Texas real estate owners today are caught in a costly paradox: as property values decline, the county tax assessor’s office paints a far rosier picture. Home sales are flat, yet property taxes continue to rise. Visit the local county tax assessor’s office and most likely you will see large blowups of articles raving about the robust Texas economy and housing market – useful information if your task happens to be convincing homeowners to accept, and pay, the yearly tax increase! The reality is the state’s need for continued, increasing revenue. Since Texas does not collect income taxes from its citizens, the state’s greatest source for income is property taxes. This revenue funds fundamental programs like schools, and city governance and maintenance. In most counties the tax rate is about 3% of the retail price of your home, which would probably make sense if that percentage corresponded to the rise and fall of the actual market. In fact, most states collect the appropriate prope

Johnson City is a Texas Hill Country town 48 miles west of Austin and 60 miles north of San Antonio. Johnson City is 25 miles south of the Highland Lakes community of Marble Falls and 30 miles east of Fredericksburg, so Johnson City is very centrally located and easily accessible from two large metropolitan areas, as well as numerous Hill Country resort destinations. Johnson City was established on the site of the Johnson Ranch on Town Creek, and in 1879, three sites were considered for settling a community on the shores of the Pedernales River, one being the site of the Johnson Ranch. The site submitted by James Polk Johnson, a 320 acre plot of land owned by the Johnson Family, was chosen at the gathering and accepted by a vote of the first settlers during a celebration and meal held alongside the creek. James Polk Johnson was a nephew of Sam Ealy Johnson and Tom Johnson, both of whom had originally been cattlemen who drove herds on the Chisholm Trail until it became unprofitable, a

San Marcos, Texas, which is 29 miles south of Austin and 47 miles northwest of San Antonio, is a beautiful, small city with a rich history. The San Marcos area is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited site in the Northern Hemisphere, although the descendants of today's residents settled the area in the 1800s. In 1689, the San Marcos River was named for St. Mark after Alonso de Leon's men discovered the river on the celebration of St. Mark's Day, and named the river in his honor. Later, in April of 1808, a group of Mexican families settled in the area, and an agricultural community was established shortly thereafter. In 1812, after numerous floods and raids by local Indians, the settlement was disbanded, but in November of 1848 a group of Anglo settlers tried to establish a community on the site again, and in 1851, the town center was laid out. The county of Hays was established in 1848 by the Texas Legislature, and the city of San Marcos was named county seat a short ti

Round Rock, Texas was founded around the year 1851 on the banks of a local creek called Brushy Creek, and the city was named for a large, circular rock which was situated in the middle of the creek. Wagon Wheel tracks can still be seen on the rock today, and the rock was in the middle of a low water crossing on Brushy Creek, which at the time was part of the famous Chisholm Trail which was used to herd cattle from Texas to Kansas. The town was originally called Brushy Creek, but changed its name in 1854 to Round Rock in honor of the rock and the stories surrounding it. Round rock was the reputed birthplace of Sam Bass, an infamous train robber of the day, as well as Soapy Smith, an old west con man who made Round Rock his home in the mid-1800s. The city, which has a current population of around 75,000 inhabitants, has a rich and colorful history. The area northwest of downtown on Sam Bass Road is still referred to as "Old Town", a reference to the shootout between Sam Bass and the Te

A Broker Price Opinion, sometimes called a competitive market analysis (CMA) by real estate agents and brokers, is a "tool developed by the real estate industry to determine a competitive listing price." [1] It is important for consumers to understand that Broker Price Opinions (BPO's) are not appraisal reports, and they do not carry the same weight. As a real estate broker and a licensed appraiser in the State of Nevada I am often asked by potential customers if a Broker Price Opinion can be prepared for their banker, for bankruptcy court, for a divorce settlement or for some other use that is an entirely inappropriate use of a BPO. It is understandable that consumers do not want to pay for an appraisal report if they think they can get an equivalent product from a real estate agent or broker for free. Broker Price Opinions are not, however, equivalent to appraisal reports and BPO's cannot legally conclude a market value opinion. Most of the BPO's that I have seen, even those prepar

