Monday, September 28, 2015

Useless Austin Info for? by? Dummies

The hallmark of freelance bullshit on the internet is half-assed information written by people who know jack about the topic. Would you ask your dentist about your bruised pinky toe? hire a plumber to replace your cracked iPhone screen? get advice on Austin, Texas, neighborhoods from someone who lives in Connecticut? Of course not; except if you're dumb enough to trust serial dummy Isabelle Esteves, caught writing about "Buying a New Home in Austin, Texas"¹ at Writedge.com.

Austin skyline
Sure, Austin is "hot"; especially among University of Texas students, many of whom would gladly donate a minor organ to remain in the town after graduation. In point of fact, our office was in Austin for almost a decade, so we have some familiarity with the place; and with the ex-students known as "LTs" because they'd give their Left Testicles to stay in Austin. Not so our Izzy, who clearly knows nothing about the town except for something she scraped off the internet more than a decade ago. The article smells like content she originally published at Helium.com and then resubmitted to Writedge without an update. Why do we say that? Well, because of this asinine statement:
"In Central Austin, homes in Hyde Park can still be found for under $300,000. North of Austin Round Rock has a lot to offer and to the south Buda is a very popular choice."
Surely she's kidding: because of its proximity to the University of Texas campus, Hyde Park is overrun by rental properties full of students. It's also some of the priciest real estate in town, with 2-bedroom, 1-bath houses on tiny lots selling for more than $300 per square foot, That's something Isabelle could have easily verified with a quick trip to Zillow. In point of fact, as of this date (September, 2015) there are only two homes for sale priced below $400K in Hyde Park, one an "apartment," and the average price is well over $500K. Oh, yeah, and it's been called "Buda-Kyle" for more than a decade...

Of course, except for a brief introduction to the city and the paragraph above (she titled it "Here are a few examples"), the remainder of Esteves' post is pure boilerplate about getting a realtor and "embarking on a great adventure." And she claims all this will help in "Buying a New Home in Austin, Texas"? Small wonder she's our Dumbass of the Day - again!

¹ This website is now defunct, but you can see the post using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   http://writedge.com/buying-a-new-home-in-austin-texas/
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