Here is a great article that appeared in the January 6th edition of the Austin American Statesman. Allandale's popularity has been increasing steadily over the years and for good reason. With the growth of Greater Austin in all directions, Allandale provides home owners with a great central location, beautiful older homes on large lots with mature trees and some of the coolest neighbors in Austin!
My wife and I are Allandale residents and experts in the real estate market. We love living and doing business here!
Danny Gallant - Realtor/Owner
The Gallant Group
www.gallant-group.comdanny_gallant@kw.com512-922-1273
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Rebirth of a classicOld-fashioned flavor, boom in remodeling make Allandale a strong seller.
By
Charles Ealy AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, January 06, 2008
As the national housing market has gone south, a little neighborhood in Central Austin has kept chugging along with rising prices and healthy sales.
Welcome to the 1950s and '60s enclave of Allandale, where the homes might be small, but the lots are large enough for significant remodeling projects and additions.
As of last week, more than 15 updated homes were on the market in Allandale, with prices ranging from about $250,000 to $450,000. Most have new kitchens and other amenities, and nearly all are a testament to what local investors see as a rapidly appreciating neighborhood in North Central Austin.
"It's a real community, with quiet streets and lots of families," says Gerald Lamar, the founder of Lamar Homes. He and his wife, Vicki, reared three children on Allandale's Pinecrest Drive before moving to West Lake Hills, and he has remodeled numerous homes in the neighborhood since starting his Austin business in the early 1980s.
In fact, he's closing this month on a house he remodeled at 3105 Pinecrest Drive.
"I'm selling it to a woman from Houston who's moving here to be close to her kids," he says. "You'll find a lot of people moving here from Houston and elsewhere because of jobs or children. As long as the area continues to create lots of jobs, you're going to have a healthy real estate market. Plus, lots of people just want to live in Austin."
The market has slowed down a bit in Allandale during the past few months, Lamar says, but for the year, homes in the real estate zone that includes the neighborhood have been selling at a clip of slightly more than one per day. "And that's pretty remarkable," he says.
The project at the Pinecrest house, built in 1960, is typical of what's going on in Allandale, which is bounded by Anderson Lane, MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1), Burnet Road and 45th Street. Lamar bought it in May from an elderly woman and spent about three months remodeling it.
It's appraised at slightly more than $228,000, but after the renovations, Lamar put it on the market for $359,000.
It has a new kitchen with stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops and a center island. It also has new tile and carpeting, a revamped utility room, new light and plumbing fixtures and new trim and doors. It backs up to a greenbelt, which adds privacy to the yard.
A similar price increase can be found in other houses with recent upgrades that are on the market.
At 2710 Pinewood Terrace, the list price is $458,500, and the appraised value is $242,354, according to records at the Travis Central Appraisal District.
At 6301 Shoal Creek Blvd., the list price is $440,000, while the appraised value is $321,325.
At 3003 Silverleaf Drive, the list price is $359,000, while the appraised value is $254,675.
And at 7504 Greenhaven Drive, the list price is $349,900, while the appraised value is $250,888.
The appeal to investors and homeowners is obvious. Kitchen and bathroom upgrades, as well as new paint and doors, can help boost a home's value by more than $100,000. And that's why the Allandale market stays lively.
Not all buyers in the neighborhood, of course, are looking to sell anytime soon. That's the case with Hanalei Lamar, who bought a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house on Geraghty Avenue in late 2006 and decided to add a master bedroom, master bathroom and family room with a fireplace to the back.
It helped that her father is Gerald Lamar, and that she had a spacious backyard.
The addition has a distinctly modern feel with stained-concrete floors and vaulted ceilings, while the original structure keeps its 1952 charm with period tiling in the bathroom and hardwood floors elsewhere.
The master bathroom is off the master bedroom and has new fixtures and tile.
But the family room, with its large fireplace, is the centerpiece, she says.
"We love the fireplace," she says. "We use it all the time." It is surrounded by a wooden mantel that was left over from another house in Rollingwood that Lamar remodeled.
The house also has a much more open feeling since it was remodeled, Hanalei says. Besides growing to three bedrooms and two bathrooms, the house has a wall of glass that looks out over the backyard.
Hanalei Lamar says she feels very much at home in Allandale, "especially since I grew up on Pinecrest just a few blocks away." And she says she plans to stay for a while. "I'm engaged to get married this year," she says, "and my fiancé loves it here."
