Wally Harwood is a broker associate at Jorgenson Real Estate, a lifelong Austinite, and the designated broker for a property management company he co-founded. In this episode of Real Estate, Straight Up, he and Kasey Jorgenson take on the question a lot of Central Texas owners are facing: if the house isn't selling for what you need, should you keep pushing or rent it out? Wally's answer is to run the numbers. For some owners, a small monthly shortfall on a rental beats writing a large check at closing.
Key takeaways
- If you bought near the top and selling now means bringing money to closing, renting can be the easier path. Wally's example: a few hundred dollars a month instead of a $50,000 check one time.
- A rented home keeps paying down your mortgage while you wait a couple of years to see where the market goes.
- Kasey noted that under current rules, a home that was your primary residence for two of the previous five years may still be sold without being taxed as an investment property. That can leave room for two to three years of renting.
- Recommending that a client rent instead of sell can be the fiduciary move, even though the agent earns far less.
- Good property management is mostly quiet. When owners don't hear from their manager, things are usually fine.
- A newer home farther out can look cheaper on paper, but higher tax rates, tolls and commute time can make the monthly cost about the same as an older home closer in.
Should I rent my house or sell it in a slow market?
Kasey said many homes are sitting longer now, and some end up vacant while the owners decide whether to keep trying to sell or rent them out. Wally frames it as a cash question. If you bought when prices were very high, selling now might cost you money at closing, and that may have been your next down payment.
"So is it a lot easier to write a two, three, four hundred dollar check every month than write a fifty thousand dollar check one time?" Wally asked. Meanwhile the tenant is covering most of the mortgage and the loan balance keeps going down. In a couple of years you can look again and decide. "It's a whole lot better to have somebody paying most of your mortgage and somebody keeping an eye on your property than the other alternatives," he said.
Kasey added a tax point he's shared with his own clients. As the law is currently written, if the home was your primary residence for two of the previous five years, you can still sell without the tax treatment of an investment property. That can give an owner two to three years of rental income while the market shifts. Confirm your own situation with a tax professional. If you're weighing both paths, our guide to selling a home in Central Texas and a home valuation are good places to start.
Is it bad for my agent to suggest renting instead of selling?
No. Both Wally and Kasey see it as the opposite. Wally said that when an agent offers renting as an option, knowing they will earn much less, the client sees a fiduciary giving advice, not someone chasing a commission. "It is sometimes the fiduciary move, even though the commissions are way less," Kasey said.
What does a property manager actually do for a landlord?
Wally said the work is more than collecting rent: systems and software, repairs, and details that never come up in a sale. A home sale might mean three months with a client. Property management is a years-long relationship, and the calls usually come when something breaks and someone has to pay.
That's why quiet is good. "No news is good news in property management," Wally said. He got his start helping manage his dad's rentals, including a duplex on Austin's east side and a property in Temple. His summary of the job for investors: "Toilets, termites, and tenants."
Is a cheaper house farther from Austin really cheaper?
Not always. A house may cost less because it's 20 minutes farther from everything, and buyers often miss the taxes. "As you get further out, those tax rates are gonna be smacking you in the face more often than not," he said. An older home closer in may carry a better tax rate, so the monthly payments can end up similar. Our guide to property taxes, MUDs and PIDs explains why rates vary so much.
Kasey adds tolls to the math. If a toll road is your main way in, total up what you spend each month just on your commute and treat it as part of your payment. For younger buyers who want to be near downtown nightlife but can't afford to live there, he suggests an "Uber test": what will a ride downtown cost twice a week from that house?
Wally also tells out-of-town buyers, like recent clients looking around Pflugerville, to drive downtown and back to get oriented, since there's no street grid outside downtown. His goal: "I don't want them to buy, and then six months later calling me and be like, Wally, we hate it over here, it's too far."
How do I choose an Austin neighborhood if I'm moving here?
Start with your own life, not someone else's favorite spot. "Every buyer has different needs and different things that they want," Wally said. Where you work matters. He still has many buyers moving for jobs near the Tesla factory, where the eastern suburbs are still growing. Going north and west, new builds are even farther out. Kasey pointed out that North Austin and Round Rock have a different feel than South Austin, and he cited an Austin economic development study showing more than 100 people a day are still moving to the region.
