What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?

[PvilleStang 2,911]

3 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

That sucks but I want to make sure I follow - you argued your own case instead of hiring a professional tax protesting service?

Yep.  I was younger and wasn't privy to the protesting companies.  I've done it solo twice since then usually just to accept the initial offer.  But now days we use a service for the investment properties (no caps on those) and play it by ear on the primary residence.  HS has been capped out for another few years at this rate.

[ftf82 485]

42 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

First, I’m glad.  Second, however, I don’t want to do that work. I want to pay someone else to do it, on contingency like Lionel Hutz.

On Contingency ?

No . Money Down !

[ftf82 485]

It's arguing balls and strikes. They need to look at my property and see that I protest every year and figure they'll give me a break to get rid of me. Seems to have worked so far, although with the run up in values over the last ten years my taxable value is still way below the appraised market value. But every little hit helps. And I'm with Bozo, I hire it out.

[MissingInAction 25,103]

[Ghost of LL 15,531]

9 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Fair enough.  Is it fair to say that disannexation will not improve the water supply issue because (bolded)?

I live too close for comfort.

That’s fair. But the water-storage issue isn’t a basis to say Lost Creek will “regret” disannexation. It’s going to be exactly the same whether the neighborhood stayed in the City or not.

[CTC2 2,797]

5 hours ago, sidis said:

i do every year.  why wouldn't i? wtf do the idiots whose lives are so shitty they have to work for a property tax protest company know that i don't know?

This year, they raised my house by 6% despite no changes to the house.  I pulled 27 properties within 700 feet of mine and literally every one of them went down except mine...by a mean of 33% and a median of 39%.  not some of them, all of them.  all in improvements because everyone's land stayed the exact same as the previous year.  i provided this evidence as inequity to neighbors in my informal hearing yesterday with some absolute dipshit reading off a script to describe to me why the three properties that they picked as comps for inequitable treatment to neighbors that averaged over three times larger a lot size and were an average of 2.5 miles away from me were more relevant than the 27 contiguous properties bordering my house.

that was amusing.  next up, explaining this to three octogenarians that tcad provides lubys for who will just sleep through my explanation of this to do absolutely nothing of value and then i get to go to court. hooray.

I used to do all that shit. Probably for @ 10 years. I pulled all kinds of lawyer tricks to frustrate the district rep at the board hearings. Think I got the Bd to go with my number four or five times. Took two to court which settled on favorable terms for me. A few times I worked it out at the informal. 
Bottom line is that I was really good at it but my time is better spent doing something actually enjoyable. I hire it out and don’t give an ass that I could easily do it myself. I’d rather be playing tennis or fishing than dealing with that crap. 

[blacklab 11,939]

1 hour ago, sidis said:

i do every year.  why wouldn't i? wtf do the idiots whose lives are so shitty they have to work for a property tax protest company know that i don't know?

This year, they raised my house by 6% despite no changes to the house.  I pulled 27 properties within 700 feet of mine and literally every one of them went down except mine...by a mean of 33% and a median of 39%.  not some of them, all of them.  all in improvements because everyone's land stayed the exact same as the previous year.  i provided this evidence as inequity to neighbors in my informal hearing yesterday with some absolute dipshit reading off a script to describe to me why the three properties that they picked as comps for inequitable treatment to neighbors that averaged over three times larger a lot size and were an average of 2.5 miles away from me were more relevant than the 27 contiguous properties bordering my house.

that was amusing.  next up, explaining this to three octogenarians that tcad provides lubys for who will just sleep through my explanation of this to do absolutely nothing of value and then i get to go to court. hooray.

My experience was very similar. My house was $5–$10 more a square foot than the 20 houses closest to mine, some of which were brand new while mine was 65 years old. Had a realtor buddy pull 10 houses that were sold within a mile that were in similar age and condition, all of which sold $2-$10 less a square foot. They said they could only compare to houses that were a couple of miles from mine, in a nicer neighborhood, 40 years newer and around 1.5x the size of mine.  

[Bozo_Casanova 26,472]

10 hours ago, sidis said:

and you shouldn’t be glad. You should be frustrated that the taxing authority is so bad at its job that an entire cottage industry of law school dropouts exists to rip you off as a result. 

That’s not a TCAD issue, that’s a function of how the state of Texas dupes people into thinking this is a low-tax state. 

