Austin was named as one of the Top 15 Green Cities by Grist Magazine.

Here is their description of our town:

Austin is poised to become the No. 1 solar manufacturing center in the U.S., and its hometown utility, Austin Energy, has given the notion of pulling power from the sun a Texas-sized embrace. The city is on its way to meeting 20 percent of its electricity needs through the use of renewables and efficiency by 2020.

Austin also devotes 15 percent of its land to parks and other open spaces, boasts 32 miles of bike trails, and has an ambitious smart-growth initiative, making it a happy green nook in what’s widely perceived as a not-so-green state. To put it mildly.

The rest of the Top 15 read like a ‘Cool Places to Visit’ list. Here are the Top 5:

1. Reykjavik, Iceland
2. Portland, Oregon, U.S.
3. Curitiba, Brazil
4. Malmö, Sweden
5. Vancouver, Canada

Surf on over to Grist to checkout the rest: 15 Green Cities

Be sure to read the comments on the Grist site for some dissenting opinions.

Some interesting links from this week:

• The Real Estate Bloggers found Hulk Hogan’s Miami Estate for sale – $18.9 Million. Check out the listing and photos on Realtor.com. Looks like a neat home, I don’t think the photos do it justice.
• The Statesman covers a local artist painting murals in Austin Homes. I’m not sure we’ll see these in modern homes anytime soon, but the artwork is very impressive.
• Google Earth Enthusiasts: Check out this Easter Egg on a model of the Tacony-Palmyra bridge. A hint: It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas.
• Apartment Therapy: Home Tech covers Pottery Barn’s Cord Hiding Furniture. I agree with their sentiment – cords are a messy nuisance. It’s about time furniture vendors began addressing the issue.
• The Statesman states the obvious – Smelly Homes Don’t Sell.

Now back to my Vista install. Wish me luck.

Yesterday I had my final TCAD protest of the year, and I posted about the lessons I learned directly. I left out a few indirect lessons from the experience that I thought would be worth passing on:

1 – Anyone and everyone can protest their property taxes.

Yesterday the property tax protester ahead of me in the que was none other than Professional Golfer Tom Kite!

Looking through the public TCAD database website it seems the Kite’s probably had a few properties to protest. I hope he fared well. I’m sure all of his expertise in getting the lowest score came in handy!

2 – For some people the formal hearing is their best friend.

While awaiting my turn for the informal protest I had the pleasure of talking with a TCAD protest veteran. I noticed that while I had a folder full of market data, photos, surveys, etc., he only had his TCAD appraisal certificate. How did he stand a chance?

We started chatting about the process and our hopes for reductions and he revealed he had successfully protested his property values every year for the past 14 years! As he lives near Lake Austin this is no simple feat. I had to ask his secret.

He waved me close and said two words: “Formal Hearing.” He said the informal hearing with the TCAD rep was pointless, that these ‘bureaucrats’ never listened nor gave him a fair shake. (He kept looking in their direction, whispering while hiding his mouth with the back of my hand as my co-conspirator, it was great!) His point – The key to the formal hearing is that the verdict is decided by a panel of citizens, not bureaucrats.

Now I’ve heard horror stories of people flailing in front of the formal hearing panel with tables and graphs of market data clearly supporting their case. They still went down in flames. So what does this man do differently? He said you have to appeal to their emotions.

He reminds them of being on a fixed income, that he has lived in the house for 20+ years, in austin for 30+, of ‘Californians’ driving up prices, etc. In short he knows his audience and gives them arguments with which they can identify. Sounds reasonable to me, but it’s a bit risky to try it out.

What do you think? Do you have a TCAD formal-hearing story?

If you read my previous post about protesting your Travis County tax appraisal, you’d know round 1 didn’t go as planned. As I purchased my home 6 months ago, the only data they would consider was the purchase price. But I lived on to fight another day.

That day was today, and I have good news! I learned more about the process AND I was able to reduce the assessment on another property I own. It was win-win! Here’s the story:

I was fortunate to have an 8AM appointment – the first of the day – so no wait! The assessor and I discussed my lot in west Travis County. He walked me through the assessment via their GIS database – pretty neat technology. I learned a few things here:

1. The TCAD database attaches coded explanations for increases and/or differences between the appraisals of surrounding properties. My lot value increased 20% this year because the appraiser indicated I had a better view than my neighbors, worth 20% of the property value.
2. The TCAD database includes recent sales data, so this info may not be new to them. A lot near mine sold last year for less $/acre than my appraisal. Unfortunately this didn’t help my cause as it was supposedly already taken into account in the original assessment. They suggested that price/acre was usually only considered for larger farm/ranch properties. I think a 3 acre homesite is worth more than a 1 acre homesite, but what do I know.

My view – worth 20%?

So how did I get the reduction? I disagreed with having a view, but I had no photos to prove it. No luck there. I then pointed out that the access road to my lot cuts my property in half. This ‘defect’ has a specific code in the TCAD database, which allowed him to attach a discount to the defect. Bingo!

Lesson: Always have specific evidence of your property’s value or of defects that would reduce its market value. In my experience TCAD reps aren’t swayed by market data (unless they are way off or have incorrect square footage), they believe they already have this nailed.

It seems much more effective to show proof of a defect that reduces the property value. Put yourself in the mindset of a very picky buyer trying to purchase your home at the lowest possible price. What defects would they point out? Here are some examples:

• Photos of repair issues – foundation problems, water damage, drainage issues, deteriorated roofing, dilapidated surroundings, etc.
• Engineer’s reports or repair quotes – for major defects (foundation, roof, drainage, etc.)
• Geographic Data – Satellite photos, surveys or topographic maps showing steep grades, nearby busy streets, railroad tracks, drainage culverts, etc.

This data will usually be new to TCAD, therefore they are much more willing to consider it. If the defect is common it could be entered into their database, serving as a reminder to future appraisers to help keep your assessed value down.

Got any tips for Travis County property taxes? Add them in the comments

An article in today’s Statesman reports that there may be changes in store for the recently enacted ‘McMansion Ordinance’. Here’s a link and an excerpt:

Home-size rules in line for a fix-up

By Sarah Coppola
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, July 16, 2007

The City of Austin might soon tweak rules passed last year to limit the size of new homes.

The 16-member citizens task force that wrote the rules has begun meeting again to review the rules and decide whether they should be revised.

Task force members say the changes, which the City Council would have to OK, probably won’t be dramatic but should help simplify an ordinance that builders say is too costly and complicated.

The ‘McMansion’ Ordinance was passed with much public input/outcry last October in an effort to protect central Austin neighborhoods from ‘McMansions’.

What is a McMansion? Here is Wikipedia’s Definition. Reading the ordinance, one understands that the intent of the law is to force the shape, size, and siting of a home to be compatible with surrounding homes in older Austin neighborhoods.

These development rule changes apply to properties in Greater Central Austin. See the City of Austin webpage for details on the new rules.

What’s the downside? As the above diagram shows, these rules can be fairly complicated, causing an increase in building costs. They can also artificially limit the options for a homeowner, who otherwise could have more flexibility for improving his property in a compatible manner.

The ordinance was written and passed fairly quickly. As the Statesman article suggests, many of its regulations have been overly complex and/or overly restrictive. Hopefully the revision process will achieve the proper level of regulation so as to contain the problem while not limiting creativity, nor adversly affecting property owners (to the extent that this is possible).

If you are seeking a home in Central Austin it’s a good idea to have a basic understanding of the McMansion Ordinance.

What do you think about the McMansion Ordinance?
Share your opinion here, and with the committee, their next meeting is at 3:00 PM, July 20, 2007, at City Hall.