Wally's own favorites are central: the South Austin streets between Congress and South First, like Mary and Elizabeth, plus Hyde Park and Rosedale. He likes the old 1930s and 40s houses, big trees and walkability. "It's rare to find something walkable," he said. Those areas are expensive to buy, but renting there can still be doable, and buyers who rent first tend to buy with more confidence. For more on areas, see our relocation guide and city and neighborhood guides.
If you're deciding whether to rent or sell, or you're moving to Austin and want a local's read on neighborhoods, reach out to Wally Harwood or any Jorgenson Real Estate agent. You can hear more conversations like this one on the Real Estate, Straight Up podcast.
Questions from this episode
Should I rent out my house instead of selling at a loss?
It depends on the numbers. Wally Harwood's rule of thumb is to compare a small monthly shortfall on a rental with the one-time check you'd write to sell. Renting keeps the mortgage getting paid down and lets you look again in a couple of years.
Can I rent my home for a while and still sell it without investment-property taxes?
Kasey Jorgenson explained that under current rules, a home that was your primary residence for two of the previous five years can generally still be sold without being taxed as an investment property. That can allow two to three years of renting. Confirm your situation with a tax professional.
Are homes farther from Austin really cheaper?
Sometimes only on paper. Wally said tax rates are often higher farther out, and tolls and commute time add to the monthly cost.
What does a property manager handle?
Rent collection, repairs, tenant communication and the systems behind them. Wally summed it up as "toilets, termites, and tenants," and said that in property management, no news is good news.
Listen to the episode
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In this episode
- 0:00Straight Talk Show Introduction
- 1:15Why Launch Property Management
- 4:48When Renting Beats Selling
- 7:40Growing Up In Old Austin
- 10:02Austin FC And The Stadium Shift
- 12:03Advice For Moving To Austin
- 17:14Stoicism Stop In Bastrop
- 19:54Taxes, Tolls, And True Payments
- 25:02Favorite Neighborhoods And Walkability
- 28:57Marca Meaning And Final Wrap
Related
Full transcript
Read the full transcript
Straight Talk Show Introduction
Kasey Jorgenson 0:01 Welcome to Real Estate Straight Up, where we skip the script and talk about what's really going on in the central Texas real estate market. I'm Kasey Jorgenson, founder of Jorgenson Real Estate in Round Rock, Texas. This is where we break down how deals are actually getting done, what top agents are doing differently, and what most people aren't saying out loud about this market right now. No fluff, no BS, just real estate straight up. All right, welcome to real estate straight up. I'm Kasey Jorgenson, founder of Jorgenson Real Estate here in Central Texas. And today I'm joined by my good buddy Wally Harwood, who's also a founder of Market Property Management. And he is an agent here with Jorgenson Real Estate as well. A broker, broker associate. That's true. I did go to broker school. Yeah. How you doing, buddy? Pretty good.
Wally Harwood 0:54 Pretty good. Good. Pretty good hanging in there.
Kasey Jorgenson 0:56 Good. Yeah. Today we're excited. We're gonna a little change of pace from what we usually kind of talk about and record because Wally runs a property management company at Market Property Management. So we're gonna dig into that a little bit. Talk about Austin and then talk about kind of the state of the market. Cool? Sounds good. Cool. So
Why Launch Property Management
Kasey Jorgenson 1:15 property management, we made that change what, like two years ago?
Wally Harwood 1:18 Yeah. Yeah.
Kasey Jorgenson 1:19 How's that going?
Wally Harwood 1:20 So yeah, it's a you know, it's a big learning thing for us, obviously. Not only is it stuff about just systems and software and all that stuff, but just the different ins and outs of things that you don't think about from a day-to-day real estate stuff. Even when dealing with investors that have rentals, you're still dealing with other things, thinking about kind of the details that go into a rental a little bit more, you know, and then just all the the people aspects of it where a real estate transaction, yeah, you're talking to that person for three months max, maybe, as opposed to the property management thing where it's a you know years-long relationship and you're not talking to them every month, but hopefully you're talking to them when a repair comes.
Kasey Jorgenson 2:11 Right.
Wally Harwood 2:11 Yeah, and you usually when they see your phone number, they know something's going on, and they're gonna have to spend money, which is not always their favorite thing, but yeah, no news is good news in property management. Right. Yeah. Right. Like, what have we been paying you for? You're like being quiet?
Kasey Jorgenson 2:27 Yeah. What what originally because I remember we talked about this like five years ago when we planted the seed, it was like kind of want to go explore this and kind of do this. I mean, what ultimately led to wanting to go to property management? I have my opinion. Yeah.
