“Recovery loses steam.” “Housing demand in a slump.” “Tax credit leaves mess in its wake.” We’re bombarded with headlines like these every day. Some have merit, some don’t. The truth is, the economy is now driving the housing market and not vice versa.

Pending Sales in the Austin region dropped by 14.6 percent from last July to arrive at 1,783. New Listings dropped a slight 0.4 percent since last July while overall inventory increased by 27.0 percent over last year to end the month with 14,545 homes available for sale.

Median Sales Price jumped 15.0 percent over last July to arrive at $215,000 yet buyers were only willing to pay 93.2 percent of a seller’s asking price. Market times did decline by 3.7 percent to land at 70 days compared to last year.

Months Supply of Inventory decreased 16.5 percent to arrive at 8.0 months, given current demand.

In sum, the housing market is trying to hold its ground until the job situation improves. Only after widespread, private-sector hiring will demand be restored to the market and prices can continue to stabilize. Until then, it’s a hurry up and wait game.

All data from the ABOR Multiple Listing Service. Reports are created and maintained by 10K Research and Marketing.

Recently I was interviewed for an article in the Realtor Magazine. The main topic of discussion was how to over come the challenges of using a Mac computer in the real estate world. I encourage agents to contact me if they are thinking about switching to Mac. Computers don’t have to be hard to deal with. Read the full article here.

I am interested in seeing how properties compare to averaged sales prices in specific areas.  Because was working on some numbers and I thought I would share them with you.  So I made a chart that I can update once a month.  Right now all I have is MLS areas, which may not mean much to non Realtors.  I will work on adding other metrics as time goes by.  Check back often for updates.

For a long time now I have wondered how real estate got so popular on Craigslist.  It is hard to find exactly what you are looking for because of the limited fields and repeated posts.  I find Craigslist a waste of time, but property owners love it because it is free to post there listings.  Turns out you get what you pay for.  Recently a story in San Francisco caught my eye.  A young woman, Rachael Smith, advertised her apartment for lease.  The only problem was that it was the apartment she lived in and not owned.

Over the course of a few weeks she showed the apartment as though she owned it.  She even collected rent deposits from people wishing to lease the apartment.  She collected deposits from over 20 victims totaling an estimated $100,000.  She has now disappeared leaving nothing behind but the empty bank accounts of those who she took the money from.  You can follow the story at either of these links. http://bit.ly/9wtIT7  Or  http://bit.ly/bsaTCt

All those property owners who love Craigslist because it’s free may want to think again.  How is a tenant going to know that you are not scamming them.  On the flip side how do you as the landlord know the tenant is not scamming you.  Property owner you will get what you pay for.

So who can you trust on Craigslist.  Well, maybe nobody.  If you have been following my blog maybe you have read other stories like Real Estate or Fake Estate, or my Deal Realtor letter.  I am not very happy with Craigslist.  For me it is nothing more than a breading ground for mistrust and misuse.  Even the posts by Realtors on Craigslist are often incorrect of misleading.  Watch out if you are leasing or buying real estate on Craigslist.

I am sure most Realtors and real estate investors are accustomed to looking at charts of average sales price over time.  Charts like this are all over the internet.  I have used them on my site as well.  They are a simple way of seeing historical trends.

Note the chart to the left of Austin real estate inventory.  It shows how the inventory has fluctuated over the last 20 years.  It does the job well.

This chart shows only one metric and it’s moving average.  We could stack other metrics on top of this graph and have numbers of lines or bars.  That all gets a little confusing.

It maybe time to break the bonds of the historical 2D data displays and jump into the pool of the real time 3d data streams.

Real estate data is amazingly detailed.  We know a lot about the houses you are living in.  We know so much that it might scare you.  All this data has hardly been used.  For example, we all track average sales price, inventory, and price per square foot.  These are simple and easy to follow.   Now with some new technology we can dig more in-depth to find patterns that other wise would be looked over.   For example; would it be interesting to see zip codes ranked by most 4 bedroom houses selling at or below the average price per square foot for the city?

