10 Secrets For Surviving Austin Winter
So, you’re asking yourself, about Austin Texas winters and how to be more prepared when it’s literally below freezing outside? 10 Secrets For Surviving Austin Winter 1. Drip Your Water On Turn on your water to a slow drip and open all cabinet doors to expose your pipes to warmer interior air. Water expands when it freezes. If you’re old like me then you would make ice in trays and fill up those ice cube trays only part way to allow the water to expand into cubes. Remember, pipes are in your walls. If your insulation isn’t great, then that freezing cold air in your wallsis wrapping itself around your pipes like a blanket and those pipes will burst when the still water freezes and expands. The difference in your water bill with water dripping overnight or few days vs your pipes bursting, flooding your home, the clean up and displacement until your insurance gets everything looked after and insures you don’t have mold. Drip. Drip. Drip. Know where your shut off valves are. Sidebar: If I was building a new home today, I would pay to have the exterior pipes and attic pipes insulated. Travel Pro Tip: If you have a smart thermostat 2 things #1 keep an eye on it and navigate that temperature accordingly. #2 Have neighbors check on your home daily. If your heat is out or the water isn’t being used, you’re tempting fate. 2. Fireplaces If you have a fireplace, have it checked before winter and test it before that cold snap comes. This is is the time to learn how to light your gas fireplace or throw a log in and know how to work the flue and insure you don’t smoke up the inside of your home. 3. Groceries Stock up well before the weather hits us. The gift you give yourself is that you don’t feel like you need ot leave the house because you have everything you need – toilet paper, food and lots of water. I keep a 5 gallon PBA free water container year-round. 4. Emergency supplies Have Batteries and Flashlights – have fresh batteries ready for your flashlights. Have First Aid Kit and Medications – insure you have your basics including bandages, alcohol wipes, antibiotic cream, burn cream, thermometer, any type of fever reducer/pain reliever, and an antihistamine like Benadryl. Do you have all of your and your kids meds for a week or two? If supply chain is interrupted for any reason in Austin or other parts of the world due to winter storms, you’ll be prepared and sleep at night knowing everyone has what they need. 5. Pets They’re living in Austin Texas and not used to the snow or cold either. Ensure they’ll have someplace out of the wind and snow. If you can give them warm spaces inside, even better. FYI: Cats have no fur on their ears. Their ears can literally freeze their ears and then they’ll need surgery. Don’t let them suffer outside. And, stock up on their food, meds and anything else they may need for a few days too. 6. Exterior Faucets Outside of your home, before the freezing weather comes (and we do get fair warning) a. Turn off your water source to your exterior taps.b. Open the taps and bleed them so that no water comes out. You’ll hear air only once you’ve drained the water out. That means there’s no water to freeze in your exterior pipes which means they won’t burst. 2. Once you’ve bled the taps, you’ll want to cover faucets. If your local big box hardware store doesn’t have the styrofoam insulators to place over the faucet, you can wrap them in towel to keep them from direct exposure to the freezing cold air. Now you’re covered. Ok, that was a pun. 7. Plants Much of our plant life here thrives in warmer weather. We’re not in a cold zone and as a result of freezing or below freezing temperatures, they will die with exposure. We lost majestic aged cactuses and up to 90% of our palm trees after the Winter storm Uri in 2021. Many cactuses and more in the freeze of February 2022. Cover your plants could have been saved if covered with tarps or plant bags or if in moveable containers brought under cover to avoid the frost. 8. Footwear If there’s snow on the ground, running shoes are a recipe for disaster. They have zero traction. If you need to go out, choose different footwear. No flip flops. No cowboy boots. You want anything that can give your traction and doesn’t have a flat bottom.. 9. Driving Your Car Don’t drive. Just don’t. Even if you’re a good driver there’s always going to be someone out who thinks navigating a 2.5 ton vehicle on packed snow or ice can’t be that hard. You don’t want to be a victim or the cause of damage to someone elses car or life. If you are heading out, have basic emergency kit with you (which most of us do have at all times). Jumper cables. A flashlight and extra batteries. Blankets. Bottled water and snacks. A scraper to scrape off ice from the car. And, for “just in case” some sand or cat litter. 10. Snow Plows, Salt and Sand Snow plows: there are none. Sit tight. If it’s icy outside and you have pool salt or table salt, throw it on any areas you may immediately around your doors to melt it and perhaps a path to get you to your yard with your dog or down the stairs or wherever. Salt melts snow. It may not melt your margarita, but it melts snow. Sand helps with traction but it doesn’t melt snow. ProTip for Cat Lovers: cat litter will give you traction on ice and compacted snow. If you have any “secrets” you want to share about getting through Austin Texas snow, in the rare event that it happens, please comment below. PS Dallas gets more snow and cold than us for what it’s worth!
