 For months on end, it's seemed as if there was no end in sight for the incredibly competitive Austin real estate market. In fact, just looking at the latest numbers it still appears that way. Last month, the greater Austin area saw an all-time high median sales price of $482,364; Simultaneously 4,369 homes were sold, a record number of home sales compared to any previous June numbers.
Yet, these numbers don't show the full picture. Real estate stats are always lagging indicators. In general, it usually takes at least 30 days for a home to go from hitting the market to sold. Thus, the sales data for June is based on homes that hit the market in May. In the past month, we have started to see an increase in listings. It's not crazy, but it is impactful. In the City of Austin, we saw 2,044 new residential listings in June compared to 1,724 in May. An increase in supply is good news for prospective home buyers. This means more homes to choose from, and less competition. This subtle increase is exciting; yet we are still very far from a balanced market. You can still expect to see multiple offers. However, you may only be competing with a handful of other buyers compared to the double digit number of offers we frequently saw on homes over the past 6 months. As you might expect, the premium paid over ask price is simultaneously beginning to decrease. All of these indicators show that pricing is starting to stabilize but that doesn't mean home prices are going down. Home prices are likely to continue to stay at these elevated levels. That being said, I do foresee a return to the normal cyclical pattern for real estate sales in the Austin metro area. Over the past year, there was no normal slow down for the winter. In fact, the median sales price in the MSA stayed the same or increased month after month. In the future, I see a return of spring being the peak selling season- when buyers can expect the most inventory and sellers can expect to sell for the highest price. That being said, here are the latest Austin area market stats: City of Austin: Compared to June of 2020
Greater Austin Area (AKA Austin Round Rock MSA): Compared to June of 2020
Curious to know what's happening in your specific neighborhood? Contact me with any questions you may have. I’d love to hear from you!
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 There are quite a few different ways to determine a property’s value. As a real estate broker, I most often determine a fair asking price or listing price based on the relevant comparable sales. Other entities such as the county tax assessor may also use the sales comparison approach to determine a given home’s value; yet, our valuations may be vastly different. That’s because the different types of valuations are ultimately defined by the entity evaluating the property’s worth.
Appraised value is a term used to describe the lender’s valuation of a given property. When you buy a home with a loan, the lender needs to determine what the value of the home is in order to limit their risk. The lender orders an appraisal of the subject property once a buyer is under-contract on a property, but before the closing date. The appraiser then compiles a report known as an appraisal. The report is most commonly performed using the sales comparison approach in which the appraiser identifies three to six similar properties that have sold recently in the area, and then makes adjustments to these properties in order to determine the subject property’s appraised value. Occasionally, the appraiser may use a different approach such as the cost approach or the income approach to determine the appraised value. The cost approach uses current construction costs combined with depreciation to determine the appraised value while the income approach uses rental revenue to determine the appraised value. The sales comparison approach is most-commonly used in residential real estate, and if you are purchasing a new home or refinancing an existing one, the end result of this analysis is a determination of appraised value. Ultimately, the appraised value is what the lender determines your home is worth. The assessed value of a home is what a county tax assessor determines a home is worth for the purpose of levying property taxes. Oftentimes, I will have buyers looking at a home’s assessed value as an indication of a fair asking price. However, the assessed value is rarely the same as the market value. The assessed value is determined annually by the county and market value can change