Georgetown, Texas Real Estate Blog Your Host: Edward Lui

…we’re also not too shabby for kids.

Texas Monthly magazine recently ranked the Creative Playscape in Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park as the best in state.  I asked my wife what she thought about it and, although she likes it, she mentioned that it was actually a little too big for our little kids and she would have a hard time keeping track of them.  Maybe a great place for the older kids…or mom’s who are a little more care-free.  Anyway, the Austin American Statesman wrote an article on it and I’ve included it below for your convenience:

Georgetown playscape ranked best in state
Texas Monthly magazine praises San Gabriel Park playscape.
By Bob Banta
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Thursday, July 17, 2008

GEORGETOWN — When Raoul Perez drove into Georgetown on an errand last week from his home in Marble Falls, he ran into an unexpected delay.

“My daughter, Adrianna, looked out of the car window and saw the playscape here and just had to stop and play on it,” Perez said as he pushed his 1-year-old son, Julian, on a swing while Adrianna, 7, explored the playscape’s maze of tunnels and towers.

Adrianna’s attraction to the 15-year-old Creative Playscape in Georgetown’s San Gabriel park is not unusual. Designed by architect Robert Leathers of Ithaca, N.Y., the facility was named favorite playground for children in the April issue of Texas Monthly magazine.

“With all the places to run and hide, no game of tag will ever be the same after your kids have played here,” said the article, compiled by a team of writers.

“I’ve seen buses of school kids from as far away as Salado,” said Kimberly Garrett, director of Georgetown’s Parks and Recreation Department. “We draw people from a 30-mile radius.”

The structure, built by volunteers in 1993 and funded with $140,000 in donations, consists of walkways, tunnels and elevated wooden bridges that are stained dark brown. Pagodas loom over the assembly of swings, firefighter poles and bouncing rope bridges.

The heavy plank walls of the tunnel and corridor system are decorated with carvings of ancient buildings and log cabins, and colored tiles painted by children line square posts at the entrance to the playscape. Shade from an oak tree gives it a shadowy, brooding, Harry Potter-like atmosphere.

It’s spooky enough to satisfy older kids but not scary enough to frighten toddlers.

“They love playing hide-and-seek and running through all the different structures,” said A.J. Green, who drove from Jarrell to let his two grandsons, ages 10 and 5, run off some energy. “We come here almost once a week.”

Longtime Georgetown resident Tom Swift, a staff secretary in the health and counseling services office of Southwestern University, managed the citizens committee that raised money and helped build the playscape. “Our priorities in building it were safety, engagement and beauty. We also wanted it to be accessible to everyone,” he said.

Swift said he knew they had been successful when the mother of a boy with cerebral palsy told him shortly after the playscape opened that the high-backed swings allowed her son to enjoy the playground with other kids for the first time in the boy’s life.

“What had been a field of weeds literally turned into a field of dreams,” Swift said.

The kids and parents who play there agree.

“I like everything about the playscape,” said Joshua Peyton Mohle, 6, who visits it regularly.

His mother, Inger Peyton, said the playscape gives parents a chance “to just chill out and play with your kids.”

Bradley Green, 10, enjoys the open-air feeling.

“I like the tire swing,” he said. “And I like just being able to run and climb and have fun outside.”

One of the fastest appreciating neighborhoods in the Georgetown real estate market has been the downtown area. There is always an investor/builder doing some type of major renovation on an old home in the Georgetown historic district. Just drive through the streets downtown and you’ll see many beautiful homes that have retained their historic charm next to fixer-uppers that are just waiting to be purchased by the next visionary. The downtown area is Georgetown’s best kept secret for attracting new business and residents, but it looks like we have once-again caught national attention and the secret is out!

In the July issue of THIS OLD HOUSE magazine, Georgetown was identified as one of 12 neighborhoods nationwide that is considered the best old-house neighborhoods in the United States. For your convenience, I’ve posted the original article below:

Best Places to Buy an Old House: Editors’ Top 12 Picks

By: KEITH PANDOLFI, ALLISON GOLDSTEIN, TARYN LONERGAN, AND MELISSA THOMAS, This Old House online

Georgetown, Texas

The Neighborhood
Georgetown once served as a staging area for cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail. These days, the town’s historic center bustles with boutiques, art galleries, and restaurants, but it still looks like a scene from a John Wayne Western. Georgetown is located on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, and is home to Southwestern University, recently named one of “America’s Best Value Colleges” by the Princeton Review. Plus, it’s only 30 miles away from hip-and-happening Austin.

