Central Texas Real Estate

I recently received the a question in regard to Lake McQueeney Vs. Lake Placid. Take a look at the email below and my response. Please feel free to ask me any questions about any of the area lakes.

The email:
I am looking into lakehouses and have a couple of questions ~ is Lake Placid a constant level lake? Also, can you buy gas on Lake Placid? I like McQueeney but am finding it very expensive. Thanks in advance for your help.

My response:
Lake McQueeney is one of the most popular lakes in the area which has driven property value up tremendously. Lake Placid is a very similar lake. It is only a mile shorter than Lake McQueeney. The fact that Lake McQueeney is more popular makes the water a little rougher than the other lakes due to more boat traffic and more retaining walls (they bounce the waves back). There is not any gas pumps on the water on Lake Placid, but most people who live on Lake McQueeney go to the gas station and fill up five gallon cans since the price of the gas on the lake is higher (you pay for convenience). If you are looking for more bang for you buck for a lakefront home, I recommend checking out Lake placid or Meadow Lake (where I currently live). They are both constant level lakes that you can boat, jetski, and/or fish on just as easy as Lake McQueeney. I hope this helps answer your questions.

People tend to ask me what makes one lake more popular than another. Take Lake McQueeney for instance. The main contributor to Lake McQueeney’s popularity is the Lake Breeze Ski Lodge. The Lodge has been around for since the mid 1900’s and continues to grow in popularity to this day. For those of you who do not know about the Ski Lodge, it is a private club located on Lake McQueeney. This wonderful place has put the area lakes on the map, especially Lake McQueeney. The great benefit of this private club is that you can boat or drive up to the Lodge any day of the week (in the summer) and grab a bite to eat, swim in the pool, fill up with gas, and even grab a drink at the bar. The greatest part of all is it is all “free”. That is until you get your bill at the end of the month. The Ski Lodge is all account based (like most private clubs).

If you are curious about the Lake Breeze Ski Lodge on Lake McQueeney and want to try it out before you join, just give them a call and reserve on of there many rooms. When you rent a room you have full access to all the same amenities as the members do during your stay. The Lake Breeze Ski Lodge is now on there summer schedule which means they are now open 7 days a week. For more information about the Lake Breeze Ski Lodge give them a call at 830-557-5736 and tell them Hunter told you to call.

A lot of people have been contacting me with questions about the area lakes (Lake McQueeney, Lake Dunlap, Lake Placid, Meadow Lake). One of the most common questions I receive is, “Are the lakes big enough to put a boat on?” So to answer their question, I have made a Video Tour of Lake McQueeney. I will be making a video tour of Lake Dunlap, Lake Placid, and Meadow Lake very soon, so check back soon to see the new videos.

I have even labeled most of the neighborhoods and roads. Including: The Bandit Golf Course (Long Creek Subdivision), The Condos, Cypress Hill, Elm Grove, Gallagher, River Haven/Happy Haven, Laguna Vista, Lake Bend, Lake Ridge, Lakeview Trail, Las Brisas, Las Hadas, Ridgeroad, River Springs, Terminal Loop, Treasure Island, Vista Del Rio, and finally Woodlake.

Click on “Lake Maps” to your left to follow my journey up the lake using an interactive map. The boat used to shoot this video is a 2008 Malibu Wakesetter VTX. Enjoy the video!

Most people looking for a second home or even a primary home on the lake do not want to get into a project, a project that keeps them from immediate enjoyment of their new lake house. Waterfront real estate is commonly pricy for the “turn key” homes, especially on Lake McQueeney.

849 Ridgeroad was recently listed on Lake McQueeney. The “Turn Key” features include:

• 1 acre
• 98’ of improved waterfront
• Boat lift with a large sundeck on top
• Very nice retaining walls and docks 
• An elevator
• Built in 1997 so no need for updating
• RV hookups on the lot
• Vaulted ceilings
• Large back deck that overlooks the water.
• The only main waterfront house on Lake McQueeney (not on a canal) in the entire Central Texas MLS that is well under $400,000 (Listed at $379,000)

Please feel free to contact me anytime for more information or to preview this or any other listing.

Take a look at the video tour of this amazing listing.

I am a regular Today Show viewer. I wake up, drink my morning coffee, and watch the show. They always seem to have a lot of fun on that show and look as though they genuinely enjoy working with each other. Often, I find their guests informative and entertaining.

However, Jim Cramer was on this morning. You know the guy - short, balding and very, very loud. He has his own show about the stock market - I think it’s called Mad Money (because he screams so much?). At any rate, he’s a regular contributor on the Today show. The past couple of times he’s been on, he’s had some pretty harsh things to say about the Real Estate market. Now, I don’t know much about the stock market, but I do know something about Real Estate and Jim, you really miss the point about it.

