Anyone move to Austin....and hate it? (Houston, Dallas: real estate, property taxes)

[johnrex62]

Originally Posted by Ed Truck

Austin gets a lot of love as a pretty desireable place to live. Did anyone move here and find that they really did not care for it, and if so, why?

Ahem...Nope, Ahm purty shore we got 'em all afur they could say anythin ta anyone. But I gotta an extry rope jest in case we missed one.

[Torontonian]

Far from hating but tend to agree with noplacelikeWA from the other thread (replace PNW with Ontario)

Originally Posted by noplacelikeWA
We moved to TX (actually live in SA but spend tons of time in Austin) from north Seattle in April 2006, my DH is a Snohomish County native and I lived in the PNW for 21years, so heres my view since moving.

1. It's really downright ugly, (when compared to the PNW)
2. The infrastructure is a joke which fuels the traffic and bad driver problems
5. Locals get all excited about wild flowers growing along the highway (they actually stop and take family portraits) because there really is nothing else to enjoy about the landscape (when compared to the PNW)
8. The property taxes are insane, and you will not save any $ over buying something here, you'll just get more house for your $
9. The best scenery they have to offer is in the hill country and it really is not impressive (when compared to the PNW)
10. The bugs also keep people indoors alot, mosquitoes and june bugs are everywhere

Yes, I have more money in the pocket now, but everything comes at a cost

[mark311]

Yes, the list from the previous poster could be considered fairly correct when you come from another nice and somewhat affordable place.

You have to remember that a lot of the Californians that are moving to Austin and love it so much are not just people that ran off with a ton of equity from the California housing market. A lot of us are people that never bought a home in California and would never have been able to afford to buy a home at all until they moved away. When you go from renting a 2 bedroom apartment in California to owning a 4 bedroom house in Austin while paying roughly the same per month even with property taxes, there's a lot to be excited about.

[Ed Truck]

Originally Posted by Torontonian

Far from hating but tend to agree with noplacelikeWA from the other thread (replace PNW with Ontario)

Originally Posted by noplacelikeWA
We moved to TX (actually live in SA but spend tons of time in Austin) from north Seattle in April 2006, my DH is a Snohomish County native and I lived in the PNW for 21years, so heres my view since moving.

1. It's really downright ugly, (when compared to the PNW)
2. The infrastructure is a joke which fuels the traffic and bad driver problems
5. Locals get all excited about wild flowers growing along the highway (they actually stop and take family portraits) because there really is nothing else to enjoy about the landscape (when compared to the PNW)
8. The property taxes are insane, and you will not save any $ over buying something here, you'll just get more house for your $
9. The best scenery they have to offer is in the hill country and it really is not impressive (when compared to the PNW)
10. The bugs also keep people indoors alot, mosquitoes and june bugs are everywhere

Yes, I have more money in the pocket now, but everything comes at a cost

Aren't 1, 5 and 9 kind of the same thing here?

[jennyb315]

TW-- thanks for the info. I will call TCEQ inthe morning since it's after 5:00 already. This neighborhood is a complete mess and not a single guy went out there with a bobcat to clean up the streets..... if this were my jobsite, I would be ashamed of the mess not to mention, the mud here is like concrete-- I've ruined so many pairs of shoes and getting it off the car takes forever! ugh.

[traceyr13]

I had a real "adjustment period" for several months when I moved here (came in June 2006 from Rhode Island) and while I am now very happy in Austin and overall say it's a great place to live, I still have my criticisms. Drawbacks for me include the length of the hot season (I can handle the hot weather...for July and August. When it was 95 degrees the 2nd week of October last year, I was ready to move back to New England!), Texas legislature (that is not so much Austin as Texas, but hey, it's in Texas!) and Texas public education. There are good school systems around Austin (for Texas), but compared to the good systems in New England, I find them very strict/punitive and overly reliant on standardized testing. The Texas pride thing is also a little unsettling for this Yankee.

[Phisch]

The Texas pride thing is also a little unsettling for this Yankee.

Slightly OT, but I find it interesting how many Texans I see in Orange County. The only tell-tale signs are the license plates and the ever-present Long Horns logo in one form or another. Hubby knows someone whose parents moved to Austin a few years ago and they were never nto football until they moved. Now they have season passes to the Longhorn games plus make arrangements to see all their away games. Oh! And they pointed out that (wink wink) a house won't sell in Austin unless it has the requisite Texas star.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by Torontonian

Far from hating but tend to agree with noplacelikeWA from the other thread (replace PNW with Ontario)

Originally Posted by noplacelikeWA
We moved to TX (actually live in SA but spend tons of time in Austin) from north Seattle in April 2006, my DH is a Snohomish County native and I lived in the PNW for 21years, so heres my view since moving.

1. It's really downright ugly, (when compared to the PNW)
2. The infrastructure is a joke which fuels the traffic and bad driver problems
5. Locals get all excited about wild flowers growing along the highway (they actually stop and take family portraits) because there really is nothing else to enjoy about the landscape (when compared to the PNW)
8. The property taxes are insane, and you will not save any $ over buying something here, you'll just get more house for your $
9. The best scenery they have to offer is in the hill country and it really is not impressive (when compared to the PNW)
10. The bugs also keep people indoors alot, mosquitoes and june bugs are everywhere

Yes, I have more money in the pocket now, but everything comes at a cost

I notice that this list, like many of the lists about Austin negatives, really applies to the entire state not specifically Austin. More so to the other cities in the states (Dallas, Houston esp. are less scenic... Houston has more bugs, etc).

It's seems you have to accept a baseline of Texas attributes when coming to Austin: Sprawl, hot weather, less scenery, critters, high property taxes.

Austin's infrastructure/traffic problem is somewhat unique, I'll give you that. But the traffic and distances in DFW or Houston make commuting just as bad, although the roads are much better.

[Jazzedforhim]

Originally Posted by mark311

Yes, the list from the previous poster could be considered fairly correct when you come from another nice and somewhat affordable place.

You have to remember that a lot of the Californians that are moving to Austin and love it so much are not just people that ran off with a ton of equity from the California housing market. A lot of us are people that never bought a home in California and would never have been able to afford to buy a home at all until they moved away. When you go from renting a 2 bedroom apartment in California to owning a 4 bedroom house in Austin while paying roughly the same per month even with property taxes, there's a lot to be excited about.

Yep, that is exactly the situation we are in only we are in a mobile home and renting the land! We'll never own a home here but in Austin we can and for less money even with the property taxes since we don't have the state taxes taken out. It's not an even cut but only a little bit more on the already low mortgage. Win/win for us. Well, except for leaving family and friends.

[tashina]

I suppose scenery is very subjective. I think the Hill Country is sort of pretty. I've been to the PNW and didn't think it was all that. Very green, but rainy much of the time with a low cloud ceiling which to me ruined any scenery I was seeing. I'm from San Diego and pretty to me is palm trees and tropical flowers everywhere you look - even in the middle of winter. I also love seaside malls like Seaport Village and I love the boardwalk in Mission Beach.

To me, the problem with moving around a lot is that each location has benefits, but you also notice the things that aren't as good as where you came from. Love Austin prices and Austin people. Love San Diego flowers and scenery and freeways. Love the Bay Area for the galleries, Victorians and the subway system. Loved London for the culture. Don't really know where I belong anymore, to tell you the truth.

We have various opportunities right now. Settle down in Dallas with a cheap house. Stay in Austin where we are. Move back to the Bay Area and rent a 1000 sq ft apartment but be better paid and more culture. Move to Portland (great galleries and art scene, but don't think I could stand a whole winter so that's probably out). Dunno the best thing to do.