It is true that taxes are a concern to those who want to retire or invest; but, if you break down the numbers like you would anywhere else, it is still an incredible investor market.  This market has been flooded by investors since 2003 when our market hit rock bottom.  With simple economics, the higher property taxes relative to many other states is offset by the lower pricing versus other states.  Austin is below the national average median home value, yet it is a highly desired market, especially those moving or investing from California, Arizona, Nevada, and oddly Florida.

I and my co-owners of our group all moved from California (before the dramatic price increases, unfortunately) and we all fully understand the comparisons of the market.  It takes people about a year to understand and justify that they gave up a massive state income tax and car tag expense as well as abnormally high gas, construction costs, labor, and housing costs, etc... 

If an investor can make a home in California pencil out that is over 3 times our median price, the taxes can easily be justified.  The last investment purchase our group made was on a condo with 10% down!  We are upside down a bit over $100, but it was 10% down!  20% down and we would easily have a cash flow, but with a tax deductable $100 negative, it did not make much since.  Thus, the reality is that the market has offset the property taxes.

Panic selling

We will just wait and see what happens next year in California.  I visit there 3 times a year and I still hear denial from the real estate community.  I went through this same denial when I went through the crash of 1990.  If you could hear the comments from the clientelle that we are getting from California, Arizona and South Florida, you would easily understand that a panic is on the horizon.....

It's kind of interesting to look back at old blogs.........