--- Spicewood/Balcones sales stats

July home sales for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) fare pretty well with our 2nd lowest inventory of the year; 5 home sales (nearly our 2022 avg); and our average price/sf was actually higher than 2022 for the first time this year.  We are now comparing apples-to-apples when looking at the same month of the previous year since the "Covid effect" is now gone that ended about May/June of 2022.  This makes the stats more valid and useful.

Larger homes in our neighborhood had their best month of the year with 6 green categories; low inventory; 2nd highest pending sales month; days on market down in 2 categories; and our highest Activity Ratio of 2023.

It's not too late to put your home on the market this year.  In our more typical sales year (ie-before Covid) we would see home listings begin to pick up in March to May (the most popular time to list) with sales continuing through the end of the summer. However due to the last 12 months being a transition period coming out of Covid, we have seen our typical sales cycle shift back a couple of months so I expect a stronger fall than normal. Contact me at 512-853-0110 (call/text) or email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you are considering selling your home this year. 

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June was another good month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2+3k sf homes) doing a letter better than May's numbers and having 6 green categories.

Likewise for larger homes in our neighborhood having our most homes sell in June at 4 which is 342% over our YTD average and we had 2.3 months of inventory which is about what we averaged in 2022.

Now that we are beginning to compare sales figures this year with the
same month last year that wasn't as negatively affected by the rapidly
rising mortgage rates, we may begin to see better numbers overall for
the remainder of this year.  For the newsletter I send out to clients,
I've compared the first five months of 2023 with the 5-year average for
these same 5 months of 2022 to better represent the change our Austin
metro has seen the past 12 months or so.  Otherwise, we are comparing
apples and oranges since we've had dramatically different markets during
that time.  

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May was the best overall month of this year for homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with only 1.7 months of inventory (our best this year); high pending sales; and 6 homes sold (nearly twice our YTD avg and over our 2022 average. These are positive signs that our Austin metro market has stabilized
from the downturn of last year and even showing signs of coming back to a
more normal Austin single family home sales market. This can be seen in
my recent blog post Austin home sales returning to normal.

Larger homes in our neighborhood didn't fare as well, though with no homes sold.  We did have 4 pending sales (double our average YTD), however.

 Curious about the current value of your home given the softening of our
market from last year?  You can request a quick, one-time
computer generated CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) here: What's My Home Worth? 
There is no cost for this service.  Or, to request a more detailed CMA
based on your home's location and features, just text or email me at
512-853-0110, robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com. (no cost to you).  

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April marked another month of steady improvement this year in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with more green categories than March or February.  It has been 2 months in a row that our home sellers received over their asking price which is good to see.

As we've seen in many NW Austin neighborhoods, there has been steady improvement in 2023 and the larger homes in our neighborhood are no exception with 4 green categories in April vs. only 1 in Feb & Mar.  We believe the Austin metro market, as a whole, has reached the
bottom of the downturn we began around June of last year and are
beginning to see slight upticks in activity, too.  As interest rate
increases stop (we believe they may have for this year); inflation
subsides and home inventories remail low, we expect this to continue for
the rest of this year and into next.

 If you want to know how your home's market value is doing, be sure to get your regular Market Snapshot (free). 
This free service pulls data directly  from our MLS (Multiple
Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular
basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create
one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes
about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or
someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or
even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).   

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Home sales activity in March for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) showed some improvement with 3 green categories...the most in a month this year:  Days on market continue to improve and our sold/list ratio was 4% higher than what we averaged last year.

Larger homes in our neighborhood continue to struggle with only 1 home sold so far this year.  Our 40% Activity ratio, however, is a positive sign that will hopefully continue this year.

Curious about the current value of your home given the softening of our
market for the past 6-9 months? You can request a quick, one-time
computer generated CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) here: What's My Home Worth? There is no cost for this service.  

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On the one hand, home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) are still adjusting to the slowdown we saw the last half of 2022. On the other hand, the numbers above are comparing to Feb/2022 when our market was still very hot at the end of our crazy Covid-19 2-year run. So, we are, in effect comparing apples and oranges due to the big differences in the markets.

Slower numbers for larger homes in our neighborhood for the 2nd month in a row.

If you want to know how your home's market value is doing, be sure to get your regular Market Snapshot (free). This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).  

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2023 got off to a bad start for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with all yellow categories and no yellow ones.  If you compare our sold numbers with last years above (Sold Averages 2022 in blue) you can easily see how poorly we did last month.

Even though we had 2 green categories for larger homes in January, it was still clearly a slow month for us.  I expect to see home prices moderate and even continue some decline
for the early part of 2023 with leveling and slight increases in them as
the year progresses.

Curious about the current value of your home
given the softening of our market for the past 6-9 months?  You can
request a quick, one-time computer generated CMA (Comparative Market
Analysis) here: What's My Home Worth?  There is no cost for this service.

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Even though we still had a lot of yellows, home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) had some positive results:  Sold prices were up; sellers received 2.1% OVER their asking prices; and our $364.50/sf was up.

For the year, our average numbers were similar to Decembers with average selling price at $930,389 (+$112,681 & 14% over 2021 prices) and our price/sf of sold homes was $46.50 more than what 2021 sellers received.

Larger homes in our neighborhood didn't fare well at all with no pendings or home sales & no Activity Ratio.

For the year, however, we had an average sale price of $1,273,551 (+$145,234 & 13% over 2021 prices); our sellers received 4.2% OVER their asking prices and our $399.68/sf average was $66.50 more than 2021 sellers received.

Yes, home listing (asking) prices dropped over the past 6 months or so,
but the actual sold prices were up.  So, while the media wants to
headline "home prices down", they are generally talking about asking vs. sold prices.

If you are considering selling this year, I encourage you to read these 2 articles:

• What Homeowners Want To Know About Selling in Today’s Market
• Ready To Sell? Today’s Housing Supply Gives You Two Opportunities

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Our slowdown of home sales activity continued in November for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with only 2 homes sold and inventory jumping up to 5.5 months.  Thru November, we were down 26% with home sales and will likely end up near that number after December results are out.  YTD, we've sold 60 homes vs. 81 in 2021.

Likewise, larger homes in our neighborhood fared about the same with sales down 41% thru November numbers at 22 homes sold vs. 37 in 2021.

Just 1 more month to go in 2022 and I'm hoping our Austin metro area is
able to maintain a positive sales price appreciation with December's
numbers.  The last time average and median home sale prices dropped for
the entire year in Austin was in 2009 when median prices dropped .7% and
average prices dropped 2%. Median prices, alone, went down .5% in
2011.  Before that, it was the late 1980's before Austin home prices
dropped again so it is a rare event, indeed.  If you want to know how
your home's market value is doing, be sure to get your regular Market Snapshot (free).   This
free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing
Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis
(every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one
yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It
takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you,
or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home
or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).   

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As with most of our Austin metro (& nation), home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) had another slow month in October with only 1 green category.  But, that 1 category was average sales price/sf at $348.35 which was 7.4% over 2021 prices and we are still up 17.1% over prices last year's sellers received.

Like smaller homes in our neighborhood, larger home prices last month were 8.7% over 2022, yet our YTD average sold price is 25.4% over last year's sellers our bigger homes are holding up better.  Also, our 1.5 months of inventory is below our 2.0 YTD average, but still over last year's .60 months.

My best advice to home sellers is that they will need to be extra vigilant in pricing their home for sale and then be patient until they get an offer. We have rapidly moved into a more typical, or normal real estate cycle, and, as of yet, haven't moved into buyer's market territory (~6+ months of inventory). So, sellers need to get their home in tip-top shape, stage it well, price it "to the market" (your Realtor will understand), and market it heavily. Or, simply wait until next spring when many think we will be past the worst of this downturn.

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September home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) were similar to what we had in August, but our average sales price went up by 18.7% compared to our Sep/2021 sellers.  That is better than other neighborhoods I keep stats for since several of them experienced price DROPS in September.

Larger homes in our neighborhood didn't fare so well with only 1 green category and our 2 home sellers received 13.2% LESS than last Sep/2021 sellers saw.  YTD, however, our larger homes are up by 27.5% so we are still doing very good for 2022.

If you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s
value or to keep up with it during our changing market, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service
pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar
homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12
weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot.
It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if
you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their
home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).  

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August home sales activity in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) continued with the lower numbers we've seen the past few months.  Our 3 home sellers managed to get $365.39/sf, however, which was 12.7% higher than our 2021 sellers received.  YTD, our home prices are still up by 19% over 2021 numbers so that is some positive news for our future home sellers.

Larger homes in our neighborhood fared better with more green categories (ie-positive trending) than we've had in a while.  Our 5 home sales were 234% over our YTD average and 162% over last year's numbers and the sellers received $368.60/sf which was 10.6% more than our 2021 received.  

We are now heading into fall which has always been our traditional time
when home sales slow as we move into winter.  Our normal home sales
market cycle has been in the shape of a a bell curve with the lowest
activity in January;  rising listings/buyers in the spring; peaking
during the summer months (so buyers can relocate their kids to new
schools if necessary); and slowing during the fall/winter months.  Most
real estate experts believe (myself included) that the Covid home buying
frenzy is gone and we are now settling into a normal market cycle. 
Home sellers would be wise to heed this change and price their homes
according to our slowing activity going forward.    

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This marks the 3rd month in a row that home sales activity in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) has declined in most categories: 
Listings are up; days on market and inventory are up; and Activity Ratio
is down.  Pricing, however,  hasn't gone down but actually increased some  as our average price/sf sold moved between $376 (May) to $380 (Jun)
to $411 (Jul)...our appreciation rates during these months went from 16-27% when compared to 2021.

Things weren't quite the same with the larger homes in our neighborhood with only 1 home sale, inventory moving up to 8 months and days on market increasing.  While our home seller got $381/sf (+14% over 2021), pricing has dropped some the past few months but we still have an incredible 37.4% average price/sf YTD for these homes!

