Jim Gilbert's (austinhomesbyjim) Blog

Being in the right place at the right time can be uplifting. On a recent return trip to Austin from Hot Springs, AR, we drove through Pittsburg, TX. I remembered while we were there that there is a bronze statue (created by artist Max Greiner) of Jesus washing Simon Peter's feet. The Bible says t...

Well, well! Some stations in the Austin, TX area have dropped their prices to $3.41 a gallon! The crazy thing is thinking that I am getting a bargain. That helps to explain my theory of relativity: everything is relative. If gas had not gone up to the $4/gallon range, I would be fussing now about...

I have discovered, like many real estate agents, that I do not know sometimes (most of the time?) where my next business is coming from. In July, I had the opportunity to assist a high school friend with a home purchase in my Sendera Austin neighborhood. I don't believe that I had seen James sinc...

Here's another report by the Austin Business Journal today: An Allstate Insurance survey indicates that almost 40% of renters in the Austin, Texas area have no renters insurance to cover their property. My wife and I learned (almost the hard way) in our first apartment. We were wakened by sirens ...

As reported today by the Austin Business Journal, the Mortgage Bankers Association says that the number of applications for home loans has reached a near-8-year low. Wow! There are a lot of potential homebuyers sitting on the sidelines - waiting to get into the game later. I am thankful that ther...

English is a difficult language to master (most of us never do). Writing well is also difficult. Take this statement in an email my wife received recently about the death of a former high school teacher of hers. The author wrote that the teacher "told them that JFK was killed in the halls of KHS....

As an avid golfer who gets to play far too little, I am taking keen interest in the "British" Open this weekend. Beyond everyone's expectations, including his own, Greg Norman is leading this major tournament by two strokes after 54 holes. It is refreshing to see the former world #1 play so well....

I love clicking over to the blog home page. There the opening words of a number of blogs are presented. Go to the next page, however, and the entire blog is presented. Is there something I am missing? Is there another way to view the blogs without scrolling down a presentation of a number of full...

I am certain that I am not the only one who gets those infamous forwards with instructions to send them on to others on our email lists. I get them from Realtors and friends fairly frequently. I learned an important lesson from a client a couple of years ago after I had forwarded him a myth: go t...

According to the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, home sales in Texas were down from May 2007 by 14.9% My market area (Austin) was down 20.6%. In contrast to many areas of our country, median home prices are up in Texas (+1.3%) and in Austin (+6.1%). With the stock market news for June, I am wonderi...