The difference between a house and a home is you. The memories, the pictures, the furniture, even the paint color combine to create a unique blend that reflects your own personality and style. Improvements and accessories personalize, improve and/or allow for added functionality that a home may not have had before. Consider them enhancements when it is time to sell an Austin home because they add appeal whether it’s monetary or simply enhances the functionality of a room.
So what items convey with the property and what items move with you when selling your home? There are often many assumptions made here by the seller but make no mistake, the opposite thought process is often made by the buyer. When I have a listing appointment I try to go through items I see and review a contract since many of the items are noted.
Austin Homes for Sale
When buying an Austin home Improvements generally affixed to the dwelling or property are considered permanently installed and built-in so they convey with the sale as real property. They include items like: shrubbery, plumbing, light fixtures, wall-to-wall carpeting, garage door openers, shutters, mounts and brackets for televisions and speakers.
Accessories include items like stoves, curtains and rods, blinds, draperies, artificial fireplace logs, above ground pools and pool equipment.
Sometimes there are items Sellers want to take typically because they have some sort of personal attachment to them. Grandma’s chandelier is hanging in the dining room, there are bookcases in the living room or maybe you just really like the curtains. If it is yours and you want to take it with you, the best thing to do is to remove the item before we list it. Removing grandma’s chandelier and replacing it with another fixture is simple enough to do and avoids discussions or assumptions later on.
If there is something that is going to stay visible that a Buyer would expect is staying, the best thing to do is to post of little sign on it so that potential buyers know up front that the item is not conveying. Later on when an offer arrives any improvements and accessories that will be retained by the Seller should be listed into the contract under the exclusions section. This way it is crystal clear to both parties.
Part of the Austin home buying process is a home inspection which takes place during an option period and typically signifies the mental transition of stepping off cloud 9 for a minute. Buyer’s remorse, if it’s going to happen, usually occurs within the first 24 hours of signing the contract to purchase. If the buyer is not having second thoughts, the inspection puts emotions aside and brings the buyer back to earth to explore the data.
Buyers come back for a second showing when they really like a house. If buyers don’t like a house the first time, they don’t come back. It’s important, for a seller, to make every showing count and not to let anyone in until they are 100% ready. It is often about the little things that make a good first impression. Replacing burnt light bulbs, lampshades, throw rugs, sweeping the walkway and cleaning the windows can give a house a mini face lift and really show pride of ownership. One of the benefits of selling a home this time of year is that many of those things happen anyway.
A list of subdivisions in the greater Austin area and current real estate market data for them is featured below. Active homes on the market are defined as units that do not have an accepted contract on them. Active homes, as well as other data change constantly as houses in Austin enter and leave the market. The data is subdivision specific and gives an overall snapshot of the price point and desire for that particular Austin market. There may be additional homes available for purchase in the general market area.
I had a buyer call and ask how strong a contingency offer is perceived in the 
Austin is hot and I’m not just talking about the weather. Austin’s growth is outpacing the supply of homes in inventory which is making it a competitive market to buy and even rent in. Over 25,000 people moved to Austin between July 2011 and July 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The growth moved Austin’s ranking of the nation’s largest cities from the 13th spot to number 11.