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  #1521  
Old Posted Jun 11, 2021, 6:00 PM
Sigaven Sigaven is offline
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Originally Posted by 427MM View Post
Glad you brought this up. It’s something I think about daily. Sorry you’ve lost some friends due to the higher cost of living we’re dealing with—I’ve lost far too many to the same issue. It is horrible for Austin in that it drives displacement, is fuel for sprawl and ramps up traffic.

Recall we were weeks from adopting a new land use code on third reading that increased Austin’s unbuilt housing capacity to over 400,000 units! It also legalized a diversity of housing types for a diversity of income earners. The Housing Opposition Group lawsuit led by CNC, after years of failing to stop progress, finally found a NIMBY-curious judge who gave them everything they wanted. We have enough housing-deniers on city council and such entrenched aversion to growth embedded in the city staff level that housing faces an uphill battle on every front.

The most important opportunity to change course IMO are our 2022 elections. Districts 1,3, 5, 8, 9 and the Mayor are up for election with Renteria (3), Kitchen (5), Tovo* (9) and the Mayor’s seats open as they are all termed out. My guess is we’ll have some housing-deniers try to run for mayor (so far Austin has avoided this bullet). Two of the four members who voted against land use reform (5&9) are termed out giving further hope for housing progress. We all must get involved in elections next year. They are the most important since ’14.

*She had already termed out last time around but claimed there was “confusion” so she ran again. Nobody seemed confused except her but here we are.
As an aspiring homeowner I think about this daily too. I'm lucky enough to get a pay raise every year but it can't keep up with how fast housing prices are shooting up. I do want to stay in the city though, so it's renting for me for the forseeable future.
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  #1522  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2021, 4:59 PM
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Originally Posted by 427MM View Post
Glad you brought this up. It’s something I think about daily. Sorry you’ve lost some friends due to the higher cost of living we’re dealing with—I’ve lost far too many to the same issue. It is horrible for Austin in that it drives displacement, is fuel for sprawl and ramps up traffic.

Recall we were weeks from adopting a new land use code on third reading that increased Austin’s unbuilt housing capacity to over 400,000 units! It also legalized a diversity of housing types for a diversity of income earners. The Housing Opposition Group lawsuit led by CNC, after years of failing to stop progress, finally found a NIMBY-curious judge who gave them everything they wanted. We have enough housing-deniers on city council and such entrenched aversion to growth embedded in the city staff level that housing faces an uphill battle on every front.

The most important opportunity to change course IMO are our 2022 elections. Districts 1,3, 5, 8, 9 and the Mayor are up for election with Renteria (3), Kitchen (5), Tovo* (9) and the Mayor’s seats open as they are all termed out. My guess is we’ll have some housing-deniers try to run for mayor (so far Austin has avoided this bullet). Two of the four members who voted against land use reform (5&9) are termed out giving further hope for housing progress. We all must get involved in elections next year. They are the most important since ’14.

*She had already termed out last time around but claimed there was “confusion” so she ran again. Nobody seemed confused except her but here we are.

The folks who are against Code Next (or what ever you want to call it) live in central neighborhoods as far as I know anyway. So what they don't want, is an extra house or two popping up in the neighbors back yard, along with the parking problems that will come with it. Think, streets lined with cars, kind of ugly.

Anyway, regardless of who is right or wrong, in these particular locations, you're not going to get the affordability you are probably thinking of. Run the numbers, lets say you find a track of land and can knock one down and build 3. you're looking at a 2-3 million dollar investment to do this. So even if you can get this done for 2M, divide that by 3 and there is your buying cost. And that is only going up. So if you want something affordable, I suggest moving now, don't wait for some magical code to get passed. It wont help much.
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  #1523  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2021, 2:04 PM
paul78701 paul78701 is online now
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Originally Posted by JAM View Post
The folks who are against Code Next (or what ever you want to call it) live in central neighborhoods as far as I know anyway. So what they don't want, is an extra house or two popping up in the neighbors back yard, along with the parking problems that will come with it. Think, streets lined with cars, kind of ugly.

