My friends are talking about investing in Austin as well (we are from CA), they've been there and think it's a nicer place among TX, young and vibrant place with some companies like Apple or Amazon.

We use APR so we can compare apples to apples.

With it being a newer built home, it's hard to get comps that's truly apples to apples.

Question is:  is there something/some ways to turn over the bad apples to rebuild its reputation; or should the local police be notified? 

In my opinion cash on hand is not as good an indicator of a buyers ability to qualify if you are comparing apples to apples when it comes to low money down financing. 

Jorge Apple to apple, Madison will be more expensive to be in a similar area in Milwaukee.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to try and compare a truly "apples to apples" scenario to determine what's in your best interest.

Its much easier in the stock market because it costs less money and you can appl stock every Wed if you want to. 

I also have business cards and car magnets that read "We buy houses".

Make sure you compare apples to apples as they say