Why would anyone try to sell a home in this kind of market?  This is a question I hear quite a bit.  And the buyers I take out to see homes often try to guess at the seller’s motivation.  Then they ask me. 

There are so many reasons, but the underlying cause tends to be life changes.  Even in recessions, people get married, have children, find new jobs, graduate high school and college and grow old.  These life changes often create a need for a new home.  And, while it’s not an ideal time to sell a house, it is a great time to buy.  You can get good deals on nice homes, and interest rates are at an all time low. 


My most recent clients are moving to Austin from Birmingham.  They are a young couple buying their first house, and they are buying it for $10K less than I thought possible after reviewing comparable sales.  Most buyers today are going to make offers that are well below list price, just to see how motivated a seller is.  In another recent situation, the sellers didn’t owe any money on the home they were selling, and so they were not as motivated and didn’t come down off their price as much as my buyers would have liked.  But, the home has enough positive and hard to find features that my clients were willing to meet the sellers in the middle. 

Two of my clients who are selling their homes have already purchased their next homes, putting them in the “highly motivated” category!  Builders are also in the highly motivated category.  The national builders are trying to keep up the momentum in Austin where sales are much better than in some of their other markets.  If they slow down construction too much, they will lose their construction crews and later will have to do more training.  So, while they have certainly cut back on building, there’s still plenty of new construction going on.  I’ve been watching as a new plot of land off of Frate Barker is being prepared for yet another new subdivision or phase.  And over in Meridian, the building keeps going strong, too.

So, while the economy is certainly top of mind these days, people are continuing on about their daily lives, and are buying and selling homes.

Vikki Goodwin
REALTOR®, GRI, SRS
EcoBroker®
Homes ATX
512-426-9090 cell
www.vikkigoodwin.com