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What's going on in Austin?

I lived there since 2000, but left four years ago. It was getting way too hot (I swear the temperature kept rising), traffic was abysmal and getting worse every year, the main roads were always under construction, it was getting more crowded and there was this "always be hustlin'" attitude from Silicon Valley that had permeated it throughout my profession and beyond. Californians and others were moving there nonstop and the housing prices kept rising and rising. I was also tired of the SXSW and ACL festivals that seemed to get longer and attract more people every year.

I just talked to my friend who is now looking to move out of Austin because he says there's homeless camps everywhere now, everything is crowded, and housing prices have skyrocketed due to the Californians moving there, so he's selling his home at a fantastic profit and moving to the east coast.

Can someone in Austin share what's going on there? Homeless people / panhandlers started appearing around 2008 or so, and there were more of them every year when I left but there weren't camps of them. I really did like the city, but it lost a lot of its appeal over time for the reasons stated above.

by Anonymousreply 316March 1, 2022 1:23 PM

LOL as a fellow texan, can you just shutup about "Californians", you have no clue who's moving here and it's just as likely a fucking MAGAt as a Californian.

by Anonymousreply 1May 5, 2021 12:06 AM

It was laughable that Joe Rogan said he wanted to get out of LA because of the traffic, the homeless and the high cost of living only to move to Austin, the Southern capital of homelessness, traffic, and overpriced real estate.

by Anonymousreply 2May 5, 2021 12:10 AM

r2 It was virtue signaling to his conservative white boy viewers.

by Anonymousreply 3May 5, 2021 12:12 AM

OP- It was getting hotter because of Climate Change.

Propublica has an extensive article about climate change and how the bottom half of the USA by the year 2070 will be unlivable and millions will move north to places like Buffalo New York which will have year round temperatures like Arizona.

by Anonymousreply 4May 5, 2021 12:17 AM

R1 if you don't live in Austin, you probably wouldn't know. I worked with realtors and they all talked about the Californians coming in and buying expensive homes and that was who the builders were going after.

by Anonymousreply 5May 5, 2021 1:57 AM

R2 right? Austin's property values I think have risen more than any other city in the US the past few years.

I just checked to see the prices on my former homestead and they've risen quite a bit more than I would have expected

by Anonymousreply 6May 5, 2021 2:00 AM

Homeless were always an issue downtown OP. Lived in Austin in the late 90s through early 00s and 6th & Congress was a de facto hobo camp.

by Anonymousreply 7May 5, 2021 2:11 AM

Redneck locusts. Every few years they swarm, turn the area to a wasteland, then move on to destroy the next town.

by Anonymousreply 8May 5, 2021 2:16 AM

Real estate in [insert city] keeps getting more and more expensive, and this city just keeps getting too damn crowded. I swear now there are mkre homeless people. This city is not what it used to be.

Plug in the city of your choice and you will see people do the same bitching about any city.

by Anonymousreply 9May 5, 2021 2:17 AM

On Scruff and Grindr it's all bears, "gaymers," trans, and flakes. I see more trans here than in NYC surprisingly.

by Anonymousreply 10May 5, 2021 2:26 AM

Its a familiar pattern. Californians ruin their state, so the leave and infest another state and ruin that as well. Happened to Nevada and Oregon. Arizona and Texas are next.

by Anonymousreply 11May 5, 2021 2:30 AM

NEWSFLASH--There are homeless problems in every mid to large size city throughout the country. The GQP dickwads want to just say it's all because of Californians paying high taxes. Its about RECORD INEQUALITY in our country that's been going on since the outset of Reaganomics. There is also another housing bubble going on right now. Hell, I can remember 'Very Special Episodes' of sitcoms like Saved by the Bell and Family Ties in the 80s and 90s dealing with homeless people. It's gotten exponentially worse since then. But the MAGAt/GQP shitheads out there just want another reason to try and blame something on liberals/Democrats. The problem is MUCH more systemic than that. Do some homework before posting your ill-informed opinions.

by Anonymousreply 12May 5, 2021 2:37 AM

I’m shocked at Austin prices. Only CA people could think it’s “cheap”. Why people pay so much money to live in a relatively small city in Texas is beyond me. It was always a good city for native Texans who were “different”. But don’t know why non-Texans are paying $600k for a mediocre house there.

by Anonymousreply 13May 5, 2021 2:42 AM

Surging real estate and homelessness are destroying our cities. I lived in Dallas when it was relatively cheap - you could get a house in the M streets for around 400k or less - and definitely for less in other neighborhoods - and I'm talking a nice house. Prices have doubled in less than 8 years. Every city I traveled to for work in the past 5 years has seen increasing numbers of homeless.

I never thought I'd be the kind of person that wants to live in the country or in a gated community but I am starting to see the appeal.

by Anonymousreply 14May 5, 2021 1:06 PM

Call a place paradise, kiss it goodbye! Everyone thought that the South and Texas, in particular, were immune from the problems of expensive real estate and homelessness...well, they were wrong. Houston, Dallas, Austin, Phoenix, San Antonio and Atlanta will be joining the ranks and woes of cities like L.A., San Francisco, New York, Washington, Seattle, Portland and Boston. Cities become victims of their own success.

by Anonymousreply 15May 5, 2021 1:27 PM

The only city I've been to in the last decade or two that didn't have an obvious homeless problem was Tucson, Arizona.

I presume that's because housing is still fairly affordable there, and the climate is so godawful that the homeless get out by any means necessary.

by Anonymousreply 16May 5, 2021 6:14 PM

If only homelessness was as simple as economic issues or affordability. Sadly it's mostly about mental health issues. It's the reason why these people won't move inside even if given the opportunity.

by Anonymousreply 17May 5, 2021 6:28 PM

"If only homelessness was as simple as economic issues or affordability."

Homelessness is a multifacedted problem, and homeless people themselves range from the intractably mentally ill to the tragically unfortunate. And yes, lack of affordable housing IS a huge part of the problem, a lot of the people who are currently homeless wouldn't be out on the city streets if there was more low-income housing available.

by Anonymousreply 18May 5, 2021 8:05 PM

r18 You don't think this problem could be easily fixed by giving these people a place to stay? Cities could fix homelessness easily but they can't because the homeless don't want it.

by Anonymousreply 19May 5, 2021 9:24 PM

Um no, R19. The average American does not want to pay taxes, FOR ANYTHING. Especially to help the homeless. Your comments seem to reflect that sort of attitude. (and of course blame the victim, I'm sure you think that woman who wears a tight skirt deserves to be raped too)

Personally, I don't understand how they think they can pay little to no taxes, but still expect all kinds of services (roads, public schools, homeless, 911/first responders, etc). But they've been bamboozled by 40 years of Reaganomics and "the government sucks".

by Anonymousreply 20May 5, 2021 9:34 PM
Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 21May 5, 2021 9:37 PM

Most of the “Californians” leaving the state now came from somewhere else to begin with. Techies in particular.

by Anonymousreply 22May 5, 2021 9:42 PM

[quote]But they've been bamboozled by 40 years of Reaganomics and "the government sucks".

Reagan left the WH in 1984.

Since then there has been some Dem presidents.

by Anonymousreply 23May 5, 2021 9:46 PM

Tons of Americans want to pay taxes to clean up the homeless problem.

Taxes for asylums and long-term, custodial medical care like we used to have, because half of these people are mentally ill and their families are not equipped to care for them.

THE MODERN EXPULSION OF HOMELESS PEOPLE HAS FAILED. They're going to prison on the public dime anyway, they're just not getting the medical treatment and social work they need.

THE ASYLUM SYSTEM WAS BETTER. BRING IT BACK.

Only Boris the Nazi Incel @ r20 would lie and say "no average American wants to pay taxes for anything." If that were the case, we'd have no taxes.

r20 will never cut all the government spending we depend on, from roads, to schooling to the military. r20's full-of-shit Republican Party will never even propose cutting Social Security, the military, roads, the USPS, etc. They know it's the death of their party in elections if they do.

So scumbags like r20 just keep lying to themselves and everybody else and plunging the country deeper into debt while their Republican politicians keep expanding the welfare state.

DIE IN A GREASE FIRE, r20.

by Anonymousreply 24May 5, 2021 9:46 PM

^Sorry 1988

by Anonymousreply 25May 5, 2021 9:47 PM

Californians pay one of the highest tax rates in the country, R20.

by Anonymousreply 26May 5, 2021 10:12 PM

I dont want to pay taxes but I would pay them for the homeless. i wish we had more power and say on where our tax dollars went.

by Anonymousreply 27May 5, 2021 10:14 PM

R18, I live in a city with tons of affordable housing and it still has a homeless problem.

by Anonymousreply 28May 5, 2021 10:17 PM

R24 I can't tell if you're serious or not.

The reason why won't see a return to the asylum system you want to bring back has more to do with several ACLU lawsuits over the decades and less to do with taxes.

Learn the history of deinstitutionalization and you'll understand why there's no easy fix.

by Anonymousreply 29May 5, 2021 10:22 PM

Austin is in a shithole state.

by Anonymousreply 30May 5, 2021 10:25 PM

I had a 60 dollar a month apartment in Austin in 1978.

by Anonymousreply 31May 5, 2021 10:41 PM

I sold my mom's little bungalow in central Austin for $269k when she died in 2001. I moved away and never looked back.

Until today. I looked on Zillow and her house is now selling for 1.1 MILLION. What the actual FUCK??????

by Anonymousreply 32May 5, 2021 10:44 PM

r9 except in this case Austin's been the city in the US with the highest real estate cost increases for the past several years. So it is, in fact, a thing.

by Anonymousreply 33May 5, 2021 10:45 PM

r32 Ahh! The keyword is "central Austin"

by Anonymousreply 34May 5, 2021 10:46 PM

R32 - I noticed the same. It is INSANE what houses are selling for in Austin now. More expensive than many parts of the Northeast and West. I don’t get it at all. If you had told me a mediocre house in Austin would cost over $750k, I would have said you were insane - even a few years ago. This has to be a bubble.

by Anonymousreply 35May 5, 2021 10:49 PM

I have a good friend who is retired and just had to move to San Antonio because her rent became too high in Austin. The place is approaching West Coast prices.

by Anonymousreply 36May 6, 2021 2:50 PM

San Antonio is a much more interesting place. Given it’s so close to Austin - and bigger - I don’t understand why it’s remained so cheap. Or I guess the real question is - why are Austin’s prices so insanely inflated when it’s a small, bland city with too much traffic and repetitive cookie cutter new apartment buildings?

by Anonymousreply 37May 6, 2021 3:14 PM

San Antonio is seen as "boring" and "lame", where as Austin is seen as somewhere young people want to live r37.

by Anonymousreply 38May 6, 2021 3:21 PM

San Antonio has a different racial breakdown as well.

