Real Estate in Austin Area!!!

[supernaut112]

Originally Posted by Idlewile

Not in the area of Austin we're house hunting in. It's a seller's market and no one is moving from our target neighborhoods. There is very little inventory and when something is nice and priced right, it's gone in a week because the schools are some of the best. I'm now to the point where I'm actually driving around looking for "coming soon" signs in front yards.

Ah, tell me about it. I can count the number of properties that are available on the fingers of both hands. We're looking at 78701, 78703, 78704 and 78705 only (Central Austin). This is like finding a decent rental in Manhattan. As soon as something comes available it's off the market in a couple of days.

::Sigh::

[SeanKubicek]

I concur with the comments above about the market conditions in Central Texas. If the property is priced right, it's either sold before it's loaded on MLS or is gone in 1-2 days. Every property in central, west, and south Austin are multiple offer negotiations if the property is priced well out of the chutes. Our company keeps an ongoing list of "pocket listings" that aren't quite on the active market or online yet, that allow us to put buyer and seller together before going live on the market. If you're working on your own, driving neighborhoods and looking online, you owe it to yourself to find a real estate agent with good connections that can let you know what's for sale that's not on the market. You're missing out on 20% of the available inventory.

[supernaut112]

Originally Posted by SeanKubicek

I concur with the comments above about the market conditions in Central Texas. If the property is priced right, it's either sold before it's loaded on MLS or is gone in 1-2 days. Every property in central, west, and south Austin are multiple offer negotiations if the property is priced well out of the chutes. Our company keeps an ongoing list of "pocket listings" that aren't quite on the active market or online yet, that allow us to put buyer and seller together before going live on the market. If you're working on your own, driving neighborhoods and looking online, you owe it to yourself to find a real estate agent with good connections that can let you know what's for sale that's not on the market. You're missing out on 20% of the available inventory.

Interesting! I always figured that anything that was available in 78703 for more than a few days remained unsold for a darned good reason.

My problem with working with realtors (in the past) is that none seemed to understand what "Central Austin" meant, exactly. Guarantee you that if we work with a realtor again, we'll get shown properties in the very areas that we're trying assiduously to avoid. Always happens without fail.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by supernaut112

My problem with working with realtors (in the past) is that none seemed to understand what "Central Austin" meant, exactly. Guarantee you that if we work with a realtor again, we'll get shown properties in the very areas that we're trying assiduously to avoid. Always happens without fail.

Broad terms like Central Austin, North Austin, SoCo, etc... mean different things to different people. You can't just tell a Realtor "Central Austin" and expect to be shown the exact area that you deem Central Austin. Whenever a buyer tells me terms like this, I ask for their specific boundaries. Which street is too far north, too far south, too far east, and too far west. You would be amazed that many people have odd boundaries and don't actually mean the term they say. Some people say West Austin and are referring to the Lakeway/Bee Cave area while that area is considered West "of" Austin.

If you want your agent to be able to work "for" you, you need to be more specific as to what you're looking for.

[supernaut112]

Originally Posted by FalconheadWest

If you want your agent to be able to work "for" you, you need to be more specific as to what you're looking for.

We specified zip codes. But for some reason, the real estate agent seemed to automatically assume that we wanted a big pre-fab McMansion rather than a cozy condo or townhome. I ended up finding the property we bought in Clarksville without a realtor, and it was exactly what we wanted: a 1/1 with covered parking but no yard.