Why Using a Realtor® in Austin is the Popular Choice

As the economy continues to improve and more buyers commit to joining (or rejoining) the ranks of our area’s homeowners, access to reliable advice can be a vital difference-maker. If you’ve never worked with a Realtor® in Austin before, it’s important to understand the benefits they bring to the table — benefits that cause 84% of successful homebuyers to state that they would work with their Realtor again in the future. Understanding Your Buying Power A Realtor in Austin is trained to help clients determine just how much house they can comfortably afford, avoiding a later ‘too much house’ situation. In some instances, their negotiating skills can be key in bringing properties that have been on the market for a while down to a doable price-point. Protecting Your Interests and Investment Having a local Realtor on your team during the buying process doesn’t just make everything easier — it acts to ensure that your interests are protected. A member of the National Association of Realtors is fully qualified to help you at every step of the pre-closing process, from finding the right type of property and getting the proper inspections done through the back-and-forth of negotiating with the seller or his agent. Buyers who have teamed with a licensed Realtor are protected — they know that they have a qualified professional serving their interests and protecting their investment throughout the purchasing process, come what may! Invaluable Help at Closing Closing on a house can be a daunting prospect for an unassisted buyer. With a Realtor in Austin in your corner, you have an experienced expert always on call to answer questions, help gather documents, and communicate with the seller’s agent. Many of those grateful past clients know that it can even take months to close. Having an experienced guide can make smooth sailing out of the most trying of circumstances. From finding you the perfect home, to smoothing the way through the closing process, a member of the National Association of Realtors makes buying a home significantly less stressful. Looking for a reputable Realtor in Austin to assist you? Call us!

Austin, TX Homes for Sale Search All Homes For Sale What is Your Home Worth? Austin Real Estate Goldwasser Real Estate 512-470-2277 info@gretx.com

 

Austin First-Time Homebuyers Have a Key Bargaining Chip

The price tag that goes with buying a home is hefty enough to give anyone pause. After the fact, anyone – perhaps especially Austin first-time homebuyers – can come away wondering if they have could have nailed down a better deal. Preventing any such nagging doubt is easy to do: it just takes a little forethought and preparation. Here are a few tips to bear in mind when buying a home. After you have submitted an offer, be mentally prepared to respond in case a counteroffer follows. Along with the improvement in the Austin area markets, we’ve seen a rise in sellers’ confidence levels, so it’s best to be ready for some negotiating. Try not to let your emotions intrude – but always know the maximum amount that you are willing and able to spend. Major athletes have bargaining agents to go to bat for them. Your real estate agent is your bargaining agent whose very presence strengthens your position. Some of the legalities in real estate can seem ambiguous though they actually aren’t, so allowing a professional to do most of the talking is good practice. An inadvertent comment or slight change in the agreement between you and the seller could result in problems securing a mortgage from your lender. Real estate agents are trained to help you through the process of buying a home as smoothly as possible. Especially if you’re an Austin area first-time homebuyer, use your agent to the fullest advantage. Being armed with knowledge can save you thousands. The best way first-time homebuyers can see if an offer is competitive is by scouting the most recent prices paid for comparable properties. The second part of being prepared is to be sure that a proper appraisal is conducted. Smaller details are easy to brush off in the excitement of buying your first home — but having done all your homework beforehand is the way to make first-time homebuyers know they’ve struck a great bargain. Whether you’re a seasoned seller or one of those first-time homebuyers in Austin, we’re here to help make sure you stay on top of your game. Call us!

Austin, TX Homes for Sale Search All Homes For Sale What is Your Home Worth? Austin Real Estate Goldwasser Real Estate 512-470-2277 info@gretx.com

 

Austin MLS: All-But-Indispensible Marketing Tool

If you are selling a home in Austin this year, even in the improving market you certainly know there is a great deal more to it than sticking a sign in your front yard. It will be a competition between like-minded homeowners — some with very competitive properties to offer. This is where the help of a trained professional and the network that is the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) can make all the difference. You’ve probably worked with it before: the MLS is a central online database hub where licensed real estate agents representing available homes list and promote them. It’s a central marketplace in the same way that the New York Stock Exchange is (only without a NASDAQ to compete for customers). The National Association of Realtors® found that the great majority of all properties sold last year were listed through an MLS. From a seller‘s perspective, there are ample reasons why this is so. Listing a property through the MLS means that you are doing better than assigning just your agent to do your marketing for you. Instead, you are enlisting all local agents to sell your property to their clients. When you think about it,that means a lot of agent fees saved! By hiring just one agent, you gain access to the network of hundreds (potentially, thousands) of qualified professionals working for a portion of the same fee you already agreed to. Apart from this expanded workforce, you gain an almost unimaginably wider reach to consumers. Many prospects view Austin‘s MLS listings directly through their agent, but many in other areas see them via the many websites to which our local MLS syndicates its listings. Exposing your listing to millions of potential buyers means accessing a much larger purchasing pool. To have your property appear in the MLS, you need only enlist an agent or pay a licensed service to do it for you. If you are considering listing your home, contact us to discuss how the MLS plus our other marketing tools can make your home sale one of this summer’s success stories!

Austin, TX Homes for Sale Search All Homes For Sale What is Your Home Worth? Austin Real Estate Goldwasser Real Estate 512-470-2277 info@gretx.com

As Austin Sellers Beginning to Think ‘Sellers’ Market’…

So the market’s recovering, interest rates are low, and you think you’re finally ready to buy a home? Not so fast. Buyers across the country are running into a new roadblock: there don’t seem to be enough homes for sale.

Anyone who has looked at entry- to mid-level homes for sale in our neighborhoods probably knows what I mean. Mortgage rates remain near historic lows, and as the prices of homes for sale continue to rise, fears that we could soon see a repetition of a real estate equity loss seem increasingly unlikely.

