Ask HN: Did you move to Austin? I think I have FOMO | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Did you move to Austin? I think I have FOMO

2 pointswebsap3 comments

It seems like I made a big mistake not moving to Austin in 2020. Housing prices are off the hook in Seattle. Most of the inventory is old shitty houses, that need a lot of $$$, love and care to make then livable, let alone worth it for the price.

Austin seems to be becoming THE city, lot of good housing, great food, music, comedy and other events. Drive-able to other big cities in Texas. All major tech companies now have offices in Austin. I was there last year, and it was crazy to see everything open people having a great time, while Seattle was still under lock down.

Did you move to Austin? Other than the hot summers what don't you like about it?

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As a longtime non-tech Austinite, I would say the things that made Austin weird and affordable—and wonderful—are fading fast despite the hype. City leaders hyped a $7.1b transit tax package (my taxes for the year went up $800 for it) but it seems to only (literally) pave the way for developers to tout promised rail lines without the infrastructure (bus circulators) to even get to the grocery store, there’s a plan to build a tunnel through downtown and under Ladybird Lake for a rail line while plans are being made to widen the highway running through town to many as 20 lanes in places. Central neighborhoods with tree-lined streets are being targeted for massive development even as city ordinances prohibit a homeowner to rent space as a garage apartment. Many longtime favorites, restaurants, music venues, have closed. The best barbecue joint left for a small town a couple of towns away from here. The city is looking to loosen the protection of trees so developers can chop everything down. The Almighty Dollar is more important than local color or the urban canopy. Affordability is becoming a crisis for anyone not working tech. So, please stay away—unless you’re willing to work to make Austin do the innovative things it only says it does. And y’all, it IS really hot here…!

Housing prices exploded in Texas. According to Zillow my 2800sqft house was:

    JUL 2012 - $147k
    DEC 2015 - $202k
    AUG 2017 - $223k
    OCT 2018 - $251k
    NOV 2019 - $250k
    MAR 2021 - $280k
    APR 2021 - $308k
    JAN 2022 - $352k

I do not live in Austin though. Too pricey with worse traffic, as if that’s even possible. Austin also has strange local politics.

Pay rates in Austin are a fraction of SV.

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