weekly. Additionally, the assessed value is usually determined from a computer. Looking at similar size homes on the same street only tells half the picture. Just because your neighbor’s home is worth $600K doesn’t mean yours is too. What if your neighbor’s home has solid gold toilets and italian marble while you're still rocking lime green linoleum? The county tax assessor likely has no idea that your home isn’t worth as much as your neighbor’s. Unless you say something and step up to protest your assessed value, the county will continue to value your home at the rate they think is correct. Texas is also a non-disclosure state which means that home sale values are not public information. They do rely on information gathered from real estate syndication sites like Zillow to determine the asking price for a home. They also know when a home is sold, they just don’t necessarily know the exact sales price. Thus, the assessed value is the county tax assessor’s best guess as to what your home is worth. The market value of a property is what a buyer is willing to pay for a property and a seller is willing to sell a property for in an open market. The market value of a property is oftentimes quite different from the assessed value, and may even be vastly different from the appraised value for a given property. Recently, in the Austin real estate market we have seen widespread waiving of appraisal contingencies by prospective buyers. When a buyer does this, they are saying that even if the lender determines the appraised value is lower than the contracted sales price they will proceed with the sale and bring additional cash to the table in order to close at the contracted price. Thus, the market value is higher than the appraised value. Alternatively, you could have a home that appraised for a value that is higher than what buyers are willing to pay. The market value is simply what a buyer is willing to pay for a given property. When you are trying to determine an appropriate asking price to list your home for sale for or trying to figure out how much money you should offer on a home you need to think about all of these values. However, the market value is ultimately the value that will be the most important.  If you're looking for a great opportunity to invest in the Austin market, owning a short term rental may be the answer for you. You can expect to make around three times what you could with a long term rental by renting your home out as a vacation rental. However, in order to take advantage of investing in a STR, you need a thorough understanding of the rules and regulations regarding short term rentals (STRs). They vary immensely throughout central Texas, and the success or legality of your investment property rests on understanding these various rules. No matter where you are looking to purchase, it's important to understand that STRs are generally classified as rentals less than 30 days. If you are planning to rent your home out monthly or for even longer durations there are far less rules. If you are planning to use your property as a vacation rental where guests stay for a few days or weeks, this post is for you! Texas leaves short term rental oversight to the local government. Thus, STR rules, regulations or ordinances are predominantly created by local municipalities. If a property is located in an unincorporated area or an extraterritorial jurisdiction, it's highly unlikely that there will be municipal regulations since there is no city that has the authority to regulate the area. Within the city limits of Austin, the regulations regarding short term rentals are pretty strict. They have a comprehensive permitting process and caps on the number of short term rentals allowed. In fact, in the City of Austin, it's almost impossible to get a permit to operate a short term rental for a single family home if it's not your primary residence. However, a plethora of nearby Austin suburbs have no STR rules at all, and there are unincorporated areas that aren't subject to any municipal oversight! Dive into the list below to know what the regulations are like throughout central Texas. Austin:
Bee Cave:
Boerne:
Buda:
Cedar Park:
Dripping Springs:
Driftwood:
Fredericksburg:
Georgetown:
Horseshoe Bay:
Johnson City:
Jonestown:
Kyle:
Lago Vista:
Lakeway:
Leander:
Lockhart:
Marble Falls:
New Braunfels:
Pflugerville:
Point Venture:
Rollingwood:
Round Rock:
San Marcos:
Sunrise Beach:
Sunset Valley:
Spicewood:
The Hills:
Volente:
Westlake Hills:
