There is a nice stable suburb that is a 10 minute drive that has built up more over the years.

It makes sense that job growth and people continuing to move to Austin will continue to drive growth in the real estate market.

Stuff like driving for dollars, running your numbers, extending your network, direct mail/flyering are the basis and you can apply anywhere.

More money in peoples pockets drives prices higher...

With that being said, habits drive consistency. 

I think if you live in the area, it should be easy enough to drive through any area that you are looking at and get a feel for it.

It did help me hash it out logically vs the emotional drive that can come once you've invested some interest.

I'm not sure of the extent of the damage and plan on driving by this weekend to check it out but was wondering if there are any suggestions out there on if there is anything we should do or anything we need to be worried about?

Additionally, she said they don't need to do an actual appraisal of your home for the HELOC...they just look at comps and drive by your house.

My nature is being really process oriented and when things fall behind because of little details that could have been easily addressed it drives me up the wall. :)