The Houses
Late-19th-century Queen Annes and Greek Revivals as well as beautiful 1930s Arts and Crafts and Stick Victorian homes are scattered throughout the area.

The Prices
Price tags on fixer-upper bungalows sometimes read as little as $90,000, though grander homes here can run in the millions.

Why Buy Now?
Old homes with Western flair are dang hard to come by, and these are close to Austin, the best little hot spot in Texas, with music, food, and culture that gets better by the minute.

Among the best:
Art Lovers, City Slickers, Luxury Homes, Craftsman Houses, The Southwest

If you’re looking for that perfect downtown charmer then call me at 512-554-9594 and lets meet!

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My lifetime experience in golf consists of 9 holes at Avery Ranch and 9 holes at Forest Creek.  I guess if you added them together I have played a full round of golf.  Suffice it to say, I’m not your next Tiger Woods.  However, if you are trying to raise the next Tiger Woods, Georgetown, Texas can be the place for you.  There are enough golf courses in the Hill Country to keep occupied for the rest of your life.

This recent article in the US NEWS AND REPORT by Luke Mullins mentions Georgetown, Texas as one of the 10 Great Retirement Spots for Golf Nuts:

For genuine golf junkies, there’s nothing like retirement. With your schedule cleared of the 9-to-5 grind, you’re finally free to pass the days as you always wished: taking extra swings at the driving range, lining up that perfect putt on the 18th hole, and enjoying the fresh-cut grass and sunshine.

With more than 20 courses nearby and playable weather nearly all year round, Georgetown, Texas, is a fine option for golf lovers looking to retire in the Lone Star State. And in addition to being home to a Del Webb retirement community with two 18-hole courses of its own, Georgetown is just a half-hour drive to the state capital and duffer’s paradise of Austin. Meanwhile, lovely St. George, Utah, home of the Red Rock Golf Trail—eight courses clustered within a 15-minute drive’s radius—is another underrated retirement spot for golfers. Finally, if it’s the Pacific Northwest you’re after, try Portland, Ore., where the wet climate keeps the greens lush and the fairways cool.

Looking for a home on a golf course?  Check out this link:  Golf Courses in Georgetown, Texas

Austin Metro area among the top 10 for numerical and percentage growth nationwide

I love reading news like this.  The US Census Bureau produced findings that ranked the Austin-Round Rock Metro area as #8 in the nation for most population growth.  Naturally that growth spills over into my beloved city of Georgetown, Texas!

What makes this more significant is that as a percentage of current population, this area is actually #5 in the nation with an average growth of 4.3%!  The growth is pretty evident to all who live here as new roads, new developments and new shops and stores pop up constantly.  It’s definitely optimistic for the housing industry as this influx of people transplant and look for a new place to lay their head.

If you’re one of these “new Texans,” I’d be happy to put my lifetime of relocation experience to work for you!  Whether your search is broad, and you’re just looking for homes in Austin, or specific, and you want to investigate individual custom home communities in Georgetown, Texas, check out my website for great information on real estate in Georgetown, Texas!

Georgetown, Texas is growing!

I just read an article that adds more fuel to the fire for Georgetown’s explosive population growth over the next few years. According to city planners, the population of Georgetown, Texas in November of 2007 was 46,812, and by 2015 is projected to exceed 83,000!

Bourn Partners (no relation to Jason Bourne) has purchased 185 acres in the southernmost part of Georgetown, Texas with the intent on developing it for multifamily housing, assisted living facilities, medical office, and other retail. This area is already a hotbed for recent retail, medical and educational developments. In recent years, we’ve seen the opening of the Round Rock Premium Outlets, Scott and White Hospital, Seton Medical Center and the Round Rock Higher Education Center. In the near future, this area will also be home to the Texas A&M University medical school! Hmmm, educators, medical practitioners and retail managers…they all sound like great clients to me!

Here’s the full article below:

