Season 7 of the RealtyHack Podcast is here, and we’re changing the format. Most episodes this season will feature two guests, and we’re kicking things off with two of the most well-connected people in Austin real estate.
John Crowe is the current president of ABoR, the Austin Board of Realtors. Kent Redding is the immediate past president, having led the association through the NAR settlement year in 2024. Both have been practicing agents in Austin for decades and are close friends of host Ryan Rodenbeck.
The conversation covered a lot of ground: where the Austin market actually stands heading into the back half of 2026, whether now is a good time to buy, what it’s really like to serve as ABoR president, how the association became a model that other boards travel to study, and what the next few years look like for the industry.
Here’s what they said.
Table of Contents
What the Austin Market Actually Looks Like Right Now
Before getting into the association side, the conversation opened with a read on current market conditions. The headline-driven narrative and the on-the-ground reality aren’t always the same thing.
First half of 2026 up nearly 5% over last year
John Crowe, who tracks ABoR data closely in his president role, shared the numbers: the first half of 2026 came in at 4.8% over the same period in 2025 in terms of sales volume. That’s meaningful momentum after a flat and difficult 2025.
Spyglass Realty, which operates with 160 to 170 experienced agents, saw its own brokerage sales up 29% year over year. While some of that reflects brokerage growth, Ryan noted the majority reflects actual market activity. With a team of that size and experience level, it’s a reasonable proxy for what’s happening across the market.
“We’re up 29% in sales at the brokerage. Some of that is growth, but more of it is just we’re selling more homes. Homes are selling.” — Ryan Rodenbeck
Why August slowed and what that means
August numbers came in softer, but John had a straightforward explanation. August is when kids go back to school, families settle in, and buyers who were active through spring and early summer step back. It’s a seasonal pattern, not a trend reversal.
The more meaningful signal is what happened in the first half of the year. Pending sales, which lead closed sales by 30 to 45 days, showed enough momentum earlier in the year to suggest the market was building. August is noise. The first half trajectory is the signal.
The rate conversation agents need to stop having
Rates are still a topic, but all three agreed the conversation has gone on long enough. Ryan’s first mortgage was at 7.5%. He didn’t think twice about it. The difference now is that buyers have the psychological anchor of the 2.5% era to compare against, which makes current rates feel worse than they are in historical context.
“Once we stop focusing on the headlines of interest rates, they’re going to stop focusing on that. Focus on what it is: a great market to buy in. Rates are going to settle somewhere between five and six, which is where they naturally should be. If you buy now, you refinance later and get the deal now.” — John Crowe
The agents who are still validating buyer hesitation by agreeing that rates are tough are making the problem worse. The more useful conversation is about Austin’s fundamentals and long-term value. For more on how to reframe difficult client conversations, the principles behind better client conversations apply directly here.
Cash buyers are back and they don’t care about headlines
Kent Redding flagged a trend he’s seeing in his own business: a significant run of cash transactions. His last seven to ten closings had all been cash deals, ranging from $700K to $1.5M.
“Those folks don’t care about the chaos in the news. They don’t care about interest rates. They know it’s a good time to buy. I’m seeing much more of that in our marketplace now.” — Kent Redding
These buyers are typically trading out of other assets, stocks or other real estate, and moving that capital into Austin property. They’re not sitting on the fence waiting for a rate cut. They’re buying because they understand the long-term value of the market.
Is Now a Good Time to Buy in Austin?
Both John and Kent answered this directly: yes. The nuance is in understanding why, and why buyers who are waiting are likely to look back and regret it.
Why buyers waiting for the perfect rate are missing the window
The buyers who are hanging back right now are doing the math on monthly payments down to the dollar, factoring in everything from gas to groceries to insurance costs. That math is real. But it’s also causing them to miss a window that historically doesn’t stay open long.
Kent closed on his first primary home purchase in fifteen years just a month before this conversation. His take: the people who bought in prior market slowdowns are the ones who look back with the most satisfaction. The ones who waited are the ones who say “I wish I had.”
“I think we’re going to look back at this time period like we have at other time periods and go, ‘Dang it, I wish I bought some real estate.'” — Kent Redding
For agents working with hesitant buyers, the job is to redirect their attention from the macro headlines to the local fundamentals. For a deeper look at making the case for buying now, explore RealtyHack’s resource on whether now is a good time to buy in Austin.
