So... how much are homes OUTSIDE Austin? (Round Rock, Spring: for sale, apartment)

[sliverbox]

After perusing this forum for a week it seems like most people asking about moving here are asking for Nirvana on a plate: "Safe, walkable, cute, older homes, perfect schools, older neighborhoods, etc etc etc"... and all for under $200k and more importantly- IN town. Yeah- I admit that in a perfect world I'd prefer that too. But it sounds like prices in town are rather high, especially given the high property taxes.

But, I grew up in the sticks about 20-30 minutes from town back in TN. I guess you could say it was prime redneck country. Everyone got along pretty well but it was definitely backwoods. Down the road was your typical far-flung boring ole' suburban development about 20 minutes from town. For the past 13-14 years I've been living in metro areas. I currently live about 15-20 minutes from San Francisco, primarily because its too expensive to rent ( and especially buy) there. But the bottom line is that I've lived in both extremes and thus have a high degree of flexibility to where I am willing and happy to live.

Secondly- we DO NOT have kids. That's important to consider because we do not care about good schools and all the other things that people with kids want.

I remember we took a trip around the area when we visited. We visited a few small towns outside Austin. One I really liked was called Lockhart. We went off business hours and it didn't seem to take that long to get there from the city. Then again, perhaps it would be a bad commute at rush hour. A few others were Georgetown, Hutto, Buda, and some other little towns. Of course we didn't see all of them. Thus my question about what other areas like these are out there? Our budget would be 200k MAX, and paying less would be even more ideal. Again- we do not care about perfect schools and all that other stuff. I'd say 40 minutes would be the maximum amount of time I'd be willing to commute each way.

[centralaustinite]

Look at the towns and acreage east of Austin: Elgin, McDade, Bastrop, Lockhart, as well as Kyle, and Buda to the south.

But it will be hard to predict your commute without knowing exactly where in Austin you work. Getting across town can take longer than getting to town!

You can also find homes under $200K in east Austin (and that is where appreciation is going to occur). Then you'd be 10-15 minutes from downtown (or even less)

[mark311]

I think you mentioned this in another thread as well, but it sounds like it would be best if you rented an apartment/house as close to central Austin that you can afford first. Then you can spend 6 months to a year searching for the right house and city outside of Austin.

I did this a little over 4 years ago and just rented a little apartment in the Arboretum area for 6 months. Every weekend we drove around and familiarized ourself with the surrounding areas. We ended up buying a home with a Round Rock address that is basically on the border of Cedar Park and Georgetown for just under $200K. The value of the house has been pretty much steady over the years. The downside of this area is since it does boast good schools, the property taxes are a bit more than other areas. Plus there is still a lot of land out here so a lot of new retail has gone in. To some people that's a good thing as they have Ikea just down the street and others think it's a bad thing.

[RooCeleste]

I would concur with renting first, if you're just moving to town. If I had bought in the location I originally looked at (Northeast Austin) when I first moved here, I would be very unhappy right now and I would have missed out on lots of good things. As it is, we waited three years and we're now Northwest, just barely in Cedar Park in a perfect location for us with the perfect house we built, and great neighbors! It did increase my commute by about 15 minutes but it was well worth it and at least I realized that going into the deal.

[sliverbox]

Totally agree. We would probably rent for at least a year for several reasons:

A: To decide if we really want to live there
B: To see what areas we like
C: Make sure the job I get "sticks"
D: Get familiar with home buying since we have never bought one

[mark311]

Another nice thing about renting is that you can actually afford to live in a more central area while you're deciding on where to purchase a place. Renting a nice apartment is often affordable in areas that would be way out of your buying price range. That gives you a nice central location to explore from.

[mickey65]

There are houses for sale in my neighborhood (Greenslopes at Meadowcreek in Round Rock) for anywhere from $94,000 and on up...

[ScoPro]

Here in the Brushy Creek area north of 620, existing houses are selling for $85-$90 sq.ft.

Around the block from me on W.Dorman, a nice 15 year old 4,000 sq.ft house with in-ground pool sold for $299,000 earlier this year.

[sinking]

Before you get too set on one of the towns outside Austin get a job and find out where that is. I lived in Austin and worked in Austin and it took 50 minutes to get to work. Now I live just barely in Cedar Park like Rooceleste and it takes me 20 minutes to get home from work.

I have a coworker that lives in Lockhart and it takes him about an hour to commute to NE Austin.

[CptnRn]

It is a myth that property taxes are higher then Austin compared to many places around it. This was an eye opener for me.

I have heard it said that "City of Austin taxes are the highest" so often, I accepted it as true. But according to this Travis County Appraisal District document Austin is lower then most of these other areas. http://www.traviscad.org/pdf/cad3773_w1_entity_list.pdf This list does not include areas outside of Travis County.

02 CITY OF AUSTIN City 0.420900
05 CITY OF MANOR City 0.673400
09 CITY OF WEST LAKE HILLS City 0.053400
20 CITY OF PFLUGERVILLE City 0.609000
2F CITY OF ROUND ROCK City 0.396610
3F CITY OF CEDAR PARK City 0.489001
49 CITY OF LAGO VISTA City 0.570000
50 CITY OF JONESTOWN City 0.535000
5F CITY OF ELGIN City 0.758800
6F CITY OF LEANDER City 0.600420

When it comes to School Districts, Austin ISD is also lower then most.

01 AUSTIN ISD ISD 1.202000
06 DEL VALLE ISD ISD 1.480000
07 LAKE TRAVIS ISD ISD 1.315900
08 EANES ISD ISD 1.202500
16 LAGO VISTA ISD ISD 1.180000
19 PFLUGERVILLE ISD ISD 1.460000
1A HAYS CONSOLIDATED ISD ISD 1.461300
22 COUPLAND ISD ISD 1.040050
2A ELGIN ISD ISD 1.450000
34 MANOR ISD ISD 1.515000
38 DRIPPING SPRINGS ISD ISD 1.490000
3A MARBLE FALLS ISD ISD 1.285000
4A JOHNSON CITY ISD ISD 1.186000
5A ROUND ROCK ISD ISD 1.380000
69 LEANDER ISD ISD 1.422340

Just goes to show, once again, that you can't always believe what is accepted as common knowledge.

There are also many areas outside of Austin where housing and utilities are much more expensive.