Austin Real Estate

Austin 2011 Real Estate Sales Breakdown by MLS Area

January 29, 2012

The Austin real estate 2011 sales breakdown by MLS area is below. Most areas of Austin are holding steady. I’ve color coded the results columns of each area to show whether or not that area performed above or below the greater Austin market on whole. For example, let’s look at MLS area “W” (West Austin). [...]

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Forgetting the MLS Key Really Stinks

January 24, 2012

No doubt every Austin Realtor has forgotten – or almost forgotten the electronic MLS key when showing a property. That really stinks when it happens. Me and Sylvia are still old school and carry around these horrible devices. The alternative would be to use an iPhone app that requires a small infrared stick that plugs [...]

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Austin Real Estate Market Update – Dec 2011 End of Year Stats

January 18, 2012

The Austin real estate market did about what we expected in 2011, which wasn’t much. Basically treading water with some slight improvements, but nothing that represents a notable shift in market activity. Instead, it looks like momentum is building for a breakout year of increased activity and rising prices either in 2012 or 2013. Let’s [...]

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Seller Should Pay at Least Token Repair Amount

January 6, 2012

We recently had a transaction where the seller refused to negotiate any repair adjustments. None at all. This is actually not completely unusual, but most of our buyers do receive at least a small amount to offset repair and condition issues that were revealed by the inspection and not disclosed on the Seller’s Disclosure form. [...]

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Austin Short Term Rental (STR) Update

December 4, 2011

Almost a year ago I wrote about the Austin Short Term Rental (aka STR, Vacation Rental, VRBO) issues surfacing in the Austin community. That blog article generated 57 comments and a lot of heated back and forth. I eventually had to close the comments for that article because I felt everything had been said that [...]

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Fitting Into Your Smaller Austin Home

November 29, 2011

Sylvia and I recently installed new hardwood floors in our entire home. Bedrooms, closets, kitchen, hallway, etc. Everywhere except the laundry room and 2 bathrooms, which received new tile the month before. The process of doing this in an occupied home required a packing and moving of stuff not dissimilar to actually moving. Every part [...]

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Where is Westlake, or is it West Lake Hills?

November 23, 2011

Where exactly is “Westlake” in Austin? Well, it depends on which boundaries you use. In the broadest sense, “Westlake” is considered to be those areas which attend Westlake High School, or those areas within the Eanes ISD boundaries, as shown on this map. So, in general terms, the area west of Austin known as “Westlake” [...]

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Austin Real Estate Market Update – October 2011 Stats

November 13, 2011

Below are the Austin housing market stats for October 2011 and year to date. Austin Sales Market Update – October 2011 Homes only (condos, duplexes, etc. not included) compiled from Austin MLS data Sep 2011 Oct 2011 Oct 2010 Yr % Change # Sold 1601 1346 1202 11.98% Avg List $262,989 $267,793 $278,846 -3.96% Med [...]

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Austin Real Estate Investing Not Always Profitable

October 28, 2011

Sylvia and I just sold a couple of acreage lots that we purchased in Oak Hill back in Feb 2007. For those who remember, Austin’s real estate market was still running full tilt in early 2007. I bought three lots in a new subdivision, we built a new custom home on one of them and [...]

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Austin Realtor Agent Performance Stats Now Live on Redfin

October 1, 2011

The Real Estate company Redfin recently announced the release of its Agent Scouting Report in its various markets around the US. This allows Redfin “clients” (term in quotes because anyone can sign up at Redfin.com and instantly be a “client”, whereas most agents think of a client as someone who has signed an actual Listing or [...]

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