Anyway, regardless of who is right or wrong, in these particular locations, you're not going to get the affordability you are probably thinking of. Run the numbers, lets say you find a track of land and can knock one down and build 3. you're looking at a 2-3 million dollar investment to do this. So even if you can get this done for 2M, divide that by 3 and there is your buying cost. And that is only going up. So if you want something affordable, I suggest moving now, don't wait for some magical code to get passed. It wont help much.
Building more density is essential, but any idea that it could cause a dramatic drop in housing prices is not based on any reality of how supply and demand works. Austin's population is growing too fast for any major price drop to happen. However, adding more available housing (if built fast enough) can have an effect on how fast prices rise. It will slow the pace, but those that think that it could stop prices from going up are fooling themselves. It's all about slowing the pace.
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  #1524  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2021, 4:41 PM
We vs us We vs us is offline
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Zoning reform is a rearguard action. It won't help the short or even medium term squeeze that we're experiencing. It's absolutely something we should do for future Austonians -- who will need even more help 5 to 10 years from now. But it's not going to help with the price increases we're seeing now.
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  #1525  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2021, 5:13 PM
Novacek Novacek is offline
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Originally Posted by We vs us View Post
Zoning reform is a rearguard action. It won't help the short or even medium term squeeze that we're experiencing. It's absolutely something we should do for future Austonians -- who will need even more help 5 to 10 years from now. But it's not going to help with the price increases we're seeing now.
Just like planting a tree.

The best time is 40 years ago. The second best time is now.

Austin stopped "planting trees" almost exactly 40 years ago.
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  #1526  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2021, 5:38 PM
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GoldenBoot GoldenBoot is offline
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Originally Posted by We vs us View Post
Zoning reform is a rearguard action. It won't help the short or even medium term squeeze that we're experiencing. It's absolutely something we should do for future Austonians -- who will need even more help 5 to 10 years from now. But it's not going to help with the price increases we're seeing now.
The correct demonym for a person living in Austin is (and always has been) an Austinite! The name Austin ends in: "-in," one set of letters which trigger the demonym endinf with "-ite." The ending "-on," for example, would trigger the "-onian" as in Houstonian.
__________________
AUSTIN (City): 979,882 +1.87% - '20-'23 | AUSTIN MSA (5 counties): 2,473,275 +8.32% - '20-'23
SAN ANTONIO (City): 1,495,295 +4.23% - '20-'23 | SAN ANTONIO MSA (8 counties): 2,703,999 +5.70% - '20-'23
AUS-SAT REGION (MSAs/13 counties): 5,177,274 +6.94% - '20-'23 | *SRC: US Census*
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  #1527  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2021, 6:29 PM
Armybrat Armybrat is offline
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Originally Posted by GoldenBoot View Post
The correct demonym for a person living in Austin is (and always has been) an Austinite! The name Austin ends in: "-in," one set of letters which trigger the demonym endinf with "-ite." The ending "-on," for example, would trigger the "-onian" as in Houstonian.
Correct.
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  #1528  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2021, 6:29 PM
papertowelroll papertowelroll is offline
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Originally Posted by JAM View Post
The folks who are against Code Next (or what ever you want to call it) live in central neighborhoods as far as I know anyway. So what they don't want, is an extra house or two popping up in the neighbors back yard, along with the parking problems that will come with it. Think, streets lined with cars, kind of ugly.

Anyway, regardless of who is right or wrong, in these particular locations, you're not going to get the affordability you are probably thinking of. Run the numbers, lets say you find a track of land and can knock one down and build 3. you're looking at a 2-3 million dollar investment to do this. So even if you can get this done for 2M, divide that by 3 and there is your buying cost. And that is only going up. So if you want something affordable, I suggest moving now, don't wait for some magical code to get passed. It wont help much.
Also, what's most expensive right now are SFHs with an entire lot.. a zoning change will put more condos/apartments on the market but the price of SFHs will rise even higher. (Relaxing restrictions on land use will increase the value of that land).

