Reasons to Buy Real Estate in Austin - City Preview
Before buying real estate in Austin, Texas (or anywhere else for that matter), it's important to learn about the city from every angle. So let's take a quick look at Austin's weather, history, culture and more.
Nature and Weather
Austin enjoys a mostly temperate climate year-round, with nearly 300 days of sunshine each year. This alone is a great reason to buy real estate in the Austin area. But it gets better. You can also find an abundance of beautiful parks in and around Austin, including (but certainly not limited to) Barton Springs Pool, Zilker Park, Auditorium Shores, and a wealth of trails and waterways.
Visit the Town Lake area on any given day with good weather, and you will see walkers, joggers and cyclists enjoying the 10 miles of hike-and-bike trails that weave around Town Lake on all sides. Kayakers and canoes also make good use of the beautiful waters. It brings the word "oasis" to mind.
When you buy real estate in Austin you are buying into all of these wonderful aspects of nature as well, because they truly belong to the residents of Austin.
Live Music Helps Real Estate Value
The live music scene in Austin is another thing that helps maintain Austin real estate values. In fact, Austin's unofficial nickname is the "Live Music Capital of the World," based on the number of musical venues and events per capita.
If you visit downtown Austin any night of the week, you are likely to find live music venues with everything from rock to country to blues, and everything "in between." The city of Austin also sponsors several music festivals each year, including the world-famous South by Southwest Festival and the Austin City Limits (ACL) Festival.
Austin, Texas also has a world-renowned symphony that puts on many concerts throughout the year, and the Bass Concert Hall hosts performers from all over the world.
Earlier, I mentioned that buying real estate in Austin means you are buying into the city as a whole. This is yet another area where your investment dollar goes further, granting you access to world-class musical talent and events.
Interesting Cultural Mix
One of my favorite things about the city is the unique mix of people and culture. Being the state capital, Austin has an obvious political element to it. But it's also home to the University of Texas, which brings a younger vibe as well. On top of that, you will find a mix of Mexican and cowboy heritage that makes Austin one of the most interesting cities in America from a cultural perspective.
The Beloved Austin Bats
Downtown Austin (specifically Congress Avenue) is home to the largest urban colony of bats in the United States. To be technically correct, the 1.5 Mexican free-tails bats living under the Congress Avenue Bridge are only "partial residents," as they fly back to Mexico every winter. But they spend more than half of each year in Austin, and they attract tourists and locals alike as they emerge from the bridge each night to decimate the insect population throughout Austin.
It is truly a site to behold as more than a million bats stream out from the bridge at dusk and follow the tree-lined path for their nightly feast!
What do the bats have to do with real estate in Austin, Texas, you might ask. Well, they are one of the things that give the city its character, and the city's character in turn attracts people to the city (hence the connection to property values).
For example, Austin appears on a lot of "best places to live" lists created by everyone from CNN Money to Men's Health Magazine. In nearly all of these lists where Austin is mentioned, the bats are mentioned in some way as well. They are part of what makes the city unique, and thus they are another reason why real estate in Austin has become increasingly popular in recent years.
Real Estate Developments in Austin
We have talked a lot about the many attractions of this city, ranging from the weather to the nightlife. But what about the actual real estate in the Austin area? What types of properties can you find in and around the city? Here again, the city delivers!
In recent years, there have been a number of real estate developments in downtown Austin, particularly in the area of lofts and condos. The Austonian, for example, is a 55-story luxury condo building set to open in 2009. There are many more loft and condo opportunities in the downtown area, and quite a few houses as well (including some unique bungalow-style homes in the heart of the city).
But when you venture into the city limits around downtown Austin, the diversity of real estate increases significantly. New subdivisions offer the latest in home architecture, while older neighborhoods offer plenty of charm and history to potential home buyers.
In short, Austin is a diverse and interesting city with a real estate scene that matches. If you have any questions about buying a home, loft or condo in this great city, please don't hesitate to .
