Austin Texas Real Estate and City Information

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About Austin Texas:
Austin Texas is a large city with a small town feel. It is famous as the State Capital and the seat of state government. Austin is equally famous for being the home of the University of Texas and the Texas Longhorns (National Fotball champions in 2005!). What you may not know is Austin is also a high tech mecca (Silicon Prarie) and home to Motorola, AMD, Applied Materials, Samsung, IBM and 3M! Famous recreation unclude Barton Springs, Emma Long Park, Mount Bonnell, and Lady Byrd Lake! Austin is also known as the music capital of the world! Austin is a great place to work and live!
Austin is one of the best cities for jobs in 2008!

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Avery Ranch

Austin Skyline Looking East From Auditorium Shores

Frost Building

U.T. Tower

AUSTIN TEXAS: (The River City) For centuries nomadic tribes of indians made this area their summer camp. (Tonkawa, Comanche and Lipan Apache) The indians primarily hunted along the Colorado River and creeks (including what is now known as Barton Springs and Bear Creek). In 1830 -1835 the first pioneer settlements were established here and the area was named "Waterloo". However, in 1839, the tiny town was chosen to be the Capital of the new Republic of Texas. The town was renamed Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin. In 1845 Texas was admitted to the Union. After the civil war, Austin became a shipping and mercantile center. The first trains arrived here in 1871 ushering in a decade long period of building and population growth. In1888 a grand capital building was built to house a major local industry; State Government. In quick succession St Edwards, Huston-Tillotson, and Texas Universities were established in 1878, 1881, and 1882 respectively. In 1886 the city built its first premier hotel; the Driskill. For decades afterward, Austin was a well planned, small city of commerce, university and government workers and a concentrated urban environment. After the great depression and the beginning of World War II, the population of Austin was about 50,000. New research labratories and think tanks were founded by the 1950's and Austin was established as a center of high technology. It was not until the building booms of the 1970's and 1980's that Austin began to sprawl well outside its central core from the Colorado river to 45th street. It's never mentioned in history books but, I am guessing that, advances in air conditioning (and its affordability) after world war II contributed significantly to comfort of life and helped with central Texas growth and popularity.

