Working with a buyer’s agent in Austin
What the work actually is, what it costs you, and what the option period does.
Who this is for
What the work actually is
Finding the property is the easy part, and the portals have made it easier still. What they cannot do is tell you what you are actually buying.
Most of the value in buyer representation arrives before an offer is written and after it is accepted: reading the documents that describe what you are buying, and then holding the option period, the appraisal, the lender and the title company to a calendar that does not slip. In Texas the deadlines are real, and missing one costs money.
It is written for the middle of Austin, where the housing stock is old, the ground moves, and much of what trades is a share in a corporation rather than a building. I work across the whole metro. Central Austin is simply where I can tell you things that are not written down.
If you are selling as well as buying, the sequencing matters more than either transaction on its own, and that conversation belongs on selling and what your home is worth rather than here.
The five
Central Austin is five ZIP codes
They do not behave alike and they are not priced alike, though they do share one tax rate, because all five sit under the same five taxing entities. Open any one of them, or search every listing in all five.
The five
Central Austin is five ZIP codes, and they do not behave alike. Hover or tab through the map for what separates them, or open any one of them.
78701
Downtown, Rainey Street, Seaholm and Second Street
The tower district. Almost everything is a condominium, which makes the HOA as much of the purchase as the residence.
Downtown · Rainey Street · Seaholm · Second Street
215 for sale today, all on the market page.
Open 7870178702
East Austin
The most varied housing stock in the city. A 1930s bungalow and a new-build duplex can sit on the same block.
Holly · Govalle · Chestnut · Cherrywood edge
203 for sale today, all on the market page.
Open 7870278703
Tarrytown, Clarksville, Old Enfield and Pemberton
Older housing stock on expensive land, where the lot frequently carries more value than the structure standing on it.
Tarrytown · Clarksville · Old Enfield · Pemberton
113 for sale today, all on the market page.
Open 7870378704
SoCo, Bouldin, Zilker, Travis Heights and Barton Hills
South of the river, and the part of central Austin that prices differently street by street rather than by neighborhood.
South Congress · Bouldin Creek · Zilker · Travis Heights · Barton Hills
304 for sale today, all on the market page.
Open 7870478705
West Campus and North University
Dominated by student housing and investment purchases, which changes how everything here trades and how it is financed.
West Campus · North University · Hyde Park edge
124 for sale today, all on the market page.
Open 78705Four buyers
Four different purchases, four different jobs
Luxury and high-rise
Above roughly two million dollars, and inside the towers at any price, the deciding factors are not on the MLS. Which stacks get afternoon glare. Which floors hear Rainey Street on a Saturday. What the HOA covers and what it has quietly deferred. Whether a special assessment is being discussed. I have been inside these buildings, and I will tell you which ones I would not buy in.
Investment
Cash flow in central Austin is thin and getting thinner, so the honest analysis starts by testing whether the deal works at all. Real numbers: actual HOA dues, actual tax rates by ZIP, realistic vacancy, and what the unit will rent for rather than what a pro forma wants. On 1031 exchanges and short-term rentals, Austin regulation matters as much as the spreadsheet.
First-time buyers
The hardest part is rarely finding a house. It is understanding what you are signing, what the inspection report means, and which problems are negotiable versus which should end the deal. Central Austin adds its own traps: foundation movement on expansive clay, unpermitted additions, and older homes in the 78702 and 78704 flood plains.
Relocation
The useful conversation is about tradeoffs you cannot see from a listing photo. Commute times that assume you never cross the river at five o'clock. Which neighborhoods are walkable in August and which only look walkable in March. School attendance zones that do not follow neighborhood boundaries.
In depth
- Buying a condominiumWhat the dues actually buy, why dues per square foot is the number that matters, and the project review that decides whether a lender will finance the building at all.
- PenthousesEvery listing currently calling itself one, what they ask per square foot against the ordinary condominiums around them, and how long they sit.
What you can carry
Why a national calculator overstates Austin
A generic affordability calculator assumes a property tax rate of roughly one percent. Travis County runs materially higher once every taxing entity is counted, and downtown HOA dues run into four figures a month. Both count against your debt-to-income ratio, and neither is in the number a national tool gives you.
So the figure you arrive with is usually too high. This calculator takes the tax rate by ZIP and the HOA separately, and shows the itemization rather than one number, because the itemization is the part that surprises people.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere. The arithmetic runs in your browser, and there is no request to a server, no log, and no record attached to any enquiry you might send afterwards.
In this ZIP, on these inputs
Enter income, a rate, a tax rate and an insurance figure and the range appears here.
This is an estimate, not a pre-approval and not a loan offer. Only a licensed lender can tell you what you qualify for. Luke Allen is a licensed Texas REALTOR, not a mortgage loan originator. Nothing entered here is sent, saved or shared: the arithmetic runs in your browser and never leaves it.
If the range is not what you expected, that is worth a conversation rather than a rethink. Send me the question and we will go through what is moving it. Nothing from the calculator comes with it.
The option period
What the Texas option period actually buys you
In Texas a buyer can pay for an unrestricted right to terminate. You pay the seller an option fee, and for an agreed number of days you can walk away for any reason at all, or for none, and keep your earnest money. It is not an inspection contingency: it is a period in which the contract binds the seller and is optional for you.
