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Yes, i would agree. The fact that Austin is considered "cool" by anyone, is 100% due to the mostly false advertising of the city via the media. There is nothing "cool" about Austin other than it's large college population (who have a street to themselves to get drunk and smoke). When it truly comes down to the REALLY IMPORTANT factors (what I would consider "cool") Austin will never be able to compete with the 3 larger metro areas in Texas.
Because of the cities deceptive advertising, many people move here in hopes of landing a great job. Well you know what??? The job market is no better or worse here than many other cities including Dallas, SA, and Houston. The cost of living is far higher than ALL those cities and you end up with FAR LESS in the quality of life department.
I will say one thing--the city certainly knows how to advertise!! I can't think of another city with less to offer that has fooled so many into relocation!
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Originally Posted by inthecut
What I cannot understand is how "cool" is more attractive to those desperate for work than a large, much more viable hot job market ala Houston, Dallas, and DC..heck, even Salt lake City, Boise, Des Moines, and Omaha, for that matter..i truly think its all the web hype and top 10 lists, which are all PR fluff...Austin is a really nice place, don't get me wrong, but there are many others, and most of them have far larger job markets, just as hot, and all better paying than Austin to boot, even Houston...
last aside, and little secret, DC has FAR better paying entry-level jobs, and the federal ones out there average 100K a year....I'd be VERY interested in relocating there if I was looking for work...
hilsmom,
I completely and totally know where you are coming from. We are almost in the same boat. One one hand my wife and I do quite well financially in the Bay Area. We make over 6 figures and live frugally. But just like DC, after the "crash" the prices in our area, which incidentally is also about an hour from work are hovering around $500,000. There is a small house for sale near us that needs major foundation and renovation work for $400,000. That's the cheapest one I've seen around here. We 'could' afford to buy at these prices but that would mean putting a huge amount of our income into the mortgage. That seems to be what everyone who buys here does- they max out their incomes just to buy a house. I have no interest in risking our finances on a house to that degree. I'm going to guess that you all were maybe like us- waiting for the bubble pop to drop prices down to less insane levels. But that never really happened. Thus about last year we decided that its never going to be exactly livable here.
Like you, all of our family lives back east- in the South specifically. I'm watching as our parents get older and older. They're not interested in moving here period. Thus I guess we'll have to move back at some point. So yes- I understand your frustration. It sucks that the cities that seem to have lots of jobs are also so unaffordable. If not for home prices we could be living a pretty decent middle class lifestyle. We will basically be uprooting ourselves and possibly even changing careers to do so.
One last thing... We ran into a number of people who told us San Antonio was actually quite nice. It sure as heck is a lot cheaper too. Might be worth taking a 2nd look.
we had basically planned to relocate at some point all along. For career purposes, state capitals are pretty much our best option (which is reason #1 San Antonio does NOT work for us, among others). Hindsight 20/20, we should have relocated to TX in 2006 right after our daughter was born. We could have gotten top dollar for our dinky house and had a very small mortgage on a good sized house down there. BUT, my mom and dad didn't tell us they were planning to leave SC (where they had just moved) until the end of the year when the bottom fell out of the housing market. Before that, we had planned to go to Raleigh, which in all honesty, is more attractive to me as a location because of it's East Coast location. However, if one set of grandparents is willing to move, that completely changed things since my husband's family will never relocate.
My biggest frustration at this point is feeling like we're in limbo - our daughter starts kinderegarten next year and we have to leave this house regardless. Our neighborhood school still has half day kindergarten, which totally blows for anyone who works. It is the only elementary school in our community like this - everyone else (I think there are 6 elementary schools?) has full day. We'll have to make a decision in the next few months about staying here for a while longer or leaving next summer. I'm not good at this "wait and see" thing - so I have all kinds of back-up plans racing around in my head right now.
My husband has talked about maybe starting his own business, but I think that is 10 years off, so that doesn't help with employment prospects right now.
Anyway, thanks for listening/letting me vent. Hope things work for your family, too.
I'm not good at this "wait and see" thing - so I have all kinds of back-up plans racing around in my head right now.
This seems so very commom now days. My situation is completely different from you, but we are in the same "wait and see" mode. We haven't been able to sell the house where we came from, so we are stuck living in a place that doesn't suit us. Also, we have a lot of uncertainty about medical stuff and our ability to care for family members long term. That kind of thing can happen to families, but it is all made much worse by the rotten economy, which decreases our options at every turn. I think families all over the country are finding that their options are all bad, so there is a lot of waiting with uncertainty and a lot of people who can't sleep at night for all the problems racing around in their minds. I know that there are some who have stable situations and don't have all this anxiety, and I am glad for them (we used to be like that.) So you can be forgiven for venting on this forum. Hope things start to turn around - for all of us.