Wally Harwood 2:42 Well, so I'll back up a little bit. I I had been sort of managing some properties that my dad had in town already, helping with the rent collection, helping with just fixes here and there. Yep. At a duplexy out on the east side, a couple other places, one up in Temple, you know, just doing some stuff like that. Then I was trying to turn my property, you know, primary residence into a rental by another one. So, with all that, we're also referring people out to other property managers. Yeah, there's a hole in that bucket. And we're like, you know, people would ask us or people on our team, hey, who should you refer this out to? And we do it. Was it always a good experience? Not exactly. Yeah. And like, you know, that's sort of the name of the I mean, like, that's something that happens, but at the same time, if we can also, you know, fill that hole and you know, help people on the team have a good person or a good contact or a good resource just for anything leasing related or just all that stuff, it's just helpful, I think. Right to be able to help everyone on the team, their investor clients, you know, all that stuff, people on the team becoming investors themselves, you know, putting our own properties into it. Hey, we already have systems for our own properties, help other people. And then the other part was real estate generally is hey, here's your transaction, good, good job. Let's go get another one. Property management theoretically can be more of a monthly recurring revenue and predictable business.
Kasey Jorgenson 4:17 People rent their properties out for years instead of just you know three months at a time, at least for what we do, right?
Wally Harwood 4:22 So right. And so just being able to do something that has a little bit more steady predictability. And like, yeah, when you when you talk to somebody, hey, you know, we'd love to help you out. Management fees aren't crazy expensive, you know, they're not going to be spending a ton of money, especially initially. And if they're we're taking something off their plate and it's helpful to them, yeah, why might as well stay on board?
Kasey Jorgenson 4:47 Yeah, and
When Renting Beats Selling
Kasey Jorgenson 4:48 it's been a I know from the brokerage standpoint being able to have with marca affiliated with us can it's a huge resource for the agents because a lot of I know in this market, these houses are sitting on the market and it kind of they're ultimately sometimes end up vacant, and then those owners are having to make the decision, am I gonna keep trying to sell because we're not getting what we need to get? Or are we just gonna rent it out? So I know that that's been a huge part and a huge help to both on both sides of the street, right?
Wally Harwood 5:16 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the thing that I've been kind of harping on with that was, you know, if you bought at a time when it was very high price-wise, and you're trying to sell now, anytime in the last year and a half or two, are you writing a fifty thousand dollar check to sell? And then what are you planning to do on the other side? Was that your down payment? Now you don't have one, and so what are you doing? So is it a lot easier to write a two, three, four hundred dollar check every month than write a fifty thousand dollar check one time?
Kasey Jorgenson 5:50 Yeah.
Wally Harwood 5:50 And you still have your property that's paying down the mortgage, and you know, you can turn around and look at it in a couple of years and see where you're at in the market.
Kasey Jorgenson 5:58 And that's what's I know one thing that's cool that that I've told some actual some clients of mine was with the capital gains, the way that the laws are written, as long currently, as long as it was a primary residence for the for two of the previous five years, they can still sell and not have the tax implications of it being an investment property. So that's you know, two to three years of of rental property income gives us some time to hopefully for the market to shift and and that appreciation kind of starts to come back, right? Right, right, exactly.
Wally Harwood 6:29 Yeah, it's just another another tool that we can offer to our clients, you know, just a different option. And then if we say that, you know, as a you know, if you're trying to help somebody sell and you say, like, but we also have this other thing, then you're coming as like, you know, fiduciary, not like a hey, please sell it so I get a big commission. You know, you're kind of like, look, I'm not making nearly as much money as you do this. But if you, you know, and and it's true. I mean, you know, we're just trying to help people out and give them another option. And if we're keeping it in-house, basically, it's it's helpful.
Kasey Jorgenson 7:01 Yeah, it's been a huge help. I mean, I know all the agents and me, we we appreciate it because it's a it's a resource of hey, here's exactly what that's gonna look like numbers-wise, and and yeah, it is sometimes the fiduciary move, even though the commissions are way less.
Wally Harwood 7:16 Right. Yeah, and and for us, you know, we're trying to create long-term relationships, and you know, the the more of those that we can create and and get better at just you know, helping people set themselves up for success, because yeah, uh, it's a whole lot better to have somebody paying most of your mortgage and somebody keeping an eye on your property than the other alternatives, right? I mean, yeah.