GEORGETOWN, Texas, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ — Bourn Partners, a real estate development firm headquartered in Tucson, Ariz, with regional offices in Austin, today announced the acquisition of 185 acres in Georgetown on Westinghouse Road. The property is slated for a multi-use development that could include multi-family housing, assisted living facilities, medical office and research space, a corporate campus, and retail components, among others.
“This area, bordered by IH-35, Westinghouse Boulevard, FM 1460 and University Boulevard, is fast becoming the hub of Williamson County for medical, educational and retail needs,” Joe Simmons, Principal, Bourn Partners, said. “Our site is literally a stones’ throw from the Round Rock Premium Outlets, Teravista’s master planned residential development and Scott & White Hospital. We are delighted to play a part in creating this dynamic project for future growth in the region.”
The site has approximately 2,600 feet of frontage on the south side of Westinghouse Road. Developers site Texas Department of Transportation plans to widen the road by early 2009 as a further impetus for growth in the area.
Bourn Partners has begun the master site planning process for this site. Announcements on future development are forthcoming.
Joe Simmons will market the Westinghouse development for Bourn. He can be reached at (512) 328-8818.
About Bourn Partners
The Bourn Partners team is comprised of more than 80 employees with a market presence in Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas and Nebraska. In 2006, the company had in excess of $450 million in gross development transactions. In addition to development activities, Bourn Partners actively manages and leases more than 2.4 million square feet of commercial product. With more than $1 billion in projects at various stages of development, Bourn Partners is a premier real estate developer throughout the Southwest. Bourn Partners’ Austin office was opened in 2004 to expand development opportunities and investment and brokerage efforts in Texas. For more information, please visit www.bournpartners.com

Check out this article below:

Guidebook names Georgetown top retirement spot
10:10 AM CDT on Monday, October 15, 2007

By BOB MOOS / The Dallas Morning News
bmoos@dallasnews.com

North Texans in search of the best place in America to retire don’t need to fly off to picturesque Cape Cod, sun-drenched Arizona or resort-rich Colorado. They have only to drive a few hours south on Interstate 35 to Georgetown. The Central Texas town has just earned top billing in the latest edition of Retirement Places Rated, one of the oldest and most popular guidebooks for footloose boomers and seniors looking to relocate upon retirement. “Though Georgetown may not be the first place to come to mind for most people, its strong economy and affordable housing gave it an edge over the 199 other communities we researched,” said author David Savageau.

A half-million Americans move to other states each year to retire, while another half-million resettle within their states. Retirement experts expect those numbers to double as boomers claim Social Security and seek out their own Golden Ponds.
Mr. Savageau, who has published seven editions of his guidebook in 25 years, used seven criteria to determine the best retirement spots this time around: climate, economy, community services, ambience, living costs, housing and personal safety. “Georgetown offers the best of two worlds,” he said. “It’s a small community on the edge of the Austin metropolitan area. Retirees want both the neighborliness of a small town and the cultural, entertainment and health-care amenities of a big city.”

None of this comes as news to Geoff Lawrence and his wife, Denise. The boomer couple moved from College Station to Georgetown’s biggest active-adult community, Sun City Texas, three years ago after he retired from the military. “The town’s small enough to get tee times easily, and it’s close enough to Austin to get to UT football games without much trouble,” he said. Mr. Lawrence said he also enjoys living in a college town – Georgetown is home to Southwestern University, a private liberal-arts institution. The Lawrences could well mount their own marketing campaign for their community. Not only have they moved to Georgetown, but so have his parents (from Santa Fe, N.M.), her parents (from Alabama) and, most recently, her sister and brother-in-law (from Waco). They all live within about 3 miles of each other in Sun City. “We all have different interests and lead separate lives, but our back yard has seen quite a few family get-togethers,” Mr. Lawrence said.

Retirement Places Rated has sold a half-million copies over the years, and a favorable score has sometimes bolstered a town’s fortunes. Murray, Ky., reversed a population loss with its No. 1 ranking in one edition, Mr. Savageau said. The president of Georgetown’s Chamber of Commerce, Mel Pendland, said retirees have played a significant role in his community’s growth in recent years. The town’s population has jumped 64 percent to 46,479 since 2000.

Sun City Texas, the active-adult community Del Webb began developing in the 1990s, now contains 5,500 homes and 9,000 residents, mostly 55 and older. Plans call for 2,500 more homes, Mr. Pendland said. “The first retirees to arrive in Georgetown came from other parts of Texas,” he said. “The next group moved from the Upper Midwest. Now they’re from Arizona, Florida and California.”

Central Texas’ lower housing prices have attracted them, Mr. Pendland said. Retirement Places Rated found that the median price for a three-bedroom, two-bath home was $199,210, compared with $339,600 in Sarasota, Fla., and $556,800 in Scottsdale, Ariz. “People are taking the equity they’ve built up in their old homes and paying out of pocket for something here,” he said. “Suddenly, retirement becomes much more affordable for them.” Mr. Pendland said some longtime Georgetown residents’ initial fears that the senior influx would overburden the town have proved false. “These are highly educated, accomplished people who want to stay engaged. Many are our most active volunteers,” he said. Through the Partners in Education program in the Georgetown schools, older residents have served as mentors for schoolchildren.
“Seniors are valued here,” he said.

Read more about Texas Retirement Communities: http://www.georgetowncustomhomes.com/active-adult.php