It's hotter and the traffic is worse, too.

by Anonymousreply 39May 6, 2021 3:22 PM

San Antonio has more of a crime problem as well.

by Anonymousreply 40May 6, 2021 4:17 PM

R29: Here's some history of deinstitutionalization for you:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 41May 6, 2021 4:28 PM

R41 yes it started with Reagan. However, California has had years of Democratic control of both state legislature and governorship. Why isn’t more done to try to solve our problems here? It us getting progressively worse in SF, even if I had money to buy a house here, I wouldn’t do it because mentally ill homeless and homeless druggies are just part of the problem. Decriminalization of property and violent crimes locally and on state level are driving many people away.

by Anonymousreply 42May 6, 2021 4:34 PM

r42 it's a nationwide problem, and it needs a Federal solution.

by Anonymousreply 43May 6, 2021 4:41 PM

Actually it didn't start with Reagan. It started with Kennedy. By the time Reagan had come institutions were more or less closed. What Reagan did was turn funding (put into place by Carter) for community based healthcare into block grants, which effectively defunded programs.

The article linked above is rather pathetic. I'll see if I can find an old NYT article which gives a much better perspective of what had happened.

by Anonymousreply 44May 6, 2021 4:42 PM

[quote] The article linked above is rather pathetic.

It was Salon, what do you expect.

by Anonymousreply 45May 6, 2021 4:47 PM

Here's one article that gives a bit of history and focuses on the impact that the APA and drug industry had on deinstitutionalization. There's a lot of blame to go around.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 46May 6, 2021 4:49 PM

Here's one article that gives a bit of history and focuses on the impact that the APA and drug industry had on deinstitutionalization. There's a lot of blame to go around.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 47May 6, 2021 4:49 PM

Is that where they have to water the asphalt down to keep it from melting? No thanks, I can deal with snow.

by Anonymousreply 48May 6, 2021 4:51 PM

I finds this thread interesting and amusing.

I'm a native of Northern California. One could say our state has been ruined by MILLIONS of incomers from around the USA and the rest of the world. The population as more than doubled in my lifetime. Still, many of my best friends are from somewhere else. People can be assholes wherever they were born, they can also be awesome.

A native Californian co-worker just moved to Austin. She constantly complained how CA has changed, talked about her guns (lifelong NRA member, target shot all the time blah, blah, blah), hated CA politics (she's a trumping repuke), and couldn't wait to get to Texas to be with her right wing kindred spirits. So, she moved to Austin right after the terrible power debacle earlier this year. Now I'm laughing my ass off. She was a bitch and is now probably complaining bitterly about the same things OP did. She's also a chatty dingbat, maybe she'll fit right in.

I've been to Texas several times, my partner's parents are from large farming families outside Fort Worth. He's still in touch with some cousins. They are good people, salt of the earth, but small-minded, thinking gays and liberals are akin to aliens from outer space. They live in a culturally deprived environment that reminded me of life in the 1940s. Church, church activities, hay rides, Jesus, drug addiction, quilts, church, and more church. Seriously, a couple of his cousins visited in 2019 (man and wife) and the wife was admiring our décor, saying she never thought about hanging art on their walls. WTF? The wife commented about another CA cousin, saying with awe "she's the most liberal person I've ever met." Now this CA cousin is smart, educated, and has a strong sense of social justice. Take a lesson, Texans. Ted Cruz is a lying jerk, find some new role models.

by Anonymousreply 49May 6, 2021 4:53 PM

OP, I’ve lived in Austin off and on for 25 years and I’m a real estate broker. What happened over the past year? Elon Musk and Joe Rogan moved here and now everyone - again - thinks it’s the place to be. My neighborhood average sales price has increased by $200k in 12 months. People are adding $100k above asking for homes they have never seen. And losing out. Buyers are submitting 25-30 offers, foregoing option periods, inspections, waiving appraisals, you name it. I’ve had my license for 15 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. Even after the shitass snowstorm, people still want to move here because we have no income tax. True, but our property taxes are very high (3%) and our sales tax is 8.25 so it evens out. Finally, when everyone brings their cash from CA and NY, I hope they realize that we have asshole GOPs running the state and even my incredibly liberal precinct now has a fucking Republican US Rep (the odious Chip Roy) due to gerrymandering. And everything that made Austin once cool is GONE and we’re becoming just another Dallas.

by Anonymousreply 50May 6, 2021 4:54 PM

OP, the city also decriminalized public camping so all the homeless came out of the Greenbelt. I don’t believe there are more - it’s just that they are more visible. I think it’s not terrible because it forces people to see the problem.

We just had an election with many props and one was to recriminalize homelessness. Guess what? It won:

The big news on Saturday night was the result that many political observers expected: a solid win for Proposition B, the measure to reinstate Austin's ordinances that restrict public camping, panhandling, and other aspects of homelessness, with criminal penalties for violators. The policy ramifications of this are already playing out this week at Council (see "Austin at Large"), but Save Austin Now, the largely Repub­lic­an campaign to overturn the city's 2019 moves to decriminalize homelessness, was more focused on the politics on election night, with its highest-profile supporter – Gov. Greg Abbott – crowing on Twitter about the "stern rebuke" delivered to City Hall. The campaign's $1 million in spending did, it appears, drive at least some people to the polls who would normally sit out a May special election; the total turnout of 22.6% countywide (about 90% of which was city voters) was the highest Austin's seen in a May election since 1994. The last mayoral election held in May, in 2012, saw a 10.7% turnout.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 51May 6, 2021 4:57 PM

Austin is currently gerrymandered into no fewer than five Congressional seats - only one of which is occupied by a Democrat. I fully expect the GQP to gerrymander that seat out of existence too.

by Anonymousreply 52May 6, 2021 4:59 PM

A little history about the homeless in San Francisco. I'm older, grew up there, as did my parents. When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s we'd see the "winos" lolling about drunk downtown. They lived in flop houses, south of Market, and paid just a few bucks a night for dingy rooms in dilapidated old hotels. When Reagan became governor he defunded state hospitals and ejected the mentally ill into halfway houses and neighborhoods where they became difficult to contain. Within one week of the release a woman in the Mission District was beaten to death with a roller skate by a mentally ill former inmate of a State hospital. It was a disgrace and the early days of mentally ill homeless on the streets in great numbers.

Now, of course, rents are astronomical, pushing all sorts of people in economic distress out of their homes.

Add to that our mild climate, a tolerant attitude toward outsiders, and the homeless problem began to grow. It is now horribly out of control. For all of our talk about helping those in need we're sadly cruel to them in the US. Addiction, mental illness, poverty, those people are shunted aside and it's become a very difficult issue to fix.

I have a friend who was a political activist for decades. She's gone now but was an advocate for the homeless for over 20 years. She finally gave it up due to the difficulty in solving the problem. Not just the lack of funding and disinterest of the political class, but the intransigence of the homeless themselves. I know a woman, educated, middle class, with a son who became addicted as a teen, in part to self-medicate his mental illness. He lives on the streets, happy with his "community" and refusing help from a family that can afford to give it. Now they're just waiting for the call that will say he's dead. It happens over and over again.

by Anonymousreply 53May 6, 2021 5:08 PM

Geez, if I was going to be homeless I'd go to San Diego or Hawaii. SF is too chilly.

by Anonymousreply 54May 6, 2021 5:13 PM

r52 I remember when they split Austin into four separate districts to dilute the possibility of Democrats holding any seats. I don't think the Republicans would win nearly as many elections even in Texas if they weren't entrenching themselves with shit like that (they've done it in Florida too).

I think Austin is becoming Florida for Californians - and Florida is where a lot of people move when they are leaving the Midwest.

by Anonymousreply 55May 6, 2021 5:18 PM

One “Austin” congressional district extends all the way to the outer suburbs of Houston; another to the Rio Grande Valley. It’s fucking ridiculous.

by Anonymousreply 56May 6, 2021 5:21 PM

r34 [quote]Ahh! The keyword is "central Austin"

not just central Austin. Matt Risinger's nice suburban but unremarkable ranch just sold for $810k. His new reno-turned-complete teardown and rebuild is looking more like a masterful decision every day. With Austin appreciation, the house will easily appraise for seven figures. And with everything he got for free/sponsored, he’s guaranteed to come out (way) ahead.

by Anonymousreply 57May 6, 2021 5:36 PM

R44 The article wasn't "pathetic" although Salon might be. E. Fuller Torrey is a respected psychiatrist. I do agree it left a lot out and after reading the headline one didn't expect to find that deinstitutionalization was a thing before Reagan. Still, Reagan ended any hope of a humane and enlightened policy, first as governor of California then as POTUS.

by Anonymousreply 58May 6, 2021 5:40 PM

[quote]Why people pay so much money to live in a relatively small city in Texas is beyond me.

R13, Austin is the fastest growing metro area in the nation several years running, and Austin is now the 10th largest city in the entire fucking country, so what's with this "relatively small city in Texas" bullshit??

by Anonymousreply 59May 6, 2021 5:45 PM

R49 why would your right-wing, gun-loving cousin move to Austin, of all cities in Texas? Why not Lubbock or Beaumont? Austin isn’t a gun-friendly city.

by Anonymousreply 60May 6, 2021 5:59 PM

R59, City population is an interesting but useless metric. Metro populations are more informative, and there, Austin is only the 29th largest in the country.

by Anonymousreply 61May 6, 2021 6:02 PM

R58 leaving out much of the history of the problem and simplifying it to 'look what Reagan did' is what makes it pathetic. It's a hugely complex issue that has a long, long history and in order to solve the issue we need to take an honest look on how we got here. And the truth is Reagan's part in deinstitutionalization gets way to much weight because it's the easiest piece of the history to blame.

by Anonymousreply 62May 6, 2021 6:03 PM

I lived in Austin in the 90s and they were constantly bitching and moaning about “the Californians” back then. This is nothing new.

by Anonymousreply 63May 6, 2021 6:06 PM

[quote]I’m shocked at Austin prices. Only CA people could think it’s “cheap”.

It's just as expensive as CA when you factor in the astronomical property taxes. Texas has no state income tax, so they jack up the property taxes to make up the difference. The property taxes on my home are the equivalent of buying a new car every year. It's insane.

All these east and west coasters moving to Texas looking for the Promised Land are going to be in for a rude awakening in 10 years when the cost of living rivals where they came from.

by Anonymousreply 64May 6, 2021 6:09 PM

But they’ll still have no state income tax, r64, and that’s all that seems to matter to a lot of people.

by Anonymousreply 65May 6, 2021 6:11 PM

So what's new? When a place becomes popular people flock there, it becomes crowded, prices for everything goes up, and it's no longer the fun place it was. That will always happen in the US unless you put a lot of extremely restrictive regulations in place. Conservatives would scream bloody murder about that too.

by Anonymousreply 66May 6, 2021 6:23 PM

I moved to Austin in 1992 from San Francisco, I had lived there for 18 years. It took me 20 years to get used to and accept the summer heat. I thought I would move back to California eventually, but I didn't. I could not replicate the lifestyle I had Austin in SF at the same cost. Once I gave up - surrendered - to the heat I actually came to like it and spent more time outdoors. When I came here I bought a 3000 sq ft 1927 house in central Austin for $250,000. It's in a historic neighborhood with beautiful homes near the University. Now it is $1.5 Million and climbing in price. It makes no difference because I am never going to sell. I still wish I could live in Northern California - except for the terrible forest fires. We don't have anything like that - yet. We have terrible storms and this year we had the coldest temperatures ever recorded here with a week of snow and NO POWER for most people. Crime is much worse than ever in our neighborhood.

by Anonymousreply 67May 6, 2021 6:26 PM

Conservatives are oddly obsessed with “the Californians.” I have conservative relatives who try to turn every conversation into an anti-California rant... and they’ve never even been to California.