[boilerhorn 1,385]

Up until around 3 years ago, I appealed every year.  I viewed it as holding the CAD to account.

In almost every case, I was successful.  A friend in real estate would provide comps.  I'd meet w/ a CAD employee who'd bring up the data that they were using for comps.  I'd share mine and they'd agree w/ mine.  In one specific case, the CAD employee pushed a function key and the data was re-populated, resulting in a 15% reduction.  Ok.

In 2019 (I believe), the informal appeal failed and I did the formal appeal.  Everything described previously was accurate.  3 octogenarians and a CAD employee are with you in a room.  You present your position, the CAD employee refutes it using every manner of poor reasoning.  "Mr. Boilerhorn appeals every year.  He has a nice yard.  Blah."  I cannot respond, "Of course I appeal every year. People who do not are not holding you accountable."  I was able to get a 15% functional obsolescence on my home because of it relative to homes in neighborhood.  One of the panel said, "I do not understand one bit of Mr. Boilerhorn's math, so I side with the CAD."  My math was basic price/Sq.Ft. as a function of Sq.Ft.  My home is larger than others in the community; the previous metric was fairly linear - except for my house.  

A few years back, I called one of the "pros" for consulting.  He said, "I can make more money focusing 30 minutes on appeals than you can pay me to consult.  But since you are on the phone..."  It was enlightening, but I did not really learn that much.  He did say that he (and darn near all of the other "Pro" tax appealers) formerly worked for TCAD.  They know everyone there and they know the process.  I had already figured there was some sort of positive relationship.  in 2012 (or so) I saw one of the Pro appeals guys show up with 4 file boxes on a dolly.  He was greeted cheerfully, shake hands with a few people, etc.  I found that interesting.  Also, your file is one of thousands he'll handle.  You'll likely do a more thorough job and you'll definitely care more about the outcome.

[YGIFS 19,450]

They still rely way too heavily on MLS prices when so many damn residences in Travis County trade off-market.  It's insane to me.  Both MLS/Realtors and TCAD are living in such antiquated times.  

And it's all arranged regressively, to make you think you live in a low-tax state.  It's just an illusion.  A parlor trick to steer stupid people.  Same as water restrictions.  Your sprinkler system isn't the problem, that's only 10% of water usage statewide, even on a hot day.  All bullshit and everybody knows it but nobody wants to talk about it because it might hurt feelings.  

[boilerhorn 1,385]

48 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

They still rely way too heavily on MLS prices when so many damn residences in Travis County trade off-market.  It's insane to me.  Both MLS/Realtors and TCAD are living in such antiquated times.  

And it's all arranged regressively, to make you think you live in a low-tax state.  It's just an illusion.  A parlor trick to steer stupid people.  Same as water restrictions.  Your sprinkler system isn't the problem, that's only 10% of water usage statewide, even on a hot day.  All bullshit and everybody knows it but nobody wants to talk about it because it might hurt feelings.  

 

2 good points here. 

The low-tax-state issue has always been a ruse.  It's far more profound now that properties in Austin, Houston, etc. are no longer as affordable and accessible as before.  A quick number-crunch...  A $500k home is accessible to someone with a bit of a down payment and earning around $150k per year.  A 2.5% property tax rate yields property $12500 per year.  That's equivalent to an 8.3% income tax.  Many other "high tax" states have 1% property taxes, so the effective difference yields a tax of $7500, or 5%.  That's on par with moderately taxed states.  Once that $500k house gets to $800k (like many around Austin did), the relative tax becomes around 8%.  Texas is not "low tax."

Water - agree.  55% is for farm irrigation.  31% for municipalities.  7% manufacturing.  Power, mining, and livestock take up the remaining 7%.  Worst case, watering lawns uses up 1/2 of municipalities, and only at peak times.  

[YGIFS 19,450]

^

Public School Recapture/Texas Education Agency/State Government, "It was my understanding that there would be no math.  So we cut that programatic course."  

Maybe we'll save tax money by making our own fuel, beer, and roads.  

Oh, wait.  

Seriously, it used to be a bad punchline but this state is racing its fucking ass off to the bottom.  

[Armybrat 40,850]

16 hours ago, Steel Shank said:

Why on earth would prosecutors need to even consider a plea?

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/austin-mother-her-2-girls-shot-at-28-times-shooter-gets-plea-deal

 

Jfc

That scumbag should’ve gotten life. Garza is a bad joke.

