Newbie from Bklyn NY soon to be in Austin! Any transplants? (Georgetown: for sale, real estate)

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by scrappygurl

We are relocating to the Austin area, not Austin proper and before I get tons of Hate mail, LMAO, let me just clear up that its for work reasons and well NYC isn't growing any smaller. I want to live in Bastrop, I like the idea, it seems like a great town, but I'm worried that I'm not going to adjust well.


I won't work when we get down there, the hubby will.

I want to have animal rights. I just want to raise a couple of goats and a few chickens like six or so. Nothing huge or overwhelming. Is this possible in that area?

I'm an avid gardener, and was hoping to have a small garden, and am terrified of snakes, are snakes an issue down there?

Anyway any ideas for a family with a small baby and a 20 year old? We like dripping springs too, and bastrop. We are going house hunting in the summer so I hope I love it. As far as activities, I already looked into social groups and meet up and it really seems like its the best place on earth. (No I'm not being cynical.)

You don't "like" anything. From this and all of your other posts, I can tell you that you're internet enamored with an idea and fantasy of a rural farming life outside of Austin. You need to come here to visit. In the summer. You are going to have a huge awakening when you see how little you can get for your budget and how truly far out it will have to be.

And yes, there are snakes. A lot of them, including several poisonous varieties. More so the further out of the city you get. Plus coyotes. Scorpions. Tree roaches. Tarantulas. Black widows. Bob cats. Possums. Raccoons. Lots of creatures that eat chickens, goats and gardens. Drought and watering restrictions. Punishing heat that kills things even experienced farmers grow.

Rent first. There is nothing in your budget with your current desires within a 30 minute commute to downtown Austin. (Except possibly by a tollway which adds a significant financial burden to a budget.) A year of renting will allow you to adjust your needs and expectations. But most importantly, visit first. This is nothing like you're imagining it to be.

[TexasHorseLady]

Yes, it's possible to raise goats and chickens in this area - some people even do it right in Austin, I've run across them on the Funky Chicken Coop tour. Is your husband working downtown, and that's why you want to be relatively close? With your budget, it's going to be tricky, but it might be possible for $200,000 - I'm looking for something similar for another relocating client right now. You're going to be east of I35 (Bastrop and Taylor both are).

And the answers to all of RoadWarrior's questions will make it easier to advise you.

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Yes, it's possible to raise goats and chickens in this area - some people even do it right in Austin, I've run across them on the Funky Chicken Coop tour. Is your husband working downtown, and that's why you want to be relatively close? With your budget, it's going to be tricky, but it might be possible for $200,000 - I'm looking for something similar for another relocating client right now. You're going to be east of I35 (Bastrop and Taylor both are).

And the answers to all of RoadWarrior's questions will make it easier to advise you.

In other posts on other threads she's indicated she wants to be within a half hour commute of her husband's job downtown.

Originally Posted by scrappygurl

I'm glad I read this we are moving from a big city to Austin soon and I'm worried. but we are visiting first and looking at houses about 30 mins from Austin.

Originally Posted by scrappygurl

Bastrop, did I say that correctly or Dripping Springs, do you know it well? I'm hoping to be somewhere my husband can travel to CBD Austin.

[ppp38]

Originally Posted by scrappygurl

Ok so I need to buy something less than 200k and hoping for less than 150k, but that may be pushing it, I need some advice, all we do is google and look at commuting times from his new job... isn't that funny? Thank you so much!

I want a couple of acres though, not much and well we're definitely on a budget LOL, so well yah, that determines the majority of our whole existence out there. But, since the taxes are cheaper, we are sure we will be more comfortable than here. We can't rent out here for less than 2600 because we have 2 dogs, its so ridiculous. I'm ready to leave this overpriced place.

You are going to need to adjust your expectations. You will not find a decent house on 2 acres of land within 30 minutes of DT for less than 150k or 200k, its simply not realistic. Your husband will have atleast an hour commute if not more and you will have to look at places like Elgin and Taylor.

[riaelise]

I'm a New Yorker myself and have lived here for 10 years. Very happy so far. In your price range, I'd say Pflugerville as well but something has to give. In Pflugerville, for example, $150k will get you a smallish home on an average lot. $200K will get you a larger home on an average lot. Acreage in Pflugerville these days isn't cheap.

