Austin Property Management Blog

We are off to a running start for 2021. The 2020 year was full of surprises and pitfalls, but as a company we fared better than most. Our rent collections stayed consistent and we were able to continue to practice property preservation with a pandemic in full swing. Our staff at Stone Oak is dedicated to serving you and your Austin property management needs in 2021 with the same integrity and passion for excellence that you expect from us. 

On January 14, 2021, President-elect Biden announced his stimulus proposal. In this plan, he proposes some payments to landlords, forbearance options and more money directly to taxpayers that qualify. The proposal suggests the payments for rents included in the proposal are to be made directly to landlords. This would be a move in the right direction, however, he is also proposing to extend the eviction moratorium until September 2021. The issues are complex and create more challenges, however, we are doing our best to stay ahead of them and continue to remain effective in rent collections. Keep in mind, this is simply a proposal and will ...

The markets in Austin & the Central Texas area are still going strong. We were not sure how COVID-19 would affect the housing market and more importantly the local economy, but we keep getting surprised.

The rental market has slowed as we enter the tail end of the year, but we believe it to be seasonal. We are still leasing homes every week and our economy is strong in Central Texas. In September, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) stated that our unemployment rate for Texas is 6.8 percent and 5.5 in the Austin-Round Rock MSA. “Texas is below the national seasonally adjusted rate of 8.4 percent" and the rate has been slowly dropping and is now the lowest since March 2020.

The market for homes for sale has not slowed down. The demand for housing in greater Austin is fueled greatly because we don't have the inventory to meet the demands of everyone trying to move to the area. Affordable houses are being sold well over asking prices after a bidding war and often without inspection periods. Our brokerage and sister company, Central Metro Realty,...

If you haven’t already taken a look at our recent post regarding the news interview and article about evictions you can view it by visiting the link below.

Eviction Protections in Austin, TX Hurting Landlords

We have been notifying our tenants of any available rent assistance programs and encouraging them to participate if they are delinquent.  We are seeing an uptick in delinquent accounts of which most are setting up payment plans and complying. However, it is a much higher delinquency rate than we’ve seen before.  The current rate is about 5% of tenants, that number has grown from less than 1% previously.  

Politics aside, hopefully after the election we’ll see some action on taking the burden off of landlords that was created by the CDC order protecting tenants but doing nothing for landlords.

We also want to give you a quick update about tax protests. Our contact with the firm we use recently notified us that due to the pandemic the ...

We have made it through yet another very busy summer season. Air conditioners were broken, appliances were placed on back order and all the while, our staff held it together. We truly appreciate your patience and trust in us in these difficult times.

This being said, we wanted to share a few updates with you. If you haven’t heard yet, there is a ban on evictions through the end of the year. This hasn’t been terrible for us as a company, as we have been very diligent about asking people to leave or setting up payment plans where it makes sense. Follow the link if you'd like to send a note to Congress requesting they enact rental assistance for housing providers.

The good news is that Austinites are still working. We are experiencing growth with new businesses coming to town. I am pleased to state that Tesla has officially broken ground on their new facility for the Cyber Truck and we are excited to have them.

Rents have remained stable in most areas and the inventory of homes for sale is still in short supply. These are two key indicators that keep our leadership team optimistic about the market in Central Texas.

As you may have noticed we have brought on more staff and we are working to better serve you. We are working to continually improve our processes and can’t thank you enough for ...

I’m sure you may have heard or read about Texas being a hotbed of activity for COVID-19, but many Austinites are still working and people are still definitely spending money. My children go to school in Pflugerville and the parent survey that Pflugerville ISD recently sent out showed that nearly 60% of households that answered the survey were not financially affected by the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Austin area. As of now, our schools are remote for the first three weeks. Once that time has passed the district will take a better look at the situation and decide on allowing the kids to return to their classrooms. I bring this up because we have many properties in the Pflugerville area and other similar suburbs all over town that are experiencing the same thing. 

Stone Oak Property Management is still being very careful as a company and most of our staff continue to work remotely. However, our production and level of service have not faltered, in fact, many of the staff seem happier and more productive. This is great news for everyone as we want everyone to enjoy the work they do. We have expanded our staff by adding a couple...

There are still many unknowns in our market and what may be happening in the economy in the coming months. There were millions of dollars that were disbursed to businesses to assist in employee retention through the “Paycheck Protection Program”. These funds were enough to cover a companies’ entire payroll for two months lasting through June. We anticipate that many markets will suffer if the economy can’t recover in the coming months should another lockdown be required in Texas or across the country.

However, Texas and more importantly Central Texas is still very strong. We have a large tech industry and government jobs that are helping to keep many people employed. The University of Texas at Austin (UT) has released its plans for reopening for classes this Fall. They will be moving to 40% capacity in classrooms and offer 3 models of classes: Online, Hybrid, and In-Person. Due to this plan, we feel campus housing and the surrounding economies it affects should remain reasonably strong as students will be returning to campus ...