Funmi Nwokolo -Realtor® FunmiAndTheCity.com

They are not, it's all really relative to your market.

That's the problem with a lot of the national news coverage you hear, they report Real Estate/home value news, that's based on a broad view, and tend to generally paint every area with the same paintbrush.

This is absolutely not true, and any Realtor, who knows their stuff will tell you Property value is based on the individual market.

lol..now, that I'm off my Soapbox :P I'll get to the good stuff. :)

The Austin-Area market is doing Great!!, and we're currently celebrating our 2nd highest year in Austin Real Estate History, which means that homes sales, and our average median home price is up!

• Austin Homes sales are up 4%
• Median sales Price is up 7%
• Austin-area homes are staying on the market for about 4 months
  

this is compared to a national view that home sales are down about 13%, with median home prices down 6%.

So if you're in ATX (Austin) Now is a great time to buy, the interest rates went way down last month, I'm talking in the 5.something% range , and are kinda beginning to stabilize now, but, I expect that they'll still be decent for a while. I got a quote last week for 6.25 on conventional, and 6.125 on FHA, which is still pretty darn good, i think.

So if you want to search for homes in the Greater-Austin area, e.g, Austin, Pflugerville, Round rock, Leander, Cedar Park, Hutto, Elgin etc areas click here and begin your search I'll bet that you can find something in your price range, that you like.

Hey guys,

I know I haven't blogged as often, but I've been busy busy, here are some recent stats for home sales in Williamson county, which includes Round Rock, Hutto, Leander, Georgetown, Cedar park etc.... as reported by Williamson County Board of Realtors. This is important info for anyone looking to invest in Williamson county, or even move here.

Williamson County Weekly Statistics –

The market is beginning to creep back up again.

Yup!, you guessed it...Round rock TX is in the # 1 spot!!.

Here's an excerpt from the article from Yahoo news & Entrepreneur.com

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/104278/Best-and-Worst-Places-to-Buy-a-House

" ............................

The Top Places to Buy

Whether you're an investor like me or you're looking to purchase that next move up, here are my picks for the best areas to buy a home:

• Killeen, Round Rock, Austin, Texas: Killeen has the lowest average home price in any market in the nation while still maintaining quality. Round Rock and Austin have seen incredible job growth and very stable home prices despite the downturn nationwide. Jobs continue to grow here -- a factor for keeping inventory low and prices stable.
• Mission Viejo, California: Mission Viejo has the lowest crime statistics in the nation. With no murders in 2007 and a low rate of violent crime, this is a good place to raise a family. Prices are relatively stable, and the job market in the nearby cities of Irvine and San Diego means there is consistent demand from job seekers.
• Palm Beach, Florida: I'm taking a risk here because this area has been pummeled by foreclosures in 2007. But there are also a lot of boomers retiring, and Palm Beach is looking mighty attractive. If you don't like this high of a risk (which translates to great prices), check out Tampa or Clearwater in the same state.
• Las Vegas, Nevada: Yes, Las Vegas has been hit hard by incoming investors, who watched their home values disappear and then left those homes empty. Las Vegas comes in quite high on the national foreclosure list, almost always within the top three metro areas. But there's an upside -- a very strong job market. In 2007, Las Vegas experienced a 12 percent increase in population, partly driven by retirees looking for Sunbelt states to move to. Coupled with low prices, we could see inventories reduced here, which would also stabilize prices. Be careful what you buy, but I like it.................."
  

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Honesty, it's hard for people to believe me when i travel out of town and tell then that Real Estate is relatively stable here in the Austin-area, and this problem of misconception is somewhat prevalent even here in Austin, cause hey, lets face it, everyone watches 20-20, but the thing that most people don't realize that even though, the nation is feeling the crunch, from all the mortgage industry issues, there are still some great areas to live/invest into..and that the state of property ownership, and value really is defendant on where you are, and what's going on around you.

Boy am I glad I live in Round rock, TX, and I'll bet you'll be happy about it too, when you move here ;)