Better area to buy now for long term appreciation: Westlake or Dripping Springs? (Austin: for sale, loan)

[emeraldcitymer]

Which area would you say is a better bet for long term appreciation? Westlake area or Dripping Springs? Want to see value of home continue to go up for the next few decades, for a "forever" home.

[Austin97]

if it is a forever home why would you care if it appreciates? It's better if it goes down in value so your taxes are less.

Closer to the inner core is going to have better appreciation, so possibly westlake.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by emeraldcitymer

Which area would you say is a better bet for long term appreciation? Westlake area or Dripping Springs? Want to see value of home continue to go up for the next few decades, for a "forever" home.

If you're asking which area might have a higher appreciation rate, noone can know that over coming decades. The average appreciation over decades or time is about 4.5% annually.

Texas in general, and Austin specifically, will continue to enjoy job growth, which is the primary driver of housing demand. Where in Austin doesn't really matter anymore. But we tell investors to buy at or about the median or average price point for the area in which the home is purchased. So $300K +/- in Williamson County, $500K in Austin proper, etc.

Buy the house you want and need. If you can get one. Supply is extremely low and demand is extremely high at present. Multiple offers abound, some unbelievably bidding up over 30% over list price. You can't just fly in for a weekend and buy a home.

Steve

[Jimmyp25]

Good luck finding a house . I keep getting calls to buy my house weekly . We were going to get a bigger house of baby 3 comes along but I’m actually thinking of just building an addition at this point . Last time I checked a couple weeks back there were only 2 houses for sale in cedar park! Insane ! With the high unemployment in blue cities , expect more refugees to be moving here soon .

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Jimmyp25

Good luck finding a house . I keep getting calls to buy my house weekly . We were going to get a bigger house of baby 3 comes along but I’m actually thinking of just building an addition at this point . Last time I checked a couple weeks back there were only 2 houses for sale in cedar park! Insane ! With the high unemployment in blue cities , expect more refugees to be moving here soon .

an addition will be $300+/sq ft. It is probably better to just sell and buy a bigger house.

[JT24hr]

Originally Posted by Jimmyp25

Good luck finding a house . I keep getting calls to buy my house weekly . We were going to get a bigger house of baby 3 comes along but I’m actually thinking of just building an addition at this point . Last time I checked a couple weeks back there were only 2 houses for sale in cedar park! Insane ! With the high unemployment in blue cities , expect more refugees to be moving here soon .

How are unemployed people going to purchase a home here?

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by JT24hr

How are unemployed people going to purchase a home here?

Not everyone is unemployed. Last year was actually a great year for me as a social worker. I was really needed. Not good enough to buy in Westlake, but had i gad my finances together (I don’t) I could probably buy this year.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by JT24hr

How are unemployed people going to purchase a home here?

Many of the folks packing up and leaving aren't unemployed anyway, they are remote workers due to Covid with many transitioning permanently working remotely and have little in the way to keep them planted where they are and are tired of:
-- High CoL
-- Ongoing political issues which was basically a match lit to gas during the pandemic
..or..
-- Relocating with their company whom are also relocating

There are those who lost their jobs during the pandemic and performed a nationwide search who also relocated here for existing jobs but IMO those would be the minorities in terms of numbers compared to the large influx of people moving here recently.

That stated, one technically 'could' move from California / New York, ect if they were unemployed as their home value greatly exceeds most home values of ATX, making them capable of purchasing in cash and 'hope' to find a job in the near future to cover property tax (if they havent already have enough in reserve from whats left over to carry that too.

[atxcio]

Westlake, if you can afford it, because there is just such a limited supply there. It's close in, yet not dense - so always a high premium because there are not that many homes and probably never will be. Dripping Springs has a lot more room to grow.

But really pick whatever you like better as a forever home. Given that type of time horizon, you are bound to do very well in either location.

[JT24hr]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Many of the folks packing up and leaving aren't unemployed anyway, they are remote workers due to Covid with many transitioning permanently working remotely and have little in the way to keep them planted where they are and are tired of:
-- High CoL
-- Ongoing political issues which was basically a match lit to gas during the pandemic
..or..
-- Relocating with their company whom are also relocating

There are those who lost their jobs during the pandemic and performed a nationwide search who also relocated here for existing jobs but IMO those would be the minorities in terms of numbers compared to the large influx of people moving here recently.

That stated, one technically 'could' move from California / New York, ect if they were unemployed as their home value greatly exceeds most home values of ATX, making them capable of purchasing in cash and 'hope' to find a job in the near future to cover property tax (if they havent already have enough in reserve from whats left over to carry that too.

I agree with the last comment, I was mainly speaking to "With the high unemployment in blue cities , expect more refugees to be moving here soon ."

If someone is going to get a loan, they will be hard pressed to find one if unemployed. Cash buyers are obviously a different story.