In my opinion after being an Austin Realtor for 16 years is that our
Austin home sales market is like a plane coming in for a landing from a
very high altitude that gently glides to the runway...no abrupt descents
but a slow and steady descent.  The home price drops and homes staying
on the market longer you've undoubtedly seen  the past 2-3 months are
the result of improper list prices to begin with.  For example:  Before Covid, Realtors
would run a CMA (comparative market analysis) for a home and list it at
the $500k the CMA showed which was the average of the past 3-5
comparable sales (comps).  Sellers expected to receive 95-100% of this
price and, if lucky, would get multiple offers that would push it
higher.  

Since Covid (until a few months ago),
however, that same $500k home would have likely received multiple offers
and gone for, say, $600k.  Smart sellers and their Realtors realized
they shouldn't price it at the $600k like the last sales and what we did
Before Covid because the $100k runup was the result of "buyer frenzy"
created since Covid...but, at the same $500k the others listed
their home at. This allowed the unpredictable "buyer frenzy" to run up
the price to whatever the last wiling buyer would pay and take into
account the current "buyer frenzy of the day" since Covid has changed
things so much.  

Sellers and Realtors who didn't heed this advice
are now "lowering their prices" simply because they thought the buyer
frenzy would last forever, which it has been proved waned the past few
months as mortgage rates shot up and economic uncertainties darken the
horizon.  If they had priced at $500k, maybe the buyers would have taken
it to $525k, $550k, $557k, etc and they wouldn't be dropping their
prices, but simply selling their home  at a lower price appreciation
rate than sellers got 6+ months ago.  Home prices in the Austin metro still rose in June by 13-14% over June/2021 and in our local neighborhood mentioned above, prices also rose relative to July/2022, too.  So, the sky isn't falling and Chicken Little will have to wait a little longer! :)

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June represented a continued slowdown in the upfront categories (for sale and pendings) in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with yellows in all major categories.  Home prices have remained up, however, with the 7 home sellers receiving 2.4% more/sf than last year's sellers.

 Larger homes fared slightly better with higher than average number of home sales and sellers received 9.6% more/sf than our 2021 sellers.  

We've seen a similar trend in our greater Austin metro area beginning in March as mortgage rates began their upward movement from the low we began this year with of 3.22% (5.30% as of 7/7/22). This, coupled with rising inflation and concern about a nationwide recession has rightfully spooked some home buyers. This is reflected in our recent price reductions on some homes currently on the market. So, it is now more important for home sellers to price their home right than it has been since we began our 2-year home sales hot streak after the Covid lockdowns. Contact me if you are thinking about selling your home so I can show you how I do just that for my home sellers so they don't have to "chase the market down" with price reductions.

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 May home sales numbers for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes)  just might finally show the effect of rising mortgage rates we've seen for most of this year.  Most of our front-end indicators like homes for sale, pending sales, higher days on market and lower Activity Ratio all point to
some slowing down.  How long this lasts and how deeply it goes will only be discovered as the next few months progress, but I believe it might be somewhat short-lived due to the incredible economy, jobs and demand for housing we have in Austin...one of the best, if not the best city for home sales in the U.S.  

Similar results for the larger homes in our neighborhood, but they had a few more green categories, at least.

As you've seen in my posts since the Covid lockdown, our Austin metro real estate market is setting records with crazy appreciation numbers.  So, if you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).   Contact me at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com or 512-853-0110 (phone or text). 

You can also request a quick, one-time computer generated CMA here:  What's My Home Worth?

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April produced the best month we've had in our Spicewood / Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with: lower days on market (ADOM) for all 3 categories; 2nd best month of the year for pending sales; our best month in 2022 for home sales at 9 and the sellers received 6.7% more than their asking price at an incredible $450.61/sf or 38.9% MORE than last year's sellers received!

Larger homes in our neighborhood fared nearly as well with no yellow categories and 5 pending sales (have contract but not closed) which was our best month this year and I had to go back to July/2021 to find a better month!  Our seller received 38.1% over their asking price at $438.46/sf or 31.6% more than 2021.

Did you know you can exclude most, if not all of the taxable income from the gain on the sale of your home?  The IRS allows a seller to exclude from taxable income a gain of up to $250,000 on the sale of their home (or $500,000 if married filing jointly) if they:

• owned the home and used it as their principal residence during at least two of the last five years before the sale

• didn’t acquire the home through a 1031 exchange during the past five years

• didn’t exclude a gain on another home sold during the two years before the current sale

To learn more, see:  Excluding Gain from the Sale of Your Home.  It might make sense to cash-in on the large equity gain most Austin-area homeowners have seen since the bull market began in spring of 2011. You could then re-leverage the equity into another home and/or 
investment property.  Contact me today by phone/text at (512) 853-0110 or via email at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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March produced much better results for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) than we had in February with: no yellow categories; lower days on market for all 3 categories; our best Pending month since last May; and our 6 sellers received 6.9% over their asking price in only 7 days at $415.91/sf, or 28.2% more than last year's sellers received.

Larger homes in our neighborhood didn't do quite as well but they, too, didn't have any yellow categories and still pulled our a home sale that only took 3 days to go under contract and sold for a whopping $482.16/sf or 44.7% more than our 2021 sellers received!

Have you been hounded with calls and/or mailings to buy your home quick…for cash? This might sound like an attractive option until you consider that we now have more buyers for our homes than at any other time in Austin history.  So, why would you settle for only ONE offer that might sound good, when you could get multiple offers from buyers bidding up the price in our red-hot Austin market?  

Are you concerned that selling your home quickly would only throw you into the pool of frenzied home buyers when looking for your replacement home in the Austin metro and the possibility of not having a place to live once your existing home sells?  Well, I have a solution for you where you can buy your next home for cash (so you can compete with other cash buyers), move into it and then sell your home for top dollar using our large pool of buyers!  Perfect solution, right?  Contact me at 512-853-0110 (call or text) or, robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to find out more.  

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Overall, home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) had slower numbers in February as we started this year in January...when compared to 2021 averages.  Our 3 home sellers received just below their asking price at 99.1% but managed to sell for 5/1% higher prices/sf than last year's sellers received.

Larger homes in our neighborhood, however, performed lower with no homes sold and only 1 pending sale (has contract but not closed yet).  

As you've seen in my posts since the Covid lockdown, our Austin metro real estate market is setting records with crazy appreciation numbers.  So, if you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).   Contact me at  robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com or 512-853-0110 (phone or text). 

You can also request a quick, one-time computer generated CMA here:  What's My Home Worth?

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Home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) started off slowly in 2022...mostly.  So, while some of the activity numbers were low, our home sellers received $350.85/sf which was 8% more than sellers received in 2021.

Similar numbers for larger homes in our neighborhood.  We are beginning to see some more traditional seasonality on our Austin metro area which typically starts low in January each year, moves up during the spring and summer and then tapers off in the fall and winter.  Our inventory is still incredibly low in the entire Austin metro area (we averaged only 1.5 months in our neighborhood for larger homes and .60 for smaller ones in 2021) so we will still have strong buyer support, but it just might move up and down in the future. 

Have you been hounded with calls and/or mailings to buy your home quick…for cash? This might sound like an attractive option until you consider that we now have more buyers for our homes than at any other time in Austin history.  So, why would you settle for only 1 offer that might sound good, when you could get multiple offers from buyers bidding up the price?  

Are you concerned that selling your home quickly would only throw you into the pool of frenzied home buyers when looking for your replacement home in the Austin metro and the possibility of not having a place to live once your existing home sells?  Well, I have a solution for you where you can buy your next home for cash (so you can compete with other cash buyers), move into it and then sell your home for top dollar using our large pool of buyers!  Perfect solution, right?  Contact me at 512.853.0110 (call or text) or, robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to find out more.  

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With the exception of no homes for sale and 6 pending sales (vs. our 7.9/mo YTD avg), we had a decent month in our Spicewood/Balcones (2-3k sf homes) neighborhood.  We reached the maximum of 100% in our Activity ratio; our sellers got nearly 2% over their asking price and at nearly $350/sf (36% appreciation rate).

For all of 2021, however, we knocked it out of the park with no yellow categories.  Our inventory was down 49% compared to 2020; days on market were down from 20% to 64%; total home sales were up by 16%;  home sale prices were up by 26%; our sellers received 7% over their asking prices at a 64% appreciation rate over 2020.

Larger homes in our neighborhood had lower activity numbers overall, but the activity ratio maxed out at 100% and days on market were lower.  In addition, our home seller received nearly 16% over their asking price at $367.06 (+67% over 2020).

Just like smaller homes, the larger ones also had a great year in 2021:  Days on market were down 36-75% compared to 2020; inventory dropped by 63%; Activity ratio jumped by 69%; average home prices exceeded $1M for the first time at $1,128,318 up by 49%; our sellers received nearly 10% over their asking prices at $333.19/sf appreciating at 428% compared to 2020.

With the new year, many homeowners turn to the possibility of selling
their home.   If you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of
your home’s
value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service
pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar
homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12
weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot.
It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if
you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their
home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).    

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Home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) produced a mixed bag of results: longer days on the market and only 5 pending sales (vs. our 8.1/mo YTD avg).  However, we had an above average 8 homes sold who got 5.6% over their asking price at $331/sf which was 28.4% more than 2020 sellers received.

Larger homes in our neighborhood had similar results:  no homes for sale (ie-no inventory) and only 1 pending sale (vs. our 3.8/mo YTD avg).  We did have a 100% Activity ratio and our 4 sellers received 10.8% over their asking price at $371.82/sf representing an incredible 68.7% more than 2020 sellers received!  This is the 2nd month in a row of over 60% price appreciation!

