A good friend of mine is writing a series of articles about the apparent dwindling affordability of housing in Austin, and asked me to research the values of all the homes she’s lived in over the last 30 years here. In lieu of that exercise, I test the data to Read more…
The Austin Board of Realtors say that median home sale prices have risen by 13 per cent year-over-year and the average price has risen 14 per cent. Since the two measures are close in number, in essence it means individual houses are becoming more expensive to buy. It’s only when Read more…
I didn’t particularly want to find out where Hobbit actor Elijah Wood lives in Austin, but it seems that new Multiple Listing Service tools make it particularly easy. A well known local brokerage has just unveiled its “Austin Home Sales Price” portion of its website, and I found it only Read more…
Texas is a non-disclosure state, so the sales price of a home is a closely guarded secret – known only to agents, appraisers, banks and not even the local taxing authorities were privy to the data. So how can you protest your home’s valuation based on comparable sales? Let’s take Read more…
If you’re thinking of buying or selling an Austin home in 2015 you’re probably asking what the market will do this year. After last year’s shock headlines that Austin was 19% overvalued (good link bait Zillow!) there was a second report released in December that claimed Austin was 20% overvalued Read more…
Most of us understand by now how mortgage rates are influenced by the Federal Reserve’s Discount Rate. The Discount Rate being at 0.00% for most of our economic recovery has been responsible for the record low interest rates we’ve been experiencing – and enjoying – for years. However, we should Read more…