Looking into moving to TX from CA (Austin, Sunnyvale: house, quality of life)

[dmcyl24]

I am a 41 year old female. I have lived in CA all my life and currently live in the South Bay. I visited Austin about a year ago and fell in love with the city, the food, the people. I am seriouly considering moving there and I am just wondering what I should take into consideration. I know housing is cheaper there, however should I be prepared for "Culture Shock?"
I am looking for a place that will provided me with a better quality of life. The South Bay is SO expensive and the people here are just plain RUDE.

Thanks in advance for the info.

[mark311]

It's doubtful that you'll have any "culture shock" coming from the South Bay, but there's a good chance that you'll miss any family and friends that you leave behind there. It's a 27 hour drive (without breaks) or a $300-$500 round-trip plane ticket for visits.

There are rude people everywhere including the Austin area. There's actually a good chance that one of your future neighbors will be from NorCal as there are a lot of us former Californians in the Austin area.

Yes, the cost of housing is generally cheaper, but a lot of times the areas that people "fall in love" with are SoCo or downtown and those areas are very expensive for here. The cost of housing in those areas will rival some of the areas in the South Bay. For example, a house in Sunnyvale might cost the same as a similar house in Soco and downtown Austin would be more expensive than both.

Definitely come visit, but this time figure out what your price range is for housing and visit the areas that you can actually afford. The Austin area is a great place to move to raise a family in my opinion, but a single person in her 40's might find it lacking in quite a few areas.