Maybe you are interested in finding homes over 2500 sqft, zoned to a school which is rated high by greatschool.com, and selling 5% below average sales price.  Being able to compare multiple metrics of data quickly can help buyers and sellers make better decisions.

Example 1 : Freshness in the real estate market.  Here we have our homes displayed in a 3D landscape.  We have grouped these properties by MLS area.  The size or footprint is the sq footage of the home.  The height is the list price, and color is days on the market (red properties are older).  So properties that are green, short, and have a  large foot print could be the best deals.

Example 2 : We took the MLS area 8E, broke it down by subdivision.  Height is days on market, color is change in price from original list price (red homes have reduced there prices more than green homes), footprint of the building is list price.  So small (footprint), tall, and red properties; equals cheap, long time on the market, and dropping in price.

Being able to see all this info in the matter of minutes can help real estate investors drill down the properties worth looking at again.  I feel like we have hardly scratched the surface of what real estate data can tell us.  This is very powerful information that can help investors move very quickly. Aqumin’s, AlphaVision technology is already in use in the financial industry helping police the stock exchanges.  I wish I could have seen data like this last time I moved.  If you are interested in seeing how this can help you, please contact me.

I found a great comic strip on Theoatmeal.com.  The strip “what your email address says about your computer skills” is very interesting because I think it is completely true when it comes to a Realtor.

joesmith@agentsdomain.com = This agent is very technical, probably has a nice website or works for someone who does.  I would not be surprised if they could build custom web pages just for your search criteria that auto updates.  Also, may know how to do electronic signature and may have a paperless office.  A real echo warrior.  This agent writes a blog and tweets news about the market to his clients.

joesmith@gmail.com = This agent has picked the best independent email client out there.  For some reason or another he does not use his brokers email domain.  Maybe he moves around a lot.  He probable has a real estate website in a box.  Looks just like a few thousand other sites out there.  He will send you links to listings in your email and never when you are ready to look at them.  He likes fax machines because scanning takes to long.

joesmith@hotmail.com = This agent is new to the real estate market.  He has not lost any emails about your new house, but that will happen soon enough.  He is going to hand deliver all documents for signature and going to hover while you read them.  He bought a scanner when he got in the business; it is still in it’s original packaging.  He worked in the corporate world before this and had no reason to have an updated email client.

joesmith@yahoo.com = This agent may still have trouble with spyware; definitely thinks my-space is cool, and may send chain letter about bill gates to all his friends.  He reads a lot of books about real estate and keeps up with the news via news papers.  More of a traditionalist if you will.  He likes to be in front of his clients because he is a natural salesman.  Let meet at my office and go from there.  Face time is his motto.  (and no not the apple iphone app)

joesmith@aol.com = This agent is still living in the 90′s and still paying for AOL.  Bless them.  This is your part time agent, maybe part time stay at home mom or dad.  They don’t fax or scan.  They like originals if you know what I mean.  Everything hand delivered with love.  Emails to these agents will not be answered the same day.  Maybe answered tomorrow, unless it is a weekend, then not until Monday.

All of these agent will do a fine job for you.  I am just pointing out the difference in how they or we get things done.  There is no right or wrong way to do this job.  Clearly I think that my way is better, but that is really for the customer to decide.  To all the Joe Smith’s out there, sorry for picking on you a bit.

If you are looking for a Realtor in Austin, Please check out the rest of our site at www.neuhausre.com

Or call us at 512.922.7559

Section 9 of RESPA (12 U.S.C. §2608) states that:
1. No seller of property that will be purchased with the assistance of a federally related mortgage loan shall require directly or indirectly, as a condition to selling the property, that title insurance covering the property be purchased by the buyer from any particular title company.