[LTtxfan 49,196]

16 hours ago, Steel Shank said:

Why on earth would prosecutors need to even consider a plea?

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/austin-mother-her-2-girls-shot-at-28-times-shooter-gets-plea-deal

 

Such bullshit... hope some support group starts protesting this case and holds the shitbird DA accountable...

Travis County District Attorney José Garza's office told KVUE, "We are sorry that the victims in this case had to be victims at all. Our office's prosecutors carefully evaluated this case, and we believe that while the 12-year prison sentence the defendant received will never make the victims whole, it is a step forward. This sentence was more than twice the average for these charges in the past two administrations at the DA's office."

Fuk DA José Garza and his worthless crew!!!

[LCHorn 2,620]

21 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Every valuation in Austin proper I saw between 2015-2023 was low by 20-30k plus.mine was and I STILL got rewarded for the protest. No doubt some were wrong on the high side, and hopefully those people addressed it. 

Ive got a really simple question for yall: what evidence do you have that TCAD is overvaluing residential property at the district level and how is TCAD any worse from any other district besides the existence of KLBJ-AM?

It sounds like what you're saying is that TCAD doesn't need to improve anything because taxpayers should expect their tax appraisals to be inaccurate and it's a systemic problem state-wide. 

I would offer that's uncharacteristic of you--I would think Bozo would see inaccuracies on both sides of present market value as problematic.  If every valuation you've seen over 8 years was low, isn't that starving municipalities of revenue to which they are entitled?

[crash_davis 23,113]

Maybe an attorney can educate me. Why would the DA office/Garza offer a 12 year deal? It seemed like a pretty straight forward case where he would be found guilty and prob get close to the max term. Why did the DA office feel the need to chicken out?

[Brisketexan 105,152]

Maybe an attorney can educate me. Why would the DA office/Garza offer a 12 year deal? It seemed like a pretty straight forward case where he would be found guilty and prob get close to the max term. Why did the DA office feel the need to chicken out?

Because he’s bad at his job and his whole office is reflecting that now. It’s the same reason that Greg Davis ran Hodges Mitchell up the gut 17 times for an average of .01 yards against Stanford…it’s because he sucks at his job.

[PvilleStang 2,911]

6 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

Maybe an attorney can educate me. Why would the DA office/Garza offer a 12 year deal? It seemed like a pretty straight forward case where he would be found guilty and prob get close to the max term. Why did the DA office feel the need to chicken out?

Repeat after me...

[ABSR 5,315]

2 hours ago, boilerhorn said:

 

2 good points here. 

The low-tax-state issue has always been a ruse.  It's far more profound now that properties in Austin, Houston, etc. are no longer as affordable and accessible as before.  A quick number-crunch...  A $500k home is accessible to someone with a bit of a down payment and earning around $150k per year.  A 2.5% property tax rate yields property $12500 per year.  That's equivalent to an 8.3% income tax.  Many other "high tax" states have 1% property taxes, so the effective difference yields a tax of $7500, or 5%.  That's on par with moderately taxed states.  Once that $500k house gets to $800k (like many around Austin did), the relative tax becomes around 8%.  Texas is not "low tax."

Water - agree.  55% is for farm irrigation.  31% for municipalities.  7% manufacturing.  Power, mining, and livestock take up the remaining 7%.  Worst case, watering lawns uses up 1/2 of municipalities, and only at peak times.  

I lived in New York before moving to Texas 14 years ago.  My property taxes in New York, for a house 1/3 the size and 9 times as old, were about the same as what I paid for my new house.  Cost of living in NY was about 25% higher (anecdotally).  I was paying 9% state income tax which was also an immediate boost in pay with my base salary not changing.

So while property taxes are higher here than some places, if you look to NY or California they have high property taxes, high cost of living and high state income taxes.  I would say Texas only has one of this by comparison.

[texasdago 7,573]

Can't speak to NY but I don't believe CA has a higher property tax rate as it can't be greater than 1 %

https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/states/property-tax-california/

[Wally Pryor 5,261]

17 hours ago, Steel Shank said:

Why on earth would prosecutors need to even consider a plea?

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/austin-mother-her-2-girls-shot-at-28-times-shooter-gets-plea-deal

 

Nauseating, but it's rinse and repeat. Nothing will change. And we won't get more than 7% or 8% turnout the next time this scum runs, and it will be more rinse and repeat. If Garza's bullshit hasn't resonated by now it's never going to resonate enough to bring people out for change. Sad but true. 