State Capital Building

	Universtiy of Texas Stadium (National Football Champions in 1963, 1969, 1970 and 2005). The stadium expanded its North end zone seating in 2008 and now can hold close to 100,000 people (about 1/10th of the entire Austin population). The stadium also has one of largest replay screens in the world dubbed the "Godzillatron"
	Barton Springs Pool The crown jewel of Austin's Zilker Park (Over 350 acres in the center of town). This spring fed pool is a brisk 68 degrees, year round, and has over 3 acres of water surface to cool off in. Note: in Texas Pools add Value to homes (see how much)!
	The Philosopher's Rock- Statue at Barton Springs Pool The three friends are Naturalist Roy Bedichek, Humorist J. Frank Dobie and Historian Walter Prescott Webb
	Whole Foods is an Austin Company and a Downtown Icon!
	The View of Lady Bird Lake from the top of Mount Bonnell (the tallest peak in Austin Texas at 785 feet!) You can see the iconic 360 bridge in the background!
	Emma Long Metropolitan Park One of the most beautiful parks in Austin. The park is established on the most valuable lakeside property in Texas. The park is filled with stately Sycamore, Pecan Trees and majestic Junipers. Campers and vacationers take advantage of this peaceful oasis for only a small fee. (This is my personal favorite area and I truly enjoy the long summer days basking in the cool waters that come from the underside of Mansfield Dam at the outlet of Lake Travis)
I am a former military officer (Navy, Naval Academy at Annapolis class of '82)who has been fortunate to live all over America and visit many foreign countries. Of all the areas that I have lived none have the infrastructure, diversity, convenience, recreation, schools, music, theater, food, golf courses, fishing holes, spring fed water holes, and great living like Austin. One of the most enjoyable features of the area is the weather! It is warm (over 75 degrees) eight months of the year and swimming is comfortably at least 7 months a year. The temperature does creep up to a scorching 100 degrees in late July and August! Crime is very low in Austin and there are no bad areas or slum areas. The music is incredible and plentiful. Austin is the home of Eric Johnson (Famous Guitarist, Cliffs of Dover fame), Graham Reynolds (we helped Graham get involved with a great home http://grahamreynolds.com) , Christopher Cross, Jerry Jeff Walker,and groups like Asleep at the Wheel, Okkervil River http://www.Okkervilriver.com?(We helped Brian Cassidy get involved with a Hyde Park home and, by the way, Brian teaches piano and guitar at his home http://www.BrianCassidyMusic.com/lessons.htm) Austin is the home of music greats like Stevie Ray Vaughn. Austin has a low cost of living and the best bar-b-que places in the world like the Salt Lick, Rudy's and County line. Mexican food is unbeatable here! Austin is becoming the Hollywood of the Southwest and many movies are now filmed in Austin. Areas close to downtown continue to gentrify and appreciate. The downtown areas are exploding with new high rise condos! Whole Foods (headquarter in Austin) caters to the nutrition conscious urban dwellers and town lake has jogging and running trails that make it easy to stay in shape! Austin also has great community pools for those who like to swim (Stacy Pool, Deep Eddy) and don't forget Barton Springs in Zilker Park for the best watering hole in the world! Austin is the home of the University of Texas! Austin, although home to over a million people, still has a very small town feel to it! High Technology companies thrive here and attract talent from around the world adding to the intellectual and cultural diversity! I enjoy Austin more than any place I have ever lived! "Don't Just Take Our Word For It" Articles about the Austin Area and its Real Estate Economy "Best Bangs For Your Buck" "Fastest Growing Metros" "Best Places to Retire" "Best Cities To Purchase Homes" "Recession Proof Cities" "Long Range Prospects For Texas" "America's Fastest growing Metros" "Best and Worst Places To Buy A Home" "Where Homes Are Selling the Fastest" "Austin is Eighth Fastest Growing City in the United States" "Travis County is One of the Fastest Growing counties" "Best Cities for Young Professionals" "Best Cities For Jobs in 2008" "Round Rock-Best Places to Live" "Austin-Best Places to Live" "America's Greenest Cities" "City of Austin Rolls Out Single Stream Recycling Service" "Best Cities in Overall Standard of Living" "Best Places to Live and Boat" "#1 in the Country for Economic Development" "Best Towns for Families" "Best Cities for Families" "Top 10 Best Big Cities in the Country" "Among the Nations Brainiest" "Smartest Places to Live" "Best Places for Business and Careers" "Best Places to Live" "Round Rock and Austin have seen incredible job growth and very stable home prices despite the downturn nationwide. Companies are continuing to hire here helping to keep housing inventory low and prices stable." "If one looks at economic growth in the country´s largest 100 metros, the usual suspects jump to the top of the list. ?With an estimated 32% GMP growth from 2007-2012, Austin, Texas is the winner for big metros." Austin Reviews, Rankings and Raves! (courtesy of Alamo Title) • Austin ranks 2nd in the 50 Best Places to Live by Mens Journal, March 2006 • Austin ranks 6th in the Top 10 Cities for Walking by Prevention Magazine, August 2006 • Austin ranks as the Best Place to Live in America for Hispanics by Hispanic magazine for the second year in a row, August 2005 • Austin ranks as the 2nd Best Place to Live for Movie makers by Moviemaker Magazine, December 2005 • Georgetown ranks 1st Among the Best Places to Retire by US NewsWorld Report, October 2007 • Austin ranks 2nd among the 10 Best Places to Live, judging on financial, educational and quality of life criteria by Money magazine, July 2006 • Austin was included in the 8 Cheapest Places You'dWant to Live survey by Sperling's BestPlaces.com and msn.com, July 2006 • Austin ranks 2nd among the 50 Best Places to Live comparing the combinations of adventure, attractiveness, and affordability by Men´s Journal, April 2006 • Round Rock was selected in a national competition as one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People in the nation by America´s Promise, January, 2007 • Austin was voted the Best Place to Live for Future Business Locations by ExpansionMagazine, August 2006 • Austin ranks 9th in the Top 10 Hot Cities for Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur.com, September 2005 • According to DogFancy Austin is one of the Top 10 Cities to Be a Dog, November 2005 • Austin ranks 8th of America's Cleanest Cities by Reader's Digest, July 2005 • Austin ranks 10th in the Top 10 Healthiest Cities in America by Sperling's, July 2006 • Cedar Park is ranked number 11 among the Top 20 Fastest Growing U.S. Suburbs by Forbes, July 2007 • Austin ranks 11th in the 25 Best Running Cities in America Poll by RunnersWorld, July 2005 • Austin ranks 2nd on Vegetarian Times' Ten Greenest Cities list, July/August 2005 • Pollstar names Austin City Limits Music Festival the "Festival of the Year" during it's annual Concert Industry Awards, February 2006 • AmericanWay magazine features "The Top 10 Lists of Great American Music" and Austin appears on three of the lists including "great music towns," "great bigger-is-better music festivals" for the Austin City Limits Music Festival and "sacred ground" for Threadgill's restaurant, June 2005 • Austin ranks 6th in a study by Silicon Valley naming the nation's Top TechHubs. The study compare business and quality-of-life issues, claiming Austin has affordable housing, electricity and state taxes, September 2005 • Austin is among the Coolest Cities for Young Professionals according to Kiplinger.com, September 2005 • Austin ranks 1st among U.S. cities in the fourth annual Mayors Challenge rankings of the Best Cities for Future Business Locations by Management magazine • Each year, Intel ranks the Top 100 U.S. Cities and Regions with the Greatest Number of Commercial and PublicWireless Internet Access Points and Austin ranks third, October 2006 • Austin ranks 3rd in a list of America's Most Innovative Cities by theWall Street Journal