Californians to Austin areas RR or GT? Love it or Hate it?? (Georgetown: real estate, mortgage)

[CravenClan]

Hi anyone from Cali that has moved to Austin areas, maybe RR or GT, that love it or hate it and why??? We are contemplating leaving California (again) Both my husband & I are natives...but are looking for a better more grounded place to raise our little ones.....4 1/2, 3 & 4 months...

Weather? Tornados?

Shopping??

Schools??

Houses in the middle to upper class?? ( we are looking in the $300-$500k, we would like a large yard or acreage, as we live on 5 acres now, and HATE CALI tract living)

Bugs, critters?

I would like to know the good and bad experiences, and maybe what you miss or don't miss the most...for us it would be family, as they are all here, but the peopl in general, not so much!

Thanks
Christina

[Txstar]

For that price range you could live out in Lost Creek (not acreage, but not small lots either) in the Westlake area where your children would attend Eanes ISD, one of the top rated school districts in Austin. Plus you would be close to shopping and everything Austin has to offer all within 10 to 15 minutes from that area, unless your set on living in RR or GT.

[CravenClan]

I don't know the areas that well, yet...Friends of ours moved to Georgetown 3 years ago, and love it...They built a custom on 3 acres. Schools are super important, house size is important too, only because we have a big house now, not that the new one has to be huge, but i like a little room to grow..so like 4000 sq. ft +...i don't know how much is in that price range....

what about the other stuff, weather...also it is important to have nice neighbors, although just about every post i have read says they all have them, unlike here!! So that would be a plus...

We are not dr.'s or lawyers, we are high school educated and self employed, so i don't want a house in a price range, that i don't have anything in common with the people in the community...or my neighbors..

Thanks!

[Trainwreck20]

Try the search option, and you may find a lot of questions (and the answers) from Californians, a few of which have moved here now and are answering questions .

[pvaustin]

Originally Posted by CravenClan

Hi anyone from Cali that has moved to Austin areas?
Christina

that's half the Austin population...

[CravenClan]

pvaustin

is that a good or bad thing?? I see alot of threads about california attitude, and believe me i know about that, that is why i want to leave!! So hopefully, because there is a lot of california people there, that is not like here....i am from a small town that got really big, and it is a very overcrowded snobby, everyone trying to be better than everyone else kinda place, NO NO, not so nice!!

Unfortuneately, i think the $$$ people have made on their houses, has turned them into something else, i guess i am lucky, we have made a lot of money on our past real estate sales, but i remember where i came from, and i am not trying to keep up with the Jones' Hahaha

[jwb123]

Have you considered the property taxes you will be paying on a house that is 4000 sq ft?

[pvaustin]

Originally Posted by CravenClan

pvaustin

is that a good or bad thing?? I see alot of threads about california attitude, and believe me i know about that, that is why i want to leave!! So hopefully, because there is a lot of california people there, that is not like here....i am from a small town that got really big, and it is a very overcrowded snobby, everyone trying to be better than everyone else kinda place, NO NO, not so nice!!

I was just exaggerating with that comment. Sure there are lot of people moved from CA. I am not going to say if its a good thing or bad thing. I myself moved from a different state (NH). So I'll let the real Austinites speak to that. I am still an "Austin-Wannabe". All I know is that I love Austin. Someone has commented to me once - "Austin is an oasis in Texas".

[iguanas4]

We (myself, BF, and iguana) moved to GT from Los Angeles in November. It's fine here, we neither love it nor hate it. Like all places, there are pros and cons. LA has its share of cons, but we'd move back there tomorrow if we could. I think we are not quite fitting in here, but we seem to be in the minority on that count. At least as compared to the ppl who regularly post to this board.

We like the weather in LA better. It rains too much here, is too often cloudy, too humid for my BF especially, and it was too cold for me last winter. Some people like four seasons, but I am not one of them! I would be happy with perpetual summer (but not so humid!).

We do love the privacy we have here (3 acres). We were tired of having neighbors on top of us, rude and annoying crowds at the beach, etc. Our LA neighborhood was older, and not as congested as most parts of the city, but it was getting worse with overcrowding, graffiti, etc.

The shopping and restaurants are good here, for the most part. (We are not big clothes shoppers or stuff like that, tho.) We do miss Trader Joe's and the sheer variety of restaurants in LA (esp. seafood, sushi, thai, etc). But no one can reasonably expect a small city like Austin/GT/RR/whatever to compete with a large city like LA.

The bugs and critters don't bother us. We LOVE the roadrunners (an unexpected treat when we moved), birds, geckos, etc. I saw an icky big spider outside today, but I just left him alone and he didn't bother me. We haven't had any problem with critters inside the house. A few dead or dying scorpions when we moved in, and I've seen a few outside. The scorpions here are not those big black kind, but little orangish guys. They are actually kind of cute. (I can't believe I'm saying that!) The fire ants are not good, though. You have to be REALLY careful when you walk around outside - they seem to build huge mounts overnight.

You know about the property tax here, right? Expect to pay a lot more than you did in CA, and it will go up every year. There is no state income tax, and I guess that sort of balances the tax burden out for most people. It does not balance for me, though. I'm unmarried and self-employed, so maybe that's why. Still, the low mortgage payment is very nice.

good luck!

[Trainwreck20]

It rains too much here, is too often cloudy, too humid for my BF especially

Yes, it has been a wet and humid spring, but it is the wettest and most humid that I can remember in many years. This kind of rain happens for a couple of years every 10 years or so, but the humidity is the worst I can remember here in 30+ years....