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The world's largest real estate franchise by agent count

--- Forest North Estates sales stats

Home sales figures for July in our Forest North Estates neighborhood slipped some after a few months of positive-trending sales. I don't anticipate this to be a future trend and expect sales to slowly improve as the year progresses. We are now comparing apples-to-apples when looking at the same month of the previous year since the "Covid effect" is now gone that ended about May/June of 2022. This makes the stats more valid and useful.

It's not too late to put your home on the market this year. In our more typical sales year (ie-before Covid) we would see home listings begin to pick up in March to May (the most popular time to list) with sales continuing through the end of the summer. However due to the last 12 months being a transition period coming out of Covid, we have seen our typical sales cycle shift back a couple of months so I expect a stronger fall than normal. Contact me at 512-853-0110 (call/text) or email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you are considering selling your home this year.

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June didn't have similar numbers to May and dropped in most categories except our number of sales (20% over our YTD avg); sold/list ratio over 100%; and our days on market were generally lower.

Now that we are beginning to compare sales figures this year with the
same month last year that wasn't as negatively affected by the rapidly
rising mortgage rates, we may begin to see better numbers overall for
the remainder of this year. For the newsletter I send out to clients,
I've compared the first five months of 2023 with the 5-year average for
these same 5 months of 2022 to better represent the change our Austin
metro has seen the past 12 months or so. Otherwise, we are comparing
apples and oranges since we've had dramatically different markets during
that time.

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May was the best month for home sales this year in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with 5 greens and 2 yellows. Inventory was only .30 months; only 1 home for sale; 3 pendings; and 4 homes sold (nearly twice our average last year). These are positive signs that our Austin metro market has stabilized
from the downturn of last year and even showing signs of coming back to a
more normal Austin single family home sales market. This can be seen in
my recent blog post Austin home sales returning to normal.

Curious about the current value of your home given the softening of our
market from last year? You can request a quick, one-time
computer generated CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) here: What's My Home Worth?
There is no cost for this service. Or, to request a more detailed CMA
based on your home's location and features, just text or email me at
512-853-0110, robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com. (no cost to you).

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April was the best month so far this year in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with 3 green categories: Our 1st month that we actually had some calculable inventory (ie-no sales in the 1st quarter); our 1st 2 homes sold and our 2 pending listings were on the market only 2 days before they got offers. We believe the Austin metro market, as a whole, has reached the
bottom of the downturn we began around June of last year and are
beginning to see slight upticks in activity, too. As interest rate
increases stop (we believe they may have for this year); inflation
subsides and home inventories remail low, we expect this to continue for
the rest of this year and into next.

If you want to know how your home's market value is doing, be sure to get your regular Market Snapshot (free).
This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple
Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular
basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create
one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes
about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or
someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or
even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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While this is the 3rd month in a row with no homes sold in our Forest North Estates neighborhood, we are seeing some life in the Pending sales (60% over last year's average) and Activity Ratio (+16% over 2022). This may continue to do well as we have more confirmation that interest rate increases are near the peak of what the Federal Reserve needs to reign in inflation.

Curious about the current value of your home given the softening of our market for the past 6-9 months? You can request a quick, one-time computer generated CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) here: What's My Home Worth? There is no cost for this service.

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On the one hand, home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood are
still adjusting to the slowdown we saw the last half of 2022. On the
other hand, the numbers above are comparing to Feb/2022 when our market
was still very hot at the end of our crazy Covid-19 2-year run. So, we
are, in effect comparing apples and oranges due to the big differences
in the markets.

If you want to know how your home's market value is doing, be sure to get your regular Market Snapshot (free). This
free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing
Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis
(every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one
yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It
takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you,
or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home
or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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January was not a good start for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with: No pending sales; no activity ratio; and no home sales...this is only the 2nd January of the past 10 years where we didn't sell a home in January. Our only positive stat last month was having only 1 home for sale - we don't want too many homes for sale during the middle of winter since it raises our inventory.
I expect to see home prices moderate and even continue some decline for
the early part of 2023 with leveling and slight increases in them as the
year progresses.

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The one bright spot for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood in December was our lower months of home inventory at .50 (vs. 1.1/mo average YTD). Overall, we struggled with activity in 2022 after starting off well at the beginning of the year.

For the entire year of 2022, we had many more yellow categories above than we had the past few years, but our bright spot was with home prices. Our average home sale price was $574,518 (+$44,576 & 8% over 2021 prices); our sellers receive 3.6% OVER their asking prices; and the $294.05/sf sold was 5.5% over 2021 numbers.

Yes, home listing (asking) prices dropped over the past 6 months or so, but the actual sold prices were up. So, while the media wants to headline "home prices down", they are generally talking about asking vs. sold prices.

If you are considering selling this year, I encourage you to read these 2 articles:

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At least we pulled off 2 green categories again, with average price/sf sold being one of them. We were nearly at our YTD average and were 6.4% over last year's average so that's a positive. YTD in 2022 we still are averaging 7.4% over last year's seller's prices.

Just 1 more month to go in 2022 and I'm hoping our Austin metro area is able to maintain a
positive sales price appreciation with December's numbers. The last
time average and median home sale prices dropped for the entire year in Austin was
in 2009 when median prices dropped .7% and average prices dropped 2%.
Median prices, alone, went down .5% in 2011. Before that, it was the
late 1980's before Austin home prices dropped again so it is a rare
event, indeed. If you want to know how your home's market value is
doing, be sure to get your regular Market Snapshot (free). This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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Well, at least we had a couple of green categories for October home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood. Both of them, inventory and # homes sold were significant since inventory was down over 50% from our YTD avg of 1.1, and our 3 homes sold was 36% over our YTD avg. Days on market continues to be high as it is with the Austin metro and national real estate markets.

My best advice to home sellers is that they will need to be extra
vigilant in pricing their home for sale and then be patient until they
get an offer. We have rapidly moved into a more typical, or normal real
estate cycle, and, as of yet, haven't moved into buyer's market
territory (~6+ months of inventory). So, sellers need to get their home
in tip-top shape, stage it well, price it "to the market" (your Realtor
will understand), and market it heavily. Or, simply wait until next
spring when many think we will be past the worst of this downturn.

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The real estate market slowdown continued to affect our Forest North Estate home sales in September with about the same number of yellow categories as we had in August. And, this is our 2nd month in a row of average sale prices going DOWN when compared to the same month of last year (down 1.4% in Sep). YTD, however, we are still up 8% when compared to last year, so the slowdown hasn't gotten that bad yet.

If you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s
value or to keep up with it during our changing market, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service
pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar
homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12
weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot.
It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if
you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their
home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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Overall activity in August for our Forest North Estates neighborhood remained slow as it has for the past several months. However, we did get 2 home sales (none in July) so that is an improvement. I believe we will continue this overall slowdown in our market as we settle down from the crazy Covid market we had for about 2 years since the lockdown of March, 2020.

