yeowzers

Hey Jotapay if you dont mind answering..

whats the laws like in Austin, hows taxes, and the weather ?

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1. whats the laws like in Austin,
2. hows taxes
3. and the weather ?

1. Which laws?
2. 2% per year on home value / year. Mine was about $4100 on $200,000. 8.25% sales tax (excludes food, etc.).
3. Hot, sunny summer. About 2 weeks of winter. 34 inches of rain per year. Ridiculously beautiful Spring days.

I honestly haven't found a reason to leave, even though this place is far from perfect. I just haven't found any place better overall yet.

i donno, just a general sense of how restrictive and idiotic it is. maybe the better question is how are the cops. heh

how about income/sales taxes ?

is it humid? cause i hate that.

Williamson County - close to Austin, lower taxes and less crime (more armed rednecks).

Also, no state income tax.

No income tax. 8.25% sales tax.

I have never ever had a problem with the cops here. You help them do their job, show them your CHL and they normally let you go with a warning. If one does things like mouth off to the cops, drinks and drives, or otherwise breaks laws, then the cops will be less forgiving.

It can get humid during May here. It's not as bad as Houston but it's not as dry as El Paso. Right now humidity is at 30%. It normally is less humid on the humidity scale.

One thing I've noticed about Austin is that home prices have started to go UP this year. I chose my neighborhood because it was relatively inexpensive, had low crime, had many neighborhood amenities (parks, swimming pools, library) and was well positioned for auto arteries.

Home prices in my neighborhood were $160K-200K last year. This year they are more like $190K-240K. Homes are on the market an average of 40 days in my zip code (June 2012 data). People moving here are having a hard time finding rental houses/duplexes. Houses inside the "loop" (within 5-6 miles of downtown) are getting multiple offers.

Austin is not the place to "Go Galt", with property and sales taxes like that.

My home is valued by the county at 140K, annual taxes of $598.

Annual income of 30K, paid $1198 in state tax.

5% sales tax.

Austin sound like Florida. As someone that tries to make at least money as possible, the property taxes alone are the killa.

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Austin is not the place to "Go Galt", with property and sales taxes like that.

Well sure. It's a place with a relatively low cost of living where you go and make a lot of money if you needed or wanted to do that.

Relative to what? New York, DC, LA or Miami?

Relative to the East and West coasts, as well as much of the Midwest. 3 of the top 10 cities for stretching your dollar (low cost of living combined with high salaries) are in Texas, including Austin.

Too bad I decided to skip f1 there this yr, would have been nice to check out. Though it will have to fire on all cylinders for me to leave co

If you are a saver, it is much better to have a higher sales tax and no income tax (as in TX and WA)than the reverse of a high income tax and no sales tax (as in OR). Sales tax, for instance, is not added to rent, but you pay rent in post-income tax money.

Austin..
- is overrun by east/west coasters. If you are looking to escape the NY/CA mentality you won't find refuge here. The rest of Texas has practically disowned the city. The mentality of the city reminds me the most of living in a hot version of Berkeley, CA.
- has sticker shock property taxes depending on where you are moving from. Thank the lack of a state income tax.
- the police... I don't even know where to begin. For starters you would be living in a state that incarcerates a higher percentage of their populace than even the most despotic 3rd world regimes. For offenses some states would ticket you for they will arrest you here. For very minor offenses the police in other states wouldn't even bother with they will ticket you here. The police are basically a revenue arm of the city/county/state.
- traffic. Nightmarish traffic. Environmentalists have cancelled most road capacity expansion projects over the last few decades leaving Austin to descend into gridlock. No credible plans to address this. Its going to get a whole lot worse.
- Speaking of environmentalists.. it can get pretty bad in Austin. They make California look like a haven for dirty industry.

Some pluses..
- great food
- hot women. Most of the country looks like a desert wasteland in comparison.
- great nightlife
- less expensive than other parts of the US

How would you compare Austin to Dallas? My sister may get transferred to Dallas, so any hints would be helpful.

They are very different cities. Austin is more like Portland or Seattle; Dallas is more like Chicago. Austin has typically been stereotyped as having redneck hippies and Dallas has J. Crew yuppie trash. I'd have a very hard time living in Dallas myself, although it is pretty nice around the Lower Greenville and Park Cities areas. Denton is also pretty cool, but far away. I know much more about Central Texas than any other part, just because I've lived here for 17 years of my adult life and Texas is a huge place.