And Garza will appear next Thursday in a Travis County courtroom in some ludicrous attempt by the state to remove him for incompetence. No one's questioning that issue but I hope the state falls flat on its face because the idiotic voters made the call, end of story. And the 93% of idiots who didn't vote especially deserve every minute of this unbridled piece of shit.  

[drt 638]

I mean, the kid down the street from me that murdered a dude back in 2015 got 20 but is up for parole this year. 1st degree. Seems like Austin has always sucked, Garza is just continuing the trend. 

[PvilleStang 2,911]

So, X Post from the Pro Palestine protest thread, but the kid that got mauled by the machete bandit at Zilker park was popped for Criminal Trespass the first day of protests.  Kid's turning into a legend!  Also, seems to have healed up quite nicely since.

11300317    GOTT    GREGORY    2409256    04/24/2024    2716-0 CRIMINAL TRESPASS

 

Edited May 8 by PvilleStang

[Larry T. Spider 1,746]

2 hours ago, texasdago said:

Can't speak to NY but I don't believe CA has a higher property tax rate as it can't be greater than 1 %

https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/states/property-tax-california/

No idea if this is true but I’ve heard that in California you lock in your taxes at the purchase price. Prevents people from being forced out of their homes due to rapid value increases.

[dcar00 14,210]

3 hours ago, ABSR said:

I lived in New York before moving to Texas 14 years ago.  My property taxes in New York, for a house 1/3 the size and 9 times as old, were about the same as what I paid for my new house.  Cost of living in NY was about 25% higher (anecdotally).  I was paying 9% state income tax which was also an immediate boost in pay with my base salary not changing.

So while property taxes are higher here than some places, if you look to NY or California they have high property taxes, high cost of living and high state income taxes.  I would say Texas only has one of this by comparison.

What is the sales tax in NY?  

also, with no state income tax there is no punishment as you start to make more money.  yes the money has to come from somewhere and we aren't "low tax" per se but it appears to me the alternative is worse.  If you have a state income tax it is just another knob they can use to take your money.  I'm not falling for the banana in the tailpipe "don't worry we will have small income tax and won't raise it and your property taxes will come down with this".  I'd rather trust the cost of living to the market and also not have a state income tax that idiots can fuck with(narrator: it will only go up).

Toll roads are the same.  they should be "paid off" and the fees lowered to just cover maintenance but they never will be because it is an easy button/knob.

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26,472]

4 hours ago, LCHorn said:

It sounds like what you're saying is that TCAD doesn't need to improve anything because taxpayers should expect their tax appraisals to be inaccurate and it's a systemic problem state-wide. 

I would offer that's uncharacteristic of you--I would think Bozo would see inaccuracies on both sides of present market value as problematic.  If every valuation you've seen over 8 years was low, isn't that starving municipalities of revenue to which they are entitled?

That’s fair, and I agree - my point is simply that there’s nothing uniquely bad or good about TCAD in the context of a broken system, and that  they deceptions of Matt Mackowiak and others like him, in addition to being dishonest, obscure that fact by framing it as an Austin/Travis county problem.

Edited May 8 by Bozo_Casanova

[tbone_ 14,127]

No idea if this is true but I’ve heard that in California you lock in your taxes at the purchase price. Prevents people from being forced out of their homes due to rapid value increases.

This is true. Can’t go up more than 2% annually while you own it. When you sell, sales price automatically triggers the new assessment.

[We’reTexas 1,473]

4 hours ago, texasdago said:

Can't speak to NY but I don't believe CA has a higher property tax rate as it can't be greater than 1 %

https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/states/property-tax-california/

1% plus “special assessments” - usually ends up around 1.5%. 

[tbone_ 14,127]

What is the sales tax in NY?  
also, with no state income tax there is no punishment as you start to make more money.  yes the money has to come from somewhere and we aren't "low tax" per se but it appears to me the alternative is worse.  If you have a state income tax it is just another knob they can use to take your money.  I'm not falling for the banana in the tailpipe "don't worry we will have small income tax and won't raise it and your property taxes will come down with this".  I'd rather trust the cost of living to the market and also not have a state income tax that idiots can fuck with(narrator: it will only go up).
Toll roads are the same.  they should be "paid off" and the fees lowered to just cover maintenance but they never will be because it is an easy button/knob.
 