Why the lack of inventory? There are several reasons. Buyers may be ready to buy again, but some sellers are still not in a position to offer their Austin homes for sale. When the housing market collapsed seven years ago, some homeowners’ equity loss was such that they remain unable to sell. Prices may be on the rise, but some need more time to return to pre-crash values.

Buyers always want to buy at the bottom, but sellers want to avoid selling there. Buyers are watching that bottom fade into the distance, but some sellers, pleased to watch their homes growing in value, are content to wait longer.

NAR says that there were just 1.93 million existing homes for sale on the national market in March, down nearly 17% from the prior year. In a well-balanced market, what had been a six month’s supply fell to just 4.7 months’ worth.  Nationally, homes for sale now stay on the market for just 62 days, down from a median of 91 days only last year. Glenn Kelman, CEO of an online national real estate brokerage, put it succinctly: “Somebody rang a bell and said the boom is back, and nobody wants to be late to the party.”

Homeowners who have been thinking about selling are increasingly liking what they see in today’s market — including the prospects for trading up. Even those whose previous evaluations were unsatisfactory are finding it worth another look. If you would like to find out what your home is worth today, give us a call!

Austin, TX Homes for Sale Search All Homes For Sale What is Your Home Worth? Austin Real Estate Goldwasser Real Estate 512-470-2277 info@gretx.com

Thinking About It?

Those that own their own home are typically curious about what their home might be worth in today’s market. Greater Austin area homeowners will naturally wonder what the house down the street sold for and take a quick peek at their own equity. Are you thinking about listing your home? Want six solid reasons for selling right now?It seems that Austin is always making a “Top 10” list from somewhere. America’s fastest growing city? Check. One of the coolest cities in which to live? Check. Top ten healthiest cities? Check, check and check. Whatever the poll, Austin seems to always make the list of all that’s good about living. That means people want to move here, increasing the demand for housing. And for those that already live here, it just might be the best time in memory to list your home. 1: Inventory.  The available inventory of homes on the market is at its lowest level in a decade with 25 percent fewer homes on the market compared to just one year ago. Current inventory of homes is listed at 2.6 months, meaning it would take just over two and a half months for every single family in the Austin area to be sold. A “balanced” inventory, where supply and demand are the same, is nearly three times that. In fact, there are just over 6,000 homes currently listed for sale. 2: Prices.  A low inventory of homes for sale means there are more buyers competing for the very same real estate, increasing prices. Today, the price of pending listings (homes with contracts) is up by almost 11 percent compared to just one year ago and the average list price of sold homes is up by nearly 15 percent over the past year. 3: Qualified Buyers.  Buyers today have typically spoken with a lender and have already applied for their financing. Buyers realize that lending guidelines are much different when compared to just a few years ago and know that getting their financing in order before making an offer on a house is a smart thing to do. Drop by any open house on any weekend and you’ll see the listing literally packed with motivated buyers. 4:  Quick Sale, Multiple Offers.  Not only are home prices on the rise but the time it takes to sell a home has dropped to just 71 days as of the most recent statistics. At this time last year, it took nearly half a month longer to sell a home. Today, multiple offers are the rule rather than the exception. 5:  List Price Plus.  The combination of low inventory, multiple offers and qualified borrowers mean buyers are beginning to offer more than the asking price. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find several offers on the same property above the original listing. 6:  Interest Rates at Historic Lows. Still.  Mortgage rates are still at or near historically low levels. This not only motivates buyers to obtain financing while low rates are a sure thing, but lower rates deepen the pool of potential buyers, allowing more buyers to qualify for bigger home. Real estate will always ebb and flow and we’ve been fortunate here in Greater Austin compared to other parts of the country. But it can be unequivocally stated that now, RIGHT NOW may be the best time ever to sell your property.

Austin, TX Homes for Sale Search All Homes For Sale What is Your Home Worth? Austin Real Estate Goldwasser Real Estate 512-470-2277 info@gretx.com

6 Common Mistakes After Listing Your Home in Austin – Part 1

Disclosure Signatures Disclosing material facts that might affect your Austin property’s value is a fair obligation that’s understood by everyone. Yet properly disclosing all material facts won’t help you at all if an issue comes up later but you can’t prove the disclosure. A good agent will double- and triple-check all the signatures, but at the end of the day, your peaceful sleep at night is only protected when you also take care to keep complete copies of the paperwork with all signatures accounted for. Earnest Money   Ah — the thrill of getting the first offer! After readying the property and listing your home, when an offer comes quickly, you’ll be tempted to say, “Where do I sign?” But slow up: getting a great offer is just the first step. Part of being a prudent seller is scrutinizing the offer and buyer to gauge the likelihood that the deal will close. The amount of earnest money should demonstrate the prospect’s sincere intent to buy…not just their desire to tie up the house while they make up their mind! Exclusions Want to watch warm feelings ice up in a hurry? Try surprising your buyer with the last-minute news that you intend to take your coveted washer/dryer (or heirloom chandelier, or custom closet system) with you because you forgot to exclude them. It’s part of our job as your agent to go over the more obvious items when listing your home in Austin, but even so, it’s ultimately up to you to make sure your intent is known. Trust us – we’ve seen more than one sale go south in the eleventh hour over some unbelievably minor items. Coming next, we’ll flesh out more of these most common pitfalls. Of course, listing your home with us means you won’t need to worry: We make it our job to keep an eye out for all of them. If you’re thinking of listing your home in Austin this spring, call us today!

Austin, TX Homes for Sale Search All Homes For Sale What is Your Home Worth? Austin Real Estate Goldwasser Real Estate 512-470-2277 info@gretx.com