Austin Texas Real Estate Blog

The state educational system uses this information as a guide to help draw more companies to the Austin area. Since the job market in Austin is still healthy, this study can only further the city on its goal to bring more jobs to the area. “Our companies compete globally with Taiwan, Russia, and Europe. This is the most helpful information that’s ever been made available about the kind of talent you get in Austin” said Drew Scherberle, Austin Chamber of commerce vice president.

A recent study by a D.C. think tank has ranked Austin math scores higher than some European countries. The study, Trends in International Math and Science, has placed Austin right along countries such as the Netherlands and Russia. Though below Asian scores, it has also placed above countries like Italy and New Zealand. The study focused on fourth graders and eighth graders in many countries. The only other city that matched Austin was Charlotte, N.C.

Some people feel the study in unfair to compare certain U.S. cities like New York and Chicago to places like Austin and Charlotte due to the difference in ethnic diversity and income. New York was ranked on par or above the international sites, while Chicago scored below. The math program in Austin has been a focus for several years and this study seems to prove that focus has been successful. This study comes at a time when Austin has begun to focus even more on the overall education of the future workforce.

Hurricane Ike put an exclamation point to a proposal by state officials who are looking to change the setback rules for construction along Texas’ coastline. The proposed new rules would recommend a certain amount of beach between buildings and the high tide line. If there are no dunes, construction setback must be 300 feet inland from the mean high water line. If there are dunes, the setback is a minimum of 25 feet behind the first dune on the landward side or 60 times the annual erosion rate. For example, if the beach erodes at a rate of six feet per year, construction has to start 360 feet from the line of vegetation.

While coast line home owners are less than enthusiastic about the state General Land Office’s recommendations, the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ike has caused county and city lawmakers to take a more favorable view.

Hurricanes are wreaking havoc on coastal properties and the cost to the insurance companies is doubling every ten years because of the increasing population and building in hurricane zones. Yet, landowners continue to resist the governments’ efforts to impose setback rules and to prohibit construction within a certain distance from state and public beaches.

Ike managed to quell the legal dispute between 14 homeowners and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson whom they accuse of trying to grab more power and land for the Land Office. Patterson, on his part, argues that the proposed setback guidelines would demonstrate that coastal landowners are building responsibly when he goes to the state for money for erosion control. Patterson had offered the 14 homeowners $50,000 each to move their houses away from public access to the beach. The offers are now void for those who lost their houses to the storm.

Austin may be the go to city for green building and innovations in alternative energy and energy saving construction, but it is not so great when it comes to saving on gasoline. A new study from Men’s Health magazine ranks Austinites 43^rd out of a hundred major US cities when it comes to consumption of gasoline, subsequent quality of the city’s air, miles per gallon for their personal vehicles and the city’s mass transit system – both in quality and usage.

That’s still better than other cities in the state of Texas. Arlington hit the bottom of the list at 100^th, and El Paso wasn’t much better, ranking 98^th. Other cities in Texas that hovered near the bottom were Fort Worth at 95, San Antonio at 94, and Houston which came in at 86. Dallas fared a little better, showing up at 67^th.

The best showing for cities in Texas were Lubbock, who came in at 32, and Corpus Christi, who was 34^th.

According to the article in Men�s Health magazine, the poisonous emissions from the tailpipes of personal vehicles are responsible for 17 percent of the country’s greenhouse gases on an annual basis. Using data from such sources as the National Transit Database, the American Lung Association, Texas A&M’s Texas Transportation Institute and others, Men’s Health compiled the report, focusing on consumption, annual miles driven, the size, age, and tune-up schedule of personal vehicles, adding ozone and particulate matter in the city’s air plus the quality and usage of regional mass transit systems.

The Austin City Council has named Brewster McCracken to the new Mayor Pro Tem position at a special meeting on Wednesday, June 25, 2008. Mr. McCracken replaces Betty Dunkerley who had served as Mayor Pro Tem from June 20, 2005 to June 15, 2008. Mr. McCracken was nominated by council member Sheryl Cole and seconded by Mayor Will Wynn. The nomination was passed unanimously.

The mayor pro tem serves as a stand in for the mayor, running council meetings, standing in as head of the city at ceremonies, and performing other duties in the mayor’s absence. Mr. McCracken has been a city council member since June of 2003. His mission, as a council member and as mayor pro tem, according to his web site, states “As your Council Member, I have a responsibility to be forward thinking in my initiatives and to be fair in my deliberations and decisions. Above all, I know that I have a responsibility to do my best to ensure that every Austinite has a better future and that we leave this place better than we found it.”

