Austin Film Festival 2013

AFF-Logo-The Austin Film Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary this week, starting October 24 and continuing for 8 days ending October 31. The Austin Film Festival and Conference focuses on inspiring and honoring the work of seasoned and rising writers, directors, producers, actors and editors.  There will be about 19,000 attendees between the film festival and conference, which include panels, competitions, round table discussions, Q&A sessions mainly at The Driskill and Stephen F. Austin Hotels.

There will be 130 films, 75 shorts and 55 features screened in 8 theaters around Austin including the Paramount, Galaxy Highland 10, Alamo Drafthouse Village, Texas Spirit Theatre, Rollins Theatre, State Theatre, IMAX Theatre and the Hideout.

Homes for Sale Near Movie Theaters in Austin

Here are Average List Prices of homes located less than 1 mile from these neighborhood theaters:

  • Paramount (Downtown) Average List Price: $663,759 based on 43 active home
  • Alamo Drafthouse Villlage  Average List Price $295,478 based on 12 active homes
  • Galaxy Highland 10  Average List Price $328,694 based on 7 active homes

Austin City Limits Music Festival 2013

Austin City Limits Music Festival

Austin City Limits Music Festival in Zilker Park

Zilker Park took center stage once again at the 12th annual Austin City Limits Music Festival.  Last weekend marked the first of 2 consecutive weekends, October 4-6 and October 11-13, with both weekend line-ups being virtually identical.

ACL Music Festival 2013

Austin City Limits Music Festival entertains a crowd of about 75,000 each day.  Headliners this year included Muse, The Cure, Vampire Weekend, Queens of the Stone Age, Artic Monkeys, Wilco, Phoenix, Eric Church, Depeche Mode,  FUN,  The Black Angels, The National,  Dawes, Franz Ferdinand, Kendrick Lamar, Kings of Leon, Atoms for Peace,  and Lionel Richie.  The ACL Festival takes place on 8 stages, throughout the 3 day weekend with over 130 bands.

ACL-Schedule-Weekend-Two

ACL Weekend 2 Schedule

Buy a Home Near Zilker Park

Zilker Park touches  3 different areas in the Austin Multiple Listing Service.  Currently, within a 1 mile radius of Zilker Park and the ACL Music festival, there are 11 Active single family houses in the Austin Real Estate market ranging from $365,000 for 650 square feet and $2.4 million for 5,286 square feet of living space

The ACL Music festival draws attention to Austin from all over the globe with the variety of artists performing.  Visitors travels to Austin from all over the world to attend.  Many of the performances will be streamed live on YouTube for many to enjoy from the comfort of home.

Austin Homes for Sale with Garages

10424 Beard AveWhen I have an initial consultation with new buyers moving to Austin, one of the questions I ask is whether or not they need a garage.  The answer is often “of course, I need a garage – why would a house not have a garage?”   Understanding there are areas of the country where everyone has one,  I explain that, in Austin, garages can be somewhat of a luxury item depending on where in this fair city one wishes to live.  There are many homes that have garages, but some areas in Austin began development in the early 1900’s and simply don’t.  Houses found in neighborhoods like Travis Heights and Hyde Park for example, have the charm and warmth of yesteryear, and often don’t have garages.

Within the City of Austin roughly 15% of houses that are actively on the market, do not have garages.  With condos, about 38% of the active real estate market in Austin to do not have garages.  Overall that percentage may seem rather low, but in certain subdivisions the percentage is much higher.  In the last 90 days in the Travis Heights subdivision, 7 out of 18 houses for sale did not have a garage.  Remember not garages are created equal either.  I’ve seen many that are ready to fall over.

Moving to Austin

It’s very hard for people to live without a garage when they have always had one.  With roughly 25,000 people moving to Austin in the next year from all over the country, it is important to understand what new Austin buyers are expecting and need so the criteria can be set rather than an assumed.  As I have stated, not all garages are created equal, but I can search for houses and even condos that have a garage.  With some flexibility, finding a garage in Austin does not need to be a needle in a haystack.  Just don’t ask for a basement – because that, on the other hand, is a very small needle.