Comments on: Austin Real Estate Sale Stats by MLS Area – Sept 2009 YTD

By: Steve Crossland

Steve Crossland — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:03:38 +0000

Hi Jonah,

I don’t really like Rancho Alto. Sorry. I think you’d find better value in a resale in Olympic Heights across Frate Barker. If you really must have a new home, I’d stick with a basic stock home in Rancho Alto and make sure you plan to remain at least 5 years. If doing that, it should work out ok based just on the strength of the geographic location.

Steve

By: Johanus Texanus

Johanus Texanus — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:26:54 +0000

Steve, I was looking at houses in the almost completed Rancho Alto subdivision at Frate Barker/Manchacha and had concerns. Zillow shows existing houses for sale in the $80-$100/sf range. There are also “groups” of houses that appear to be offered by the builder; only renderings are available, but they are built nonetheless. These are priced at a whopping $130-$140/sf range across the board. What does this say about the neighborhood? Although I would be living in this house, is this a wise purchase from an investment standpoint?

Thanks

Johan

By: Steve Crossland

Steve Crossland — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:06:07 +0000

Hi Ray,

Thanks for your comment. Not sure what your point is. Sounds like you think buyer agents are overpaid?

We don’t have stats on FSBO.

Thanks,

Steve

By: Ray

Ray — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:39:59 +0000

How many of these MLS deals were actually ’sold’ by buyers agents – with a listing agent privileged by their broker affiliation to just ‘go fishing’ from the comfort of their easy chair for a quick and easy $10,000+ with nothing more than MLS access, mark down price, a recycled sign and a couple of 10 minute internet listings, waiting for the phone to ring with an offer? In this market mood the emphasis being placed on quick commission. Is that a free and effective market place that puts the needs of clients ahead of those for a commission? What are the FSBO stats for Austin?

By: Steve Crossland

Steve Crossland — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:51:02 +0000

Hi New Austinite,

Yes, 1B looks like it’s correcting a bit. Doesn’t mean individual homes have dropped that much (though the upper end homes may have dropped even more), but the demand has settled back down.

Steve

By: New Austinite

New Austinite — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:13:04 +0000

1B’s stats are wild. The avg square foot price sats are interesting.

By: Jude Galligan

Jude Galligan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:41:45 +0000

i see you did not include condos. if you did, what the stats wouldn’t show are the abundant off-market transactions. This is especially prevalent in downtown and east austin, where developers control a chunk of the inventory and only put a handful of units on the MLS. For instance, there are at least 100 sales in downtown this year from The Shore and 360 that aren’t reflected in the MLS numbers.

Just an additional perspective on a small portion of the market. Thanks for a great blog – consistently high quality info.

-Jude