Austin Real Estate - HELP! What is going on? (Portland: to rent, houses) - City-Data Forum

leahkeeler · 03-13-2012, 04:38 PM

We are a family of 4 relocating from Portland, OR and are trying to buy a house for under $550K in Eanes schools district. So far we have been outbid on 2 full price offers in Barton Creek West and it seems that the rest of the homes we didn't even like that much sold in an hour.

What is going on? Is it seasonal demand- school coming to an end and people desperately looking to buy or is the market really that hot??? or are realtors pricing lower then market to get quick multiple offers? or something completely different

Is anyone else seeing the same thing? houses selling in 5 minutes over asking with a dozen offers???

Aquitaine · 03-13-2012, 04:41 PM

Yes - the market started heating up quite a lot in late Jan/early Feb. Our realtor said that this time of year is usually pretty busy, but also that it was turning into a seller's market very rapidly. Lots of places not even making it to MLS.

Idlewile · 03-13-2012, 04:54 PM

Yes, the EXACT same situation except 350K and under in NW Austin. The ones that don't go in the first two days in a bidding war go under contract before being listed. No joke. There are a few of us looking in that area on this board.

Demand is sky high and inventory is low.

Bubchub68 · 03-13-2012, 05:59 PM

We're in the same situation. We're looking for houses in NW Austin for quite some time but were not fully ready until 2 months ago. We found couple good houses late December/early January, but wanted to wait until spring market, which was a really bad decision.

The market is really hot. The ones that are good get sold in few hours with minimum 4-5 offers and some even before hitting the MLS. A friend of ours bought a house recently by paying way more than the asking price to secure the house. Unlike IdleWille said, this is not for houses just under $350k but for houses under 475k in this area. Let's hope for the best.

iceman11 · 03-13-2012, 06:16 PM

I'm far from being an expert of the Austin metropolitan market, but I've seen exactly the same string of events in other states and countries other times.

Sadly these are symptoms of an inflating bubble (especially buying overpriced, and over asking price) that will hit in 1-2 years time, or at least that's what happened the other times I've seen that...

I read many threads on this forum and seen a couple of realtors often visiting them and always saying 'not true, bring proof, etc'. I might say personal interest are sometime affecting comments you can make...
I feel very positive about the growth of Austin area and business development around it, which often bring in many people and real estate price increase... but if that's happen too fast or for too long...I would stay away from buying for a while.

My 2 cents... (and I hope my opinion will be proved wrong in the future :-) )

mm57553 · 03-13-2012, 07:35 PM

I think a lot more people are buying homes since interest rates are so low.

kittenlittle · 03-13-2012, 07:41 PM

I don't think it's a bubble about to burst. I honestly think there are just a lot of people moving to Austin and needing a place to live. Plus interest rates are so low, why would you pass that up with renting if you can afford to buy? I think the economy here is pretty healthy, at least in my circle of friends and acquaintances.

atxcio · 03-13-2012, 08:53 PM

I think top-school districts like Eanes experience the seasonal cycles more dramatically than some other places. You are looking in an uber-desirable area during near the peak of the yearly cycle. Plus the rates are so low... I'd expect it to be difficult to find something right now. But then again, knowing this is an active part of the year, new listings should continue to come up at a decent pace. So it might be just a matter of checking every day and when the right thing comes up, move fast.

Or rent for awhile in Eanes and see if you can get a better deal in late summer/fall.

texastrigirl · 03-13-2012, 09:10 PM

I have a client that is a prominent SW Austin real estate firm. Inventory is very, very low right now. Getting houses to appraise for offer price is also causing trouble. Should be an interesting spring.

leahkeeler · 03-13-2012, 09:16 PM

We check more like every 15 minutes or so haha and being the first to come in with full price offers has not worked. It would be great to rent if we could find something - that seems to be as hard as finding a house.... we are hoping something will turn up so we can move during the summer so the kids can meet some friends in the neighborhood before school starts.

I wish the market was s hot where we are moving from