Visiting Texas in June (Austin, San Diego: real estate, apartment complexes, how much)

[jcodde01]

Thanks to everyone who helped me out on my other thread (A wanna be Texas transplant!) about relocating. I've decided to visit Austin in the begining of June to check things out before I make a decision. I want to visit some of the smaller towns that have been recomended to me, want to get a good idea of the "real Texas" that a native would see. I don't want this to be just a touristy trip. Any suggestions on what to see/do while I'm there that will give me a good idea of what it's like to live there?

[jcodde01]

Thanks to everyone who helped me out on my other thread (http://www.city-data.com/forum/texas/1554508-wanna-texas-transplant.html) about relocating. I've decided to visit Austin (and surrounding areas) in the beginning of June to check things out before I make a decision. I want to visit some of the smaller towns that have been recommended to me, want to get a good idea of the "real Texas" that a native would see. I don't want this to be just a touristy trip. Any suggestions on what to see/do while I'm there that will give me a good idea of what it's like to live there?

[Johnhw2]

Price real estate, austin is known to have a high cost of living for Tx. Make sure you seen enough extra value in living there to make up for the higher cost of living, then go check out west SA to see the difference. Good luck and welcome back to Tx

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by jcodde01

Any suggestions on what to see/do while I'm there that will give me a good idea of what it's like to live there?

A great mentor of my life said that the quality of life is largely determined by the very mundane, everyday things we do routinely.

To do a good job of evaluation, spend some time doing the things you'd normally be doing if you lived here, like commuting at rush hour (if that's something you'd be doing), and shopping at local supermarkets, and doing the kind of recreational things you would normally do.

From participating in these forums a while I've noticed that the most common mistake people seem to make, in my opinion, is judging a place based on their visiting in vacay mode, floating around doing fun stuff only, and never getting down to the nitty gritty of what day-to-day life is like.

My favorite exercise for people is to bring along a typical to-do list for a weekend, including a week's shopping list, then go tackle that in each city you are considering, at least on paper and pencil. It's amazing what shows up when you actually confront the differences between places that are quite distinct, even if close together.

[rah62]

That's very good advice, OpenD.

While vacationing in Austin in December, I went into an HEB to pick up a couple things for a holiday dinner I was attending. As I worked my way through the store, I was stunned how much cheaper groceries were in Austin than in SoCal. That's not something you generally discover while vacationing by the pool, so definitely focus on mundane things. Drive around town at rush hour, drive past apartment complexes you might want to consider (and not just in the middle of the weekday when everybody's at work, but also on the weekend when people are home).

Get the newspaper (yes, there are still newspapers) and read it every day. It'll tell you about the politics, what's happening, who's hiring and firing, and events around town. I believe the Statesman sells a subscription to an E-edition of the entire publication you can read on-line every day.

[jcodde01]

Originally Posted by OpenD

A great mentor of my life said that the quality of life is largely determined by the very mundane, everyday things we do routinely.

To do a good job of evaluation, spend some time doing the things you'd normally be doing if you lived here, like commuting at rush hour (if that's something you'd be doing), and shopping at local supermarkets, and doing the kind of recreational things you would normally do.

From participating in these forums a while I've noticed that the most common mistake people seem to make, in my opinion, is judging a place based on their visiting in vacay mode, floating around doing fun stuff only, and never getting down to the nitty gritty of what day-to-day life is like.

My favorite exercise for people is to bring along a typical to-do list for a weekend, including a week's shopping list, then go tackle that in each city you are considering, at least on paper and pencil. It's amazing what shows up when you actually confront the differences between places that are quite distinct, even if close together.

This is great advice! I planned on the rush hour thing (because I will most likely be one of those!) but the grocery idea is great! I like to play soccer and softball so I figured I'd go check those areas out to see if I could find any information. I also will most likely drive around some of the outlying areas, try and find some nice people to chat with

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by rah62

That's very good advice, OpenD.

While vacationing in Austin in December, I went into an HEB to pick up a couple things for a holiday dinner I was attending. As I worked my way through the store, I was stunned how much cheaper groceries were in Austin than in SoCal. That's not something you generally discover while vacationing by the pool, so definitely focus on mundane things. Drive around town at rush hour, drive past apartment complexes you might want to consider (and not just in the middle of the weekday when everybody's at work, but also on the weekend when people are home).

Get the newspaper (yes, there are still newspapers) and read it every day. It'll tell you about the politics, what's happening, who's hiring and firing, and events around town. I believe the Statesman sells a subscription to an E-edition of the entire publication you can read on-line every day.

we havent found this to be the case. So cal has very inexpensive groceries. The biggest things in cali are house and taxes

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Austin97

we havent found this to be the case. So cal has very inexpensive groceries. The biggest things in cali are house and taxes

Funny, nearly everybody from Cali comments on the lower food prices in Austin. Let's take a look at what Sperling's says about relative cost indexes (against a national average of 100)

Cost of Living Indexes Los Angeles Austin
Overall 147 102
Food 108 84

Cost of Living Indexes San Francisco Austin
Overall 185 102
Food 113 84

Cost of Living Indexes San Diego Austin
Overall 139 102
Food 103 84

So that means that... wait for it... wait... yes, food IS much cheaper in Austin than in California.

[homeinatx]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Funny, nearly everybody from Cali comments on the lower food prices in Austin. Let's take a look at what Sperling's says about relative cost indexes (against a national average of 100)

Cost of Living Indexes Los Angeles Austin
Overall 147 102
Food 108 84

Cost of Living Indexes San Francisco Austin
Overall 185 102
Food 113 84

Cost of Living Indexes San Diego Austin
Overall 139 102
Food 103 84

So that means that... wait for it... wait... yes, food IS much cheaper in Austin than in California.

Anecdotally, I kinda agree. And eating out is WAY, WAY cheaper in Austin. I am on the road often and without fail, whenever I pick up a restaurant tab in Austin, I calculate that a similar meal in NYC, would cost close to 3x as much, L.A. 2.5 and Chicago twice as much. That said there are quite a few more eating experiences that you can have in those places that you can't have here than you can have here that you can't have there. And and but, a bar tab in Austin, which is now a superb cocktail town, always feels like Christmas! No need ever to pay $14 for a mediocre margarita!

[Aquitaine]

I think if you shop at "Whole Pay Check" you're going to pay a lot no matter where you are, but if you shop elsewhere (or selectively shop at Whole Foods) there's definitely a difference between Austin and NYC, certainly.