We are now heading into fall which has always been our traditional time
when home sales slow as we move into winter. Our normal home sales
market cycle has been in the shape of a a bell curve with the lowest
activity in January; rising listings/buyers in the spring; peaking
during the summer months (so buyers can relocate their kids to new
schools if necessary); and slowing during the fall/winter months. Most
real estate experts believe (myself included) that the Covid home buying
frenzy is gone and we are now settling into a normal market cycle.
Home sellers would be wise to heed this change and price their homes
according to our slowing activity going forward.

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As I've seen with other NW Austin neighborhoods I monitor, July's home sales numbers for our Forest North Estates neighborhood have been slowing down (much like the Austin metro, too) the past 2-3 months. No green categories, all yellows and no home sales above tell the story well.

In my opinion after being an Austin Realtor for 16 years is that our
Austin home sales market is like a plane coming in for a landing from a
very high altitude that gently glides to the runway...no abrupt descents
but a slow and steady descent. The home price drops and homes staying
on the market longer you've undoubtedly seen the past 2-3 months are
the result of improper list prices to begin with. For example: Before Covid, Realtors
would run a CMA (comparative market analysis) for a home and list it at
the $500k the CMA showed which was the average of the past 3-5
comparable sales (comps). Sellers expected to receive 95-100% of this
price and, if lucky, would get multiple offers that would push it
higher.

Since Covid (until a few months ago),
however, that same $500k home would have likely received multiple offers
and gone for, say, $600k. Smart sellers and their Realtors realized
they shouldn't price it at the $600k like the last sales and what we did
Before Covid because the $100k runup was the result of "buyer frenzy"
created since Covid...but, at the same $500k the others listed
their home at. This allowed the unpredictable "buyer frenzy" to run up
the price to whatever the last wiling buyer would pay and take into
account the current "buyer frenzy of the day" since Covid has changed
things so much.

Sellers and Realtors who didn't heed this advice
are now "lowering their prices" simply because they thought the buyer
frenzy would last forever, which it has been proved waned the past few
months as mortgage rates shot up and economic uncertainties darken the
horizon. If they had priced at $500k, maybe the buyers would have taken
it to $525k, $550k, $557k, etc and they wouldn't be dropping their
prices, but simply selling their home at a lower price appreciation
rate than sellers got 6+ months ago. Home prices in the Austin metro still rose in June by 13-14% over June/2021 and in our local neighborhood mentioned above, prices also rose relative to July/2022, too. So, the sky isn't falling and Chicken Little will have to wait a little longer! :)

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June represented an overall slowdown in our upfront activity shown in lower for sale and pending numbers above, as well as only 1 home sale. So far, our home sale prices have remained strong (due primarily to our low inventory) at 14.7% over last year's prices on a square foot basis.

We've seen a similar trend in our greater Austin metro area beginning in March as mortgage rates began their upward movement from the low we began this year with of 3.22% (5.30% as of 7/7/22). This, coupled with rising inflation and concern about a nationwide recession has rightfully spooked some home buyers. This is reflected in our recent price reductions on some homes currently on the market. So, it is now more important for home sellers to price their home right than it has been since we began our 2-year home sales hot streak after the Covid lockdowns. Contact me if you are thinking about selling your home so I can show you how I do just that for my home sellers so they don't have to "chase the market down" with price reductions.

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Home activity in our Forest North Estates neighborhood slowed in May with a high number of homes for sale, only 2 pending sales, lower Activity Ratio and higher days on market. This might be due to our rising mortgage rates the past few months...whether this continues or not remains to be seen.

As you've seen in my posts since the Covid lockdown, our Austin metro real estate market is setting records with crazy appreciation numbers. So, if you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis). Contact me at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com or 512-853-0110 (phone or text).

You can also request a quick, one-time computer generated CMA here: What's My Home Worth?

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April produced a solid month for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with: 5 pending sales (have contract but not closed); 83% Activity Ratio; our home sellers received 8.8% over their asking price in only 7 days at $360.91/sf which was an incredible 29.5% MORE than last year's sellers received!

Did you know you can exclude most, if not all of the taxable income from the gain on the sale of your home? The IRS allows a seller to exclude from taxable income a gain of up to $250,000 on the sale of their home (or $500,000 if married filing jointly) if they:

owned the home and used it as their principal residence during at least two of the last five years before the sale
didn’t acquire the home through a 1031 exchange during the past five years
didn’t exclude a gain on another home sold during the two years before the current sale

To learn more, see: Excluding Gain from the Sale of Your Home. It might make sense to cash-in on the large equity gain most Austin-area homeowners have seen since the bull market began in spring of 2011. You could then re-leverage the equity into another home and/or investment property. Contact me today by phone/text at (512) 853-0110 or via email at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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March numbers for our Forest North Estates neighborhood presented much better results than we had in Jan/Feb this year: better days on market; 4 homes sold (vs. 2.5/mo in 2021); and the sellers got 9.2% over their asking price at $287.96/sf. Our lower Activity Ratio was the only real concern area.

Have you been hounded with calls and/or mailings to buy your home quick…for cash?
This might sound like an attractive option until you consider that we
now have more buyers for our homes than at any other time in Austin
history. So, why would you settle for only ONE offer that might sound good, when you could get multiple offers from buyers bidding up the price in our red-hot Austin market?

Are you concerned that selling your home quickly would only throw you into the pool of frenzied home buyers when looking for your replacement home in the Austin metro and the possibility of not having a place to live once your existing home sells? Well, I have a solution for you where you
can buy your next home for cash (so you can compete with other cash buyers), move into it and then sell your home for top dollar using our large pool of buyers! Perfect solution, right? Contact me at 512-853-0110 (call or text) or, robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to find out more.

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February was our 2nd month in a row with NO homes for sale in our Forest North Estates neighborhood. Low inventory has been a problem throughout our 5-county Austin metro area for over a year. If you are thinking of selling, see the paragraph below about CMAs. We did bounce back with 4 pending sales (have contract but not closed yet) which created a 100% Activity Ratio (the max possible) and our 1 home seller received their asking price at nearly 6% more than 2021 sellers received.

You can also request a quick, one-time computer generated CMA here: What's My Home Worth?

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Home sales in our Forest North Estates have started out rather slow in 2022 with very little activity in all 3 categories...except home prices. Our 2 home sellers received $292.19/sf which was an incredible 46% over last year's selling prices of $200.78/sf! And, they received 8.1% OVER their asking prices.

Have you been hounded with calls and/or mailings to buy your home quick…for cash? This might sound like an attractive option until you consider that we now have more buyers for our homes than at any other time in Austin history. So, why would you settle for only 1 offer that might sound good, when you could get multiple offers from buyers bidding up the price?

Are you concerned that selling your home quickly would only throw you into the pool of frenzied home buyers when looking for your replacement home in the Austin metro and the possibility of not having a place to live once your existing home sells? Well, I have a solution for you where you can buy your next home for cash (so you can compete with other cash buyers), move into it and then sell your home for top dollar using our large pool of buyers! Perfect solution, right? Contact me at 512.853.0110 (call or text) or, robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to find out more.

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December was one of the lowest activity months I've ever seen in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with only 1 home pending and none for sale and none sold. The 5 homes we sold in November really stand out when comparing to December and since that was our highest sales month of 2020. I do believe December's results are reflective of an aberration month and not a trend.

