S. 5th and Cumberland (Austin: real estate, condos, houses)

[Trainwreck20]

I am curious about this area. I play volleyball at the Rec center, and I always thought of this area as pretty rough, but with potential. Then I actually looked it up, and parts of it are quite pricey. The following house is 1580 sq.ft, built in 1961, and is appraised at 253k! The land itself is valued at 100k. This is a ~65% increase in appraisded value since 2000. It is right on S. 5th, which is somewhat busy, too. Do these houses really sell for that much?

[Trainwreck20]

Just down the street a couple of houses is this house (actually, a duplex, I guess, for building code purposes). The new 'house' was built in 2005 and the whole property has appreciated 39% in the last two years - land appr. at 50k and property at 314k, 2370 sq. ft.

This is kind of interesting, because the TravisCAD says that there is only a 10k difference in the two properties if you take out the land value difference (50k). Is a modern 'McMansion' a huge appraisal negative? The extra 800 sq. ft and new construction is only 10k? Or is the connected old house a negative? Very odd.

[Trainwreck20]

And a few random pictures from that same block:

This house was built in 2002 and blends in very nicely with the neighborhood, much better than the tall, stark houses.


And I had never seen bambo garage doors before....


And lastly, this tree to the right was HUGE, but I could not get far enough back to get a shot that did it justice:

[AustinTraveler]

Trainwreck,

I actually drove through this area the other day and I was thinking that it seemed pretty undiscovered considering its close location to downtown. I'm not surprised at all about the prices and I'm sure they'll just keep going up. Austin real estate is going nuts if my brand new tax appraisal that I just got in today's mail is any indication.

AT

[satanoid]

I just bought a house a few blocks from here - south 5th an cardinal.

I grew up nearby, and went to this rec center often. It was a bit rough, back in the day - but these days, I see folks jogging with strollers after dark. Gentrification isn't yet complete (there is a housing project across the street from the rec center, as well) but it is still a very nice area. Tons of expensive condos going up, lots of young people moving into the area.

If you ever see someone out jogging with a chocolate lab, that'll be me!