Austin Texas Real Estate Directory Research Tools

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If you are moving to the Austin Texas area or just moving to a different neighborhood, a little time spent with these resources will help you decide on the right location for you.

Your Austin Real Estate Directory professional can help you find the right property in the area you choose. You can click on the categories on the left side of this page to find and compare Austin real estate brokers and agents who are experts in those areas or specialties.

Getting started

Austin Area Map - Start with an interactive map to familiarize yourself with the metro area.

Texas Community Profiles - Lots of information about every city and town in Texas

Sperling's Best Places - Find information about an area by zip code.

Census Information

US Census Bureau - Search by street address to find the census tract for a property. This is very useful in finding out all sorts of technical stuff about where is property is located and its neighborhood.  The FFIEC link below is recommended for non-technical users.

FFIEC - If you already have an address in mind, you can use this handy tool to quickly get the census tract of the property and some fast facts. Knowing the census tract number of a property is the gateway to a whole lot of important information.  Example: See City of Austin Crime Reports link below. Those reports are sorted by census tracts.

Neighborhoods

Statesman Homes - Local newspaper features articles and photos on many Austin neighborhoods.

Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network - Index of all neighborhood association web sites in Austin.

City Data Forum - Austin Neighborhoods - Discussion threads about Austin real estate and neighborhoods.

Crime Reports

City of Austin Crime Reports by geography. See a list of crimes that have been reported in an area, and more!

Sex Offenders Registry - View registered Sex Offenders in the City of Austin. From the Austin Police Department.

School Information

Austin School Assignment  by street address. Which schools your kids will attend. Use the next link below to see how those schools are performing.

School Accountability Ratings - A local title company presents this important information about ratings for individual schools throughout the Austin area, including suburban and surrounding areas from the Texas Education Agency in a quick and easy to understand format. Beats wading through mountains of state agency web pages! Learn which schools made the grade.

School District Locator - The Texas Education Agency provides interactive maps of all Texas school districts. Searchable by district name, county or region. Map is excellent! You can zoom in and out and obtain accounability (performance) information on individual schools as well as tons of other information and links to each district.

Maps

City of Austin GIS - This resource allows you to search by address or map on any location within the City of Austin boundaries. Includes high resolution color aerial photographs, flood plain locators, zoning, and much more. A terrific real estate tool to research a particular property.

Enviromapper - A service of the EPA. You can find environmental features and hazards anywhere in the US and you can zoom in and out.

Google Earth - Amazing tool that takes you just about anywhere. Free download of software from Google.

Demographic Maps - The City of Austin maintains a very interesting and useful collection of maps. If you are considering a move here and are serious about doing real estate research in Austin and surrounding areas, this is a must-see! These maps are in PDF format and many of them allow you to zoom in and out for more detail. If you need a free Adobe Reader™ just click here to get yours. Look for "Get Adobe Reader."

Apartment Information

Austin Apartment Rental Rates - Apartment rental rates and reviews by real people. This is a super resource for the apartment hunter.

Recreation

Freshwater Lakes - Hill Country Region from Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Golf - Guide to Austin area golf courses

General Guide - Austin Parks and Recreation Department site.

Other Tools

Home Repair Costs - A real estate inspection firm publishes the typical cost of common home repairs.

Building-Cost.net - Provides free cost estimates to build a home anywhere including Austin. Press the "Start Calculator" button. Lots of other good calculators and information at this site too.

Quick Facts: