皆様、新年明けましておめでとうございます。2024年、皆様にとって成功、健康、そしてエキサイティングな冒険の章となりますように。これから新年を幸福と充実感で飾りましょう。今年ももっと成長し、笑い、美しい思い出を作る一年になりますように。Happy New Years!
Wishing you a Happy New Year filled with moments of joy, love, and endless possibilities. May the upcoming year be a chapter of success, good health, and exciting adventures. Embrace the new beginnings with enthusiasm and let the journey ahead be adorned with happiness and fulfillment. Here’s to another year of growth, laughter, and creating beautiful memories. Happy New Year!
Tis the season for a Annoura Family Vacation! The five of us packed into Koh’s truck and drove to Pagosa Springs, Colorado for a short Christmas trip. We own a small property there and this was a good chance to check the condition of our place as well as meet the new property management team in charge of our short term leases. We arrived on Dec 23 and hit the Wolf Creek slopes on Dec 24, 25, and 26. Susan and Koh skiied while Joe, Ty, and Zach snowboarded. It was special to have our family friends the McGaritys fly in to join us! The four adults enjoyed a soak in the hot spring baths at The Springs. Did you know that Pagosa Springs has the world’s deepest known geothermal hot springs?! This makes this little city very special and the reason we picked it for our small second home! If you or your family ever want to go and stay at our place, just let us know! Here is a link for pictures: https://www.itrip.net/pagosa-springs-vacation-rental/191-talisman-dr-d202
Dec 3, 2023 at the Gilruth Field inside the NASA compound, the annual Clear Lake Cup softball tournament took place. Susan and Mik play on the team Izakaya Wa and we played against many of the teams from Clear Lake. Our first game was against Kaneka, our second game was against JAXA (plus some MHI players), and our third game was against Clear Lake United. All the games were exciting with Clear Lake United being the most difficult. Going into the third game, both Team Izakaya Wa and Clear Lake United were undefeated. In the end, it was Team Izakaya Wa that won! It was so fun to get together with our team on a beautiful autumn day, though the next day, all my muscles are sore and I can barely move! I was super happy to have one hit and to make it around the bases in game 3 to score a point. HAAAAA! The big JBAH softball tournament is around the corner probably in April. To everyone who participated, otsukaresama deshita!
Inman News reports the latest statistics on existing homes sales, using data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). There are two types of homes for sale, brand new construction and existing homes (used homes). The latest data on existing home sales shows:
Existing sales fell 4.1% in October to an annual rate of 3.79 million, which is the lowest level since 2010. Nonetheless, multiple offers are still happening, according to NAR’s Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
The median existing home price for all housing types in October clocked in at $391,800, which is a 3.4% increase from October 2022 when it was $378,800.
Total housing inventory registered at the end of the month was 1.15 million units, up 1.8% from September but down 5.7 percent from one year ago.
A whopping 66% of homes sold in October were on the market for less than a month, according to NAR data. First-time buyers were responsible for 28 percent of sales in October.
A recent article by The Real Deal shows how foreign buyers boost the Austin, Texas housing market. Here are the important takeaways:
There was $609 million spent by international homebuyers in Central Texas in one year, and international homebuyers accounted for 3% of those sales.
Interestingly, one in six new Austin-area residents are from abroad.
India was the primary source of international homebuyers for the second consecutive year, making up 21% of transactions, while Mexico accounted for 17% of international transactions, followed by China (6%), Brazil (6%), and Canada (5%)
Median home price for international buyers increased to more than $573,000, up by more than $50,000 from the 2022 median price.
This median price significantly exceeded the overall median price in the Austin region, which was just more than $478,000 during the survey period.