Kopa Real Estate Blog

Greater Austin Housing Report - March 2021

When people ask me if they should sell their home I say “Only if you want to sell it for more than it’s worth.”

The best way I have found to describe what’s happening in the Austin real estate market is to compare the value of your home to an ice cream sundae. Think about your home’s value being 3 scoops of ice cream. That’s what it should be worth.

However, because we are seeing the number of active listings being down 78% from a year ago buyers are more and more desperate. We are seeing buyers lose out on 6,7,10 homes and getting to a point of desperation they throw a ton of extra money at the next offer. This desperation is like the whipped cream and cherry on top of the ice cream sundae.

The Williamson County Appraisal District just mailed out the Notice of Appraised Value for 2021. Look for your notice in the mailbox or search your address on the WCAD website.

Prepare yourself before you open the envelope because you are going to be shocked by the value. Especially for those who own rental properties with no Homestead Cap you will see huge jumps in the value you will pay taxes on this year.

When you see your value if you think to yourself “If someone would pay that much for my home, I would sell it” let me tell you something even more surprising…Your tax value is probably $125,000 or more below what your home can sell for in today’s market. That’s a conservative estimate because there’s a home we will be selling that I…

Because we offer free home staging and help coordinate make ready for landlords our company attracts a large number of homeowners who call when they decide to sell a rental property. This year more than ever we are getting calls from landlords who want to sell properties with a tenant living in the home prior to the lease ending.

Why Are Landlords Selling?

With the eviction moratorium landlords are concerned about tenants not paying rent. We have had several landlords contact us who are ready to throw in the towel because despite not getting rent they still are required to pay property taxes, insurance and make repairs. Several others are selling because the tenants won’t move out after their lease has expired and they have been given…

I’m going to review some of the important housing statistics for the Austin real estate market for February 2021. 

Before I get into the stats there are a couple things I want to talk about. Because real estate prices have been appreciating rapidly when I talk with sellers some will often make statements starting with “The market is so hot that XYXZ.”

"The market is so hot I can sell off market."

"The market is so hot presentation doesn’t matter."

"The market is so hot the Broker I hire doesn’t matter."

It’s as if there has been some government executive order that says you can only sell your home for $600,000 no matter what you do.

In reality, we are seeing sellers sell off market telling me they sold for $50,000 above the…

If you own a home you probably have looked at some type of online home value estimate. Even I like to look at mine as a curiosity to see how far off they are from reality.

I’m the type of person who orders the exact same meal every time from restaurants so I own 2 of the EXACT same houses right around the corner from each other.

Here are the online home estimates I received on the same day for the 2 homes. These homes are exactly the same with a $36,000 difference is estimated value. How can this happen? I have no idea. The homes are the same size, same finishes, same builder, same floor plan, same schools with the same neighborhood amenities.

I can’t explain the $36,000 difference with these homes. In general, we don’t…

We’re coming out of the worst storm I have experienced in over 30 years of living in Texas. We are hearing of pipes bursting and water leaks all over the Austin area.

Many homeowners will be worried about home values being affected when selling a home with previous water damage. Whether you are planning to put your property on the market next month or in 5 years here are a few helpful tips to make your real estate transaction easier and let you sell for top dollar.

No Discount For Homes With Water Damage In Today’s Market

When you search for how to sell a home with water damage, you’re going to find hundreds, maybe thousands of blog posts written by companies that want to make a low-ball offer for your home.

For anyone planning…

Everywhere I go people want to tell me the housing market is about to crash. Maybe the market will crash, maybe it won’t. If it’s true we are in a bubble and we will see a crash here are some of the reason we may see real estate prices pop.

Inflation and Interest Rates Going Up

There’s no doubt homebuyers are motivated by the historically low mortgage interest rates we are seeing. Many buyers are able to lock in 30-year fixed rate mortgages at 2.5% or better allowing them more buying power to stretch the price range of their home search.

Interest rates typically rise when inflation increases. With all the money being pumped into the economy it isn’t not hard to imagine we will see inflation once we see the pandemic coming to an end.

You might be shocked to hear real estate prices in our area are up 5-10% since the beginning of December. Almost everyone who is calling me right now thinks their home is worth $50,000-$100,000 LESS than what it would sell for today. Today, someone asked me what has caused prices to go up. There are many factors and I thought I would share what I told her with you.

1. Record low inventory of homes for sale. Many potential sellers decided to hold off on selling last year. We have a dramatic inventory shortage of homes for sale.
2. Few new homes available. In many neighborhoods you couldn’t buy a new home if you wanted to build. They are completely sold out of lots.
3. Tesla, Oracle and Apple building coming to life. The surge of buyers…

The #1 question people ask me is “How’s the market?” Real estate statistics mostly tell you where the market has been. It’s like driving while looking through the rear-view mirror. If you want to know where the market is heading and drive while looking through the windshield you will want to follow the 4 most important housing market indicators. These are the statistics I look at when talking with someone about buying or selling a home.

Months Of Inventory

Months of inventory tells you how long it would take for all the homes that are currently on the market to sell if no additional homes were listed. A market with 4-6 months of inventory is generally considered a market balanced between buyers and sellers.

When the months of…

If you are planning to sell your home you may be approached by a buyer or a Realtor to sell your home off market. An off market sale is where your home is not widely advertised in the Realtor database called the Multiple Listing Service or MLS. Some agents also call off market listings pocket listing or their silent market.

You might be wondering if you should sell your home off market is right for you. Here are some of the pros and cons of selling your home off market.

Pros Of Selling Your Home Off Market

Your Neighbors Don’t Have To Know Your Home Is For Sale

If you would like to sell your home more discretely an off market sale may be a good option for you. Your friends and neighbors don’t have to know you are selling your home…