Relocate to Austin, TX advice wanted

[hoosierone]

Daughter and family moving to this area on job transfer. He flies a lot so want to be reasonably close to airport and they've heard West of I-35 is preferred. They do not want to live in Austin.

Would appreciate any tips from folks in that area. Price range $400-$500K, good Christian school nearby, place to shoot.

 

[CATI1835]

As a Texan I will tell you, IMO, Austin is a great place to visit and is a lot of fun. BUT, I would not want to live in the city of Austin. It is becoming a Liberal island surrounded by a sea of Conservatism. It is showing signs of becoming firearm unfriendly. I would look west of Austin, if your budget and other constraints permit. The area is generally referred to as the "Hill Country". We looked there when I retired but found the most desirable properties to be beyond my pay grade. Prices there have dramatically increased over the last decade or two. You should be able to find something in your price range, probably within a hour of Austin.

 

[FredBart]

Look at several areas outside of town. The traffic in Austin metro is a serious problem. My son lives there and his horror stories of traffic jams are legendary. Try I-35 at rush hour a few days before you decide where to live. Mo-Pac road is being widened. The city's population has seriously outgrown its roadway system. It can take an hour to go a few miles and it doesn't matter if UT is in session or not.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

My cousin lives in Budah, TX it seems nice and most surrounding towns in all directions are very nice. Austin proper has built up very fast and as the their slogan says: "Help Keep Austin Weird". Austin traffic does not hold a candle to Houston.

 

[OFT II]

Having lived in Houston for fourteen years and having spent four days in Austin two weeks ago I will argue about the traffic. I don't know what part of Austin he will be working in but if the airport location is important he may want to consider Bastrop as a place to live.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

I am a native born Texan, and was born and raised in East Texas until I left home at age 19 to serve in the Army. I moved to Austin in 1985 for graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, and knew I'd never leave. Austin is a cool place to live, but it is overcrowded, overpriced and getting too weird. Explanation: a popular motto around here is "Keep Austin Weird". Frankly, I'd rather try to keep Austin normal.

Austin has lost a lot of its charm over the years. The cost of living is very high, real estate is out of this world. Austin used to have the charm of a small town, while only "acting" like a city. Now, the tail wags the dog. Condos for rich people dot the landscape. Traffic is a nightmare.

It's to their advantage that your daughter and her family don't want to live in Austin. Most newcomers to the area live in small (but growing) communities outside of Austin like Bastrop, San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, and Cedar Park. Based on your/their specifications, Bastrop would probably be a good bet:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastrop,_Texas

Buda, TX is a small town south of Austin (approx. 13 miles) that has the advantage of having a Cabelas, if they are into the outdoors:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buda,_Texas

Best of luck,

Dave

PS - talk about your traffic nightmares, people in Austin can't drive worth beans. I suffered 7 rear end car collisions in an 18 month period. Some were little "love taps", but one resulted in a broken neck, and another resulted in a closed head injury. One of the defendant's lawyers during my deposition said "Well, you must not be a very good driver" to which I pointed out that we were driving on a 3 lane highway with traffic going in one direction, and that I wasn't driving in reverse at the time of the accident. Though I never went to law school, that seemed to settle opposing counsel down for the rest of our encounter.

Regards,

Dave

 

[CATI1835]

For the uninitiated, Buda is pronounced BEW-duh, not BOO-dah (like the little fat man). Gruene is pronounced "green". And I live in Palestine - PAL-us-teen, not PAL-es-tine.

 

[the ringo kid]

Daughter and family moving to this area on job transfer. He flies a lot so want to be reasonably close to airport and they've heard West of I-35 is preferred. They do not want to live in Austin.

Would appreciate any tips from folks in that area. Price range $400-$500K, good Christian school nearby, place to shoot.

Round Rock and Pflugerville, are nice and growing communities. They are also far enough to be away from the weirdness that infests Austin's city limits. These two towns are abutting Austin and are rather nice. I think all your requirements are met in these two.

 

[the ringo kid]

As a Texan I will tell you, IMO, Austin is a great place to visit and is a lot of fun. BUT, I would not want to live in the city of Austin. It is becoming a Liberal island surrounded by a sea of Conservatism. It is showing signs of becoming firearm unfriendly. I would look west of Austin, if your budget and other constraints permit. The area is generally referred to as the "Hill Country". We looked there when I retired but found the most desirable properties to be beyond my pay grade. Prices there have dramatically increased over the last decade or two. You should be able to find something in your price range, probably within a hour of Austin.

Quite true. The past decade has seen a huge increase of those from calif, new York and new jersey..and they bring their views with them. Austin is known as the music capital of the world, and the spoiled from the aforementioned states, hate it. They complain yet they fully knew what they were getting into.

 

[the ringo kid]

Round Rock and Pflugerville, are nice and growing communities. They are also far enough to be away from the weirdness that infests Austin's city limits. These two towns are abutting Austin and are rather nice. I think all your requirements are met in these two.

