Austin experience: bore, expensive and ... (Houston, Dallas: sales, apartments, renting)

[vk999]

Hi,

I live in New York City. I had the opportunity to visit Austin for 2 days, possible job transfer. The job would be located in South East Austin, near E Oltorf Street. My experience of Austin is:

1) As compared to New York, found it quite boring, not much to see in downtown, there are many major department stores, museums, theaters in Manhattan, but couldn't find any except Whole Foods store. Even famous 6th street did not have much excitement.

2) Renting a 1 bedroom apartment in downtown is expensive(at least $1600 a month). I know it is cheap as compared to Manhattan, but I live in one of the borough of New York, and can 1 bedroom apartment in decent, elevator building for about $1300 per month, with subway within 1-3 blocks.

3) I was told by realtors in Austin that downtown apartments with elevator would cost at least 500K, which is cheap as compared to Manhattan, but in outer borough, can buy for about 250K, which would be roughly 20-30 minutes subway ride to Manhattan.

4) It is inconvenient. Need to drive, although can take bus, but would have to wait for at least 15 minutes in uncomfortable hot weather.

Can anyone comment on above, and suggest how to overcome above issues. If the job is going to be in South East Austin, is that a decent place to live(need an elevator building, but found only walkups). Also, did not see any houses/townhomes in that area to buy.

[infinity & beyond]

Austin's certainly not boring - it may not be like New York, but there is a lot going on there. For a southern city, it is extremely progressive and even cosmopolitan.

Yes, it's expensive but that's the draw to down town living - it's in the center of all the action.

[AustinGuy]

You can get 1 bedrooms condos in the brand new highrises downtown starting at a little over 200k. 2 bedrooms can be had starting in the 300s.

If you truly are interested, look into the Monarch building which is starting their sales process right now and has prices in this range.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by vk999

Hi,

I live in New York City. I had the opportunity to visit Austin for 2 days, possible job transfer. The job would be located in South East Austin, near E Oltorf Street. My experience of Austin is:

1) As compared to New York, found it quite boring, not much to see in downtown, there are many major department stores, museums, theaters in Manhattan, but couldn't find any except Whole Foods store. Even famous 6th street did not have much excitement.

2) Renting a 1 bedroom apartment in downtown is expensive(at least $1600 a month). I know it is cheap as compared to Manhattan, but I live in one of the borough of New York, and can 1 bedroom apartment in decent, elevator building for about $1300 per month, with subway within 1-3 blocks.

3) I was told by realtors in Austin that downtown apartments with elevator would cost at least 500K, which is cheap as compared to Manhattan, but in outer borough, can buy for about 250K, which would be roughly 20-30 minutes subway ride to Manhattan.

4) It is inconvenient. Need to drive, although can take bus, but would have to wait for at least 15 minutes in uncomfortable hot weather.

Can anyone comment on above, and suggest how to overcome above issues. If the job is going to be in South East Austin, is that a decent place to live(need an elevator building, but found only walkups). Also, did not see any houses/townhomes in that area to buy.

If you are looking to try to compare new york to austin in the areas where new york is strong then of course austin cant even compare. Restaurants, night life, museums etc.

Austin is a small town so it has things that new york cant compete with like acreage properties, large houses, friendly people, low crime rate, great school systems, very little gang activity, cleanliness, lot's of outdoors activities etc.

[Willys]

Downtown Austin Condo Projects

I guess the only alternative to waiting in the heat would be freezing in the cold.

[love roses]

Austin97 said it better than I could.

[Mike78613]

It's the people my friend, the people. Not saying New Yorkers are bad, but you pay for quality, not quantity .

Just welcome here. If you can enjoy no snow in the winter, then this place will feel like home.
In all honesty, that is not expensive. I am not sure, but IMHO anything East of Austin is pretty ruff, but getting better.

[AK123]

You will not find NYC type amenities or culture in Austin. Not even close. To even compare the much larger and more sophisticated cities of Houston or Dallas to NYC would be a stretch.

Go to Austin for Austin, not because you expect something else. HTH

[love roses]

East Austin=rougher East OF Austin=just fine, only not as scenic or well to do as West.

[muddaerf]

I don't even think you can compare Austin to NYC. They are both different, so you have to expect that there are going to be some major differences. Each have their own pros and cons and your decision to move here would be dependent on whether or not Austin's pros line up with what you are seeking in a place to live.