Really rent is not that expensive in Austin, all things considered. It's buying the classic SFH that is crazy, and that won't change unless Austin's economy falls apart.
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  #1529  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2021, 7:22 PM
davidberko davidberko is offline
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Originally Posted by GoldenBoot View Post
The correct demonym for a person living in Austin is (and always has been) an Austinite! The name Austin ends in: "-in," one set of letters which trigger the demonym endinf with "-ite." The ending "-on," for example, would trigger the "-onian" as in Houstonian.
In their defense, they were probably thinking of the building the austonian, so they went with that lol
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  #1530  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2021, 8:55 PM
We vs us We vs us is offline
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Originally Posted by davidberko View Post
In their defense, they were probably thinking of the building the austonian, so they went with that lol
Yes, that's what I defaulted to . . . though I know better, tbh.

I mean, sheesh, it was pre-coffee on a Sunday morning!
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  #1531  
Old Posted Jun 14, 2021, 3:43 AM
davidberko davidberko is offline
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Yes, that's what I defaulted to . . . though I know better, tbh.

I mean, sheesh, it was pre-coffee on a Sunday morning!
it happens my friend. You've made a lot of good contributions to the forum. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it
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  #1532  
Old Posted Jun 14, 2021, 12:24 PM
H2O H2O is offline
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Also, what's most expensive right now are SFHs with an entire lot.. a zoning change will put more condos/apartments on the market but the price of SFHs will rise even higher. (Relaxing restrictions on land use will increase the value of that land).

Really rent is not that expensive in Austin, all things considered. It's buying the classic SFH that is crazy, and that won't change unless Austin's economy falls apart.
Agreed (mostly). Land values for any land use will rise as long as the local economy remains as hot as it has been for the last 25 - 30 years. It doesn't matter if the intended and allowable use is traditional SF, Missing Middle, Multi-family, Mixed-use, Commercial or Industrial. But if four families can share a plot of land that currently only allows a single home that only the wealthiest among us can afford, the four houses that can be built on that land can be affordable to more people.

But, if only a few existing SF lots are rezoned to allow Missing Middle, those lots will sell for a premium because they are a scarce commodity. If every SF lot in the city is allowed four units, the supply of lots that have the potential of supporting Missing Middle will not appreciate any more than their value as SF lots because the supply will exceed demand. Because SF represents the vast majority of lots available in the city today, they actually exceed the demand of the traditional nuclear family they are intended for, as that demographic is now a minority of the population. If we rethink what form SF takes, (federal mortgage underwriting guidelines allow up to four dwelling units per lot to qualify for a conventional residential mortgage), and our perception of what a house is follows that definition, the traditional SF house does not become a rare commodity until a majority of former SF lots are built out as Missing Middle.

Unfortunately, all of this real estate economic talk just plays into the rhetoric of Community Not Community. The Housing Opposition Groups use this sort of explanation to alarm existing home owners that Urbanists are coming for their homes. The reality is that Missing Middle builds community by allowing more people to be neighbors. Low density suburban house forms are built on the principle of privacy and sanctity of homestead. Urban density house forms promote community with greater walkability and visitability, using such devices as shallow front setbacks and friendly front porches.

I could go on, and probably fill out some of my rambling points to make a more cogent argument, but I feel I have already said too much.
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  #1533  
Old Posted Jun 14, 2021, 4:32 PM
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The reality is that Missing Middle builds community by allowing more people to be neighbors. Low density suburban house forms are built on the principle of privacy and sanctity of homestead. Urban density house forms promote community with greater walkability and visitability, using such devices as shallow front setbacks and friendly front porches.

