I have been doing business in Austin for (can it be?) over 35 years and I think (I hope) I have learned some lessons. In the 80s I saw houses in Travis Heights sell for the ‘fantastic’ price of $90,000, which are worth today well over $600,000. I declined buying a house in Tarrytown for $135,000 which is worth well over $750,000 now. Instead I built a house in Shady Hollow in far South Austin (think Circle C – which was still a working ranch at that time) for $115,000. That house is now worth over $600,000. Even houses that sold in Mueller for $250,000 barely ten or twelve years ago are currently selling for over $500,000. That 10% or 20% down (or 0%!!) has earned over $250,000! What a great investment!! (If you know of a better one, please contact me!)I hope I learned my lesson.
What is that lesson? Housing prices in Austin never go down. NEVER. Even in the depths of our record recession (depression?) prices only went sideways in some areas or increased more slowly in the case of Central Austin and Mueller. We had record price increases during years of the recovery and even if they have slowed a bit now – thankfully – they are still going up. They are NOT going down, nor can we expect them to.
So, if you are waiting for prices to pull back before jumping in, you are waiting in vain – and missing out on the one of the hottest markets in the country. Add to that companies are continuing to relocate or build larger facilities in Austin, especially lucrative hi-tech like Apple, bringing in more and more people, which in turn will drive the market higher. Just look around, they are building more and more apartments everywhere, The Domain continues to expand, and the Austin ‘area’ has surpassed the 2 million mark in population. Austin is a great place to live – and a great market. Don’t wait to get your piece of the pie! Call us now.