupancy tax would give the city it’s first ever tourism budget.

“If we got a hotel, even if it was a 35-room Days Inn, we would start collecting some hotel tax money,” Bradshaw said. “We could put together a brochure, have it distributed locally and eventually start shipping them in small quantities to all of the 12 welcome centers all over the state and that becomes huge.”

The Williamson County Appraisal District is sending out their appraisals on properties for 2008.  The Chief Appraiser has announced some of the appreciation numbers that they saw for the year 2007 which shows growth for our area.  The following is from an article on statesman.com:

In Williamson County, 2008 home values will climb about 6 percent on average countywide, on $20 billion of residential properties, chief appraiser Bill Carroll said.

"This year, it's even more sporadic than usual because of the market conditions," he said, adding that notices will be mailed Friday.

On the commercial side, office, retail and industrial property values in Williamson County are projected to rise about 9 percent on average, on about $20 billion in commercial property, Carroll said.

Williamson County home values have been rising an average of 7 percent to 9 percent in recent years, "so we haven't been as exposed to a volatile market like a lot of the rest of the country," he said.