"We've out-gentrified ourselves" (Austin: sales, 2013, house)

[scm53]

My apologies for this being behind the Statesman's pay wall. It is a good read.

[philopower]

Can't you post it for us?

[mayfair44]

Originally Posted by philopower

Can't you post it for us?

? free to me.

Ponzio:

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by scm53

It is a good read.

And absolutely, completely false in many many ways. No time to address all the falsehoods now, but the rail line out to the airport isn't even in the first phase. And no taxpayer money was used to build the track.

[Austin97]

article was ridiculous. There is tons of affordable housing near downtown if you go east. The east side will definitely get built up even more. There are also tons of large tract lots that can be made into subdivisions.

[atxcio]

Bidding wars over properties near Rundberg?

Yeah, this article is way over the top. "Local Contributor" is basically equivalent to a letter to the editor. And the Statesman puts it up as a real article.

[AustinGuy]

Another great reason not to pay for the Statesman. I don't have to read this

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Novacek

And no taxpayer money was used to build the track.

CPA Richard Viktorin doesn't share your opinion.

[hillcountryheart]

Okay, even if the rest of the article is crap, it IS horrible to see a staple of UT and Austin life disappearing from being part of a smallish area of neighborhood retail. It IS crap to see people forced out of their homes because their neighborhood is "fashionable" and their property taxes went through the roof.

This is the downside of not having an income tax - the dependency on property and sales taxes. It kicks those on fixed incomes in the teeth. If there's a little old lady living in the same house she's lived in for 60 years in Hyde Park, even with a senior citizen homestead exemption - gotta wonder if she can pay the damn taxes.

How do we solve this short of pulling Prop 13?

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by scm53

I was interested in what part you found "tripe"? That Austin is becoming unaffordable? That there are bidding wars for properties, where they routinely go for above the asking price? That it is difficult to find a place for a family for $700/mo.? That the proposed rail system will cost $100M/mi? That the mayor has floated the idea to sell/leaseback the airport to avoid a bond election on rail? That Freewheeling Bicycles was forced to close because it was priced out of its long term home?

I believe every single one of those things.

1) austin is not becoming unaffordable. Maybe select areas that were already expensive. There is planty of very inexpensive housing. Do a search for single family homes under 150K, > 1500 sq ft and you get a ton of properties. North, east and southeast.

2) there might be a few bidding wars but that is not the norm. Probably less than 1% of properties have bidding wars
3) Of course it is difficult to find a place for 700 a month for a whole family. That doesnt sound like a problem. Where in the country are you going to find 700/month housing?
4) no idea what they say it will cost. Doesnt matter as it isnt going to be built anytime soon
5) he has floated that idea, so what?
6) Freewheeling bicycles was forced to close because they couldnt generate enough revenue. There are many other bike shops that arent closing that occupy expensive space. You could claim every business that closes, closes because of costs. But in reality it is a revenue problem. If they had a viable business they could have moved.