Pflugerville //Floogerville//

 

[Fishslayer]

"Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair..."

 

[gman51]

The company I worked for opened a new facility in Bew-dah and several from Houston relocated there. They all say the traffic getting to Buda and around Austin is a nightmare. Basically Coming from Houston and they say that....it must be horrible. From what they said there aren't enough major highways to handle all the growing population.
Wherever you think you want to live then you need drive in the area around rush hour to see if you will still want to live in that location.
From what I heard, if you don't have sinus problems now then you will probably have shortly after moving around Austin. Supposedly because of all the tree pollen.
Austin used to be said to be a great place to live but since it has grown out of its' britches that might be debatable to some now. I have to say it being less humid in Austin than in Houston is a big plus. Houston is a free hot sauna 24/7 especially in the summer.

 

[DWalt]

Airport is on the far east side of Austin, a transformed former USAF base (Bergstrom). If there is some flexibility possible in living locations, the San Antonio area (or about anywhere in the Hill Country) is far more preferable, and there is an airport there also. If not, stay outside of the Austin city limits. Traffic is often very bad in Austin, and cost of living and real estate prices are excessive, about the worst, if not the worst, in Texas. You can buy the same house for half in most other Texas areas. And regarding its political philosophy, Austin's about like living in the San Francisco Bay area, and is best avoided if possible.

 

[zonker5]

Round Rock and Pflugerville, are nice and growing communities. They are also far enough to be away from the weirdness that infests Austin's city limits. These two towns are abutting Austin and are rather nice. I think all your requirements are met in these two.

I agree.

Georgetown to the North is also quite nice and airport access is good on the bypass (speed limit 85 mph!).

 

[timn8er]

I grew up in San Antonio, & recently moved back. I was living in Oklahoma City, & every Christmas & at least one other time a year I would make the drive to see the folks. I could tell you horror stories about idling across Austin in first gear! Now that they have opened up C130(?) it's easier to bypass Austin, plus you get to drive 85 MPH in some sections.

I do find, though, that Texas drivers are much more aggressive than what I had become used to...My poor little Ranger was a pretty good looking truck till I moved back to San Antonio, & now it's pretty beat up...

 

[vonn]

Traffic is bad! Look carefully and maybe rent for awhile in the area before committing to purchase. The Hill Country is awesome, if you find the right place.

 

[Farmer17]

I lived in Georgetown and flew a lot and the drive to the airport wasn't too bad. Real estate there was pretty reasonable and there was gun range I went to about 20 minutes away but don't remember where. If you don't like winter time I recall a 80 degree day in January, but there also isn't a fall where the leaves change colors, they just kinda....die.

 

[Marine Corps Air]

+1 for all of the previous posts! Even with all of the "negatives", it's still a great place to live and work. We lived there from 1991 to 2006 and loved it. That first decade was hard, with all of those liberals living there but life improved dramatically afterwards for an obvious reason.

Both of our adult sons still live there. We were just back for a visit in December. Our sons tell us that there are approximately 150-200 people/day moving in to that area. The end results are just as bad as has been previously described.

FYI - there is a really nice Cabela's south of Austin on IH-35 in Buda, and there's a Bass Pro Shop to the north around Round Rock. Texans are great people, and that Texas BBQ is to die for, especially the brisket! The SXSW (spring break) festival is the time to leave town - head for The Ringo Kid's area over at Mustang Island or South Padre Island! Austin still hold's itself out as being "The Live Music Capital of the World". I don't believe that claim has been successfully challenged yet.

I agree, IH-35 between Dallas and San Antonio is a "war zone", especially at night when the intoxicated drivers are out! Drive on it at your own risk. However MOPAC through central Austin is not much better. However, driving on Route 360 may be a better, safer option if they live in West Austin. They do have an under-utilized toll road system that has a speed limit of 85 in many areas although I don't usually see people driving that slow on it when we are there for another visit.

I'd recommend that your daughter and her family meet with one or two realtors ASAP to present their key requirements to the realtors and then ask for the realtor's recommendations. I have the name of an outstanding one for west Austin if you need it. One of our sons lives in Cedar Park, which is a very nice area in which to live. We lived in west Austin near Bee Caves, which was also a nice area. The Eanes ISD is one of the best in Texas, and perhaps in the Nation.

and finally, "May God Bless Texas!!"

hoosierone - Texas does not have a state income tax (yet) but the property taxes are off the page in the Travis County area. Our home was in the price range that you mentioned and the property taxes in 2006 were ~ $10,000.00/year.

 

[SilentKnight]

My family had relatives in Georgetown just north of Austin. It is a picturesque town with a beautiful river park on the San Gabriel River. It is a college town with all the perks associated with choices for restaurants, services, etc. Good luck.

 

[Simmer down]

All those liberals....