7 ms·

I mean are you seriously comparing affordability of Austin to the bay area? My sense is that you have only lived in Austin and thus don't know how squeezed thi

I mean are you seriously comparing affordability of Austin to the bay area? My sense is that you have only lived in Austin and thus don't know how squeezed things are in the bay area. Not trying to be rude but just trying to point out how much more affordable Austin is relative to the bay area.

seabrookmx 5y ago
Not even just the bay area but the whole coast. Look at prices in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, or out east. They all easily top Austin. I think it's a good thing. Austin has a budding tech scene. Hopefully the political shitstorm there blows over so people actually want to live there.
- scoofy 5y ago
  >budding Literally Dell Computers is from Austin.
  - boringg 5y ago
    Has Dell done anything innovative since the 90s? It repackaged computer hardware in a cheap package filled to the brim with bloatware.
    - a5seo 5y ago
      How many "Dellionaires" have gone on to found new startups or even become angel investors/LP's? I can only think of a couple. Overall, Dell's innovations were supply chain and direct mail, not technology.
    - Apocryphon 5y ago
      They're not the only company in the region: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Hills https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Hills
      - boringg 5y ago
        It was the example used and the list from that website its tough to tell which companies were satellite offices vs which were corporate/research HQ. Not trying to belittle Austin - I know they have a tech scene - and I know every city is trying to capitalize on marketing their city as the next silicon valley (which is such a ridiculous thing to do for an incredibly long list of reasons).
        Apocryphon 5y ago
        Feels like they've moved on to Miami as the next SV. Maybe that means Austin is the next Seattle.
        bradknowles 5y ago
        I think Apple’s campus here is already bigger than anything they’ve got anywhere else, short of the giant UFO in Cupertino, and they’re still planning on expanding. Amazon is here, and again they have a number of buildings in the Domain area. I think it might be their second or third largest site, behind HQ and possibly HQ2. Of course Dell is here. Google doesn’t have much of a presence, yet. There are lots of other companies that have massive presence here in Austin. Tesla is highly unlikely to be the biggest.
        vineyardmike 5y ago
        >it might be their second or third largest site, behind HQ and possibly HQ2. Amazon largeset office presence outside of seattle (and bellevue which come consider seperate) is SouthBay cali, followed then by HQ2
    - bigmattystyles 5y ago
      They gave us Stoner Steve; I’m surprised he’s not more of a meme actually.
    - throwaway2037 5y ago
      Dell has excellent value for money in their monitors. And has for more than 15 years. Line after line is consistently rated by a wide variety of computer reviewers as top quartile. Yes, you can argue they do not directly manufacture, but the end product is reliable and high quality.
  - muzz 5y ago
    Yeah it's been about a 30-year drought for the Austin area since Dell
  - Pxtl 5y ago
    Also National Instruments
- boringg 5y ago
  My bad, didn't meant to leave the rest of the coastline out. And yes, hopefully these changes will turn Texas purple unless they continue to gerrymander the ish out of the whole state.
throw0101a 5y ago
> I mean are you seriously comparing affordability of Austin to the bay area? How is the sprawl in Austin compared to the Bay Area? A lot of times land/housing is cheap/er, but you 'pay' for that will long/er commutes in bad traffic. And often with few/no options for public transit.
- boringg 5y ago
  I feel for everyone as the prices are getting stupid everywhere.... BUTTTT I just looked on Redfin - I could buy a 3300 square foot house in Austin for under $900k with a huge pool and that was a 5 second search. No offense all you Austin folk, but you literally have no clue.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - mullingitover 5y ago
    I'd be careful about directly comparing prices, real estate taxes (by rate) in Texas are significantly higher than in California. They might be overall lower given that the real estate prices are cheaper, but Texas is #6 in the country for real estate taxes while California is #34[1]. [1] https://taxfoundation.org/high-state-property-taxes-2021/ https://taxfoundation.org/high-state-property-taxes-2021/
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - dexterdog 5y ago
      But California makes up for it with other taxes where Texas does not.
      - thebradbain 5y ago
        Like most things, it depends: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-california-has-lower-middle-class-taxes-than-texas https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-c...
etchalon 5y ago
I've lived in Kansas City, DC, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Austin. Is Austin cheaper than San Francisco? Yes. Would I classify Austin as "affordable"? I would have two years ago, when my wife and I were first looking to move here. That was the whole reason we began the process. But, it's gotten insane. We were going to wait a year, after renting, before we bought. Prices here were rising, we bought within six months so we wouldn't get priced out of our neighborhood. On my street, I have neighbors who bought literally a year before me, who live in basically the same home (1970s subdivision so all the houses are basically templates) that paid 40% less than we did. My neighbors could not afford to buy their current homes at the prices they're currently selling for. They cannot afford to buy similar homes in similar neighborhoods. This is only going to get worse.

