austin texas: Austin Is #4 on List of Lowest Crime Cities with Over 500,000 People
- 12/31/13 02:21 AM
CQ Press (Congressional Quarterly) named Austin, Texas #4 on its list of lowest-crime cities with at least a population of 500,000. Interestingly, El Paso topped the list, and three Texas cities were in the top ten. San Antonio placed 10th.
The data comes from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting system, apparently. This system includes both violent crime and property crime. There are eight separate offenses included in the reporting. Click here for more details.
To see the entire list of cities (both lowest and highest crime rates, and for various city/town cities), visit http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2012/CityCrime2013_CityCrimeRankingsFactSheet.pdf.
This is just one small reason to … (4 comments)
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austin texas: Austin Tops Forbes List of Best Cities for Job Growth
- 12/11/13 12:44 PM
With an unemployment rate hovering around 5% and a projection of 4% job growth, Austin, Texas is poised for another year of explosive growth.
Forbes named our city #1 on yet another positive list, with Texas cities claiming the top four spots:
Austin McAllen Houston Fort Worth According to the article, many of the jobs created in Austin and Fort Worth will come with six-figure salaries, unless those in other parts of the state and country.
Prices continue to increase relatively quickly in our market, although they are very inexpensive compared to many California and northeast cities, which is why we continue to … (7 comments)
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austin texas: Austin Tops List of Destinations for Retirees and "Snowbirds"
- 12/09/13 04:13 AM
According to a recent survey/study by Apartments.com, Austin is the #1 best spot in the country to retire or to spend the winter away from other, colder locales.
Frankly, after reading the article about this, I wondered about the fact that they didn't include sales or home prices as part of this study, just rentals, which seems a little counterintuitive to me. I can understand it with regard to temporary housing, but if you're retiring to an area, renting seems pretty unlikely long-term.
The average two-bedroom apartment in Austin is $1204/month now, which makes purchasing more attractive, depending on which … (2 comments)
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austin texas: Austin's Economy is Named #1 in the U.S.
- 12/07/13 12:19 PM
Texas has had a reputation for years for creating tons of jobs, far outpacing other parts of the country. Austin, Texas was named #1 out of 102 cities tracked in a Business Journal study in October. Austin has again landed on top of a report measuring economic factors, which has almost become commonplace over the past few years.
With an overall score of 83.9 out of 100 (18 different economic criteria used), Austin's low unemployment and wages growth certainly helped, but its job growth numbers blew away the competition.
Austin was the ONLY city in the country with double-digit job growth … (7 comments)
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austin texas: Austin, Texas Area Named #2 on List for Top-Growing Metro Areas in the U.S.
- 04/05/12 07:50 AM
The Austin metro area grew by 3.9% from 2010 to 2011, according to a story cited in the Austin American-Statesman today. I feel blessed to be selling homes in such a vibrant city. I was a little surprised to realize that we are nearing the 2 million mark on population here, frankly (1.78 million as of July 2011). It wasn't that long ago that Austin and all of the surrounding counties were in the 800,000 range.
Williamson County (just north of Austin) is the 10st fastest growing county in the United States now. Hutto was the fastest growing city in Texas … (3 comments)
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austin texas: Austin, Texas Named "Best All-Around City" on List of 10 Best Places to Buy a Home
- 01/26/11 12:38 PM
Having lived in the Austin area since 1988, I'm not surprised when I see our city making national "most desirable" or "best" lists, and a recent list from Walletpop.com is no exception.
On the list entitled, "10 Best Places to Buy a Home", Austin placed at #1 overall, garnering "Best All-Around City" honors.
Although we've experienced a tougher economy in recent years, Austin has weathered the storm quite well compared with most cities and local markets around the country, and for that I'm thankful. Since we've all been inundated with negative messages from the media about the "national housing market" (which is … (16 comments)
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austin texas: Zappos' "Delivering Happiness Tour" Hits Austin - Cool Stuff!
- 11/03/10 04:25 PM
So, I don't normally get up early on Saturdays. In fact, I don't typically get up that early any of the other days, either, if I'm being honest. I'm not really a morning person, I suppose. This is one of the benefits of homeschooling and being self-employed.
This past weekend was an exception for me.