The general consensus among Realtors and local economists is that our
Austin real estate market is beginning to “normalize” back into what we
usually see each year–a Bell curve of slow sales in January rising in
the spring to a peak in the summer and then gradually going back down to
December.  Our inventory remains extremely low at around 1 month for
the Austin metro area so price appreciation will remain higher than
normal until this sufficiently rises.  Keep in mind that Austin has
averaged 2-3 months of inventory between 2012 (after we came out of the
Great Recession) until about 18 months ago when our current market surge
started after Covid-19.

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Smaller homes (2-3k sf) in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood fared about the same in October as they did in September with just slightly better pending numbers being the only difference.

Larger homes in our neighborhood, however, did a little better overall with sellers getting 4.7% over their asking price (vs. 99.2% in September) while receiving $361.42/sf which was 64% MORE than 2020 sellers received!

Under a typical (ie-”normal”) year, 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March.  A common myth is that you have to sell your home during the spring/summer months to have the best chance, but the percentages above prove that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly, and priced right sell year-round in our area. This year has been anything but “normal” due to the effects of Covid-19, so I fully expect this % to be much higher than our typical real estate cycle which may remain strong through the end of this year.  If you are interested in selling your home, see just some of the steps we take to get homes sold quickly and for top dollar:  Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or email us at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) and to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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With the exception of higher days on market in all categories, home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) had a mostly average month in September.  Our 7 sellers did receive 3.7% over their asking price and received $323.24/sf which was 25.4% over 2020 prices.  

Larger homes in our neighborhood didn't fare as well with 4 yellow categories:  only 1 home sale, higher inventory (tied with the highest month this year), higher days on market and our seller received less than their asking price...a first for this year. 

If you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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August home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) showed a dramatic slowdown with 6 yellow categories (vs. none in July).  All 3 categories of the # of active listings, pending sales and sold homes were off; our inventory jumped to 1.5 months (our highest this year); and our Activity ratio tied for our worst month this year.  we might be seeing signs of the market cooldown we’ve seen in the greater Austin area affecting our market, too.  We’ll see in the coming months whether our neighborhood begins to see the slowing frenzy as Austin has.

Larger homes (3-4k sf) fared a little better with 4 yellows...3 of them in higher days on market and one in our lower Activity Ratio.  As with our smaller homes, we might be seeing this trend continue in the coming months.

Under a typical (ie-”normal”) year, 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March.  A common myth is that you have to sell your home during the spring/summer months to have the best chance, but the percentages above prove that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly, and priced right sell year-round in our area. This year has been anything but “normal” due to the effects of Covid-19, so I fully expect this % to be much higher than our typical real estate cycle which may remain strong through the end of this year.  If you are interested in selling your home, see just some of the steps we take to get homes sold quickly and for top dollar:  Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or email us at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) and to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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July represented a very solid month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with no yellow categories.  In addition, we only had 2 homes for asle (.20 months of inventory) and our 9 sellers received 8.6% over asking price at $360.60/sf which is 39.9% more than 2020 sellers received.  Our average price/sf for the year is up 24% from 2020.

Larger homes in our neighborhood fared even better with only 1 yellow and 7 green categories like only 1 home for sale (.10 months of inventory); 6 pending sales (86% Activity Ratio); 7 home sales (our best month of the year); and our sellers received 10.8% more than asking at $346.14/sf (+57.1% over 2020 prices).

If you are considering selling this year, contact us to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home.  It is not too late in the season to list your home for sale as our local market has been strong for 12 months in a row. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to receive yours today.  See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home.

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June produced great results for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (homes 2-3k sf) with a lower inventory and a whopping 19 homes sold (292% of our YTD avg!).  Our sellers received nearly 9% over asking price at $334.69/sf, or 30% over 2020 prices.

With the exception of having a few too many homes for sale and days on market up with 2 categories, larger homes (3-4k sf) fared well with 4 homes sold (60% over our YTD avg); 8 pending sales; and our sellers got over their asking price at $318.66/sf (% over 2020 prices).

As you’ve seen in my posts the past 9 months or so, our Austin metro real estate market is setting records with crazy appreciation numbers.  So, if you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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Except for having too many homes for sale, May was a very good month for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with 19 pending sales (our best of 2021 and over 3 times our 2020 monthly average!); 7 home sales (our best of the year) and our sellers received 15.6% over their asking price at $360.85/sf (a whopping 40% over what our 2020 sellers received!).

Activity was a little lower for larger homes (3-4k sf) with too many homes for sale which caused our inventory to rise to 2.0 months (our highest in 12 months), but we did have 8 pending sales (over 3 times our 2020 avg) and our 2 home sellers received 15.7% over asking price at $379.11/sf which was an off-the-charts 72% more than last year's sellers received!

Are you considering selling your home this year?  The incredible buyer frenzy we’ve seen the past 9 months has caused multiple-offers in most situations and 10, 20, 30+% over asking price for many sellers.  Unprecedented and historic for the Austin metro area.  The most common question I receive is “When will this bubble pop?”.  While I don’t have a crystal ball, I do believe it has more time to continue its run, but at a gradually slowing appreciation rate in the coming months.  If you are concerned it might turn against sellers soon, contact me so I can run a market analysis (no charge) to see what you can net from the sale of your home and capture your equity to protect it if, indeed, the market does crash.  

Call/text me at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com

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Overall, April wasn't as strong for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) but we did have 12 pending sales that will translate to sells in May.  And, our 4 sellers received 13% OVER their asking price at an incredible 23% appreciation over last year!  YTD, we are averaging 19% appreciation over last year!

Larger homes (3-4k sf) fared better at least with 5 home sales in April and our owners received 20% OVER their asking price at a whopping 42% appreciation compared to 2020.  YTD, we are averaging 41% appreciation over last year!

Are you considering selling your home, but are concerned that you will have difficulty finding a replacement in the Austin area due to our low inventory?  This is a common question we get when asking someone if they want to sell their home and capture the equity.  I have several proven methods to handle the changeover for you to reduce any stress associated with the sale of your home & purchase of the next one. Contact me today so we can go over the best option for your situation. Phone/text: 512-853-0110 or via email: robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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Our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) had a very strong month in March with:  no yellow categories; low days on market in all of them; low inventory; our best month of the year with 5 home sales; the sellers received 13.2% OVER asking price at a whopping $351.93/sf which was 36.5% OVER our 2020 prices!

Larger homes (3-4k sf) fared well in March, too, with no yellow categories; low ADOM in all 3; 4 pending sales (+60% over 2020); low inventory; 80% Activity Ratio (100% is the max); and our 2 sellers received 13.9% OVER their asking price at $326.09/sf which was a phenomenal 48% OVER what sellers in 2020 received!

If you are considering selling this year, contact us to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home.  March, April & May are the most popular months to list a home for sale. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to receive yours today.  See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. 

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February home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood for 2-3k sq ft homes did much better than January with:  lower days on market for all 3 categories; only .30 months of inventory (the # of months to sell all homes currently listed at the current sales pace) which was 1/4 of the average 1.2 we had in 2020; our Activity ratio jumped to 86% (100% is the highest); and our 3 home sellers received 8.4% OVER their asking price at $307.56/sf (19.3% more than 2020 sellers received)!

Larger homes (3-4k sf) didn't fare as well with no homes for sale or sold.  However, we did have 3 pending sales which is over our 2.5/mo average in 2020 and they got offers in only 2 days.

As you’ve seen in my posts the past 6 months or so, our Austin metro real estate market is setting records with crazy appreciation numbers.  So, if you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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January was not a good month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with 0 homes selling, but I anticipate this to pick up as the year progresses given how hot our Austin metro is right now.

Larger homes in our neighborhood did better with our 1 pending sale getting under contract the day they went on the market and our 2 sellers getting 13% OVER their asking price at an average of $291.24/sf (32.1% MORE than 2020 sellers received!).  This is the 3rd month out of the last 4 where our sellers got over their asking price...by an average of 7.8%!

You may have heard that the past few months have been red-hot for sellers in the entire Austin metro area (5 counties and about 2.2M people)…multiple offers and 10-20% over asking price is more the norm now!   So, if you have been putting off selling because you need to do some updates; don’t want to deal with the hassle of handling showings of your home; need more time to find a replacement home once yours sells; have been concerned the net amount you would take home at closing isn’t enough; etc…please contact me so I can show you we now have solutions for any/all of the above situations!

Call/text me at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com so I can understand your situation and provide you with solutions that will alleviate your concerns!  

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Home sellers in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) had a mixed bag of results with the number of homes for sale, pending and sold all trending downward.  The other categories fared well, however with days on market down in 2 and our sellers did get 1% OVER asking at $265.71/sf (+19.4 % over 2019).

The averages for 2020 looked about the same as December's results, but not bad when you consider Austin was shut down for about 2 months last spring due to Covid-19.

Larger homes (3-4k sf) didn't fare quite as well in December with fewer greens and more yellows.  Our 1 home seller did get an incredible 4.1% OVER asking price in only 2 days at $229.21/sf (14.1% over 2019 avg!).

We ended 2020 with averages of similar results:  4 yellow categories and 4 green categories, but our 30 home sellers did get over their asking price at $220.39/sf (+9.7% over 2019 prices).

If you are considering selling this year, contact us to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home.  March, April & May are the most popular months to list a home for sale. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to receive yours today.  See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home.

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Mostly positive news for November home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sq ft homes) with:  lower days on market in 2 categories; only .30 months of inventory (only 25% of our YTD avg); our home sellers received OVER their asking price and at an impressive $268.82/sf (20.8% MORE than 2019 sellers)!

Unfortunately, larger homes (3-4k sq ft) in our neighborhood didn't fare so well with our worst month of 2020:  days on market were up in 2 categories; no pending sales; only 1 home sale (only 38% of our YTD avg) who received only 93% of their asking price and got only $183.31/sf...8.8% LESS than 2019 sellers.

