Texans: Check Your Voter Status

I just read in the Dallas Morning News that more than 1.2M Texas voters are on the Suspense List.  You can check to see if your voting status is active.  Also, the deadline to register to vote in Texas' November general election is October 5th.  

Update: Be advised that the site Vote Safe is affiliated with Elon Musk's America PAC; it will gather information about you as well as sell it to their partners.  

Maps: Texas and the British Isles

I went to London last month and I just completed a drive from Austin to Moab and back (which includes going from Austin to the Texas border just east of Clovis).  Ergo, when this map appeared sua sponte in a UK based WhatsApp chat I'm on I decided to share it.  Texans and residents of the British Isles: now you can judge the scale of a drive when contemplating visiting each other's respective homelands.  

Speaking of London and Moab, I do have a few travel observations/tips/etc I'll attempt to share by the end of the year.  Who knows... maybe I'll get around to my tips for backpacking in the Grand Canyon as well.  

Manor Downs to Become an Industrial Park

On a trip to Las Vegas earlier this year, one of the members of our party spoke wistfully of wagering on horse races at Manor Downs back in the 1990's.  I had forgotten about Manor Downs, and for good reason: it stopped holding horse races in 2010 and closed shortly thereafter (though inexplicably it still has a functioning website).  

We know people with rental property in the area, thus I keep an eye on the current events in the Manor area.  I recently read that Dalfen Industrial will convert the 146 acre Manor Downs site into an industrial park with six buildings (totally about 1 million square feet in aggregate).   Construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2022 and the estimated time of completion is in the fourth quarter of 2023.  

Manor Downs hosted Farm Aid II in 1986.  While the new project is not as cool as that, it is a positive improvement to the area and indicative of the regional growth the Central Texas area is experiencing.   

If you live in Texas and really want to see live horse racing, you can still find tracks open near San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston.  

Meteors

(Blurry) Photo of Meteor Crater in Arizona

 

I came across this interesting list last week:  Meteorite Impact Craters in the United States 

Many of these impact craters are now filled in, covered up, or otherwise unable to detect without having done some kind of geologic surveying.  A glaring exception is the Barringer Crater (aka, Meteor Crater) in northern Arizona (shown above, in a photo from a point and shoot camera I bought in 2006).  I went there on a whim back in 2008 when I was in the Flagstaff area.  The crater was much more fun to visit than I anticipated (though not on the level of the Grand Canyon, which I also visited on that trip).   

The crater I have "visited" more recently is the Sierra Madera Astrobleme.  I used the quotes there because said visit involved driving to Big Bend National Park on US Route 385 (which runs through the 8 mile diameter crater).   The cool parts are visible from the highway, but on a private ranch.   Thus, it's a cool road trip anomaly to encounter on the way to Big Bend (a place I'll write more about in a future post).  

Do you like the idea of owning rocks which have traveled through space?  Earlier this evening I read that starting on Tuesday Christie's will be auctioning off 72 meteorites.  Thus if have some spare cash lying around, you can potentially get your hands on a meteorite without having to wait for one to fall on your property.   And if you do buy one, consider letting a museum display your new meteorite (at least from time to time) so that the general public can enjoy getting to see it.     

       

The Backstory: North vs. South Austin tug of war 1987 | KVUE

This seems like material for a good Austin trivia question.

Here's a 2001 Austin Chronicle article which provides more details:  https://www.austinchronicle.com/features/2001-04-13/south-austin-secede/

COVID-19

The City of Austin has release a chart explaining Stages 1-5 in its COVID-19 Risk Based Guidelines:

Visit AustinTexas.gov/COVID19 for more information and to check on the city's stage status.

Also, the Texas A&M Real Estate Center has just release updated economic projections based on COVID-19.

December 2019 Austin Housing Market Statistics

Infographics courtesy of Austin Board of REALTORS®.  Visit https://www.abor.com/statsdec19/ for more information.  And, of course, contact Floyd Real Estate if you want to buy or sell property in the Austin area.

Austin Tourism Promo Video from 1987 - Classic ATX Access TV

November 2019 Austin Housing Market Statistics

Infographics courtesy of Austin Board of REALTORS®.  Visit https://www.abor.com/statsnov19/ for more information.  And, of course, contact Floyd Real Estate if you want to buy or sell property in the Austin area.

Basketball to Hockey Conversion | American Airlines Center

Red-Crowned Parrots in Texas - Texas Parks & Wildlife [Official]

September 2019 Austin Housing Market Statistics

Infographics courtesy of Austin Board of REALTORS®.  Visit https://www.abor.com/statssep19-2/ for more information.  And, of course, contact Floyd Real Estate if you want to buy or sell property in the Austin area.

June 2019 Austin Housing Market Statistics

Last month Austin's median home prices were at an all-time high at $407,400.  In just a month we're up to $420,000 in the city.

Infographics courtesy of Austin Board of REALTORS®.  Visit www.abor.com/statsjune19 for more information.  And, of course, contact Floyd Real Estate if you want to buy or sell property in the Austin area.

May 2019 Austin Housing Market Statistics

The big news here is that Austin's median home price is at an all-time high amid declining inventory.

Infographics courtesy of Austin Board of REALTORS®.  Visit www.abor.com/statsmay19 for more information.  And, of course, contact Floyd Real Estate if you want to buy or sell property in the Austin area.

March 2019 Austin Housing Market Statistics

Infographics courtesy of Austin Board of REALTORS®.  Visit www.abor.com/statsmarch19 for more information.  And, of course, contact Floyd Real Estate if you want to buy or sell property in the Austin area.

February 2019 Austin Housing Market Statistics

Infographics courtesy of Austin Board of REALTORS®.  Visit www.abor.com/statsjfeb19 for more information.  And, of course, contact Floyd Real Estate if you want to buy or sell property in the Austin area.

Yes, everyone's moving to Austin – but they're not all coming from California

From the Statesman:

Yes, everyone's moving to Austin; but they're not all coming from California: According to the analysis, more than 50 percent of migration to Austin from 2012 to 2016 was from people leaving other large Texas cities, such as Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. But census data also shows that a net of thousands of people from states like California, Florida and New York came to Austin during those years.

January 2019 Austin Housing Market Statistics

Infographics courtesy of Austin Board of REALTORS®.  Visit www.abor.com/statsjan19 for more information.  And, of course, contact Floyd Real Estate if you want to buy or sell property in the Austin area.

December 2018 Austin Housing Market Statistics

Infographics courtesy of Austin Board of REALTORS®.  Visit www.abor.com/statsdecember18 for more information.  And, of course, contact Floyd Real Estate if you want to buy or sell property in the Austin area.

Swiftly changing South First Street is 'next frontier' in Austin's development boom

Swiftly changing South First Street is 'next frontier' in Austin's development boom