Tagged : Austin

According to a new Portfolio.com/bizjournals study, the Southwest is the place to go for young adults who are looking for a place to work and to settle down. In fact, three of the top ten places identified as the best places for young adults to live are located in the Southwest, with Austin taking the number one position.

Although there are many reasons for young adults to want to live in Austin, there were two main reasons why the city took the top honors. One of these reasons is the fact that Austin actually managed to add 99,200 jobs over the past five years, while two-thirds of the country's major markets actually have fewer jobs now than they had five years ago. With an annual employment growth rate of 2.8%, Austin has enjoyed the fastest growth rate

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One of the biggest draws to living in the Austin area is the fact that employment opportunities are quite abundant when compared to many other metropolitan areas throughout the country. While there is no doubt that Austin unemployment rates did take a bit of a hit during these difficult economic times, the city has managed to do quite well when compared to national averages and even when compared to the rest of the state. Furthermore, according to some data recently released by the Texas Workforce Commission, unemployment rates in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos area are only getting better.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission, unemployment rates in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos area jumped from 7% in December to 7.6% in January. Things got…

Residents of the Austin-Round Rock area are well aware that the metro area is one of the best places in the country to live, but it is always nice to have these assertions confirmed by those who don't live there. Thanks to the Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners, residents of the Austin-Round Rock area can feel good in knowing that they are residents of the best performing city in the United States.

The Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners recently released its 2009 list of Best Performing Cities Index and the Austin-Round Rock area topped the list. In creating the list, the Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners considered a number of different factors. These included the area's ability to create and sustain jobs as…

According to the Austin Board of Realtors, home sales in central Texas increased by 5% in January when compared to home sales from just one year ago. In fact, the median sale price of homes rose by 1% to $179,250.

Seeing an increase in the median price of homes is certainly good news, as it is a positive sign that the economy in Austin is working toward rebounding as real estate prices start to move in an upward direction. Or course, the increase in prices is also an indicator that those who were looking to take advantage of the fall in prices may have lost out on the opportunity to purchase properties at their lowest price. Still, it is not too late to pick up a piece of Austin real estate at a much lower price than it would have been just a couple years…

According to McGraw-Hill Construction, construction activity is expected to pick up some momentum in 2010, with the city of Austin enjoying the greatest growth. In fact, the 2010 Texas Construction Outlook predicts that construction starts will increase in value by 16 percent this year, with a total statewide value of $52.5 billion. Austin will nearly double the statewide prediction, with the report forecasts indicating that the city's construction starts will increase in value by 30%.

Austin isn't the only city that will surpass the statewide predictions, but some other major Texas cities are predicted to fall short of the state average. Some of the other predictions include:

•    Houston - predicted to grow by 17%
•    Dallas - predicted to grow by 16%
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According to the Texas Workforce Commission, unemployment levels within the Austin and Round Rock area fell by 6.9% in November. While this is still up from the 4.9% rate that the area was experiencing just one year ago, it does represent a decline in unemployment when compared to the previous month.

Previous data indicated that the unemployment rate in the Austin and Round Rock area was 7.2% in October. Compared to the state average of 7.9%, the Austin and Round Rock area is doing quite well with its 6.9% rate. This pattern remains true to the rates from the previous month, with the statewide unemployment rates being at 8.1% in October compared to the 7.2% rate of the Austin and Round Rock area. Similarly, the state had a 5.4% unemployment rate one month

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 A recent report released by RealtyTrac Inc, which is a foreclosure seller based in Irvine, California, has found that the national foreclosure rate has gone down by 8% in November when compared to the previous month. On the other hand, the housing market still has a long way to go before it can be considered recovered, as the foreclosure rate is still a disheartening 18% higher than it was just one year ago.

According to the report, which was released in November of 2009, there have been 306,627 foreclosure filings this year. This includes scheduled foreclosure auctions as well as bank repossessions and default notices. More specifically:

•    Default notices were down 8% when compared to the previous month, but up 22% when compared to November of 2008

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A study conducted by Farmers Insurance Group of Companies mirrored the results of a recent FBI report, which listed the city of Round Rock as one of the safest places to live in the United States. According to the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies report, which looked at 379 large metropolitan areas with a population of 500,000 or more, the Austin-Round Rock area is listed as number one among the Most Secure U.S. Places to Live.

A number of different factors were considered when conducting this study, including all of the following:

•    Extreme weather conditions
•    Crime statistics
•    Housing depreciation
•    Risk of natural disasters
•    Air quality
•    Foreclosure
•    Environmental hazards
•    Terrorist threats
•    Job loss
•    Life expectancy.

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It certainly isn't uncommon to hear Austinites complain about the traffic they experience while traversing the city. But, according to a report recently released by the Texas Department of Transportation, Austin does not rank at the top of the list of congested traffic areas throughout the state. In fact, within its list of the top 100 most congested roadways in the State, downtown's Austin’s I-35 was ranked at number 26. Highways and interstates running through Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, on the other hand, were listed far ahead of Austin's I-35.

I-35 wasn't the only Austin highway to make the list. MoPac between US Highway 290 and US Highway 183 also made the list, ranking in at 44th. US183 from Mopac through to I-35 was also listed, coming in at

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As a taxpayer in Texas, you certainly want to save as much money as possible.  After all, you don’t want to have to pay money in taxes if you don’t have to!  At the same time, in order to reduce the amount of money you have to pay on property taxes, it is important to work within the parameters of the law.

There are four different types of home exemptions that you can apply for as a property owner in Texas.  These apply to your primary residence and they include…

    * School taxes
    * County taxes
    * Optional exemptions
    * Age 65 or older

Understanding these exemptions and how they work is important so you can take full advantage of the benefits they offer.

School Taxes

School tax exemptions are available to all homeowners and qualifying for one is quite

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