Is Austin the New Brooklyn

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by Komeht

Frankly, they do a disservice to Brooklyn.

True.

[paul6835]

Having lived in NYC through Brooklyn's rise and now Austin for the past 8 years, I've always compared Brooklyn to East Austin. Ignore the superficial things, and look rather to where the people are in life, what they aspire to, want they want in thier neighborhoods, who they hold as role models, displacement of long established artistic and ethnic neighborhoods (granted, Brooklyn had more kinds of ethnicity) by young people avoiding the costly established downtown.

[mackenziep]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Hmmm, let's break this down.

I'm a Texan. Born here, grew up elsewhere, but been back since age 19 and I'm 51 now. I don't know anyone, transplants or native, that I would deem "insulated" from "other religions, other cultures, and other lifestyles". Doesn't living in Austin do just the opposite, and expose its inhabitants to a variety of life's offerings? I could write multiple paragraphs on this alone but I'll leave it at that.

Regarding the feeling of never having to leave, yes, I am one of those. Nearing empty-nester retirement phase of life, I don't know of a place I'd rather be. My wife and I will certainly explore and travel and maybe fall in love with another place, but living in and/or around Austin is our plan until the end.

Finally, your comment "...they never have to leave the state, and if they do, wherever they are isn't as good as Texas. This is not common anywhere else.", seems to say that, in your opinion, only those who live in Texas feel like they can't do better elsewhere. As I stated, that's true for me. But doesn't that support the basic thrust of the article, that unhappy people keep coming to Austin thinking it will be better?

That's what the migration statistics, job and population growth shows. Your arguments against others seem to actually support what you are arguing against.

Steve

I think that you didn't read my entire post, or the posts that led up to it.

[BridgetGrumet]

The example about Mrs. Segovia was in error: It turns out she had torn down her old home and built a new one, which is why the taxable value and tax bill changed so dramatically. We have corrected the story online and apologize for any confusion the error caused.
Bridget Grumet
assistant metro editor
Austin American-Statesman

[gpurcell]

Thanks for posting, Bridget!

[creepy]

This article shows where the new Austinites are coming from and what percentages. 2nd chart down.
Austin or Bust: America's Biggest Cities Lose People to the Urban B-List - Businessweek

[creepy]

Austin was considered affordable yesterday-today is a new day. Serious.

[aedubber]

Originally Posted by creepy

This article shows where the new Austinites are coming from and what percentages. 2nd chart down.
Austin or Bust: America's Biggest Cities Lose People to the Urban B-List - Businessweek

No wonder Austin has become so Liberal , OUCH... Nice little read in that article.

[buffettjr]

Originally Posted by scm53

That chart is accurate, if one is in the market for a $1M house. I'm not, and I bet you aren't either.

The median house list price, in the Austin metro area, as of 3/1, was $126/sq. ft. That doesn't translate into 5500 sq. ft. for $1M. Translates into almost 8,000.

Yeah I'm going to call shenanigans here. Show me where you can buy a bunch of homes *in the Austin metro area* for $126 / ft and I will personally buy you one. And I'm not talking about a one-off listing on Rundberg, but there should be homes damn near everywhere under that price if that is the median.

[buffettjr]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

That same article the owner (and homesteader I presume) says her taxes went up tenfold in five years. How is that possible with the homestead exemption and the 10% cap?

It says she "replaced her home". So basically she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to smash a (paid off) home down and rebuild it, and then complained that her taxes went up a lot.