Austin Real Estate Scene

I’ve been working my tail of the last 2 weeks with buyers. I’ve shown a lot of homes, probably over 50-60 houses in Round Rock, Cedar Park, and south Austin.  After the strong real estate market of the past several years, I’m seeing too many sellers are not realistic about what their home is worth in today’s market.

In our industry many Realtors refer to overpriced homes as “homes that are not on the market”. These homes will get few, if any, showings, and they will languish on the market. They will garner the reputation of an overpriced listing and will generally be avoided by Realtors looking to get their clients a good value.

When we are working with a buyer looking for a home, we provide information on the pricing history of the home. If you find a home that has been reduced in price since being listed, there are generally 2 main reasons that cause sellers to reduce the price:

1. The Home was overpriced when listed. This is the most common reason for reducing the asking price of a home. After the strong real estate market of the past several years, many sellers are not realistic about what their home is worth in today’s market.

In our industry many Realtors refer to overpriced homes as “homes that are not on the market”.These homes will get few, if any, showings, and they will languish on the market. They will garner the reputation of an overpriced listing and will generally be avoided by Realtors looking to get their clients a good value.

2. A Major Defect was discovered with the home. Sometimes a home will go under contract, but a home inspection will uncover an unknown defect. This situation will effectively force the owner to reduce the price of the home low enough that a buyer will be willing to purchase it with the defect. This is far less common than the first reason.

We recently had a buyer share with us that they felt they got a very good deal on a home because it was originally priced at $279K, but the owner had reduced the price to $229K. Sorry happy buyer, but this type of scenario generally indicates that an owner had to reduce the price because it was too high to begin with. It is very likely the buyer got the house at fair market value. Unfortunately, this buyer was feeling a lot better about her purchase before she talked to us.

So how does a seller price their home to sell?

Simple, listen to your real estate agent. One of the biggest complaints among agents in this market is overpriced listings. Sellers who will take the advice of their agents and price their homes competitively to begin with will in many cases end up getting more for their home than if they priced it too high in the early stages of the listing.

In this buyer’s market, sometimes it is hard to get to the right price for a home. My best advice is to call a Realtor! We are happy to share with you prices of similar homes sold, and prices of homes for sale in your area. Take a tour of some homes that are considered your competition.  Walk your home and discuss preparation, staging, suggested repairs and an action plan.

Even if you are only in the “information gathering” stage. That’s OK!  Realtors are glad to do the research and help you price your house right the first time to achieve the highest price in the shortest period of time.  Every neighborhood in Austin is different so get informed about what your area prices are now.