GoodLife Team

This Saturday, January 30^th, 2010 is the 3^rd Annual Austin Modern Home Tour. The tour was created by Krisstina Wise in 2008 to promote progressive, responsible urban growth in Austin and features unique and modern homes designed by local Architects & Designers and marketed by local Real Estate Professionals.

This year’s Austin Modern Home Tour consists of a driving tour of 16 modern homes in the Austin area followed by a cocktail reception and architect panel at Truluck’s downtown.

In addition to several articles in the Austin American Statesman, the tour is being covered by several of the major news stations, including this piece by Fox News, a live interview with Krisstina Wise:

Learn more about the tour, see the homes, and purchase your tickets at http://glt.bz/mht2010.

Q: What do a $31.7 million budget gap and the City of Austin have in common and what does this connection mean for Austin residents?

A: Yep, you got it…higher property taxes and higher utility bills for the 2009/2010 fiscal year that started October 1^st for homeowners within the City of Austin.

What do the changes look like?

Let’s start with property taxes:

If you own a home within the City of Austin, historically a portion of your tax rate was figured by charging 40.12 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

The 2009/2010 City of Austin property tax rate increased to 42.09 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

That’s a 4.9% increase in your City of Austin property taxes. For example, if your home is valued at $250,000, $1003 of your total property tax bill was going to the City of Austin. With the changes, $1052 of your total tax bill will go to the City of Austin.

Moving right along to your utility bills:

• The average resident will now pay about $3.78 more per month on utility bills due to water and wastewater increases.
• Those using 90-gallon garbage carts will be charged an additional 65 cents per month, a move the city hopes will promote switching to smaller carts and encourage more recycling.

So, where does all the money go?

Taxes and utility rates are increasing, so is there a silver lining for Austinites? Yes!

The City of Austin has actively pursued involvement from taxpayers through multiple interactions over the course of the past year.  Austin is the first large U.S. city to involve the public on this level. The following are the methods used to involve Austin residents:

• The city budgeters held 30 meetings with boards and commissions.
• Six employee focus groups and five public town hall meetings were held.
• Employees of the city were polled for budget-reduction ideas.
• A hot line and e-mail accounts were created for budgetary comments.
• The city completed a citizen survey.

It’s an empowering concept to have public involvement in the governmental process in a large city such as Austin. It certainly feels more democratic when the people we elect poll us for our opinions over the course of a budget or legislative process.

We ask you, Austin Homeowners…how do you feel about these changes? Is there a better solution? Were you involved in the town hall meetings or did you provide any feedback to the city? Please share your comments and stories below, your opinion matters.

Supported by a buzzing & diverse business community, Austin continues to grow! Ranking 2nd in terms of population growth, Austin continues to be a shining start in the US economy. According to Forbes.com, Austin grew 3.77% in 2008, putting our estimated population close to 1.7 million. This is attributed to a number of factors:

• A relatively low unemployment rate (6.4% compared to the national average of 8.5%)
• Economic support from a variety of industries. Cities like Las Vegas and New York rely heavily on a single industry.
• Housing affordability
• Great weather (who doesn’t like 80 degree weather in February and March?)
• An active vibrant cultural life

Click here to read the full article from Forbes.com: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/ten-cities-where-americans-are-relocating.html

It continues to be a Good Life in Austin, Texas. Check out our monthly Austin real estate statistics to see how the Austin growth shows up in terms of Austin home sales or call the GoodLife Team today. Curious about the GoodLife Team’s hip new listings - follow us on twitter @goodlifeteam. Stay up with everything else GoodLife by following @krisstinawise. And be sure to let us know what you think about Austin’s growth by submitting your comments here.

On October 15th, Realtor.com published an article in their Daily Real Estate News listing the top US cities where your dollar bill goes furthest.

It should come as no surprise that Austin, Texas was in the # 1 slot.  Cities were selected based on a calculation by Forbes magazine that compared a city’s median home price to its median household income and also factored in projected job growth.

Once the ratios and calculations were run, Austin ranked #1 for cities where residents get the most for their money. At the GoodLife Team, where we regularly track the Austin TX MLS and report on the Austin Texas Real Estate Market, this ranking comes as no surprise. (Be sure to check out Garry’s monthly market statistics on our blog. You can subscribe to one of our RSS feeds to be notified when new data is posted.)
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For those of us living in Austin, it comes as no surprise that Austin made the top ten list of 2008 Best Cities to Live, Work and Play. Kiplinger selected the winners by looking for cities with strong economies, abundant jobs, reasonable cost of living, and lots of fun things to do. They utilized the services of Martin Prosperity Institute, a think tank that studies economic prosperity, in coming up with their winners. Interestingly enough, one of the key ingredients that the think tank looked for was number of residents in the creative ‘class’. According to the think tank, “People in creative fields — scientists, engineers, architects, educators, writers, artists and entertainers — are catalysts of vitality and livability in a city.”
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“If you think living in Austin feels like a permanent vacation, you’re not alone”… Thus begins a brief news report in the Austin Business Journal titled Austin Tops 10 “Greenest” Retirement Destinations. According to a recent U.S. News and World Report, the nation’s retirees selected 1000 Best Places to Retire. From that list, only 10 were selected as the ‘greenest’ retirement destinations.

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