My optimism comes from the incredible year we ended up with in 2020 with a lot of greens and only 2 yellows as you can see above. For instance, our inventory was down 41% compared to 2019; days on market were down around 50-60% for the 3 categories; average home price was 37% higher ($530k vs $388k); and our appreciation rate shot up a whopping 313% (39% increase vs 9%)!

With the new year, many homeowners turn to the possibility of selling
their home. If you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of
your home’s
value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service
pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar
homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12
weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot.
It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if
you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their
home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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November home sales in our Forest North neighborhood presented both positive and negative trends. For instance, we only had 1 home for sale which is good going into the traditionally slower winter months and we had 5 homes sell (our highest this year). In addition, those sellers got 6% over their asking price and sold for $272.49/sf (+36% over 2020 prices). Our lone negative was that we had no pending home sales (ie-under contract but not closed).

The general consensus among Realtors and local economists is that our
Austin real estate market is beginning to “normalize” back into what we
usually see each year–a Bell curve of slow sales in January rising in
the spring to a peak in the summer and then gradually going back down to
December. Our inventory remains extremely low at around 1 month for
the Austin metro area so price appreciation will remain higher than
normal until this sufficiently rises. Keep in mind that Austin has
averaged 2-3 months of inventory between 2012 (after we came out of the
Great Recession) until about 18 months ago when our current market surge
started after Covid-19.

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Home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood bounced back in October compared to September with: Only 1 home for sale; lower inventory; higher Activity Ratio; and our 3 sellers received 6.7% over their asking price (compared to our 1st sub-100% month this year in September). In addition, this year's sellers have been blessed with lower ADOM in all 3 categories YTD; 11% more in their sold/list ratio; 38% higher price/sf; and a whopping 308% higher appreciation rate (38.4% vs. 9.4% last year)!

Under a typical (ie-”normal”) year, 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March. A common myth is that you have to sell your home during the spring/summer months to have the best chance, but the percentages above prove that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly, and priced right sell year-round in our area. This year has been anything but “normal” due to the effects of Covid-19, so I fully expect this % to be much higher than our typical real estate cycle which may remain strong through the end of this year. If you are interested in selling your home, see just some of the steps we take to get homes sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or email us at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) and to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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September home sales numbers in our Forest North Estates neighborhood had 4 yellow categories...our highest number for any month this year, so things are changing. Perhaps none more important than the Sold to List ratio which represents the percentage of the listing price the seller received at closing. Our 98.8% in September is the 1st month in 2021 that sellers didn't receive OVER their asking price. To put this into perspective, the average seller in Austin received 97% of their asking price in our pre-Covid market.

If you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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August home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood had 2 yellow categories (vs. 1 in July) so we might be seeing signs of the market cooldown we've seen in the greater Austin area affecting our market, too. We'll see in the coming months whether our neighborhood begins to see the slowing frenzy as Austin has. For the month, we had good numbers for both active listings, pendings and sales and our 4 home sellers received nearly 12% over asking at $313/sf which is a whopping 56% more than our 2020 avg/sf!

Under a typical (ie-”normal”) year, 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March. A common myth is that you have to sell your home during the spring/summer months to have the best chance, but the percentages above prove that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly, and priced right sell year-round in our area. This year has been anything but “normal” due to the effects of Covid-19, so I fully expect this % to be much higher than our typical real estate cycle which may remain strong through the end of this year. If you are interested in selling your home, see just some of the steps we take to get homes sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or email us at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) and to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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July represented another solid month for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with only 1 yellow category (days on market). We had our best pending sales month of the year with 5 homes; our Activity ratio jumped to the highest number in 3 months; our sellers received 24.2% over their asking price (our best of this year); and they got $295.69/sf which was 47.3% more than last year's sellers received.

If you are considering selling this year, contact us to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home. It is not too late in the season to list your home for sale as our local market has been strong for 12 months in a row. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to receive yours today. See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home.

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June was a better month overall than May was for our Forest North Estates neighborhood with green categories in both pending sales and home sales. Our 4 pending sales was 74% over our YTD average and our 3 home sales was 50% over. And, as we have for nearly every month this year, our home sellers received over their asking price and at an average price/sf of +47% over 2020 prices!

As you’ve seen in my posts the past 9 months or so, our Austin metro real estate market is setting records with crazy appreciation numbers. So, if you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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May represented another good month for our Forest North Estates home sellers with our 2 owners getting 13.3% over asking price in only 5 days at $320.59/sf which was 59.7% MORE than 2020 sellers received! We only had 1 pending sale, however, which is below our 2/mo YTD average and well below last year's 4.9/mo average.

Are you considering selling your home this year? The incredible buyer frenzy we’ve seen the past 9 months has caused multiple-offers in most situations and 10, 20, 30+% over asking price for many sellers. Unprecedented and historic for the Austin metro area. The most common question I receive is “When will this bubble pop?”. While I don’t have a crystal ball, I do believe it has more time to continue its run, but at a gradually slowing appreciation rate in the coming months. If you are concerned it might turn against sellers soon, contact me so I can run a market analysis (no charge) to see what you can net from the sale of your home and capture your equity to protect it if, indeed, the market does crash.

Call/text me at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com

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2021 has started out to be an unusual one for our Forest North Estates neighborhood with 3 months in a row of no homes for sale and our 2nd month with only 1 home sale. However, our days on market is averaging about 80% lower than in 2020 and we had 4 pending sales. You may be asking how we had 4 pending sales when we haven't had homes to buy? Because they get offers so quickly they don't show up around the 4-6th of the month when I take stats. We are also averaging 28% appreciation thru April compared to last year!

Are you considering selling your home, but are concerned that you will have difficulty finding a replacement in the Austin area due to our low inventory? This is a common question we get when asking someone if they want to sell their home and capture the equity. I have several proven methods to handle the changeover for you to reduce any stress associated with the sale of your home & purchase of the next one. Contact me today so we can go over the best option for your situation. Phone/text: 512-853-0110 or via email: robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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Our Forest North Estates neighborhood had mixed results in March with no homes for sale (contact me for a free CMA to show you just how much you can net from the sale of your home); and we only had 1 pending sale which is 20% of our 2020 average. However, days on market were very low for pendings & sales; our Activity Ratio was 100% (the maximum possible); and our 3 home sellers received 17.5% OVER their asking price at an incredible $279.94/sf which was....39.4% MORE than 2020 sellers received!

If you are considering selling this year, contact us to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home. March, April & May are the most popular months to list a home for sale. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to receive yours today. See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home.

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February home sales numbers in our Forest North Estates neighborhood were low with only 3 total on the spreadsheet. We don't have any homes for sale which is indicative of the Austin metro right now; only 2 pending sales (vs. 4.9/mo avg in 2020); only 1 home sale but that seller got nearly 15% OVER their asking price at $269.15/sf which is an incredible 34.1% over 2020's avg sales price/sf!