Did you know you can exclude most, if not all of the taxable income from the gain on the sale of your home?  The IRS allows a seller to exclude from taxable income a gain of up to $250,000 on the sale of their home (or $500,000 if married filing jointly) if they:

• owned the home and used it as their principal residence during at least two of the last five years before the sale

• didn’t acquire the home through a 1031 exchange during the past five years

• didn’t exclude a gain on another home sold during the two years before the current sale

To learn more, see:  Excluding Gain from the Sale of Your Home.  It might make sense to cash-in on the large equity gain most Austin-area homeowners have seen since the bull market began in spring of 2011. Contact us today by phone/text at (512) 853-0110 or via email at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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Overall, we had a solid month for October homes sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with:  a 100% Activity ratio (the highest); 11 home sales (75% over our YTD avg!); our sellers received 1.7% OVER their asking price in only 9 days at a whopping $272.25/sf (22.4% OVER 2019 sellers!).

Larger homes (ie-3-4k sf) experienced a mixed-bag of results last month with these positive result:  only 1 home for sale; very low .50 months of inventory; our home sellers received 6.2% OVER their asking price and received $235.47/sf (17.2% OVER 2019 sellers!).  Our negatives were higher days on market and lower than average pendings and sales.

For those home sellers who just want a general idea of their home’s value, we recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let us know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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September was the 2nd best month of this year in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with: only 1 home for sale; inventory dropped like a rock to only .10 months (lowest of the year); our Activity ratio shot up to 88% (our highest of the year); and our 9 sellers (+56% over our YTD avg) received OVER their asking price and got 22.2% MORE/sf than last year's sellers received!

Larger homes (3-4k sf) didn't fare as well last month with:  2 pending sales; higher days on market in 2 of the categories; and only 2 sales (-31% of our YTD avg). However, we did have only 2 homes for sale; 1.0 months of inventory; and our 2 home sellers received 10.9% more/sf than 2019 sellers received.

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August was another great month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with: inventory remaining low; days on market down in 2 categories; an incredible 11 pendings (+80% over YTD avg!); higher Activity Ratio; and our 7 home sellers received offers in only 11 days at 8.2% more/sf than last years sellers.

Larger homes in our neighborhood had some negative trends:  high # of homes for sale; higher days on market in 2 categories; NO pending sales; and NO activity ratio.  However, we did sell 7 homes (our best month this year & 233% of our YTD avg!) and our sellers got an incredible 25.6% MORE/sf than last years sellers!

Under a typical (ie-”normal”) year, 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March.  A common myth is that you have to sell your home during the spring/summer months to have the best chance, but the percentages above prove that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly, and priced right sell year-round in our area. This year has been anything but “normal” due to the effects of Covid-19, so I fully expect this % to be much higher than our typical real estate cycle which may remain strong through the end of this year.  If you are interested in selling your home, see just some of the steps we take to get homes sold quickly and for top dollar:  Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or email us at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) and to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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July was the best month of the year for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with:  only 3 homes for sale; .30 months of inventory (vs. our 1.6 months YTD avg); 10 pending sales (almost double our YTD avg); 77% Activity ratio (1/3 higher than our YTD avg); and our 11 home sellers got 10.8% MORE/sf than last year's sellers received!).  And, NO yellow categories!

July was more of a mixed bag for larger homes (3-4k sf), though, with:  3 homes for sale (vs. our 2.1 YTD avg) and days on market were very high for 2 categories.  On the plus side:  our inventory dropped to 1.0 month (vs. our 1.6 YTD avg) and our 3 home sellers receive 100% of their asking price at 9.7% MORE/sf than last year's sellers received!

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, we recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let us know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home.

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June was the best month this year for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf) with: lower days on market in all 3 categories; only .70 months of inventory (less than a third of our YTD avg); 10 pending sales was our best month this year and double our YTD avg; our Activity ratio was 67%; and our 7 home sellers got 1.5% OVER their asking price at $250.94/sf (+12.8% over 2019).

Since June marks the halfway mark of the year, how did we fare given that COVID-19 began affecting us in Feb/Mar?  As you can see below, we had a mixed-bag of results:

For our larger homes:

June looked a lot like May for our larger home sales: 8 homes for sale (double our YTD avg); days on market were up in 2 categories; inventory increased to 4.0 months (almost double our YTD avg), but our 2 home sellers got .8% OVER their asking price at $222.75/sf (10.8% over 2019).

Since June marks the halfway mark of the year, how did we fare given that COVID-19 began affecting us in Feb/Mar?  As you can see below, we had a mixed-bag of results:

Do you have an appreciation gain in a piece of real estate that isn’t your primary residence (it must be held for investment purposes) that you would like to sell, but don’t want to pay the capital gains taxes?   Did you know there is an easy way to avoid these taxes in this situation?   1031 Tax-Deferred Exchanges have been around since 1921 and allow you to do just that.  These gains can be deferred again and again if you sell that property in the future.  

I personally did this when I sold a piece of Austin commercial real estate property I co-owned in 2006 and was able to parlay most of my profit (I took some in cash, called “boot”) into two rent houses.  I didn’t pay taxes on the sale of the commercial property, but simply deferred it into the future.  Since I plan to use the rent houses as retirement supplement, I don’t plan to ever sell them so there would be no taxes due until my death when they would become part of my estate.  1031 Exchanges can be done with any “like-kind” property which is very broad and can include investment real estate, vacation houses, raw land, oil & gas, etc.  I have a contact with someone who does these exchanges and their company has completed over 160,000 exchanges…call me and I’ll be happy to provide you with their contact information.  No sense in paying Uncle Sam taxes if you don’t have to!

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Home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) mostly had positive results in May with an incredible 8 pending sales (vs. our 3.6/mo YTD avg); 67% Activity ratio (vs. our 46% YTD avg) and our home sellers received an incredible 17.5% more/sf than last year's sellers received!

Like our smaller-sized homes, larger homes in our neighborhood had a mixed-bag of results:  on the downside, days on market mostly went up; inventory went up; we had too many homes for sale; and our sellers received .60% LESS/sf than last year's sellers received.  Pendings were up, however, our our sellers did receive 3.1% MORE than their asking price.

COVID-19, in effect, pressed “pause” on our Austin metro for 6 weeks from the middle of Mar thru the end of April.  Prior to that and since, our pending sales have been higher than 2019 numbers.  So, COVID-19 really just pushed our typical spring selling season back 6 weeks.  It is NOT too late to get your home listed and sold this year since we believe it will be an extended season.  If you are interested to know your home’s value, click “What’s My Home Worth?”.

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April presented a big test for our Austin real estate market since it was the first full month of sales data that had the full effect of the COVID-19 virus.  April home sales data for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) did drop some from March (which was only partially affected by COVID-19).

For instance, we had 2 green categories in April (vs. 3 in March) and 3 yellows (vs. 4 in Mar) so there was a slight change, though not dramatic.  Our 1 seller did receive an incredible $300/sf which was 35% more/sf than 2019 sellers in only 6 days!

Larger homes (3-4k sf) in our neighborhood fared similarly with 2 green categories (vs. 4 in Mar) and 3 yellows (vs. 4 in Mar), so there was a slight downturn.  However, our 3 sellers did receive nearly 20% more/sf than 2019 sellers received and went under contract in only 3 days!

The bottom line:  If you need to sell your home this year, do as we always have by getting it in good shape, staging it properly, price it well and use the best photography/virtual tours you can find so buyers have the option to tour your home virtually if that is their preference (Survey: Quarter of Consumers Accept Virtual Home Buying).

All of my listings for sale use Matterport technology which provides photos, digital virtual walk-thru tour, 2D and 3D floor plans, dollhouse view and more to make it easy for a home buyer to look at the home from the comfort of their home.  “Buy your next home from the comfort of your home!”

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Homes sized 2-3k sq ft in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood slipped some in March with worsening numbers in our for sale, pending and sold categories.  Our activity ratio dropped all the way down to 14%, too. 

Our larger homes, however, fared about like they did in Feb with a mixture of green and yellow categories.  Our sales, however, remain lower than 2019 when we averaged 3.33/mo (vs. our 1.67/mo YTD).

COVID-19 began to have an effect on our local economy when the order to Shelter in Place took effect in the Austin metro on March 24th (Texas and the U.S. government suggesting smaller groups before that) so it isn’t surprising that our March numbers weren’t affected all that much.  April results will be interesting to see, however. 

I hope you and your family haven’t been directly affected by this virus, economically or health-wise.  It is refreshing to hear our leaders begin to talk recently about ways to get us back to work and a more normal life, too.

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Both sizes of homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood had mixed results in February.  Our smaller homes (2-3k sf) only have 3 homes for sale; .60 months of inventory; and very low days on market for our pendings on the plus side.  On the down side:  we only had 2 pendings (vs. 6.8/mo last year); 40% activity ratio; and only 5 home sales (vs. 6.8/mo last year) that took 42 days to get under contract.

Even though we had more green categories, we only had 1 pending sale (vs. 3.2/mo last year) and only 1 home sale (vs. 3.3/mo last year).  On a positive note, however, we only had 1 home for sale; lower days on market for all 3 categories; only 1 month of inventory; and our home seller got 4.6% MORE than their asking price.

March, April and May are the 3 biggest months each year in Austin for sellers to list their homes for sale.  Are you thinking of selling this year?  Did you know that you can receive up to $250k for a single person ($500k for a couple) of gain from the sale of your house INCOME TAX FREE?!  Here is the link to the IRS site with more information:  Gain from Sale of Residence.  Contact us at 512-853-0110 (phone/text) or info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to learn more. 

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January produced a pretty good month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sq. ft. homes) with: only 2 homes for sale; only .50 months of inventory (less than 6 is a seller's market!); Activity Ratio of 67% and our 4 sellers received an average of 11% more/sf than 2019 received in only 8 days!  Our negatives were:  higher days on market for 2 categories; only 4 pendings and 4 home sales.