They remind me of some middle- school social outcast who’s fixated on hating the popular kids. Meanwhile the popular kids don’t even know who the outcast is.

by Anonymousreply 68May 6, 2021 6:30 PM

Just wait until the South REALLY starts to feel the effects of climate change... they'll be bolting to the North.

by Anonymousreply 69May 6, 2021 6:36 PM

The area between Austin and San antonio is slowly filling up.

by Anonymousreply 70May 6, 2021 6:52 PM

R67 Are you in Hyde Park? I’m in Barton Hills.

by Anonymousreply 71May 6, 2021 7:03 PM

Nearby Williamson County is a better bet if you want to pay lower property taxes and not overpay for houses. North Austin is also better in terms of proximity to Apple campus and Tesla plant, and another Dell children’s hospital that’s being built near north part of town.

Towns like Cedar Park, Round Rock, Leander, and even Georgetown are going to be better investments as opposed to Austin itself.

by Anonymousreply 72May 6, 2021 7:06 PM

r67 am in North University which is south of Hyde Park.

by Anonymousreply 73May 6, 2021 7:15 PM

It grew and developed with all the positives and negatives that come with that. Few cities stay the same forever. They either thrive or decline, or go through cycles of both.

by Anonymousreply 74May 6, 2021 7:24 PM

I bought a house in Austin 18 years ago... couldn't afford much even back then, finally got a house for around 200k in very, very north Austin (2 minute drive to leave Austin and Travis county). In less than 20 years, my house has doubled in value. But I can't sell it even for 400K because any home closer to Austin's downtown is dramatically more expensive than that. I'd end up moving further away.

by Anonymousreply 75May 6, 2021 7:51 PM

How come your house has only doubled, R75, and R67's house has gone up 5 times in price?

by Anonymousreply 76May 6, 2021 8:08 PM

The Dallas real estate market is no better, although prices are slightly lower than Austin. I have a few friends currently looking to buy in Dallas and every house has ended up in a bidding war with over a dozen other buyers. Houses in desirable areas are selling for well over asking price. It's crazy out there right now.

Is the Houston market seeing the same thing?

by Anonymousreply 77May 6, 2021 8:11 PM

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 78May 6, 2021 8:25 PM

I'm aware of the legal issues, r29. I've explained them on DL before and maybe even you learned them from me.

That doesn't change the fact that America needs something like asylums again, because the deregulated / integration model has failed, EXPONENTIALLY.

They can create institutions where the patients consent to the treatment and rules with contracts; where they're free to leave if they're unhappy. Lots and lots of homeless want to be in places like that and don't have any objections. A consent system is the most humane and the only thing that can stop our cities from becoming shitholes with tent tenements.

So your input is not needed, but thanks for patronizing.

And don't tell me the ACLU is to blame, either. Don't tell me we can't amend the Constitution. We all know raising taxes for proper homeless facilities and medical care is the biggest obstacle thanks to selfish Republicans.

by Anonymousreply 79May 6, 2021 8:29 PM

I know I didn't get anything from you, r79 (nice narcissism BTW). My understanding of the subject comes from years of education.

And, yeah, the rest of your post shows how little you do understand. But thanks for playing.

by Anonymousreply 80May 6, 2021 8:33 PM

R72 but ugh, who wants to live up there? That’s not what people think of when they think of Austin.

About a month ago, my buyers lost out on a home north of San Antonio in a town called Bulverde. Another couple was touring when we got there and their agent told me that they moved to Austin from Colorado on a whim, realized they couldn’t afford it, and were now looking at homes 30 miles north of downtown San Antonio. People have this bizarre dream that they aren’t going to be the ones to change the flavor of a city then complain when that charm has disappeared.

by Anonymousreply 81May 6, 2021 11:32 PM

R77 Houston isn’t as nuts because there are SO MANY HOUSES. You know what city is going gangbusters? Galveston. Money is pouring into that city and the cruises are coming back. My sister and I are thinking of buying a house to rent out and also have for family gatherings (she and brother were born there so it looms large in our collective memories) and we can’t get a foothold. Every house goes under contract in a few days. Galveston!!

by Anonymousreply 82May 6, 2021 11:35 PM

R67 That was my next guess. My mom grew up in Aldrich Place and Brentwood and my dad in Brykerwoods.

by Anonymousreply 83May 6, 2021 11:36 PM

R82 Galveston houses are cheap, too. Though they tend to get blown apart every few years when a hurricane comes through. Most of them are built on stilts.

by Anonymousreply 84May 7, 2021 12:37 AM

I wouldn't be buying in Galveston now that hurricanes are more common in the Gulf due to climate change. They ran out of hurricane names last year because there were so many hurricanes and had to start using the Greek alphabet. It seemed like most of the storms ended up in the Gulf of Mexico too. Texas is now just as much a hurricane target as Florida.

by Anonymousreply 85May 7, 2021 12:48 AM

[quote] now that hurricanes are more common in the Gulf due to climate change.

Not true.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 86May 7, 2021 2:02 AM

R85 some of the listings we’ve seen survived the 1900 storm and every one since then: Carla, Harvey, Ike...

by Anonymousreply 87May 7, 2021 2:16 AM

R76, because my house is way way out at the edges of Austin, on the far north side, so it's not in one of the "hot" neighborhoods. Honestly, it's insane this house would go for 400k.

by Anonymousreply 88May 7, 2021 2:27 AM

r63 yes, this degree is new.

Like the fifth person to come into the thread and use the "oh, nothing to see here" response. It's like when someone posts about Saturday Night Live there's always a bunch of people that show up just to say "People still watch SNL?"

Yes, conditions are different. No, it's not "just the same" as when you visited or lived there or what your friend told you who lived there 10 years ago.

r57 Central Austin was the reason a small bungalow skyrocketed to the million dollar range, and yes, there are other high value parts of Austin and the metro as well. Central Austin is just THE most expensive area as far as price hikes over time.

by Anonymousreply 89May 7, 2021 2:46 AM

Is Austin now the US' 10th most populated city? I can remember when the population was 200K.

by Anonymousreply 90May 7, 2021 2:51 AM

After living there for ten years, I left Austin in February because I want to buy a house and now the market is so distorted I could never afford what I want, even with a $200k+ income.

Austin is massively overrated. It doesn’t offer the same cultural attractions as Dallas or Houston, doesn’t have any pro sports teams, and the culinary scene is lame. It’s also a very small, compact city.

The other thing is salaries are low. In my field (SaaS sales), it’s common for companies to offer base salaries in the $55k-$75k range, with the promise of on target earnings in the $110k-$150k range, which is ridiculous considering the AVERAGE price for a home in Austin is now over $500k.

The rental market was out of control too, and I got sick of paying top dollar in a mediocre city that’s lost all its charm and is overcrowded.

by Anonymousreply 91May 7, 2021 2:52 AM

r91 you lived there for 10 years and didn't buy a house? Were you tempted into living downtown and its astronomical rents which is why you never took the plunge and bought a house on a $200k salary?

Austin has the Formula 1 arena - that's its sports team, as well as South by Southwest and the Austin City Limits festivals, so it does have a lot of appeal if that's what you're looking for. It's not a terrible city but it's always seemed to be growing much faster than the city planners wanted or planned for, which is why everything is always under construction.

Unless you're a VP you probably won't get high base salary as a salesperson.

by Anonymousreply 92May 7, 2021 2:58 AM

I just checked the price on the tiny first house I bought in Cedar Park (lower middle class homes, mostly - it's a separate town but considered part of the Austin metro), and the price has gone up from $120 when I bought it to $400k, sixteen years later. It's nowhere near downtown and in an old neighborhood that got more run down the longer I lived there (I sold and changed homes every six years). If that dump is now $400k, I don't see how anyone could live there unless they're making a coastal salary.

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by Anonymousreply 93May 7, 2021 3:02 AM

Suck it up, sweetheart. I was born and raised in Oregon and have seen this happening in Portland/the Willamette Valley my entire life. The main difference for my generation is that it's not mainly Californians flooding in anymore like it was in the '90s when my parents were in their twenties—now it seems to be people from everywhere. I am hardly exaggerating when I say that roughly 1/5 of the cars on the road have out-of-state plates from every corner of the U.S. Most people who are from here can barely afford to rent, let alone buy homes.

by Anonymousreply 94May 7, 2021 3:04 AM

From what I've seen of Portland, OR it's essentially Austin as far as having an independent spirit and general weirdness and beauty, just ten years behind. I considered living there after I left Austin but it looked like it was already too far down the Austin path. Of course the protests probably helped set that back a bit.

by Anonymousreply 95May 7, 2021 3:09 AM

I bought a house just outside Hyde Park, an old house that had been renovated, several years ago. I paid $450K for it - tiny but 3 bed/2 bath, nice yard. I've rented it out since I left. Now I get text messages 10x a day from real estate agents offering to buy it. I have a great tenant though who always pays on time, so I'll leave well enough alone for the time being.

by Anonymousreply 96May 7, 2021 3:10 AM

R92, I wasn’t making anywhere near this amount before. I just took a remote job that pays SF salaries. In Austin, I never earned more than $85k, and struggled to save enough for a down payment.

It was and especially now is impossible to buy a decent house in Austin on a middle class income.

by Anonymousreply 97May 7, 2021 3:28 AM

R79 I have worked as a psychiatrist in CA for many years (trained at UCLA). One of the most common issues arising in treating patients with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder/severe bipolar disorder is treatment/medication compliance. The mentally ill homeless typically have long records of medication noncompliance.

It is very difficult to convince a mental health court judge to keep a severely mentally ill person involuntarily committed for more than 10 days, and it is even harder to get judicial approval for medication over consent (forced medication). These are key barriers to treatment for chronically mentally ill.

Until CA legislators change the mental health laws, the problem (and tragedy) of mentally ill, drug addicted homeless in CA will remain.

by Anonymousreply 98May 7, 2021 3:33 AM

So how does San Antonio compare? Is it a Mini-Me of Austin?

by Anonymousreply 99May 7, 2021 3:33 AM

R92 has completely forgotten about our new professional soccer team (complete with new soccer stadium).

Just like most people in Austin have.

by Anonymousreply 100May 7, 2021 3:37 AM

Well, the last time I was in San Antonio, I noticed bars with signs saying no guns allowed. You can carry a gun around San Antonio, apparently.

It also has a much higher rate of poverty than Austin, so all the societal ills that accompany poverty (including higher crime rate) will be worse in San Antonio.

