Article: Austin the most expensive rent in TX

[orbius]

Originally Posted by halfliquid

OMG! Is that even possible?

Yep things are at a whole new level of suck. Some of these new places literally shake when someone across the hall close their doors they're built so poorly. You can hear conversations of people above you below you and side to side. Think giant KB home split 12 times+. Some places are so poorly insulated electricity bills on a one bedroom are $300 in the summer.

Sound transmission codes in the International Building Code that Austin uses? Who needs them? Austin City Council passed omissions to the IBC omitting all the sound transmission building codes.

For the people in houses saying 'who cares not my problem' well think again. Some of these complexes are so monumentally poorly built that they're on the Section 8 countdown. Ever seen what a large apartment complex going section 8 near a neighborhood does? Its not pretty.

[halfliquid]

Originally Posted by orbius

Yep things are at a whole new level of suck. Some of these new places literally shake when someone across the hall close their doors they're built so poorly. You can hear conversations of people above you below you and side to side. Think giant KB home split 12 times+. Some places are so poorly insulated electricity bills on a one bedroom are $300 in the summer.

Sound transmission codes in the International Building Code that Austin uses? Who needs them? Austin City Council passed omissions to the IBC omitting all the sound transmission building codes.

For the people in houses saying 'who cares not my problem' well think again. Some of these complexes are so monumentally poorly built that they're on the Section 8 countdown. Ever seen what a large apartment complex going section 8 near a neighborhood does? Its not pretty.

I'm going to rethink moving right now. I don't want to spend several hundred dollars a month and get the same poor construction that I deal with now and a huge electric bill on top of that. My electric right now is $40/mo.

I've watched a few new complexes being built over the past several months and I'm amazed that these three story buildings are just 2x4's with some particle board on the outside covered with siding, and drywall on the inside. I guess the high monthly rent is to pay for the amenities, the pretty landscaping, and the fancy sign with the over-the-top made-up name at the main gate--like "Luxury Platinum Gable Springs at the Avenue of Trees Ranch."

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by halfliquid

I'm going to rethink moving right now. I don't want to spend several hundred dollars a month and get the same poor construction that I deal with now and a huge electric bill on top of that. My electric right now is $40/mo.

I've watched a few new complexes being built over the past several months and I'm amazed that these three story buildings are just 2x4's with some particle board on the outside covered with siding, and drywall on the inside. I guess the high monthly rent is to pay for the amenities, the pretty landscaping, and the fancy sign with the over-the-top made-up name at the main gate--like "Luxury Platinum Gable Springs at the Avenue of Trees Ranch."

Anything built recently is going to be very energy efficient. Even the more economically constructed dwellings. Mostly in Austin it's the stuff built in the 1980s that was the worse quality.

Just be a smart shopper and make a good decision when choosing your place. It's really not complicated. Any Class A apartment is going to be very efficient.

Steve

Steve

[nomore07]

Originally Posted by RevMen

One Texas city has to have the highest rent in Texas. It may as well be the capital.


It's still a relatively inexpensive place to rent or buy property on the whole.

Relative to... NYC or London, perhaps. There is a double whammy of higher cost of living yet lower salaries than other Texas cities.

[orbius]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Anything built recently is going to be very energy efficient. Even the more economically constructed dwellings. Mostly in Austin it's the stuff built in the 1980s that was the worse quality.

Just be a smart shopper and make a good decision when choosing your place. It's really not complicated. Any Class A apartment is going to be very efficient.

Steve

Steve

The City of Austin is just now starting to enforce code in some downtown homes that have been obviously out of code for 30+ years. So even where code exists they havent been enforced. What makes you confident to say that any of the energy efficiency codes in apartments built in the last 10 years were enforced?