The fee and the length are both negotiated, and both move with the market. Right now a typical option period in central Austin runs 5 to 10 days for a fee of about $100 to $500. Earnest money is separate, usually 1 percent of the purchase price, and it is held by the title company rather than paid to the seller.
When it ends, it ends. There is no grace period and no automatic extension because the inspector found something. If you want more time you ask for it, in writing, before expiry. After that your earnest money is at risk, and the reasons you can still terminate and keep it narrow to the contingencies written into the contract, typically financing and appraisal.
Out-of-state buyers treat it as a formality running in the background while they think. It is the only part of a Texas contract where you hold all the leverage, it is short, and the inspection has to be scheduled, attended, read and acted on inside it. In a condominium it is also when you read the resale certificate and the minutes, which arrive late and which nobody will chase for you.
At closing
What a buyer pays at closing in Texas
Beyond the down payment, and roughly in the order you pay them:
The option fee, $100 to $500, paid to the seller within days of execution and credited to you at closing. Earnest money, 1 percent of the purchase price, to the title company. An inspection, $350 to $675, and on a house a structural engineer as well if the inspector flags movement, which on central Austin clay is common enough to budget for at $400 to $800.
A survey, $400 to $750, on a house; on a condominium there is nothing to survey. The appraisal, $390 to $780, ordered by your lender and paid by you. Lender fees, origination and underwriting and the rest, which vary enough between lenders that a range here would mislead you: your Loan Estimate carries the real figure and the lender owes it to you within three business days. And prepaids, the property taxes and insurance collected in advance to open your escrow account, which is the line that catches people because it is not a fee at all. It is money you would have paid anyway, early. The calculator above works it out from the price and the tax rate rather than guessing at it.
Where these figures came from: Luke Allen, contracts written in the Austin market (2026); Austin home inspection pricing surveys (2026); Austin residential boundary survey pricing, standard lot (2026); Austin residential appraisal pricing surveys (2026); Texas structural engineer stamped report pricing (2026). Every one is a range because every one genuinely varies, and none of them is a quote.
The one that surprises buyers from other states: in Texas the seller customarily pays for the owner’s title policy. It is negotiable like everything else, but the custom is that it sits with the seller. If you have bought where title insurance is a buyer cost, your closing estimate will look different here, and in your favour.
Representation
How a buyer’s agent gets paid, and what you sign
The most-asked and least-answered question in the category, so here it is plainly. Before I show you a property, we sign a written buyer representation agreement stating what I am doing for you, for how long, in what area, and what my compensation is. It is between you and me. It is not set by a seller or by a listing, and every one of those terms is negotiable before you sign.
Compensation is negotiated up front and disclosed. Where a seller or listing brokerage offers to cover some or all of it, that is credited against what you agreed to pay me rather than added on top. Where they offer nothing, the difference is yours, and you knew the number before we started looking. It can also be negotiated into the deal as a seller concession.
It commits you to working with me for its term in its stated area. It does not oblige you to buy anything, and it does not lock you in permanently: the term is one of the things you negotiate. If you want it short at first, ask for it short.
I can tell youwhich floorsand lines areworth the premium.
Asked often
Questions buyers actually ask
Do I need a buyer's agent to see a house in Austin?
To have someone representing your side of it, yes, and you will sign a written representation agreement before touring. You can contact the listing agent instead, but understand what that is: that agent already has a client, and it is the seller. They can show you the property and write your offer while working for the other side of the negotiation.
What does a buyer's agent cost me?
Whatever you and I agree to in writing before we start, negotiable in amount and in term. Where a seller or listing brokerage offers compensation it is credited against that figure rather than added to it. Where they offer nothing, the difference is yours, and it can be negotiated into the offer as a seller concession.
How long is the option period, and can I extend it?
It is negotiated on every contract rather than fixed by law. You can extend it, but only by agreement, in writing, before it expires. An inspection that turns up something serious does not extend it automatically, which is the most common misunderstanding I correct.
What does the seller pay for in Texas?
Customarily the owner's title policy, which surprises buyers from states where that is a buyer cost. Everything is negotiable, but the default in this state runs in the buyer's favour on that line.
Do I need a survey on a condominium?
Effectively never. A survey establishes boundaries, easements and encroachments on land, and in a condominium you are buying airspace and a share of the corporation rather than ground. On a house in central Austin it matters more, because fences, driveways and additions have had decades to end up somewhere other than where the plat says.
What happens if the appraisal comes in below the contract price?
Your lender lends against the appraised value, not the contract price, so someone has to close the gap. You can bring the difference in cash, renegotiate, or terminate if the contract has an appraisal contingency and it is still live. Which of those is available depends on what was written into the contract beforehand.
Can I write an offer before I am pre-approved?
You can, and in central Austin it will usually be ignored. A pre-approval tells a listing agent that a lender has looked at your file rather than a form you filled in. It costs a few days and materially changes how your offer is read.
What is different about buying in a tower?
You are buying two things: a residence and a share of a corporation, and the second is where people get hurt. The resale certificate, the minutes, the reserve study and the budget tell you whether the dues are realistic or whether the building is deferring work it will eventually assess for. The downtown page sets out what to read in the ten days the certificate takes to arrive, and in what order.