I could go on, and probably fill out some of my rambling points to make a more cogent argument, but I feel I have already said too much.
LOL - your points me of some of the ladies over in the Allendale. They become offended when someone doesnt build a house the way THEY want it. As if it was THEIR money. The thought of an automatic garage door where the person drives home, opens the door, goes in the house never to be seen just really bugged some of them. I'm thinking, mind your own business. Maybe that person has a really stressful job, and just doesn't walk to talk to neighbors at the end of the day. Baaa Hum bug !! Meanwhile, they are sitting around the house all day, bored out of their minds, critiquing peoples homes they just built, waiting for someone to arrive home so that can go get up in their business. If that is what you want, move to a condo for cripes sake!!
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  #1534  
Old Posted Jun 15, 2021, 12:24 PM
H2O H2O is offline
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LOL - your points me of some of the ladies over in the Allendale. They become offended when someone doesnt build a house the way THEY want it. As if it was THEIR money. The thought of an automatic garage door where the person drives home, opens the door, goes in the house never to be seen just really bugged some of them. I'm thinking, mind your own business. Maybe that person has a really stressful job, and just doesn't walk to talk to neighbors at the end of the day. Baaa Hum bug !! Meanwhile, they are sitting around the house all day, bored out of their minds, critiquing peoples homes they just built, waiting for someone to arrive home so that can go get up in their business. If that is what you want, move to a condo for cripes sake!!
I'm not saying everybody needs to have a front porch. All I am saying is that everybody should have the right to have up to 4 units on their lot. Just as federal residential mortgage underwriting guidelines allow.
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  #1535  
Old Posted Jun 15, 2021, 3:19 PM
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I'm not saying everybody needs to have a front porch. All I am saying is that everybody should have the right to have up to 4 units on their lot. Just as federal residential mortgage underwriting guidelines allow.
Sorry, but the ladies I mentioned, their neighborhood design guidelines mandate front porches, and only one house per yard. Choice of house color must be approved by the committee. Attendance to neighborhood BBQ is also mandatory.
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  #1536  
Old Posted Jun 15, 2021, 3:42 PM
drummer drummer is offline
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Attendance to neighborhood BBQ is also mandatory.
As long as it's good, this part doesn't seem so bad. The rest I could do without.
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  #1537  
Old Posted Jun 15, 2021, 7:41 PM
undergroundman undergroundman is offline
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China is kicking out more than half the world’s bitcoin miners – and a whole lot of them could be headed to Texas

KEY POINTS
  • In May, Beijing called for a severe crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading, setting off what's being dubbed in crypto circles as "the great mining migration."
  • Texas is an ideal destination for miners, thanks to its abundance of solar and wind power, its unregulated market, and its crypto-friendly political stance.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/15/chin...r-exodus-.html

Not sure whether this is good or bad for the Texas economy. Retail energy prices may tick up as demand surges, and at the same time there aren't many jobs associated with these mining operations.

The operators could theoretically set up the machines here and live in another state, spending their profits elsewhere. However the profits from the utility operators would stay in TX to be circulated in local economies.
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  #1538  
Old Posted Jun 15, 2021, 8:58 PM
jkconno jkconno is offline
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https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/15/chin...r-exodus-.html

Not sure whether this is good or bad for the Texas economy. Retail energy prices may tick up as demand surges, and at the same time there aren't many jobs associated with these mining operations.

The operators could theoretically set up the machines here and live in another state, spending their profits elsewhere. However the profits from the utility operators would stay in TX to be circulated in local economies.
Not to mention the power grid, given that it's only June and the heat is causing ERCOT to issue conservation warnings. All that extra consumption wouldn't help at all.
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  #1539  
Old Posted Jun 16, 2021, 8:18 PM
ATX2030 ATX2030 is offline
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Reported Tesla supplier Simwon to build factory outside Austin

400 new jobs on horizon, top exec says

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...Pos=1#cxrecs_s

Kathryn Hardison – Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal

"An automotive body manufacturing company tied to Tesla Inc.'s California operations has grabbed a large swath of space in Kyle.

Simwon North America Corp. recently signed a ground lease for 500,000 square feet off Marketplace Avenue in Kyle, the suburb 20 minutes south of downtown, said President Stephan Chehab. Construction is underway on a manufacturing facility there, which is expected to employ 400 people and be operational by December or January, he said. That's right around the time when Tesla's plant is scheduled to come online."
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  #1540  
Old Posted Jun 16, 2021, 8:39 PM
Novacek Novacek is offline
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Not to mention the power grid, given that it's only June and the heat is causing ERCOT to issue conservation warnings. All that extra consumption wouldn't help at all.
It's not the heat.

It's the supply side. A bunch of generation went offline including a whole nuke reactor.


https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...e-states-grid/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-for-blackouts


that's over a Gigawatt of production all by itself, and it's possibly single-handedly responsible for the difference between being in conservation stage and not.


It's also a really, really peaky demand curve. There's a huge amount of extra supply at night due to wind.

http://www.ercot.com/

It was close to _20 GW_ last night.
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