My New Blog

I recently did a comparative market analysis for a seller - a rock in the pit of my stomach given that he hasn't owned the property for long - and was relieved that the past 7 months is still not dragging prices south. In fact, overall in the Travis Heights area, where we will be listing, the price has gone up 2.6% in the past year.

It's no 2007 but compared to the nation, it's positive news. Where my Seller and I are going to be hit is on the days-on-market and by the number of competing homes for the fewer available buyers. That's why we'll be preparing the house like it is going on a first date; keeping its integrity by being what it is but by showing it as the very best it is. It will outsine its competition.

Austin "low risk" for home price correction

Austin Business Journal

The Austin metropolitan area is not likely to see a major correction in home prices, according to PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.’s First Quarter 2009 Economic and Real Estate Trends Report.

When it comes to risk of a home price correction, Austin is the 17th most-stable among the nation's 50 largest cities, the report shows. However, all four of Texas' other major cities are among the top 10 most-stable on the list.

The index ranks the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas according to the likelihood that home prices will be lower in two years. It uses home price appreciation, employment, affordability, excess housing supply, interest rates, and foreclosure activity to determine these probabilities. The Miami area had the highest risk, followed Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif, and Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach; Fla.

The most stable market was Pittsburgh, followed by Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio.

California-based PMI (NYSE:PMI) markets residential mortgage insurance and credit-enhancement products.

April 1, 2009

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/03/30/daily37.html