informal poll for relocatees......are you coming to Austin with or without a job? (Odessa: real estate, buy)

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by jobert

my tally from the cross section of people so far suggests the following:

Job: 7
No Job: 2
Telecommute (job) 4
Retired (no job maybe): 1
Not sure: 2

Job: 11
No Job: 3

From my personal experience, for 75% of the people I know that are going to move to Austin, it's:

"I'm planning on moving to Austin, but I need to find a job"

just sayin.

True.....My take on it is this.....if you have a huge growth in population like Austin has/is seeing, you need a job growth that trends the same.....right now, the job growth is skirting negative in Austin, at 0.2 %....I presume, with all the folks on here planning relo moves to Austin "No matter what..", that the Austin Population Growth will easily beat the 3.4% of last year.....so what gives? You have a job growth that is sputtering into negative territory, and they say no prob, don't worry, jobs for everyone, at least from folks on here who make money on that same population growth....Is that fair to tell folks that, when it is so obvious that Austin's job engine is sputtering right now? Are the local papers just kidding, or lying, when they post stats like today in the Austin American?

statesman.com | Austin area job growth falls sharply | Statesman Business Blog

Is the power of positive thinking, Joel Osteen-style, so persuasive that it can dupe folks into overlooking our local economic downturn? I think it can....people want to be believe....and you can't deny them their hopes and dreams......and they will keep coming at the same rate.....lets pray for job growth....

[intmd8r]

Those of us coming to Austin with jobs or telecommuting jobs can only help the economy and possibly create more jobs, as that will be money going into the economy that isn't there now.

As my husband Runemaster has stated in this thread, he is a professional writer and can work from anywhere.

That being said, if we do indeed move to the Austin area (and others who telecommute), we're now dumping money into the local economy and even doing so without taking any jobs from others. Therefore, our spending on a house, taxes, food, retail, etc. can only help.

Also, those who move there who already have jobs lined up for when they get there will also be pouring their dollars into the economy in many different ways, which can only help the local economy.

Most struggling cities want people to relocate there, because there is strength in numbers (and more specifically, tax dollars).

[lemonlime]

We have a job. Or at least my DH does. I don't really work now, so its no big difference for me. His job is moving out of where he is currently and he has a choice of several different locations. Most being California. When we first heard of this last year we were considering some parts of California, but after reading about their schools and how short the funding was already, I decided that it was not a good place. Plus they seem to tax everything they can and yet the value of services is not there. We also had the option of the Atlanta area, but that is even further away from family than Austin. So Austin it is

[711mum]

Husband and I are moving due to his job transfer. He has been in Austin for 7 weeks and I am down here this week house hunting. I may work part time but, thankfully, don't need to have a job.

[jobert]

Austin is a very smart decision, the critical mass needed for a successful metropolitan area is steadily growing. "inthecut" mentioned Richard Florida earlier, and I'm a fan on his writing as well; his commentary on the new economic landscape and up-and-coming metro regions for this country was eye-opening and a positive assessment for Austin's future:

How the Crash Will Reshape America - The Atlantic (March 2009)

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by intmd8r

Those of us coming to Austin with jobs or telecommuting jobs can only help the economy and possibly create more jobs, as that will be money going into the economy that isn't there now.

As my husband Runemaster has stated in this thread, he is a professional writer and can work from anywhere.

That being said, if we do indeed move to the Austin area (and others who telecommute), we're now dumping money into the local economy and even doing so without taking any jobs from others. Therefore, our spending on a house, taxes, food, retail, etc. can only help.

Also, those who move there who already have jobs lined up for when they get there will also be pouring their dollars into the economy in many different ways, which can only help the local economy.

Most struggling cities want people to relocate there, because there is strength in numbers (and more specifically, tax dollars).

That depends......still a basic fact is that most people are not coming here with businesses ready to roll......and, as times get worse, we will/are getting far more economic refugees with little to spend...and I would hope new arrivals without jobs are not blowing their money hanging out, and are conserving it while they land a job....