Growing Up In Old Austin
Kasey Jorgenson 7:40 Yeah. Well, let's uh let's switch gears a little bit too, because you're one of the very few people here that are truly from Austin. That's true. He's a rare unicorn, an Austinite. Yeah, let's talk about Austin a little bit. Sure.
Wally Harwood 7:57 You know, I did not, you know, obviously tell my parents where to birth me, but here we are. You know, it's it's they didn't know they were birthing a legend, but here we go. It's uh you know, it's one of those things I my grandparents on my dad's side they had their first date at Butler Pitchin Putt, which is pretty cool. I think that was in 1952 or something like that. I didn't know that's awesome. Just a few years after that started, and that when that was kind of out of town a little bit, their wedding announcement, it put it has like their address. You can send them a gift at this address, and the address is like where the Whole Foods headquarters is on West Sixth. Like it was literally east of Lamar back when Austin was like tiny a tiny town.
Kasey Jorgenson 8:42 Yep.
Wally Harwood 8:42 And and then my dad was born here, my mom wasn't, but they uh moved here after college, and then we live down south. The funny thing is, my wife and I just moved down south about a mile away from where we were living when I was born, so that's kind of funny. That's awesome, full full circle, and they built that house back then, and then now it's like the house we're in is it kind of like almost the same age as me. So it's pretty funny. So yeah, like it's you know, it's obviously changed a lot. That used to feel like it was out of town. Yep, not anymore. I mean, obviously it's down south, but you know, Round Rock used to be a Joe's Crab Shack and uh an R.I.P. Joe's Crab Shack. That just it's the rowdy cowboy now, is what it says. Like, what's happening there?
Kasey Jorgenson 9:29 New scandalous fun fun bar. It's good.
Wally Harwood 9:32 I mean, you know, it everything grows and and it obviously Austin's been kind of like a hot place to move for a long time. So it's you know, it's got so popular now it has haters. So you know, you know, you know you made it when uh people are like, no, don't move there, go to Nashville instead. And you're like, dude, go wherever you want.
Kasey Jorgenson 9:52 The hipsters loved it until it got a little too big, and then they were like, No. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's gone through changes. I know we were talking before we before we started recording.
Austin FC And The Stadium Shift
Kasey Jorgenson 10:02 One of my favorite changes, and probably yours too, is Austin FC and like bringing the soccer team here. That was a huge win. I mean, I was down with a lot of the groups like rallying at at the city council in Austin trying to get them here.
Wally Harwood 10:15 Yeah, no, that's it's amazing. I've had season tickets since they started, and you know, coming from an Austin soccer player back in the day, you know, I still see people at the games. I run into like old coaches and old like teammates and stuff. When we had the playoff run a couple years ago, I was like hanging out with all these guys I played high school playoffs with in Austin, you know, like it's crazy. And it's a cool community, obviously, to have that and like seeing the same kind of people every week. Obviously, now like with the World Cup going on, you know, there's all this Austin FC stuff going on and RIP USA.
Kasey Jorgenson 10:53 We had a good run until we didn't, and you know, we're there's no Belgian Belgium chocolate or anything happening, no waffles around here.
Wally Harwood 11:00 No, no waffles allowed for at least a week. So, but yeah, I mean, I you know, I love uh what they did with the stadium, they're right next to the domain. You know, it's kind of a cool experience getting to go to the breweries, walk over, do that whole thing. You know, it's there's some stadiums that they put out in the middle of nowhere, and you're kind of opposed if you're not there. I mean, it they had that whole thing where, oh, let's put it downtown, and that would have been cool. Yeah, but at the same time, you know, there's a lot of there's not a lot of space where they would have done it, so it probably it's cool where it is. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's a it's a good spot. And and they kind of revitalize that area a little bit over that way. So I'm glad the some of the breweries have held on. I mean, they're kind of jacked up rents a little bit, but it's still close enough to town and doing the rail, like that's pretty cool. It's a huge deal.
Kasey Jorgenson 11:51 And it's not like the domain, right?
Wally Harwood 11:53 It's it's yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not like in the mall, you know, next to Cinnabon. Yeah. It's got its own little little section. So it's uh I love it.