One thing that many fresh outs miss out on is the opportunity to gain some experience while you're still in school. In my previous job I did a significant amount of hiring (at times up to 70% of my work day was related to recruiting/hiring) and I was amazed at the number of fresh outs that never took the opportunity to either get things like internships (understanding that the number of intern spots is a constrained resource) or to simply engage in activities that are related to their field even if they were not paying. Not only does this gain them some experience but it also let's them stand out more to the person doing the hiring. This obviously doesn't literally address your specific example, but it is just one more thing that can gain you an edge.
Here's the problem. Many of the internships that are even decent have competition between students from different universities. Even if you're going for an internship that's recruiting within your school, there are always people from other universities that are competing as well. And for where I lived, a lot of people from Ivy-League and "elite" (or just prep universities) would always get looked at more than even those from decent state schools. Another thing I dealt with were certain "loops" with the recruiting process. Here's an example:
-Looking for an internship during sophomore year: Sorry, we're only accepting juniors.
-Looking for an internship during junior year: Sorry, we're only accepting seniors.
-Looking for an internship during senior year: Sorry, we're only accepting recent grads.
-Looking for an internship after graduation: Sorry, we're only accepting sophomores.
In the meantime, the universities try to get a lot of students to work as business to business" and "account manager" internships, which are just crappy expendable sales positions a high school dropout could do.
With that being said, I've concluded that it's sort of a waste to post job openings based in Austin if I'm living in DC. Would it be as futile if I did so for a job opening in Houston or Dallas?
Actually, I don't have some idealized vision of a better life. I am not UNhappy in DC, really. I am annoyed at the high cost of living and how far we are from any family, which is why moving is a better option for our family life. We currently live 20 miles from downtown, which takes more tahn an hour even on public transportation, in a dinky little 2BR TH. You can't touch a SFH in a decent neighborhood for less than $500K even this far out AND after the fall in housing prices.
However, let me clear something up for everyone- not everyone here in the DC area starts at 6 figures. Not even close. This is why so many people in their 30s and above live in group houses with a few roommates. My husband and I make more than 6 figures combined, but neither of us makes that alone. I have a masters degree, but the most I could hope to make in my degree field is MAYBE $60-65K? Not to mention, I prefer nonprofits and they are a MESS right now - I'm actually lucky that I left my last one on my old terms because they continue to downsize. I now work for a friend who runs her own company from her home and I work PT for her, work that I could do from home and she intends to keep me on when we move, so I am set. My husband would not really burn bridges with his current company if he did leave - and as I said, he is lucky to be in defense/security contracting with that all important clearance AND military background AND an engineering degree to boot. I worry about moving somewhere that the jobs in his field may NOT be as plentiful if he isn't able to stay onboard with his current employer. He is definitely in the higher paying field and we rely on him to be employed at all times.
Again, I like where we currently live - our burb is very family friendly and is one of those master planned communities where we can walk to most of the conveniences if we wanted to. It is just so expensive to buy a house here and if we moved to Austin, we would be closer to his family in San Antonio (don't even suggest I move to San Antonio - I have ZERO interest in that) AND my parents are planning to leave SC and move to Austin with us. We'd like to add another child and that is really hard to do here - daycare is quite a bit more expensive here and we have no real support system for date nights/emergencies/breaks.
I have visited Austin a couple times and I hold no illusions about it being the second coming or whatever. It is a decent little city and it would get us closer to family at a lower cost. Those are our reasons to move - simple, to the point. I don't buy into the "people are nicer, slower pace of life" BS. We have nice people where we live. Our schools are consistently rated tops in the country and we also don't have the insanity that is the TX State Board of Education making ridiculous curriculum choices. My first choice was actually to move to NC where I have friends since I went to college there, but my mom and dad decided they wanted to move closer to us, so that is when TX moved to the front of our relocation list.
It is what it is. We won't move without a job lined up for my husband - that would be a ridiculous choice. I want what is best for my family - we really want to have a closer relationship with his family and we want a backyard and a swingset for our little girl. Can't do that stuff here - it just sucks that it does all come down to money.
On the plus side, we are still up on our house, which is a blessing, right?
I think you are all making things so complicated....people have been moving to other cities since the west was open shortly after they shagged the indians to the rez's....and will continue to...its not an earthshaking thing to move...millions in the us did it this year....that being said, comes down to just, as you say, money...
