Austin is cooling off but my opinion is that the Austin market will flatten out while other areas nationally decline as we move towards a buyers market.

So if the appraised value of the property has declined to the point where the mortgage balance is >80%LTV, you would have to bring it on-side at Close.

You can make your offers based on a declining market and see if sellers agree. 

What has your local market done in past housing declines? 

We went down that road, and it was something we personally prefer not to do.Although foreclosures, etc have declined dramatically, you can still find stuff from time to time on hudhomestore.com, homepath.com, & homesteps.com.

So earlier this week I had a deal fall through because I was not quick enough to come up with a contract offer but I still decided to consider an evaluation for the unit.Background- I was walking my neighborhood to try and burn some calories from my taco dinner when suddenly, a For Sale By Owner sign appeared.

The market here is poor and declining, so hard to get any sort of appreciation, as far as I can tell from the little research I've done.

The offer was declined.

Both have declining populations and depressed economies.

Is the area the property is in likely to decline or increase in value over time?