4 ms·

My honeymoon with Austin ended a few years ago. In 2011 I absolutely loved it. Pubtrans and traffic has become so miserable (oh boy, express lanes) that I have

by swozey 9y ago

My honeymoon with Austin ended a few years ago. In 2011 I absolutely loved it. Pubtrans and traffic has become so miserable (oh boy, express lanes) that I have almost completely quit leaving my 3 mile bubble. I ride my bike sometimes but that's always nerve wracking. Everyone from LA will hop on here and say it's not bad, the problem is it's not getting better. The improvement projects are bad. The metro rail by me runs ONCE an hour. Also people are being priced out of homes. You know why there are hardly any townhouses here that were built after the 70s? COA banned building single family homes on lots smaller than 5750 sq feet. That regulation was removed LAST year. Your options for buying property here for anywhere near our median house value was basically buying a condo in a midrise or buying a 70s house up north (which is what I had to do). If you go to Dallas or Houston you can find really nice 2-10 year old townhouses in the middle of cool areas for $200-300k. Appraisals skyrocketing 30-50k/yr for the last 2 years has caused my property tax to rise $200/mo .. twice. And that's with homestead exemption. $800/mo in property taxes alone for my 70s regular-old-house. I'm sure it'll go up another $200 next year. Median household value is $400k now. http://kxan.com/2017/06/14/report-shows-austins-average-home-price-hits-record-400k/ http://kxan.com/2017/06/14/report-shows-austins-average-home... Been considering Olympia lately. Visited a few months ago and it was a really cool place. Felt like Austin probably 30 years ago. People still owned houses "downtown." Super walk/bikeable and a lot going on. I was shocked when I realized it only has 50k people. Also you're so damned central in TX that I can't go camping anywhere fun without a minimum 8 hour drive.

b3b0p 9y ago
The property taxes here to me are my main concern. Even if paying for a downtown condo in cash I still have a substantial monthly constantly growing property tax. It seems pointless to me. It is very bike (although all my friends disagree) and walk friendly. I got rid of my car and have been biking and walking every where (my apartment is downtown). Minus insurance, car payment and parking fee my rent is about what it was in Oklahoma, but in a much better location and quality of life. I came from Oklahoma a few years ago, where I owned a house in Tulsa and then Stillwater. Home prices are very similar to what you describe. For $200,000 to $300,000 you get a mansion, brand new even, in a very nicely kept up community with little to no H.O.A. fee (for keeping it up and access to the community amenities like club house and pool and trash). Edit: Do you mean Olympia, WA?
- swozey 9y ago
  Yeah, Olympia WA. I know nothing about it beyond spending two days there while I was hiking around Olympic National Park, but I really liked it. I'm sick of having to drive and find parking etc everywhere. My mortgage is 1400, my property tax is around 750 for reference. I previously had a fancy unnecessary downtown apt (studio) for about $1700, now I'm around 2500/mo after insurance, etc. I put very little down, my bank only required 3.5% down but I put around 10% down. The house I bought has gone up $100k in the last 2 years so I figured if I didn't buy now I'd never be able to buy. If only salaries went up 10-20%/yr like my property taxes do.
  - b3b0p 9y ago
    My apartment is somewhere around 1,800-1,900 per month and that includes all fees and what not. It's also a studio, but it's condo grade (3 feet of sound proofing on all walls and ceilings), concierge, built in Sonos and speakers, ethernet, and option of having Google Fiber. Not sure I ever want to move. I'm kind of content actually. It's tempting to consider buying a condo downtown over at 360 or even Seaholm for the reasons you list. I would put down 20-30% though. I do not want to live outside the city. I like being in the middle of everything. I've toyed the idea of moving back home to Minneapolis or trying out Portland. I don't want to deal wit cold weather. My parents are retiring and just bought a home in Sarasota. They have invited me down with them. Which is tempting.
    - swozey 9y ago
      I have family in Sarasota. If you at all like the fact that you can do things after 8pm in Austin do not move to Sarasota. Go visit your parents so you can go to the beach (Siesta Key) and go home.. lol. I lived with my mom in Sarasota for year after college and not only did I have to drive an hour to Tampa for work but the place was one of the most boring places I'd ever lived. I'm 2 miles from the domain which is one reason my property taxes are so high, $380k 3/2 house. So, while I'm not "in the city" it's a $6 Lyft to go to rock rose, train downtown is 5 minutes away (but stops going north at 7pm). I lived in midrises forever. I got absolutely sick of dealing with parking garages every time I wanted to go drive somewhere. Beware as well, some of the downtown highrises require you to use and pay for valet services. The Austonian didn't require me to use it but there are a couple that do. I just wanted a damned nice townhouse like I had in Houston. They started building them in 78704 but they're $800k (because 78704). These sorts of things; https://i.pinimg.com/originals/16/f0/4c/16f04c1392ade123104c9b46d00f0e2b.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/16/f0/4c/16f04c1392ade123104c... They're perfect for me, I'm single and just have dogs. Right now I have a front and back yard that nobody ever uses.

