The median price of homes sold in Richmond County in March 2026 averaged about $225,000, according to Realtor.com. That’s a $10,000 bump up from December 2025.

The following houses are not those houses. This top-five list shows the highest asking prices for Richmond County homes listed for sale on Realtor.com.

These are not cookie-cutter McMansions. Each home possesses a style you can make your own.

54 Conifer Cir.

Price: $1.799 million

Specs: 5 beds, 5.5 baths, 6,584 square feet

This home even has a grand scale. When you think “spare room,” you think about someplace small. Not here. The four upstairs bedrooms could each be mistaken for a master suite in practically any other house. That’s an especially desirable feature for a home that fetches $50,000 as a Masters Tournament rental.

Brokered by Meybohm Realty

4756 Mike Padgett Hwy.

Price: $1.75 million

Specs: 5 beds, 4 baths, 4,800 square feet

This home even has outdoor appeal. If the guest cottage, boat dock, pavilion, barn, and half-mile-long driveway aren’t enough, there’s plenty of wildlife-managed acreage left over for a thriving deer habitat. The massive pond behind the house adds to the recreational appeal.

Brokered by Leading Edge Real Estate

5 Prather Woods Lane

Price: $1.699 million

Specs: 6 beds, 5.5 baths, 6,283 square feet

This home even has next-level living. When this impressive colonial was being built in 1969, the designers thought: Why stop at two floors? The third floor contains the house’s fifth and sixth bedrooms, but if you’re the new owner, you can make the rooms whatever you like. A fully renovated kitchen only enhances the home’s elegance.

Brokered by Meybohm Realty

4152 Big Oak Dr., Hephzibah

Price: $1.07 million

Specs: 6 beds, 6.5 baths, 5,500 square feet

This home even has room for the next generation. Bring the grandparents and the grandchildren together under one massive roof. There’s room inside with six bedrooms that include a private mother-in-law suite. There’s room outside on 38 acres that include six spring-fed ponds jumping with catfish, bass, and bream. Or split the difference and relax on one of the two covered porches affording breathtaking rural views.

Brokered by Blanchard & Calhoun

2563 Central Ave.

Price: $985,000

Specs: 6 beds, 5 baths, 4,000 square feet

This home even has a coveted Summerville address. Move to one of the city’s most walkable neighborhoods and live around the corner from Augusta University, the shops on Monte Sano Avenue, and Daniel Village. The dignified brick home was built in 1940 and has aged gracefully. The sale even includes a rented rear duplex generating $2,000 a month.

Brokered by Engel & Volkers

In recent years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a strategic bet: Republicans would be the more reliable partner and investing in them would be safer than trying to maintain a shrinking Democratic consensus.

This assumption proved correct in the short term. Republican support, especially under the Trump administration, remained consistent. At the same time, engagement with Democratic constituencies became more difficult and politically costly. These constituencies included American Reform and Conservative Jews who were put off by Netanyahu’s reliance on Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox partners.

However, that strategy created a long-term risk. Closer alignment with one party deepened the partisan divide and now threatens the U.S.–Israel alliance. This issue is no longer theoretical. Israel is heading toward elections this fall. The outcome will shape its U.S. strategy and influence U.S. policy toward Israel.

If the current approach continues, Israel will deepen its reliance on Republicans and further limit engagement with Democrats. This may remain sustainable in the short term, but it increases long-term risk.

A different coalition, based on today’s opposition and less dependent on Orthodox parties, could restore bipartisan engagement and rebuild ties with Democratic lawmakers, institutions, younger audiences, and liberal American Jewish communities. These communities still largely align with the Democratic Party, despite some shift after the October 7, 2023, attack and the wave of antisemitism that followed. Even then, change will be gradual. The erosion of support among Democrats reflects deeper ideological shifts that no Israeli government can quickly reverse.

U.S. security aid, once a pillar of the alliance, is now politically contested. Within segments of the Democratic Party, opposition to aid now signals progressive credibility.

Netanyahu has suggested that Israel could phase out its reliance on U.S. aid. He argues that Israel’s economic strength allows it, especially if continued aid damages public support in the United States. This reflects a broader logic: reducing dependency may help preserve the alliance’s political sustainability.

