A positive article in the Statesman this week… After years of double-digit increases, though, some school disticts see valuations drop. By Tim Eaton , Shonda Novak AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Residential property appraisals rose by an average 3.8 percent in Travis County this year, less than a third of last year’s increase and the smallest jump in [...]

Schools are very important factors in real estate investing because a home in a well-performing zip code retain their value better than those in a less-desirable school’s area.  This goes beyond zip code, but zip codes are an easy way to measure local mini-markets.  For example, in Hyde Park, a home in the 4600 block [...]

Sites like Zillow claim to be an authority on home values, but are they truly friend or foe? I know it’s easy to visit the sites that say “We can give you the true value of your home,” but take the information you see with a grain of salt.  They are based on tax records [...]