2. Any seller who violates the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall be liable to the buyer in an amount equal to three times all charges made for such title insurance

Sellers are no longer allowed to pick the title company which the title policy will be purchased. Since the buyer is the beneficiary of the title policy it makes sense that the buyer get to pick who issues the policy. Only if the seller pays all title and related closing cost can they pick who issues the title policy.

I have a simple way of looking at this. Seller should let the buyers or buyers agent pick the title company. The buyers agent is going to be way more involved with the title company than the sellers are. We are often waiting on the buyers lenders at closing, so it makes sense to use a title company that the buyers agent is comfortable with.

Another thing is that title companies fees are very similar. Plus $5 here and minus $15 there. When it is all said and done, I think it is a wash. Sellers don’t get too hung up on your agent not knowing the people at a specific title company. They all get the job done.

Showing properties 1 - 25 of 500+. See more city of Austin real estate.
(all data current as of 9/8/2010)

1. $690,000 : 9533 Big View DR, Austin
   
   4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Size: 4,783 sq ft

   Lot size: 13,242 sq ft

   Year built: 2000

   Parking spots: 4

   Days on market: 1
2. $150,000 : 502 Teaberry CIR, Austin
   
   3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Size: 1,538 sq ft

   Lot size: 7,013 sq ft

   Year built: 1978

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1
3. $138,000 : 8200 Neely Dr, Unit 139, Austin
   
   1 beds, 1 full, 1 part baths

   Size: 887 sq ft

   Lot size: 4,573 sq ft

   Year built: 1982

   Parking spots: n/a

   Days on market: 1
4. $309,000 : 1002 Charlotte St, Austin
   
   2 beds, 1 full bath

   Size: 836 sq ft

   Lot size: 5,575 sq ft

   Year built: 1948

   Parking spots: n/a

   Days on market: 1
5. $489,000 : 5912 Inter Council Cv, Austin
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Size: 3,176 sq ft

   Lot size: 7,056 sq ft

   Year built: 1994

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1
6. $515,000 : 3104 Beverly Rd, Austin
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Size: 1,741 sq ft

   Lot size: 7,710 sq ft

   Year built: 1948

   Parking spots: n/a

   Days on market: 1
7. $196,000 : 1700 Wooten Dr, Austin
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Size: 1,457 sq ft

   Lot size: 13,372 sq ft

   Year built: 1967

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1
8. $294,900 : 5802 Link Ave, Austin
   
   2 beds, 2 full baths

   Size: 1,247 sq ft

   Lot size: 7,013 sq ft

   Year built: 1951

   Parking spots: n/a

   Days on market: 1
9. $96,404 : 205 Walnut Dr, Austin
   
   2 beds, 1 full bath

   Size: 1,164 sq ft

   Lot size: 20,865 sq ft

   Year built: 1950

   Parking spots: n/a

   Days on market: 1
10. $186,900 : 11700 Drayton Dr, Austin
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Size: 2,045 sq ft

    Lot size: 9,713 sq ft

    Year built: 1976

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1
11. $165,000 : 5204 Robinsdale Ln, Austin
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Size: 1,134 sq ft

    Lot size: 9,670 sq ft

    Year built: 1959

    Parking spots: n/a

    Days on market: 1
12. $253,500 : 2309 Rogge Ln, Austin
    
    4 beds, 2 full baths

    Size: 1,808 sq ft

    Lot size: 11,586 sq ft

    Year built: 1962

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1
13. $279,950 : 5500 Evans Ave, Austin
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Size: 1,144 sq ft

