By REALTOR Debbie Stevenson
March used to be the start of the buying season, but this year, Texas’ notorious spring winds have been joined by those of change – and they have been roaring strong – and sustained – since January.
No one factor is behind the recent surge in home sales experienced by communities up and down the I-35 corridor. Instead, it is a culmination of what has been building around it.
First, you have the usual suspect: At the southern tip is hottest must-live-there city for millennials, known as Austin, and the surrounding cities in Williamson and Travis counties that form that metro area. With Austin almost priced out of most residents’ pockets, the sprawl has spread as far south, east and west as it can go while still remaining a viable commute.
That, of course, has meant “hello North!” Salado was the first Bell County community to feel the effect of the metro’s northward progression. And most of it is likely to stop there, with the commute along I-35 from Salado’s Main Street to Austin’s area off Parmer averaging about 40 minutes. That is, of course, in ideal traffic, with no fudging of the generous 75 mph interstate speed limit. Further up, if you work in either Georgetown or Round Rock, the south Temple and Belton markets are a viable option, along with parts of south Killeen and Williamson county’s Florence – especially with the completion of the Florence bypass on Hwy 195, which connects to Reagan/Parmer and I-35 at Georgetown.
And then there is the Waco factor and the HGTV hit show “Fixer Upper.” The show broadcasts on a weekly basis to the nation the affordability of the Waco market, particularly at the $100,000 levels. Agents there are reporting unprecedented multiple offers for the first time in the formerly depressed to stable market.
So how would that affect Bell County, you ask?
First, there is the fallout of the first factor: The millennial surge into Austin. Millennials have parents and grandparents. Many come from the northern plains and Northeast, which have been hammered for three years with record-breaking winters and snowfall. They are sick of it and are delighted to find more human-friendly winter mercury levels in Texas. They also make a beeline during their visits to the silos and marketplace operated by their favorite HGTV hosts: Chip and Joanna Gaines. That means on their way from Austin to Waco, they drive through Bell County and discover an equally affordable market a lot closer to those adorable grandchildren they have been missing. They go home. They take advantage of the rebounding markets and return to Bell County, often as cash-paying house hunters – again in the $100-160,000 price range. And they love the fact that they can buy a brand new 3-bedroom home in that price range.
And finally, we have business movement along the I-35 corridor. The merger of Waco’s Baylor and Temple’s Scott & White institutions and that entity’s subsequent expansion. There also is the SpaceX location in McGregor (to Waco’s south and Temple’s north) and the continued position of Fort Hood, Texas’ largest single-site employer, west Bell County and the defense contracting activities that surrounds its west side and the Army’s testing command.
But not all communities and price ranges are created equal. The further you go, either west or east from the interstate hub, the market dramatically slows. Also, the higher the price, i.e. once you are north of $200,000 in Bell and McLennan counties and $350,000 in Williamson and Travis counties, the sizzle cools and even fizzles – especially outside of the Austin metro.
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