4 ms·

My money is on Austin. Low taxes, reasonable rents, plenty of culture (SXSW, "Keep Austin Weird", lots of nightlife, etc.), and a history of tech seems like the

• karl_gluck 13y ago
  Ding ding ding. You are correct! The number of people showing up here (disproportionately from California, actually) is pushing housing prices through the roof. Houses sell about 10% over ask pretty much anywhere. Rent has doubled for most of the area over the last 5 years. In my dismay a few months ago, I did some research into buying a place but quickly came to the same conclusion as the author. I just did a quick look around my area over on Zillow. A condo comparable to my apartment (townhome style, 2-car garage, similar sq ft / bedrooms, location, etc) is still listed for 23 times my current annual rent, even though rent went up 15% last year. I'm renting for 4.3% the price of an (old!) condo. Anyone who thinks this is sustainable is going to be in for a surprise. [edit: rent calculations annual...]
  • muzz 13y ago
    Property taxes in Austin are roughly 3% of the current value. If your monthly rent is 0.4% of current value, then over 12 months you'd pay a total of 4.8% of current value. So more than half (3 / 4.8) ie most of your rent paid would be going to pay the property taxes alone.
• deleted 13y ago
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