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by Anonymousreply 101May 7, 2021 3:37 AM

R99, San Antonio is much larger than Austin. It's also a lot more boring.

by Anonymousreply 102May 7, 2021 3:37 AM

San Antonio is a provincial shithole. It’s like an entirely different world than Austin. There is something very off about the people there.

by Anonymousreply 103May 7, 2021 3:42 AM

Nobody will say it but Austin is the whitest city I have ever lived in in my life. Hoping for a bubble to burst (as it did in 2001 or so) because much of this is pure greed. And it goes against everything that made Austin what it was -- a cool cheap place for musicians and artists to live, an oasis in the middle of right wing Texas. Metal buildings and dirty cans of food in stores and nobody cared because Austin was weird.

Add in tragic property taxes too,. Austin sucks and it doesn't have to be that way.

by Anonymousreply 104May 7, 2021 3:45 AM

R98 San Francisco passed SB 1045 in 2019. The law essentially extends conservatorship for mentally ill and drug addicts meeting a strict and high bar. There are many, many issues with the law that I won't get into but the main points are: the SCOTUS ruling from the 70s prevents people being held indefinitely, you can't medicate someone against their will and lastly the Coalition for the Homeless and the ACLU have already come out against the law and are waiting to pounce.

by Anonymousreply 105May 7, 2021 3:48 AM

R105 I appreciate your response, but it is possible to medicate someone against their will in CA (where I practiced) and now NY. You have to file a specific petition with the mental health court and battle with the patient's public lawyer - but it is possible.

by Anonymousreply 106May 7, 2021 4:00 AM

As noted in my post, I'm speaking specifically to SB 1045, r106. Otherwise, yes, you need a court order.

by Anonymousreply 107May 7, 2021 4:05 AM

R97 but with an income of $200k from $87k you could have saved enough in a few years for a down payment. You just got impatient.

by Anonymousreply 108May 7, 2021 10:24 AM

R104 all property taxes are sky high in Texas because it has no income tax. The lack of income tax doesn't benefit the middle class at all because if they do the calculations it's going to cost them the same either way. It's only the upper classes and corporations that benefit from that.

by Anonymousreply 109May 7, 2021 10:26 AM

R104 people say that all the time. It's pretty white until you go to east and south Austin where there's more people of color.

by Anonymousreply 110May 7, 2021 10:27 AM

Austin’s metro population was under 600,000 when the film Slacker came out in 1990. It’s 2 million today. That film is a real time capsule of how it used to be there, but it probably put Austin on the radar of a lot of people to move there in the 90s.

by Anonymousreply 111May 7, 2021 12:21 PM

R104 is spot on.

by Anonymousreply 112May 7, 2021 12:57 PM

R50 - we probably know each other. You're right. My partner and I feel completely stuck in our house - we paid $350-ish for it several years ago and it's now worth about $850. But we can't sell it and realize the cash UNLESS we leave Austin entirely, because we refuse to spend $1M on a small house that might not even be much of an upgrade from our current home. It's bizarre to have all this equity, but not be able to realize it and move to another home because prices are so insane.

I'm ready to leave Austin. I give us about 4 years - maybe 5 - and we're outtie.

by Anonymousreply 113May 7, 2021 1:57 PM

Has this been posted yet?

I enjoyed this a lot until I read the guy has 7 kids. Yuck.

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by Anonymousreply 114May 7, 2021 3:14 PM

R114 He is a Mormon, and I am surprised he only has 7 children.

by Anonymousreply 115May 7, 2021 3:35 PM

R104, exactly what value do POC actually add to a city?

by Anonymousreply 116May 7, 2021 4:36 PM

I went to Austin High in the 70s. At the time, the school population cut straight across Austin: the richest kids in West Austin and the poorest black and Latino kids in East Austin. It was minority Anglo but the teachers were excellent and it seemed like the wave of future education in the US: fully integrated with all kids, whatever their economic and/or racial background would have access to first-rate education.

How times have changed. East Austin has been gentrified out of all recogition, black and Latino families who had lived there for 100 years forced to flee exorbitant property taxes.

by Anonymousreply 117May 7, 2021 5:06 PM

R116 They force racists to move away?

by Anonymousreply 118May 7, 2021 5:16 PM

Not to worry, Texans. All will be fixed once Governor McBongo is elected!

by Anonymousreply 119May 7, 2021 5:17 PM

My brother and his family live in Pflugerville. Should be renamed "Frauville."

by Anonymousreply 120May 7, 2021 5:31 PM

r118 Austin is definitely the least racist city in Texas, but nice try. You're the only one who brought up race in this thread, so it's clearly how you see the world.

by Anonymousreply 121May 8, 2021 2:16 AM

r120 Pflugerville and Cedar Park are both Frauville. Pflugerville is the more desirable location, I believe.

When I lived in Cedar Park for six years, three weeks after I moved in I came down with hives that were ongoing and itchy and only kept at bay with daily Claratin - I could not figure out what was causing it. I couldn't drink red wine, either, or my ears would turn red and I'd feel like someone was sticking needles in my neck. I had the carpets stripped out of the house and replaced with hardwood floors, I had the air ducts cleaned and put filters in the rooms, changed laundry detergent, vitamins, tried different foods, and none of that helped. I had allergen testing but they couldn't figure out what was causing it. I am not allergic to Cedar.

Then I moved fifteen minutes down the road into Austin proper and the ailment mysteriously went away in another three weeks.

by Anonymousreply 122May 8, 2021 2:20 AM

Austin’s gay community is pretty lame in my opinion. You know it’s time to move on from a city when you’re seeing the same guys on Grindr you saw in 2011.

The gay bars were so lame too. For a city of its size, the three gay bars on 4th just doesn’t cut it. Like many cities, the Austin’s bars were trending down pre-pandemic but in the last several years they’ve lost their allure completely.

Also, holy bottoms! The amount of bottoms is staggering, and I watched it get worse every successive year I lived there. There is a lot of anger and frustration among many guys because of the lack of tops.

by Anonymousreply 123May 8, 2021 2:35 AM

But aren't most guys under 40 "versatile" these days?

I mean, that's what Datalounge says all the time.

by Anonymousreply 124May 8, 2021 2:50 AM

R60, it wasn't my cousin who moved to Austin, it was a co-worker. I don't know why she picked Austin but she had lived in Texas for a few years when she was younger. Maybe it was Austin.

My partner's mother is from Texas, most of her extended family is still there. A branch, his cousins, are in CA and they are all very liberal. The Texas relatives are conservative.

by Anonymousreply 125May 8, 2021 3:05 AM

Why is El Paso never discussed as a possibility?

by Anonymousreply 126May 8, 2021 3:17 AM

Party at the Moon Tower.

by Anonymousreply 127May 8, 2021 3:19 AM

Austin is a very young town because of UT and the tech industry. If you're single and over 40, forget about meeting anybody. You're much better off living in Dallas or Houston if you're older.

by Anonymousreply 128May 8, 2021 3:22 AM

I live in South Austin and have watched a tent city spring up at the overpass at Menchaca Rd and Ben White Blvd and the surrounding area. It feels like I'm driving through someone's living room seeing people just sitting out in a recliner or laying on a mattress they've managed to acquire and drag into place. I do wonder where they will all go when the camping ban goes back into effect.

Many area homeowners have been up in arms about this development. I guess that's one good thing about renting. I can pretty much pick up and move on when I see fit. I don't know that I'd find a better deal than my current place. I've been here almost seventeen years. My unit was $485/mo when I moved in. Now it's $925. That is comparatively cheap. It's not the Ritz, but it's quiet, safe, and my neighbors have always been pretty cool.

One of those neighbors had her bike, her only mode of transportation, stolen off the front of a bus as she was going forward to unload it. Guy just walked up, grabbed it before she could, and rode off on it. Fucking Bastard. She set up a gofundme, and enough of us donated so she can replace the bike. There are a lot of desperate people out there.

by Anonymousreply 129May 8, 2021 3:36 AM

The homeless issue in Austin is out of control. I know plenty of Democrats who voted to renew the camping ban. Under every highway overpass there were whole colonies of homeless people which seemed to pop up over night when the camping ban was lifted. There were rumors all over Austin that other cities were packing up their homeless and giving them bus tickets for Austin. Probably a bunch of lies, but where did all these people suddenly come from? There's a Bernie Bro on the City Council Greg Casar who espouses the most extreme positions possible - he's largely responsible for getting the camping ban lifted. It's funny that the Mayor - Steve Adler - gets attacked. Texas mayors have very little power which is wielded by the City Managers and County Judges. Adler's a millionaire real estate developer and looks more like a moderate Republican than a Democrat which he claims to be. A recall is getting traction and nobody likes Adler so he's likely to lose.

R98 my father was a psychiatrist. Back in the old days, doctors and their families lived on the grounds of the state hospitals. I grew up with people wandering around in the backyard talking to themselves. People with severe mental illness make up a hefty proportion of the homeless. As schizophrenics notoriously are non-compliant with their meds and can't be forced to take them, there's not much that can be done. Closing the state hospitals was a big mistake. 'Care in the community' never materialized and despite the abuses in the hospitals, they provided a sanctuary for people who still don't have any other viable solution.

by Anonymousreply 130May 8, 2021 5:25 PM

What ever happened to Lars.. What was his last name? The writer of Tavels with Lizbeth?

by Anonymousreply 131May 8, 2021 7:25 PM

R131 Lars Eighner. Haven't heard that name in decades. I googled him and doesn't appear he's dead but can't find anything recent on him

by Anonymousreply 132May 8, 2021 7:34 PM

I only been in Austin once, for a few days in fall 2019 to visit friends who lived there (they have since left the US). What struck me was how terrible the traffic was. In terms of roads and highways, Austin is not designed to hold the population it currently has. And for those of us not from Texas, the access roads running along the main highways are very confusing to navigate. I wonder how long it takes people from other areas of the country who move there to get used to those access roads?

by Anonymousreply 133May 8, 2021 8:50 PM

Only in Austin could a sixteen-lane-wide mega-freeway (including frontage roads) be quaintly referred to as a “boulevard.”

by Anonymousreply 134May 8, 2021 8:54 PM

r133 Traffic has been bad for 50 years. I had an aunt and uncle who went to UT in the 70's and they said traffic was bad then.

by Anonymousreply 135May 8, 2021 9:48 PM

Those housees on Lake Austin look nice. A house with lake access is great in that god awful heat during the summer, but I wonder how much you have to pay for a lake house when even a tiny 2 bedroom house in downtown already costs a million bucks.

by Anonymousreply 136May 8, 2021 10:15 PM

[quote]And for those of us not from Texas, the access roads running along the main highways are very confusing to navigate. I wonder how long it takes people from other areas of the country who move there to get used to those access roads?

I keep hearing this, and my DAD says the same thing, but I moved here, and it instantly made total since and is SO MUCH EASIER/BETTER than the way other cities do things... so why on earth do you say this?

by Anonymousreply 137May 9, 2021 2:07 AM

r135 It actually wasn't TERRIBLE when I moved there 20 years ago but did get progressively worse until it's the nightmare situation it is today, where there is gridlock at all hours of the day except for the wee hours of the morning.

The city planners wanted the city to stay small and resisted increasing the transport infrastructure for ages.

I still can't believe that it was so difficult to get light rail - I don't remember the situation around it but it was never good enough and people kept voting against it rather than starting smaller and adding to it.

