Vikki Goodwin’s Austin Real Estate Weblog

Every year the Home Builders Association holds a Parade of Homes which benefits local charities.  This year the Parade is being held May 23-June 7 at Mueller (pronounced Miller), the subdivision built where the old airport used to be.  Proceeds will benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, Austin Children’s Center and Austin Children’s Museum.  It costs $15 to walk through the five homes on Camacho Street.  These homes are all priced around $1M, and showcase the talents of five local custom builders. 

In past years, I’ve worked at the Parades as a greeter and builder representative.  This year I simply attended the Parade as a guest.  It was a lot of fun to walk through these homes and see what green features they’ve incorporated.  The City of Austin has strongly encouraged all builders, not just for the Parade homes, but for all homes in the subdivision, to be green.  Four of the Parade homes have received the highest green rating the City of Austin awards, a 5-star rating. 

My favorite house is the one by Streetman Homes.  It takes advantage of the view of the park and pond across the street from several rooms in the house, including the formal dining room and the master suite.  It also has a really cool third floor which they call the “sunset floor”, from which you can see downtown skyline.  This floor is intended for sipping drinks at sunset!  Even the sink is shaped like a martini glass.  Another of my favorite features is the water fountain in the yard.  Besides the yard, the home has two covered patios, a covered balcony off the master suite, and the covered but un-airconditioned sunset floor.  The decorating is flamboyant and unique, not your everyday home, but fun and idea-inspiring!

What I enjoy about going to these Parades is seeing new trends and new materials.  Two of the homes incorporate an entertaining area in the garage, which I know may be hard to imagine, but seeing it shows a clever use of space.  These homes are on very small lots, so the builders had to be creative in making plenty of outdoor living space.  One builder put a garden on the second floor, which is neat, but may not be so practical (how do you mow a second floor lawn?). 

All of the homes on the Parade are available for purchase, as are other, less expensive homes in Mueller.  Other homes in Mueller are selling for $239K and up. 

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com