Austin Market Cooling Down - Lowest home sales (Round Rock, Spring: layoffs, buyers)

[pbnj07]

All I know is my next door neighbor listed their house in RRW last month at almost 10% over what I paid (per sqft) in SEP07. I thought to myself, "that house is going to sit on the market for months"......they sold it in 2 days.

I just think there are hold/cold pockets all over the Austin area.

[austifornian]

There is a saying that when you are swimming in the ocean you can only feel the water 3 feet around you. I would take all anecdotal evidence with a grain of salt. If a market is contracting and an individual real estate agent is doing well it is less reflective of the market than it is of their ability. Good agents weather tough markets, average agents will wash out.

Austin has a couple of mitigating factors going for it, it continues to grow and didn't appreciate as fast as the housing bubble inflated post 2000. If you are really interested in learning about the local market I would suggest a visit to the Texas Real Estate Center at the A&M website which is filled with all sorts of data and market reports.

[Taterhead]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Ah. Okay. East Round Rock stats (I looked at them while I was looking at Hutto) are, interestingly, mirroring Hutto's pretty closely. In west RR, however, the dividing line between seller's and buyer's market moves up to $300,000 - anything below $300,000 is in a seller's market, above that, a buyer's market.

You said in this quote that housing below 300 was still a sellers market. I am simply pointing out I don't see it, because if that were true, then how come all 5 homes I just looked at went down in price in that 200-300 range? If that range is a sellers market that wouldn't happen.

You realtors are in denial IMO. People that actually live there are telling you that homes are sitting on their streets for months and months with prices dropping all over the map and you guys say, no we are still going strong. I see the same houses drop in price on MLS in the last 6 months, the homes are dropping prices right and left in all areas of Austin, IMO. I can only go by what I see with my on eyes.

[TexasHorseLady]

No, in RRE (Round Rock East), it's below $200,000. In RRW (Round Rock West), it's below $300,000.

I'm not particularly in denial, your opinion notwithstanding. There are, as I said, areas where things are bad. There are areas where things are exceedingly good. All of them contained within the overall Austin area.

But by your own words, you're watching 5 houses out of all of the houses that have been on the market in Austin in the last year or so. You're NOT watching all of those other houses, which is what the statistics I was quoting consist of.

[Taterhead]

What does it take to get my point across, I am not watching just 5 homes geezz. I am watching 5 right at this moment yes but that's not the point at all. I have been watching the Market there for almost a year now. Some of the homes I just checked are RRE and some are RRW, all went down in price in just the last few weeks of being on the market. And they were all under the 300 thousand range, so much for that range being a sellers market is all I'm saying.

Listen to the people who live there and see the homes for sale for months on end with no sale on their streets, they know what is really happening.

Deb

[TexasHorseLady]

Taterhead, we'll have to agree to disagree, it would seem, you with your opinion based on your experience with the Austin market and me with mine. (And, of course, the stats, which have more information than either of us.)

[Taterhead]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Taterhead, we'll have to agree to disagree, it would seem, you with your opinion based on your experience with the Austin market and me with mine. (And, of course, the stats, which have more information than either of us.)

Lets shake on that

I do tend to agree with the good people of Austin that have been saying for months now that homes aren't selling and prices are dropping and they see it all first hand in their own neighborhoods. I feel something is going on with your realtors though, Why when ever this topic comes up you all deny it is happening? I feel it's not right to say these things to people who are seeing it with their own eyes. I also feel when i pop in with my 2 cents I'm being told I must be misinformed because it's not so. The facts are these IMO, I have seen the decline for at least the last 6 months, so I'm going by what I see.

Good day

[TexasHorseLady]

If you'll look back at what I've said, Taterhead, I think you'll see that I've said it's happening in SOME areas, just not all, and that others are a hot market. I've consistently spoken of the OVERALL Austin market.

Real estate isn't just local, it's hyper-local, which is to say, it varies by neighborhood. One neighborhood, as I said above, can be hot, and the one next door for reasons best known only to the buyers, will not.

Even in Georgetown there are areas that are more likely to sell quickly than others. That's just the nature of real estate. For a market the size of Austin, which is more than just Austin proper, it's just about impossible to put it in one neat and tidy package called "hot" or "cool".

[faithr]

I think it really varies by area.
I am in the home buying market and I have been watching houses for the last few months. The houses that are in the hot areas that are priced reasonably for those areas seem to be selling. A cute house in Tarrytown that I liked out two weeks ago selling for $724k (really out of my range but I was curious about the sort of house you got for that) sold in two days. Another house in Westlake that came on the market on Sunday, for 619k on a nice lot but needing a lot of updates, got a contract at above asking price in 4 hours.
One house i looked at in Tarrytown that sat on the market for a few months just got a contract. It seems like anything, in the hot areas, perceived as a good value for that area goes quickly. And the others sit on the market a bit longer than they had, but still sell. Sometimes the prices get lowered a bit.
I am coming from Northern VA where houses are not selling and prices being slashed. From my perspective, in the areas I want to be (close in) it still seems like a seller's market to me.
10 days ago, I looked at 10 houses in two days and half are now under contract.
I think the experience varies widely in the suburbs.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by faithr

I think it really varies by area.
I am in the home buying market and I have been watching houses for the last few months. The houses that are in the hot areas that are priced reasonably for those areas seem to be selling. A cute house in Tarrytown that I liked out two weeks ago selling for $724k (really out of my range but I was curious about the sort of house you got for that) sold in two days. Another house in Westlake that came on the market on Sunday, for 619k on a nice lot but needing a lot of updates, got a contract at above asking price in 4 hours.
One house i looked at in Tarrytown that sat on the market for a few months just got a contract. It seems like anything, in the hot areas, perceived as a good value for that area goes quickly. And the others sit on the market a bit longer than they had, but still sell. Sometimes the prices get lowered a bit.
I am coming from Northern VA where houses are not selling and prices being slashed. From my perspective, in the areas I want to be (close in) it still seems like a seller's market to me.
10 days ago, I looked at 10 houses in two days and half are now under contract.
I think the experience varies widely in the suburbs.

Fathr, you hit the nail on the head. Sometimes these forum conversations are like trying to argue about the National Weather. Austin has wildly varying states of market condition. Any home will sell in any area if priced right and in proper condition. Some will sell for a lot more than they would have a year ago, and some will sell for less.

As a general rule, the further from downtown you go, the more likely the price will be less than a year ago. The higher the price range, the softer the market because the upper priced homes have higher inventory levels and issues with Jumbo Loan rates.

Thanks for offering an Active Buyer's perspective. It jives exactly with what I see every day, which is a very strong Austin real estate market with many soft pockets.

Steve