Tips for selling in Austin's buyer's market
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A residential neighborhood in Austin in May 2022. Photo: Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Austin home-market has indubitably cooled off, with inventory up and asking prices routinely slashed, leaving some homeowners suddenly anxious about their selling prospects.
Why it matters: The last couple years, buyers have been the ones fretting — now it's the seller's turn.
By the numbers: The average number of days a home was on the market in the five-county metro area jumped from 13 days in August 2021 to 25 days last month.
In her latest Rockwell Report real estate newsletter, realtor Lilly Rockwell breaks down the local market.
Her stepback advice: "Don't sell or buy based on what's going on in the housing market and buy/sell when it makes sense for you."
- "But let's say, for whatever reason, it DOES make sense for you to sell your home right now," she writes. "Maybe you are expanding your family and need more space. Maybe you got a job offer in another state. Maybe you are getting a divorce. Whatever your reason, it's very possible to sell your home in a buyer's market."
Her five things to know about selling in a slow market:
- "Do you need to sell? Maybe it makes sense to rent."
- "Condition really, really matters. When inventory is up, buyers have more choices. And that means they can be picky. Really picky. So investing in upgrades that deliver the best return on investment is important. Some of the common ones I recommend are new paint and flooring."
- "Be realistic about how long it takes to sell. Now that we're in a slower market it's going to be more common for homes to take a month or two to sell, sometimes after one or two price drops."
- "Pricing your home at, or even below, where the market is the moment you list your house is so important. Not where the market was last March — where it's at TODAY. It's the difference between selling in a few weeks and selling in a few months."
- "Have a bottom line price and Plan B. When selling in a challenging market, you need to have a "bottom line" price in mind. This is the number you need to hit in order for selling to make sense for you."
What they're saying: "I find myself playing the therapist now more than ever to panicked sellers who have emotionally spiraled into a dark place thinking they have missed the boat forever and it will be impossible to sell," Rockwell writes.