by swozey 9y ago

b3b0p 9y ago

The property taxes here to me are my main concern. Even if paying for a downtown condo in cash I still have a substantial monthly constantly growing property tax. It seems pointless to me. It is very bike (although all my friends disagree) and walk friendly. I got rid of my car and have been biking and walking every where (my apartment is downtown). Minus insurance, car payment and parking fee my rent is about what it was in Oklahoma, but in a much better location and quality of life. I came from Oklahoma a few years ago, where I owned a house in Tulsa and then Stillwater. Home prices are very similar to what you describe. For $200,000 to $300,000 you get a mansion, brand new even, in a very nicely kept up community with little to no H.O.A. fee (for keeping it up and access to the community amenities like club house and pool and trash). Edit: Do you mean Olympia, WA?

swozey 9y ago
Yeah, Olympia WA. I know nothing about it beyond spending two days there while I was hiking around Olympic National Park, but I really liked it. I'm sick of having to drive and find parking etc everywhere. My mortgage is 1400, my property tax is around 750 for reference. I previously had a fancy unnecessary downtown apt (studio) for about $1700, now I'm around 2500/mo after insurance, etc. I put very little down, my bank only required 3.5% down but I put around 10% down. The house I bought has gone up $100k in the last 2 years so I figured if I didn't buy now I'd never be able to buy. If only salaries went up 10-20%/yr like my property taxes do.
- b3b0p 9y ago
  My apartment is somewhere around 1,800-1,900 per month and that includes all fees and what not. It's also a studio, but it's condo grade (3 feet of sound proofing on all walls and ceilings), concierge, built in Sonos and speakers, ethernet, and option of having Google Fiber. Not sure I ever want to move. I'm kind of content actually. It's tempting to consider buying a condo downtown over at 360 or even Seaholm for the reasons you list. I would put down 20-30% though. I do not want to live outside the city. I like being in the middle of everything. I've toyed the idea of moving back home to Minneapolis or trying out Portland. I don't want to deal wit cold weather. My parents are retiring and just bought a home in Sarasota. They have invited me down with them. Which is tempting.
  - swozey 9y ago
    I have family in Sarasota. If you at all like the fact that you can do things after 8pm in Austin do not move to Sarasota. Go visit your parents so you can go to the beach (Siesta Key) and go home.. lol. I lived with my mom in Sarasota for year after college and not only did I have to drive an hour to Tampa for work but the place was one of the most boring places I'd ever lived. I'm 2 miles from the domain which is one reason my property taxes are so high, $380k 3/2 house. So, while I'm not "in the city" it's a $6 Lyft to go to rock rose, train downtown is 5 minutes away (but stops going north at 7pm). I lived in midrises forever. I got absolutely sick of dealing with parking garages every time I wanted to go drive somewhere. Beware as well, some of the downtown highrises require you to use and pay for valet services. The Austonian didn't require me to use it but there are a couple that do. I just wanted a damned nice townhouse like I had in Houston. They started building them in 78704 but they're $800k (because 78704). These sorts of things; https://i.pinimg.com/originals/16/f0/4c/16f04c1392ade123104c9b46d00f0e2b.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/16/f0/4c/16f04c1392ade123104c... They're perfect for me, I'm single and just have dogs. Right now I have a front and back yard that nobody ever uses.