They built the toll road that runs across north Austin but it's usually pretty empty. I understand the fees for it don't even go to Austin.

I agree the frontage road/highway system is incredibly confusing to a newcomer. Took me awhile before I stopped getting lost (this was before good autonav).

by Anonymousreply 138May 9, 2021 2:19 AM

r137 probably because he didn't understand how they worked since they aren't common, like he said?

by Anonymousreply 139May 9, 2021 2:20 AM

I've never seen those types of highway interchanges in any other state. Are they solely a Texas thing? I found them confusing at first and they take longer to get to the other side of the freeway. Then if you miss your turn or the strip mall entrance you have to go all the way back around the loop again. Kind of a pain in the ass but I get how they can keep the flow of traffic moving.

by Anonymousreply 140May 9, 2021 2:42 AM

Those access roads are a good idea - but probably only work in a place with endless amounts of land that was largely undeveloped prior to highways.

by Anonymousreply 141May 9, 2021 2:45 AM

r140 yeah I can't count the number of times I missed the exits and had to drive miles out of my way just to turn around. I got better at it over time, but there was definitely a learning period involved.

They're useful, I think, but they are definitely confusing initially.

by Anonymousreply 142May 9, 2021 2:45 AM

Californians moving to other states are turning red states blue. Its all good.

by Anonymousreply 143May 9, 2021 3:47 AM

California is purging it's ingrates - good riddance. I recommend Houston & Tampa.

by Anonymousreply 144May 9, 2021 3:48 AM

R139, they are INTUITIVELY OBVIOUS. I didn't know how they worked when I moved here, but it was so simple and obvious. I can't even imagine what people think is confusing about them.

by Anonymousreply 145May 9, 2021 4:33 AM

You guys do realize that citizens of other states also move here and not just californians? I'm sure we get plenty of repuliturds from the rust belt.

by Anonymousreply 146May 9, 2021 5:02 AM

I'd love to sell my house (at a 100% profit) and move... but I can't imagine where I'd move to. I'm getting near retirement age (within 10 years) and can't really come up with a place that I'd like to live, that I could afford to live in... and the thought of "starting all over" at my age is kind of ... intimidating.

by Anonymousreply 147May 9, 2021 5:05 AM

r147 Are you in Austin? You can always stay close and move to smaller towns in the area that are close to the big cities but have a smaller town atmosphere.

by Anonymousreply 148May 9, 2021 5:08 AM

Most of the small towns surrounding Austin are painfully Republican. And most have the same traffic issues.

by Anonymousreply 149May 9, 2021 5:17 AM

r149 Who cares how they vote, your vote counts the same in Austin or just outside austin. It's much quieter out here and yes we've seen growth but there's no damn homeless encampments.

by Anonymousreply 150May 9, 2021 5:21 AM

Yes, I have seen it go from virtually no people living under the bridge to TENTS. And more tents, and tents and tents under the bridge.

Guess it's Covid related but it seemed like it existed before that too.

Fuck Californians for raising the rent. Assholes.

by Anonymousreply 151May 9, 2021 5:25 AM

And fuck Californians for bragging "well back in California..." Then go back to California if it's so much better, asswipe!

by Anonymousreply 152May 9, 2021 5:26 AM

The actor Kyle Chandler lives outside of Austin on a ranch with donkeys and horses. I think actor Taylor Kitsch also lives in Austin or a suburb. So you guys even have some Hollywood glamour in and around Austin.

by Anonymousreply 153May 9, 2021 5:27 AM

R151 The "Californians" who are driving rent increases are coming for jobs. It's Texas state and municipal governments that are luring out-of-state companies to move to Texas with incentives, along with their employees.

by Anonymousreply 154May 9, 2021 5:36 AM

R151, we old timer California natives can say "fuck all you incomers for raising the rents" because it's true. So we do to other states what incomers do to us. Raise the rents.

Remember, before the English, Spanish, French, and other original immigrants got here there were no rents at all. Just wide open spaces, abundant natural resources, and natives who built or moved without paying landlords and mortgages.

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by Anonymousreply 155May 9, 2021 5:38 AM

R140 are you talking about the continuous flow intersections?

Almost felt like I missed a part of driver's ed when they set that up.

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by Anonymousreply 156May 9, 2021 5:39 AM

R152 You should be angry at our state & local governments who won't do anything to control growth with sensible regulations. Resulting in shit like the 2021 power debacle. Stop blaming outsiders for everything.

by Anonymousreply 157May 9, 2021 5:53 AM

I will blame Californians for everything.

by Anonymousreply 158May 9, 2021 6:10 AM

I will say that California is way better at urban planning than texas is. Texas is more build whatever, wherever and who cares about the consiquences down the road

by Anonymousreply 159May 9, 2021 6:13 AM

What's up with the idea that only Californians have moved to Texas?

by Anonymousreply 160May 9, 2021 6:21 AM

Okay, as someone noted, yes -- Austin is over 2.2 million population now....and that's just in the city. And didn't someone say it's the 10th largest American city by population now?

But...as someone here noted, it's more important to use the metro area population when comparing places in America. That's what I always use. Everyone here does similar?

And, Dallas is #5 in the 2021 Neilsen tv market ranking. Very big!

Houston is #8. (Yet doesn't the Houston city population dwarf Dallas, though, but it's all about metro area...or researchers call it DMA, for comparison's sake, right?)

Oh, San Antonio is the #32 tv market.

Austin? Only # 40! So it's a very small tv market nationally, but I assume its large young and educated demographics are much more appealing to advertisers than larger tv market San Antonio.

By comparison, here in Boston, the city is "small" at almost 700,000 now, similar to Seattle. But our metro population is large, thus we're the #9 tv market in America. I think Seattle is #13.

Yes, boring stats to many, but I do enjoy studying tv market size and seeing some cities change places yearly.

by Anonymousreply 161May 9, 2021 6:45 AM

[quote] I'd love to sell my house (at a 100% profit) and move..

Sounds to me like you're in a good place if you've got 10 years to decide. This housing market is going to change multiple times in that period - and it's very unlikely that Austin's will crater.

by Anonymousreply 162May 9, 2021 7:30 AM

[quote] What's up with the idea that only Californians have moved to Texas?

Longstanding rivalry between the states, plus high profile dicks like Rogan and Musk have skewed perceptions.

by Anonymousreply 163May 9, 2021 7:42 AM

R104 Correct. Austin is the only large American city that is LOSING Black residents. Makes me ill.

by Anonymousreply 164May 9, 2021 12:55 PM

R161 Austin isn’t 2.2 million - that’s the metro area.

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by Anonymousreply 165May 9, 2021 1:01 PM

R145 you're not other people though

by Anonymousreply 166May 9, 2021 2:14 PM

R160 that's a strawman argument. No one is claiming ONLY Californians have moved to Texas.

by Anonymousreply 167May 9, 2021 2:16 PM

[quote] Austin is the only large American city that is LOSING Black residents.

Where are they going to?

by Anonymousreply 168May 9, 2021 3:17 PM

^Cities where they can still afford the rent.

by Anonymousreply 169May 9, 2021 3:26 PM

Gentrification in Austin is really pushing out racial minorities.

by Anonymousreply 170May 9, 2021 3:30 PM

R161 I think you are upgrading Austin's population by a million.

"As of the U.S. Census Bureau's July 1, 2019 estimate, Austin had a population of 978,908,[14] up from 790,491 at the 2010 census.[4]"

I don't think another million people have moved there in the past 1.5 years.

by Anonymousreply 171May 9, 2021 3:55 PM

R164 Plenty of other major cities have lost black residents, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland.

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by Anonymousreply 172May 9, 2021 3:58 PM

Here are more cities losing black residents.

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by Anonymousreply 173May 9, 2021 4:01 PM

San Antonio has major flooding problems. And its police force is notoriously homophobic - not in the distant past, but quite recently.

by Anonymousreply 174May 9, 2021 4:07 PM

Why do you guys call the Colorado River Lake Austin?

by Anonymousreply 175May 9, 2021 4:08 PM

R175 the bit of the Colorado River which runs through the center of Austin is Lady Bird Lake. Used to be called Town Lake.

by Anonymousreply 176May 9, 2021 4:18 PM

I went to elementary school in the Austin area (West Lake Hills) in the late 60s, and my parents sold the place for approx 45K in 1975. I looked on Zillow recently, and the house is now estimated at 1.8m. The house was not that special -- a typical 1950s 3BR ranch house on a half-acre with a carport; the vegetation was mostly live oaks at the time.

This was in the days after the 1966 Tower shootings and the rise of computer tech. Back then it was a city of under 250,000 and a small but vibrant music scene

by Anonymousreply 177May 9, 2021 4:18 PM

Bottom line: Austin is not worth that price. 115 degree heat for days at a time, hideous traffic and drunks, no movie business, even the music scene is bottom rung. And those goddam festivals. Don't even get me started on the Austin Film Society which should be renamed Society for Miss Campbell Sucking Linklater's Dick. They do important things like a scene by scene remake of "Slacker", yeah, just what we need.

London, Paris, sure. L.A. is a pain but cool stuff once you get there. Austin? Not even pretty really.

by Anonymousreply 178May 9, 2021 4:53 PM

R130 You and your "democrat" friends are pieces of shit for voting to criminalize homelessness. You realize that proposition also made it illegal to sit on the sidewalk? Just disgusting.

by Anonymousreply 179May 9, 2021 5:25 PM

Pretty much Every single city in the US is seeing the exact same explosion of real estate and movement into urban areas for jobs. I’ve seen a lot of articles in the news about the real estate markets across the country. Wealth inequality is a huge part of the problem that is driving the inflated markets—rich people can pay the prices and/or can snatch up 2nd or 3rd homes or snatch it up to flip it and sell it for even higher rates to the richer. Even states like Idaho are seeing massive growth in places like Boise.

In the 70s-90s, we just built a ton more houses. Now that that’s slowed and/or there is less construction in some areas, it has become a bidding free for all for what’s left in an already competitive market.

Also, those taking about the “homeless” problem—deinstitutionalization was meant to empower those with mental illness to live in their communities rather than be imprisoned in state hospitals, which had terrible conditions. The problem is, the community support wasn’t there after the hospitals closed. community mental health funding is nowhere near what it would need to be to provide the supports and structure in place for our country’s homeless. It was just another pie in the sky ideal to think that poorly funded county mental health would fix it.

by Anonymousreply 180May 9, 2021 5:32 PM

My friends sold their Long Island home in 2017 somewhere in the 700,000 range, bought in Austin for 400,000 range. Their home in Austin now worth more than the LI home. They said Austin has run out of housing. Hardly anything for sale these days.

by Anonymousreply 181May 9, 2021 5:47 PM

R175 the Colorado River has a series of dams built on it. These areas filled up well above their natural banks and created lakes. The dams generate a substantial amount of electricity for the region.

BTW it's not the same Colorado River that runs through the Grand Canyon.

by Anonymousreply 182May 9, 2021 6:16 PM

r178 Austin does have a nice local theater (Zachary Scott) and a heavy music and lighter film industry presence due to SXSW and the Austin Film Festival.