    Lot size: 6,011 sq ft

    Year built: 1994

    Parking spots: n/a

    Days on market: 1
14. $159,900 : 1101 Grove Blvd, Unit 305, Austin
    
    2 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

    Size: 1,088 sq ft

    Lot size: 4,007 sq ft

    Year built: 2010

    Parking spots: n/a

    Days on market: 1
15. $280,000 : 360 Nueces St, Unit 1906, Austin
    
    1 beds, 1 full bath

    Size: 748 sq ft

    Lot size: 87 sq ft

    Year built: 2008

    Parking spots: 1

    Days on market: 1
16. $325,000 : 54 Rainey St, Unit 414, Austin
    
    2 beds, 2 full baths

    Size: 1,164 sq ft

    Lot size: 304 sq ft

    Year built: 2005

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1
17. $430,000 : 603 Davis St, Unit 1911, Austin
    
    2 beds, 2 full baths

    Size: 1,219 sq ft

    Lot size: 174 sq ft

    Year built: 2006

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1
18. $285,000 : 110 Abbey Dr, Austin
    
    4 beds, 2 full baths

    Size: 2,576 sq ft

    Lot size: 11,369 sq ft

    Year built: 2004

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1
19. $450,000 : 200 Garrett St, Austin
    
    4 beds, 3 full baths

    Size: 3,415 sq ft

    Lot size: 5.02 ac

    Year built: 2000

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1
20. $485,000 : 43 Autumn Oaks Dr, Austin
    
    5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

    Size: 4,604 sq ft

    Lot size: 12,022 sq ft

    Year built: 1985

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 1
21. $589,000 : 2607 Big Horn Dr, Austin
    
    2 beds, 2 full baths

    Size: 1,421 sq ft

    Lot size: 13,416 sq ft

    Year built: 1979

    Parking spots: 1

    Days on market: 1
22. $397,000 : 9002 Mountain Lake Cir, Austin
    
    5 beds, 3 full baths

    Size: 2,708 sq ft

    Lot size: 14,766 sq ft

    Year built: 1976

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1
23. $420,000 : 11005 Callanish Park Dr, Austin
    
    4 beds, 3 full baths

    Size: 2,886 sq ft

    Lot size: 16,509 sq ft

    Year built: 1993

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1
24. $334,900 : 10104 Chiltern Forest Dr, Austin
    
    5 beds, 3 full baths

    Size: 3,618 sq ft

    Lot size: 10,846 sq ft

    Year built: 2003

    Parking spots: 3

    Days on market: 1
25. $89,900 : 14612 Varrelman St, Austin
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Size: 984 sq ft

    Lot size: 5,314 sq ft

    Year built: 1997

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 1

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Austin, Texas
Austin’s funky, anything-goes lifestyle exists in stark relief with the traditionally conservative Lone Star State. But Austin is one of the nation’s most progressive and proactive entrepreneurial centers. Locals wear their “Keep Austin Weird” T-shirts with pride but, in reality, the city’s combination of art and commerce couldn’t be better adjusted.

$3.5 million: Amount the nonprofit Central Texas Angel Network invested in regional startups in 2009–10 of them in Austin

Tech savvy: Austin earned the nickname “Silicon Hills” for its emerging tech culture.

Don’t mess with taxes: Like the rest of Texas, Austin has no state personal income tax and no corporate income tax.

Population: 1,705,075
Median resident age: 29.6 years
Mean housing price: $274,373

Read More

Think global, act local. With European debt crises, oil spills and disappointing job growth figures putting stress on the stock market, the local housing market didn’t fare much better.
Buyers remained hesitant during June, as Pending Sales posted a 15.2 percent decrease from last year. Many would-be June buyers already bought during the credit period.
Due to slow pendings, inventory levels increased 24.5 percent compared to last year, yet prices still managed to move up. The Median Sales Price for June of $200,436 was a 2.8 percent increase over last year. Negotiations inched back toward the sellers by just under a percent to arrive at 94.1 percent of their original list price. Market times decreased 12.8 percent to 67 days, while Months Supply decreased 7.3 percent to 7.8 months.
Expect closings to receive a slight boost as Congress recently extended the closing date to September 30 for tax credit buyers, and expect the market to stay flat or post minor improvements over the near term.