As you’ve seen in my posts the past 6 months or so, our Austin metro real estate market is setting records with crazy appreciation numbers. So, if you are a homeowner and just want a general idea of your home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data directly from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to you. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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2021 is starting a little slow for our Forest North Estates neighborhood, but it won't last long based on how the last few months of 2020 finished. While our pendings and sales were a little low, our days on market; low inventory and our 2 sellers receiving 9.7% OVER their list price show the strength of the market. January was the 4th month in a row that sellers received over their asking price...by an average of 5.7%!

You may have heard that the past few months have been red-hot for sellers in the entire Austin metro area (5 counties and about 2.2M people)…multiple offers and 10-20% over asking price is more the norm now! So, if you have been putting off selling because you need to do some updates; don’t want to deal with the hassle of handling showings of your home; need more time to find a replacement home once yours sells; have been concerned the net amount you would take home at closing isn’t enough; etc…please contact me so I can show you we now have solutions for any/all of the above situations!

Call/text me at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com so I can understand your situation and provide you with solutions that will alleviate your concerns!

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December ended 2020 with a mixed bag of home sales results in our Forest North Estates neighborhood...on the downside, we didn't have any homes for sale (though that is a problem with a lot of Austin lately) and we only had 1 Pending sale (ie-under contract but not closed). On the plus side, we had a 100% Activity Ratio (the highest possible) and our 4 home sellers got an incredible 6.7% OVER asking price at $202.50/sf (10.3% over 2019 prices).

However, we finished 2020 quite well, in spite of Covid-19 shutting us down for about 2 months: Green categories in all of the important ones and no yellows...note we finished the year with sellers getting 1.5% OVER their asking price!

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Home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood dropped off significantly in November vs. October's 7 home sales...we didn't sell any homes. Also, our pending sales were off by over 40% to only 3 (vs. 5.3/mo YTD avg). We do only have 1 home for sale, however, which is good since we don't want to have too much inventory going into the traditionally slower winter months.

owned the home and used it as their principal residence during at least two of the last five years before the sale
didn’t acquire the home through a 1031 exchange during the past five years
didn’t exclude a gain on another home sold during the two years before the current sale

To learn more, see: Excluding Gain from the Sale of Your Home. It might make sense to cash-in on the large equity gain most Austin-area homeowners have seen since the bull market began in spring of 2011. Contact us today by phone/text at (512) 853-0110 or via email at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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October was another solid month for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with: only 1 home for sale going into our traditionally slower winter months; only .10 months of inventory (our lowest this year); and our 7 home sellers (tied for best month this year) got 2.5% OVER their asking price.

For those home sellers who just want a general idea of their home’s value, we recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let us know if you, or someone you know, wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home or even a traditional CMA (Comparative Market Analysis).

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September & August represented back-to-back strong months for our Forest North neighborhood with no yellow categories: only 1 home for sale; only .30 months of inventory (ie-the number of months it would take to sell all home currently for sale at the current sales pace); 7 pending sales; 88% Activity Ratio (after 89% in Aug...our 2nd/3rd best months of the year); and our 4 home sellers got 3.9% MORE than their asking price at 18.1%/sf more than 2019 sellers received and in only 5 days!

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August was one of the best months of 2020 in our Forest North Estate neighborhood: only 1 home for sale; days on market down in 2 categories; only .30 months of inventory & 89% Activity Ratio; 8 pending listings (2nd best month this year); and our 3 sellers got an incredible 13.4% MORE/sf than last years sellers!

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July was still a mixed-bag of results for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with 3 homes for sale (double our monthly avg) and only 3 pendings (vs. our 5.6/mo YTD avg). However, we did bounce back with 5 home sales (vs. our 3.14/mo YTD avg) and the sellers got 2% MORE than their asking price.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, we recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let us know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home.

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Some good and some not so good results for June home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood: We have NO homes for sale out of about 655 homes; we did have 7 pending sales which is over our YTD 6/mo avg; our 2 home sales were about 2/3 our YTD avg but they did get $206.93/sf which is 12.7% over 2019's average and sold in only 5 days.

Since June marks the halfway mark of the year, how did we fare given that COVID-19 began affecting us in Feb/Mar? As you can see below, we did incredibly well:

Do you have an appreciation gain in a piece of real estate that isn’t your primary residence (it must be held for investment purposes) that you would like to sell, but don’t want to pay the capital gains taxes? Did you know there is an easy way to avoid these taxes in this situation? 1031 Tax-Deferred Exchanges have been around since 1921 and allow you to do just that. These gains can be deferred again and again if you sell that property in the future.

I personally did this when I sold a piece of Austin commercial real estate property I co-owned in 2006 and was able to parlay most of my profit (I took some in cash, called “boot”) into two rent houses. I didn’t pay taxes on the sale of the commercial property, but simply deferred it into the future. Since I plan to use the rent houses as retirement supplement, I don’t plan to ever sell them so there would be no taxes due until my death when they would become part of my estate. 1031 Exchanges can be done with any “like-kind” property which is very broad and can include investment real estate, vacation houses, raw land, oil & gas, etc. I have a contact with someone who does these exchanges and their company has completed over 160,000 exchanges…call me and I’ll be happy to provide you with their contact information. No sense in paying Uncle Sam taxes if you don’t have to!

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May home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood was another "mixed bag" of results: On the downside, our days on market were up in 2 categories; but, on the positive: our inventory dropped back down; we got 5 home sales (our best month of 2020); and the sellers got offers in only 7 days at an average $211.31/sf (+15.1% over last year!).

COVID-19, in effect, pressed “pause” on our Austin metro for 6 weeks from the middle of Mar thru the end of April. Prior to that and since, our pending sales have been higher than 2019 numbers. So, COVID-19 really just pushed our typical spring selling season back 6 weeks. It is NOT too late to get your home listed and sold this year since we believe it will be an extended season. If you are interested to know your home’s value, click “What’s My Home Worth?”.

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April presented a big test for our Austin real estate market since it was the first full month of sales data that had the full effect of the COVID-19 virus. Surprisingly, April home sales data for our Forest North Estates neighborhood actually went UP some from March (which was only partially affected by COVID-19).

For instance, we had 4 green categories in April vs. 1 in March. We had an above average month of pendings; inventory rose slightly (less than 6.0 months is a seller's market); and our sellers got 5.1% OVER their asking price at 21.6% more/sf than 2019 sellers!

The bottom line: If you need to sell your home this year, do as we always have by getting it in good shape, staging it properly, price it well and use the best photography/virtual tours you can find so buyers have the option to tour your home virtually if that is their preference (Survey: Quarter of Consumers Accept Virtual Home Buying).

All of my listings for sale use Matterport technology which provides photos, digital virtual walk-thru tour, 2D and 3D floor plans, dollhouse view and more to make it easy for a home buyer to look at the home from the comfort of their home. “Buy your next home from the comfort of your home!”

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March reflected a slowdown for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood when compared to February's numbers. Our bright spot was 9 pending sales, however, which is our best month in that category since Apr/2015.

