wanting ot move to austin - looking for info (Detroit: 2009, crime rates)

[TexasHorseLady]

I agree with Steve that there are areas of Austin and vicinity that are, indeed, a hot seller's market, and most of them are priced $200,000 or below. Whether or not these would coincide with what the OP considers excellent schools is the question, and that's so very subjective in my experience (a great school for one kid being a disaster for another and vice versa, and I've done a LOT of looking at schools, public and private, and evaluating them during my ~ 30 years of active parenting - kids born 12 years apart).

OP, what do you enjoy doing? What are your reasons for wanting to live "in" Austin as opposed to some of the communities (Round Rock, Cedar Park) that have excellent schools and can sometimes be confused with being in Austin if you don't have a map because they all run together? (Some homes that are technically in Round Rock are in the Austin ISD, for example, and vice versa, for example.) What is your price range likely to be?

What are your subjective goals for your life in moving here, in other words? Once we know that, we'll be much better able to answer the question: "what are the good spots (for us) to live?"

Oh, and regarding the property taxes? Remember to figure in that Texas doesn't have a state income tax. You can find information on property tax rates for Travis County here, for Williamson County here.

[sliverbox]

3cherrys,
Sounds to me like you all should be renting instead of buying if you get the itch to move often. To my understanding the CO market isn't that great these days. So first you'd need to sell the house. Lastly- Austin steve is a real estate investor. Keep that in mind when reading his advice.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by 3cherrys

thats not what i want to hear but not staying in CO.. made the move here a few years ago and ready for something else.. used to moving around as a military brat - hubby wants to move somewhere that has a good music scene.. austin seems to be that, or so they say... and soonish to me means a year or so.. want to be able to sell the house here and find a job there

Austinite45 Moderator cut: Personal attacks never has anything positive to say about Austin.

We moved to Austin from Denver in 1977 for college and we loved it so much we stayed. Come and see it for yourself.

Austin does have a traffic problem during rush hour so its best to live on the same side of town where you work. Figure out where that will probably be and people can give you recommendations on good neighborhoods around there.

[austinite45]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

In August 2009, 301 homes in Austin (excluding Round Rock, etc) sold for $200K or less. Avg days on market was 44 days. Median days was 26, meaning half the homes in this price range sold in 26 days or less. 75 of those listings (25%) sold in 10 days or less. 23 of those listings sold in 3 days or less. Sold/List price ratio was 98%.

That's False Info again, Steve!!
First off, statistics must be put in context and not viewed in isolation. Comparison is a must because numbers by themselves are meaningless in spotting market trends. That's just basic knowledge.

Second, months of inventory for Austin has been steadily going up since Jan. 2007 (2 1/2 months) to August 2009 (about 5 1/2 months).

Call it whatever kind of market you want, ds, but I call that a hot seller's market,

No, you don't get to call it whatever market you want Steve. That's just an excuse for putting out misleading info.

and we keep running into multiple offers left and right and have frustrated buyers unable to find what they need. We have one on a backup contract in South Austin now after $5K over list price clean offer still didn't win the bids. That's the third one they've missed.

You can make up anything you want. Credibility is the issue here. I don't believe one bit of it!!

Moderator cut: Off Topic

[austinite45]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I agree with Steve that there are areas of Austin and vicinity that are, indeed, a hot seller's market, and most of them are priced $200,000 or below.

I'll just note that you are a real estate agent, like Steve. Enough said.

(a great school for one kid being a disaster for another and vice versa, and I've done a LOT of looking at schools, public and private, and evaluating them during my ~ 30 years of active parenting - kids born 12 years apart).

that's the usual spin by real estate agents when there isn't any good schools around!! "a great school for one ... a disaster for another ..."??? please!!

Oh, and regarding the property taxes? Remember to figure in that Texas doesn't have a state income tax.

what about the 8.25% sales tax?

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by austinite45

Moderator cut: Off Topic

I challenge you to refute my posts with facts.

No, I think it's a pretty accurate description. I've been reading this board for about a year and a half now and out of all your comments, I don't recall seeing anything not caustic or nasty. And being that you regularly attack people, I find it funny that you are calling out someone else on a personal attack.

[artsyguy]

I'd like to add that Austinite45 is usually correct in his posts about Austin. It's really a lame city with a lot of overrated lame things to do: UT campus tours, bats under bridges party, longhorn football games, crowded bars, lets stare at Leslie The Drag Queen Day, "The Zoo" if you can even call it that etc. Borrrrrrrrring.

Moderator cut: Off Topic

[austinite45]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

I'd like to add that Austinite45 is usually correct in his posts about Austin. ...

Thanks artsyguy!

To further refute Jennibc, Austin-steve and TexashorseLady, I'll highlight some of the stats from the following website:
AUSTIN, TX Real Estate Market Report for September 27 2009

Home sales and demand trends: The average property in AUSTIN as of September 27 2009 has been on the market for about 159 days. (that's over 5 months)

Housing Market Conditions: With a Market Action Index as of September 27 2009 at 15.99, AUSTIN is currently a buyer's market.

Homes for Sale: There are about 5,259 properties on the market in AUSTIN as of September 27 2009.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by austinite45

Thanks artsyguy!

To further refute Jennibc, Austin-steve and TexashorseLady, I'll highlight some of the stats from the following website:
AUSTIN, TX Real Estate Market Report for September 27 2009

Home sales and demand trends: The average property in AUSTIN as of September 27 2009 has been on the market for about 159 days. (that's over 5 months)

Housing Market Conditions: With a Market Action Index as of September 27 2009 at 15.99, AUSTIN is currently a buyer's market.

Homes for Sale: There are about 5,259 properties on the market in AUSTIN as of September 27 2009.

How is this refuting what I wrote? I never mentioned anything about real estate numbers, just about the character of your posts.

[TexasHorseLady]

I'd recommend that anyone wondering about how much salt to take any of the comments on here with simply click on the name of the poster and go read their other posts. That should make things pretty clear as to what biases they might or might not have (and in the case of some posters - cough! artsy guy - cough! - can lead to some interesting guessing games about which of the various stories they tell about whether they've lived in Austin or just visited here or attended school here or worked here is the true story).

Regarding my comment about schools, as I've stated on here before, the private school that was perfect for my son would have been a disaster for my daughter and vice versa. Also, that I attended one of the top ten schools in the country at the time when I was in middle school/high school, and it just about destroyed any interest in learning I had, no matter how good their scores were. This was long before I was an agent or even thought about becoming one, so I fail to see how my being a real estate agent has anything to do with that simple fact that not all schools are wonderful for all children and with even the best stats, you'd best look at the school with your particular child in mind.

However, that being said, OP, again, if we know more about you, we can give you more helpful information.