Moving back to CA? (Folsom, Georgetown: home, buy, property tax)

[JerseySoCalGirl]

Originally Posted by johnnyz

No attack from me... I grew up literally equal time in South Texas and Northern CA ( Woodland / SAC ) and have been in South Austin for almost 6 years now.... And I agree with 99% of what you detailed here... I haven't really encountered any real rudeness though lol.... And yes, the cost of living in Austin is pretty much identical as the Sacramento area other than Davis ( which is ridiculously expensive for what it is .... nice town but not worth the price to me ).... I've been back to Woodland and SAC to visit for a week at a time the past couple years and it pretty much cemented my wanting to move back there again.

I think I should have rephrased my sentence. I dont find the people "rude", more like "unfriendly". Where I lived in SoCal strangers would actually talk to each other--goodness would have a 10 min conversation in Trader Joes about a new product they had on display. Can't tell you how many much food I bought from TJ just by talking to someone!

[JJonesIII]

webdev,

If your friend is thinking of visiting Austin, here's a handy tip in the event he/she is going to rent a car. There are toll roads and the rental companies charge quite a surcharge (if you live in Texas, you'll have a TxTag sticker on your windshield which will give you the reduced rate...there are no toll takers so it's not like they can pay cash). Have them go to the settings section on the GPS they use (i.e. Google Maps, Waze) and click "no toll roads" in the navigation section. It'll save them quite a bit. My wife and I found that out the hard way when we visited friends (they informed us after we already took a couple of tolls roads). I also found people very friendly there.

[mixxalot]

So Austin is now as expensive as California?

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by mixxalot

So Austin is now as expensive as California?

From looking at properties online, I think what they mean is that Austin has recently surpassed Sacramento in price per square foot when comparing comparable houses in comparable neighborhoods.

But remember, Austin is the most expensive real estate market among Texas' major cities. Sacramento, on the other hand, is the cheapest (other than Fresno or Bakersfield, if they count as major cities.)

Austin is really an outlier when it comes to Texas. While Dallas and Houston have seen relatively stagnant house prices, Austin's prices have skyrocketed even faster than California's.

[WizardOfRadical]

Austin is more expensive than Sac. But once you go out to the burbs it gets affordable.

You have to remember, everyone wants to live/work in the Urban core. Tech companies, college kids, and bohemians do not want to be in RoundRock.

[sanmiguel]

Apple just announced that it is building a one billion dollar campus in Austin.

[JerseySoCalGirl]

Originally Posted by JoeSmow

Yep, and there are plenty of absolutely beautiful and spacious homes if you're willing to be in the suburbs (i.e. Pflugerville, Round Rock, Georgetown) at a fraction of the cost. Admittedly, many of the residents of these areas work at Dell so there's no need to be in Austin proper. If you're commuting into town, I see no difference between that and people that commute in Northern California. People here whine alot of I-35, but I just chalk it up to people that have never experienced real commuter traffic. I've found little difference between that and the Bay Area. My commute used to be between 45 min and 75 min when I was in SF and commuting to Palo Alto.

I totally agree with this statement..NOW. But I think in 5 years this will be untrue. The more expensive Austin gets the more people are living further and further out. They are building everywhere. Take a look at Georgetown-- it is growing at a rapid pace. Also, more companies are moving further away from downtown. Austin and the suburbs can not keep up with the influx of people- i.e. infrastructure.

[JerseySoCalGirl]

Originally Posted by sanmiguel

Apple just announced that it is building a one billion dollar campus in Austin.

I wonder what the locals will say about this. I know when Austin made it to the Amazon HQ2 short list-- most people I talked to said the hoped Austin was not picked

[sanmiguel]

I don't know what most people will say but the creation of 15K jobs is never a bad thing. My understanding is the campus will be adjacent to the existing site in North Austin. The local economy is thriving thanks to companies like Apple and Dell. The same is the case with Folsom and the jobs Intel provides. If Intel ever left town, it would be devastating.