COVID-19 began to have an effect on our local economy when the order to Shelter in Place took effect in the Austin metro on March 24th (Texas and the U.S. government suggesting smaller groups before that) so it isn’t surprising that our March numbers weren’t affected dramatically. April results will be interesting to see, however.

I hope you and your family haven’t been directly affected by this virus, economically or health-wise. It is refreshing to hear our leaders begin to talk recently about ways to get us back to work and a more normal life, too.

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Except for only having 1 sale, February was a much better month for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with: only 1 home for sale (our of 655); lower days on market for 2 categories; 4 pendings sales (vs. 2.3/mo last year); 80% Activity ratio; and our home seller received 100% of their asking price at an incredible 21.8% more/sf than last years sellers recevied!

March, April and May are the 3 biggest months each year in Austin for sellers to list their homes for sale. Are you thinking of selling this year? Did you know that you can receive up to $250k for a single person ($500k for a couple) of gain from the sale of your house INCOME TAX FREE?! Here is the link to the IRS site with more information: Gain from Sale of Residence. Contact us at 512-853-0110 (phone/text) or info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to learn more.

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January produced an unusually slow start to the year for us in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with no home sales. On the plus side, however, we only have 1 home for sale (out of 655 in our neighborhood) so we don't have too many during this slower winter season. And, we have 4 pending home sales (vs. our typical 2.3/mo avg) and a very high 80% Activity Ratio.

If you are considering selling this year, contact us to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home. March, April & May are the most popular months to list a home for sale. Call/text us at 512-853-0110 or by email info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to receive yours today. See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home.

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Not the best way numbers to closeout the year in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with only 2 green categories (where were days on market). Our inventory jumped to 2.0 months (vs. our 1.7/mo YTD avg); we only had 1 pending sale (vs. our 2.7/mo YTD avg); our Activity ratio dropped to 33%; and our (only) 1 seller received $153.30/sf which was 3.1% LESS than last year's sellers and it took 39 days to get an offer.

For all of 2019, here are our averages:

We did very well for the entire year, as you can see...NO yellows! And, these green categories averaged anywhere between 16% to 57% BETTER than 2018's numbers!

If you are considering selling this year, please contact me to receive a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home. March, April & May are the most popular months to list a home for sale. Call us at 512-853-0110 (phone/text) or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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November was a mixed-bag of results for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood: our days on market were higher in 2 categories; we only had 1 pending sale (vs. our 2.9/mo YTD avg); and we only had 1 sale (vs. our 2.4/mo YTD avg) that received only 95.5% of their asking price (vs. our YTD avg of 100.5%). On the plus side, we only had 1 home for sale going into the slower winter months; only 1 month of inventory (vs. our 1.6/mo YTD avg) and our seller received $186.05/sf which is an incredible 17.6% more than last year's sellers received!

owned the home and used it as their principal residence during at least two of the last five years before the sale
didn’t acquire the home through a 1031 exchange during the past five years
didn’t exclude a gain on another home sold during the two years before the current sale

To learn more, see: Excluding Gain from the Sale of Your Home. It might make sense to cash-in on the large equity gain most Austin-area homeowners have seen since the bull market began in spring of 2011. Contact us today by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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October was a little better than September in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with higher sales; lower inventory; and, our 3 home sellers received 1.4% OVER their asking price at an incredible 20.9% more/sf than last year sellers received! Our big negative was no pending sales (future indicator of a market) and we had a few too many homes for sale that were staying on the market longer.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, we recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let us know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home.

We also have a similar program we can set up for you (or a friend/relative) even if you own property in another state. It’s called ePropertyWatch. Let us know if you would like that, too.

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Lots of yellows in September for home sales in our Forest North Estate neighborhood. This isn't all that unusual, though, since sales tend to slow down in the fall/winter. Of biggest concern is the inventory jumping to 3.0 months (the number of months it would take to sell all homes currently for sale at the current pace)...up from our 1.8 months we've averaged YTD.

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March? A common myth is that you should only sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly and priced right sell year-long in our area. Call/text the Thomas & Kauffman Team at 512-730-1252 or email us at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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August was a bit of a slowdown for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with: Too many homes for sale at 4 which have been on the market for 47 days (vs. our 28/mo YTD avg); only 2 pending home sales (vs. out 3.3/mo YTD avg) and our Activity Ratio dropped to 33% vs. our 59% YTD average.

Offering ammunition to agents who argue that iBuyers are often deceptively expensive, a new study by real estate data analyst Collateral Analytics has determined that the typical cost of using an iBuyer ranges between 13 and 15 percent. Entitled “iBuyers: A new choice for home sellers but at what cost?” the study conflicts with claims made by some iBuyers on just how expensive such services wind up costing homeowners. Opendoor, for example, represents its service as more affordable than a real estate agent. But if the new research is correct, using an iBuyer would generally cost consumers two to three times more money than if they simply used a traditional agent. This is right in line with the numbers we reported in this blog a few weeks ago with one of our own sales: “Quick-offer” company loses home sale. Contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team so we can discuss your particular situation if you are thinking of selling.

Full Article here: iBuyers cost sellers up to 15% of a home’s value, study finds

Contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team today if you would like to buy or sell a home in the Austin metro area – (512) 730-1252 or info@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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July produced similar numbers to June in our Forest North Estates neighborhood: 7 pendings was double our YTD avg; our home sellers received nearly 1% over their asking price in only 5 days at a whopping 15.7% MORE than last year's sellers received! We have a few too many homes on the market and they are sitting longer are our only 2 negative areas.

We also have a similar program we can setup for you (or a friend/relative) even if you own property in another state. It’s called ePropertyWatch. Let us know if you would like that, too.

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Overall, a good month for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood: 5 Pending home sales is nearly double our YTD avg; our days on market have dropped very low in 2 categories; and our 2 home sellers received nearly their full asking price (99.5%) at an incredible 12.5% MORE than 2018 sellers received. Our only negatives are too many homes for sale and a high days on market for them.

Looking at the 1st 6 months of 2019: Days on market for all 3 categories are down 38-71%; our Activity Ratio is up by nearly 50%; and our appreciation rate is up 16.3% over 2018.

184 Things Real estate Agents Do To Earn Their Commission Surveys show that many homeowners and homebuyers are not aware of the true value a REALTOR® provides during the course of a real estate transaction. At the same time, regrettably, REALTORS® have generally assumed that the expertise, professional knowledge and just plain hard work that go into bringing about a successful transaction were understood and appreciated. Listed here are nearly 200 typical actions, research steps, procedures, processes and review stages in a successful residential real estate transaction that are normally provided by full service real estate brokerages in return for their sales commission.

Contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team if there are any real estate questions or needs you have: by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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May was an improved month for our Forest North Estate neighborhood with only 1 yellow category: Our inventory remains low at only 1.5 months; our pending sales went up; our days on market were very low in 2 categories; and our 2 home sellers got 3.8% OVER asking price in only 4 days at a whopping 25.2% more than last year's sellers received!