Like, shit on Austin for the heat, traffic, homeless, lack of housing, high prices, it being in Texas, and property taxes, but let's not pretend it's not got some great qualities, too. It just depends on what you value.

by Anonymousreply 183May 9, 2021 6:56 PM

Austin is boring.

Honestly, a very suburban, middle class place of boredom. Boring. Subdued. Low key boredom.

You move here because people have said hey head down there! It's awesome! And so you go but it's just boring. Even the music festivals are boring. Just boring.

EVERYTHING is boring. It's not a lie. I can't wait to leave! This is the most boring, cookie cutter, white bread city I've been to. No amount of traffic jams from sxsw with rude vocal fry speaking Californians can make up for it.

by Anonymousreply 184May 9, 2021 10:44 PM

R184 you sound depressed. It doesn't matter where you live (unless it's a war zone), because you bring the boredom and baggage with you. Moving somewhere else might be exciting at first but it's probably not going to solve your issue.

by Anonymousreply 185May 9, 2021 10:54 PM

I love San Antonio, Dallas and enjoy Houston.

There is just something about Austin and the smugness about it that I detest.

Yes, I should move. Austin makes me depressed.

by Anonymousreply 186May 10, 2021 12:48 AM

Texans may rightfully be troubled by the inflow of out-of-staters, but then why is it that so many are constantly selling the idea it is the greatest place to be? I've never visited anywhere else that the natives are so vocally bullish on their home town/state. Almost like they have to constantly convince themselves that it's true.

by Anonymousreply 187May 10, 2021 5:02 AM

R187 That's exactly right.

by Anonymousreply 188May 10, 2021 7:09 AM

A big problem is affordable housing. Real estate is so valuable people sell some shitty building to developers and they throw up yet another high rise of luxury condos.

by Anonymousreply 189May 10, 2021 7:46 AM

R178, I've lived here for over 20 years and the temperature has never hit 115 degrees, let alone for "days a a time".

Yes, it's routinely over 100, but many years we only get a few days over 100, while other years we might get 30-40 days over 100. But when it's a dry heat, it's really not THAT bad. When the dry line moves west of here and we get all humid like Houston, THEN it's bad.

The worst thing about Austin is the Cedar trees. My first 6 or so years of living here I never had an issue, but almost everyone succumbs to "Cedar Fever" eventually. Worst allergy city in the country I think. I'm on constant Claritin these days, and it helps, but every year when the Cedar Trees let loose, I have to add Nasacort and Zyrtec, and I walk around like a zombie just hoping I can breathe at night and get some sleep...

by Anonymousreply 190May 10, 2021 2:14 PM

R184, it didn't USED to be boring, but it's sort of become that way. Either that or I just aged out of Austin's culture, which is definitely more youth-oriented (under 40 for sure).

by Anonymousreply 191May 10, 2021 2:17 PM

Flat dry hot with nothing but a few hills for hundreds of miles around. It’s almost the antithesis of California - physically, politically and geographically. Why or how people are paying $1 million for a mediocre house there is a case study in the ins airy of late capitalism.

by Anonymousreply 192May 10, 2021 3:45 PM

R192 they're following jobs. Apple's opening their second headquarters in Austin and now asshole Elon Musk has moved Tesla to Austin.

Austin has turned into Silicon Valley.

by Anonymousreply 193May 10, 2021 3:49 PM

Yes and TX is cheaper and a “right to work” state.

by Anonymousreply 194May 10, 2021 3:57 PM

Austin has been a tech center for decades now. Flights from San Jose, Calif to Austin have been referred to as "the Nerd Birds" since the 90s.

by Anonymousreply 195May 10, 2021 4:08 PM

No humidity but that is Heat Lamp hot and relentless -- and, yes, the cedar trees reeked havoc on my eyes. Even the store clerk called me out on it.

Look, I liked my time there a lot but I don't like what it has become. Taking away all things that made it Austin.

An old guy at an antique store tried to lure me into an argument about how I wasn't a "real Texan" since I'd only lived there a few years -- like I gave a shit, There is an old school weird pride there. "The great country of Texas" and that silliness.

by Anonymousreply 196May 10, 2021 4:40 PM

Austin is surrounded by lakes and is VERY humid.

by Anonymousreply 197May 10, 2021 4:56 PM

At least California has great scenery and great beaches for those house prices. What will Austin have? A few hills?

by Anonymousreply 198May 10, 2021 5:31 PM

I went to UT for grad school. Immediately upon arrival, I noticed all these people who looked to be in their 20s-early 30s but who had three or four kids already. It was shocking. I’d never lived anywhere with such a “kid culture.” This was 22 years ago, don’t know if it’s still the same.

by Anonymousreply 199May 10, 2021 5:35 PM

[quote] Austin is boring. Honestly, a very suburban, middle class place of boredom. Boring. Subdued. Low key boredom. You move here because people have said hey head down there! It's awesome! And so you go but it's just boring. Even the music festivals are boring. Just boring. EVERYTHING is boring. It's not a lie. I can't wait to leave! This is the most boring, cookie cutter, white bread city I've been to. No amount of traffic jams from sxsw with rude vocal fry speaking Californians can make up for it.

That may well be, but is it boring?

by Anonymousreply 200May 10, 2021 5:47 PM

Lol r200

by Anonymousreply 201May 10, 2021 6:26 PM

[quote] Flat dry hot with nothing but a few hills for hundreds of miles around.

I thought western edges of Austin were technically part of Texas Hill Country.

by Anonymousreply 202May 10, 2021 6:30 PM

[quote] rude vocal fry speaking Californians

When I moved to California from New England I was amazed by how polite everyone is here, so I guess it's all relative. And vocal fry, way more of a scourge in the northeast.

by Anonymousreply 203May 10, 2021 6:48 PM

R202 Interstate Highway 35 essentially separates the "plains" from the Hill Country.

by Anonymousreply 204May 10, 2021 7:15 PM

Hill Country is talked about with awe by Texans /Austinites. Only because there is nothing else with any beauty in the whole state - so a few hills are considered “beautiful”. Sorry - I’ll take the CA mountains and oceanside cliffs. I’ll pay 10% of my salary just to have access to that instead of being stuck in the middle of nowhere.

by Anonymousreply 205May 10, 2021 7:40 PM

So Austin is a tech center. And for many years, high paid tech workers have moved to Austin. Now home prices are very high, due to the tech workers' high salaries and demands for large, luxurious homes. It seems many of these tech workers are from CA.

Is this a good summary of this thread? Where tech workers go (insert city name) --> gentrification and rising home prices follows.

by Anonymousreply 206May 10, 2021 7:48 PM

^^ To a lesser degree, the same thing is happening in Pittsburgh PA.

by Anonymousreply 207May 10, 2021 7:51 PM

I go there for work sometimes and goddamn the road construction never ends.

by Anonymousreply 208May 10, 2021 8:14 PM

The Tech Center in Denver has contributed to a sharp rise in housing prices in the Denver area as well. Many houses are selling for 100 - 200k over asking price.in nicer areas.

by Anonymousreply 209May 10, 2021 11:27 PM

r205 they're actually prettier than California's dry brown hills in every month except February and March when it rains. West Austin does remind me a lot of central California, otherwise.

by Anonymousreply 210May 10, 2021 11:46 PM

r206 the expensive homes are not the ones owned by tech workers, they are the ones owned by salesmen and C-level executives.

by Anonymousreply 211May 10, 2021 11:47 PM

Austin was traditionally a college town. It had a laid back hippie sort of culture that was unique in Texas and made it “cool.” Then came the music festivals and the keep Austin weird marketing. College graduates often would say they’d be happy to stay but there were never very many jobs like most college towns. Now that there are more high paying tech jobs it puts a lot of pressure on the real estate in a compact area since it doesn’t really have big city infrastructure and the core feels compact due to the water, hills and 35.

by Anonymousreply 212May 11, 2021 1:10 AM

I've seen apartment prices go up by several hundred dollars in the past year.

I live a few blocks away from a Tesla dealership and across the street under the highway is a tent city.

America ain't great anymore.

by Anonymousreply 213May 11, 2021 2:39 AM

R213 it's a matter of priorities and values, and the prevalent mood is self-centeredness. Social media amplifies it and modern society in general is individual-focused. There is no true sense of community in a globally-connected world. And America is founded on capitalism which is itself a self-centered philosophy.

Even the humanities, where your sense of self in relation to the world and history is taught, has changed so it's now focused on the individual.

by Anonymousreply 214May 11, 2021 2:45 AM

This.

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by Anonymousreply 215May 11, 2021 3:49 AM

Thank you, Ronald Reagan! I remember it well!

by Anonymousreply 216May 11, 2021 3:54 AM

[quote] America ain't great anymore.

Anymore? The only change is that it's not great for a new subset of people.

by Anonymousreply 217May 11, 2021 4:08 AM

R215, what the FUCK was THAT??

by Anonymousreply 218May 11, 2021 4:20 AM

R215- Why don't they just SUCK each others cocks and call it a night.

by Anonymousreply 219May 11, 2021 4:27 AM

Supposedly they are trying to direct as much of the bar scene as they can to The Domain. 6th Street has become a nightmare and I’m sure the commercial space is too valuable downtown for dive bars and tattoo shops. They also permanently closed the Alamo Drafthouse down there. It’s sad because it was a cool little movie theater, but parking and dealing with downtown traffic made it too much hassle.

by Anonymousreply 220May 11, 2021 4:34 AM

I thought it was Mrs. Roper!

by Anonymousreply 221May 11, 2021 4:36 AM

I live close to Austin and 10-20 years ago you'd hear people talking about going to 6th street and how it was the "it" place but now i never hear that and i still work with some younger people. It's just not worth the hassle and there's closer places now.

by Anonymousreply 222May 11, 2021 4:41 AM

It’s sketchy AF now. The place for hood rats to dress up and look for any reason to brawl in the street afterwards. See video above. I’m sure it will get to a point where the city zones it out of existence.

by Anonymousreply 223May 11, 2021 4:47 AM

R223 Yeah... I don't want to meet any of those people. Look skanky.

by Anonymousreply 224May 11, 2021 7:44 AM

R217 America never was great. As long as they thing "mmeh meh I'm American and I have it so great here in greatest country on Earth" they'll always be dumb and never look to innovation.

by Anonymousreply 225May 11, 2021 7:47 AM

Oh how Austin will always have a place in my heart. Lived there after college from the mid 90s to mid 2000s. We’d smoke joints and watch indie movies at the Dobie Theater on UT’s campus, see world famous artists perform at the ORIGINAL Austin City Limits (when it was on UT campus, free, and invitation only), hike the hills and swim in the springs and creeks around town, and party all night at the gay bars on 4th street at Oil Cans, Rain, 404 club, Chain Drive, and Charlie’s (literally adjacent to the state Capital!) Then Sundays would be spent at Hippie Hollow skinny dipping with lots of hot men. Now Austin is like going to Disney World and standing in line at every “attraction” to buy an overpriced ticket in an overcrowded venue with awful people .

by Anonymousreply 226May 11, 2021 12:19 PM

^^ your memories sound like a great gay film. Write the screenplay.