I also suggest that you rent. Coming from BK, how will you deal with suburbia? I like suburbia, but many urbanites don't.

[atxcio]

When you visit, check out some of the urban farms in East Austin. East Austin Urban Farm Tour | Four farms. One afternoon. Cornucopia of local food and drink.

Many of them bought when that neglected area of town was cheap. You'd have to do the same thing a little farther out (in a sketchier area) at your budget today. But talk to those East Austin farm folks, they may know where the people who do what you want to do at your budget are moving.

One thing that might not be clear to you yet is that most of Austin (the city itself) is suburban compared to anything in the NE. Just a little farther out east, northeast or southeast is "rural" in nature, but "rural" here is more of a poverty-like thing with mobile homes and cheaply built houses. It's not the same as "rural" in the NE. To the north, south and west the suburbs stretch a very long way.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by atxcio

When you visit, check out some of the urban farms in East Austin. East Austin Urban Farm Tour | Four farms. One afternoon. Cornucopia of local food and drink.

Many of them bought when that neglected area of town was cheap. You'd have to do the same thing a little farther out (in a sketchier area) at your budget today. But talk to those East Austin farm folks, they may know where the people who do what you want to do at your budget are moving.

One thing that might not be clear to you yet is that most of Austin (the city itself) is suburban compared to anything in the NE. Just a little farther out east, northeast or southeast is "rural" in nature, but "rural" here is more of a poverty-like thing with mobile homes and cheaply built houses. It's not the same as "rural" in the NE. To the north, south and west the suburbs stretch a very long way.

Not sure what "rural" in the NE is, but as someone who actually lives rural and who grew up rural and for whom it is part of my business, I have to disagree with the "more of a poverty-like thing" statement. Yes, there are mobile homes in SOME rural areas, and there are mansions, as well. And the folks in the mobile homes know the folks in the mansions, and they consider each other neighbors - there's less of a class distinction if only because there's hardly enough people to make up one class, never mind dividing themselves up among them for social reasons. There are homes with acreage everywhere from about $175,000 to a couple million or more and everything in between, depending on the acreage, the home, and the location.

[JT-3]

I think a visit is needed and as someone suggested I would rent first. Glad I did that first.

[Iac1003]

It takes me 30 minutes to get from downtown Austin to Hyde Park in rush hour. Many neighbors have chickens in postage stamp-size backyards but the raccoons get to them sometimes. There's nothing remotely close to $150,000-$200,000 in my neck of the woods. I think you're going to have to live further out than you planned to get everything you think you want.

Native New Yorker (55+ years), Austinite (4 years).

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Not sure what "rural" in the NE is, but as someone who actually lives rural and who grew up rural and for whom it is part of my business, I have to disagree with the "more of a poverty-like thing" statement. Yes, there are mobile homes in SOME rural areas, and there are mansions, as well. And the folks in the mobile homes know the folks in the mansions, and they consider each other neighbors - there's less of a class distinction if only because there's hardly enough people to make up one class, never mind dividing themselves up among them for social reasons. There are homes with acreage everywhere from about $175,000 to a couple million or more and everything in between, depending on the acreage, the home, and the location.

I didn't mean to generalize all rural locations in Texas. I can understand there is the entire spectrum from very wealthy to very poor who live there. I'm just trying to explain to the OP a difference she might not realize from her experience in the NE. Up there, the cities are very defined and there is often a very distinct "countryside" between them, sometimes not even really far from the cities. Plus, in those older cities, a lot of the poverty is in the cities themselves. In Texas (probably everywhere in the South or Midwest is like this to some extent), there is an awful lot of poverty outside the cities, and this can come as a shock to someone from the NE. The distinction between city and rural is blurred somewhat, since the cities sprawl so much... so what we might call rural sometimes include the very outer edge of a metro area, where it's undeveloped and more unregulated, where city services like water and wastewater (and building codes) might not exist yet. Some residents might live there for the land or for agriculture purposes, but a lot will live there simply because it is all that they can afford.

Perhaps there is a better way to explain it. I did not mean to offend. Also, did not mean to turn off the OP, I believe there are certainly options for what she wants around Austin. Just giving her a realistic expectation of what she might see.