 | 2008 Austin Wine Festival May 24 - May 26, 2008 Sat. 3am - 9pm, Sun. 1 - 9pm & Mon. 1 - 6pm @ The Domain (Northwest Austin near Mopac & Duval) Get a taste of the Texas Hill Country's internationally awarded and recognized wines from over 21 wineries, enjoy a dozen Texas bands/performing artists, food and fun, all benefitting the Austin Farmers' Market! The kids will enjoy balloon artists, face painting and a moon bounce, too. Learn more. |
 | Kerrville Folk Festival April 22 - June 8, 2008 @ Quiet Valley Ranch, 9 miles south of Kerrville It's that time of year again for one of the most celebrated and longest running music festivals in the U.S. Catch emerging artists as well as legendary talents over 18 days of folk, bluegrass, acoustic rock, blues, country, jazz, and Americana music. In addition to live music there are workshops in songwriting, blues guitar, and harmonica, special activities for children, camping, bike rides, canoe trips and 2008 schedule here. |
 | The unforseen costs of your commute Think it’s more affordable to live in the suburbs and commute? A recently-released study may make you redefine affordable. Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) and The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC as part of Brookings’ Urban Market Initiative recently launched a new interactive mapping web tool that measures the true affordability of housing by accounting for transportation costs. The tool provides total housing and transportation costs as a percent of income on a neighborhood-level basis for 52 metropolitan areas across the U.S., including the Austin - San Marcos area. It's pretty fascinating, check it out: http://htaindex.cnt.org. |
 | Going Green in Your Home More and more potential home buyers are asking about “green homes” and with demand for environmentally friendly homes blossoming across the country, one way to make a home stand out is to retro-fit it to green standards. Fortunately, in Austin there's a lot of support for going green. Following are some tips from the professionals at Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation as well as some links to local green resources to help make your home sustainable, energy- and cost-efficient now, and appealing to eco-conscious homebuyers later. Replace hardwood floors with renewable materials: While hardwood has been the flooring of choice for the past several years, bamboo floors are much more eco-friendly because bamboo grows more quickly and can be replaced easily. In the kitchen, linoleum floors, made from solidified linseed oil, wood flour or cork dust over a burlap or canvas backing, is very eco-friendly compared to modern floor coverings made from polyvinyl chloride. If you haven't already, check out Austin's own pioneering green store, Eco-Wise, for earth-friendly flooring, paints and more. Don’t flush away your money! Consider replacing existing commodes with low-flow toilets that use about 20 percent less water per flush, or with dual-flush toilets that have two buttons to give home owners the choice of flushing with a half- or full tank. The City of Austin has a great Toilet Replacement Program, with FREE Toilets and installation rebates! Green Gardening: Sustainable landscaping is becoming all the rage to eco-conscious home owners. Planting native plants, vegetation and shade trees strategically around a home can keep a house cool during the summer and block cold winds during the winter. And native vegetation will thrive in its preferred environment and not require excess water. In addition, concrete driveways and patios can be replaced with permeable paving materials that will allow water to pass through to the ground, thereby reducing runoff that can create soil erosion and flooding of the municipal sewer systems. Check out the City of Austin's Green Gardening Initiative and download a free copy of the SMART Scapes booklet to learn more about landscaping sustainably in Central Texas. Switch to Green Power: The use of renewable energy in a home, such as solar, wind, water or geothermal, greatly helps reduce pollution. However, installing solar panels or wind generators can be enormously expensive. Lucky for us, Austin Energy is a national leader in the sustainability movement, offering home owners an option to purchase a form of renewable energy that doesn't cost much more than conventional energy through its Green Choice program. Austin Energy also boasts one of the country's best Solar Rebate programs and they offer many other incentives and services, including: Free Home Improvements, Energy Efficiency Rebates, Energy Efficiency Loans, and more. Going Green in Austin - dates to save: May 24 - 26th: ENERGY STAR Sales Tax Holiday Enjoy no state or local taxes on qualifying ENERGY STAR labeled products! June 7th: Green By Design Workshop Austinites preparing to build, buy, or remodel a home can learn how to improve energy and water efficiency, increase comfort, and reduce maintenance. |
If you are considering buying/selling a home or know someone else who is, let me know, I'd love to help! I can be reached at: 512.470.8923 or brettsmith@cbunited.com.
Sincerely,
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