Also, the city has to build the infrastructure to accomodate the new arrivals...road construction and maintainance, city services, hospitals,
schools, etc.....and all of this has to be born by the locals that are paying the local taxes NOW.....

Florida AND Nevada had great problems with the numbers of relos, which, combined with the stagnant job market, caused their UR to climb to double digit levels recently......question is, is Texas and Austin any different than the rest of the suffering sunbelt? The states with little Taxes like Nevada and Florida are suffering along with the major Taxers like California......Is Texas that special and different that they can stay above those sunbelt and national trends? Can they become the fastest growing state without any repercussions per state and local gov't budgets?

Wait and see...

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by jobert

Austin is a very smart decision, the critical mass needed for a successful metropolitan area is steadily growing. "inthecut" mentioned Richard Florida earlier, and I'm a fan on his writing as well; his commentary on the new economic landscape and up-and-coming metro regions for this country was eye-opening and a positive assessment for Austin's future:

How the Crash Will Reshape America - The Atlantic (March 2009)

True....but Austin is going to have some awful growing pains for the next year and a half or more......and no locksafe guarantee on that growth if the national financial markets collapse, which isn't completely outside plausibility yet......Austin NOW depends on outside flows far more than internal flows, financially.....turn off that tap, and the growth simply dissipates.....

Any opinions on the macro national and international financial flows out there now? Are you as bullish on it as Austin? Can Austin growth exist without external financial flows?

[austin-steve]

Any opinions on the macro national and international financial flows out there now? Are you as bullish on it as Austin? Can Austin growth exist without external financial flows?

ITC,
Why don't you attend and ask your questions next week at the Angelou Economics Austin 2009/2010 Forecast in Oak Hill on April 2, hosted by the Oak Hill Business and Professional Association? This is the $300 presentation they do every year, but OHBPA luncheon version is $45 for non-members. I posted the link to the power point earlier in another thread. I'm sure you must have reviewed it. Here is a link to more info on attending.
Oak Hill Business and Professional Association (http://www.ohbpa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=188&Item id=293 - broken link)

I'll enjoy seeing you call these out out and tell them what idiots they are and how all their data and information, which is contrary to your dire warnings, is bogus. I've attended these presentations for the past 5 years, and they have a track record of really knowing their stuff.

Steve

[cabolissa]

With a job.

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

ITC,
Why don't you attend and ask your questions next week at the Angelou Economics Austin 2009/2010 Forecast in Oak Hill on April 2, hosted by the Oak Hill Business and Professional Association? This is the $300 presentation they do every year, but OHBPA luncheon version is $45 for non-members. I posted the link to the power point earlier in another thread. I'm sure you must have reviewed it. Here is a link to more info on attending.
Oak Hill Business and Professional Association (http://www.ohbpa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=188&Item id=293 - broken link)

I'll enjoy seeing you call these out out and tell them what idiots they are and how all their data and information, which is contrary to your dire warnings, is bogus. I've attended these presentations for the past 5 years, and they have a track record of really knowing their stuff.

Steve

Thanks for the heads up per the meeting..I attend quite a few seminars, all over the spectrum, and enjoy them......I never call anyone a fool for their opinions though.....as long as they see things for what they are....I do look to see if organizations have connections to industry, and/or are supported by the same, like many think tanks......that being said, sure, sounds like an interesting night out....

That being said, Steve, what do YOU think of those two confluences I mentioned.....the marked slowing of job growth while the pop growth maintains the same vectors? My opinion is that it can't sustain itself anymore than it could in Nevada or Florida.....I don't think that Texas will be knocked for the count from this, but it certainly will cause temporary growing pains of a pronounced nature.....re the cover stories in Austin's major newspaper the last few weeks.....

You simply can't have large population growth without large job growth.......and the state along with Austin is trending down per the same, possibly for a year or two.........

Again, how do you think Austin and Texas will absorb all the new relocatees with a next to negative job growth, Steve?