Relocating - What has changed since 2007/2008 (Austin, Georgetown: foreclosure, crime, lawyers)

[looking2tex]

Ok I just logged in and "last visited" this site in Sept of 08...Wow, its been a while.
My wife and I visited the Austin (more specifically Round rock)area in Oct of 07 and absolutely loved it (spent almost a week wandering around). We know it is HOT in the summer, but have spent way too many miserable damp cold winters in the Michigan area. We started working on a plan to move to the area back in 2008 and then "life" happened and blew us off course for a while.

This may sound odd, but we really liked the gated community type of thing, as there is nothing like that where we live now and we have never lived in that type of environment. We really liked the development called "Terravista" and spoke to some salespeople and found the home prices really good too. But that was before the school had been done, and it looks to have expanded much more since then as well. Is this a good area or is it better or worse since 2007... I see some foreclosure homes in the area?? Is this still a sought after area as it was portrayed to be when we visited in 2007?? We are not looking for a "yuppie" type of area, is this where all the doctors and lawyers live? or is it considered kinda middle of the road?

Is there nicer/better areas that are close to that part of town? Should we be looking at other places maybe in Georgetown or Pflugerville
Basically can you recommend other areas to consider? We are probably looking in the 200 - 250k range?

[nativetexasgal]

Originally Posted by looking2tex

Ok I just logged in and "last visited" this site in Sept of 08...Wow, its been a while.
My wife and I visited the Austin (more specifically Round rock)area in Oct of 07 and absolutely loved it (spent almost a week wandering around). We know it is HOT in the summer, but have spent way too many miserable damp cold winters in the Michigan area. We started working on a plan to move to the area back in 2008 and then "life" happened and blew us off course for a while.

This may sound odd, but we really liked the gated community type of thing, as there is nothing like that where we live now and we have never lived in that type of environment. We really liked the development called "Terravista" and spoke to some salespeople and found the home prices really good too. But that was before the school had been done, and it looks to have expanded much more since then as well. Is this a good area or is it better or worse since 2007... I see some foreclosure homes in the area?? Is this still a sought after area as it was portrayed to be when we visited in 2007?? We are not looking for a "yuppie" type of area, is this where all the doctors and lawyers live? or is it considered kinda middle of the road?

Is there nicer/better areas that are close to that part of town? Should we be looking at other places maybe in Georgetown or Pflugerville
Basically can you recommend other areas to consider? We are probably looking in the 200 - 250k range?

Texas is suffering a severe drought right now, the worst in its history. Experts say the problems related to water shortages will only get worse.

Also, the Texas Legislature just cut education spending to balance the state's budget. I wouldn't move here. Texas ranks almost dead last in every quality of life measurement surveyed in the U.S.

[JoninATX]

I wouldn't worry to much about the drought. By next year it will be over with. Education is not so bad.

[nativetexasgal]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

I wouldn't worry to much about the drought. By next year it will be over with. Education is not so bad.

Texas drought could last 15 years | The Lookout - Yahoo! News

Climatologists disagree that the drought "will be over next year." The drought will have long-term, extensive consequences, especially in the area the OP wants to move to. That part of Texas has had an influx of way too many people to keep up longterm with the water crisis that's developing. Texas is historically a low-tax state as well, so good luck thinking the government has a lot of money to deal with the problems.

Go to North Carolina. It has a lot of what you're looking for, and lots of people from Michigan are going there.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by nativetexasgal

Texas is suffering a severe drought right now, the worst in its history. Experts say the problems related to water shortages will only get worse.

Also, the Texas Legislature just cut education spending to balance the state's budget. I wouldn't move here. Texas ranks almost dead last in every quality of life measurement surveyed in the U.S.

I guess that would explain why Austin is included in nearly every 'wonderful city to move to' list(frequently in the top ten 'best' ......).

From my perspective, most of Teravista is pretty 'middle of the road'...nice, but certainly not 'overdone'. Your price range has quite a few homes listed...that may or may not be a positive. Given the range of builders out there, I'd be careful to check the build quality at the price range you mentioned.

Just one thought...NOT a whole lot of big trees out there. Don't underestimate the importance of shade here in central Texas. The huge live oaks on our property provide a buffer from the intense summer(5 months+) sun.

There are some C-D folks who know that area well....I'm sure some of them will offer specifics. Good luck!

[nativetexasgal]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

I guess that would explain why Austin is included in nearly every 'wonderful city to move to' list(frequently in the top ten 'best' ......).

From my perspective, most of Teravista is pretty 'middle of the road'...nice, but certainly not 'overdone'. Your price range has quite a few homes listed...that may or may not be a positive. Given the range of builders out there, I'd be careful to check the build quality at the price range you mentioned.