Some in Washington argue that tensions stem mainly from Netanyahu and will ease after he leaves office. This view is only partly correct.

On core issues—Iran, deterrence, and skepticism toward Palestinian statehood under current conditions—there is broad consensus across Israel’s political spectrum. A future prime minister is unlikely to change these positions in any meaningful way.

Where change could occur is in the political approach. A different leadership may invest more in bipartisan engagement and avoid alignment with one U.S. party. The policy will remain similar, but the political strategy may differ.

Israeli leaders also recognize that not the entire shift in American attitudes is organic. External actors amplify anti-Israel narratives. These include Iran, Qatar, Russia, and China. They exploit existing divisions in Western societies. This means the trajectory of the alliance depends on not only domestic politics, but also geopolitical competition.

At the same time, Israel is working to reduce certain dependencies on the United States. This includes aid, military supplies, and technologies. A more self-reliant Israel is also a more independent Israel.

Israel has shown that it can act pragmatically with other powers, including Russia and, to a more limited extent, China, when its interests require. If bipartisan support in Washington continues to erode, Israel will expand its room for maneuver. This does not mean a strategic shift away from the United States, but it does mean that a weakened alliance reduces U.S. influence and creates opportunities for competitors.

In the United States, the question is whether support for Israel remains a bipartisan strategic interest or becomes a partisan identity issue. In Israel, the question is whether leaders treat bipartisan support and ties with American Jewry as strategic assets that require continuous investment.

The alliance is resilient. But for the first time in decades, its main challenge comes from internal political dynamics on both sides. Preserving it will require deliberate choices not only in Washington, but also in Jerusalem.

Dozens of data center projects have been proposed across Central Texas, and how those projects shape the region’s land, economy and water resources will depend on how local leaders plan for their arrival.

But there is no consensus about what approach to take even among business leaders, Denise Davis, the board chair for the Austin Chamber of Commerce, said at the inaugural KUT Festival on Saturday.

Davis said the Austin Chamber is still trying to find its footing in the debate.

“I get that everyone has phones, and the average home has 20 devices, and I get that AI is powering everything, but I also have businesses that need electricity, and I need the grid to be reliable,” Davis said. “So I think it’s to be determined where the chamber comes down on the issue.”

Davis was joined on stage by Bradley Dushkin, Round Rock’s director of planning and development services, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra and Carrie D’Anna, a Taylor resident and community organizer.

Dushkin said data centers have the opportunity to provide cities relief in the form of “ginormous” property tax contributions as local politicians struggle to provide community services amid budget constraints.

“We have a need to bring in these high-dollar, revenue generating, non-residential properties into the city so that we can help bring in that money and not have to rely on the property taxes generated by the residential side,” Dushkin said. “Having those large commercial properties helps us subsidize the tax rate across the city and keep the tax rate low for our residents.”

Dushkin said Round Rock’s budget is already a reflection of how data centers could do the heavy lifting for a city’s bottom line: commercial buildings only make up 8% of taxable properties in Round Rock, yet they generate nearly half of the city’s property tax revenue.

But many worry data centers will suck up too much water and power to be worth their property tax contributions.

Becerra said there’s “no good option” for data centers in Hays County, where extreme drought threatens its future water supply.

“Some of these systems are asking for a million gallons [of water] a day,” he said. “You can want ski slopes in San Marcos, but if we don’t have the snow, it’s not going to do you any good.”

Across Hays and Williamson counties, community activists like D’Anna have effectively ended some data center projects over such water and electricity concerns.

D’Anna said she’s noticed data center projects “strategically” planned out of the public eye. She created a Facebook group to keep people informed about the BPP data center proposal in Taylor, and with the help of other plugged-in community members, passed out flyers protesting a data center development in Hutto.

D’Anna said people in her neighborhood are “terrified” of how data centers could reshape Taylor.

“People who are building data centers, union workers, electricians, they want to sign our petition because they see the value in guidelines,” D’Anna said. “They love the technology. We don’t like how it’s being capitalized. We don’t like how it’s replacing us.”