What's the worst thing about living in Austin? (Houston, Orange: mortgage, promotional)

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by dbsteel

Man....... You hit this one on the head. Nice writeup. The stuff that comes out of peoples mouths about that city amazes me. You'd think no other city had a street of bars, a park with dead grass, or a jogging trail. I read one guys quote about it being one of the best spots for outdoor lifestyles in the world. Are you kidding me?

What's wrong with civic pride? I don't understand why people get bent out of shape when people express their love for the city. If Austin is not your cup of tea, you're more than welcome to go elsewhere, but why slam the people who like it here?

[dbsteel]

You can't get a greenbelt to hike and jog in many major cities? Oh my.........

Originally Posted by LakeTravisAlum

To VardMcPhatter:

If you don't like it here, PLEASE LEAVE! We're fine with all of the transplants, but when the transplants start complaining about living here, then it becomes a problem. Do us all a favor and go somewhere else!

To dbsteel:

Yes...Austin is a great place to live an outdoorsy lifestyle. I have a huge greenbelt and preserve in my back yard that I can hike and jog on every morning. I know you can't get that in Houston, Dallas and many other major US cities.

[dbsteel]

Not intended to be a slam. I thought it was funny actually, the best in the world thing. I don't dislike Austin at all, but its nothing special..... I was just agreeing with the guy.

[quote=Moonlady;24856800]What's wrong with civic pride? I don't understand why people get bent out of shape when people express their love for the city. If Austin is not your cup of tea, you're more than welcome to go elsewhere, but why slam the people who like it here?[/

[scm53]

Originally Posted by VardMcPhatter

Meanwhile, Austin (and really, any city in Texas) does not hold a candle to most metro/coastal areas of California when it comes to topography/climate/culture, etc. what they don’t talk about is all the Californians that move back or long to do so. Pay attention to relocation forums sometime and see if the remorse is not palpable.

I’ve lived in SoCal, and on one level, you are right. It is possible to see mountains in the distance, and get to the beach fairly easily (where, once you are there, the water is too damn cold to go in). BUT, and it is a big but, you live most of your life in a five mile circle around your house, and that circle in Orange County, the Valley, the “Inland Empire”, Escondido – is pretty much indistinguishable from life in suburban Austin.

The second thing is a huge one as well – you can’t eat scenery. Your kids are educated in a school, not at the beach. The job markets, the tax burden, and the poor performing schools are all driving folks out of the once Golden State. One can be as wistful as they like, but quality of life starts with a job that will adequately provide for your family. Austin can lose its job formation mojo – did it in the late eighties and I was $30K upside down in a house that I owed $80K on. Once jobs started growing again, house prices came right back up. The question is, will that ever happen in Cali?

Originally Posted by VardMcPhatter

Austin made Case-Shiller's list of 15 Worst Housing Markets in the Next Five Years for a reason, and from my observations, the smart money is on the sell side of things.

Procrustean logic at its best. First, Case-Schiller had no such list – it was in BusinessInsider. It drew on Case-Schiller data to project appreciation over the next five years, and Austin projected a growth of .7%. So what? Proving that you can bounce a dead cat, Detroit showed a nice 2.3% YOY appreciation from March 2011. Want to make money in real estate, live in Detroit. Problem is, well, you have to live in Detroit.

As far as shorting Austin RE, until you can stop the job growth, that is a horrible bet.

Originally Posted by VardMcPhatter

Austin’s claim that they avoided the housing/credit bubble is plain specious.

Yep, something specious in there, but it isn’t “Austin’s claim”. Here is the real data – using the Case-Shiller January 2000 20-city index as a baseline, Austin went from 110 to a peak of 140 in July 2010. Meanwhile, the 20-city index peaked at 206 in July 2006 (Austin at 130), before falling to 140 – matching Austin – in July 2010.

Originally Posted by VardMcPhatter

The BBQ is overrated, too.

Bon Appetit, who called Franklin BBQ #1 in the country, is on line 1. I'm sure they will listen to your logic.

Originally Posted by VardMcPhatter

Austin is a good little American town with maybe less homogeneity than a lot of other bergs, but I think I'm just about ready to go.

Need any help with your U-Haul deposit?

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by LakeTravisAlum

have a huge greenbelt and preserve in my back yard that I can hike and jog on every morning. I know you can't get that in Houston, Dallas and many other major US cities.

Of course you can! I have friends in Houston that live right on some.... really nice, green lush ones too.

And you honestly think other major cities don't have these? You need to get out more.

[sxrckr]

Anyone else find it amusing that the point of the thread is "what's the worst thing", yet those saying what the worst things are to them are immediately shut down, even ridiculed and told to get out? LOL.
I guess that's austintude for ya....

[Shredding_Gnar78]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Anyone else find it amusing that the point of the thread is "what's the worst thing", yet those saying what the worst things are to them are immediately shut down, even ridiculed and told to get out? LOL.
I guess that's austintude for ya....

Preach Austin superiority or hit the road!

And remember to wear your uniform: polo shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and flip flops.

No longhorn sticker on car? Blasphemy!

[Aquitaine]

The title of the thread is not license to say whatever the heck you want. You're posting on an internet forum. You're opening whatever you say to criticism.

I have no beef with anybody who doesn't like Austin, and there are plenty of good criticisms in this thread. There are also plenty more bad criticisms, people with axes to grind, and just made-up stuff, and when some of us see that, we have no problem calling it out.

"LOL" right back at you!

[LakeTravisAlum]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Of course you can! I have friends in Houston that live right on some.... really nice, green lush ones too.

And you honestly think other major cities don't have these? You need to get out more.

I've been all over the place so I don't really think I need to get out more.

I'm talking big hills, Lake Austin, tributaries that flow into Lake Austin, and such. I'm pretty sure that all of that cannot be found in Houston. I would know - I've lived there. If you're talking about a flat, man-made "greenbelt", then yeah - Houston has those.

[tazbigdog]

Worst thing for me is the allergies! I'll take the heat and traffic, but allergies are driving me crazy!