The DFW market flipped, and Irving flipped harder than most. Redfin data this spring puts Irving's median sale price around $355,000. That's down 12.3% from a year ago. Houses that used to sell in about 43 days now sit closer to 63, and the average sale closes about 2% under list.

The wider metro tells the same story. DFW resale inventory is near six months of supply, which is buyer's-market territory. About a quarter of active listings across the metro took a price cut this spring, per realtor.com and Redfin. Rates easing to the low 6s helped a little. It hasn't put sellers back in charge.

Here's the part most Irving sellers miss. Those citywide numbers are an average of two very different markets. Which half of Irving you own decides your playbook.

Is Irving a buyer's market right now?

Yes. By every measure that matters. Inventory is up double digits year over year. Days on market jumped roughly 50%. The median price dropped double digits. When buyers have six months of supply to pick from metro-wide, they don't chase. They wait, they lowball, and they ask for concessions. Price like it's 2024 and you just become the comp for the price cut you'll take in month two.

Why is south Irving feeling this harder than Las Colinas?

Because a buyer's market punishes condition problems, and south Irving has more of them. Las Colinas and Valley Ranch (75038, 75039, 75063) are newer houses fed by corporate relocations. They hold value better even when the market softens. South Irving (75060, 75061) is mostly 1950s to 70s stock. Redfin's neighborhood data puts south Irving's median sale price near $290,000, down almost 14% year over year, with price per square foot in 75060 falling harder than the citywide number.

When buyers could pick from three houses, they'd overlook the original 1962 kitchen. When they can pick from thirty, the house with foundation movement, a 15-year-old roof, and cast iron plumbing drops to the bottom of the stack. Or it gets an offer that assumes worst-case repair costs anyway.

Can you sell an Irving rental with a tenant in place?

To a cash buyer, yes. On the retail market it's close to impossible, and Irving has a lot of landlords about to learn that the hard way.

Retail buyers want to move in. A tenant with eight months left on a lease kills that on day one. Even month-to-month tenants wreck the process. Showings need 24-hour notice. The house shows with someone else's furniture and someone else's housekeeping. Financed buyers' lenders get nervous about occupancy. Most agents will tell you to wait out the lease, spend a month turning the unit, then list into a softening market while you wait.

I buy tenant-occupied houses and take over the lease at closing. The tenant keeps paying rent, to me. You never serve notice. You never do a make-ready. You never lose a month of rent to vacancy while your listing sits.

What does the math actually look like: cash vs. listing?

Run it on Irving's median, a $355,000 house in decent shape.

List it retail. Sell at about 2% under list, call it $348,000. Subtract 5.5% in commissions (about $19,000). Subtract a buyer concession or repair credit ($8,000 is normal right now). Subtract 3 to 4 months of taxes, insurance, mortgage, and utilities while you wait through 63 days on market plus a financed closing, call it $10,000. Net: roughly $311,000, in about four months, if the deal doesn't fall through on the appraisal.

Sell for cash. A fair cash offer on that same house might land around $290,000. No commission. No concessions. No repairs. Closed in about 10 days. Net: roughly $290,000, this month.

That's a gap of about $20,000. I won't pretend it isn't there. A cash offer is always lower than retail. The trade is speed and certainty. The gap closes fast when the house needs $40,000 of work or has a tenant in it, because retail buyers discount those things harder than I do.

Cash makes sense when:

  • You're behind on payments and every month costs you equity
  • You inherited a house you don't want to project-manage from afar
  • The house needs real work (foundation, roof, plumbing), not paint
  • You're relocating out of state and can't carry two payments
  • You have a tenant in place and don't want the vacancy-and-turnover gauntlet

When should you still list traditional?

When your house is clean, vacant, and you can wait four months. A renovated 75063 house near the corporate corridor should go on MLS. Price it right and let the market work. As a licensed agent, I'll tell you that straight. If listing is your best move, I'll say so on the first call.

What are cash buyers paying in Irving right now?

My buy box is 70 to 80 cents on the after-repair-value dollar, depending on condition. A light-cosmetic house in 75062 lands near the top of that range. An original-condition 75061 house with deferred maintenance lands toward the bottom, because the repair budget is real. I buy and hold or renovate myself. There's no wholesaler fee baked into my number, which is usually worth 5 to 10 cents on the dollar versus the "we buy houses" middlemen.

What should Irving sellers do right now?

Get two numbers before you decide anything. What your house nets on MLS after commissions, concessions, and carrying costs. And what it nets in cash, in 10 days. I run both for Irving sellers and let the math pick. Same offer works if you're holding property in Carrollton or Arlington. The metro-wide shift doesn't stop at the Irving city line.

The market isn't waiting. Six months of supply says buyers set the terms now, and every month on market is a carrying cost you don't get back.

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Caleb Callahan is a licensed Texas agent (TREC #837919). Need a written cash offer in 24 hours? Visit callahanhomebuyers.com or call (214) 226-1193.