Bill Morris Realtor

All of these articles, and many others, are linked on the Austin Chamber Of Commerce website. There's a ranking here to please almost everybody: Greenest Geekiest Best Place To Live "Job Creating-est" Unfortunately, this year we're also among the "hottest." I think we're at 67 days at 100 degrees...

Two articles this week focus on residential real estate sales in July: Home Sales Down in July but Up Strongly from a Year Ago (RISMedia) Austin-area existing home sales up 32 percent in July (Austin American-Statesman) Sales volume in Austin was down almost 8% in July compared to June. Nationall...

Six months ago I compared "typical" investments in 2010 in single family homes as rental properties in various parts of Austin.  (See Where to invest in Austin real estate?)  Then I ranked the "MLS Regions" by Gross Rent Multiplier. Now, I want to offer an updated look at residential real estate ...

Even as chaotic market conditions still dominate press reports about real estate nationally, the Austin/Central Texas residential market continues to demonstrate fundamental strength.  Sales volume is up for five consecutive months, and average and median home values have appreciated all year.  L...

Like most of us, I have been watching the endless debate about what to do about the United States' federal government debt, and the debt ceiling. The most visible pundits have constantly warned about a financial Armageddon if the debt ceiling isn't raised by next week -- that the U.S. will find i...

Earlier today I wrote a short post about my thoughts on the loud, and so far lose-lose, debate about the U.S. debt ceiling. The problem is the debt, not the country's credit limit, and the surest sign that you have borrowed too much money is when you have to borrow more to keep making your paymen...

It's time to comment on updated S&P Case-Shiller home price index data.  As always, the index lags, so the latest data gets us through April 2011.  For this discussion, I have focused on the Case-Shiller 10-City and 20-City indices and how home values have performed there compared to Austin.  In ...

Like most of us, I have been watching the endless debate about what to do about the United States' federal government debt, and the debt ceiling. The most visible pundits have constantly warned about a financial Armageddon if the debt ceiling isn't raised by next week -- that the U.S. will find i...

This is just a quick update. Earlier this week I wrote about how home values in Austin compare to those in cities that comprise the S&P Case-Shiller 10-City and 20-City home price indices. At that point, the lastest Case-Shiller data available was for April 2011. Now we have one more month's info...

There have been some encouraging signs in Austin/Central Texas residential real estate recently (see Signs of Austin-area market progress and Demand for new homes may be picking up ...). Since building permits indicate builders' and developers' confidence or lack thereof, this brief summary of pe...