Just one thought...NOT a whole lot of big trees out there. Don't underestimate the importance of shade here in central Texas. The huge live oaks on our property provide a buffer from the intense summer(5 months+) sun.

There are some C-D folks who know that area well....I'm sure some of them will offer specifics. Good luck!

I would re-check some of those "top ten" articles if I were you, especially the more recent ones. Austin is not so "hot" any more. I-35 can be like a parking lot. Who needs it?

The drought hasn't done any favors for the Hill country either. I was there recently--it was as dry as a bone. The water situation will continue to get worse, not better, unfortunately.

[eepstein]

Agreed. Almost any state would be a better choice for pretty much anything. However, these are more facts the city of Austin doesn't want you to know.

Originally Posted by nativetexasgal

Texas is suffering a severe drought right now, the worst in its history. Experts say the problems related to water shortages will only get worse.

Also, the Texas Legislature just cut education spending to balance the state's budget. I wouldn't move here. Texas ranks almost dead last in every quality of life measurement surveyed in the U.S.

[eepstein]

Austin is on the "top ten" lists for one reason and one reason ONLY. The city pays out HUGE sums of tax dollar money to various organizations that "rate" cities. Without these bribes, the city of Austin would rank pretty close to the bottom in most catogories. It's unbelievable how corrupt and twitsted the city of Austin is. Trying to somehow turn a COLLEGE TOWN, into something more. Austin is a big college town, and will always be a big college town.

Yes I agree about the hillbilly country. "Trees" and dying left and right. Throughout the landscape you see green and lots of brown. Once Lake Travis dries up completely, the city should consider replanting trees (and not just tall bushes that are famous in the hillbilly country.)

Originally Posted by nativetexasgal

I would re-check some of those "top ten" articles if I were you, especially the more recent ones. Austin is not so "hot" any more. I-35 can be like a parking lot. Who needs it?

The drought hasn't done any favors for the Hill country either. I was there recently--it was as dry as a bone. The water situation will continue to get worse, not better, unfortunately.

[mark311]

I live about 3 or 4 miles from Teravista and I considered buying a home there in the past, so I'll give my personal opinion. It's a nice community with a golf course. If a golf course is high on your list then your choices start to get limited.

The problem with Teravista in my opinion is that it started out as an upper middle class community (for its location) with many quality builders. Since the economy took a turn for the worse, lower end builders like Centex have been allowed to introduce starter homes ($159K) in there. Now, if you're looking for a home in that lower end range, say under $180K, I would still consider Teravista. The High School that Teravista currently feeds into is generally considered to be very average for RRISD if that matters to you now. That could change in 5 years or so.

In your price range, I think there are better options (Avery Ranch, Brushy Creek Area, Forest Creek, as well as others). You mentioned that you want neighborhood suggestions near there. Do you already have a job lined up near there? If you don't have a job yet and you end up with a job in South Austin, that would be a horrible commute because it's at the very North end of Austin area almost in Georgetown.

Without knowing a job location, I would be very hesitant to jump into a neighborhood like Teravista unless you would be alright with a 60 plus minute commute at least in the afternoon. It could be less if you end up working at a place like Dell or in North Austin.

[jr1038]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Austin is on the "top ten" lists for one reason and one reason ONLY. The city pays out HUGE sums of tax dollar money to various organizations that "rate" cities. Without these bribes, the city of Austin would rank pretty close to the bottom in most catogories. It's unbelievable how corrupt and twitsted the city of Austin is. Trying to somehow turn a COLLEGE TOWN, into something more. Austin is a big college town, and will always be a big college town.

Yes I agree about the hillbilly country. "Trees" and dying left and right. Throughout the landscape you see green and lots of brown. Once Lake Travis dries up completely, the city should consider replanting trees (and not just tall bushes that are famous in the hillbilly country.)

You're clueless.

In many of those rankings, objective criteria like crime rate, educational attainment, income, school quality, unemployment rate, etc. are used to rank cities. In virtually all of these areas, Austin fares very well relative to the rest of the country. And those numbers generally come from external agencies such as the Census Bureau, not from the city of Austin.

Categories Austin would "rank" low in might be traffic congestion and amenities (museums, theme parks, etc.), but such criteria is harder to quantify. I realize it's hard for you to accept the fact that, for example, greater Austin has the highest median income and educational attainment levels of any metropolitan area in the entire region. But when you consider the criteria that these publications use to evaluate cities, Austin's high placement on "top ten" lists makes much more sense.

I'm not sure what's more ridiculous - your wild speculation about the city of Austin "buying" rankings, or thinking that a college town is somehow forever prohibited from growing into a "real" city...