It’s not too late to get your home on the market to catch our spring/summer peak selling season! See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. Contact us today by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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The 1st complete (ie-had activity with for sale, pending and sold) month in 2019 for our Forest North Estate community produced a mixed bag of results. On the plus side: our days on market were very low for 2 of the 3 categories, and our 1 home seller got an incredible 10.1% more $$/sf than 2018 seller and closed at 1.6% OVER their asking price. The down side is low activity for sales, too many homes for sale and a higher than normal inventory.

owned the home and used it as their principal residence during at least two of the last five years before the sale
didn’t acquire the home through a 1031 exchange during the past five years
didn’t exclude a gain on another home sold during the two years before the current sale

To learn more, see: Excluding Gain from the Sale of Your Home. It might make sense to cash-in on the large equity gain most Austin-area homeowners have seen since the bull market began in spring of 2011. Contact us today by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com if you would like a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home to see how much you would net from the sale.

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Interesting start to 2019 for our Forest North Estate neighborhood: After no homes for sale in Jan/Feb, we now have only 1 (out of 655 homes in our community);we had no pending sales (contract, but not closed), and only 1 sale (after 4 in Feb). However, our inventory remains low at only 1.0 months (the number of months it would take to sell all homes for sale at the current sales pace) and they got 1.5% OVER their asking price in no days on the market at a whopping 34.4% more/sf than 2018 sellers received!

With the upcoming Apple campus expansion in NW Austin, there is concern about adequate housing for not only the incoming employees, but also the increase in ancillary services needed like: restaurants, stores, dry cleaning, etc. in the NW area. If you’ve been curious about how much your home would sell for (not just using the county appraisal, Zestimate, etc which are all created using mathematical algorithms), let us at the Thomas & Kauffman Team create a market analysis that is based on actual recent sales of homes like yours. There is no cost or obligation. Contact us by phone/text at (512) 730-1252 or via email at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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Nice way to start 2019 with all green categories and no yellows in our Forest North Estates neighborhood! Of course we need inventory to sell, but having none in the slowest month of the year isn't so bad. And, our 3 pendings were above our yearly average; our Activity ratio was at the maximum 100%; and our 2 home sellers got 13.7% more than 2018 sellers received in only 4 days!

Are you curious about the value of your home? For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, we recommend the “ Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here:Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let us know if you–or someone you know–wants us to create a Market Snapshot for their home.

If you are considering selling this year, contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home. March, April & May are the most popular months to list a home for sale. Call us at 512-730-1252 (phone/text) or by email info@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

#ForestNorthHomeSales #AustinHomeSales #Thomas&KauffmanTeam

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It was disappointing that our Forest North Estates neighborhood didn't have any sales to end 2018, but we did have 2 green categories with only 2 homes for sale (going into the slowest sales month of the year) and a 50% Activity ratio.

For all of 2018:

Not a good year for us with only yellow categories. The most concerning are the inventory jumping from 1.4 months in 2017 to 2.6 months last year. While less than 6 months is still considered a seller's market, the trend is going the wrong way for sellers. And, our home pricing was flat for the year.

It will be interesting to see the effects of the upcoming Apple campus expansion on all NW Austin neighborhoods in the coming years…I’m betting prices rise above the Austin metro area averages.

If you are considering selling this year, contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team to receive a free, no obligation market analysis (CMA) for your home. April, May & June are the most popular months to list a home for sale. Call us at 512-730-1252 (phone/text) or by email info@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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Yellows dominate November's stats for our Forest North Estates neighborhood: Only 1 pending sale (vs. 2.5/mo YTD avg); our 2 sellers got only 94.7% of their asking price and sold for $134.98/sf (15% LESS than last year's avg.); and our days on market continue to be high. Our inventory remains low, however, at only 2.0 months (less than 6 is a seller's market).

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March? A common myth is that you should only sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly and priced right sell year-long in our area. Call/text the Thomas & Kauffman Team at 512-730-1252 or email us at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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October brought our Forest North Estates neighborhood some more greens with only 1.7 months of inventory (the number of months to sell all homes for sale at the current pace); 3 homes sold (50% over our YTD avg) and they received a whopping 18.9% more/sf than 2017 sellers received! Our days on market, lower pending sales, and lower activity ratio were our low spots.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, I recommend the “Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home

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September was a slow month for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with: 5 homes for sale (vs. our 3.7/mo YTD avg); our inventory jumped to 5.0 months; we only sold 1 home; and our days on market for 2 categories went up. Our lone seller did get 11.8% more/sf than 2017 sellers received and got an offer in only 5 days.

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March? A common myth is that you should sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly and priced right sell year-long in our area. Call/text the Thomas & Kauffman Team 512-730-1252 or email us at info@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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July was quite the improvement in our Forest North neighborhood with several more green categories than June had: Only 1.3 months of inventory (-52%); 4 pending sales (+48%); 3 sold homes (+61%); and average selling price of $167.35/sf (+$5.5%). A couple of our days on market ran long and we had about 1 home too many for sale were the only negatives.

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June was a better month for us in Forest North Estates with the addition of 2 green categories and one of them being out 2 sales (no sales in May). With half of the year behind us, here is how we look for some categories when compared to 2017: Positives - out days on market with all 3 categories is lower by 21-29%. However, we still have many more yellows (ie-negative trend) like: Actives up 25%; inventory up 102%; Activity Ratio down 16%; sold pace down 13%; and our avg price/sf is up by only .70%.

If you want/need to sell your Forest North home this year, make sure you have it in great shape, staged/cleaned, and priced aggressively.

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Another poor month for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood...this time with NO green categories (ie-no positive trends): 5 homes for sale vs. our YTD 2.6/mo avg; they've been on the market for 33 days vs. our YTD avg of 24; our Activity ratio dropped to 29% vs. our YTD 48% avg; and we had NO homes sale in May. Let's hope things bounce back in June.

It’s not too late to get your home on the market to catch our spring/summer peak selling season! See just some of the steps we take to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. Contact me today so I can create a free, no-obligation market analysis of your home (called a CMA) to see how much you would net from the sale of your home.

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Home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood haven't gone real well so far this year which can be seen in our increased yellow categories. We have too many homes for sale and too few pendings and sales; our inventory jumped to 5.0 months (more than 6 is considered a buyer's market); and our Activity ratio plummeted to only 17%. Our only real positive is that our home seller got 3.7% more than their asking price in only 2 days at 6% more than 2017 sellers received.

Are you considering selling your home, but are concerned that you will have difficulty finding a replacement in the Austin area due to our low inventory? This is a common question we get when asking someone if they want to sell their home and capture the equity. Our team has 4 different proven methods to handle the changeover for you to reduce any stress associated with the sale of your home & purchase of the next one. Contact us today so we can go over the best option for your situation. Phone: 512-730-1252 or via email: info@AustinTxHomeSales.com.

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Overall, it was an improved month for us in Forest North Estates: Our inventory dropped to only 1.0 months (less than 6 is a seller's market); we sold 3 homes (vs. last year's 1.92/mo avg); and our days on market dropped. Our negatives were: 3 homes for sale (vs. 2.4/mo in 2017); only 1 Pending home sale; and our Activity Ratio dropped to 25% (vs. our YTD 75% avg).

