Has anyone moved to Austin and regretted it? If so, why? (Houston: transplants, rental market)

[G Grasshopper]

You can find negatives wherever you live. The point is whether the positive/negative balance works out for you. Everybody has different tolerances. I used to live in the Bay Area. For me , the negatives might have been high cost of living, possibility of earthquakes, people not very friendly on the street, freeway crowding, etc. However, I loved the place because the natural wonders around me were phenomenal (including both ocean and SF Bay), and I had become a part of the community and had friends and connections. So the negatives were balanced off, and I liked the place. But we moved to Austin, and I am trying to find new positives here. (Have found some already, but I am still looking.) The negatives about the Austin area have been listed by others, and I think quite accurately, in some cases. The point is, will they be outweighed by positives for you? I imagine people who move to Austin and hate it are people who can't find enough positives. Maybe they are too attached to living close to mountains or the ocean. Or maybe they are having a hard time finding a social network, or they don't like their new job or schools here. Or maybe they thought they could deal with snakes and fire ants, but really can't. Who knows? I would think it would be natural for a certain number of people moving anywhere to hate their new home and want to go back. I bet that if you put this same question up on cd for any city, you would get some people who said yes, they had moved there are hated it. It's just the bell curve to me, and it is to be expected.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by wag more bark less

Also, just for fun, I popped outside to see how many full-size pickups/'major' SUVs there are parked in my area of the apartment complex (about 100 vehicles). Not a single full-size SUV or pickup. In fact, it seems the largest vehicle on the block is my '91 4Runner hooptie. (Well, there also is a tricked out school bus...) Our Toyota Yaris (aka "The Magic Egg") wasn't even the smallest! There was a Fiat, a couple car2go's, and a couple compact pickups & SUVs. Overwhelmingly sedans and lots of station wagons with bike racks. A couple "South Austin Secede" bumper stickers.

Of course that's no surprise, considering that Austin has the highest per capita hybrid car ownership in Texas:

Metropolitan areas where hybrids are most popular
Rank Metropolitan Area New Hybrids per 1000 Households*
1 Portland, OR 4.95
2 San Francisco 3.99
3 Helena, MT 3.60
4 Seatlle 3.36
5 Washington, DC 3.32
6 Los Angeles 2.90
7 Santa Barbara, CA 2.70
8 San Diego, CA 2.64
9 Monterey, CA 2.62
10 Charlottesville, VA 2.38
11 Austin, TX 2.34
12 Boston 2.24
13 Lafayette, IN 2.12
14 Baltimore 2.09
15 Burlington, VT 2.08
US Metro Area Average

source: September 2009 Dashboard: End of Clunkers Hurts Hybrids | Hybrid Cars

And Austin is the #2 city for electric cars: Top 10 U.S Cities Ready for Electric Cars | Solar Feeds

Plus even though our rail system is pretty lame, we're still a decent user of public transportation overall: Top 10 U.S. cities for public transportation | SmartPlanet

Probably because in sprawl-happy Texas, Austin uses public transportation the most: Capital Metro Transit - Austin, Texas: Highest per capita ridership in Texas (http://www.capmetro.org/news/Who_we_are.asp - broken link)

But for those who don't want to ride a bus, Austin is the only Texas metro with 3 car sharing programs, including the largest one in the nation: car2go Austin Celebrates First Anniversary: With Approximately 15,000 Registered Members and Fleet Extension | Daimler Global Media Site > Mercedes-Benz Cars > smart > car2go ... with close to 300 Smart Cars in their fleet in Austin, TX alone. As anyone who lives here know, their blue and white cars are a very common sight in Austin.

Then of course there are the cyclists... Austin being one of the most bike friendly cities in the nation: 20 Most Bike-Friendly Cities In America
(ranking just above Denver), and by far the most cycling friendly city in Texas: League of American Bicyclists * City Rankings * Bicycle Friendly America

Of course, the above are mere facts and figures. Eepstein did see some SUVs in a parking lot near him, and he assures us he's a worldly fellow who travels a lot. And of course everyone knows that the sure sign of a knowledgeable world traveler is that they will claim as much on an anonymous message board. Can you say "bush league"?

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

Spewing vitriol

How ironic you were on the Texas board this same day doing the exact same about another city! Gimme a break.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

This is uncalled for....

All of the group-think and ganging up on anyone who doesn't participate in Austin boosterism here is getting very tiresome, as has been brought up other instances in here.