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by Anonymousreply 227May 11, 2021 12:40 PM

R227 - You’re in my head!

by Anonymousreply 228May 11, 2021 1:03 PM

Oil Cans and Rain are still there. Charlies and Chain Drive are no more.

I miss the original Boiz Cellar. And Dicks Deja Disco.

I haven't been downtown in years. Or to a gay bar in years. I've changed, but so has downtown Austin. Too crowded and too expensive. When I first moved here in 2000, I could drive downtown, park for free, hit the bars, and have fun. Now it's $20 to park, traffic is a nightmare, bars are too crowded, drinks are over-priced, and it's so impersonal and snooty. It used to be so friendly and fun and casual.

by Anonymousreply 229May 11, 2021 2:23 PM

R226 you have all the memories I do. I bet we encountered each other.

by Anonymousreply 230May 11, 2021 2:23 PM

R230 - Wasn’t it a wonderful time? I even knew and was able to acknowledge at the time, that I was living in a sort of paradise. Hopefully we shared a drink or a laugh back in those great days!

by Anonymousreply 231May 11, 2021 2:37 PM

I think they used to play this song closing time at Boiz cellar

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by Anonymousreply 232May 11, 2021 4:28 PM

[quote]The only city I've been to in the last decade or two that didn't have an obvious homeless problem was Tucson, Arizona.

Maybe the key term is 'decade or two' as I live in Tucson and the homeless situation is OFF THE MUTHAFUCKIN CHAIN.

Huge encampment right on the street near where N Alvernon turns into River. Shopping cart pushers heading to who knows where. Saw a really sad scene the other day of a younger woman with matted hair and wearing sweats that were way too small pulled down below her buttocks at noon stumbling down Speedway.

by Anonymousreply 233May 11, 2021 4:42 PM

Where did they all come from? It’s like a zombie apocalypse the way there’s just more and more every day. I agree there is poverty and mental illness, but there are too many to wrote off to merely those issues.

by Anonymousreply 234May 11, 2021 4:46 PM

You don't know what a great place Austin was to live unless you remember the Boathouse. It was owned by a gay Washington Redskins football player. Those were the glory days of Austin and it was a magical time and place to be gay.

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by Anonymousreply 235May 11, 2021 4:54 PM

Does Austin have cultural enclaves like a Chinatown?

by Anonymousreply 236May 11, 2021 4:59 PM

There's a "china town" shopping mall on North Lamar, which is about the closest you'll get to a "chinatown" and it's not that close.

by Anonymousreply 237May 11, 2021 5:36 PM

I have been here since 1992. I don't think we have cultural enclaves anymore. It used to be that UT dominated the city and our cultural cycle followed the school calendar. Covid stopped that. Also, today Austin's neighborhoods are defined by money more than ethnicity. From what I have read in the press many in our African American community have moved away.

by Anonymousreply 238May 11, 2021 5:48 PM

There was never that big of a Black population in Austin to begin with.

Lations are being pushed out of East Austin due to gentrification of the area.

It's a very white city.

by Anonymousreply 239May 11, 2021 5:54 PM

Half the gay bars in Austin have closed. There are still a few hanging on. But Austin used to be very gay and very LGBT friendly. Not so much anymore.

by Anonymousreply 240May 11, 2021 5:54 PM

r237 I think that's Vietnamesetown ;-)

r239 Yeah, there weren't that many black residents. East Austin - where more ethnic people lived - is definitely being gentrified since the past 15 years since they changed the airport location so planes weren't flying overhead.

by Anonymousreply 241May 11, 2021 7:13 PM

R241 you must be younger than me. Back in my childhood East Austin was primarily black with some Latinos. Also Clarksville in West Austin was a black community in the heart of the whitest part of Austin. Now of course Clarksville is gentrified with some very old, small bungalows previously belonging to black families for generations now sell for $800K.

by Anonymousreply 242May 11, 2021 9:30 PM

I know a couple with a home in Clarksville. They've lived there over 30 years and own the home outright, but the property taxes are such that they went the air bnb route in order to be able to afford to stay there.

by Anonymousreply 243May 12, 2021 12:31 AM

Texas brags about having no state income tax but they make up for it with outrageous property taxes. And we have a 'round robin' tax situation invented by the Texas GOP where the state takes property tax money from the cities (which are Democratic) to fund schools in rural locations - the GOP heartland. So those assholes pay jack shit in property taxes and vote for the GOP.

by Anonymousreply 244May 12, 2021 12:47 AM

R242 East Austin was primarily Latino with some blacks when I was there.

by Anonymousreply 245May 12, 2021 12:49 AM

R244 - You actually summed it up nicely. And I’m a native Texan! I live on 20 acres an hour west of Austin and even get an “agricultural exemption” for keeping 8 sheep on my property. This exemption saves me $8,000 a year, so I only pay about $1200 for property taxes annually.

by Anonymousreply 246May 12, 2021 12:52 AM

R244 They also take money from rich areas and fund poorer ones. I personally don't think schools should be funded by how wealthy a neighborhood is.

Our military budget should be cut and public education funded on a federal level. All schools should have the same high quality, facilities and high quality, educated teachers. They should be reconfigured with security to keep schooters and bombers out.

by Anonymousreply 247May 12, 2021 12:52 AM

^^ move to Switzerland, hon. It will never happen in the USA.

by Anonymousreply 248May 12, 2021 12:55 AM

I know where that shopping center is on N Lamar. There's a fancy Chinese mansion down the street on the other side of the road. Apparently it's owned by Charlie Chan, who lives there when he's not solving crimes with his number-one son.

by Anonymousreply 249May 12, 2021 1:16 AM

Here's a photo of Charlie Chan's Austin mansion here in Austin on N Lamar.

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by Anonymousreply 250May 12, 2021 1:32 AM

R250 = link-posting fail.

And you're probably referring to the Buddhist center.

by Anonymousreply 251May 12, 2021 2:46 AM

All the Marie Calenders' restaurants closed, so I have no idea where to go to get good pie anymore.

by Anonymousreply 252May 12, 2021 3:58 AM

Tiny Pies on Burnet is supposed to be good.

by Anonymousreply 253May 12, 2021 3:59 AM

r252 They sell Marie Calenders frozen at HEB

by Anonymousreply 254May 12, 2021 4:37 AM

Kerby Lane cafe

by Anonymousreply 255May 12, 2021 8:59 AM

So all the rich Hollywood and tech celebrities won't actually save any money bc they pay no federal income taxes, but now pay $200,000 on property taxes for their overpriced $5 million Austin "mansion". Haha.

by Anonymousreply 256May 12, 2021 10:05 AM

Welcome to globalisation OP. It’s screwing up every nice city in every country, except those who resist.

by Anonymousreply 257May 12, 2021 10:17 AM

R256 they still pay federal income tax, just not state.

And property taxes in Austin are high but nowhere near as high as in other parts of the country. I have the misfortune to live in Westchester County, NY, where we pay state income tax and my annual property taxes are $21,000 for a modest sized house.

by Anonymousreply 258May 12, 2021 11:39 AM

R258 is correct. People in NY and NJ have high property taxes AND high state income taxes.

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by Anonymousreply 259May 12, 2021 12:42 PM

The property taxes issue mainly affects the lower and middle middle class. It is a regressive tax. You won't save any money on the lack of state taxes until you get into the lower upper class.

People who haven't done the math assume that it's cheaper overall but it really isn't. Austin also has an 8.5% sales tax which is another regressive tax.

by Anonymousreply 260May 12, 2021 12:46 PM

Oh hon, its less expensive to live in Austin than NY or NJ.

by Anonymousreply 261May 12, 2021 1:32 PM

Could someone here with knowledge of this stuff give an example? Maybe property tax for a $5 million house in LA, Austin and NY/NJ?

by Anonymousreply 262May 12, 2021 1:34 PM

R262 - Quick top for figuring property tax here in Austin. So it’s approximately 3.6% of the property value, paid annually. So take a $300,000 valuation, multiply by .036, and your tax would be $10,800 yearly.

by Anonymousreply 263May 12, 2021 1:39 PM

One of my pet peeves is the theatre scene. Almost all national tours go to Dallas or Houston. When they do come to Austin, they are in the awful, enormous UT Bass Hall. They only allow clutch-sized clear bags inside, if you have a backpack, tote, or purse you have to line up outside to rent a locker for $5-10 cash with a private company.

by Anonymousreply 264May 12, 2021 1:40 PM

R264 - I agree but it’s just a matter of economics. The theater scene is wonderful in Houston! (Pre-pandemic) Maybe come for a production here and do a one-night stay so you don’t have to be so rushed. We have so many options here (and great museums.)

by Anonymousreply 265May 12, 2021 1:44 PM

R263 If an average home in Austin costs $800,000 these days (like many on this thread have stated), the property tax is $28,800/year or $2,400/month plus utility (A/C most of the year), insurance, mortgage. Quite a steal to live in Austin. 😂

by Anonymousreply 266May 12, 2021 1:54 PM

R266 - haha I agree! Leaving Austin in 2010 was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life! I pity my (few) friends that are still there dealing with poor leadership, unfixable traffic congestion, homeless encampments, and political unrest.

by Anonymousreply 267May 12, 2021 2:02 PM

I thought about leaving around 2007, and probably should have.

Now I'm stuck here. I never leave my house except to get food.

by Anonymousreply 268May 12, 2021 3:12 PM

R268 - I feel for you. At a certain point in our lives we don’t want major change like moving cities. (I’m there now!) And you’re doing the right thing by staying put in your home. I’ve been reading about the escalating crime, violence, and protests in Austin, and it’s scary.

by Anonymousreply 269May 12, 2021 3:17 PM

Property tax is the property tax plus the school tax, and it's not just the home valuation it also takes square footage into account.

Obviously Austin is going to be cheaper to live in than a city like New York. It's not a valid comparison.

by Anonymousreply 270May 12, 2021 3:17 PM

I hope some Californian contemplating moving to Texas will read this article.

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by Anonymousreply 271May 12, 2021 3:37 PM

This violent Austin murder happened on the streets I used to walk on a daily basis at all hours without a care in the world. (In the 90s and early 2000s)

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by Anonymousreply 272May 12, 2021 3:40 PM

Matthew McConaughey paid $110K property taxes in 2020. His estate is probably worth twice as much as its declared value though so he's got some creative accountants.

Some journalists at the American Statesman discovered a couple of years ago that some rich Austinites who live directly on Lake Austin and whose properties are worth millions have always been exempt from paying property taxes due to some decades old deal made with the local government claiming they didn't receive services from the city of Austin. The Austin City Council got on their case last year and started taxing them. So the Texas GOP in the state legislature which didn't find the time to address the issue of winterizing the power grid - did find the time to enact a law so rich people on Lake Austin don't have to pay their property taxes. A big fuck-you from rightwingers in Midland to Austin.

by Anonymousreply 273May 12, 2021 3:56 PM

The property tax issue is complicated. While the property tax as a % of RE value is higher in Texas, the RE values tend to also be lower. So taxes are lower for the average home in TX than the Northeast. The average home in Texas still has lower taxes than an average home in NJ or NY. CA is the outlier - disproportionately low property tax as a % of RE value because of Prop 13 (?). CA is one of the lowest property taxes (as a % of value) in the country.