Would you like to know your home’s approximate value, recent sales in your neighborhood, and your estimated net equity…both today and on a regular basis in the future? With ePropertyWatchTM, that information (and much more) comes directly to you. This program is from CoreLogic who provides property AVMs (Automated Valuation Model) for 90% of the home mortgage lenders in the United States…they are the trusted source for accurate home valuations. ePropertyWatchTM has information on over 100 million homes in the United States and each subscriber can have up to 3 properties on their report list. So, whether you own a home in the Austin metro area, or anywhere in the U.S. you can use this service to keep tabs on your property value and net equity.

Best of all, it is a FREE service for you to use! Click here to learn more about this program and to sign up for your free report: ePropertyWatch, or, click here to go directly to the sign-up page:ePropertyWatch-sign up form. Feel free to forward this link to any friends, family, or coworkers you know…remember, any homeowner in the U.S. can utilize this service! You have my assurance that I will NOT use any email address to send someone spam email!

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This is the 2nd month in a row for no homes currently for sale in our Forest North Estates neighborhood....they are getting contracts quickly. Our days on market for pending sales was only 20 and our one home seller got an offer in only 1 day. However, the seller only got 86.4% of their asking price and received $151.76/sf which is 4.3% LESS than 2017 sellers received.

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We are off to a good start in 2018 with 5 pending sales, a 100% Activity ratio, and our 2 home sellers got 1% OVER their asking price. And, our days on market were all in line with what we saw in 2017.

Best of all, it is a FREE service for you to use! Click here to learn more about this program and to sign up for your free report:ePropertyWatch, or, click here to go directly to the sign-up page:ePropertyWatch-sign up form. Feel free to forward this link to any friends, family, or coworkers you know…remember, any homeowner in the U.S. can utilize this service! You have my assurance that I will NOT use any email address to send someone spam email!

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December home sales were fairly good like November in our Forest North neighborhood with: only 1 home for sale (out of 655 homes); 1.0 month of inventory (40% less than our YTD avg); our Activity ratio jumped to 80% (tied with our highest this year); and our 1 home seller got 100% of their asking price at $190/sf. Our only real negatives were 1 home sale and the days on the market.

How did we finish 2017? Below are our averages for each category last year:

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Home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood made a surprising turnaround in November with 7 green categories--one of our best months of 2017. Our listings were down; pendings up (+48% over our YTD avg); Activity ratio was up; days on market down for 2 categories; our home seller got 2.5% MORE than their asking price and sold in only 4 days with 6% more/sf than last year's sellers got.

Would you like to know your home’s approximate value, recent sales in your neighborhood, and your estimated net equity…both today and on a regular basis in the future? With ePropertyWatch^TM, that information (and much more) comes directly to you. This program is from CoreLogic who provides property AVMs (Automated Valuation Model) for 90% of the home mortgage lenders in the United States…they are the trusted source for accurate home valuations. ePropertyWatch^TMhas information on over 100 million homes in the United States and each subscriber can have up to 3 properties on their report list. So, whether you own a home in the Austin metro area, or anywhere in the U.S. you can use this service to keep tabs on your property value and net equity.

Best of all, it is a FREE service for you to use! Click here to learn more about this program and to sign up for your free report: ePropertyWatch, or, click here to go directly to the sign-up page: ePropertyWatch-sign up form. Feel free to forward this link to any friends, family, or coworkers you know…remember, any homeowner in the U.S. can utilize this service! You have my assurance that I will NOT use any email address to send someone spam email!

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Another slow month for our Forest North Estates neighborhood: Our inventory went up to 2.0 months (vs. our YTD 1.4 avg); we only had 2 pending sales that were on the market for 51 days; we only had 1 home sold at 97.3% of their asking price at only $154.21/sf (1.5% over 2016 sellers) and it took 40 days to get an offer for it. The number of homes for sale and the days on the market for them were our bright spots.

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March? A common myth is that you should sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly and priced right sell year-long in our area. Call/text me at 512-853-0110 or email me at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale.

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August saw a slight improvement in home sale activity in our Forest North Estates neighborhood: We only had 2 homes for sale (out of 655 available); our inventory dropped back to .70 months; and we had 3 home sales. The number of days on market, fewer pending sales and lower sales prices (the 3 homes sold for 1.8% LESS than 2016 sellers got) were our downsides.

Are you considering selling your home next year? I recommend starting your research now into what is needed to get your home ready for the market next spring (when our market activity increases and continues through the summer). Getting your home in tip-top shape will be especially important if the shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market continues next year. Here is a good website that has a broad range of information for home sellers you might find useful: Tips on Selling Your Home. And, here are links to vendor websites to find contractors: Angie’s List Pro Referral Home Advisor

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July was not a good month for our Forest North Estates home sellers with: Too many homes for sale (4 vs. our 2.7 YTD avg); days on market much higher; inventory increasing for our 4th month in a row to 4.0 months (the number of months it would take to sell all homes currently on the market at the current sales rate); our Activity Ratio below our YTD avg of 53%; and we only sold 1 home for only .6% more per square foot than last year's sellers got.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, I recommend the “ Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home.
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Home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood really cooled off in June as shown by the increase in yellow categories (ie-negative trending). Homes for sale were high and both pending & sold homes were lower than our YTD averages; our inventory shot up to 3.0 months (vs. 1.1 YTD avg); our Activity Ratio has declined each of the past 3 months; and our days on market (ADOM) for home sellers continues to be high the past 3 months.

You will notice that I’ve added a new category to replace the “Hotness Ratio”….the “Activity Ratio”. The AR is similar to the HR in that it is a future indicator of the direction our market is heading by comparing how many homes went under contract (ie-Pending) compared to the number of homes for sale. The HR compared Pendings to For Sale, while the ARA compares Pendings to (For Sale + Pendings). A slight difference, but the AR has a maximum cap of 100% while the HR had a max cap of 1,000%. I feel that most people understand the 0 -100 range better since more metrics we see frequently (like grades in school, etc) are based on the 0-100 range. There is no hard and fast rule about what makes a good AR number, but, generally, 25%+ represents a strong market. For instance, if 2 homes are Pending and there are 6 homes for sale, the AR is 25% [2 / (6+2) = 25%]. An AR of 50% would represent a very hot market since the For Sale and Pendings would be the same [ie-6 / (6+6) = 50%].

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Things cooled off slightly in May in our Forest North Estates neighborhood, but only with the # days on the market for our 2 homes and our 4 sellers getting only 95% of their asking price at $144.99/sf (4.5% lower than our 2016 price/sf). However, the good news is that our days on market were better for the other 2 categories; our inventory remains very low at only .50 months; and we got 4 pending sales and 4 home sales (our best month this year).
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Home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood had a great month in April with: only 1 home for sale (out of 655 in our neighborhood); only .50 months of inventory; an incredible 400% Hotness ratio; lower days on market; and our 2 home sellers got 99% of their asking price in only 10 days (25% of our YTD avg) and for 24.7% more/sf than home sellers got in 2016!
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March saw overall improvement in our Forest North Estates home sales: Our days on market fell in all 3 categories; our inventory of homes remains low at only 1.5 months (less than 6 is a Seller's Market); and our 2 home sellers got an average of $169.83/sf (+11.8% from 2016)!

