0 - 2012 - Crossland Real Estate

If People Bought Houses The Way We Buy Cars

I’ve been buying and selling stuff lately other than real estate. Mainly with Craigslist ads. Washer/Dryer left over from a sale. A Fridge too. Bought a used car for my daughter, and we’re selling our minivan. It’s funny how the non-real estate inquiries differ so much from real estate inquiries.

First up, I’m selling our trusty 2007 Honda Odyssey. It has 107,000 miles now, and we no longer need it. Our oldest daughter is in college and youngest in high school. We just don’t haul around gaggles of kids to parties, playdates, etc. anymore. Plus, the van is a 16 mpg gas hog. As a replacement, we bought Sylvia a 2012 Hyundai Sonata Limited, which achieved 38 miles per gallon driving our daughter up to TCU in Ft Worth last week! It’s a neat little car. GPS just like the Honda, and built in blue tooth connectivity for the phone. So, when driving and the cell rings, Sylvia just taps a button on the steering wheel to answer and start talking hands free. It’s roomy inside and nice enough for taking clients around, but more economical and easier to drive and park than the minivan.

Anyway, if real estate buyers were like auto buyers from Craigslist, and you were selling a home, let’s say, for $285,000, you might receive a text message saying “wil u take 235 I buy today“, and similar gibberish. What sort of dummy thinks this method of engagement is an effective initial communication for a purchase discussion? After enough of these pings, all of which I ignored, I altered my ad to say “Calls only. DO NOT TEXT. Text messages will not receive a response“.

So now I just get calls, thankfully, from intelligent people . For the Odyssey, the buyers all ask the the same opening question: “Has the timing belt been replaced?” Huh? No it hasn’t. But after enough of those calls I took it down to Howdy Honda to get the timing belt replaced. It’s just an $800 preventative maintenance thing that’s recommended at 7 years or $100,000 miles. I just figured a new owner would get it done, but that’s not working. These Honda buyers are tough! Way tougher than house buyers.

Austin Real Estate Staging – Colors in Interior and Exterior Design

by Steve Crossland

One thing I have noticed lately while showing and listing houses is Buyers like COLOR!

No longer are the neutral tones the best advice for someone putting their house on the market. My last buyer clients went under contract on a home with colors they fell in love with. This home was painted a soft yellow in most of the living areas and a pale blue in the master bedroom. They absolutely loved it.

Another home I recently listed which received multiple offers within a week had a vivid red/orange chair rail in the entry hallway! No longer am I telling sellers when I list the house to paint everything neutral. Neutral is OUT!

The Front Door is Very Important
Another interesting observation I have made is the importance of the front door color. I used to recommend red, always. Now with the hot weather, I am recommending painting the front door a soft shade of teal (greenish/blue).

Austin Real Estate Market Breakdown by MLS Area – Midyear 2012

by Steve Crossland

Below is the breakout of the Austin real estate market year to date, through June 2012 compared to the same period 2011. The format is as follows, which shows the entire market.

MLS Area	Year	# Sold	Avg Sold	Med Sold	Avg SQFT	Avg PSF	Avg Days	Med Days
All Areas	2012	10,855	$268,257	$207,000	2,244	$119.54	67	35
	2011	9,232	$261,724	$195,323	2,242	$116.74	82	52
	Change	17.58%	2.50%	5.98%	0.09%	2.40%	-18.29%	-32.69%

The color coding at the bottom of each MLS Area summary indicates whether that measure improved or slid back. In the “All Areas” example above, all of the measures improved. That is, # Sold, Avg and Median sales prices, and Avg price per sqft all increased on a market-wide basis, while days on market decreased. Average sqft size is not color coded because I don’t see how a slight change in average size up or down is either good or bad.

A quick summary of some stats results:

Fastest selling: The fastest selling area in the Austin MLS market area is Southwest Austin (MLS Area SWW) which has an average days on market of 29, and a median of 10. Yes, half the homes in SW Austin have sold in 10 days or less so far in 2012. There are a lot of other MLS areas with median days below 20, which you’ll see in the full chart below, but no area is as hot as SW Austin in terms of demand. MLS area SWW includes subdivisions such as Circle C, Legend Oaks, and Villages at Western Oaks.

