Consumption and Real Estate
Moving to Austin? The good and bad
moving to austin texas
Here I go over the good and bad of being a permanent resident in Austin, TX
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#5 written by shehenazi 1 year ago
lol i agree. all in all, austin is a really fun place. perhaps thats the main cause of the bad traffic. the few times i have been there i had a blast everytime, but i would much rather visit the place time to time than live there. thx for the reply & your videos are excellent btw. keep them coming plz. m/_
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#9 written by adnama79 1 year ago
Main thing is that it’s home. I have friends and family there. It’s really, really safe, clean, and friendly. Food is good everywhere. I miss the funky vibe and the local businesses. Basic city services (trash pick up, etc) run smoothly–although they run smoothly in most of the state, I think. San Antonio is also supposed to be really cool, but it’s farther from my family.
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#13 written by scottallentvh 1 year ago
Good video, but get your facts straight. You’re totally off base about property tax rates (actually more like 2.2%, not 12%); the job market (unemployment is currently well below state average and that’s well below national average); traffic (you’ve obviously not spent much time in Houston, Dallas, or San Antonio, all of which are far worse); entertainment (seriously? you just haven’t gotten out enough — there’s SO much to do here).
I agree with all your good points. But facts, facts, facts.
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#14 written by malignantpoodle 1 year ago
@scottallentvh
@scottallentvh
Laff… ok so in other words you agree with everything I say is good about Austin, and nothing bad.
This city with an over-inflated sense of self-importance is personified in your half-hearted attempt to defend it. You ask for “facts facts facts”, and provide none of your own, save for comparison to other cities (which btw, traffic in San Antonio, Houston, etc is nothing compared to Austin). If you’d have lived here, you’d know that.
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#15 written by scottallentvh 1 year ago
@malignantpoodle I started filling in the facts, realized I wasn’t going to get very far in 500 characters, and shortened it. I’ll break it down into chunks later tonight. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion — but we can have some friendly, spirited debate, yes? And as context, I grew up in Houston. I’ve lived in Austin (3 different times) a total of 11 years, and Houston more than 30. I’ve spent a lot of time in Dallas and San Antonio, too.
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#16 written by scottallentvh 1 year ago
OK, property taxes. Actually, the 2.2% DOES include the county, the school district, and even community college. Source: Austin Chamber of Commerce (apparently I can’t do links in comments — sucks)
According to Forbes in 2007, “America’s Priciest Property Taxas”:
“The tax rate of 2.1% is well above the national average, but moderate when compared to counties in the Houston or Dallas metro areas.”
You say otherwise. Show me.
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#17 written by scottallentvh 1 year ago
You said “job market”, which normally implies the availability of jobs, not average wages. I’ll grant you that the ratio of average salary to cost of living in Austin isn’t nearly as high as in, say, Houston, which is one of the best cities in the country in that regard. You correctly point out that the student population affects average wages. However, many of them are in jobs servicing the student market. Compare salaries for the same job position between cities, Austin’s comparable.
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#18 written by scottallentvh 1 year ago
Bottom line: Forbes named Austin America’s “best bargain city”, based on a combination of four factors: 1) Average salary for workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher; 2) annual unemployment statistics; 3) cost of living; and 4) the Housing Opportunity Index, which measures the amount of homes sold in a given area that would be affordable to a family earning the local median income. I can’t link it, but just Google “forbes best bargain city”. The facts speak for themselves.
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#19 written by malignantpoodle 1 year ago
@scottallentvh
“The totals in this table represent the “typical” property tax rates in each community. In practice, a range of rates may apply within a single community due to the boundaries of school and other special districts which do not align with municipal boundaries. ”Again, the Chamber of Commerce information does not represent the actual costs of owning property in Austin.
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#20 written by malignantpoodle 1 year ago
@scottallentvh
” You said “job market”, which normally implies the availability of jobs, not average wages.”Job market can mean many, many things other than employment rates. It can mean market sector type jobs, wages, and a lot more. I elaborated and specifically mention wages are the problem. I never mentioned that obtaining employment was a problem.
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#21 written by malignantpoodle 1 year ago
@scottallentvh
” Bottom line: Forbes named Austin America’s “best bargain city”, based on a combination of four factors”yeah, they also said Brownsville was the 10th best place in the world to retire, that Bear Stearns was solvent (a week before they collapsed), and that Angelina Jolie plays a big role in every single American’s life…
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#25 written by Silvertrine 1 year ago
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Great video! I am a student who stayed on (from Texas). I moved to Baltimore and I can’t wait to move back to Austin, but I am financially much better off in Baltimore. I’m getting my Master’s and I know I am looking at a much lower salary out of school than any of my classmates because I want to go home. I love Austin, but wages (for all brackets) do not keep pace with rent/mortgages there at all! Even with the bubble–median home price is 7x’s median salary.