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, I recommend the “ Market Snapshot” program. This free service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for similar homes in your neighborhood on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Create one yourself for your home here: Market Snapshot. It takes about 30 minutes to receive your report. Or, let me know if you–or someone you know–wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home.
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February home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood were somewhat better than January with: Only 2 homes for sale (our of 655); low inventory of 1.0 month (less than 6 is a seller's market); and our sellers got 99.1% of their asking price. We only had 1 Pending, however, our Hotness ratio dropped to 50% (vs. 144% avg in 2016); and our 2 home sellers got 6.7% LESS than those in 2016 and took 109 days to get an offer.

If you are considering selling this year, contact me to receive a free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) of your home. April, May and June are the 3 best months of each year to put a home on the market to sell.
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With the exception of no home sales, December single family numbers for our Forest North Estates neighborhood were pretty good: We only have 1 home for sale (60% less than last year's average); 3 Pending sales; and a Hotness ratio of 300% (more than double 2016's number). Let's see if our sales activity picks up this spring and returns to the levels we saw before the slowdown at the end of last year (which most of Austin saw).

Contact me today to set up your free, no-obligation Market Snapshot. This will provide you with timely reports about home sales activity in your neighborhood...with data straight from our Austin MLS.
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We didn't have a great month in December in our Forest North Estate neighborhood: We had no pending sales (future indicator of market activity); and, our 3 homes have been on the market for 76 days (vs. our 45 day average for 2016). Our 2 home sellers, however, did get 100% of their asking price for 11.3% more/sf than our 2015 sellers got.

How did Forest North fare for all of last year? Quite well as you can see from the stats below.

We kept our monthly homes for sale down; which cut our inventory number in half from 2015's number (2.3); our Hotness ratio was up; and our home prices were up slightly from 2015.
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Home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood were mixed in November with some positive and negative items. On the plus side, our inventory remains low at only .70 months heading into the traditionally slower winter season; our Pending sale got an offer in only 3 days; and we sold 3 homes which is over our YTD average. not so good: We only had 1 Pending sale (ie-has contract but not closed) and our 3 home sellers got $137.50/sf which is nearly 7% below our YTD average and also below our 2015 average.

Did you know that–according to the National Association of Realtors–92% of home buyers start their search online; 76% drove by the home to look at it; and 44% bought the home they found? Obviously, having your home well represented requires not only having it in the Austin MLS, but also in the hundreds of home websites that are available to home buyers. Keller Williams has a proprietary listing system the sends our client’s homes to over 900 of the most popular websites to give the home the best chance of getting an offer quickly. Here is a link to my home marketing plan so you can see just what I will do to get it sold if you hire me: Marketing Plan to Sell Your Home. This is a good time of year to make decisions if you are thinking of selling next spring when our market begins to heat up each year.
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October was a somewhat improved month for home sales in our Forest North Estates neighborhood with several more green categories: Having only 1 listing going into the slower fall/winter season is a plus; this dropped our inventory (the # of months it would take to sell all homes at the current sales pace) to only .50 (one of our lowest this year); it shot our Hotness ratio to 300% (tied for our highest); and our 2 home sellers got offers in only 13 days. Our only negative are the days on market (ADOM) being high.

For those home sellers who aren’t sure about selling this year, or just want a general idea of their home’s value, I recommend my Market Snapshot program. This FREE service pulls data from our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) on a regular basis (every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 weeks) and emails it to the homeowner. Here is a link to a sample report so you can see what information is provided: Market Snapshot – Sample report. Let me know if you--or someone you know--wants me to create a Market Snapshot for their home. I frequently hear that home sellers and buyers simply utilize a feature on the Zillow website called a Zestimate to determine a home’s value. This is not recommended in Texas because Texas is one of the few “non-disclosure” states, meaning that home sales are not reported to the local appraisal district like they are in other states. While other states get fresh data to feed their county appraisals, in Texas, Zillow is relegated to using mathematical algorithms to “guesstimate” a home's value which is why they are seldom accurate, either. So, in other states, Zestimates are much more accurate than here in Texas. The CMA program I use has a page included which pulls in Zestimates for the property and it is not unusual to see Zestimate values off by 10-15%...worthless to use for any serious market valuation.
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The number of homes for sale, pendings and sold listings were close to our average YTD numbers in Forest North Estates last month. However, we experienced some cooling of the market in our Hotness ratio (about 2/3 our YTD avg); days on market higher than normal; and our 3 home sellers had to drop their price an average of 3.1% from their list price before getting an offer.

Did you know that 42% of homes sold in the Austin metro area sell during the 50% of the year from October to March? A common myth is that you have to sell your home during the spring/summer months, but the above statistic proves that wrong. Homes that are in great condition, staged properly, and priced right sell year-long in our area. Call/text me at 512-853-0110 or email me at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to get your free, no-obligation market analysis (CMA) to see how much you can net from your home sale.
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The home sales pricing was very good in our Forest North Estates neighborhood last month with our 2 home sellers getting offers in only 11 days and selling for 8.1% more than our sellers got in 2015 ($159.63/sf vs. $147.66. However, our other categories didn’t fare well: Our 6 homes for sale is over twice our YTD avg; causing our inventory to rise to 3.0 months (+130% our YTD avg and our highest this year); Our Hotness ratio plunged to only 33% (lowest this year); we only have 2 Pendings (67% of our YTD avg) and they took 57 days to get offers.

Have you decided not to sell this year, but you might want to next year? I recommend starting your research into what is needed to get your home ready for the market next spring (when our market activity increases and continues through the summer). Here is a good website that has a broad range of information for home sellers you might find useful: Selling Your Home.

Also, future home sellers will want to see what homes are selling for in both their neighborhood and any neighborhoods where they might purchase their replacement home. For home sales statistics (straight from the source of all data…the Austin MLS), I recommend Market Snapshot, a free, no-obligation service I offer. Here is a more information: Market Snapshot. To find information about homes for sale anywhere in the Austin metro area, I recommend downloading this Keller Williams application to your cell phone which allows you to find home listing details while driving around, or by doing a manual map search: KW Home Search App. This, too, is a free application. Call or text me at 512-853-0110 or by email robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com to receive either or both of these great applications.
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One of the best months we’ve had so far in our Forest North Estates neighborhood: only 2 homes for sale which gives only .70 months of inventory; a Hotness ratio of 200%; 3 homes sold in 20 days (about 1/2 our YTD avg) for nearly their asking price and got $158.84/sf which is an incredible 24.4% over last year’s prices! And, our days on market (ADOM) for both pendings and sales were low.

It is NOT too late to sell your home this year! In spite of our traditional strong spring/summer selling season, we still typically sell over 50% of our homes during the last 6 months of the year. I can provide you with a CMA (comparative market analysis) to show you how much your home is worth…just call/text me at 512-853-0110, or email me at robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com. If needed, I can also help you get your home ready for the market, including staging your home.

--- Forest North Estates sales stats

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