Wimberly: To obtain a permit to operate a bed & breakfast or vacation rental, an applicant must go through the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process and receive an approved permit. The CUP process includes:
*****We do our best to provide accurate information; however, these rules and regulations are constantly evolving. Make sure to confirm current rules with the local governing bodies. This post was last updated on 2/14/2024*** ***PS IF YOU LIKE THIS CONTENT AND INTEND TO COPY IT, PLEASE REACH OUT FIRST OR AT LEAST INCLUDE A BACKLINK TO THIS SITE*** Interested in purchasing a property to use as a short term rental in the Austin area? We can help you navigate the various rules and regulations, identify options that will make the most sense for your unique situation and guide you in determining which properties will yield the highest returns.  Happy 4th of July weekend! Need some fun and exciting ideas to celebrate this year in the ATX? We've rounded up a view great options to check out if you don't already have plans for this holiday weekend.  Live Fireworks and a Movie at Doc’s Drive in Theater: With FIREWORKS before the movie, live music, as well as a wide variety of food and drinks, Doc's Drive in is a great option for anyone looking to have a good time! They will have two simultaneous showings on both the 3rd and the 4th. You can catch The Sandlot on Screen 1 or Independence Day on Screen 2. July 3rd and 4th Live Music 7-9PM Live Fireworks Show 9pm Movies 9:30pm 1540 Satterwhite Road Buda, TX 78610 Get more information and buy your tickets HERE 4th of July Blues, Brews, & BBQ with The Larry Harris Band: No cover, all ages are welcome, and dog friendly. Celebrate the 4th of July with live music, BBQ food, and some refreshing draft beers at Oakwood BBQ & Beer Garden. July 4th from 11AM-8PM 307 E. Braker Lane Austin, TX 78753 Get more information HERE.  HEB Austin Symphony July 4th Concert and Fireworks: Enjoy spectacular fireworks and some live music from the Austin Symphony at this free event. Sunday, July 4th at 8:00 pm 900 W Riverside Drive Austin, TX 78704 More information HERE. Red, White, and Boom 4th of July Festival: Visit Typhoon Texas for wild water rides, live music, contests, fireworks, and a hot air balloon ride. July 2nd, 3rd and 4th 10:30 am - 7:00 pm 18500 Texas 130 Service Road Pflugerville, TX 78660 Purchase tickets HERE.  The greater Austin area continues to break records in the month of May. Austin saw an all time high for median home prices for any month on record. The recorded median single family home value for the entire greater Austin area last month topped the charts at a whopping $465,000. We are at a challenging time currently. There is simply not enough land in Austin to meet buyer demand. As businesses come in, so do residents and this is causing single family home prices to sky rocket. Austin is now experiencing a critical shortage of inventory and we must think about new ways to expand and creative policies to increase our housing supply over the long run.  Residential home sales in the Austin Round-Rock MSA aka the entire greater Austin area have seen an increase of 48% year over year to 3,976 sales for the month of May. As you may imagine, the median sales price also jumped 42.2% year over year. That is a full $100k higher than in January of this year. Monthly housing inventory decreased 1.5 months to 0.5 months of inventory. This is critically low; a balanced market has 6 months of inventory. In May, active listings dropped 70.9% year over year to 1,739 listings, this shows how quickly homes are going under contract. Homes spent an average of 16 days on market last month across the MSA. However, keep in mind this is an average. A lot of homes spent far fewer days on market. Increases in Median Home Sales Price per County: City of Austin - 34.9% year over year to $566,500 Travis County - 41% year over year to $550,000 Williamson County - 50% year over year to $435,000 Hays County - 42.5% year over year to $380,000 Bastrop County - 24% year over year to $321,250 Caldwell County - 26.9% year over year to $239,900 Curious to know what’s happening in your zip code? Contact me for more information!  
With summer approaching, who wouldn't want to be out there by the water and enjoying life? Texas summers are no joke! Maybe you want to get out in the kayak, go paddle boarding, or take the boat out for a spin. Those all sound like a perfect summer day to me. however, it can be somewhat tricky finding a spot to get that boat unloaded and into the water.