seabrookmx 5y ago

Not even just the bay area but the whole coast. Look at prices in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, or out east. They all easily top Austin. I think it's a good thing. Austin has a budding tech scene. Hopefully the political shitstorm there blows over so people actually want to live there.

scoofy 5y ago
>budding Literally Dell Computers is from Austin.
- boringg 5y ago
  Has Dell done anything innovative since the 90s? It repackaged computer hardware in a cheap package filled to the brim with bloatware.
  - a5seo 5y ago
    How many "Dellionaires" have gone on to found new startups or even become angel investors/LP's? I can only think of a couple. Overall, Dell's innovations were supply chain and direct mail, not technology.
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    They're not the only company in the region: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Hills https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Hills
    - boringg 5y ago
      It was the example used and the list from that website its tough to tell which companies were satellite offices vs which were corporate/research HQ. Not trying to belittle Austin - I know they have a tech scene - and I know every city is trying to capitalize on marketing their city as the next silicon valley (which is such a ridiculous thing to do for an incredibly long list of reasons).
      - Apocryphon 5y ago
        Feels like they've moved on to Miami as the next SV. Maybe that means Austin is the next Seattle.
      - bradknowles 5y ago
        I think Apple’s campus here is already bigger than anything they’ve got anywhere else, short of the giant UFO in Cupertino, and they’re still planning on expanding. Amazon is here, and again they have a number of buildings in the Domain area. I think it might be their second or third largest site, behind HQ and possibly HQ2. Of course Dell is here. Google doesn’t have much of a presence, yet. There are lots of other companies that have massive presence here in Austin. Tesla is highly unlikely to be the biggest.
        vineyardmike 5y ago
        >it might be their second or third largest site, behind HQ and possibly HQ2. Amazon largeset office presence outside of seattle (and bellevue which come consider seperate) is SouthBay cali, followed then by HQ2
  - bigmattystyles 5y ago
    They gave us Stoner Steve; I’m surprised he’s not more of a meme actually.
  - throwaway2037 5y ago
    Dell has excellent value for money in their monitors. And has for more than 15 years. Line after line is consistently rated by a wide variety of computer reviewers as top quartile. Yes, you can argue they do not directly manufacture, but the end product is reliable and high quality.
- muzz 5y ago
  Yeah it's been about a 30-year drought for the Austin area since Dell
- Pxtl 5y ago
  Also National Instruments
boringg 5y ago
My bad, didn't meant to leave the rest of the coastline out. And yes, hopefully these changes will turn Texas purple unless they continue to gerrymander the ish out of the whole state.

throw0101a 5y ago

> I mean are you seriously comparing affordability of Austin to the bay area? How is the sprawl in Austin compared to the Bay Area? A lot of times land/housing is cheap/er, but you 'pay' for that will long/er commutes in bad traffic. And often with few/no options for public transit.

boringg 5y ago
I feel for everyone as the prices are getting stupid everywhere.... BUTTTT I just looked on Redfin - I could buy a 3300 square foot house in Austin for under $900k with a huge pool and that was a 5 second search. No offense all you Austin folk, but you literally have no clue.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- mullingitover 5y ago
  I'd be careful about directly comparing prices, real estate taxes (by rate) in Texas are significantly higher than in California. They might be overall lower given that the real estate prices are cheaper, but Texas is #6 in the country for real estate taxes while California is #34[1]. [1] https://taxfoundation.org/high-state-property-taxes-2021/ https://taxfoundation.org/high-state-property-taxes-2021/
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - dexterdog 5y ago
    But California makes up for it with other taxes where Texas does not.
    - thebradbain 5y ago
      Like most things, it depends: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-california-has-lower-middle-class-taxes-than-texas https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-05-19/wait-c...

etchalon 5y ago

I've lived in Kansas City, DC, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Austin. Is Austin cheaper than San Francisco? Yes. Would I classify Austin as "affordable"? I would have two years ago, when my wife and I were first looking to move here. That was the whole reason we began the process. But, it's gotten insane. We were going to wait a year, after renting, before we bought. Prices here were rising, we bought within six months so we wouldn't get priced out of our neighborhood. On my street, I have neighbors who bought literally a year before me, who live in basically the same home (1970s subdivision so all the houses are basically templates) that paid 40% less than we did. My neighbors could not afford to buy their current homes at the prices they're currently selling for. They cannot afford to buy similar homes in similar neighborhoods. This is only going to get worse.