Personally I like it how we do it in AZ. Small state income tax, and very low property taxes (50bp on value vs 250-300bp on value in Texas).

Keeps runaway property markets from killing my tax payment. If I have to pay more income tax, at least it’s because I’m making more money.

[ABSR 5,315]

1 hour ago, dcar00 said:

What is the sales tax in NY?  

also, with no state income tax there is no punishment as you start to make more money.  yes the money has to come from somewhere and we aren't "low tax" per se but it appears to me the alternative is worse.  If you have a state income tax it is just another knob they can use to take your money.  I'm not falling for the banana in the tailpipe "don't worry we will have small income tax and won't raise it and your property taxes will come down with this".  I'd rather trust the cost of living to the market and also not have a state income tax that idiots can fuck with(narrator: it will only go up).

Toll roads are the same.  they should be "paid off" and the fees lowered to just cover maintenance but they never will be because it is an easy button/knob.

 

Let me google that for you….NY state is base 4% plus local taxes.  The New York county I lived in is currently 8.38% total.  My current Texas county is 8.25%.

[YGIFS 19,450]

I am genuinely surprised my Travis County tax rate hasn't gone up from 8.25% for going on 15 years now.  Only a matter of time, i suppose. 

Also, for our "law tax" state, take a look at where we rank in terms of alcohol tax, fuel tax, tobacco tax, grid surcharges, and hotel taxes.  We don't rank well.  At all.   

[PvilleStang 2,911]

Just now, YGIFS said:

I am genuinely surprised my Travis County tax rate hasn't gone up from 8.25% for going on 15 years now.  Only a matter of time, i suppose. 

Also, for our "law tax" state, take a look at where we rank in terms of alcohol tax, fuel tax, tobacco tax, grid surcharges, and hotel taxes.  We don't rank well.  At all.   

I swore there was a state cap of sales tax at 8.25%...  I could be wrong, as I'm no TJH type.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,819]

23 hours ago, sidis said:

It is about as much work as writing this post. It ain’t hard…it is seriously the effort of a nine year old for any adult with a functional grasp on elementary school math.  

and they aren’t doing that work either. They are just leveraging the corrupt relationships to meet in the middle and then charge you for lowering your assessed value even though it is probably still higher than your taxable value. 

and you shouldn’t be glad. You should be frustrated that the taxing authority is so bad at its job that an entire cottage industry of law school dropouts exists to rip you off as a result. 

We shouldn’t be arguing amongst ourselves, that’s what they want.  We should unite.  Put the whole system on trial!

[ztejas 43,458]

Sometimes this thread is entertaining and then sometimes you get pages upon pages of long-winded arguments about zoning laws, tax codes and municipal utilities. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,819]

2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Sometimes this thread is entertaining and then sometimes you get pages upon pages of long-winded arguments about zoning laws, tax codes and municipal utilities. 

It’s a beating, yeah.  But such is life.  Surly city government would be awesome.  My first order of business would be to relocate The Landing Strip in Lost Creek, ya know, being that it’s now disannexed and no longer subject to zoning.  

[YGIFS 19,450]

I mean, it's not even plausible that anyone from this site or the old one could even be remotely adjacent to city government.  (checks notes regarding fitlump).  Oh wait.........

[texasdago 7,573]

25 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Sometimes this thread is entertaining and then sometimes you get pages upon pages of long-winded arguments about zoning laws, tax codes and municipal utilities. 

[TKthunder2 4,992]

12 hours ago, YGIFS said:

They still rely way too heavily on MLS prices when so many damn residences in Travis County trade off-market.  It's insane to me.  Both MLS/Realtors and TCAD are living in such antiquated times.

They are NOT supposed to be able to use MLS, that’s why they got sued. We’re a non disclosure state. Scrapping MLS data via Zillow/Redfin was/is a violation.

https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2019/05/reporters-notebook-game-of-homes/

[YGIFS 19,450]

That whole National Realty Association (IIRC) & Zillow lawsuit filed in Washington by Rexhomes here in Austin was a bizarre story.  They had the industry gatekeepers in the palm of their hands, about to up-end the MLS/6% cartel and change the way everything worked with residential housing from valuation to taxes to sales to appraisals to closings to title insurance.  