I've mapped out some public boat ramps and a few homes for sale near the lakes. Let us know how we can help you find your perfect property to get you out there and living your best life. If you’ve been keeping an eye on the Austin real estate market lately, you’ve surely heard that the ATX has become one of, if not the most, competitive markets for home buyers in 2021. You’ve probably heard about homes flying off the market at record speeds, selling for hundred of thousands of dollars over asking price, and new builders only being able to sign 1 or 2 contracts a month for homes that won’t even be completed until 2022. However, something you may not have heard about yet is the subtle shift in the Austin real estate market over the past two weeks. I’ve seen homes sell for asking price, homes that only had a few offers, and the return of due diligence periods. This shift is subtle, and if you are not actively working in it everyday, you may not even notice it. But I feel it, and if it continues, it will have implications. You may be wondering why this may be. All of the signs point towards continued demand and thus higher prices. And, that is still true, but the market is behaving slightly differently. I hypothesize this subtle shift is due to a few different variables.  Disheartened BuyersMany individuals looking to purchase in the Austin market are quite simply beginning to feel defeated. I have a few buyers who have been trying to buy a home for the past few months, and are still empty handed. They’ve offered well over asking price, waived their appraisal contingencies, and offered 5 digit earnest money deposits yet they still haven’t been able to get an accepted contract. After the 4th or 5th time of this, some buyers begin to feel like they simply cannot win in this ultra-competitive market. Some of these buyers decide to stop trying altogether, or opt to purchase in another city altogether. Others are still observing from afar, but are less motivated to make offers on available homes. Sold Home Data is Starting to Show the Truth of the MarketIn order to determine an appropriate asking price for a home, you need to look at the sold prices for comparable homes. Since the home sale cycle from list date to close date is usually around 30 days, sold stats are constantly lagging behind the market. Over the past few months, most homes have been appropriately listed at prices determined by the sold comparable homes. However, the majority of those homes went under-contract at a price far higher than the asking price. We are now beginning to see those homes close, and new listings are being priced using those sold stats. For single-family homes listed in the Austin MLS, the median list price/sqft increased from $197/sqft in February to $213/sqft in March. As listing prices are increasing, I foresee this leveling out the difference between asking price and contract price. This is not to say that the majority of homes will not continue to sell for above asking price. I think that trend will continue, but I think we will see the difference between asking price and sold price decrease. Earlier this year we saw some homes selling for hundred of thousands of dollars over asking price; I foresee the ratio of list price to close price decreasing in the coming months. Increase in InventoryThe February storms caused a serious strain on an already tight supply of inventory in the Austin market. Some homeowners that planned to list in February were forced to wait to list due to unexpected repairs as a result of storm damage. Others simply decided to wait to list, since the city was essentially shut own for an entire week. In February, we had 2,360 new single-family residential home listings in the Austin MLS. In March, we had 3,745 new single-family homes hit the market. Historically, we see the largest inventory increases in the Austin real estate market between March through July. So far, the number of new listings in 2021 has been lower than what we saw last year (even with the pandemic). However, it looks like the trend for increased listings in the spring to summer months will continue for 2021.  What This Subtle Shift Means for Austin Buyers and SellersThis subtle shift should benefit those looking to purchase in the Austin market. Home prices likely will continue to be the highest they have ever been, BUT as sold comps catch up to the true market it will be easier for buyers to purchase homes. Appraisal waivers (essentially agreeing to purchase the home no matter what it appraises for and agreeing to bring the difference between the appraised value and the offer price in cash to closing) were almost mandatory over the past few months. This made it nearly impossible for someone without a ton of extra liquidity to compete in multiple offer situations. It was particularly detrimental to those buyers looking to purchase a home using a VA or FHA loan as these loan programs expressly prohibit the use of the Appraisal Waiver Addendum. Now that we are beginning to see the new market sales data, homes are more likely to appraise at or closer to offer prices. This has huge implications for any buyer using a loan to purchase a home.
For someone considering selling their home in Austin in the near future, you can still expect your home to sell for top dollar. In fact, you will likely get more for your home in the coming months than if you had listed your home for sale in the first quarter of 2021. However, you may not get all of the other offer terms that many home sellers received earlier this year. We saw home sellers receiving offers where the buyer incentivized the seller with a complimentary lease back. Sometimes, the buyer offered for the seller to stay in their home for an entire year for free after the buyers purchased the home. These will likely become more conservative or dissipate entirely. You also may see the re-emergence of typical seller expenses such as the title policy, and buyers may begin requesting a seller paid for home warranty again. All in all, these nominal expenses will not adversely affect your bottom line. You can expect to still sell your home for the highest price, but you may arrive there with fewer offers and more buyer preference in regards to offer terms. If you have questions about the Austin real estate market, or need advice when contemplating your next move, contact me. 