The luxury market is moving and it starts lower than you think
ABoR’s economist has begun defining the luxury market as starting at $1 million. John pushed back on that slightly, suggesting Austin’s luxury threshold has shifted higher based on what he’s seeing. Either way, the data above that price point is strong.
The buyers in that range are less rate-sensitive because they’re often transacting with cash or significant equity. They’re making decisions based on lifestyle, desirability, and long-term value, not monthly payment calculations.
Austin’s fundamentals haven’t changed
Whatever happens with rates or national headlines, Austin’s underlying case as a market remains intact. John summarized it simply:
- Strong job market and continued job growth
- High income and education levels among residents
- Consistent inbound migration, ranking at or near the top nationally
- Growing tech sector attracting companies and executives
- Relatively affordable compared to the California and Northeast markets that buyers are relocating from
“The fundamentals of Austin are still here. Good jobs, good income, high education, desirability. Those matter.” — John Crowe
Bank of America research has placed Austin among the top cities for large population increases in absolute terms. That trend doesn’t reverse quickly. Agents who are talking down the market to clients are working against data that consistently points in one direction. For a current look at how those fundamentals show up in the numbers, the Austin real estate market overview is a useful starting point.
What It’s Actually Like to Be ABoR President
Both John and Kent have served in the role, in back-to-back years. Their experiences were different enough to be worth understanding, especially for agents considering getting more involved in association leadership.
John’s take: busier than expected, rewarding access
John went into his year expecting it to be relatively calm. The association was celebrating its 100th anniversary. There were no major lawsuits on the horizon, no obvious crises to navigate. He was wrong about the calm part.
The year brought a board removal, a series of smaller challenges, and some decisions around the association’s future footprint. None of it was catastrophic, but none of it was the cruise he anticipated either.
“It’s really a one-year job. My job is not to volunteer to be president of an association. My job is to actually go produce and sell real estate. That makes it really hard.” — John Crowe
The access, though, is real. Speaking before state legislature hearings, connecting with civic and business leaders across Austin, being in rooms that most agents never get near. For agents who want to understand how their market operates at a deeper level, association leadership provides a perspective that’s hard to get any other way.
Kent’s 2024 experience: the NAR settlement that became a nothing burger
Kent’s year as president landed him squarely in the middle of the NAR settlement fallout. The anticipation going in was significant. The settlement had grabbed consumer attention, reshaped the industry’s compensation conversation, and created genuine uncertainty about what was coming next.
The reality, in Kent’s telling, was that ABoR’s preparation made the impact manageable.
“We were months in front of it and we were ready. We communicated well with our membership. They were prepared. And honestly, in a really good way, it was kind of a nothing burger.” — Kent Redding
The credit, both Kent and John agreed, goes largely to ABoR’s staff. The team, led by CEO Emily Chenevert, had the research, the communication strategy, and the member-facing materials ready well before the settlement hit. The president role is visible. The staff work is what makes it function.
How to balance the role with your real estate career
Past presidents have described the time commitment anywhere from a manageable addition to a career-disrupting burden. Kent landed on the manageable end. John found it harder to compartmentalize, particularly when unexpected issues created pressure on time that was supposed to be protected for production.
The consensus advice: time-blocking matters more in that year than any other. If you go in without protected production time, the association work will fill every available hour. If you go in with systems already in place, the year is workable. The principles behind building a top-producer business apply directly here. The stronger your systems before you take the role, the better positioned you are to maintain your business through it.
The Culture Shift That Made ABoR a Model for the Country
One of the more interesting threads in the conversation was about how Austin’s association culture got to where it is, and why other boards around the country have come to study it.
Where it started and what changed
Going back to around 2016 and 2017, ABoR went through a significant governance restructuring. The previous culture had developed into something resembling a closed system where board membership was largely determined by years of committee service and internal relationships rather than open elections. A group of agents, including Ryan and several now-prominent board members, petitioned the membership and pushed for an election-based process.
The CEO at the time resigned when it became clear the incoming board would move in a different direction. Emily Chenevert, who had been serving in a staff role, was named interim CEO. Rather than conducting an expensive external search, the board recognized the right person was already in the building.
