Should we move to Austin? (Dallas, Portland: real estate, condo, crime) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

oldhousejunkie · 10-05-2010, 09:58 AM

My hubby and I are on the hunt for a new place to live, and a recent visit to Austin inspired me to look a little harder. Well that and an open position in my field of work. :-)

I really liked the laid back feel of Austin... I spent some time in Downtown and SoCo and really enjoyed it. My hubby and I are in our late 20s, no kids (yet), he's in law enforcement and I'm a historic preservationist. I like to walk and not drive, so having coffee shops, restuarants, a corner store, etc nearby is important to me. We'd like to live in a neighborhood with old homes (i.e. bungalows, not mansions) or in a historic building conversion.

I've lived in a few states myself, but if we move, it would be the hubby's first foray out of our home state, and he's nervous about making friends, etc. We're church goers, so that's on outlet, but he has a tendency to be attracted to the dissident population. Is it easy to build social networks or is Austin more of a isolated place?

Any suggestions for neighborhoods? Any other pertinent information?

Also how bad is the summer? We're coming from South Carolina, so we're not strangers to heat and humidity. And when I say that I mean 95+ with 80% or more humidity. Lol.

Thanks in advance for your help!

sinking · 10-05-2010, 10:28 AM

I have lived here for about a year. Personally, I have not made many friends. I find most peoples personalities here to be vanilla (I'm not the first person to mention this) and had a much easier time making friends in New England. Making friends could go either way for your husband. He could have much lower standards than me but also have bad luck not coming across anyone his style or he could have standards higher than mine and have good luck meeting people he really gets along with.

Other people would be able to help you better with the neighborhoods but if you want something that is not cookie cutter you better have money to be in a decent area.

centralaustinite · 10-05-2010, 12:03 PM

Have the job in hand first! Historic preservation jobs are generally few and far between. Hyde Park, Rosedale, Allandale, Crestview Brentwood, Bouldin, Zilker, Travis Height, French Place, and close-in parts of East Austin would fit your description. You'll need at least $200K though.

Volunteering as well as church is a great way to build a social network.

good luck!

eepstein · 10-05-2010, 12:11 PM

In all honestly, I think you should really think whole heartedly before deciding to move to the Austin area. I have lived here over 7 years and find most of the people in this area to be extremely fake, arrogant, and plastic. Of course, I have met some very nice people here as well, but the odds don't seem to be in your favor as far as "quality of people" go.

You live South Carolina? How about Atlanta, or Augusta? If you don't need to stay in the south, I would do some research in Denver, Portland, or Sacramento. These are all cities that have so much more going for them than Austin does. If your heart is set on moving to Texas, than certainly explore Dallas and burbs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldhousejunkie

My hubby and I are on the hunt for a
new place to live, and a recent visit to Austin inspired me to look a little harder. Well that and an open position in my field of work. :-)

I really liked the laid back feel of Austin... I spent some time in Downtown and SoCo and really enjoyed it. My hubby and I are in our late 20s, no kids (yet), he's in law enforcement and I'm a historic preservationist. I like to walk and not drive, so having coffee shops, restuarants, a corner store, etc nearby is important to me. We'd like to live in a neighborhood with old homes (i.e. bungalows, not mansions) or in a historic building conversion.

I've lived in a few states myself, but if we move, it would be the hubby's first foray out of our home state, and he's nervous about making friends, etc. We're church goers, so that's on outlet, but he has a tendency to be attracted to the dissident population. Is it easy to build social networks or is Austin more of a isolated place?

Any suggestions for neighborhoods? Any other pertinent information?

Also how bad is the summer? We're coming from South Carolina, so we're not strangers to heat and humidity. And when I say that I mean 95+ with 80% or more humidity. Lol.

Thanks in advance for your help!

oldhousejunkie · 10-05-2010, 12:34 PM

I would LOVE to move to Denver. I visited a few years ago and thought it was awesome. And I've always heard great things about Portland. But unfortunately, I think the hubby will want to stay in the south. He's very concerned about being able to get home quickly if we had a family emergency.

