01
How much supply separates a buyer's market from a seller's market?
Months of supply is the cleanest single signal. It measures how long current inventory would take to sell at the current pace. National inventory reached 1.62 million existing homes in August, with supply just under five months and the highest reading in more than a decade. More supply means more choice, and more choice moves leverage toward buyers.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer gives the local number rather than the national one, and says which slice it covers. Georgetown as a whole, one price band, or one subdivision. Supply inside an age restricted community like Sun City can look nothing like supply in a new build section two miles away.
Red flag
An agent who quotes a national figure and stops there. National supply sets the mood. It does not price a house on a specific street in Georgetown.
02
How long are homes taking to sell in Georgetown right now?
Time to sell is the signal a seller feels first. Georgetown homes took a median of 86 days to sell over the recent 90 day window, and about 9 percent sold within 30 days. A market where most homes need months rather than weeks is a market where buyers can wait, compare and negotiate.
What a strong answer sounds like
A strong answer separates the whole market from the home in question. Ask for time to sell in this price band and this neighborhood, measured from list date to closing, and updated inside the last quarter. Two numbers from two sources should be labeled, never blended.
Red flag
A pace with no date attached to it. A figure from two years ago describes a market that no longer exists. That is the most common way a Georgetown seller ends up priced wrong.
03
Does a wave of price cuts mean Georgetown has turned into a buyer's market?
The share of listings taking a price cut shows how far asking prices sit above what buyers will actually pay. Across the market, 42.1 percent of properties recorded a price reduction. When cuts become normal, buyers learn to wait for them. A listing that holds firm then gets skipped rather than negotiated.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer counts the cuts inside the search a real buyer would run. How many active listings in this price band have reduced, by how much, and how long each one waited first. That is a list anybody can pull in an afternoon.
Red flag
Being told that cuts only happen to overpriced homes. That reasoning is circular. The useful question is where the cuts cluster, because a cluster marks the price band where demand thinned out.
04
Are Georgetown sellers paying closing costs to get deals done?
Seller concessions are a price cut that never shows in the headline number. A home that closes at full price with money paid toward the buyer's costs effectively sold for less. Across the market, buyers have been regaining leverage, and asking for help with closing costs or a rate buydown is one of the first ways that shows up.
What a strong answer sounds like
A strong answer names which recent closings carried concessions and how large they were. That sits in the sold data and with the agents who closed those deals. Texas has no state transfer tax, so closing cost help here goes further than a buyer arriving from another state expects.
Red flag
Treating a concession as a soft cost. A seller paying several thousand dollars toward a buyer's costs has reduced net proceeds by that amount. Compare it against a straight price cut before agreeing to either one.
05
Are contracts in Williamson County actually making it to closing?
The share of listings that reach closing shows how much of the apparent demand is real. About 73 percent of Williamson County listings reach closing. When that share falls, buyers are signing and then reassessing. A seller counting on a signed contract is then counting on something less certain than it looks.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer ties the number to the Texas option period. The TREC termination option sits at Paragraph 23, where a buyer pays an option fee for an unrestricted right to terminate for a negotiated number of days. A rising share of terminations usually means buyers feel free to keep shopping after they sign.
Red flag
Reading one dead contract as bad luck. One is noise. A pattern across a neighborhood is a signal, and it tends to show up before the price data does.
06
What do builder incentives say about the Georgetown market?
Builders react to demand faster than resale sellers do, which makes their behavior an early signal. Standing inventory, rate buydowns and closing cost packages all appear when new homes stop selling on schedule. In Georgetown, where new sections and resale homes compete directly, a builder incentive sets the price a resale listing has to beat.
What a strong answer sounds like
A strong answer is a drive through the nearest active sections with the current incentive sheets in hand. In Georgetown, Round Rock and Liberty Hill, where T. Kerr Property Group works, those sheets change often enough that last month's version is already out of date.
Red flag
An agent who ignores new construction because it does not sit on the resale sheet. Buyers do not draw that line. If a builder two miles away is buying down the rate, a resale listing competes against that whether anyone tracks it or not.
This article is general information about the Central Texas market and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Statutes, exemptions and district rules change. Confirm anything that affects a decision with a licensed attorney, a tax professional or the Williamson Central Appraisal District before acting on it.