Larger homes (3-4k sq. ft.) in our neighborhood fared OK, too, with:  only 1 home for sale (out of 546); a very low .30 months of inventory; high activity ratio of 67% and lower days on market with 2 categories.  Our negatives were higher ADOM for listings; only 2 pendings (vs. out 3.2/mo avg in 2019) and our 3 sellers received an average of 2% LESS/sf than 2019 sellers received.

If you are considering selling this year, contact us to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home.  March, April & May are the most popular months to list a home for sale. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or by email info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to receive yours today.  See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home.

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Overall good results to end 2019 in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes).  On the plus side:  we only had 5 homes for sale (good going into the slower winter months); only .60 months of inventory; 8 home sales (vs our 6.8/mo YTD avg); days on market were down in 2 categories; and our 8 sellers got an average of $239.49/sf...a whopping 14.9% MORE than 2018 sellers received!  Our only real negatives were lower pending sales and days on market to sell a home was up some.

For all of 2019, here are our averages:

Looking at all of 2019, you can see just how fantastic our year was:  Green categories in ALL areas that I track using color; sales shot up from 58 in 2018 to 82 homes last year (+41%); days on market down from 2018 in ALL categories by an average of 34-39%; and home prices up by an average of 12%!   Will be interesting to see the effects the new Apple Computer campus off Parmer lane will have on our home prices and activity the next few years as they continue their build out.

Larger homes ended 2019 pretty well with only 2 yellows above, but most were green:  only 3 homes for sale going into the slower winter season; only 1.0 month of inventory; and our 3 home sellers got an average of 1.1% OVER their asking price and sold in only 3 days at $193.36/sf (5% over 2018 prices)!

For all of 2019, here are our averages:

As with the smaller homes in our neighborhood, the larger ones fared just as well in 2019 with green categories in ALL important categories!

If you are considering selling this year, please contact me to receive a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home.  March, April & May are the most popular months to list a home for sale.  Call us at 512-853-0110 (phone/text) or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com. 

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Except for the number of home sales (only 3 vs. our 6.7/mo YTD avg), home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) fared well with:  only 2 homes for sale (vs. our 6.4/mo YTD avg) which is good going into the slower winter months; our inventory dropped to .70 months; our Activity Ratio jumped to 78% (vs. our 52% YTD avg); and our home sellers received .9% OVER their asking price in only 10 days (vs our 30/mo YTD avg).

Larger homes (3-4k sf) had a solid month, too with:  only 2 homes for sale; .70 months of inventory (vs. 1.3/mo YTD avg); and our Activity Ratio jumped to 60% (vs. our 49% YTD avg).

Did you know you can exclude most, if not all of the taxable income from the gain on the sale of your home?  The IRS allows a seller to exclude from taxable income a gain of up to $250,000 on the sale of their home (or $500,000 if married filing jointly) if they:

• owned the home and used it as their principal residence during at least two of the last five years before the sale

• didn’t acquire the home through a 1031 exchange during the past five years

• didn’t exclude a gain on another home sold during the two years before the current sale

To learn more, see:  Excluding Gain from the Sale of Your Home.  It might make sense to cash-in on the large equity gain most Austin-area homeowners have seen since the bull market began in spring of 2011. Contact us today by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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October was a solid month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with lower inventory; lower homes for sale; and 8 home sold that got 9.4% more/sf than 2018 sellers received.

 With the exception of only 1 home sale, larger homes in our neighborhod (3-4k sf) had a good month with:  only 1 home for sale; lower inventory; 6 pending sales (vs. our 3.5/mo YTD avg); 86% Activity ratio (our highest month this year); and our 1 home seller received 12.8% more/sf than last year's sellers received.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, we recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let us know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home.

We also have a similar program we can set up for you (or a friend/relative) even if you own property in another state.  It’s called ePropertyWatch.  Let us know if you would like that, too.

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September was a mostly average month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf), but some things dropped which isn't that unusual for our slower fall/winter months:  inventory jumped to 3.0 months (vs. our 1.2 YTD avg) and only 2 home sales.

Larger homes in our neighborhood fared better with more green categories like:  inventory dropping; above average home sales; days on market falling, etc.  

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March?  A common myth is that you should only sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong.  Homes that are in great condition, staged properly and priced right sell year-long in our area.  Call/text the Thomas & Kauffman Team at 512-730-1252 or email us at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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Home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sq. ft. homes) had mixed results in August.  On the plus side, we had 9 home sales (vs. our 7.5/mo YTD avg) who got a very good 9.7% more/sf than 2018 sellers received.  On the negative side, though, we had too many homes for sale at 10 (vs. our 7.1/mo YTD avg); only 2 pending sales (vs. our 7.3/mo YTD avg) and our Activity ratio plummeted to only 17% (our lowest month this year).

Somewhat better results with larger homes in our neighborhood:  days on market dropped in 2 categories; our Activity ratio rose to 56%; and our 3 home sellers got offers in only 14 days at a whopping 16.3% MORE/sf than last year's seller's received.

Offering ammunition to agents who argue that iBuyers are often deceptively expensive, a new study by real estate data analyst Collateral Analytics has determined that the typical cost of using an iBuyer ranges between 13 and 15 percent.  Entitled “iBuyers: A new choice for home sellers but at what cost?” the study conflicts with claims made by some iBuyers on just how expensive such services wind up costing homeowners. Opendoor, for example, represents its service as more affordable than a real estate agent. But if the new research is correct, using an iBuyer would generally cost consumers two to three times more money than if they simply used a traditional agent.  This is right in line with the numbers we reported in this blog a few weeks ago with one of our own sales:  “Quick-offer” company loses home sale.  Contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team so we can discuss your particular situation if you are thinking of selling.  

Full Article here: iBuyers cost sellers up to 15% of a home’s value, study finds

Contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team today if you would like to buy or sell a home in the Austin metro area – (512) 730-1252 or info@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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The 8 home sellers in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sq. ft. homes) received an incredible 13.9% MORE/sf than our sellers received in 2018!   Otherwise, the remainder of the categories were at or near our normal averages.

Larger homes (3-4k sq. ft.) in our neighborhood, however, fared better overall with 6 green categories:  days on market dropped in all 3 categories; pending sales was up; our home sellers received over their asking price at an average of 5.1% more/sf than last year's sellers received.

June was a very solid month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (homes sized 2-3k sf) with: days on market dropping for all 3 categories; 9 home sales is 26% over our YTD avg; and our sellers received 6.5% more/sf than last year's sellers received.

For the 1st 6 months of 2019: Days on market for all 3 categories are down substantially; inventory is down 50%; our Pending sales are up 70%; and our sales/month are up nearly 50%.

Larger homes in our neighborhood didn't fare as well: 6 homes for sale is 58% higher than our YTD avg; our 3 sellers took 69 days to get an offer and sold for 96.8% of their asking price at a sales price that was an incredible 14% LESS than 2018 sellers received.

For the 1st 6 months of 2019: Homes for sale are down 43%; days on market for all 3 categories are down substantially; Activity ratio is up 63%; inventory is down 34% and our sales are up 33%.

184 Things Real estate Agents Do To Earn Their Commission  Surveys show that many homeowners and homebuyers are not aware of the true value a REALTOR® provides during the course of a real estate transaction. At the same time, regrettably, REALTORS® have generally assumed that the expertise, professional knowledge and just plain hard work that go into bringing about a successful transaction were understood and appreciated.  Listed here are nearly 200 typical actions, research steps, procedures, processes and review stages in a successful residential real estate transaction that are normally provided by full service real estate brokerages in return for their sales commission.

Contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team if there are any real estate questions or needs you have: by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com. 

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May was another solid month for homes sized 2-3k square feet in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood & very similar to April's results.  Except for a few too many homes for sale, we had lower days on market for all 3 categories; low inventory; 9 pending home sales; and our 10 home sellers got 1.9% OVER their asking price in only 9 days and for 8.4% more/sf than last year!

Larger homes did well, too, with: only 1 month of inventory (the number of months it would take to sell all homes currently for sale at the current sales pace); our days on market dropped in 2 categories; and our 4 sellers received 4.6% more/sf than 2018 sellers received.

It’s not too late to get your home on the market to catch our spring/summer peak selling season! See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. Contact us today by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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Only 1 yellow category (# of homes for sale) in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (homes sized 2-3k sf).  We also had lower days on market with 2 categories; only .90 months of inventory; 11 home sales (more than double 2018's avg); and our sellers got an incredible 11.7% more/sf than 2018's sellers received.

Much like the smaller homes in our neighborhood, we only had 1 yellow category and solid greens with:  days on market falling with all 3 categories; a very low .70 months of inventory; 7 home sales (nearly 3 times our 2018 avg!); and the sellers got 8.6% more/sf than last year's sellers and sold for 3.1% OVER their asking price!

Did you know you can exclude most, if not all of the taxable income from the gain on the sale of your home?  The IRS allows a seller to exclude from taxable income a gain of up to $250,000 on the sale of their home (or $500,000 if married filing jointly) if they:

• owned the home and used it as their principal residence during at least two of the last five years before the sale

• didn’t acquire the home through a 1031 exchange during the past five years

• didn’t exclude a gain on another home sold during the two years before the current sale

To learn more, see:  Excluding Gain from the Sale of Your Home.  It might make sense to cash-in on the large equity gain most Austin-area homeowners have seen since the bull market began in spring of 2011. Contact us today by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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We had a very solid month in March for homes sized 2-3k square feet in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood: a whopping 12 pending sales (2.5 times our monthly avg in 2018!); a 71% Activity ratio (future indicator of the market); only 1.0 months of inventory (half of last year's avg); lower days on market for 2 categories; and our 5 home sellers got 1.7% OVER their asking price.

A mixed month, however, for our larger homes (3-4k sf) with: 3.0 months of inventory (+36% over 2018 avg); and only 1 home sold that went for only $158.71/sf (20% LESS than 2018 sellers...1 sale doesn't make a good average, though).  On the plus side, we had 5 pending home sales (double last year's avg); 63% Activity ratio (over twice last year's avg); and our days on market went down for all 3 categories.

