My New Blog

Austin's housing market is (knock on wood) beginning to show signs of what the city does best; rock and roll. Comparing  Austin residential real estate's January 2009 sales numbers to January 2010 numbers, we see a 5% increase. My phone is ringing, my email is dinging, and my listings are getting double if not triple the showings compared to December, 2009.

Yesterday afternoon I took a buyer out to view a few properties, all in the southwest Austin area near or in Cherry Creek. We get to the third one and it's a winner. It's vacant but staged with just enough furniture in every room, fresh paint in various browns, tans and red-hued accent walls, and it's...move in ready. The price was right, too. It was morning on the third day of it being on the market. My client was interested and excited - I called the listing agent to see if there had been any offers yet. Yup. Not just an offer but they'd just accepted one and thus, gone under contract. DAY 3!

The hesitation (understandable hesitation) we saw in Austin area home buyers in 2009 has given way and I believe we're seeing pent up demand let loose. And why not? For those who were holding their breath in 2009, leasing instead of owning in fear of another economic shoe dropping, are getting blue in the face and deciding to exhale..and buy.

And a reminder; The $8,000/$6,500 tax credits are available until the end of April, 2010. Peace out, Austin.