I was in a discussion with Gary Keller, the Keller of Keller Williams, and other REALTORS last week and part of the discussion was the local real estate market.  You read all the time lately about the national real estate bubble and that just isn't true.  Real estate is a local thing.  Just as real estate is local, local is local.  What I mean by that is that one can generalize about a city-wide real estate market when the truth is that one part of the city can be red hot and another can be slow.

In general, most of Austin's real estate market is great.  Are we feeling the effect from other markets that have gone in the tank?  Sure, but not much.  Are we feeling the credit crisis?  Sure, but not much.  Will our market slow down because of what has happened in other markets?  Sure, but not much.  Austin's economy is still incredibly healthy.  Job growth is strong.  I've posted about this before and I will probably post about it again.

Now to the point of the title of this post.  Many people coming into Austin to buy a house are waiting to see what happens to our market.  After being barraged the bad press about the national real estate market, many are trying to time the market and buy after it bottoms out.  The point of this part of Gary's talk was that you can't time the market.  If you happen to buy at the bottom, it is more a luck thing than a skill thing. 

The moral of the story is that if you are going to buy a house in Austin, don't out it off.  Interest rates are quite low and housing is still appreciating in Austin.  Of course I have no crystal ball and can't tell you exactly what real estate prices will be like a year from now.  However, everything I read and hear tells me that they will remain strong.  So buyers, do your homework and make an offer.