Darryl T. Agostinelli Real Estate Broker

Many North Austin Suburban residents are probably familiar now with the Community Impact newspaper which reaches your door. If you toss it out with the rest of the junkmail, stop now! I have been reading it regularly since it became coming to me about...

Lots of people watch those shows on TV about fixing and flipping houses. Lots of customers come to me asking to see foreclosures or ones with foundation damage. Then they want to offer 20%-30% off the asking price. That is generally a great way to...

In recent weeks, I have been asked often, “How’s the terrible Austin real estate market going?” or “It must be tough working in this market, huh?” I wanted to address these questions. Thankfully people have it all wrong. The Real Estate market in Austin...

Many people are often taken by the low rates of an ARM. It makes sense. ARMs are cheaper and they are a very cool product. But incorrectly used, they can spell disaster. Unfortunately, people seem to like to use the ARM to qualify for homes they shouldn't...

Apparently, even if you are the sort of person who updates his computer regularly, you aren’t immune to this daylight savings time bug in Outlook which moves all of your appointments....

City leaders and developer Catellus Development Corp. have selected six companies to build the first phase of the new Mueller neighborhood. The 340-home first phase will consist of three housing types — yard homes, row houses and garden court homes —...

You may have heard the big news.  I have decided to become a REALTOR full time!  I have actually held two positions for some time now as both a Software Consultant and a Realtor.  The two roles have always acted in symbiosis helping me...

New Hospital to open in Cedar Park. The Cedar Park Regional Medical Center is expected to break ground in June and open February 2008, at the intersection of the new US 183A toll road and Whitestone Blvd....

Wondering if Austin is a good place to invest?  This site suggests it is! http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/13/real_estate/overvalued_housing_markets/ As a reminder, when you buy a home, you should look at the micro-market forces at work.  It's...

If you like investing, then if you read nothing else I write, read this.  The information from this article comes from research performed by the renouned Brookings Institute and Virginia Tech. It describes places around the US that perhaps are the...

The limits for FHA loans have been increased again!  Great news.  One-family $200,160.00  (this used to be only 178,000ish!) Two-family $256,248.00 Three-family $309,744.00 Four-family $384,936.00  ...

Someone on a mailing list that I follow asked about Self-Directed IRAs.  Capturing that info here.  I personally use TrustETC. The "BIG 3" in Self Directed IRAs are: Equity Trust Company - www.trustetc.com Entrust - www.entrustadmin.com...

A new article has been written about a Real Estate investment strategy. Click here for entire posting...

austin isd pageyou can see test scores and other interesting dataTravis County Apraisal Districtto see what the county thinks of your propertyWilliamson CADSame, but for Williamson countyTravis County Open public recordsPast sales and all that jazzCity...

A warranty deed is a particular type of deed which contains guarantee statements from the seller that the house will be transferred free of something which undesirable. Usually, that means it will be transferred free of any "liens and encumbrances"...

This came from a web post by graywolf_357@yahoo.com Real Hard MoneyI have received numerous calls, e-mails and even letters asking what the real deal on hard-money lenders is. At the heart of all these inquires is basically one question. That question...

A Reader asked if I had any ideas about money to be made else where if real estate went bust.  He saw these 2 books on amazon and asked what I thought about them.http://tinyurl.com/9f3bwhttp://tinyurl.com/daovo I firmly believe that there are really...

HUD has taken all the HUD homes off the market in Austin.  They are going to let Hurricane Katrina refugees live in them.  There are no more HUD homes for sale!  I have no idea how long this will be or how it will affect the market. ...

This is more craziness in the home world.  A million bucks to live in a column. Link...

Ran across a great article on Boston.com talking about the Real Estate Bubble.  It likens the current situation in California, Florida and Boston to what took place in Texas in the 1980's.  In short, the massive crash left many devasted and...

31 days from today, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS...To prevent this, you may call the following number from your cell phone: 888/382-1222....

A reader had some questions***  I realize I'm a much more conservative investor that you, but interest only and negative amortizing loans (like Pick-a-Payment) scare me. Here's a good article from the Fool about the dangers of negative amortization:...

A reader asked the following questions.  My answers are interlaced.*** *** A good value to value houses in their price/rent ratio.  Here's a brief table on national P/Rs:  Link to MS Money  [Darryl] The PR ratio, I used to use a...

The tax office has a new site:http://www.traviscountytax.org/ Looks like it's definately biased toward the tax foreclosure sales....

All, Back in March, I sent an e-mail (there is a copy below) asking what sort of cash flow people get when they invest in property.  I got a few responses which I have finally gotten around to sharing with everyone.  Thank you VERY much to...