Austin is the best city in America to get a fresh start, according to a new report from Relocation.com.

The online moving service company ranked Austin No. 1 on its list of the best cities to start over and seek out new economic opportunities.

Relocation.com used the following elements to create its list: city "popularity" based on consumer requests for moving quotes to move to that city; economic-growth prospects; home affordability; and the strength of a community as reflected by volunteerism rates.

The top cities following Austin, in order, are Dallas; Charlotte, N.C.; Denver; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; and Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and a three-way tie for 10th place between Houston, Seattle and Las Vegas.

"Studies have shown that many people don't like where they live," said Sharon Asher, chairman and founder of Relocation.com. "At the same time, a lot of people are looking for work, whether they're unemployed now or fearing layoffs. It's a scary time, but for some it might be a good time to think about starting over."

The full list and more details are available on the company's Web site.

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Metro Austin continues to lead the nation in job performance.

The region added about 3,400 jobs between April 2008 and April 2009, making it the only one of the nation's 38 largest cities to post a job gain, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. This is the third consecutive month that Austin has outperformed all of the other U.S. cities with labor forces of 750,000 or more. The unemployment rate for April stood at 5.8 percent.

The 0.4 percent increase in job totals is modest, but still a better showing than cities such as Portland (down 4.7 percent) and Raleigh, N.C. (down 3.3 percent).

Jobs in goods producing industries in the Austin area dropped by 500 jobs in April, a slowdown from the rapid pace of recent losses, according to an analysis of the data from the Capital Area Council of Governments. Retail, hotel, and restaurant jobs are all up from this time last year. And professional and business service sector employment is back to its all-time high last seen in October 2008.

But another key sector for the region, technology, isn't doing quite as well. Computer, semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing is still falling. Jobs in the semiconductor segment fell to 15,700 jobs, back to spring 2006 totals.

As Texas cities go, Austin's 5.8 percent unemployment rate was one of the healthiest. Dallas-Fort Worth stood at 6.6 percent in April and Houston at 6.3 percent. Only San Antonio's rate was lower than Austin's at 5.4 percent. Smaller metro areas including McAllen, Brownsville and Beaumount all had rates above 8 percent.

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By Bill McCann

The first batch of energy audits required of houses going up for sale in Austin show that most of the houses are wasting a lot of energy-and money-through leaky air conditioning and heating ducts in their attics.

Some 86 percent of the first 310 audits conducted under a new city ordinance have leaking air ducts above the 10 percent or less leakage rate considered acceptable from an energy-efficiency standpoint, according to Austin Energy, which is overseeing the program. The average leak rate of the 310 houses is 22 percent, but some houses have two or three times the average.

Added together, the 310 houses are wasting more than 807,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually from the air ducts alone, or the equivalent of the electricity used in 67 Austin homes in a year, according Austin Energy.

"The results so far are confirming what energy professionals have been saying all along - that homes are wasting a lot of energy," said Austin Energy spokesman Carlos Cordova. "We believe that the ordinance will help raise public awareness so that people will do something about it."

Under the ordinance, as of June 1 Austin Energy customers whose houses are going up for sale must get an energy audit by an outside professional, unless the house is less than 10 years old or meets one of several other exceptions. The ordinance also includes provisions for energy audits of apartment buildings and energy ratings for commercial buildings.

The City Council approved the ordinance last November over the objections of some real estate interests. The ordinance does not require a property owner to take steps to improve the house once the audit is complete, but the seller must provide a copy of the audit to a prospective buyer and the energy auditor must provide a copy of the audit to Austin Energy, which is compiling audit information.

Supporters of the ordinance believe that it will help improve the efficiency of the housing stock in Austin, thereby raising the value of homes, reducing energy bills and helping reduce peak power demands on the city electric system. As part of Austin's Climate Protection Plan to reduce greenhouse gases, the city has a goal of offsetting 700 megawatts of peak power demand by 2020.

Austin Energy officials say the timing is right for Austin homeowners to make energy-efficiency improvements to their homes.

For one thing, Austin Energy and Texas Gas Service are both offering rebates for various energy improvements, Cordova said. Combined, those rebates can total up to $2,000. In addition, new federal law allows up to $1,500 in tax credits for certain energy improvements.

"The resources are out there right now to help people make their homes more energy-efficient," Cordova said. "That in turn raises the value and reduces the energy bills. There has never been a better time in Austin's history for people to improve the efficiency of their homes."

Austin narrowly missed having its ordinance become toothless last month when one legislator attached an amendment to a solar energy bill that would have prevented the city from enforcing the Class C misdemeanor penalty for failing to comply with the ordinance. However, the solar legislation died along with numerous other bills, leaving the penalty for non-compliance intact.

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8 COVE CREEK
VILLAGE OF THE HILLS, TX 78738



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4 Bedrooms
3 Bathrooms
2,934 Est. Sq. Ft.

Listing # 4176146

$379,500
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