More namely, is there a job waiting for you? If not, how long will it take, and can you hold out till you find it, especially if you have to compete with thousands for very very few openings in fields that pay a large wage in Austin....simple as that...if the job is waiting for you, then come..if not, and you are willing to take a shot to see if you can land what you find acceptable do it....you would be one of millions moving to another metro, so nothing special or unique here...actually, many many folks are moving here, so very far from special or unique!
You are SO right. It is an entrepreneur haven in Austin. I have started a couple of business ventures online, but I have been looking for services I could offer to the austin locals. I know that austin loves; food, eating and more food! lol Starting a restaurant is a good idea and anything working with children and the elderly are also good business ideas to tackle. Real estate is BIG in austin as well....if I knew I would have been in austin after I graduated college, I would have went to school for computer science and/or became a mortgage broker.
You can get a real estate license on-line in Texas, you just take the exam in person, the class is online....and just a month wait for FBI check after you pass...so, whats stopping you NOW from getting the RE license?
hilsmom,
I completely and totally know where you are coming from. We are almost in the same boat. One one hand my wife and I do quite well financially in the Bay Area. We make over 6 figures and live frugally. But just like DC, after the "crash" the prices in our area, which incidentally is also about an hour from work are hovering around $500,000. There is a small house for sale near us that needs major foundation and renovation work for $400,000. That's the cheapest one I've seen around here. We 'could' afford to buy at these prices but that would mean putting a huge amount of our income into the mortgage. That seems to be what everyone who buys here does- they max out their incomes just to buy a house. I have no interest in risking our finances on a house to that degree. I'm going to guess that you all were maybe like us- waiting for the bubble pop to drop prices down to less insane levels. But that never really happened. Thus about last year we decided that its never going to be exactly livable here.
Like you, all of our family lives back east- in the South specifically. I'm watching as our parents get older and older. They're not interested in moving here period. Thus I guess we'll have to move back at some point. So yes- I understand your frustration. It sucks that the cities that seem to have lots of jobs are also so unaffordable. If not for home prices we could be living a pretty decent middle class lifestyle. We will basically be uprooting ourselves and possibly even changing careers to do so.
One last thing... We ran into a number of people who told us San Antonio was actually quite nice. It sure as heck is a lot cheaper too. Might be worth taking a 2nd look.
How much would it cost to build a house yourself(I mean literally?)..could you not buy cheaper land on the outskirts, and build out with your own hands? Or hire someone? You would think someone would think of a better way....per $$$$housing where the jobs are, thats just ECON 101....Florida has next to nil living-wage jobs, but you can buy a house in cape coral for 85K on the canal....life is cruel..and Elvis was right!
Totally. The days that men can just go to some university, acquire no skills and have some kush office job pointlessly managing other people might be dwindling. Going forward, men are going to have to be men again.
Not sure about it being "men"..the ladies won't find anything either...and they are actually starting businesses far more than men are..so maybe they know something us "men" don't know about.
This seems so very commom now days. My situation is completely different from you, but we are in the same "wait and see" mode. We haven't been able to sell the house where we came from, so we are stuck living in a place that doesn't suit us. Also, we have a lot of uncertainty about medical stuff and our ability to care for family members long term. That kind of thing can happen to families, but it is all made much worse by the rotten economy, which decreases our options at every turn. I think families all over the country are finding that their options are all bad, so there is a lot of waiting with uncertainty and a lot of people who can't sleep at night for all the problems racing around in their minds. I know that there are some who have stable situations and don't have all this anxiety, and I am glad for them (we used to be like that.) So you can be forgiven for venting on this forum. Hope things start to turn around - for all of us.
There is no absolutely greener pasture..actually, it COULD be a nightmare to come to Austin and blow an entire nest egg looking for work...I'll be honest, that happened to me in the 90's per another move, and I never will move again without a decent chunk to get me through...
Frankly, this national economy is not a good one for "moves without jobs"....not unless you are looking for something that pays little, are young, and can room with someone..if you are looking for an large income job, of which there are few in most cities, you had better have your birds lined up before you come, or be preparred to burn through some cash..with STILL no guarantee of a job...it would be FAR worse to move to Austin and find nothing....would be a nightmare..
How much would it cost to build a house yourself(I mean literally?)..could you not buy cheaper land on the outskirts, and build out with your own hands? Or hire someone? You would think someone would think of a better way....per $$$$housing where the jobs are, thats just ECON 101....Florida has next to nil living-wage jobs, but you can buy a house in cape coral for 85K on the canal....life is cruel..and Elvis was right!
If by outskirts you mean 2 hours drive away before land becomes somewhat cheaper? Yeah, this is really NOT a good scenario in DC or San Fran, where the land is worth WAY more than any structure you put on it.
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