I’ve sold homes all over Austin, and Clarksville is one of the few neighborhoods where I can walk a buyer down the street and point out a piece of Texas history on nearly every block. If you’re looking into living in Clarksville, Austin TX, I want to give you the real picture: where it is, […]
Living in Rosedale, Austin TX: A Neighborhood Guide
TLDR (Too Long; Didn’t Read): Living in Rosedale, Austin TX Rosedale sits in north-central Austin, bordered roughly by 38th Street, Shoal Creek, North Loop/Hancock Drive, and Lamar Boulevard, tucked between Central Austin and North Loop. The neighborhood’s housing stock dates mostly to the 1930s and 1940s, when the Ramsey sisters platted the original subdivisions, and […]
Living in Windsor Park: A Complete Guide to This Austin, TX Neighborhood
I spend most of my week driving Austin’s neighborhoods with buyers and sellers, and Windsor Park is one I keep coming back to because it still looks and feels like Austin did before the boom reshaped so much of the city. It’s a Northeast/Central-East Austin neighborhood with a housing stock and street pattern that hasn’t […]
Living in Zilker, Austin TX: A Neighborhood Guide
I get asked about Zilker more than almost any other neighborhood I work in, and I understand why. It’s one of the few pockets of Austin where you can walk to a natural spring-fed pool, a 350-plus acre park, and a hike-and-bike trail along the lake, then be back home in time to grab dinner […]
Barton Creek vs. Spanish Oaks: Which Austin Community Fits You?
I get asked to compare these two communities more than almost any other pair in West Austin. Buyers usually arrive with a rough idea that both are gated, both involve golf, and both come with a serious price tag. Past that, the details get fuzzy fast. I have shown property in both neighborhoods for years, […]
Clarksville vs. Tarrytown: Comparing Two Historic West Austin Neighborhoods
## TLDR (Too Long; Didn’t Read): Clarksville vs. Tarrytown: Comparing Two Historic West Austin Neighborhoods Clarksville sits immediately west of downtown Austin with a Walk Score near the top of the city, a National Register Historic District status dating to 1976, and lot sizes typically between a tenth and a fifth of an acre. Tarrytown […]
Rollingwood vs. Westlake Hills: Comparing Two Incorporated Cities West of Austin
Rollingwood and West Lake Hills come up together in almost every conversation I have about the west side of Austin. They sit next to each other, they share a school district, and they’re both small incorporated cities with their own governments rather than Austin neighborhoods. Past that, the similarities start to thin out. I put […]
Living in Barton Hills, Austin TX: A Neighborhood Guide
I’m Robbie English, a REALTOR and broker with Uncommon Realty here in Austin, and Barton Hills is one of the South Austin neighborhoods I get asked about most and write about least. That’s a gap I want to close. If you’re weighing a move to this part of 78704 or you already live here and […]
Living in Travis Heights, Austin: A Neighborhood Guide
I’ve sold real estate in Austin long enough to watch a lot of neighborhoods change names, boundaries, and reputations. Travis Heights is one of the few that has held onto its identity the whole time. It’s one of the older residential neighborhoods in the city, and it still looks the part: mature oak trees arching […]
Living in East Austin, TX
TLDR (Too Long; Didn’t Read): Living in East Austin, TX East Austin sits just across I-35 from downtown, and several pockets are an easy walk or bike ride to the urban core. Housing stock is a mix of original 1930s-1950s bungalows, renovated homes, duplexes, and new construction, often on the same block. The area includes […]
Best Homestead Exemption Texas Options
Texas homeowners can shave thousands off their property tax bill with a single free form. Below is a concise list of the main homestead exemption options you can claim and who each one helps the most. Table of Contents 1. Robbie English, REALTOR, Broker 2. Local Option Residence Homestead Exemption — Additional savings adopted by […]
Living Near The Domain, Austin TX
I get asked about The Domain more than almost any other part of Austin. People hear about the shopping, the restaurants, and the office towers, and they want to know what it actually looks like to live nearby. So I put together this guide based on what I see working with buyers and sellers in […]
Living in West Lake Hills, TX: A Complete Neighborhood Guide
I get calls fairly often from people who found one Westlake listing online, fell for the trees and the hilltop view, and now want to know what the area is actually like day to day. West Lake Hills gets lumped in with “Westlake” as a general term, but it’s worth understanding what it really is […]
Living in Cuernavaca, Austin TX: A Neighborhood Guide
I get asked about Cuernavaca more often than you’d expect for a neighborhood that doesn’t show up on most people’s mental map of Austin. It’s not a name that gets thrown around the way Zilker or Tarrytown does, but once buyers see it, they tend to remember it. If you’re considering a move here or […]
Living in Great Hills, Austin TX: A Neighborhood Guide
I get asked about Great Hills often enough that I wanted to put together a real guide to it, not a rehash of listing descriptions. I’m Robbie English, REALTOR and broker at Uncommon Realty, and I’ve shown and sold homes across this part of Austin for years. Great Hills is one of those neighborhoods people […]
A Guide to Living in the Eanes ISD Area