Kasey Jorgenson 12:02 Yeah,
Advice For Moving To Austin
Kasey Jorgenson 12:03 and then we were we were talking a little bit about kind of old Austin and what it was like and the and some of the cool things now. Obviously, like we said, it's changed a ton, right? But I know that we still, even though Austin has slowed down a little bit, we still have well over a hundred people a day moving here to the region, according to the Austin economic development people. They shared a study with us a couple months ago. So we still have more than 100 people moving to the region every single day. And so you have you you are the designated broker for the property management company. We know that you do a lot of that, but you also work with a lot of buyers that are coming into town, right? Yeah, yeah. And I know that they value, you can see in their reviews, they they value your expertise and you can tell them the history and the nuance of you know different neighborhoods and things. What's some advice you would give to somebody that that's considering a move to Austin proper right now?
Wally Harwood 12:55 Yeah, I mean, so every single person, it's the funniest question. Hey, where do you, you know, where do you like to send your buyers? And it's like, well, every buyer has different needs and different, you know, things that they want. I have a ton of people moving to town still for being near the Tesla factory, being over there on the east side of town. There's a lot of growth over there, you know, kind of in the eastern suburbs, still a lot of building over there, you know. As you kind of go west and north, you're going even further out for those new builds, and especially affordability is tough. So, you know, it's all about what a buyer is looking for, where they're gonna work. You know, do they need to lean north, south, you know, east, west, whatever for their job, or are they, hey, I'm working from home. Great. Well, you're telling me nothing. You know, what do you like to do?
Kasey Jorgenson 13:41 You know, that's well, there's a vibe to it though, though, too, because North Austin and Round Rock is different than South Austin and Uta Kyle, right? 100%, yeah. So you know back in the day they used to do like they had a big competition north versus south. Not many people know that. The the tug of war versus the lake. Tug of war across the lake, yeah.
Wally Harwood 14:01 I think we need to bring that back. I think, yeah, I think well, there's way more people in North Austin now. So I don't know if you get the you get to use all your people or yeah, yeah.
Kasey Jorgenson 14:10 I I know that that that vibe north is was planned very differently. And then you've got South Austin and kind of going into South and West, where you know, Zilker Park and Barton Springs and all that, it's it's almost like two totally different planets.
Wally Harwood 14:26 Yeah, no, it's true. It's true, yeah. I mean, as you get north, you know, there's a little bit of a South Dallas thing going on. And as you get south, you know, like close South Austin used to be the original keeping Austin weird vibe, but now it's keeping Austin expensive. I mean, 04 is probably the most expensive zip code that actually has houses. I mean 01 and that's downtown. I mean, it's just Tikondos and stuff like that, and like oh, you know, West Old West Austin.
Kasey Jorgenson 14:56 Would you consider that 78704 to be like the the quintessential Austin zip code at this point?
Wally Harwood 15:02 I think so still.
Kasey Jorgenson 15:03 The one that survived all the change the best, anyway.
Wally Harwood 15:06 Yeah. I mean, you know, if you're driving through a a street in South Austin off Congress or in Bolden or Zilker, even, you know, every other house has been built in the last five years. So there are the ones that are holding on tight, those houses from the 30s and 40s that are super cool bungalows and those sort of things. I mean, I kind of like it when they do something like they keep the old bungalow, but then they modernize something in the back and make it a little more livable because they had these huge lots over there. I mean, I you know, I have a client that has a third of an acre lot with an alley, and you're like, this is amazing. There's a hundred-year-old oaks, and you're like, This is sweet. And yeah, do you want another house on here? Do you want a pool? Like, what do you want? And that's what everyone's done. You know, they've built a garage apartment, they build a second unit and all that stuff.
Kasey Jorgenson 15:52 So it's a lot of art studios and things and stuff put in the back, too.
Wally Harwood 15:56 Right, right. No, I mean, absolutely, yeah, super cool.
Kasey Jorgenson 15:58 I love that that part of town because it seems like, you know, when I first came to Austin, it was 2010. And even since then, I mean, it's been 16 years, it's changed dramatically. But I I know that there are certain spots where still some of the original businesses that have been there since the 70s or whatever are still there, it's still kicking, and people still go there. Right. So I I I love that part.
Wally Harwood 16:22 No, absolutely. Yeah, and and you can get these little neighborhood pockets where you can walk all the different directions as opposed to being like, okay, we're leaving the house and we have the same 15-minute drive every single time to get to H E B or you know, whatever it is. But hey, if I'm coming out of my driveway and I have to decide if I'm going left, right, or straight, you know, that's kind of cool to say where am I going?
Kasey Jorgenson 16:43 Yeah, where are you gonna stop and get coffee from? You have six different options on your way in.
