Category Archives: Home Selling

The Week That Was

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Last week, I saved two lives by giving blood.  If you haven’t given blood before, it takes about an hour.  The only thing you really have to do is have a good meal before you go.  Unfortunately for me, I did an open house directly afterward.  In the 90 degree heat, that probably wasn’t the smartest thing I have ever done – but hey I’m an overachiever and it all worked out.  I spent some time in Hyde Park, Western Trails and the Woods of Westlake last week.  

Located between the Lost Creek and Parkstone subdivisions, the Woods of Westlake sits along the west side of 360. The Woods of Westlake has a similar feeling to Lost Creek, only with smaller lots.  It offers direct access to the Barton Creek Greenbelt, making it a desirable location.

The Woods of Westlake is within the City of Austin, and is in the Eanes Independent School district.  Its kind of hard to tell what my picture in the left hand corner is, but its of a walking stick I saw on a house.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before, and it was kind of cool.

Austin Neighborhood Market Spotlights

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How healthy is the Austin Real Estate market?  From the looks of the data below, I would say very healthy.  Inventory is low, average days homes have been actively on the market is 3 months or less.  I have selected some random neighborhoods in Austin below and listed some current real estate market data.

Understand this data is specific to single family houses.  Some of these areas certainly have duplexes, triplexes, and of course, condominiums.  I like to separate condominium and investor markets, because they are different and should be explored on their own.

If there is an area you want me to spotlight -please let me know.

Hyde Park

Number of Active Homes on the Market: 31

Average Days on Market: 94

Median Home Price: $ 385,000

Travis Heights

Number of Active Homes on the Market: 23

Average Days on Market: 69

Median Home Price: $ 538,000

Tarrytown

Number of Active Homes on the Market: 29

Average Days on Market: 81

Median Home Price: $ 779,000

City of West Lake Hills

Number of Active Houses on the Market: 28

Average Days on Market: 60

Median Home Price: $ 987,000

Mueller

Number of Active Houses on the Market: 17

Average Days on Market: 44

Median Home Price: $ 448,605

Northwest Hills

Number of Active Houses on the Market: 33

Average Days on Market: 81

Median Home Price: $ 598,500

The Hottness Factor

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What areas are hot right now?  Honestly, I haven’t come across a section in Austin that I would truly call a Buyer’s market right now.  Inventory seems to be moving no matter what price point you are looking in, provided you are within Austin.  There are other areas surrounding Austin that are feeling the affects of neighborhood foreclosures and short sales, which drive the prices down simply because there is an over saturation of Seller’s wanting to sell, versus Buyers looking to buy.

When I find areas with Average Days on the Market being over 6 months that is where I classify a neighborhood to be a Buyer’s market.  Areas that stay on the market for 4 – 6 months are considered ‘neutral’, and less that 4 months are considered a Seller’s Market.

The only exception to this rule is when I am referring to homes priced over $600,000.  There are simply less Buyers able to afford a home in that price point, so the inventory tends to sit a little longer.

Whether I am working with a Buyer or Seller to determine market price, I certainly take into account how hot a neighborhood is.  I take the last 3 months of inventory and add the sold and pending listings.  I then add the active listings up and determine the average amount of months it is going to take to ‘sell’ that inventory.  The lower the number – the hotter the neighborhood.  How hot is Cat Mountain right now?  It has about 6 months of inventory.  While Parkwood, in South Austin, has enough inventory to last 2 months.

Understand, the overall condition of a home certainly plays an important role in how fast a house will sell.  Looking at inventory flow is just an additional data point I like to refer to.

What’s your home’s walking score?

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When I’m working with Buyers, I always want to know about where they work and how they live, because the house they ultimately decide to purchase has to fit in with their lifestyle.  People don’t often consider how walkable a neighborhood is when they find a house they love.  More often than not, we then to take a step back and figure out if Johnny can walk to school, or how close we are to the running trail.  

 

When I refer to a house being walkable, I am talking about proximity, not necessarily walking distance.  Not everyone in Austin has a commute.  Many of my clients work from home, so even the nearest place to get milk, can be a consideration.  Those who work from home have no commuting flight path.  Everyone has something they want to be convenient to.  For me – it’s a movie theater.

 

Walking scores do actually exist.  Overall, Austin has a walking score of 49, with 100 being the best. It is rated the 29th most walkable city in the country. Looking to find out how walkable your house is?  Go to http://www.walkscore.com/

I support local Austin, after all, I think it’s only neighborly.

Time for a Change

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As I mentioned in the beginning of the year, change is in the air.  My business is growing, and as a result, I have made some improvements to streamline systems to help me – help you. First, I have changed my email address.  It is now [email protected].  The nice thing is that I can easily check email on my phone when I’m on the road, so I can reply to clients faster, and it all syncs to a central server.

The second thing I have changed, is posting my cell phone as my office phone.  My clients are ultimately communicating with me through my cell phone anyway, and I them.  So, I decided to cut out the middle man and go directly to my cell phone.  As you already know, I spend quite a bit of time in my car, so these little things will increase my level of customer service.

Oh, and one more thing….I am now at Sky Realty.   As I enjoy teaching others, I enjoy learning new things too.  Look forward to an improved website and home search features in the coming weeks.

If we are not moving forward, we are moving backward.  We are indeed, always moving.

Thank you all for your continued support and well wishes. 

Spring into Listing, the Selling Season has Begun

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I’ve been flooded with questions lately by both Buyers and Sellers, and I love questions, because it means you are thinking.  I would like to take a minute to share what some of my clients have been thinking about, since you might have the same questions racing through your head as well.

 

For Sellers, the questions I am getting are more like, “do I put on a deck?”, “do I power wash the house?”, “do I install a new kitchen?”.  My universal response to most of these questions is, don’t.  Don’t do anything you would not have done, if you weren’t moving.  The reason is more about the cost of time, because time can cost more than you will ever get back.  We are entering the selling season.  

 

A deck is not going to necessarily bring you more money.  If the deck takes twice as long as it was intended, you have not only spent money on something that wasn’t necessary, but you have missed the Spring buying season as well.  

 

Power washing your home, could result in your house needing a new paint job.  Do you have time for that?  Do you have the money?  Using a garden hose, might easily do the trick, without creating a problem you didn’t have.  

 

Installing a new kitchen?  Out of all the questions I have received this week, this is the one that would add the most appeal to your home, and will bring you the most return on the cost, but kitchens take time.  If the kitchen costs $25,000, and isn’t going to be done for 9 weeks, we have lost the Spring buying season.  That $25,000 remodel, may only net you $15,000 in the fall.  When interest rates go up, house prices generally go down because people have less buying power.  

 

The #1 thing I want people to do when I list a house is clean.  When Buyers see a 1970’s kitchen that is spotless, they comment on how clean it is.  It’s a blank canvas that can updated someday and is considered usable the way it is.  When the same Buyers see a modern kitchen, that is dirty, it is a turn off.  It’s funny how the brain works, it doesn’t say “I can clean this”, like you would think; instead it says “I could never cook in here”.  If you don’t like to clean, hire someone.  It’s money well spent and I guarantee you will get 100% return on your cost, instead of a remodel that will cost you to miss the Spring season.  Do those remodeling projects in the fall, six months before you are planning to sell.