I get asked about Eanes ISD more than almost any other topic when buyers start looking west of Austin. It comes up in nearly every conversation about West Lake Hills, Rollingwood, or the Bee Caves corridor, and for good reason. School attendance zones are one of the most misunderstood parts of buying a home in […]
Living On Lake Austin, TX: A Real Guide To Waterfront Life
People ask me about “the lake” in Austin more than almost anything else, and I always have to ask which one they mean. Lake Austin and Lake Travis get lumped together constantly, but they’re two very different bodies of water with two very different ways of life attached to them. I’ve walked clients through waterfront […]
Living in Austin Lake Estates, TX: A Neighborhood Guide
Austin Lake Estates doesn’t get talked about as often as some of its West Austin neighbors, but it’s one of the more distinctive pockets of the Westlake area. I work with buyers and sellers across Austin, and I always tell people this neighborhood rewards a closer look. The terrain, the tree cover, the lake proximity, […]
Relocating to Austin for Meta? A Home Buyer’s Guide
Meta relocations are different from the other tech moves I help with in Austin, and it’s worth saying plainly upfront: Meta’s Austin office sits downtown, not out in the suburbs, which means the whole conversation about commute, lifestyle, and price is a different one than it is for the other major employers here. Let’s talk […]
Relocating to Round Rock for Dell? A Home Buyer’s Guide
Dell relocations are the most straightforward ones I handle, and I mean that as a genuine compliment to Round Rock. Dell’s headquarters has been there for decades, not a few years, which means the surrounding housing market, schools, and infrastructure are mature and settled in a way the newer tech arrivals in Austin simply aren’t […]
Homes for Sale in Hutto, TX: Prices, Growth, and What to Know
Hutto comes up a lot lately, usually from buyers who got priced out of Round Rock or Georgetown and started widening their search radius. What do I think? I think it’s one of the more interesting value plays left in the Austin suburbs right now, and I also think most people underestimate how fast it’s […]
Homes for Sale in Dripping Springs, TX: What to Know
Dripping Springs, what do I think? I get some version of that question almost every week, usually from a buyer who has just driven Fitzhugh Road for the first time and can’t quite believe it’s twenty five minutes from downtown Austin. So let’s talk about it honestly: what it actually costs to buy here, which […]
What Is an Escrow Account? A Plain‑English Home Buyer Guide
If you’re about to buy a house in Texas, you’ll hear the word “escrow” a lot. It isn’t a single thing, it’s a family of accounts that hold money until certain conditions are met. Below is a clear walk‑through of what escrow really means, how it shows up in a Texas deal, and the mistakes […]
What Does Under Contract Mean in Real Estate?
You’ve just seen the “under contract” label on a listing and wonder what it really means. It’s not a final sale, but it’s more than a hopeful offer. Below you’ll find a clear walk‑through of the term, the steps that follow, the risks, and how to protect yourself. Table of Contents What “Under Contract” Means […]
Your Guide to Beer by the Bay at Horseshoe Bay Resort
Horseshoe Bay Resort now runs a genuine festival every few months — balloons in spring, this one in summer, wine and jazz in fall. Beer by the Bay is the resort’s answer to a proper outdoor country music festival, and it’s grown into one of the bigger draws on the Highland Lakes calendar. Beer by […]
Austin Real Estate Investors: What the Market Actually Looks Like in 2026
If you searched for Austin real estate investors, you’re probably one of two people: someone looking for an agent who actually understands how to underwrite a rental property instead of just listing houses, or someone trying to get an honest read on whether this market still makes sense to invest in. I’ll answer both, starting […]
Your Guide to the Texas Hill Country Harvest Wine Trail
October’s Texas Wine Month Passport gets most of the attention, but the actual grape harvest happens earlier, and the Highland Lakes’ own wineries throw open their doors for it. The Harvest Wine Trail is the late-summer prelude to Wine Month, built around the one time of year you can genuinely watch and take part in […]
Travisso in Leander, TX: Amenities, Pricing, and Who It’s Really For
Travisso comes up by name more than almost any other community in Leander, and once you’ve driven through it, it’s easy to see why. It sits up in the hill country terrain on the west side of town, with views that most of Leander’s flatter new-build communities simply don’t have, and it’s priced accordingly. If […]
Luxury Homes for Sale in Austin, TX: Where, What They Cost, and How to Buy Right
People throw the word luxury around loosely in real estate listings, so let’s start with what it actually means in this market. In Austin right now, a million dollars is roughly where the luxury segment begins, and the region sold well over 2,700 homes above that number in the past year alone. That’s not a […]
New Construction Homes in Leander, TX: What to Know Before You Buy
New construction makes up such a large share of what’s actually for sale in Leander right now that buying here is a genuinely different process than buying an older resale home across town in Austin. I’ve walked enough buyers through it to know where people get surprised, and most of the surprises aren’t about the […]
