| Home Contact Us Blog | |
|
The Crossland Team
Sylvia Crossland, Broker Steve Crossland, MPM (512) 301-5811 |
-
Featured Listings
What your real estate offer really buys you
August 29, 2005
Once your real estate offer in Austin TX has been accepted, have you just purchased a home? If you are a seller, and have just accepted a real estate offer, have you just sold your home? The answer to both questions is, not necessarily.
Let me explain. Buying real estate in Texas is a two step process. Let’s look at how this works.
Read more
Austin Home prices on the upswing
August 28, 2005
The article below, from this morning’s Austin American-Statesman, does a good job of articulating what I have been noticing as the Austin real estate market starts to awaken from the past 3 or 4 years slumber. The last two offers I wrote were multiple offer situations – 3 offers on one home and 4 on the other, both in South Austin Area 10, which is an area I really think will appreciate well in the coming years because of its proximity to downtown Austin, shopping, restaurants and the fact that many of it’s homes are still below the median sales price for Austin as a whole.
As the article says, accurately I believe, “With fewer houses for sale and building costs rising, buyers no longer have the advantage.”
Read more
Rental rates, occupancy to rise in local Austin rental market
August 24, 2005
Although the article below specifically references apartments, the single family and duplex rental markets generally run parallel to whatever is happening in the multi-family rental market in Austin. Rental prices in turn have an effect on home prices. In general, this is more good news for Austin real estate investors and sellers alike.
Source: Austin Business Journal 8/23/2005
Rental rates, occupancy to rise in local apartment marketApartment owners will be able to post modest increases in rents this year and slowly eliminate concessions, according to a new market report. The report was issued by Encino, Calif.-based Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co.
“Austin’s apartment market will continue to record improvement this year, as several key market fundamentals have turned positive,” says Bradley Bailey, sales manager of the firm’s Austin office.
“Job growth and in-migration are lifting renter demand, leading to rising rents and solid returns,” Bailey says. “The expanding economy and high quality of life will continue to attract new residents. These trends have positive implications for the local rental housing market going forward.”
Read more
Another Real Estate Bubble Prediction
August 24, 2005
Robert J. Shiller is arguing that the housing craze is another bubble destined to end badly, just as every other real-estate boom on record has.
Lately, most of the news I read, hear and see about the Austin economy and Austin real estate market is positive. I write about and quote this information here online whenever I get the chance. I did however just come across an article that warns of a 40% drop in real estate prices in the U.S., combined with a decade long recession. Wow! Of course, it’s just one man’s opinion, but I like reading warnings like this just as much as I enjoy hearing the good news. It helps provide perspective.
Responding to Lowball Real Estate Offers
August 20, 2005
Real Estate Agents disagree on the best negotiating strategy for responding to lowball offers. There are two general camps of thought.
One philosophy says that the amount of an initial offer doesn’t matter, and that the seller should always respond to any offer with a counter-offer of the lowest ‘bottom dollar’ price she is willing to accept for the property. I not only disagree with this strategy, but believe it is fails to protect the seller’s best interests.
Read more
Austin-area home sales still robust
August 18, 2005
From today’s Austin Statesman, more good news for Austin sellers who have been waiting the past several years for the market to rebound.
By Kate Miller Morton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, August 18, 2005Central Texas homes are selling in record numbers so far this year, and the buying boom shows no sign of waning.
Sales of existing houses have surged 18 percent in the first seven months of this year compared with the same months in 2004, according to the Austin Board of Realtors. Half of the 14,022 single-family houses sold from January through July were priced at $161,220 or above, a 3 percent increase from the same period in 2004. Monthly sales jumped 17 percent in July, compared with a year earlier, with 2,560 houses sold.
Read more
Austin Texas Homes Appreciate Modestly
August 16, 2005
Austin real estate prices are still not exactly on fire. But they are rising and inventory is shrinking while the number sales increase. This is a recipe for better appreciation, but as the report below outlines, Austin is still seeing modest real estate price gains relative to other parts of Texas and the U.S.
Read more
No Signs of a Slowdown in Real Estate
August 16, 2005
Reported by Realtor.org
NAR Chief Economist David Lereah expects U. S. home sales to hit another record high in 2005, with price gains slower, but still above historical norms. Mortgage rates will reach 6.1 percent by the end of the year and move to 6.5 percent by 2006, still an historical low. “Relative to inflation, home prices will continue to experience above-average returns in 2005,” he says.
Read the entire story here.
Wall Street Journal delivers scathing attack on Real Estate commissions.
August 15, 2005
A recent Wall Street Journal Editorial (entire text below) takes Realtors to task for what the WSJ claims is “a price-fixing scheme” made possible by bad politics and a protectionist Realtor industry.
The article claims that commissions should be much lower than those that consumers currently pay in the US. Are consumers trapped in a locked pricing scheme as the WSJ suggests? Well, last time I checked, Discount Brokers are an ever-growing segment of the real estate services industry, and real estate consumers have more choices than ever with regard to the level of service and fee structures available when buying and selling real estate.
Read more
Always Have Your New Builder Home Inspected, Always!
August 11, 2005
This morning I met with the Buyer’s inspector and Builder’s rep at a new home being purchased by one of my out of state buyers. I strongly believe that it’s always a good idea to have your new builder home inspected before closing, and I would never let one of my buyers make the mistake of simply trusting the new home builder to deliver a properly built home.
Read more