Wally Harwood 16:47 Yeah. Right. And and since we've started doing, you know, obviously with everything with real estate and coming into the office here, you know, I've been like, hey, you know, maybe I'll go over here because I've got a meeting and go do my little work stuff over at this, you know, coffee shop or whatever. And so I love kind of our new spot down south too, and being able to, you know, kind of try out all the new, new different places over there.
Kasey Jorgenson 17:13 Well, so
Stoicism Stop In Bastrop
Kasey Jorgenson 17:14 speaking of the other thing, switch gears, I guess, a little. I know that we were talking, we're we're kind of fans of Ryan Holiday. He's kind of a modern day expert on stoicism and and everything. And you can't be a a bro approaching middle age and not be reading stoicism. So yeah, we've we were talking about that. You recently went to his bookstore in Bassrop, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, how was that?
Wally Harwood 17:35 Oh, yeah, I went and checked it out. I was driving over to Houston for the World Cup game and stopped over in Bastrop Main Street. And yeah, I mean, they got a lot going on there, but Ryan Holiday's bookstop bookstore is amazing. It's if you're ever over there and you're a dude of a certain age, you'll love the different sections. He knows his target on these. And there were a lot of people that were you know just popping in there because obviously they've been, you know, become fans of his podcast or book or whatever. Yeah. Uh books and you know, super good stuff. I picked up a couple things, of course, because when you kind of have to. You kind of have to. You know, it came all the way to Bass Drop. You know, I'd I think it's a better stop than Bucky's, let's just say you can do both. Yeah, I mean, you know get some books and then get some nuggies. It's definitely uh, you know, that's definitely a vibe that's that's the kind of person you stop and wear easier parking, I'll say. Yeah, that's a fact.
Kasey Jorgenson 18:26 Yeah, so yeah, yeah, it it uh we have so much cool, I mean, just in general, and in the whole region is is is so awesome.
Wally Harwood 18:34 So yeah, and bass drop used to feel like it was way out of town, you know. That's the crazy thing. And now there's new build communities all the way out there.
Kasey Jorgenson 18:44 You can pick well and they're making progress on the construction too. So like it actually's a decent drive.
Wally Harwood 18:49 Yeah, I mean, like bass drop to downtown is the same as basically Cedar Park or Leander to downtown. Yeah, there's just a town in between, so it's probably a little easier commute.
Kasey Jorgenson 19:02 Yeah, and I so one of my favorite when I was early on, uh you know, I had a lead and I it was in Bass Drop, and I was like, oh my gosh, I gotta drive down to this random town. And I went to Tahitian Village, and it was like being transported to Colorado, like there's pine trees and hills, and it's like I don't even feel like I'm in Texas at this point. Yep. That was one of my one of my favorite early on career moments down there.
Wally Harwood 19:26 The lost pines, yeah. And then half of it burned down, and there's still there's still some. Yeah, there's still some.
Kasey Jorgenson 19:32 Yeah, there's still pockets, yeah, yeah.
Wally Harwood 19:34 Yeah, no, petition village is goofy. We have a we have a a lot right there for sale.
Kasey Jorgenson 19:39 Yeah, there's a lot of custom builds and random stuff that you can't pronounce half the street names, at least.
Wally Harwood 19:45 No, yeah, they're really hard to and we're professionals. Yeah, I don't I don't speak Hawaiian as good as I used to.
Kasey Jorgenson 19:50 No, yeah, yeah.
Wally Harwood 19:51 But uh yeah, everything's good, yeah.
Taxes, Tolls, And True Payments
Wally Harwood 19:54 You know, when it comes back to your buyers question, you know, it it's really it there. I figure I feel like it's two kinds of buyers, you know, and I really like people that are coming to town to kind of show them areas of Austin, but it makes it difficult when they're looking on their search and they're saying, Well, where should I be? Why is this? Oh, this house looks great. And then you're like, Well, yeah, you're 20 minutes further away from everything, like that's why it's cheaper and all that stuff. Yeah. But the other part they don't really understand is as you get further out, those tax rates are gonna be smacking you in the face more often than not. And so having them know, okay, as you're closer to town, yeah, it might be an older home, but maybe your tax rate's better. If you're further away, might be a newer build, might be cheaper on paper, might be, but that tax bill, you know, might just make them similar. Yes, you have to from a monthly payments perspective. Right.
Kasey Jorgenson 20:48 You gotta look at all that and and you even have to add I know a lot, especially East on and now pretty much all around Austin, the toll roads too. If that's your main way in, yeah. If you tally up how much you're spending on tolls and do the math on a monthly basis just for your commute, you can take that and translate it to actual purchase power on your monthly payment. Right.