We've looked into Atlanta. I lived there a few years ago and liked it despite the ridiculous trying-to-get-out-of-town-on-weekend traffic.

The being fake and arrogant thing bothers me...and would bother my husband too. We're both very honest individuals, who don't have pretentions, so that might be a problem. I assimilate pretty easily, but he's more of the dissident crowd, so plastic wouldn't do for him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eepstein

In all honestly, I think you should really think whole heartedly before deciding to move to the Austin area. I have lived here over 7 years and find most of the people in this area to be extremely fake, arrogant, and plastic. Of course, I have met some very nice people here as well, but the odds don't seem to be in your favor as far as "quality of people" go.

You live South Carolina? How about Atlanta, or Augusta? If you don't need to stay in the south, I would do some research in Denver, Portland, or Sacramento. These are all cities that have so much more going for them than Austin does. If your heart is set on moving to Texas, than certainly explore Dallas and burbs.

And to the other posters...

$200k would be a serious stretch for us. LE officers don't make much (sadly), and folks in my field don't either. I don't see myself wanting to live in newer construction, so that would be right out.

And I would definitely have the job in hand! I don't take leaps of faith very well! :-)

Thanks for the comments!

jazznblues · 10-05-2010, 01:18 PM

oldhousejunkie - I suggest you look at eepstein's old posts so you have a proper context when reading his posts. He is our resident Austin hater and seems completely focused on convincing people Austin is an awful place to live.

People in Austin are not fake, arrogant, and plastic.

Texans are proud, but friendly. They are neighborly and eager to help. Someone moving from South Carolina should adapt easily to Austin and Texas.

eepstein · 10-05-2010, 01:56 PM

Um not quite. Austin resident who doesn't agree with the masses!

Wait, what are Texans "proud" of??

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazznblues

oldhousejunkie - I suggest you look at eepstein's old posts so you have a proper context when reading his posts. He is our resident Austin hater and seems completely focused on convincing people Austin is an awful place to live.

People in Austin are not fake, arrogant, and plastic.

Texans are proud, but friendly. They are neighborly and eager to help. Someone moving from South Carolina should adapt easily to Austin and Texas.

TylerDurden79 · 10-05-2010, 02:10 PM

Definitely make sure you have the job first. I thought I had a job offer in hand and it turns out when i got here there was no job ofr me any longer. That was three months ago and i have yet to find a job. I'm even willing to do just about anything to pay the bills there is just nothing out here.

mark311 · 10-05-2010, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldhousejunkie

$200k would be a serious stretch for us. LE officers don't make much (sadly), and folks in my field don't either. I don't see myself wanting to live in newer construction, so that would be right out.

And I would definitely have the job in hand! I don't take leaps of faith very well! :-)

Unfortunately, for the things that you're looking for, $200K would be more like the minimum at best that you could find something (a fixer upper) unless you venture into the more crime ridden areas of Austin. Austin is still affordable for people that are fine with cookie-cutter homes and car travel. Honestly, if your two biggest wants are walkability and historic/unique houses, then you'd be looking at much more than $200K.

It's still very possible to get into a condo within your price range that would provide walkability, but it still wouldn't satisfy the older home want. You can check out real estate listings on Austinhomesearch. I pasted a link below.

Find a Property

sliverbox · 10-05-2010, 02:23 PM

Not sure if I would recommend Sacramento as an alternative city. I live an hour and a half from there but have friends I visit every month or so. From June-Aug- Sept its often well over 100 degrees. Last time I was there it was 107- and that is HOT. That and the downtown area is pretty much dead. I've heard good things about Atlanta though. I just visited Denver recently. Yeah- its a pretty nice city too. Very clean and it has a lot of what I'd call "classic Western" character. That and the surrounding areas are stunning. I'd even reccomend you take your Husband there on a trip. I bet he'd love it. After visiting there I seriously thought about moving there instead of Austin. But the deal breaker for me is that I can't stand snow- period- even though locals told me it was a "dry" snow. Other then that I thought it was amazing.