It is hard to truly wrap your head around the Austin housing market unless you are actively participating. I compare home buyers in this market to racehorses at the starting gate just waiting for the next house to come up for sale.
Next Stop: The Twilight Zone
When a new house hits the market, buyers leave the starting gate. The house goes into multiple offers and only one lucky offer is selected after a day or so. The buyers then line up again, wait for the next home to hit the market and the race is on. Add this little thing called a pandemic into the mix while the stampede is coming down the street and you have officially entered The Twilight Zone.
In my lifetime, I have stood in line to see a house for sale and I’ve even sold homes sight unseen. This market is a bit different. It is a unique market of mind, where a buyer may not get the opportunity to see a home first, before offering over list price, signing a waiver that they will bring cash to the table if it doesn’t appraise or even present themselves as a cash buyer by bridging the equity from their existing home before they sell it. Homebuyers are taking a journey into the imagination as they enter the Austin real estate market.
Moving to Austin
More and more people want to move anywhere near the Austin area than there is room for. I mean, I’m not going to say it’s got a Cabbage Patch Kid vibe of the ’80s. Austinites are fairly chill after all. I will go so far as to say buying a home for sale in Austin, Round Rock, Leander, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Kyle, Buda, Sunset Valley, West Lake Hills, Rollingwood, Manchaca, Elgin, Manor, Lakeway and Pflugerville is like buying a PS5.
May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor
Just like games require a bit of strategy, this market does too. Buyers need to plan ahead a bit and be ready when that PlayStation 5 shows itself. How it is going to be paid for and what one is willing to spend is all worked out ahead of time. Buying a house anywhere in Central Texas right now is very much the same. In this market, a buyer needs to know how they are going to pay, submit the offer, and pray they are that lucky horse.