I was invited to attend a talk/event that made it worth getting up before the sun. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. was speaking as part of the "Delivering Happiness" bus tour across the country. It was organized by the Austin chapter of the American Marketing Association, … (11 comments)
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austin texas: Chevrolet Wants to Meet Me?!? Twitter Brings Me VIP Access to Austin Concert
- 04/03/10 11:29 AM
During my recent attendance at SXSW Interactive, I received an email from Sarah Solomon Bykrit, who works for Fleishman-Hillard out of Dallas. She indicated that she was working on behalf of Chevy, who had identified me as "someone they want to meet while in Austin" based on my Twitter stream and following.
How cool is that? Sarah invited me to the VIP area for a Cheap Trick/Bodeans concert at Auditorium Shores. My wife and I got a sitter for the evening, and we were excited about seeing Cheap Trick play "live". Believe me, we were not disappointed. My wife said it … (26 comments)
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austin texas: Austin Claims #1 Spot for New List - "Best-Performing Cities"
- 11/29/09 06:50 AM
Once again, Austin, Texas has been named as one of the strongest local economies in the country. In a new report just released by the Milken Institute and Greenstreet Real Estate Partners, Austin was found to be #1 on the list of Best-Performing Cities for 2009.
In a nutshell, this index ranks U.S. metros based on their ability to create and sustain jobs. Clearly, this is a terrific feeling, and it's one of the reasons that home prices have stayed consistent with very little depreciation, even during really rough times. Austin is expected to be among a handful of … (14 comments)
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austin texas: Austin Earns Yet Another Honor - "Top City For a Fresh Start"
- 05/22/09 12:45 PM
Relocation.com released an interesting new list a couple of days ago, naming Austin, Texas #1 on its list of "Top Cities for a Fresh Start". This is an interesting study, and one which seems particularly apt considering the rough economic factors facing many parts of the country. The data includes some unique categories:
Job Growth (Austin is #1) Home Affordability Volunteerism Rate Popularity for Relocation The volunteerism rate was cited as a measure of the strength of the community. For this particular item, Austin was #5 on the list.
With regard to popularity, the article states:
We mined our own data … (7 comments)
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austin texas: Austin Named "America's Best Bargain City" by Forbes.com
- 05/20/09 02:28 PM
Austin has been honored on yet another national list this week, having been named the #1 city on Forbes' latest list of "Best Bargain Cities".
I took a close look at the data they used in calculating the top rankings. As always, they analyzed the 50 largest U.S. metro statistical areas for the study. Here are the primary data points used:
Average salary for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher (from PayScale.com) Annual unemployment statistics (Bureau of Labor Statistics) Cost of living (Moody's Economy.com) Housing Opportunity Index (from NAHB & Wells Fargo) - measures affordability at median income Not surprisingly, … (28 comments)
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austin texas: Austin was the Second-Fastest Growing City in the U.S. for 2007-2008
- 04/15/09 06:49 AM
According to a U.S. Census Bureau report that was released in March, Austin is the second fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States, ranking behind only Raleigh, NC in terms of percentage growth.
Austin grew by 3.8% during the period from mid-2007 to mid-2008, hitting a population of around 1.7 million. This seems amazing to me, since I remember the metro area was under 1 million when I started as a real estate agent in early 1997.
The metro area includes Round Rock, which also serves as the international headquarters for Dell Computer. That fact alone has transformed Round Rock … (10 comments)
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austin texas: Austin could experience short-term housing shortage and higher prices!
- 03/09/09 07:43 AM
Angelos Angelou is one of the foremost economists in central Texas, and he is predicting that the Austin area could end up with a housing shortage over the next couple of years. Builders slowed down their production levels so much that they may have overcorrected, and this could lead to higher prices in the short-term.
According to an article in the Community Impact paper that came out on Friday, housing starts dropped by about 2/3 over the past couple of years, from 18,000 to around 6.000 anticipated for 2009. Couple that with an estimated 42,000 people moving into the area, and … (9 comments)
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austin texas: Austin Named #7 on "Hottest Markets for 2009" List
- 03/04/09 02:52 PM
I was excited to see that Austin was named #7 on HousingPredictor.com's latest list: "Hottest Buyers Markets in 2009". Housing Predictor provides independent real estate forecasts.