Curious if the schools in Austin are any good - seems like CA schools are generally bad (because of the property tax cap)

by Anonymousreply 274May 12, 2021 4:13 PM

[Quote]Matthew McConaughey paid $110K property taxes in 2020. His estate is probably worth twice as much as its declared value though so he's got some creative accountants.

Not just him:

Joe Rogan paid $14m for his house, assessed value $4,6m and only $85,000 in property taxes

Taylor Kitsch's house $4,5m and $115,000 property taxes

They're all on Lake Austin. I wonder how Kitsch can afford that house and $115,000 in property taxes with his work resume.

by Anonymousreply 275May 12, 2021 4:19 PM

The Austin that I knew and loved died about the same time they closed the old Mueller airport and opened up the new airport outside of town. It marked the change of Austin from a laidback small city into an overpriced extension of California. It'll never be the same again.

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by Anonymousreply 276May 12, 2021 4:32 PM

R276 - Oh how I loved that airport and it’s architecture!

by Anonymousreply 277May 12, 2021 4:38 PM

It was proposed as a new art museum and exhibition venue but the developers got it.

by Anonymousreply 278May 12, 2021 5:20 PM

r276 the old airport was TINY. I still remember the layout.

by Anonymousreply 279May 12, 2021 5:30 PM

R275 I looked up McConaughey's house - it's an enormous Spanish style house on 9 acres of the most expensive land in Austin. It isn't directly on Lake Austin, it's a street above it. He owns the whole street it's on. It was originally listed for $6 million during a big real estate slump in Austin in 2011 and he may have only paid $2 million for it. It's got to be worth $20 million now at least.

by Anonymousreply 280May 12, 2021 5:48 PM

What I don't get is: even if Austin is nice, which seems to be debatable, you're living in Texas, which is a rightwing state run by homophobes. Gays have little to no rights. The state doesn't want you there.

How do you deal with that?

by Anonymousreply 281May 12, 2021 5:53 PM

R281 - As a former resident of Austin, I understand your question and concern about living in Texas. The answer is if you stay in or near central Austin you are in a liberal hotbed. Texans don’t even call it Austin anymore, here in Houston it’s called Los Angeles, Texas. So it’s fine (as far as gay rights and acceptance) as long as you stay near downtown.

by Anonymousreply 282May 12, 2021 6:01 PM

Speaking of the old airport, fun fact: I flew out of the old airport on one of the last days it was open. When I returned, I landed at the new airport, and they had to shuttle me to the old site to get my parked car.

by Anonymousreply 283May 12, 2021 6:27 PM

I absolutely loved the old Mueller airport. I was young back in the 90s and I flew for pleasure at least once a month. It was so small, I’d have friends drop me off out front and I’d walk no more than 10 minutes to my gate. The security line was almost nothing. (Pre 9/11) I remember once I landed back in Austin late in the evening after a trip to NYC and my friends were already at a party in Hyde Park (a central Austin neighborhood) so I hitched a ride from a stranger who had parked their car at the airport and they dropped me at the party with my bag and all.

by Anonymousreply 284May 12, 2021 6:43 PM

The planes at the old airport used to fly right over my house in Aldrich Place - then over the freeway to land. I was able to look down and see my home from the plane. They were so low over the freeway. A pilot friend of mine told me you had to slam the plane down on the runway on the other side of I35. That sounds scary but pilots say they want to get the plane down as soon as they can on the runway. I think the Mueller runway was a little short.

by Anonymousreply 285May 12, 2021 7:25 PM

Another issue with Austin. Getting there generally requires a stop in Houston or Dallas - which is a pain in the ass. You can find direct flights on off brand airlines I guess - but as with everything Austin, overrated.

by Anonymousreply 286May 13, 2021 3:07 AM

[quote] You're much better off living in Dallas or Houston if you're older

Off topic, but what is the attraction of Houston? It's the only major Texas city I've never been to. Seems like it must have weather from Hell. Still I'm intrigued and want to visit.

by Anonymousreply 287May 13, 2021 8:06 AM

R287 there's a recent thread devoted to Houston that you might find of interest.

The food in Houston is excellent and in my experience the people there are the friendliest out of all the major Texas metro areas. I don't think the weather is too bad. The humidity is extreme (similar to New Orleans) but it doesn't really affect you unless you spend a lot of time outdoors. Houston is the most air-conditioned city ever. Also because of its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico Houston doesn't have the extreme summer heat that inland cities like Dallas and Austin get, nor does it get snow or ice (apart from that disastrous deep freeze that afflicted Texas back in February, which was a once-in-a-lifetime type thing).

by Anonymousreply 288May 13, 2021 10:31 AM

I'm not sure why some on DL go on and on about states having a lot of red, when that's the case in almost (if not) every state. Look at the areas between the cities in the most liberal states, they're red as can be. I get that it's about the overall state position on matters, but that will probably flip with the influx.

The real estate insanity is also happening everywhere, even in Canada. I live in a freezing, gloomy rustbelt city and homes have tripled -- in the city and the suburbs. Development is out of control. Property taxes have gone up 62% in only 2 years, with no sign of stopping, making the affordable homes not so affordable. I don't get it. Our infrastructure wasn't built for that either, so it's becoming a nightmare.

The upper class is really putting the squeeze on everyone else, even in these areas that were never hot spots. They either flip houses, or build new, making tax assessments go off newer 500k homes. It's really hurt the locals by making even the rundown, more rural homes "worth" too much -- in turn, people are parceling their land, giving way to even more development. Every single day I see a new home squeezed in.

If it's happening here, where we get an average of 54 sunny days (feels winter like for 9 months), not shocking warmer states are worse. I see a lot asking where all the homeless came from, but where did all these people in general come from??? They definitely aren't the result of a boom in young people being born. All I can guess is that old people aren't dying (my neighbors are 70s-90s) and there's been an influx from out of the country.

by Anonymousreply 289May 13, 2021 11:07 AM

And I know immigration is a touchy issue because some of it too often devolves into racism, but there's something going on with all these people all the sudden, across the entire country. We've been told Americans are having less kids and Millennial (almost 40 now) homeownership numbers look dismal, so how is this happening?

I thought for sure that housing would cool off by now because there's only so many people with high enough income to keep this going (making 100k in a household puts you in top 20%. Just 200k puts you in top 10%!) -- so how are that many people affording homes? It's not like 08' because I bought a home recently and had to jump through hoops to get approval, with 20% down, on a 120k home! An extreme rarity around here because it was neglected.

by Anonymousreply 290May 13, 2021 11:17 AM

The pandemic reversed the draw of some urban centers, more people being able to work remotely. It'll be interesting to see how the cities come back. My prediction is that eventually all real estate will be hedge fund owned.

by Anonymousreply 291May 13, 2021 8:25 PM

R287 Houston's super humid, which is awful because it's also 150 degrees. It's like living in New Orleans during the summer.

by Anonymousreply 292May 13, 2021 8:41 PM

Houston floods a lot.

by Anonymousreply 293May 14, 2021 2:54 AM

I remember pictures from the last big one, seemed to never subside. and the mold.

by Anonymousreply 294May 14, 2021 6:09 AM

[quote]And everything that made Austin once cool is GONE and we’re becoming just another Dallas.

How human is this experience, though? Very! You're experiencing something that humans in cities horrified by a demographic influx have been experiencing probably since the first caveman city-caverns. You are now kin with similarly situated city-dwellers throughout history, rejoice!

by Anonymousreply 295May 14, 2021 8:31 AM

R295 Your logic escapes me. You got dysentery. Rejoice, your fathers & forefathers have shit themselves for millennia.

by Anonymousreply 296May 14, 2021 8:43 AM

R296 disease is not a social phenomenon and therefore fails the test for a unique human (social) bonding experience.

by Anonymousreply 297May 14, 2021 8:53 AM

Austin has more direct flights to Europe now. Daily flights to Heathrow which were - pre-pandemic - always full.

by Anonymousreply 298May 14, 2021 2:02 PM

This guy's market analysis is the best, based on hard data with great visuals to back it up. Plus he lives in Austin. There is hope, check it out.

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by Anonymousreply 299June 28, 2021 6:00 AM

Christ. I feel like I’ve already lived this. Moved to Austin in 1999 for law school. Saw the tech bubble burst in 2001.

Now we’re doing it again?

by Anonymousreply 300June 28, 2021 6:22 AM

^^ At least it sounds like Austin real estate didn't get severely hammered in the 2006-12 bust - compared to much of the nation.

by Anonymousreply 301June 28, 2021 6:34 AM

The Austin house prices are still through the roof. Just crazy. Apple and Tesla are building massive facilities in Austin but they haven't opened yet so presumably no influx of new residents looking for housing.

by Anonymousreply 302June 28, 2021 3:52 PM

We bought a newly built house in Austin during the real estate slump in 2011. Bought it for $600K, sold it after building a $60K pool for $750K in 2016. It just sold again for $1.6M. Shit.

by Anonymousreply 303June 28, 2021 7:30 PM

Bought my house in Austin in 2007 for $360,000, and a real estate agent just told us we could get between $900K and $1M for it.

by Anonymousreply 304June 28, 2021 7:46 PM

R304 - That’s incredible! Why wouldn’t you sell ASAP and get out of Austin? Take your money and move to Houston. It’s overwhelmingly a better city.

by Anonymousreply 305June 29, 2021 11:27 AM

Houston is certainly a lot cheaper but all the tech jobs are in Austin.

by Anonymousreply 306June 29, 2021 3:27 PM

R305 - it would take a lot more money than I'd make off the house to convince me to move to Houston. No way on that humidity. Just no way.

by Anonymousreply 307June 29, 2021 9:30 PM

Come to indianapolis. Seems like it's sheltered from the housing crisis

by Anonymousreply 308June 29, 2021 10:14 PM

R307 - Trust me, you’ll get over the humidity in a year or two. I did and I wouldn’t live anywhere else.

by Anonymousreply 309June 29, 2021 10:34 PM

Houston floods too much. It's too hot and humid. It's too sprawled out. Bleh. No thanks.

by Anonymousreply 310June 29, 2021 10:41 PM

This guy's data analysis says it all. His personal experience of Austin, maybe not so much.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 311October 3, 2021 8:25 PM

R311- I love this guy. Very alarming data

by Anonymousreply 312October 3, 2021 8:33 PM

R281 that's my sticking point too. I visit Austin once or twice a year (just got back actually) and there's a lot I like about it, but fuuuuuuck the Ted Cruz/Greg Abbott of it all.

by Anonymousreply 313October 3, 2021 10:21 PM

When is predicted to burst?

by Anonymousreply 314February 27, 2022 1:45 AM

Honestly, I think every LGBT+ person and ally should boycott the state of texas and not visit.

by Anonymousreply 315February 27, 2022 2:54 AM

My sister and I bought that house, y’all! It was built in 1903 and is nine feet above ground. Insurance is crazy expensive but we love it.

by Anonymousreply 316March 1, 2022 1:23 PM
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