One great aspect of Austin is that it is home to two lakes. Lake Travis and Lake Austin are both technically dammed portions of the Colorado River. Lake Austin is a narrower meandering constant-level lake while Lake Travis is much larger and deeper, but it is subject to varying lake levels. Both lakes offer ample opportunities for recreation. If you are ready to enjoy the lake life in Austin, but not quite ready to plunge into buying a waterfront property, you may want to consider one of these communities which offer boat ramp access to residents. Purchasing a property in a community with lake access guarantees that you will be able to get out on the water with ease, and avoid the crowds at the public boat launches. There are numerous great communities in Austin which offer residents access to Lake Travis or Lake Austin. Here are some Austin communities with lake access you may want to consider.
lake Austin Communities
Apache Shores
Apache Shores is located off RR 620 in the acclaimed Lake Travis Independent School District. The community offers a diverse array of property types, and residents enjoy access to a number of amenities including a community boat launch. There are also several boat docks available for day use as well as a large area with picnic tables and grills where you can relax after a long day on the lake. Other community amenities include a pool, tennis and basketball courts, children’s park with a playscape, and a disc-golf course.
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca is located off Bee Cave Road between 360 and 71 in the exemplary Eanes ISD. Cuernavaca has a voluntary HOA. Membership in Cuernavaca’s Lake Hills Community Association grants members access to the community pool, private boat launch and a waterfront park.
Lake Pointe
Lake Point is located 12 miles from downtown Austin off Bee Cave Rd in Lake Travis ISD. Residents of Lake Pointe enjoy access to a waterfront park and day docks. Unfortunately, there are no motorized boat launches in Lake Pointe. Community amenities include pools, golf courses, and trails. Also enjoyable is the short journey to the Hill Country Galleria and all of the retail opportunities that entails.
Greenshores
Greenshores is located in the Austin ISD. Locals enjoy access to a private park on Lake Austin with a boat ramp.
Lake Travis Communities
Rough Hollow
Rough Hollow is located off 71 just west of Lakeway. Residents have access to an array of amenities, including the Yacht Club & Marina which offers complimentary paddleboards and kayaks, a fitness center, a water themed village, and 22 miles of hike and bike trails.
Tessera On Lake Travis
Tessera On Lake Travis is located in Lago Vista in the Lago Vista ISD. Amenities include a private boat launch, gorgeous pool, exquisite hiking and bike trails, and over a mile of shoreline.
Lago Vista POA
Lago Vista is located on the Northshore of Lake Travis. Residents enjoy access to boat ramps, lakefront parks, golfing, tennis courts and more all nearby. Residents also enjoy community exercise facilities, pickel ball courts, a small airport & much more.
Lakeshore Ranch
Lakeshore Ranch is located in the Lago Vista ISD, sitting on the Lake Travis shoreline. Lakeshore Ranch has a private HOA waterfront park with a boat ramp. Residents enjoy easy access to the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge, prime shopping, nearby trails, zip-lining, and fantastic restaurants.
Laguna Vista
Located in the town of Spicewood, homes in Laguna Vista also feed to Lake Travis ISD. Residents love the private community boat ramp, swimming, fishing, and living an outdoors life.
Paleface Ranch
Paleface Ranch is located west on Highway 71 in the Lake Travis ISD. Residents enjoy access to a community boat launch. This neighborhood is located on the Pedernales River arm of Lake Travis so it may go dry when we are experiencing extreme droughts.
Bee Creek Estates
Bee Creek Estates is located off of Highway 71 in the Lake Travis ISD. Only a short drive from the Hill Country Galleria. Locals enjoy the private park with a boat ramp for lake activities and nearby golf courses, and wineries.
Naumanns Camp
Naumanns Camp is a small community located in Spicewood, on the northern side of the Pedernales River. Lot sizes ranging from 0.5-5 acres. Naumanns Camps feeds to Marble Falls ISD.
Paleface Homesteads
Paleface Homesteads is located just north of Pedernales River in the Marble Falls ISD. Locals enjoy golfing at Pedernales Golf Club, owned by Willie Nelson. You can also find comfort at Spicewoods Vineyards and Gaucho Winery.