Wally Harwood 21:11 Yeah, all the people that are living over there kind of off that 130 toll, you know, they all have these little back roads that they take when they're not not in a hurry. This is my not in a hurry route, and then this is my in a hurry route. This is my budget route, and this is my run and late route. Exactly. Yeah. Now I've got clients that are looking over there and they had never been to Austin before at all. And so the other day we're looking, okay, well, what's Pufflugar? You know, like but I was like, you guys need to drive into town just to orient yourself because once they start driving around over there, the highways are all turning, and you're just like, Where am I? Yeah, there's no grids outside of outside of downtown. So I'm like, drive to downtown, then drive back just to get yourself an idea of how far we were and how far we are. Yeah. Just so you can tell yourself, okay, if we were to go into town from this place to go. Dinner, whatever that is, you know, this is where we are because the the last thing in the world is I don't want them to buy, and then six months later calling me and be like, Wally, we hate it over here, it's too far. And I'm like, I you know, tried to tell you.
Kasey Jorgenson 22:12 Yeah, yeah. I have a anytime that we have younger clients that are kind of want that downtown Austin presence, but don't have the funds to buy down there. I know that they're you know, they start looking on the outskirts. And so it was funny because a lot of those clients weren't weren't measuring commute times. They're like, how much is an Uber from here to downtown? Right. Because if I'm going down there to go out or go to have, you know, some couple drinks and some dinner, how much is it gonna cost me to go right down there twice a week, you know, via Uber and stuff like that?
Wally Harwood 22:45 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Uber is a good it's a good translation to the young's as it turns out. Yep. Um, it's I think there's a lot of places that you can get close to town still, and especially with the way the prices have gone. Obviously, rents are way lower still, you know. And and thanks to all the building, all the condos, all the apartments. I mean, there are so many, there's a new apartment complex every time you turn around.
Kasey Jorgenson 23:11 I mean, it's that a hundred plus people a day moving here, they've got to go somewhere. Right, exactly.
Wally Harwood 23:15 And the the you know, you're you'll be driving around on a highway out in the middle of nowhere, and you'll look around, you'll say, There's a 400 person, you know, unit apartment on the side of this hill, and you're like, what is happening here? Like, who's living here? And then the whole thing's full, and you're like, What is going on?
Kasey Jorgenson 23:32 Yeah, and then it gradually then there's the gas stations follow and CVS.
Wally Harwood 23:36 All of a sudden there's a QT, and then you're like, okay, everything's here. Everything's here. But yeah, I mean, you know, that it's like those buyers are moving to town, they got to get themselves familiar. There's the other people that moved said, I'm gonna, I'm gonna rent and then learn about town, and then they're a little bit easier because at least they know maybe where they want to be, where they don't want to be, where in the they've looked at prices a little bit and said, like, okay, I don't want to be that far out, but I'll be over here. So that's helpful too. Because then they then they give you a hint of like what their idea is, where they need to be, or how far that commute is or how far that Uber is gonna be. And and and then those people are great because they're you know just a little bit more confident in in in the location they're gonna end up, as opposed to being like, I hope I like it.
Kasey Jorgenson 24:23 Yeah. I mean, people put a ton of faith in us. Like I you we do a buyer consultation with somebody, especially the out-of-town purchasers, right? And yeah, they put a ton of faith in us as their real estate agents. So it's it's good. I very rarely do I think that we get it. An agent gets it wrong, but right, but it's it's I think that's one of the most fun parts is being able to use your local expertise and and match them with a a couple perfect options, right?
Wally Harwood 24:50 So once you find the budget and once you find a couple spots, you know, hey, hang out here, you know, come back over here after work, you know, let's see what your commute would be, all that stuff, all super important.
Favorite Neighborhoods And Walkability
Kasey Jorgenson 25:02 So, what's your favorite kind of a final question? What is what is Wally's favorite part of Austin as far as kind of best place to live, quintessential Austin vibe, like where's where's that spot?