The “credit crunch” is a popular phrase these days. In the United States, the sub-prime mortgage lending mess is greatly affecting home buyers and sellers. What many may not realize is that these poisonous symptoms of the so called “meltdown” have spread like a virus to other countries as well, and one of these countries is Dubai, the most populous city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We’ll review the Dubai investment property market, more information on how it’s been affected, and how the Dubai currency and other Dubai information suggests that this county is well positioned to weather the credit crisis. First, let’s look at the current Dubai investment property market. Dubai investment property has been, and continues to be, a very hot market for investors. In an article on http://www.aboutdubai.org, “investors expect almost a 30% or more return on any property.” This is how the United States used to be 10 years ago. Despite the influences of the “credit crunch,” the Dubai inv

Pflugerville is the name of a very rapidly expanding small city northeast of Austin, and there are many opportunities in the city of Pflugerville. The city was originally named for the Henry Pfluger family in 1849, and the city was first expanded after a dam was constructed in the 1850s on the Gilleland Creek which provided water for the train and facilitated the construction of roadways. The small city is situated on the Williamson County and Travis County boundary, so there are parts of the city in both counties. The plat for the city of Pflugerville was registered in February of 1904 by George Pfluger and his son Albert, and many of the wooden downtown structures on Main and Pecan were built by Conrad Pfluger in the early 1900s. The first cotton gin in the city was also built in 1904, but was destroyed by a fire in 1931, but rebuilt later on the same site. The first bank in Pflugerville was also administered by members of the Pfluger family in 1906, and it was named Farmers State B

Dripping Springs is a small city in Hays County which is located 21 miles west of Austin. In the census of 2000, Dripping Springs reported a population of 1,548 inhabitants and 554 households, and among them 418 families. The population density of Dripping Springs was 468.07 people per square mile at the time of the census, and the city currently has an area of 3.3 square miles, all of it land. 41% of the households in Dripping Springs have children under the age of 18 living at home, and 61% include married couples. The median income in the small city is roughly $47,000, and the populace is primarily White, with about 86% reporting Caucasian heritage, and various other ethnicities comprising the difference, including a Hispanic population of 18%, along with many citizens reporting mixed ancestry. There are a slightly higher percentage of women than men in the city of Dripping Springs, and the average household size is 2.79 people, with families reporting roughly 3.24 members on aver

A large flood damaged the community in 1921, and efforts to control flood waters eventually led to the dam which created Lake Georgetown, which was finally complete in 1979, when the lake was officially opened for public use. Many of the city's historic homes were restored after the flood, and the downtown area of Georgetown reflects the Victorian style popular at the time, especially on historic Main Street. The Beaux-Arts Williamson County Courthouse, which dates to 1911, is considered the centerpiece of the historic downtown district. Georgetown is also a very popular community for retirees, and the Del Webb retirement community of Sun City boasts numerous residents of retirement age; the area is quite popular with retirees due to its temperate weather, country flavor and rural charm, yet its close proximity to Austin, with its many benefits and big city amenities. In the census of 2000, the population of Georgetown was around 28,000 inhabitants, but by 2008, the population ha

Property investing is becoming a major source of revenue for people looking for money. With the economy the way it is around the world, this proves to be a great time for buying land or homes overseas at cheap prices, fixing them up, and then selling them for a major profit. Dubai is no exception to this notion. Not only is the market favorable for investing in property but so is Dubai itself, regardless of the market. Dubai is undergoing an extreme makeover to make it a tourist destination for everyone to see. There are so many new building and structures with the most unique features being built there. So who wouldn’t want to invest in Dubai property? If you have the money to make the original investment, then you can buy some land, build your own hotel or condominium building, and make massive profits from its occupants. Land is surely going quickly so you would have to jump on the opportunity quickly while you still have the chance. If you aren’t interested in buying real estat