“We have a CEO who’s really smart and makes suggestions. A lot of those suggestions are so spot-on. It’s because she’s so tapped into what’s happening and what’s important. And she is always very clear that the decisions are ours.” — John Crowe
That culture, where staff informs and recommends but the board decides, and where the board looks outward to the membership rather than inward to its own interests, is what other associations have come to learn from.
Why Austin’s collaborative culture filters down to agents
The professionalism and cooperative culture inside the association shows up in how Austin agents work with each other. Kent noted that when he operates in other markets, getting agents on the phone is difficult. Cooperation on transactions is inconsistent. In Austin, that’s rarely the problem.
“When I step into another market, it’s almost impossible to get an agent on the phone. In Austin there’s a pretty high level of professionalism and a pretty high level of cooperative culture.” — Kent Redding
The theory is that culture flows from the top down. When the association operates collaboratively and in good faith with its 18,000-member community, that norm becomes part of how agents think about their relationships with each other.
What other associations are doing wrong
Kent was direct: dysfunctional boards exist across the country. Associations where board members are advancing personal agendas, protecting specific brokerages, or operating without accountability to the membership are more common than the Austin experience might suggest.
ABoR’s differentiation isn’t accidental. It came from a deliberate restructuring, a CEO who understands her role, and a board culture where members consistently ask what’s best for 18,000 people rather than what’s best for their individual situation.
The Future of the Industry
The conversation closed with a look forward. AI, consolidation, and the enduring question of what agents are actually for.
AI makes the human role more important, not less
All three agreed on this. John described a buyer client who showed up to a conversation already knowing what a service panel clue report was, clearly the result of some AI-assisted research before the meeting. His reaction was positive. A more educated buyer is an easier buyer to work with, and the agent’s role shifts toward coaching and context rather than basic information delivery.
“I like the AI aspect because I think it makes our clients smarter. If it gets them a little more educated, that’s great. Real estate is so hyper local. We have an opportunity to separate ourselves from that.” — Kent Redding
The agents who will struggle are the ones whose value proposition was information access. That advantage is gone. The agents who will thrive are the ones whose value is judgment, local knowledge, relationships, and the ability to guide someone through one of the most significant financial decisions of their life. AI can surface data. It can’t sit in the room with a nervous first-time buyer and help them make a decision they’ll feel good about. For more on building that kind of durable value, explore agent growth resources at RealtyHack.
Consolidation, chaos, and what settles down
Kent’s read on the industry macro is that the recent years of lawsuits, settlements, headlines, and brokerage consolidation are working through the system. At some point the noise settles and everyone goes back to doing business.
What that looks like in practice: fewer agents, more professional agents, and a market where the gap between the top producers and the rest continues to widen. The agents who used the slow market to sharpen their skills and build their systems will be well positioned when volume recovers. The ones who waited for conditions to improve before investing in themselves will be starting from behind.
What never changes
Kent closed this thread with the simplest possible framing of what agents are for, and it held up against everything else in the conversation.
“People want to live in a home. They need a facilitator. Walk with them, love on them, hold their hand, get them that dream home that they want. None of that changes. The news, the chaos, the lawsuits — none of that changes our role in the living room with buyers and sellers.” — Kent Redding
Rates change. Headlines change. Compensation structures change. The fundamental human need for someone trustworthy to help navigate a major life decision doesn’t.
Three takeaways from John Crowe and Kent Redding
This was a wide-ranging conversation between three people who know Austin real estate from the inside. Here’s what to carry forward:
- The Austin market is moving. First half 2026 is up nearly 5% over last year, cash buyers are active, and the fundamentals (jobs, migration, desirability) haven’t changed. The agents telling clients to wait are working against the data.
- Association leadership is a real commitment. The access and perspective it provides are genuine. So is the time cost. Go in with strong systems or don’t go in expecting your business to hold steady on its own.
- AI won’t replace good agents. It will replace average ones. The more educated your clients become, the more your judgment and local expertise matter. That’s a good thing for agents who keep investing in their skills.
John Crowe serves as the 2026 president of the Austin Board of Realtors. Kent Redding is the immediate past president and a Texas Realtors regional vice president. For more on the Austin market and resources for building your real estate business, explore RealtyHack’s Austin market coverage and agent growth resources.
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