Wally Harwood 25:18 I mean, you know, kind of anything in that South Austin area, in between, you know, Congress, South First, you know, sort of that little pocket. You know, it's all the Mary Street, Elizabeth Street, like those streets have these old houses from the 30s and 40s. I just love those old houses. It's a good mix. They've got like older house, original houses, and they also have some nicer, newer ones. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. Old Frodo used to live over there. Yeah, you know, and uh one of our buddies lived like down the street from him, and he had a big party at his house, which was an old place they they had already done and super cool over that way. I love that area. The ability to walk to things not being blasted by the sun. There's a lot of good trees. Big trees and stuff. You know, there's a ton of neighborhoods in town that have really good trees. I've always loved Hyde Park too. I mean, Hyde Park has like a ton of cool old houses and nice little restaurants that you can walk to, a little campus-ness kind of scattered in there too. That's my favorite part of town, is kind of that Hyde Park Rosedale. Yeah. That that that stretch. Tons of tons of cool stuff in there. And then you're smack in the middle of you know, everything really. You're kind of commuting on surface streets if you have to go anywhere. You know, you don't you don't have to deal with 35 or mopak, you know, those are all positive things at this point. They're all very expensive things. Yes, it is. You gotta pay to be in the good spots. It's all location, location, location. Absolutely. But you know, at this point, you know, if you move to town and you're renting, those are places that are still doable. Yeah. As it turns out. I mean, you don't necessarily find like the biggest spot, but you can be in the mix and and it's walkable. I mean, that's the whole thing. It's like it's rare to find something walkable. And if you if you got some shade, you know, most of the time, I I won't go out like August, probably not, but yeah, you know, right now short drive. Yeah, August at about 6 15 in the morning. Yeah, shade doesn't help it, they'll lick with the humidity with the with a large, you know, ice something. Yeah, you can walk about three blocks and then then you're fully soaked. Yeah. You just gotta walk from AC to AC, and then you're okay still. I I I used to have a bike commute at a at a job, and I was like, we gotta we gotta shower here. Yeah. Because I'm gonna need one. Yeah.
Kasey Jorgenson 27:43 Yeah, that's short-lived. Yeah, everybody's got the electric scooters now and stuff too. So that helps get a little breeze. Yeah, it's a different, it's a different conversation.
Wally Harwood 27:54 That's a different conversation.
Kasey Jorgenson 27:55 It's been good, man. I'll say this. If if you're out there listening to this, if you need anything, uh kind of property management, investment analysis. We talked a lot about buyers and property management. Wally also represents sellers too, especially those that are investment-minded that kind of work hand in hand with with all of that. Wally's a fantastic resource for that. He's got amazing reviews. He we've been in business together for seven or eight years. Eight years. Yeah. So we've been in business together for a long time, man. It's been fun. It's been good. Yeah, we're still crushing it. Yeah, we're having a good time and yeah.
Wally Harwood 28:34 Still, still gonna keep at it. And Norway's still in the World Cup.
Kasey Jorgenson 28:38 So yeah, Norway.
Wally Harwood 28:39 I mean, I feel like Jorgenson, we gotta they have not gone to marka themselves yet and enjoy their time in the woods quietly.
Kasey Jorgenson 28:48 The USA is experiencing.
Wally Harwood 28:50 The USA. We'll talk to Christian Pulisic about marketing. That's okay. Yeah. We'll get them in four years, maybe.
Marca Meaning And Final Wrap
Wally Harwood 28:57 The story behind that is Kasey was looking up Norwegian words to name the business, and he found marca, and it was the concept of enjoying your time in the woods quietly.
Kasey Jorgenson 29:08 Yeah, there's no there's no direct no there's no translation.
Wally Harwood 29:12 It's just just a concept, which is always good. Yeah, we like concepts.
Kasey Jorgenson 29:16 I mean Austin and the law. And the law and the law. But Austin has like the green belts and stuff, right? Absolutely. So marca, go investors should be out enjoying their time.
Wally Harwood 29:25 Investors, yeah. Y'all go hang out in the woods and we'll deal with the toilets. Yep, we'll do whatever. Toilets, termites, and tenants.
Kasey Jorgenson 29:32 Oh, yeah. In that order. Yeah, well, hit up Wally. If you have any questions, Wally's a fantastic resource, hit him up, and and I know he'd be happy to serve you. All right. Well, thanks for having me.
Wally Harwood 29:44 Good.
Kasey Jorgenson 29:44 Hey, man. All right.
Wally Harwood 29:45 Crushed it.
Kasey Jorgenson 29:47 And that's a wrap. If you got value out of this, don't keep it to yourself. Send it to someone who needs to hear it. And if you're in central Texas thinking about making a move, we're here at Jorgenson Real Estate. We'll see you next time.
Transcript generated from the episode audio and lightly corrected; it may contain small errors.