Real Estate is local. If you own home or looking to purchase a how in New Braunfels, Seguin, or San Antonio, you don’t care what’s going on in the Real Estate market in New York City or Washington DC , or anywhere else for that matter, because what you really care about is “what is MY house worth?”, “can I get a loan?”, or “how much will I have to pay for a home?”. Lets face it, yes, there are some really bad market areas out there. Many people got into loans they can’t afford and are losing their homes. And yes, the argument can be made that lending is more a national market and lenders decisions can affect everyone. But when people make general statements about how bad the housing market is, or when things might recover, their misleading a lot of people who don’t put together that where they are may or may not be in the type of market you’re talking about. And, when they make general statements about Real Estate, they can cause concern (or lack thereof) with people who don’t need to worry.

Home values are local. Housing markets are local. I live in the New Braunfels area. Our market isn’t bad at all. Yes, some houses time on market is a bit longer and inventories are up, but overall the New Braunfels market is pretty good to very good. Homes are selling - when priced right (sellers - are you listening?) And, there are buyers out there (a lot more lately). Generally speaking, our area has been insulated from the major downturn many other areas are experiencing. In fact, properties are still appreciating in our area.

So, when I watch the Today Show or any other shows that rant about the terrible housing market, keep in mind that Real Estate is local. They are talking about a national market that simply doesn’t exist. My heart goes out to those who are suffering in their local real estate market, and I remind my clients and friends to remember that our local market remains strong.

Take a look at the picture below to see the Recent Subdivision Developments in Comal County (The New Braunfels area). Call Hunter if you are looking to buy or sell your New Braunfels area Home, property, or any other Real Estate!

Click on the image to see a larger view.

Visual tours have been a great tool for the past few years by providing a feel for what the house is like prior to viewing it personally. However, as technology progresses, potential buyers are demanding more. Real Video Tours have recently become the latest and greatest thing in residential real estate marketing. With a video tour, prospective buyers can tour the house from the comfort of there own home or office. A virtual tour is basically 4-6 pictures pasted together to form a panoramic view. A video tour is about 30 plus pictures (frames) per second. If the video is 3 minutes long then that is the equivalent to 5400 pictures! For example, take a look at the video I created for a listing on Lake Dunlap. It is very hard to capture the true feeling of this Lake Dunlap waterfront with just a few pictures. I utilized the video tour to capture what it would be like for the prospective buyer to pull up to the house from the lakeside by boat. People have a tendency to get bored with pictures and virtual tours, and will often move on to the next listing or website prior to the completion of the pictures or the virtual tour. With a video tour, I can keep the prospective buyer interested and this increases their likelihood to call for more information or visit the listing. Think about it like this, the internet is like TV, if you are not interested in what you see you change the channel. If the prospective buyer is not captured by the way your home is presented they will move on to the next result on their Google search. My goal in internet marketing is to keep people on my web site as long as possible which will increase the likelihood that they will call and purchase their next home from me.

Please feel free to contact me for more information about Video Tours or to learn how Hunter Croan can help market your property.

Wurstfest, the 10 day salute to sausage is held every year on the Friday before the first Monday in November (November 2^nd -11^th). Don’t miss out on the fun!

Wurstfest began in 1961 as “Sausage Festival,” a one day affair honoring one of New Braunfels favorite foods. The name was later changed to “Wurst Week,” and finally to “Wurstfest”. Feature stories in newspapers throughout the United States, as well as Canada and Germany, attracted large crowds of sausage-hungry visitors. Visitors watched sausage made using recipes brought to Texas from Germany 116 years earlier.

Local German singing clubs sang, and the Amtliche Stadt Wurst Kapelle (official City Sausage Band) played while visitors viewed exhibits of local sausage makers, in addition to antique meat grinders and sausage-stuffing machines gathered from attics and basements of the community.

In 1963 the event was moved downtown and events were scheduled every night of Wurst Week. The next year attendance tripled, reaching 30,000 with visitors consuming 5,000 pounds of sausage. The new Wursthalle, half the size of the present hall, was the site of the ’67 event. Wurstfest continued to break records every year, adding new foods and new ways of serving sausage. In ’68 the festival had its first bigtime entertainer when Myron Floren of the Lawrence Welk TV show appeared. In ’72 the Chamber introduced the Heritage Exhibit at the new Civic Center, and it has continued as a major attraction. Many other events are held each year in various locations around New Braunfels in conjunction with Wurstfest.

Large entertainment tents are now situated at each end of the Marktplatz with bands and entertainment acts performing continually. Wurstfest has expanded to ten days. Myron Floren continues to appear every year except for ’96 when he was recuperating from surgery.