Austin seems to be on this type of list perenially, but I know that this month is my best income month (and my busiest) since 2007, which is certainly exciting and perhaps gives more credence to this data.
The combination of low interest rates, first-time homebuyer incentives, and the advent of the traditional sales season has made things really busy around here for us lately.
According to the article:
The Hottest … (10 comments)
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austin texas: My Son Finished Marathon Kids Today! (Video included)
- 02/21/09 01:20 PM
I wrote about Marathon Kids last year, which is a cool fitness program wherein kids commit to finish an entire marathon over a few months' time. In our case, until the beginning of the month, we thought we had more time to complete this task. I could have sworn that the final ceremony was going to be in April, but I was wrong, so we did the vast majority of the mileage over the past 3 weeks and finished last night.
Last year, my wife did more of the running with him, but she is currently 33 weeks pregnant, so that wouldn't … (21 comments)
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austin texas: Austin Named #2 on "Healthiest Housing Markets" List for 2009 - Texas Sweeps the Top FIVE Spots!
- 02/21/09 12:18 PM
BuilderOnline.com, which is the website for Builder Magazine, published a list this week of the healthiest housing markets around the country. Not surprisingly, Austin fared well on the list. What I DID find surprising was the fact that Texas has the entire top five.
To compile the list, they analyzed the top 75 real estate markets in the country, ranking them based on population trends and job growth, which are both perennial factors that drive demand for homes. They also took into account current home prices and the number of building permits.
Houston ranked first, followed by Austin, Fort Worth, San … (10 comments)
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austin texas: Austin Named #2 "Family-Friendly" City in the U.S. by Forbes.com
- 02/20/09 03:57 PM
In a Top Ten list released today by Forbes.com, Austin, Texas was named the #2 most family-friendly city in the United States! Having lived in this area since 1988, and as a father of three now, I can attest to this fact. I often tell my clients who are relocating that Austin is a terrific place to start and raise a family.
This particular study focused on affordability for families. To rank the affordability of the country's 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas, Forbes.com used the Economic Policy Institute's Basic Family Budget Calculator.
Austin posted the following numbers in the story:
Median … (14 comments)
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austin texas: ActiveRain International Dinner in Austin, Texas! (Okay, so maybe that sounds a bit dramatic).
- 01/21/09 02:27 PM
I decided to go with an eye-catching headline here for my post about my first dinner with an ActiveRain friend who is from another country. Another COUNTRY, I say!
But which country is it, Jason?
Well, it's Canada, of course!
Liz Moras and I had a chance to meet VERY briefly (perhaps five minutes or so) last month while she was in Austin, but this time around, it was several hours spent at dinner at a legendary Austin hangout. My wife joined me, along with Russell Lewis, and we took Liz to Threadgill's restaurant near downtown, at Riverside and Barton Springs.
… (44 comments)
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austin texas: Austin Home Buying - A Few Tips to Consider when Checking Neighborhoods
- 10/19/08 04:06 PM
I had to run some errands earlier this evening and I went by to see a friend of mine briefly. He lives in a neighborhood that inspired this post, truth be known. When you are looking to buy a home, there are a few items which may not come to mind immediately, so I thought a short list of reminders might be helpful:
STREET LIGHTS Does the area where you are purchasing have streetlights at all? How many? Are there any near the home you are specifically considering? My friend's house is in a neighborhood with ZERO streetlights, which makes evening … (3 comments)
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austin texas: First-Time Home Buyers - New Tax Credit Explained - Austin, Texas
- 09/27/08 05:24 AM
As you may have heard, on July 30th, 2008 President Bush signed into law the Housing & Economic Recovery Act of 2008 in order to help stimulate the economy. Among other items in the bill, Congress created a new home buyer tax credit. The Housing & Economic Recovery Act of 2008 authorizes a $7,500 tax credit (which is better than a deduction!) for qualified buyers purchasing homes during the period from April 9, 2008 until June 30, 2009.
If you recently closed on a home (i.e. on or after April 9th, 2008), this is also available retroactively for you.
The tax credit … (9 comments)
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CQ Press (Congressional Quarterly) named Austin, Texas #4 on its list of lowest-crime cities with at least a population of 500,000. Interestingly, El Paso topped the list, and three Texas cities were in the top ten. San Antonio placed 10th.
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