Highest Price Increases: There are 44 MLS areas shown in the chart below. 12 of those have avg price increases of over 10%. 12 areas (though not the same 12) have median sold price increases over 10% from last year. Most of the highest increases are in closer in areas of Austin proper, though Cedar Park/Leander North (CLN) and Georgetown West (GTW) are in that group, as well as dark horses Manor and Elgin, which have been perennial low performers in the market.

The full chart is below. As usual, questions and comments are welcome.

Austin Real Estate Market Update – Stats thru June 2012

by Steve Crossland

The Austin real estate market has found its traction this selling season. Good for sellers, frustrating for buyers. And there hasn’t been any let up. Sylvia and I personally had a record June. July has been extremely busy as well. We’re encountering multiple offers, backups offers, and several listings we’ve sold from “Coming Soon” signs that never made it into the Austin MLS.

That said, we still see that this good market isn’t yet showing up for every home or in every neighboirhood. So, for now, the rising tide is floating most boats, but not all. I’ll have a neighborhood breakdown in a following post.

I have several charts and graphs below that give visual representation to the market. The first is my recurring 1999 look-back graph. I like this one because it puts into context our market for the past 13 years.

Next is June 2012 compared to June 2011. The left column shows the previous month, for reference. The right colum is color coded, red for downward movement, green for upward movement in the particular market measure. As you can see, everything is green.

Austin Real Estate Transactions Often Very Difficult

by Steve Crossland

Being a Realtor in Austin, or anywhere, is an interesting and rewarding profession. And often frustrating. It’s a profession where the two most visible components of the job – the screwups and the easy deals – are what the public sees the most. On the back-end though, there is a lot going on that is not visible and sometimes remains unknown to the parties because the agents just take care of it. Still, a lot of deals crater because of problems. Some for good reasons, others that could have been saved with better efforts and more tenacity, but were not because the seller, buyer or the agents involved were not able to find resolution and solve the issues (or emotions).

Thus, real estate transactions in Austin are often much more difficult to complete than most people realize. I’ll use two of my recent buyer closings as examples.

Example 1 – Underwriter Wants a Paystub
Buyer moving to Austin for new job. Solid credit, income, etc. Years of industry experience in the same profession as the new job. We go through pre-approval, get the lender letter, find a house, get it under contract, then find out the lender actually can’t do the loan until the underwriter has the first paystub. A signed employment contract is not good enough, it turns out. It use to be, so now I know.

I argued this with the lender from every angle I could think of, tried different lenders, but that’s just how tight things have become, even for good, quality buyers. Since the new job wasn’t going to start for several months, and the old job income couldn’t be used because he was leaving, this catch-22 meant buyer had to drop that deal.

How to Find and Lease a Rent House in Austin TX

by Steve Crossland

Austin Rental Market As the listing agent for a lot of rental homes in Austin (for over 20 years), I’ve been dealing lately with a lot of really angry, frustrated renters and agents.

The reason for the upset is primarily the renter losing a home to other (multiple) applicants who applied quicker and/or had their act more together. Then thinking it was unfair that they lost out.

I’ve dealt with some applicants who have lost out on 3 or 4 homes in a row and who have to be out of their current house in 1 week, and have nowhere to go. Understandably, in this tight rental market, that sucks. Big time.

But that’s the “landlord’s” rental market we have in Austin at present, so you better become more prepared and more competitive if you want to avoid this angst. This is no market for slug footed, unprepared renters who don’t take the rental home search process seriously. You have to bring your “A Game”, or you may experience great frustration.

This article is written to help those searching for a home to rent in Austin TX to avoid that unfortunate circumstance where you lose out on a home to those better prepared. It’s a step by step guide to help you become the most awesome rental applicant out there. So read this and you’ll be a step ahead of others. You will become the winner, not the loser, in this competitive Austin rental market, and hopefully find the house you want.

Determine Your Specific Move Date Window
This sounds like a no brainer, but it’s hard to believe how many renter prospects I talk to who can’t answer the simple questions “when do you need to move”. You need to know, with certainty, the soonest and latest dates you can start a new lease. The larger window of time you can create for yourself, the better.

If People Bought Houses The Way We Buy Cars

Austin Real Estate Staging – Colors in Interior and Exterior Design

Austin Real Estate Market Breakdown by MLS Area – Midyear 2012

Austin Real Estate Market Update – Stats thru June 2012

Austin Real Estate Transactions Often Very Difficult

How to Find and Lease a Rent House in Austin TX

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