He takes evident pride in the city of Austin and is a big fan of Austin’s vision for alternative energy and green building initiatives. His focus is on supporting Austin’s leadership in emerging technology, including clean energy, digital media, and wireless technology, as well as maintaining Austin’s leadership world wide in semiconductor manufacturing and raise Austin’s status in the nation as one of the top five regions in the biotechnology field.

Finished before it was even started, the Magnolia condo project was forced into foreclosure in July 2008.

The Magnolia was to have been a five-story condominium building close to the downtown area, consisting of 139 units priced at between $220,000 and $600,000. Amenities were to include private balconies or courtyards, an outdoor pool on the second floor, a fitness center, rooftop gardens, retail space, and granite counter tops among others. The project was estimated to cost $40 million and would have covered three acres on the corner of South Lamar and West Gibson Street.

A series of events, combine with bad luck and difficult topology, have scuppered plans for these luxury condos.

In February of 2007, the lender who was to finance the construction, Fremont Investment & Loan from Los Angeles, reneged on its loan promise. It seems the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) refused to allow the lender to fund any new projects, as regulators tighten the purse strings on a nationwide scale.

Then, in October of 2007, the development company, Avena Development LLC, attempted to sell the project, and it was reported they had a buyer. The deal fell through in June of 2008 and foreclosure proceedings loomed. The undisclosed buyer backed out of the project purchase when they failed to find a partner to commit to the project.

The site is in a prime location, close to downtown and in a corner lot. There are projects with tree preservation and topography that were threatening to raise construction costs. Still, experts are cautioning against panic, saying this incident is isolated and “is related more to the specifics of the project and to the overall slowdown in residential sales and does not necessarily indicate the beginning of a trend in foreclosures.”

For the second year in a row, Houston, Texas, ranks second among major US cities for the average cost of obtaining a mortgage. Houston is topped only by New York City, while Buffalo, NY, comes in third, according to a survey done by Bankrate, Inc.. Based on a hypothetical $200,000 mortgage, Bankrate, Inc. surveys the city with the highest populations in each of the fifty states throughout the nation to come up with the rankings. Bankrate also included some of the smaller cities to get a better idea of the state’s averages. The fees paid at closing time that they surveyed don’t include taxes, insurance or miscellaneous prepaid items – homeowner association fees, for example. The survey also assumes 20 percent down payment and a good credit rating.

In New York City, mortgage closing costs topped the $4,000 mark, with Houston close behind at $3,975. North Carolina was at the bottom of the list, where the average closing costs are $2,650.

Buyers often overlook the closing fees as part of the expensive in buying a home, and they can often be quite high. It’s worth the homeowner’s time to really read documents closely and question the fees he or she is writing checks out for. Some fees, such as origination and title search, can be negotiated. Also, as the housing market remains soft, certain fees have risen and certain other fees have been added on as lenders seek to cover their losses. Appraisal fees, in particular, have risen sharply as lenders request a more thorough, time consuming job – including prices tends in with the usual market comparison.

The list of fees is extensive and it behooves the homeowner to look closely at where their money is going.

According to Allstate Insurance Company, drivers in Austin are 35 percent more likely to have a vehicular accident when compared to the nation as a whole. The report looks at insurance claims in the country’s 200 largest cities and concludes at Austin drivers are, for whatever reason, quite possibly the worse drivers in the nation.

In fact, Texans as a whole are fairly accident prone when they get behind the wheel. In the twenty cities the report examines, Houston drivers were 23 percent more likely to have an accident while in Dallas the probability is 27 percent and, in San Antonio, it’s 25 percent. Austinites also have more frequent accidents, with an average of less than seven and a half years between accidents. In Houston, it’s slightly over eight years, and about the same in Dallas – 7.8 years – and San Antonio – 8 years between accidents.

Sioux Falls, Iowa, checks in as the safest city for drivers in the national. Drivers there are 31 percent less likely to have a vehicular accident when compared with the rest of the US.

This report suggests that Texans aren’t as laid back as their stereotypical reputation might suggest. Maybe it’s the influx of new residents or the new popular trend to talk or text message while driving. It’s been proven in studies that using ones cell phone or other device while behind the wheel impairs ones driving ability to nearly the same degree as someone who is driving while intoxicated. So listen up, Austinites! Slow down, take it easy, and get off that cell phone!