With the upcoming Apple campus expansion in NW Austin, there is concern about adequate housing for not only the incoming employees, but also the increase in ancillary services needed like:  restaurants, stores, dry cleaning, etc. in the NW area.  If you’ve been curious about how much your home would sell for (not just using the county appraisal, Zestimate, etc which are all created using mathematical algorithms), let us at the Thomas & Kauffman Team create a market analysis that is based on actual recent sales of homes like yours.  There is no cost or obligation.  Contact us by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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2019 started out mostly good for us in our Spicewood/Balcones (2-3k sf) neighborhood with:  Only 3 homes for sale (vs. 7.8/mo avg); only 1.5 months of inventory (down from 2.1 last year); 6 pending sales (up from 4.7 last year); an Activity ratio of 67% (nearly double our 37% in 2018); and our 2 home sellers got 99.4% of their asking price at 4.6% more than 2018 sellers received.

Homes sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf) finished 2018 with mixed results:  only 4 homes for sale; our activity ratio rose to 50% (+35%); and our days on market dropped for 2 categories.  On the down side, we only sold 2 homes (-60%) and our pendings took 113 days to get offers.

For all of 2018:

Overall, somewhat disappointing with pending sales down 39% and, more importantly, our sales dropped 30% from 2017.  

Larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood fared better in December with: only 3 homes for sale; only .60 months of inventory (our lowest of the year); activity ratio shot up to 57% (+211% and our highest of 2018); and we had 5 homes sales (double our YTD avg) where the sellers got $199.10/sf (+9.7% over 2017 averages).

For all of 2018:

We didn't fare so well when looking at all of 2018 with:  pendings down 40%; sales down 27%; and days on market up.  Our biggest plus was inventory dropping to 2.2 months (-15%).

It will be interesting to see the effects of the upcoming Apple campus expansion on all NW Austin neighborhoods in the coming years…I’m betting prices rise above the Austin metro area averages.

If you are considering selling this year, contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home.  April, May & June are the most popular months to list a home for sale.  Call us at 512-730-1252 (phone/text) or by email info@AustinTxHomeSales.com. 

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Homes sized 2-3k square feet in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood bounced back with a very solid month and lots of green categories:  Only 4 homes for sale (less than half our YTD average and good considering we are entering the slower winter months); inventory dropped to only .70 months (our lowest this year!); our Activity ratio shot up to 56% (our 2nd highest month of 2018); and we sold 6 homes (+22% over our YTD avg) that got $208.89/sf (5.2% over 2017 average).

Unfortunately, the larger homes in our neighborhood didn't fare as well:  No homes were sold (our 3rd month this year).

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March?  A common myth is that you should only sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong.  Homes that are in great condition, staged properly and priced right sell year-long in our area.  Call/text the Thomas & Kauffman Team at 512-730-1252 or email us at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale. 

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October was not one of the stronger months this year in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood with only 2 green categories:  lower inventory and days on market for our 3 pending sales.  Our 3 pending sales, activity ratio and price/sf for our 5 home sales (-9.2% over 2017) were our low spots.

October was a bad month for our larger homes, too, with no green categories, no pending sales (a barometer of future sales activity) and only 2 homes sold.  And, like the 2-3k sf homes, our $168.90/sf average sold price ws 6.9% LESS than 2017 home sellers received.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home.

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Home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3,000 sf) was a mostly average one, but we do have too many homes for sales since our YTD monthly average is 8.6 and that has mostly risen the past few months.  Also, our 4 home sellers got just over the price/sf that 2017 sellers received (+0.4%).

Larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (3-4,000 sf) didn't fare well since we had no pending home sales; no home sales; and too many homes on the market (9 vs. our YTD avg of 6.7).

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March?  A common myth is that you should sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong.  Homes that are in great condition, staged properly and priced right sell year-long in our area.  Call/text the Thomas & Kauffman Team 512-730-1252 or email us at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale.  

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Overall, a slower month in July for our 2-3,000sf homes in Spicewood/Balcones with: 11 homes for sale (+31%); inventory shot up to our highest since I started keeping these stats in 2012 (up 366% over our YTD number!); and we only sold 1 home.

Larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood fared about the same as smaller ones with: 8 homes for sale (+31%); 2 pending sales (-35%); Activity ratio dropped to 20% (-41%); and our 4 home sellers took 112 days to get offers that sold for 2.6% LESS than 2017 sellers received.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home. 

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Overall, June was a good home sales month for us in Spicewood/Balcones (2-3k sf homes) with: only 1.2 months of inventory; days on market down; and our 9 home sellers got 3.8% more/sf than 2017 sellers received.  Negatives: 11 homes for sale; only 2 pendings and a very low 15% Activity ratio.  With half of the year behind us, here is how we look for some categories when compared to 2017:  Positives - actives down 44%; inventory down 21%; days on market for pendings down 12%.  Negatives: pendings down 39%; sales down 18%; and days on market for sales up 23%.

June wasn't as good as May for us in Spicewood/Balcones (3-4k sf homes) with only 1 home sale (at only 95.4% of their asking price) and inventory shot up to 6.0 months (highest this year).  Positives: 7 pending homes (our highest this year); 54% activity ratio (highest this year); days on market down; and our home seller got 10.6% more/sf than 2017 sellers received.  With half of the year behind us, here is how we look for some categories when compared to 2017:  Positives - actives down 13% and days on market for pendings down 59%.  Negatives: days on market higher by 30-40%; pendings down 21%; inventory up 11%; and sales down 27%.

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May was typical of home sales activity for 2018 that we've seen in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes), though maybe a tad bit slower:  homes for sale jumped to 12 (vs. our 7.4/mo YTD avg); our inventory shot up to 4.0 months (our highest this year); and we only sold 3 homes (vs. our 4.8/mo YTD avg).  2 of our days on market were better, as was our 6 Pending sales.

Larger homes (3-4k sf) in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood fared better than smaller ones in May with only 1.4 months of inventory (our lowest this year); 7 homes sold (our highest this year and over double our YTD monthly avg); the sellers got OVER their asking price in only 11 days at 10.6% more/sf than 2017 sellers received!

It’s not too late to get your home on the market to catch our spring/summer peak selling season! See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. Contact me today so I can create a free, no-obligation market analysis of your home (called a CMA) to see how much you would net from the sale of your home.

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Overall, home sales were good in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with 9 homes sold at over asking price and 7.8% more/sf than 2017 sellers received; our days on market were down for 2 categories and our inventory dropped to .90 months...our lowest this year.  On the downside:  We have a few too many homes for sale, too few pending sales, and our Activity Ratio dropped to less than half of our YTD avg.

April gave improved numbers for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (3-4k sf homes):  6 pending sales (double our YTD avg); 1.5 months of inventory; 50% Activity Ratio (highest this year); and our 4 home sellers received offers in only 11 days.

Are you considering selling your home, but are concerned that you will have difficulty finding a replacement in the Austin area due to our low inventory?  This is a common question we get when asking someone if they want to sell their home and capture the equity.  Our team has 4 different proven methods to handle the changeover for you to reduce any stress associated with the sale of your home & purchase of the next one. Contact us today so we can go over the best option for your situation. Phone: 512-730-1252 or via email: info@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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March produced similar results for the 2-3,000sf homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood as they have the 1st 2 months:  only 5 homes for sale (vs. 14.3/mo avg in 2017); our inventory dropped to only 1.0 months (less than 6 is a seller's market); our Activity Ratio rose to 55%; and our days on market for sellers was only 18 days.  Our negatives are that we only sold 5 homes and they only received .10% more/sf than 2017 sellers received.

There was a mixed-bag of results for larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood in March:  we had 7 homes for sale (vs. our 4.3/mo YTD avg); our inventory jumped to 3.5 months; we only sold 2 homes (vs. 3.42/mo in 2017); and our sellers received only 96.5% of their asking price and sold at $168.45/sf (7.2% LESS than 2017 sellers received).

Would you like to know your home’s approximate value, recent sales in your neighborhood, and your estimated net equity…both today and on a regular basis in the future?  With ePropertyWatchTM, that information (and much more) comes directly to you.  This program is from CoreLogic who provides property AVMs (Automated Valuation Model) for 90% of the home mortgage lenders in the United States…they are the trusted source for accurate home valuations.  ePropertyWatchTM has information on over 100 million homes in the United States and each subscriber can have up to 3 properties on their report list.  So, whether you own a home in the Austin metro area, or anywhere in the U.S. you can use this service to keep tabs on your property value and net equity.

Best of all, it is a FREE service for you to use!  Click here to learn more about this program and to sign up for your free report: ePropertyWatch, or, click here to go directly to the sign-up page:ePropertyWatch-sign up form.  Feel free to forward this link to any friends, family, or coworkers you know…remember, any homeowner in the U.S. can utilize this service!  You have my assurance that I will NOT use any email address to send someone spam email!

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Homes sized 2-3,000 sf in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood had a mixed bag of sales results in February.  On a positive note: We only had 7 homes for sale (2017 avg = 14.3); our inventory dropped to 1.4 months (2017 avg = 2.1); and our 5 home sellers got 5.9% more/sf than 2017 sellers received.  Our negatives are longer days on market in 2 categories and only 5 Pending sales (2017 avg = 7.7/mo).

Except for last December, larger homes (3-4,000 sf) in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood have really struggled with home sales for over 6 months.  Our bright spots last month:  only 2 homes for sale (2017 avg = 6.7); only 2.0 months of inventory (vs. 2.6/mo last year); and our 1 home seller got 4% more/sf than sellers received in 2017.  Our negatives are: only 1 Pending home sale (vs. 4.2/mo in 2017); 1 home sold; and days on market were very high for 2 categories.