And it was all run by the guy who got Obama elected President because he lost his Illinois Senate bid to Obama when it was revealed he was forcing his Star Trek wife to attend underground sex clubs.  (not that Obama wouldn't have still gone on later in life to win POTUS).  Then he starts this company with PE fortunes, tackles the MLS/Zillow monopoly.  But has to close the company down because he raided all of its money.  

Truth is always stranger than fiction.  

We haven't protested in a few years because two of our neighbors did massive upgrades to their homes and I didn't want to draw attention to it.  But now we have four homes for sale within 2 blocks of us for the first time in probably a decade.  And I'm wondering how to play this before 5/31 deadline.  

[PvilleStang 2,911]

9 hours ago, YGIFS said:

That whole National Realty Association (IIRC) & Zillow lawsuit filed in Washington by Rexhomes here in Austin was a bizarre story.  They had the industry gatekeepers in the palm of their hands, about to up-end the MLS/6% cartel and change the way everything worked with residential housing from valuation to taxes to sales to appraisals to closings to title insurance.  

And it was all run by the guy who got Obama elected President because he lost his Illinois Senate bid to Obama when it was revealed he was forcing his Star Trek wife to attend underground sex clubs.  (not that Obama wouldn't have still gone on later in life to win POTUS).  Then he starts this company with PE fortunes, tackles the MLS/Zillow monopoly.  But has to close the company down because he raided all of its money.  

Truth is always stranger than fiction.  

We haven't protested in a few years because two of our neighbors did massive upgrades to their homes and I didn't want to draw attention to it.  But now we have four homes for sale within 2 blocks of us for the first time in probably a decade.  And I'm wondering how to play this before 5/31 deadline.  

I for one am over the moon for the commissions death-by-fire.

 

[hornian 5,219]

On 5/7/2024 at 5:15 PM, jimmyjazz said:

I'm pretty sure TCAD isn't dead on accurate with appraisals.  My assessed value dropped 31% this year.  I can buy the idea that it was somewhat overvalued the previous 2 years, but that seems like a "correction" that isn't consistent with market conditions, nor is it consistent with my neighbors' valuations.

It seems random at times.

 

I've seen your yard. And apparently, so has TCAD. 

[jimmyjazz 45,963]

26 minutes ago, hornian said:

I've seen your yard. And apparently, so has TCAD. 

Hey, I'm helping the environment.

[hornian 5,219]

11 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Hey, I'm helping the environment.

At least you’re not the worst yard on your street. Or, in another way of saying it, you’re helping the environment 2nd most on your street. 

[jimmyjazz 45,963]

15 minutes ago, hornian said:

At least you’re not the worst yard on your street. Or, in another way of saying it, you’re helping the environment 2nd most on your street. 

I promised my wife I'd mow the yard weeds before Mothers Day, and got some work in ahead of the weather this evening.  At this point, I'm just an environmental piker.

It doesn't help that my crappy electric mower's battery lasts about 10 minutes.  Eh, fuck it, we're selling next year anyway.

[DaggerHorns 3,085]

1 hour ago, hornian said:

At least you’re not the worst yard on your street. Or, in another way of saying it, you’re helping the environment 2nd most on your street. 

Ah yes, we could see the thread turn back to code enforcement discussion.

[CooterBrown 18,014]

I’m stuck at the Domain Apple Store replacing a kid’s watch. I never come here. Who the fuck are these people? Why are 3 wheel cars the Austin slab for cruising a shopping mall? Who details them with neon? Who the fuck shops at the Yeti store and needs two bags of their wares? FML.

[jimmyjazz 45,963]

The Domain is a unique experience, to be sure.  It's sort of an outlet mall trapped in a freshly-painted ghetto apartment complex with a bunch of restaurants that think they're punching above their weight.

[ztejas 43,458]

24 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

The Domain is a unique experience, to be sure.  It's sort of an outlet mall trapped in a freshly-painted ghetto apartment complex with a bunch of restaurants that think they're punching above their weight.

The domain is like an island of Houston in the middle of Austin.

YMMV.

[LCHorn 2,620]

5 hours ago, ztejas said:

The domain is like an island of Houston in the middle of Austin.

YMMV.

If it was like Houston it would be four times the size and spread out.  
 

Personally I always really liked the concept but they needed to build 8+ floors of condos above the first floor retail to make it truly mixed use.  Instead it’s kind of a weird, inorganic mix of commercial buildings.

[royiv 9,323]

35 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

If it was like Houston The Woodlands it would be four times the size and spread out.  

Fixed for accuracy.