Standing on the manicured front lawn of his well-kept Northwest Austin home, Tom Matherly puffed on a cigar and launched into a bluntly critical assessment of how the government determined what his home is worth.
"The homes on a street should have the same value" for tax purposes, said Matherly, whose blond-gray mustache quivered with indignation as he described how appraisers had decided his home was worth significantly more per square foot than his neighbors', despite being nearly the same general design and age. He said he doesn't believe the softening real-estate market would match the $252,453 appraisal, either.
"I'll sell the house for that right now, so if you want it, get out your checkbook," Matherly recalled telling a government appraiser. "Cause I can't get that."
As Travis County homeowners and businesses cope with another year of rising appraisals — which can lead to higher tax bills — complaints like Matherly's surface frequently. Property owners have questioned how the appraisal notices that arrived in May can show home values soaring amid news of a market that's losing steam. There also are the usual complaints that appraisals are based on inaccurate or incomplete data, a situation created at least in part because government appraisers in Texas have access to limited information.
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Influx of people, job growth, high oil prices and a weak dollar helped the state
DALLAS — Texas ranked among the top states in personal income growth early this year, thanks largely to hiring and strong wages in the oil and gas business.
Personal income in Texas rose 1.4 percent in the first three months of the year, compared to the national average of 1.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday.
That was good enough to place Texas sixth among all states. Several saw personal income fall from late 2007 into early 2008.
"The state of Texas is probably the best place in the nation to ride out the recession of 2008-2009," said Bernard Weinstein, director of an economic development center at the University of North Texas. "We're having a slowdown here, but it's nothing like the rest of the country."
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Beginning May 15th, 2008, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, the 2007 Inman News’ Innovator of the Year winner in the brokerage/franchise category, became the first national full-service real estate company to distribute its listings to a GPS device. Coldwell Banker worked with Dash Navigation Inc., the first GPS provider to have an Internet connected GPS device and deliver Web-based content directly to the GPS.
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The latest look at the national housing market shows an unexpected improvement.
Pending home sales increased in April over March to the highest reading since October, according to the National Association of Realtors. But even with the month-to-month uptick, pending home sales remain more than 13 percent below the number reported a year ago.
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Austin ranks 7th on the top 25 cities with the highest appreciation forecast, according to HousingPredictor.com . The site lists the Top 25 cities with the highest forecast appreciation and says that they have the greatest probability of reaching their forecast of the more than 250 local housing markets Housing Predictor forecasts.
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Austin area residential foreclosures are up 18 percent so far this year, according to the latest statistics from Foreclosure Listing Service Inc.
Foreclosure postings in the four-county region total 4,974 through July, up from 4,201 during the same period in 2007, the report from Addison-based FLS shows.
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City officials have scaled back a proposed ordinance requiring all new single-family homes to be more accessible to disabled individuals and the elderly.
City council member Betty Dunkerley, who proposed the ordinance, says costly rules such as requiring builders to install ramps or no-step entrances will be sent back to stakeholders to include in an incentive or bonus program.
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