If you are considering selling this year, contact me to receive a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home. April, May and June are the 3 best months of each year to put a home on the market to sell.

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Smaller homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood fared better than our larger ones with 5 homes for sale (65% lower than our 2017 avg); our Activity ratio jumped to 58% (vs. 35% in 2017); and our 2 home sellers got 2.4% more/sf than last year's home sellers got.

Larger home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood got off to a rough start with no pending sales and no homes sold....the 1st time that has happened since I began keeping stats in 2012.  Our number of homes for sale, four, is good however.

Would you like to know your home’s approximate value, recent sales in your neighborhood, and your estimated net equity…both today and on a regular basis in the future?  With ePropertyWatchTM, that information (and much more) comes directly to you.  This program is from CoreLogic who provides property AVMs (Automated Valuation Model) for 90% of the home mortgage lenders in the United States…they are the trusted source for accurate home valuations.  ePropertyWatchTM has information on over 100 million homes in the United States and each subscriber can have up to 3 properties on their report list.  So, whether you own a home in the Austin metro area, or anywhere in the U.S. you can use this service to keep tabs on your property value and net equity.

Best of all, it is a FREE service for you to use!  Click here to learn more about this program and to sign up for your free report:ePropertyWatch, or, click here to go directly to the sign-up page:ePropertyWatch-sign up form.  Feel free to forward this link to any friends, family, or coworkers you know…remember, any homeowner in the U.S. can utilize this service!  You have my assurance that I will NOT use any email address to send someone spam email!

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December was another rough month in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (2-3k sf homes) with only 4 pending sales (nearly half our YTD avg); only 4 home sales (43% below our YTD avg); higher days on the market; and the sellers got only $180.67/sf which was 6.3% LOWER than 2016 sellers got.  Our bright spots were only 5 homes for sale (vs. our 14.3 YTD monthly avg) going into the slower winter months and our very low 1.3 months of inventory.

How did we finish 2017?  Below are our averages for each category last year:

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Home sales ended the year on a high note in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood (3-4k sf homes) with only 4 homes for sale (vs. 6.7 YTD avg) going into the slower winter months; inventory dropped to 2.0 months (vs. 2.6/mo YTD avg); and our 2 home sellers got $188.33/sf which is 5.6% more than 2016 sellers got.  Our negatives were no pending sales, only 2 sales and higher days on the market.

How did we finish 2017?  Below are our averages for each category last year:

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Smaller homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood fared about the same as the larger ones:  higher days on market; only 4 pending sales (half of our YTD avg); and our 7 home sellers got .40% LESS/sf than 2016 sellers got.

Larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood had our 1st green categories since August with: only 4 homes for sale (good for going into the slower winter months) and our Activity ratio rose to 43%.  On the down side: our days on market continues to rise; we only had 3 pending sales (vs. 4.5/mo YTD avg) and we had no home sales.

Would you like to know your home’s approximate value, recent sales in your neighborhood, and your estimated net equity…both today and on a regular basis in the future? With ePropertyWatchTM, that information (and much more) comes directly to you. This program is from CoreLogic who provides property AVMs (Automated Valuation Model) for 90% of the home mortgage lenders in the United States…they are the trusted source for accurate home valuations. ePropertyWatchTM has information on over 100 million homes in the United States and each subscriber can have up to 3 properties on their report list. So, whether you own a home in the Austin metro area, or anywhere in the U.S. you can use this service to keep tabs on your property value and net equity.

Best of all, it is a FREE service for you to use! Click here to learn more about this program and to sign up for your free report: ePropertyWatch, or, click here to go directly to the sign-up page: ePropertyWatch-sign up form. Feel free to forward this link to any friends, family, or coworkers you know…remember, any homeowner in the U.S. can utilize this service! You have my assurance that I will NOT use any email address to send someone spam email!

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A mostly average month for our 2-3,000sf home sellers with few things separating themselves from what we have averaged this year.  We did have 3 yellow categories, however, with our 7 home sellers getting 96% of their asking price which took 56 days and they only got $188.44/sf (2.3% LESS than last year's sellers).

September was clearly the worst month home this year for larger home sellers in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood....all yellow categories and no green ones.  Only 2 pending sales; our inventory shot up to 8.0 months (over 6 is considered a buyer's market); our Activity ratio dropped to 20% (our lowest this year); we only sold 1 home and it took 298 for them to get an offer and it sold for only $153.87/sf (13.7% LESS per sf than 2016 sellers got).

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March?  A common myth is that you should sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong.  Homes that are in great condition, staged properly and priced right sell year-long in our area.  Call/text me at 512-853-0110 or email me at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale.  

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Smaller homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood had 2 bright spots in August:  we had 11 pending home sales and our 5 home sellers got $228.99/sf which was 18.7% more than last year's home sellers got.  On the downside: we still have too many homes for sale at 18 (even though we dropped below 20 homes, we have still 27% more on the market than we averaged last year); they've been on the market for 74 days (32% more than our YTD avg); our inventory shot up to 3.6 months (our highest this year); and we only sold 5 homes (1/3 less than we've averaged this year).

August was a mixed bag for larger home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood:  On the plus side, our inventory dropped back down from 4.0 months to 1.6 months; we sold 5 homes (14% over our YTD avg); and they sold in only 18 days (vs. our YTD avg of 40).  Our negatives were: only 2 pending home sales (a third of our YTD avg); they took a whopping 216 days to get offers; our Activity ratio dropped to less than half of our 44% YTD avg; and, they sold for 2.9% LESS than last year's home sellers got.  If you need to sell this year, make sure your home is in tip-top shape and priced below the other comparable homes (ie-your competition) for sale.

Are you considering selling your home next year? I recommend starting your research now into what is needed to get your home ready for the market next spring (when our market activity increases and continues through the summer).  Getting your home in tip-top shape will be especially important if the shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market continues next year.  Here is a good website that has a broad range of information for home sellers you might find useful: Tips on Selling Your Home. And, here are links to vendor websites to find contractors:  Angie’s List    Pro Referral   Home Advisor

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Similar to our larger homes, the 2-3k sized homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood had a slow month in July with: 22 homes for sale (vs. our 16.2 YTD avg and 14.2 avg in 2016); our inventory rose to 2.4 months; our Activity Ratio dropped to 21% (56% lower than our 37% YTD avg); and our 9 home sellers got 96.8% of their asking price. Our positives: 9 home sales in 27 days at $201.34/sf which was 4.4% more than last year's sellers got.

July home sales for our 3k+ square foot homes in Spicewood/Balcones dropped off from June with: An increase in our inventory to 4.0 months (double our YTD avg); a dropping Activity Ratio; and only 2 homes sold (less than half our YTD avg). Our positives were dropping ADOM on 2 categories and our 2 home sellers getting @213.98/sf which is 20% MORE than 2016 sellers got!

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, I recommend the “ Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home.
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Larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood had a very similar month in June as the smaller homes: Our inventory dropped to 1.8 months; we sold 12 homes (60% more than our 7.5/mo YTD avg) who got $203.75/sf average for their homes (5.6% more than 2016 sellers got) and our days on market for 2 categories were low.

Overall, June was a pretty good month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood for homes of the 3-4,000sf size: Our inventory remains low at only 1.1 months (less than 6 is a seller's market); we sold 8 homes (nearly double our 4.5 YTD avg) who got OVER their asking price and at $208.73/sf (17% more than last year's sellers got). Our only real negatives were too many homes for sale/too few pending sales and our Activity Ratio that has dropped for 3 months in a row.

You will notice that I’ve added a new category to replace the “Hotness Ratio”….the “Activity Ratio”. The AR is similar to the HR in that it is a future indicator of the direction our market is heading by comparing how many homes went under contract (ie-Pending) compared to the number of homes for sale. The HR compared Pendings to For Sale, while the ARA compares Pendings to (For Sale + Pendings). A slight difference, but the AR has a maximum cap of 100% while the HR had a max cap of 1,000%. I feel that most people understand the 0 -100 range better since more metrics we see frequently (like grades in school, etc) are based on the 0-100 range. There is no hard and fast rule about what makes a good AR number, but, generally, 25%+ represents a strong market. For instance, if 2 homes are Pending and there are 6 homes for sale, the AR is 25% [2 / (6+2) = 25%]. An AR of 50% would represent a very hot market since the For Sale and Pendings would be the same [ie-6 / (6+6) = 50%].
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While some categories in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood were better (11 days for our Pending sales and $209.44/sf which is 8.6% over 2016); there are some troubling signs, too: we have 24 homes for sale (our 4th month in a row of increasing numbers & the highest month since I began tracking in 2012); our inventory went up to 3.4 months (our 3rd month in a row of increasing); and our Hotness ratio dropped to 42% (our 4th month in a row of decreasing).

With the exception of too many homes for sale, May's home sales figures for larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood were very good: decreasing inventory (our 4th month in a row); good Pending sales (with low days on market to get a contract); 8 home sales (over twice our YTD avg); and the home sellers got $191.37/sf (+7.3% over last year) in only 21 days (about 1/3 of our YTD avg)!
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Homes sized 2-3k square feet didn't fare as well as the larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood: Days on market decreased in 2 of our categories and we had 12 Pending listings (26% more than our YTD avg and 56% higher than 2016's avg), but our inventory took a big jump to 3.4 months (+79% of our YTD avg) due to our 17 homes for sale. If you want/need to sell your home this year, make sure you have it well-staged, clean, priced right and have professional photos and a walk-thru video to increase your odds of selling soon.

Larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood had a great month in April with only 1 yellow category. Our days on market were down for all 3 categories; we had 11 Pending sales (our best since March/2013!); we sold 5 homes (nearly double our YTD avg) and those sellers got 99.3% of their asking price at 4.4% more/sf than 2016 sellers received.
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Home sales in March improved in the 2-3k sf sized homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood: days on market improved in 2 categories; our inventory dropped to only 1.4 months; our Hotness ratio remains strong; our 8 home sellers got exactly their asking price and they got $207.91/sf (7.8% more than 2016 sellers received).