The Independent Condominium
The Independent is one of Austin’s finest luxury condominium buildings. History And Location Located at 301 West Avenue, at the corner of West Avenue and 2nd Street, completed in 2019 and soaring 58 stories tall, The Independent, is one of Austin’s premier luxury condominiums. Fondly referred to as “the Jenga building” for its’ iconic shape and form that cantilevers four distinct blocks of condos was the brainchild of Rhode Partners. The Independent has left a distinct impact on the ever changing Austin Skyline. This building has one, two and three and four bedroom plans. It remains the tallest residential tower in the city of Austin. And, soon will be surpassed in height by Sixth and Guadalupe. Living Vertically Parking is dedicated to the first 9 floors of the building ensuring that units are up in the air with minimal street sounds flowing upward. The Independent is nestled in it’s own enclave away from major streets.The only car traffic is coming directly to the building, The Co-Dependent or Urban Space furniture which are all in the same lot space. Or people may be visiting the nearby Seaholm District just across the street. Point is, it’s incredibly serene. The foot path that takes you to other parts of downtown and down to Lady Bird Lake is at your doorstep.Here’s the short strokes on building layout:* Units start on the 10th floor. * 42 floors of living spaces (8 units per floor) with downtown corridor views as well as breathtaking southeast and southwest views of Ladybird Lake and Hill Country. * 6 penthouse floors. 4 units per floor. Units are modern and open with chic chef’s kitchen featuring granite covered islands, pristine cabinetry, Thermador or Miele cooking appliances and refrigerators, custom cabinetry and extensive entertaining experiences are sure to be had. Energy Rated They actually made use of a 75 kilowatt solar powered system, which means the site has a lot of renewable energy, and a 50,000 gallon damper tank stabilizes the building and acts as an additional water source in case of fire. Plus, there’s a rainwater collection system. This luxury condominium is also eco-friendly! Amenities The Independent spares nothing when it comes to amenities. With over 20,000 ft of “vertical living” that owners enjoy day or night including various business spaces (sleek and modern yet inviting), a 25 seat movie theater (you can book for your family and run off an ipad), yoga room, an infinity glass-edge pool on the 34th floor, gym (featuring the latest equipment), outdoor barbeque spaces, dog wash area, a dog park (you can watch your dog play while having coffee in the bark lounge), and more! While this building prides itself on understated elegance, it spares nothing! Concierge The front desk team is phenomenal, taking packages and maintaining privacy for all who live there. Guest Suites That’s right! If you have friends and family coming to stay with you, as an owner you may rent a guest suite on their behalf nightly on a first-come-first-served allocation. If you’re interested in previewing the building or learning more, please let us know! The Jennifer S. Goodman Group is just a call or text or email away. You can reach us HERE.
Million Dollar Listing Must Do’s
If you are thinking about selling your home there are some things you have to do in this market Sellers. Because it is tough. It is competitive. Welcome to behind the scenes. I am at a multi-million dollar property here in Barton Creek, one of Austin’s highest and most valued neighborhoods. There’s not a lot for sale here… ever. And, someone is going to get incredibly lucky with this house becoming their new home! These homeowners are serious about selling. They are not sparing any expense getting the house For Sale Ready. And, that’s what is required in today’s market. Million Dollar Listing Must Do’s Curb Appeal From the moment somebody enters your home, they are looking for what might be right and they are definitely going to see what might be wrong. Before we even walk into the door of this home… those things matter Fresh Paint Fresh paint when you walk into a house and you feel the difference of every wall being absolutely spectacular. There will not be a scuff on this house. We are doing baseboards and trim and we are thinking about dog hair and we are thinking about kids and we are thinking about all of the things. So number one, curb appeal matters. We are painting this entire house. You know what it’s cream! Guess what? It’s clean, it’s bright, and it’s going to make somebody very happy when they walk in to this home. Let’s go check out what’s going on here in the back yard. You can see right behind me is this spectacular pool and check it out. Power Washing We are going to power wash this entire property. Do not get lazy! It is worth every cent when somebody walks into a home and they see that it hasn’t been power washed.1. Power Wash Your Window ScreensYou know what screens are glorious, especially this time of year here in Austin, Texas where it is finally cooling off. Can I get an amen to that? And, you know what else? It looks like crap when you’re showing the house and the screens are on. We want the light to come in. So, you are going to power wash your windows and you are going to remove those screens. Absolutely essential. And, when I say power wash, I don’t just mean power wash bits and pieces. I mean all around the house. We are going to go up and down.2. Power Wash Your Driveway, Patio and Deck AreasWe’re going to do the driveway we are going to do all along the side of the house here. And, we are absolutely going to power wash the entire deck around the house. last consideration isn’t this market is competitive. How you pay for these things – we can discuss. I have a program that can help you pay for repairs and upgrades and the payment will be made with proceeds from the sale of your home. No out of pocket upfront costs. Fences So, that said, we have weather here in Austin. And guess what happens? We have wrought iron what happens to wrought iron when it meets the elements? It, wait for it. It rots. Imagine going to inspect your multi-million dollar house where you’re going to live with your family. And consider all of the things that need to be done to upkeep this house. It’s a lot. Move In Ready What if you could move in and there was nothing to do? The floors are pristine. The paint is done. The screens are removed. The light is bright. We have power-washed everything. We have replaced the old, rotted, wrought iron. This is the first in our series of Seller Multi-Million Dollar To Do’s for Getting Your Home For Sale Ready. Stay tuned for more!
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