 It’s been over a year since our beautiful world shut down. We said goodbye to large weddings, parties, the nightlife, concerts, theaters, and so much more. Who’s ready to have fun again? I know I am! Let's take a look at some fun activities in Austin, TX to make you feel like you're living your best life again. Barton Creek Greenbelt:The Barton Creek Greenbelt is located in South Austin and stretches over 12 miles of land. The Barton Creek Greenbelt is known for its beautiful hiking trails, swimming spots, biking, rock climbing, and is an overall great way to spend a day in the outdoors. Read my full Insider's Guide to the Greenbelt here. Wonderspace:This interactive museum gives you a fun way to enjoy numerous exquisite works of art! Snap countless photos and make sure you post them on Instagram for all of your friends to see. This is a museum for all ages to enjoy. Bring your kids, bring a date, bring Bob from 2 houses down. You will enjoy the day and see many pieces that will open your mind to exploring places you never thought possible. Learn more here. austin winery:Relax while sipping delicious wine and having some laughs with your friends at the Austin Winery. Enjoy the many selections to choose from and have a snack while you sip. The friendly and knowledgeable staff make it that much more enjoyable. The Austin Winery is located in South Austin's St. Elmo district. Learn more here. rowing dock:Feel like dipping your feet in the water? Head over to Rowing Dock where you can select from kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards to experience Ladybird Lake like a true Austinite. Located at 2418 Stratford Dr, Austin, TX 78746, the Rowing Dock is open daily from 9AM-8PM. What are you waiting for? Bring your friends, come alone, or load up the family and head over now! Learn more here. Roam South Congress:Enjoy the fun boutiques, eat at some delicious restaurants, view the street art, and enjoy what only Austin can bring you. Try on some crazy costumes at Lucy In Disguise With Diamonds, Have a yummy cone at Amy’s Ice Cream, stop in at Hotel San Jose for some amazing frosé, and don’t forget to snap a pic at the famous “I love you so much” mural at Jo’s Coffee. There's also an entire new section known as Music Lane which has some great restaurants and new shops to explore too!  If you’re trying to purchase a home in the Austin area right now, you know it’s nuts out there. It makes finding toilet paper in April of 2020 look like a piece of cake. Securing that coveted PS5 last month - a walk in the park compared to buying an Austin home. Needless to say, it’s a challenge. I like challenges and if you do too, keep reading to learn how you can buy a home in Austin right now.  Appease The Sellers Sellers in Austin obviously have the upper hand right now, so you need to do everything you can to make sure they like you and your offer. Find out what makes them tick, what terms they will find most favorable, and how you can win them over. This may involve some deep cyber stalking. After you learn that seller Mary has been pinning recipes for banana bread you could deliver your offer with a loaf of MeMa’s famous bread and even include her secret recipe. Or, you may just be able to ask what the seller's plan is in order to craft an offer that is most appealing to their needs and timeline. If the home is vacant, they probably want to close as soon as possible. However, if the sellers still live in their home, they may favor a closing date that is farther out or a lease back for a few months so they have enough time to find a new home. Sellers know that the market is in their favor right now, so many have already outlined the terms they find most favorable before their home even hits the MLS. Make sure to inquire as to what these are so that you can draft an offer to match. Pay Cash Cash offers always rank favorably among home sellers. When a purchaser is paying cash they can close quickly and there’s no potential for a contract falling apart due to issues with funding. In today’s omnipresent multiple offer situations, cash offers are becoming quite popular. If you can pay cash for a home, offer cash! You can always finance after you purchase the home. Don’t have a few hundred grand under your mattress? Just sell your first born child. Rob a bank or perhaps it’s time you start trying your luck with the Powerball. I hear there’s a jackpot of $970 million up for grabs tomorrow night. With that kind of payout you may be able to secure more than one house in the Austin market! All jokes aside, there are ways you can leverage yourself to place an all cash offer on a home. You may be able to get a secured loan that uses your investments in stocks as collateral or perhaps you have a wealthy relative that will make you a personal loan. If you need to sell your current home before you can buy a new one, there are various companies such as homeward who will put a cash offer on your new home for you. They then lease your new home back to you until you sell your old home. Once your old home sells, you can get a traditional mortgage to buy the home back from them at the same price