We had some improvement in our March home sales for larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood: days on market were better in 2 of the 3 categories; we had 9 Pending sales (nearly double of our YTD avg and nearly 3 times our 2016 avg); and our home sellers got $190.01/sf (6.5% more than 2016). Our inventory of homes, however, has increased each month this year.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, I recommend the “ Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home.
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Home sales stats for 2-3k sq. ft. homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood were a mixed bag in February: Only 8 homes for sale (vs. 14.2/mo in 2016) was good, along with 10 pending sales (vs. 7.7/mo in 2016); and our Hotness ratio shot up to 125% (from 50% in January and 54% avg in 2016). Unfortunately, we only sold 3 homes at 93.8% of their asking price and less/sf than 2016 sellers got. Our days on market remain high for all categories.

February home sales for 3-4k sq. ft. homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood were virtually identical to January's numbers: Only 3 homes for sale (vs. 8/mo in 2016); 3 months of inventory; and a Hotness ratio of 133% (nearly 3 times our 2016 figure of 47%). On the downside: we only sold 1 home which got only $152.42/sf (nearly 15% less than in 2016); and our days on market remain high for most categories.

If you are considering selling this year, contact me to receive a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home. April, May and June are the 3 best months of each year to put a home on the market to sell.
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Homes sized 2-3,000sf had a decent month in January in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood with: only 8 homes for sale (down 44% from 2016); 1.1 month of inventory (down 62%); and 7 home sales (up 20%)...all good considering Nov-Feb represents our 4 slowest months each year. Our negatives: only 4 Pending sales (down 48%) and higher ADOM numbers.

Larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood saw better numbers in January than December with: only 2 homes for sale (down 75% from 2016); only 1.0 month of inventory (down 71%); Hotness ratio of 150% (up 219%); and our sellers got 99.4% of their asking price. Our only negatives were just 2 home sales (down 25%); lower priced for our 2 home sellers; and, higher ADOM numbers. Let’s see if our sales activity picks up this spring and returns to the levels we saw before the slowdown at the end of last year (which most of Austin saw).

Contact me today to set up your free, no-obligation Market Snapshot. This will provide you with timely reports about home sales activity in your neighborhood...with data straight from our Austin MLS.
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We ended 2016 with a nice uptick in December with: only 10 homes for sale (40% less than our YTD avg); our inventory dropped to only 1.3 months (our 2nd lowest month this year); Hotness was the highest we've had since February; and, our 8 home sellers (up 37%) got 5.1% more than 2015 sellers received.

Here is a recap of 2016 for our 2-3k square feet homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood:

Like the larger homes, we had a slower year than we saw in 2015: Homes for sale jumped 125%; days on market jumped on all 3 by 27% to 114%; our inventory more than doubled from 1.2 months to 2.9 months; and, our Hotness ratio fell by 46%. On a positive note, the number of pendings/mo went up by 22% and our home sellers got 3.7% more/sf for their homes.

For our larger homes, December was fairly average with the exception of our high ADOM numbers and only 1 home sale which received 21% less/sf than last year's sellers. Our homes for sale finally dropped down to below our YTD avg with only 3 homes...our lowest month this year and our Hotness ratio jumped to 100% (our 2nd highest this year and well over the 0-30% we averaged the past 4 months).

Here is how the larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood fared last year:

As you can see, we had a slowing of our market compared to 2015 with: 8 homes for sale (38% more); inventory went to 3.5 months (up 41%); Hotness ratio dropped to 47% (down 21%); our ADOM for homes for sale and Pending were up significantly; and we sold 13% fewer homes.
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We had a somewhat better month for homes of the 2-3,000sf size last month in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood: we had 10 Pending sales (ie-have contract but not closed) for the 2nd double-digit month in this category; our Hotness ratio was above our YTD average; and we sold 5 homes (about our YTD average). The number of homes for sale continues to remain high--as it has for most of this year--with 16 in November; and our days on market (ADOM) for all 3 categories are higher than they averaged in 2015.

November was a rough month for larger home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood with: only 1 Pending home sale (ie-has contract but not closed); our Hotness ratio plunged to 13% (compared to our 68% average the 1st six months of this year); and NO homes sold (that hasn't happened since Dec/2013).

Did you know that–according to the National Association of Realtors–92% of home buyers start their search online; 76% drove by the home to look at it; and 44% bought the home they found? Obviously, having your home well represented requires not only having it in the Austin MLS, but also in the hundreds of home websites that are available to home buyers. Keller Williams has a proprietary listing system the sends our client’s homes to over 900 of the most popular websites to give the home the best chance of getting an offer quickly. Here is a link to my home marketing plan so you can see just what I will do to get it sold if you hire me: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. This is a good time of year to make decisions if you are thinking of selling next spring when our market begins to heat up each year.
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The smaller homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood fared slightly better than the larger ones with 10 Pending sales (25% higher than our YTD avg); our Hotness ratio went up; and our home sellers only had to wait 15 days to get offers. On the downside: we have too many homes for sale; our inventory jumped to 5 months (our 2nd highest this year); our days on market (ADOM) remain high; and our 3 home sellers got 8.8% LESS per square foot than sellers this or last year.

Larger homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood have experienced more of a slowdown than our smaller homes have: We have too many homes for sale going into the slower fall/winter season; we had NO Pending sales last month (Pendings are a future indicator of our market); our inventory has gone up four months in a row; we only sold 2 homes at an average price/sf of $175.86 (only .30% higher than last year's sellers). If you need to sell your home this year, make sure it is in great condition and priced below the average of your competing homes.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, I recommend my Market Snapshot program. This FREE service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Here is a link to a sample report so you can see what information is provided: Market Snapshot – Sample report. Let me know if you--or someone you know--wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home. I frequently hear that home sellers and buyers simply utilize a feature on the Zillow website called a Zestimate to determine a home’s value. This is not recommended in Texas because Texas is one of the few “non-disclosure” states, meaning that home sales are not reported to the local appraisal district like they are in other states. While other states get fresh data to feed their county appraisals, in Texas, Zillow is relegated to using mathematical algorithms to “guesstimate” a home's value which is why they are seldom accurate, either. So, in other states, Zestimates are much more accurate than here in Texas. The CMA program I use has a page included which pulls in Zestimates for the property and it is not unusual to see Zestimate values off by 10-15%...worthless to use for any serious market valuation.
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Activity for the smaller homes in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood were similar to larger homes: We have had too many homes for sale virtually all year with 13 last month (last year we averaged 6.3); our days on the market for all stages of the selling process are higher; we only had 4 sales (vs. nearly 6 YTD avg) which took 61 days to get offers.

September wasn't a good one for our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood's larger homes: We have more homes for sale than our YTD monthly average; they have been on the market for 125 days; our Hotness ratio plunged to only 10% (vs. our 54% YTD avg); our 3 home sellers got 2.8% less than their asking price in 37 days at an average price/sf of $173.54 which is less than last years home sellers received. If you need/want to sell this year make sure your home is in great condition and priced below the average of the other homes you are competing against to have the best chance of getting an offer.

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March? A common myth is that you have to sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly, and priced right sell year-long in our area. Call/text me at 512-853-0110 or email me at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale.
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The best categories in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhoods last month were our very low inventory of only 1.5 months and our 12 homes sales (twice our monthly avg). However, our front-end activities aren’t doing so well: 18 homes for sale (a persistent problem this year since we are averaging more than double our avg in 2015); they have been on the market for 67 days; our 5 Pending sales have been on the market for 38 days which dropped our Hotness ratio to only 28% (our lowest this year).

Overall, a slow month for home sales in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood with: 10 homes for sale (+20% avg); only 3 Pending sales (down 40%); Hotness ratio of 30% (our 2nd lowest this year); and our 5 home sellers took 46 days to get offers & sold for 97.1% of asking price at $181.68/sf (below our avg). On a positive note, however, we only have 2 months of inventory and sold 5 homes (54% over our avg).

Have you decided not to sell this year, but you might want to next year? I recommend starting your research into what is needed to get your home ready for the market next spring (when our market activity increases and continues through the summer). Here is a good website that has a broad range of information for home sellers you might find useful: Selling Your Home.

Also, future home sellers will want to see what homes are selling for in both their neighborhood and any neighborhoods where they might purchase their replacement home. For home sales statistics (straight from the source of all data…the Austin MLS), I recommend Market Snapshot, a free, no-obligation service I offer. Here is a more information: Market Snapshot. To find information about homes for sale anywhere in the Austin metro area, I recommend downloading this Keller Williams application to your cell phone which allows you to find home listing details while driving around, or by doing a manual map search: KW Home Search App. This, too, is a free application. Call or text me at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to receive either or both of these great applications.
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Too many homes for sale in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood continued to dog us in July. We’ve averaged 14 homes/mo on the market vs. only 6.3 last year. This has caused our ADOM to increase each month since Mar and moved our inventory to 4.0 months (vs. 1.2 last year). We did have 11 Pending sales (45% over our YTD avg) and our 5 home sellers got 1.8% over asking price in only 16 days, so there were some bright spots.

We had a very good July in our Spicewood/Balcones neighborhood: Our inventory dropped down to only 1.6 months (our lowest this year and less than half our YTD avg); 6 Pending sales; a Hotness ratio of 75%; and our 5 home sellers got over their asking price at $188.30/sf which is 7.4% over last year’s price/sf.

It is NOT too late to sell your home this year! In spite of our traditional strong spring/early summer selling season, we still typically sell over 50% of our homes during the last 6 months of the year. I can provide you with a CMA (comparative market analysis) to show you how much your home is worth…just call/text me at 512-853-0110, or email me at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com. If needed, I can also help you get your home ready for the market, including staging your home.