Wurstfest is a non-profit corporation organized to promote local commerce through tourism, and to preserve the community’s heritage. It provides local civic organizations with a way to raise large amounts of money for a wide variety of community projects. Visitors can enjoy the German heritage and traditions and know that the proceeds from Wurstfest activities will go for worthwhile projects.

For more info  and a “buy one get one free coupon” visit: www.wurstfest.com

“Jumbo loan prices – of both the adjustable- and fixed-rate varieties – had a banner week. Spreads, while not back to pre-collapse levels, are trading at levels that might even be called respectable. Our sources tell us that while lower credit tranches are not yet trading well, the AAA pieces are as well-received as they have been in months. Rate sheets came back in stair steps, with Wells posting strong fixed-rate bids early in the week, and CitiMortgage and Chase posting very strong ARM levels late in the week and today. While spread markets are still volatile, we are getting more optimistic by the day. Corporate bonds, junk bonds, and LIBOR swap spreads are all moving tighter because liquidity has returned to the financial markets. Banks are lending, the commercial paper market has stopped its collapse, and LIBOR has returned to approximately 0.50% over Treasuries.” Even the employment markets seem to be recovering. “Was it all a dream?” asks Barron’s in reference to August’s terrible jobs report. September’s report was right on the money (+110,000 jobs) and was full of upwards revisions that made the August report a whole lot better (+89,000 jobs instead of a loss of 4,000). Friday’s report made trading interesting – the ten-year Treasury fell 100bps and has returned to where it was prior to the Fed rate cut.

The odds for another rate cut on Halloween dropped to about 50/50, and plunged for any cuts beyond that. The last three times the Fed initiated a new easing cycle, ten year bond yields dropped 20 basis points or more in the next five days. This time they rose by 20 basis points, which didn’t help mortgage rates a bit.

Are our dreams of lower rates turning in to nightmares? Bill Gross and John Mauldin don’t think so. They are both predicting that the Fed will cut rates to 3.75% before the housing mess is done. At the moment, however, the bond market is clearly worried about inflation. “The market should start worrying about something else,” said John Mauldin. “Inflation is not a problem in a recession, and certainly not in one caused by the bursting of the largest housing bubble in US history. Be definition, those are deflationary events. If we have a simple slowdown I think rates drop to 4% or less. If we see a recession, short term rates will drop below 3%.” Here’s good news: George W. Bush says that he is committed to fighting global warming. Yeah, well, he nipped that in the bud, didn’t he? – (David Letterman)

FYI

“Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” - James B. Conant, scientist

Island Mortgage
Brent L. Schreurs
Loan Specialist
Direct: 956-746-6383
Fax: 800-217-9461
www.islandmort.com

One of my preferred economic nightmare scenarios, which goes like this:

American consumers have gotten us through the last recession and into the present rather half-hearted recovery. They have done so, in large part, by taking on mortgage debt. Because real estate prices have been rising dramatically (my present house turns out to have doubled in value in the six years since I bought it, amazingly enough), this has looked dandy: it’s like having a trust fund that an invisible fairy godmother is constantly adding money to. This; combined with our current nonexistent savings rate, means that we are awash in debt. And that debt is coming in more and more risky forms. For instance, interest-only mortgages:

“When faced with the prospect of having to put off owning a home, buyers have been looking for any way to get in, especially when it means (they hope) a chance to ride the double-digit gains that homeowners have been racking up. The solution: Borrow 100 percent of the price. Take an adjustable rate. Pay just interest for a few years (or not even that much) and hope to sell for a profit or find a way to pay more later. Whatever it takes. Banks, meanwhile, are looking for ways to continue to lend money as home prices rise. For both borrower and lender, the underlying assumption is that the market will continue to move in one direction — up, up, up. In a few years, the thinking goes; borrowers can use their inflated equity to refinance into a safer loan. Trouble is, there’s simply no guarantee that housing prices will continue to climb. And if prices soften and interest rates rise, the abundance of adjustable-rate, interest- only, option-payment and similar loans could backfire in several ways. For borrowers, the biggest risk is payment shock. Say you buy a $300,000 home, financing 100 percent of the price with an interest-only loan. In five years, if your rate rises just as your principal becomes due, your monthly payment could easily spike by 50 percent. With little or no equity to fall back on for a refinancing, you could be forced to sell quickly or even default on the loan. (What’s worse, if your home is worth just 5 percent less, you’ll have to come up with $15,000 to pay off your mortgage?) An uptick in selling, in turn, would push up inventory on the local market, potentially causing prices to collapse.”

By:Brent L. Schreurs