By Shermakaye Bass
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Updated: 3:57 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010

Published: 10:20 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010

The Eanes Independent School District, a 31-square-mile area west of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1), is Central Texas' own multineighborhood Mayberry. There's a small-town vibe to West Lake Hills, Rollingwood, Barton Creek and Cuernavaca. People know their neighbors, kids play ball in the parks and attend stellar schools together, sidewalks and lawns are nicely manicured. Even the affluent, close-in Westlake area has an idyllic, suburban quality.

"The people here are very nice. It's a very good mix of people," says resident Lesley Sarkesian, who lives on Far Gallant Drive in the Westlake area and has two teenagers. "There are kid people, people that are retired. ... It's just a very lovely community."

Because the Eanes school district covers of the large geographic area, homes can range in price from $250,000 to the multimillions. Eanes has had a little dip in sales in recent years.

According to the Austin Board of Realtors, in 2009, 402 homes priced for less than $10 million sold in the Eanes school district — the most expensive one selling for $4,037,500. In 2008, 404 homes priced for less than $10 million sold. That's 25 percent less than the 542 sold in 2007 and 34 percent less than the 608 homes sold in 2006.

That doesn't sound good, but compare those statistics to homes in the Austin Independent School District.

In 2009, about 4,900 homes listed for less than $10 million sold. That's 51 percent less than the 10,060 sold in 2008; 70 percent less than the 16,522 sold in 2007; and 64 percent less than the 13,671 sold in 2006.

The primary reason for the Eanes district's relative stability, according to residents and real estate agents: The schools. Eanes Independent School District is considered one of the top public school districts in the state. SchoolDigger.com — an online ranking site that covers 120,000 schools around the United States — rates Eanes Elementary 21st among Texas' 3,880 elementary schools and rates Eanes sixth among the state's 948 public school districts. The Austin school district is ranked 579; the Round Rock district, 240. The Texas Education Agency rated Eanes exemplary in 2008-2009, the highest rating. Austin was rated academically acceptable; Round Rock was recognized, the second-highest rating.

For more on this article go to:

http://www.statesman.com/business/real-estate/buyers-drawn-to-district-f...

Austin American Statesman
By Alan Zibel ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: 9:25 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010

WASHINGTON — Federal housing officials served subpoenas Tuesday on 15 mortgage companies, including one in Lakeway, that had suspiciously high default rates for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration. The actions are part of a broad crackdown on dubious lenders as the agency tries to stem losses.

After the housing market went bust, the FHA became the major source of funding for first-time homebuyers. But the agency, which insures about 30 percent of new loans, has seen its losses rise dramatically. Although the agency has avoided a taxpayer rescue so far, its reserves have sunk below the minimum level required by Congress.

There also have been fears that subprime lenders have shifted their business to the FHA after the subprime business went bust.

The agency has already taken action against several problem lenders. One of the nation's biggest mortgage bankers, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Co. of Ocala, Fla., was banned from the FHA program in August and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Another mortgage company, Lend America, was kicked out in November.

On Tuesday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's inspector general, Kenneth Donohue, said he wanted to determine why defaults are so high among the 15 companies and whether any have committed fraud.

"Many of these target loans didn't last but a short time before defaulting," Donohue said. "We will conduct an investigation, if appropriate, to determine who is responsible and will recommend that appropriate action be taken against individuals and corporations."

The FHA does not make loans but rather offers insurance against default. Borrowers are willing to pay for the insurance because FHA loans require down payments of only 3.5 percent of the purchase price.

The lenders targeted by FHA officials include some of its worst-performing active lenders. For example, almost one in five loans made by Alethes LLC of Lakeway over the past two years went into default, compared with a national average of about 5 percent.

For more on this article go to:

http://www.statesman.com/business/real-estate/lakeway-mortgage-lender-on...

Lake Travis View
By Devon Monk

Hill Country Galleria owners and noteholders are on the verge of executing a two-pronged plan of reorganization designed to secure either new ownership or foreclosure in the coming weeks.

The property has been operating under a Chapter 11 automatic stay since it filed for bankruptcy in of May 2009.
Several potential investors officially registered their request Jan. 8 to attend an auction of the property Jan. 15 that Austin lawyers Eric Taube and Mark Taylor will conduct, said Joel DeSpain, owner representative and asset manager. Potential bidders were required to place $6 million in escrow to validate their interest.
The minimum bid will be $60 million, and bids will be accepted in $500,000 increments. DeSpain declined to comment on the property’s estimated value.
If there is a qualified offer, it will be reviewed for approval by the bankruptcy court the following week to sell the property, which is at Texas 71 and RR 620 in Bee Cave. If their request goes through, the sale is scheduled for Jan. 29.
“We’ve exposed the property to dozens and dozens of people and have had a lot of them visit the property. There were many major league investment groups [among them],” DeSpain said, noting his surprise that marketing firm Holliday Fenoglio Fowler reported more than 200 requests for information packets.

For more info :

http://laketravisview.com/2010/01/12/hill-country-galleria-set-for-sale-...

Austin Business Journal

The spiraling home market has neared stabilization and could see a slight rebound in Austin this year, according to local real estate experts during a 2010 housing forecast Wednesday.

Speakers during the Austin Board of Realtors and the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin event pointed to the relatively better job market as one sign improvement is on the way.

The Texas Workforce Commission reported the area lost about 4,300 jobs in the 12 months ending November 2009, which is better when compared with cities like Houston and Dallas, which lost 88,900 and 50,700 jobs respectively.

The program was presented and moderated by Eldon Rude, who directed a residential real estate market study comparing Austin with 30 other U.S. metros. He said Austin builders cut new home production by about 19 percent last year, breaking ground on 6,490 new homes.

“Starts have stabilized in recent quarters, builders have closed more homes than they have started for the last three years. This strategy has resulted in far fewer inventory issues in the Austin new home market compared to the more challenged markets across the U.S.,” said Rude.

The study anticipates new home starts maintaining 2009 levels, primarily due to slow job growth through at least the first half of 2010.

Though home pricing and buying has improved, experts said the true test will come when interests rates begin to climb and the stimulus-fueled tax credits run out.

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http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2010/01/11/daily42.html