Downtown living (Austin, Howe: real estate market, 2014, insurance)

[TXJay]

Any chance there are affordable flats in the new mid/high rise condos for retirees? Would sell burb house & try to live on ~50k. Doable or fantasy - thanks for honest eval.

[centralaustinite]

Pretty sure this is a fantasy. Would be happy to hear from any others that it is not.

[zakas80]

Originally Posted by TXJay

Any chance there are affordable flats in the new mid/high rise condos for retirees? Would sell burb house & try to live on ~50k. Doable or fantasy - thanks for honest eval.

No chance whatsoever. ..sorry

[JT-3]

Define affordable?

[petro]

Originally Posted by JT-3

Define affordable?

Yeah, I think more details would help. Most of the DT high-rises are branded as "luxury" condos that come with amenities such as 24-hour concierge, pools, gyms, maid service, etc. These come at a premium. However, if your goal is to live in the DT area, it may be possible, just not in the high-rises. More budget info and details about how you define affordable and what you are specifically looking for in a move DT will be helpful in determining feasibility.

[verybadgnome]

I think it depends on how much you can sell the suburban house for and how many sq. ft. you require. I think starting prices are about $300k/$300 sq. ft. plus $300 or more in condo fees (which may include things like insurance, alarm system, gym, etc). Older condos and converted ones offer the best bang for your buck.

[TXJay]

2/2 updated kitchen. Not necessary to be high in the building. Figure 450-500 k cash sale. Live on SS & retirement. I'm guessing it's little more than a dream, since Austin home search doesn't even deign to list affordable properties. Meanwhile Austin's dysfunctional city government hand out money willy nilly to scrape Californians/ New Vedans ( fill in the blank) here. Real Austinites, I think, hold on to what they have and nurses, teachers, police, fire & retirees head to affordable burbs. Guess that is life
Would love to see candidate in front of their homes (s) suspect some live large. & could care less about Austin as an affordable city - make it expensive enough & the riff-raff withdraw.

Thanks for advice. Don't see Austin as long term location.

[sojourner77]

Originally Posted by TXJay

2/2 updated kitchen. Not necessary to be high in the building. Figure 450-500 k cash sale. Live on SS & retirement. I'm guessing it's little more than a dream, since Austin home search doesn't even deign to list affordable properties. Meanwhile Austin's dysfunctional city government hand out money willy nilly to scrape Californians/ New Vedans ( fill in the blank) here. Real Austinites, I think, hold on to what they have and nurses, teachers, police, fire & retirees head to affordable burbs. Guess that is life
Would love to see candidate in front of their homes (s) suspect some live large. & could care less about Austin as an affordable city - make it expensive enough & the riff-raff withdraw.

Thanks for advice. Don't see Austin as long term location.

Are condos in downtown Austin expensive - as of October 4th, 2014?

Yes.

Condos downtown only became out of your price range within the last year, and over the last 3 years almost 150 of themselves within your criteria sold - 2/2 ranging from 177K to 500K. If you go immediate south of the river - north of Oltorf, there was another 150 condos that sold within your criteria.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by TXJay

2/2 updated kitchen. Not necessary to be high in the building. Figure 450-500 k cash sale. Live on SS & retirement.

Exactly the scenario we are wrestling with. At that price point - where you might not even find a property - you are staring $12,000/yr. in property taxes right in the face. Hard to see the value for money in that scenario on a retirement income. Not that you can't afford the purchase - but that you can't afford the taxes, which will do nothing but increase annually.

[TXJay]

I wish we had never moved here. We are gone next year when the real estate market picks up.