Austin is Crazy. Still.

There is a recommendation that all existing homes (read: 50 years old owned by pensioners, with clapboard floors, walls, and roof, with single-pane windows that are a bit draughty) should get energy audits prior to sale (to someone who is going to knock them down and install a new "McMansion" on the lot). These energy audits should cost several hundred dollars, and that's bad enough.

But the recommendation was actually almost a win for homeowners... because it was instead of requiring retrofits to increase the energy efficiency of older houses, possibly running into thousands of dollars.

And they wonder why the suburbs are growing, and nobody much wants to live in Austin proper. Hmm.