Not to defend those who seem to delight in dropping turds in the Austin punch bowl, but I do agree, to an extent, that greater tolerance is another option to consider.

At some point, we have to trust intelligent readers to sort through the threads and posts and decide what's useful and informative and what's not. It's easy to click into a user profile and get a quick read on previous posts from someone. If it's the same rants over and over again, then one can decide how much weight to give those opinions.

And those of us who are regulars and who might think "here we go again" in frustrated response to negatively biased misinformation can chose to cordially respond with counter-points, or ignore.

Interestingly, the Austin bashing is, underneath, just the flip side of the coin it claims to oppose. It's the pot calling the kettle black. It's an extremist of one kind accusing those with opposing views of being an "extremist".

This is sort of like America as a whole now. The vast "middle ground" voice of reality has to compete with shouting from one edge or another.

Are there reasons to not like Austin? Yes. For some, perhaps many. But not for most.

Steve

[Zembonez]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

It is not my precious as I'm not even from there. I just don't appreciate hypocrites. If you're going to make such statements, don't complain about others doing so about here and having their own opinion.

I am not into the whole mindless bow to Austin, poop on the other cites thing. Anyway, that's another thread and topic.

I'll disregard the offhand reprimand. How ridiculous are you? There is nothing hypocritical about me saying I would avoid Houston and then pointing out the obvious lies of another member. Perhaps you should brush up on your comprehension skills before publishing your opinions.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

I'll disregard the offhand reprimand. How ridiculous are you? There is nothing hypocritical about me saying I would avoid Houston and then pointing out the obvious lies of another member. Perhaps you should brush up on your comprehension skills before publishing your opinions.

I realize you're a newbie here, so why don't you drop the high and mighty attitude and take a hint - if you're going to make such insular sweeping statements as "avoid east of I-35" and Houston is a "prison sentence" you had better have something to back these up if you want to be taken seriously.

[ScoPro]

Well, I'd take exception to the "hillbilly" comment Mr. E. put forth.

There are no homegrown "hillbillies" in Texas.

Now we have rednecks aplenty, but that's a different thing.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Obviously people don't ever travel on this board. I probably travel 50% of the time throughout the country. Metro austin has more pickups and SUV's than any other metro area. No question about it. As I have said many times before, if you don't believe me, just goto your local shopping center parking lot. It is also stated within the vehicle tax data for Williamson, Travis, and Hays counties when I used to work at TxDot (for the brief time I was there). Per capita, the three counties combined have the greatest number of "truck" registrations of any major Texas metro area. "Truck" is considered to be a pickup truck, large SUV, or any other vehicle weighing more than 3 tons. I am talking MAJOR METRO AREAS, because obviously smaller counties have a higher percentage of trucks than Metro austin.

For all you "austin boasters" travis country BY ITSELF does have the highest percentage (per capita) of hybrid vehicles as well. Followed by Dallas county, and Harris county respectively.

Please provide a source for this information (URL). We will consider this information to be false unless you provide a source for it.

[eepstein]

What lies? I never said that everything I said was a true fact. I simply state my opinion which is truly WAY more accurate than the idiotic "Austin is utopia" comments that plague this board. Much of the rediculous hype generated by the media marketing campaigns over the past 10 years, simply are lies. I can admit, that I fell for some of these "mistruths" back in 2003 when I decided to move here, but it didn't take long to realize how truly unremarkable Austin is as a whole.

Originally Posted by Zembonez

I'll disregard the offhand reprimand. How ridiculous are you? There is nothing hypocritical about me saying I would avoid Houston and then pointing out the obvious lies of another member. Perhaps you should brush up on your comprehension skills before publishing your opinions.

[rickc007]

Originally Posted by eepstein

What lies? I never said that everything I said was a true fact. I simply state my opinion which is truly WAY more accurate than the idiotic "Austin is utopia" comments that plague this board......

How ridiculous it that ???

Your opinion is "WAY more accurate" than someone elses ???

Never crossed your mind that Austin could be someones Utopia ?

It is mine. I was looking for cheaper cost of living than New York and L.A.
BINGO ! Austin fits the bill Big Time

Looking for Good Live Music Scene ... BINGO ...

Also surprised how much I dig Austins food, friendly neighbors ....
I actually like the climate here, much better than the North East

If you are this unhappy in Austin, where can we send ya where' you'll be happy. Life is short ... 8 years of Agony for you ... stubborn, or what ?

You said you liked California ... are you not allowed to move back ?