Growing up in Austin has been a unique experience. When my family moved here in January of 1966, Austin was little more than a college town. IBM had some operations here, the University of Texas employed a large number and of course the seat of the Texas government was here. Other than the normal supporting businesses, that was about it. Folks bought groceries at Rylander's (now owned by Randalls/Safeway), enjoyed picnics at Zilker Park, swam at Barton Springs Pool or Northwest Park Pool, and dined at Matt's El Rancho. The high school football games were at House Park, sweethearts visited Mt. Bonnell and everyone looked forward to "Fiesta" at Laguna Gloria. You could even buy property on Lake Austin for less than $100,000. Imagine that!

By the time I graduated from the brand new Anderson High School in 1977 IBM's Austin operations had become one of their largest in the country. We had a shopping mall and the new Loop 360 bridge made drive times much easier. The music we love here was becoming an industry and people all over the country knew of Austin by watching the popular show "Austin City Limits". Musicians Stevie Ray Vaughn and Willie Nelson helped put Austin on the national map. By this time, Austin had clearly outgrown its "college town" label.

After my graduation from SMU, I returned home to find Austin booming. The banking industry was going strong, oil and gas was big and businesses were as diverse as the people of Austin. There were several shopping malls and developers were building master planned communities.

Look at Austin now-we are no longer driven by any one industry. Yes, we have a very strong tech sector, but we still have the universities, government, banking industry, and all the wonderful entrepreneurial businesses that are nurtured by the creative Austin culture. We are a thriving metroplex, yet you still picnic at Zilker Park, swim at Barton Springs, smooch at Mt. Bonnell, eat Mexican food at Matt's El Rancho and you do business with good 'ole Austinites (because you can count on them!). Some local institutions are just too good to change.

Please call me with any real estate need. I have Austin experience and I look forward to sharing it with you.