they paid for it in cash. Of course, they do charge a fee for this service. Ultimately, mortgage rates are at an all time low, but everyone knows it. If you can find a way to offer cash up-front, you will have the upper hand. Waive Your Appraisal If you didn’t win the lottery or scourge up enough capital to be able to offer cash for your dream home, you best consider waiving that appraisal to some extent. Austin homes are selling so quickly right now, they are outpacing the market data. People are paying more for homes than they are worth based on the published comparable home sales data. This means your home may not appraise at the purchase price. Without an appraisal waiver addendum, the sale of the home is contingent upon the home appraising at the contract price. For sellers, this is a risk that the sale may not close. By adding the appraisal waiver addendum you are increasing the likelihood of your offer being accepted. But, if you couldn’t afford to pay cash for the house, you probably don’t want to waive the appraisal entirely. You may be able to do a partial waiver in that case. In this scenario, you would be agreeing up front that if the home appraises for less than the contract price you would be willing to bring additional cash to the table to make up the difference. And, you are capping the amount of cash you would bring making this a partial waiver. Let’s say you put in an offer on a home for $500,000, and you are planning to put 20% down ($100,000). You do have $200,000 in cash. If the home appraised for $400,000 and the lender required you to put 20% down they would only loan you $320,000. Technically, you could still afford to make up the difference. So you may want to do a partial waiver of your appraisal contingency. This ensures that if the home appraises for less than $400k you don’t have to move forward with the offer and your earnest money will be returned, but if the home appraises for between $400-$500k you will still be on the hook to comply with the contract and purchase the home. You should definitely consult with your mortgage lender before agreeing to waive your appraisal contingency. Forget about an Option Period When you put in an offer on a home in Austin you usually pay a few hundred dollars to the seller for an option period. The amount of option money you pay and the length of the option period are both negotiable. The option period allows you the time to do all necessary inspections and you can back out for any reason during the option period and get your earnest money back. I used to say the typical amount for an option period is a few hundred dollars for a week long option period. Today, that’s not going to cut it. Many buyers are foregoing their option period all together or offering thousands of dollars for a very short (1-2 day) option period. While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend giving up the opportunity for an option period all together, you may want to modify how you approach the option period. Make it as short as possible. If you can get in an inspector within 24 hours, you do not need a 7 day option period. If you are fairly confident there aren’t major issues with the home that would be deal-killers you may want to increase the amount for the option money. At the end of the day, option money is money that you may lose if you don’t go through with the deal. It’s kind of like gambling- only put in as much as you are comfortable possibly losing. Pay for Everything In normal times, the seller typically pays for the owner’s title policy in Texas. These are not normal times. Offer to pay for the title policy. If you need a new survey, pay for that too. A designer handbag for the seller- it could work. Were you thinking of asking for the seller to contribute towards your closing costs? Good luck with that. Perhaps you assumed getting the sellers to pay for a home warranty was standard practice- not anymore. These days, the buyer who pays for negotiable items is often the buyer who wins in a multiple-offer situation.  All in all, don’t lose hope if you want to buy a home in Austin in the near future. While this slightly satirical commentary on the state of the current Austin market has many truths there are still ways to buy a home in Austin without throwing your entire life’s savings into it. Take a look at my other post, How to Win in a Multiple Offer Situation for less risky tips for crafting an appealing offer. Pay close attention to homes that have been on the market for a few weeks that others may have overlooked. You may not be able to buy your dream home right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a home your dream home. Homes that look beautiful and show wonderfully will go quickly and with many of the terms outlined above. Some home sellers mistakenly choose a poor listing agent who decides to market their home with inferior quality cell phone photos that make me cringe. This does not mean the home doesn’t look great in person. Buying a home in Austin right now can be a challenge, but I know you are up for it! If you want help navigating this insane Austin market, contact me today. |