On Wednesday, July 20, Shonda Novak wrote a piece for the Austin American-Statesman some of you might have seen, "Central Texas Existing Home Sales up 9 Percent in June; Median Price Still at $205,000." I think I've made it clear I'm a big proponent of education for real estate investors, which includes scanning the relevant news. (Seriously, if you haven't looked into a news reader for your smartphone, take the time to do it.)

While the headline on this piece pretty much says it all, there are some things from the text that are worth pointing out. We are bucking the national trend here in Central Texas and Austin specifically. Now, that's not to say the market is completely out of danger, but Austin is a big draw city -- for retirees, as we pointed out last time -- for tech workers -- for music people -- for entrepreneurs -- for developers like the folks putting in the F1 track.

According to the Austin Board of Realtors, buyers purchased 2,145 homes in June over the 1,962 they bought in the same period in 2010. Now, 183 more homes is not enough to run the flag up the pole and declare a return of consumer confidence, but at least here, the flag is going up the pole, not getting lowered to half mast in sheer financial terror.

Properties in Austin are holding their value -- excellent news for us as investors, and pending sales are up in the city for the second month in a row. With 2,114 homes about to close, that's a jump of 31 percent from last year, which is cause for celebration.

Homes are staying on the market longer -- 75 days on average -- or about 7 percent more than last year. This actually is good for us as investors in the short term because the longer a property stays on the market, the more likely the sellers are to negotiate. More than ever, you want to keep an eye on what's out there, and cherry pick the listings that are both in high demand areas, and that have been listed for a while. That's going to create some negotiation space.

Now, interestingly enough, deep down in the article, there's another number I want to pull out before suggesting you go read the entire piece for yourself. -- The National Association of Realtors reported just last week that first-time buyers are down to just 31 percent of sales. First-timers usually run about 50 percent.

And those, my friends, are your renter base. People are staying in rental situations longer, even if they are at that point in life where they could buy a home if they chose to. That's a solid pool of good tenants who could translate into purchasers in the future if you decide to head that route with your property.

It's well worth your while to take a few minutes to read the article, and remember that understanding what's going on with your local real estate market is one of the most important things you can do to be a successful investor.

Posted by Monte Davis on
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