The Soft Spots in the Austin Market
Even in the hottest market in America, not every home actually gets multiple offers! Not every home even goes under contract the first weekend, believe it or not! For those of you who don’t have the stomach for 100k over bidding (myself included) or a lot of the other madness associated with this bo
MLS Coverage
I want to highlight yet another reason to work with HomeSmith. Sure, you can use Zillow and Realtor.com for some things, but to do in-depth comp analysis, have access to private agent notes about a property, or get attached documents like disclosures, surveys, etc., you need an agent with MLS access
April Newsletter: Austin Leads the Nation??
I was telling everyone in January to stay tuned: “Although no one has the data yet in order to write credible articles, once these homes start closing you’re going to see Austin all over the national news.” Boy was that true. We’ve been the hottest market in the nation for the past few months. Here
How To Navigate This Market
Well, first of all, if you’re a buyer we have a proprietary, exclusive designed way to help you get to the top of the offer pile. We can also help you look for softer targets. They do still exist! Even though rampant over-bidding is the norm, every weekend there are still some homes that don’t go un
2020-2021 Median Map and Chart
March 2021 Statistics
Here’s a good in-depth look and breakdown of what the Austin market is looking like right now compared to last year: Thanks to Bramlett Residential for data crunching.
A Ridiculously Buyer Favored Process (Part 2)
I’ve said this many times, but I want to expand on this idea a little more… Even though this is an EXTREME seller’s market, and the seller gets to have most of what they want, still, it’s the buyers who have the upper hand as far as the contract process goes. The seller has practically no way to get
Appraisal Waiving
One major part of the process these days is what we call “waiving appraisals.” When we say that, what we mean is actually waiving the right to drop out if the home doesn’t fully appraise up to the contract value. Backing up a bit, this is how the process works. Once under contract your lender will o
What’s Happening?
When January 1st came, it was like someone flipped a switch. Californians, among others, began moving here in droves and/or bringing their investment funds, if nothing else. Now, in many areas of town, homes are going for 10-30% over list price almost completely across the board, without exception.
School Ratings in the Austin Area
The video above provides a map visual and description of the Austin area and the school locations. (note: this video is best viewed on a cell phone and displayed vertically) This post was originally published in May 2020. However, with the number of people moving here, we wanted to move this post ba
How Should I Bid?
How should I bid? We get this question all the time. All we can do is guess based on what we’re seeing, but what we’re seeing is so crazy that we often get incredulous looks back. If it helps, here is data and pie charts that look more authoritative. Feb. 2021 Austin Market Survey March 2021 Austin
Is Austin Overpriced?
As the madness of the Austin real estate market in 2021 continues, the question of “is Austin starting to become overpriced?” often comes to mind. Austin typically has a fairly low cost of living in comparison to other large metropolitan areas, making it a favorable place for employers as well as ho
Five Star Agent Award
The Five Star Agent award is presented to agents who work with Fast Expert and have received more than 15 verified reviews with an average of 5 stars. This showcases an agent’s ability to provide a positive experience for their clients. We’d like to congratulate our agent, Jeremy Smith, on being rec
WHY Austin is the Nation’s #1 Hottest Market
This video is SO on point right now, and explains better than anything else we’ve seen WHY Austin is the nation’s #1 hottest market right now. Note also that although we’re getting migration from other places too, like New York and other big cities, many of the reasons for California’s migration mat
FAQ: “How far away are things?”
We are often asked how long it takes to drive places, so this is our attempt to be as objective as we can with that question. Our software makes these maps with downtown (place of most common interest) as the center, and predicts a drive time TO there at 8:30am. If you count from outward inward, the
Austin Real Producers Top 500 and Five Star Professional Awards
After a year filled with unprecedented challenges for the market, we’d like to congratulate our agents Jeremy Smith and Hillary Smith on receiving two impressive awards and recognitions: Austin Real Producers Top 500 and the Five Star Professional award. Determined by 2020 sales volume, the Top 500
More On 2021 Madness
In my last four posts this year you’ve been reading about the brutal scene this year for buyers. I have a little good news though, there is hope. After about two dozen aggressive offers since the turn of the year, I finally have a buyer client that has won an offer tonight! We got it at 45k over lis
2016-2020 Market Comparison
How Does “Months Of Inventory” Work?
In my opinion, the all important metric that drives prices and market behavior more than anything else is “months of inventory.” What does that mean? Well, they say a market needs about 6 months of inventory to be at equilibrium. More than that is a buyer’s market, and less than that is a seller’s m
List Price vs Sold Price Ratios
Here are some interesting statistics brought to you by a great data crunching agent in town, Matthew Cornwall. From the way this year has started, I think we may see even more impressive numbers in 2021. Notice the end of year inventory was under 0.3 ! Folks, that’s unbelievably low! THAT’S why, so
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