Comments on: Central Texas Home Sales Beat National Numbers, But Not Doing Well

By: twist

twist — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:12:23 +0000

tc-

I have to agree, the taxes make it much harder to squeeze buyers with prices. The other issue is that Texas wasn’t so much exempt as late to the party. Investors were migratory, and Texas was late to the party.

By: tc

tc — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:02:13 +0000

I’d say the biggest reason Texas is not as out of line as the rest of the country is r/e property taxes, which for me are 1/3 of my mortgage payment. Your mortgage payment (with taxes included) will buy a lot less house in Texas. So that $180K house looks a lot less affordable when you look at the taxes. And you can’t negatively amortize the taxes like you can with interest in some places.

I would give very little credit to Texas for wisdom gained from previous housing busts. It’s all about a regressive tax system that quite accidentally keeps booms in check (most Texans would have been thrilled with an out of control boom).

By: WizeOne

WizeOne — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:36:40 +0000

Texas has a big advantage over other states which is helping to attract buyers. One can buy a much bigger home with a larger amount of property for the same price or less, than in many other states. Many people will always be drawn to a bargain.

By: manfre

manfre — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:08:11 +0000

They had a newscast this past Monday on my local San Antonio news channel indicating foreclosures are historically high here.

Link to story

I also noticed that fixed rates have trickled up about 1% since mid January. So, if the price is already high and the cost of financing goes from 5% to 6%, thereby increasing the cost to lend by 20%, what will happen to housing prices……………….

I think we all know where they are headed.

By: Hutch

Hutch — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:44:09 +0000

Twist

I know that foreclosures aren’t going to go back to normal this season and I don’t doubt that many sellers are waiting for a spring surge to list. It’s going to be an interesting year. “interesting times”. Isn’t that suppose to be a curse?

Igor says woe

By: twist

twist — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:32:02 +0000

Yossarian-

It’s been interesting moving from Phoenix to a “good” market. Agents tell me that yes it’s slow, but I’ll be sorry that I didn’t buy when the market takes off this spring.

Homebuilders are discounting, there are specs everywhere, resales are slow. The trend has been downward.

It doesn’t feel so much “different” as it feels “behind”.

By: Yossarian

Yossarian — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:19:13 +0000

Central Texas? hmmmm….. isn’t it ‘different there?’

Just askin’

By: twist

twist — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:33:39 +0000

Entropy-

Certainly current prices in most Texas markets are not as out of line with fundamentals as other markets. It would be unlikely that they will see the kind of drops we have seen in “bubble” markets.

That said, there is still a big difference between supply and demand, and tighter lending standards are being experienced nationwide.

Central Texas home prices are poised for a decline.

By: entropy

entropy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:59:18 +0000

I have been considering Texas for a couple of years now. I believe they are positioned better then most other markets because of the troubles they had in the late 80′s early 90′s. I am not saying things are great there, just seems like an affordable area with a moderate climate(wifes health is reason). I will continue to watch the progression in Texas very carefully.